What is vital force? or, A short and comprehensive sketch, including vital physics, animal morphology, and epidemics; to which is added an appendix upon geology: Is the detrital theory of geology tenable?

A

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

WHAT IS VITAL FORCE?

A SHORT AND COMPREHENSIVE SKETCH,

INCLUDING

VITAL PHYSICS, ANIMAL MORPHOLOGY,
AND EPIDEMICS;

TO WHICH IS ADDED

AN APPENDIX UPON GEOLOGY

IS THE DETRITAL THEORY OF GEOLOGY TENABLE?

RICHARD FAWCETT BATTYE.

LONDON:
TRUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.

1877.

All rights /Y.-Y'

PRINTED BY
\V. O. \VALBROOK,

AT THE

FLEET STREET PRINTING WORKS,
52, FLEET STREET, LONDON.

PREFACE

THE present brief Treatise is essentially a suggestive work,
not a demonstrative one.

The writer can refer to no one part as being more attrac-
tive, or more important, than another. So much will
depend upon the individual tastes of the reader, as to where
they are directed, or as to the particular vein of thought
which he has most cultivated.

The work divides itself into three parts : — (i) Vital
Physics, (2) Animal Morphology, and (3) Epidemics ; to
which is added a short Essay upon, or rather against, the
Detrital Theory of Geology — a science which records the
life of a past world, but now entombed in the rocks on the
surface of the earth. These either directly or indirectly
connect themselves with the present, and, though dead, yet
they speak to the living of ages gone by.

In place of giving a table of Contents, or a long Preface,
an Introduction is given, which is an Epitome of the Text.
In style and substance it is simply a Syllabus of the whole,
and is intended to give, in an abrupt form, a concise Outline
of the Treatise.

M3G06G7

iv Preface.

Originality might be considered as the primary point
aimed at in this succession of short essays. But, in the
matter of style, it is free from that condemnation, unless it
can make some slight claim, arising from its numerous
defects. But, if the work is an essentially suggestive one, it
is necessarily more or less an original one ; though in almost
every detail anticipated in some way or other.

Belgravia, 1876.

INTRODUCTION.

VITAL PHYSICS.

IN giving an Introduction to the physics of vital force,
as here held, in the place of a brief analysis of the
text, an attempt will be made to state plainly and in few
words, what are the chief or salient points considered in
the following short outline.

It is admitted that the laws which govern the inorganic
world are the same which govern the organic world, and in
maintaining this general government of both kingdoms the
law of gravitation is rejected, as it is now held.

The reasons are : — ist, That both orbital and axoidal
motion in the planets is from west to east, and that both
these motions arise out of one and the same force or forces.
As now held, the law of gravitation completely accounts for
the orbital motion ; but it leaves the axoidal motion in the
cold. In astronomy the facts and observations are
supplied, but not explained.

i

2 Introduction.

2nd : That in astronomy the repellant force, or tangental,
is an initiatory or starting force, and beyond that it is no
force at all, but merely the outgoings of inertia; but to
obtain motion sufficient to induce both orbital and axoidal
motion at one and the self-same time two active forces are
essential, and the tangental or initiatory force is necessary
to start them off or throw them out of balance, but once
thrown out of balance they must ever result in a continuous
cycle of motion.

3rd : The existence of force is an unknown thing without
antagonism, and for its display resistance is essential. But in
speaking of force, especially one like attraction (which can be
proved from the fact that it invariably obeys the mathematical
law of inversely to the square of the distance), the repellant
force must be equally active with the attractive, to keep the
attractive in continual process of manifestation. For an
active force cannot be in continual action for ages and never
bring a tangental, or, so to speak, a negative force into
composition and resolution. It is a subject that requires so
little thought in the matter of equipoise of forces, not to
perceive how ridiculous it is when once fairly discussed,
that a negative is keeping at bay an active force for ages,
and is now as supreme as ever it was, thus making a
negative quite equal to an active force, and in matters of
force putting all experience and facts at utter defiance.

