258 Vital and Cosmical Energy . [May, 
the two terms being etymologically one, — and consists in 
the harmonious development of every bodily organ. This 
is not to be misunderstood as a glorification of sensuality, 
or as an exaltation of muscle above mind ; for the cerebral 
fount of intellect and morality will share in the common 
well-being, and will remain the lord of life, and the creator 
of that Paradise which is enjoyed by all the members.* 
Self-denial, or even Self-sacrifice, is not excluded from the 
list of virtues and blessedness ; for in the exercise of such 
supreme moral qualities is the very essence of supreme 
personal and social happiness and well-being. Undue self- 
indulgence is forbidden by Science, and enlightened egotism 
itself as “fatal to that harmony of organic function on which 
true beatitude depends.” This is surely no unworthy or 
incomplete ideal ; and though our age seems at present 
far from this Kingdom of Heaven, it is the duty of each of 
us to labour earnestly for its realisation, and thus ensure its 
final epiphany. If this consummation can only be effected 
by a cataclysm which will overwhelm the present fabric of 
society, and destroy that boasted high-pressure civilisation 
and inhuman competition of which money-getting commerce 
and luxury are the chief end and aim, and misapplied 
Science the chief gauge of “ progress, ”t — that civilisation in 
which “the individual withers” and whose characteristic 
human products are narrowed down and specialised to that 
precise organisation which is best fitted for the making of a 
pin’s head or the dissection of a moth’s wing, — we must accept 
the inevitable “ Decline and Fall ” which History shows to 
have overtaken all our predecessors in the paths of Empire, 
— not without humiliation, not without self-reproach, — yet 
with trust in the better future of Humanity unchecked and 
boundless. 
Constance Arden (C. N.). 
* See a tra& by Prof. Du Bois-Reymond, of Berlin, “ Ueber die Uebung,” 
ably reviewed in the Journal of Science for March last. 
f See, on this subjedt, Mr. Frederick Harrison’s eloquent Ledlure at the 
London Institution, in the April “ Fortnightly Review,” entitled “ The Nine- 
teenth Century.” 