In treating upon two forces, the attractive and repellant,
it is maintained that they have equal extension in the

Vital Physics. 3

universe, but that their ratio of acceleration is unequal,
that of repulsion being slightly greater in acceleration :
but the attractive on the other hand, is slightly stronger,
as a force, than the repellant.

Leaving the subject of axoidal and orbital motion, and
the motions of planetary bodies, etc., the attention is
directed from the greater to the less, or from the units of
masses to attraction and repulsion between atom and atom.

ist : That both these forces as fluids permeate all atoms.

2nd : That each distinct element, as gold, silver, oxygen,
hydrogen, etc., differs in the degree of permeability to these
fluids, one having attraction in excess over repulsion or
vice-versa.

3rd: That every special element has its own individual form.

4th : That each atom of each element has, not only its
own individual proportion of these two forces distributed
to it ; but of the elements, some have the attractive fluid
more on their surfaces, and others more in the centre, and
the repellant on the surface, or in the centre in the reverse
order to the attractive.

By the form of atoms, the degree of forces supplied, and
their order of location, all the properties of malleability,
toughness, hardness, softness, brittleness, transparency,
etc., found in matter are explained.

The foregoing necessarily leads to the fact that all our
elements are unequally attracting and repelling one another ;
or, in other words, it gives a solution to the laws of chemical

i — 2

4 Introduction.

affinity, in place of that of gravitation, which latter proves
that each particle attracts every other particle in an equal
degree. Chemical science is a direct negative to this
general law.

From the foregoing the great law of Precursion is
deduced as a law which governs the entire universe. Its
simple meaning is prcz before — and curro, I run, or the
unequal attraction of all units of masses to a centre ; as
the sun, planets, etc., as so many single masses, and known
in this form by the ratio of acceleration which each
possesses, as 'calculated from the combined axoidal and
orbital motions ; and in atoms by the laws governing
chemical affinities generally.

Lastly : That attractive force in each element is always
rigidly fixed and never alters ; but not so the repellant.
This force can be disturbed. There is a point below which
it cannot be disturbed without an atom ceasing to be,
which, as the universe is at present constituted, is impossible.
But beyond this point of zero it is capable of the greatest
amount of variation, and of localising and transplanting
from one point to another with amazing power of accumu-
lation or concentration, so as in a variety of ways to
greatly counterpoise the attractive force, and to dislodge
it from holding atoms, in apposition with each other. This
it does as an element, or imponderable, under the forms of
heat, electricity, magnetism, etc., etc.

Vital Physics. 5

COLOUR.

Although colours enter so largely into all things both
of the organic and inorganic worlds, yet the blending of
them in every variety of shade and hue, more particularly
pertains to the organic kingdom. But in relation to vital
force it is more a proof of exposure to air and light, and of
the healthy condition of an organism or otherwise, as it is
exposed to light or it is withdrawn from it, than an essential
part of life. We cannot treat of light in the organic
world in any different form to that in which it is viewed in
the inorganic world, namely, that all the permanent colours in
bodies are known to us by reflected light, and that it is owing
to some more finely elaborated mechanical property in mole-
cular arrangement than either the microscope, or the subtle
behaviour of matter under chemical changes and affinities
enables us to detect ; and whether the corpuscular or emis-
sional theory, or the more elegant theory of light, known as
the undulatory, be accepted, it matters little, as in reflected
light the result is pretty much the same ; namely, some
subtle molecular arrangement in the atoms of matter gives
the various shades and hues of light known under the general
term of colour.

UPON ANIMAL DIFFERENTIATION AND

METAMORPHOSIS.

Leaving therefore, the subject of light and colour, which
refer only to reflected light in relation to organic nature, an
attempt is made to found a system of morphology and

6 Introduction.

\

differentiation in relation to the animal kingdom, which is
grounded upon the assumption of all animal tissues having
in their systematic distribution three membranes, a serous,,
a mucous, and a contractile membrane, in contra-distinction
to vegetables, which have only two membranes — an outer
and an inner, or a serous and mucous membrane, if such
nomenclature is permissible.

The term membrane is used much in the sense of rock in
geology. It does not necessarily mean a continuous struc-
ture, but it refers rather to function running along with
certain kinds of structure, and as such shows itself in a
variety of forms and differentiations. Thus muscles are
called contractile membrane, and so is dartos ; the latter
being a lower form of contractile membrane. Still further,,
the elastic tissue of arteries, where elasticity is in associa-
tion with some low degree of contractility, places this struc-
ture in the category of contractile membranes.

In whatever tissue active vital functions, either of a
chemico-vital, or cell-destructive power, are going on, there
mucous membrane is recognized, purely and solely from its
active vital functions, altogether irrespective of the form
of differentiation it may assume ; i.e. if in its totality it
includes active vital processes that are not contractile
processes, there the functions of mucous membrane exhibit
a certain special active property ; which declares what is its
proper place in the grouping of the membranes in any special
tripartite membrane.

Vital Physics. 7

On the other hand the pure mechanical and physical use

of a tissue determines in all cases «ihe metamorphic differen-

%
tiation to be serous, whether that membrane be hard or

soft, continuous or segmentary.

In the order of the animal economy, or in the extension
of complexity, from low to high degrees of organization, the
principle of the tripartite membrane is sustained, the
number of membranes increasing as the organization is
higher and more complex.

Thus the lowest forms, as Porifera, have but one tri-
partite membrane. I. A silicon coat. 2. A very low
sarcode or jelly. 3. An undetected tissue existing in the
jelly, which gives the animal the power of alternately
relaxing and contracting, whereby water, at short intervals,
is propelled from pores extending from the internal mass to
the surface of the soft body.

Man and mammalia are supposed to have ten or eleven
distinct and special tripartite membranes.

1. The gastro-intestinal membrane (including serous,
mucous and muscular membranes ; and so of all the rest).

2. The broncho-pleural membrane.

3. The genito-urinary membrane.

4. The mammary membrane.

5. The vascular membrane.

6. The lacto-lymphatic membrane.

7. The ganglionic membrane.

8. The loco-motive membrane.

8 Introduction.

9. The integument.

10. The cerebro-spinal membrane.

This last membrane in many of its details is singular, and
remarkably complicated ; but it is identified in its highest
function to be metamorphized muscle, and the adoption of
this view was in MS. long before the same had been
surmised by Fromman and Grandry, and also by Mitchell,
of America.

Displacement of membrane is remarkably frequent, as
well as differentiation of tissue.

Again, the special senses are recognised as seven, and
each of these senses has a special tripartite membrane placed
under, or subject to, its guidance and service. Thus the
loco-motive membrane has distributed to it the sense of
force or weight. The sense of touch has the integument
placed at its disposal, and so on.

The three senses, smell, sight, and hearing, are viewed as
wonderful mechanical expedients for inverting or abridging
limbs, by which beautiful contrivances material is saved,
whilst extension is greatly increased.

On the other hand, certain suggestions are thrown out in
relation to the vegetable kingdom outside the field of true
vegetable morphology, but only as it were to unite in one,
the principles of mechanism and general laws, which govern
both the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and moreover in
some measure to suggest some points of practical utility in
relation to the solidity of wood as indicated by the leaf.

Vital Physics. 9

The essential difference between the animal and vegetable

kingdom, from the point of membranous morphology, may

%

be briefly summed up as follows : —

Between the inner and outer wall of a vegetable cell, one
or other, is much more active in its vital function than the
one it opposes, and so gives an idea of serous and mucous
membrane, but not of contractile membrane, nor of a nervous
system of any kind. Hence a broad line of distinction is
here given between the animal and vegetable kingdoms.

Much complaint will be made of the very brief manner in
which animal morphology is considered. But if it were
entered upon, somewhat fully, it would take up too much
space, and sufficient is given for a simple outline or sketch.
It comprises the substance of thirty years of careful observa-
tion and reflection.

EPIDEMICS.

IT is laid down as a general state of the earth's surface,
in relation to vital manifestations, that entire tracts or
areas on its surface are subject to waves and patches
of a limited and varied character which unfit it to
sustain in integrity the essential conditions required for
vital manifestation as a whole ; and this is shown alike,
in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and these again, in
their totality, tell upon man. For where vegetation is too
rank, or meagre, or there is much dampness, want of pure
air, and decay ; fostering malaria — all these tend in them-
selves to create disease ; whilst scarcity of food and
clothing, on the other hand, tend to famine and depopula-
tion.

Again, the evils of civilization, in the tenements used for
aggregation, have a given depressing effect upon vital
integrity or health, such, for instance, as relate to cleanli-
ness, ventilation, and their collateral sequences in air
respired, and food and drink appropriated, in an impure or
adulterated condition.

Epidemics. II

Trades and vocations are not exempt from this general

condemnation, in certain branches. Neither are habits or

%
vices, which entail] on offspring the residuum of their

general morbific or depressing tendencies over vital power,
any less exempt from the same censure.

Geographical position, and geological strata, have also a
very marked effect upon localising defects in special organs,
or constitutions.

These several agencies are in their nature more or less
purely endemic, but the wider spread and all-pervading
influence of recurring epidemics, is but the limiting of vital
power in a consecutive and more general manner, by some
form of disease which endemic speciality has already' en-
dorsed, or which, through the law of change written upon
Nature, it has failed to engraft upon any special point
at its first appearance ; but when once cast widespread by
the winds of heaven, it never fails to appropriate some
special localities as endemic haunts.

Of those agencies which tend to develop and extend disease,
or promote health, as external agents to the earth's surface,
the Sun takes the highest and foremost ground.

The Equator and the Arctic regions have the sun's rays
alike in the entire year. The diurnal variation is extreme,
and the direction of the sun's rays is very distinct between
the Tropical and Arctic regions, though in the entire year
the mere amount of rays from the sun is identical, upon
any particular part of the earth, but the obliquity

12 Introduction.

of the rays of the sun, or their vertical direction, is of
the greatest importance in relation to vital manifesta-
tion.

Barometric pressure and humidity are equally important in
relation to health and disease, but vital manifestation is in
direct ratio to the vertical rays of the sun and the amount
of moisture and barometric pressure. Hence, from a vito-
physical point of view, these rank the highest in regard to
the products of the earth, but not in regard to the health of
man.

Though the spots on the sun have a certain relation to
magnetic conditions on the earth's surface, as yet no im-
pression upon vital phenomena has been traced as recurring
with their appearance, or ceasing with their disappearance ;
therefore, as apparent agents in relation to vital manifesta-
tion, they may be accounted as nil.

Volcanoes and earthquakes, though frequent and violent,
at times when epidemics have broken out, yet the occur-
rence of these terrible commotions within, which terminate
in convulsions and changes on the surface of the earth,
by no means runs parallel with epidemics. Whilst they
are not viewed as causes of epidemic disease, but chiefly
as coincidental, yet it is more than probable that they
have an endemic influence attached to them, as imme-
diately before and after their accession, dry, close, and
sultry weather is observed for days, or much local elec-
tricity, and possibly emanations in the form of gases, &c.,

Epidemics. 13

spread a morbific or depressing agency over man and
beast for a short period.

therefore, for persistent epidemic disease, such as plague,
or cholera, volcanoes and earthquakes are of very secon-
dary importance.

Upon the whole, temperature, moisture, and dead calms,
have far more to do with endemic disease than any mere
sudden eruption, or disturbance on the earth's surface ; but
for widespread epidemics something is wanted of a more
general nature, slower, but more constant in its opera-
tion.

Leaving the conditions of epidemics, a few remarks may
be made as to the peculiarities of epidemic disease.

The first and foremost of these is the power of isolation,
which is so singular in some epidemics. Although according
to an old proverb, " From the stall to the hall," is endorsed
the fact of ailments in cattle, of an epidemic character,
rarely existing for long, without spreading their baneful
influence to man.

At times we have special diseases in poultry, and the
rest of the farmyard healthy. Game, of the feathered tribe,
in certain seasons will be diseased, vermin, as foxes, at
another time, hares more rarely, yet never simultaneously.
So, in blights and diseases affecting the vegetable kingdom,
such as of wheat or any special kind of the cereals. In
given years certain kinds of grubs or caterpillars will infest
almost every apple ranging over entire tracts of country.

14 Introduction.

Disease of a special character has been in the potato for
long ; neither have onions nor yet turnips been exempt ; and
could man's knowledge scan far enough, he would find all
bulbous and cereal growths, at times, subject to much
disease, but never several kinds at one period.

In man, and the higher orders of animals, the isolation
chiefly recognised is that of special organs. As in yellow
fever, the chylopoietic organs are chiefly involved ; in
cholera, the chest organs and mucous membrane generally.
In influenza, chiefly the lungs ; occasionally a single organ
is picked out with extreme exactness, as the spleen, in one
part of Russia, in 1831. Since 1846 the chest organs in
horned cattle have been specially attacked, and later on,
rinderpest, has shown itself as a peculiar form of infectious
diseases, namely, as an eruptive disease from blood-poison-
ing, but less special in its seat than any known epidemic
disease, for scarcely an organ or surface of the body is free
from its special form of elimination.

From these considerations it is assumed that vital force
is always subject, in its manifestation as an epidemic, to
some specific form of presenting its own power in any
given tenement, and so to favour the law of isolation,
rather than the withdrawal of equal degrees or amounts of
force ; and, fjy isolation, in a measure, suffering the machine
to destroy itself by perversion of one or more functions,
rather than by mutilating all consecutively.

In other words destruction to life, or limiting it for a

Epidemics. 15

season, is accomplished by disease manifesting itself in
special grooves, and over particular organs, rather than by
any sudden and overwhelming catastrophe, as by freezing,
or universal sphacelus.

This special form of evil gives both time and opportunity
to man to do good to his fellow, and to be a helper against
those evils with which he is beset, both remedially and by
prevention.

The doctrine of isolation, as a lawinepidemium, naturally
leads to the history of a few special epidemic diseases of
long standing, or of widespread diffusion. As for instance,
from 1177 to 1817, plague spread to Mid-Europe and

England, attaining its last hold in this kingdom in 1666 ;

•

later on, at Dantzic, Marseilles in 1720, Vienna 1722, and
Moscow 1772 ; since which time it has remained chiefly
between Egypt and Asia Minor, and in these places since
1772 to 1817, to no very great extent, yet it shows itself
occasionally for a month or two in one or other of its old
haunts.

Small-pox, again, first made its appearance in England
and Northern Europe about 1174 to 1177, and in America
1638, or thereabouts.

Leprosy, an old and venerable disease, being naturally a
very chronic affection, and spreading slowly, did not show
itself in England and Northern Europe before 1190, the
same year as the third or Great Crusade was undertaken ;
but evidently, from the coincidence of time, it was too early

1 6 Introduction.

for the assistance of infection by the men of that Crusade ;
and the seeds of infection, if that were required, arose from
the previous Crusades of a very insubordinate position,
from 1146 to 1187, to the famous one under Philip II., of
France, and Richard I., of England, in 1190.

About the year 1600, or not far distant, leprosy ceased in
our own country, and scarcely held its own in Northern
Europe after that time ; but in Spain it was well known in
1764, and later.

Hence, three well-known diseases, or four, as measles and
small-pox, which were twin-brothers, born and fostered in
Arabia, appeared as wide-spreading and infectious diseases
not far from the year 1177 in England, and Mid or Northern
Europe, at least north of the Apennines and Carpathian
ranges.

These diseases each had for about 640 years, more or
less, a prior distinct existence in the lands north and south
of the Mediterranean, extending backwards from 1177 to 537.
In 572 small-pox was not only known in Arabia, but had
found its way into the literature of that country. Plague
had broken out in the reign of Justinian in 543, or earlier,
and again in 566, and had swept its thousands and tens of
thousands of human beings from off the face of the earth ; but
there appears to be no authentic record of this disease reach-
ing Mid or Northern Europe at these times; whilst leprosy
showed itself in Italy in 614, and as a well-known disease in
Spain in 714. How long, from its very chronic character,

Epidemics. 17

and, at this time, somewhat hereditary character, it must
have existed before attracting general attention, it is im-
possible to tell ; only it is quite sure it had lain dormant
for some centuries, and became a common disease in Italy
and Spain not far distant from 537, and onwards.

Plague, small-pox, and measles received a historical
mention for the first time about 537, and, for want of further
evidence, are viewed as having first obtained a true epidemic
and infectious character subsequent to this period.

On the other hand, leprosy first came to Europe, or Italy
and Spain, in the year 60 B.C., through the disbanding of
Pompey's army at Brundusium, 61 B.C., which for three
years had been overrunning Asia Minor. It evidently spread
by infection at this time; but since 537 A.D., it has gra-
dually become a less infectious, but a more distinctly
hereditary disease, and now covering a wide-spread area
from Norway to New Brunswick, the South Sea Islands,
and Southern Asia, including India and China, and the
West Indies.

The Mosaic Law gives rules to be observed by lepers,
which are alone compatible with the supposition of its being
at that time an infectious disease, and not in the slightest
hereditary. Again, in the days of Elisha it was distinctly
pronounced that it should be hereditary in the family of
Gehazi ; so that, from some occult circumstance, meta-
morphosis has been written upon this disease. In general,
from Elisha's time till long after the time of Christ, it was

1 8 Introduction.

an infectious disease, but strongly partaking of an endemic
and hereditary character in its own proper focus, the borders
of the Nile, from North to South Egypt. Since 1177 it has
probably become less and less infectious, and more and
more hereditary.

From a careful consideration of the three great epidemic
diseases — plague, small-pox, and leprosy — an epidemic
epoch or era has been assumed to recur about every 640
years from about 105 B.C. to 1817 A.D.

It is supposed that whilst any given epoch runs over a
period not far short of 640 years, more or less, that it rather
gains in extension up to about 200 years. At this point it
remains moderately stationary for about 250 years, and then
begins to gradually decline. The faint outlines which history
supplies of the chronic disease leprosy, tend to confirm
this general view. The same may be said of small-pox and
plague, both of which are recorded in history a few
years subsequent to 537 A.D. ; but of this epidemic
era we hear but very little till a short time before the
next epidemic era of 1177. From this period the clouds of
pestilence drop their baneful dews and showers over all
Europe and Asia, increasing from century to century till
about 1660, when the devastation they threw broadcast upon
every city and country in Europe began to somewhat abate
and, in relation to plague, to almost die out.

From 1348 to 1400 Black Death, as a graft upon Plague,
added greatly to mortality in Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Epidemics. ig

If such really was the case, then a new field of inquiry
opens itself for further investigation.

ist. Can two diseases run parallel in the same body at
the same time ? Answer ; Yes. As scarlatina, measles, and
small pox : many cases of which have been recorded of late
years.

2nd. Can two diseases amalgamate or coalesce, and out
of that coalescence produce one new disease or hybrid. The
answer is here given in the affirmative, and subsequent to
this being written in MS ; it has been advocated by Dr.
James Ross, under the title of "The Graft Theory of
Disease," adapting itself to Darwin's Hypothesis of
Pangenesis.

Those diseases of an epidemic or an infectious character,
which are here given as of a hybrid character, are the black
death, syphilis, and the Athenian plague.

Black death is supposed to be the blending of an infectious
lung disease, endemic in Tartary and the west of China,
with the Levant or Justinian plague.

Syphilis and the Athenian plague are both supposed to be
hybrids of leprosy under very differently modified conditions.

Syphilis is supposed to be the blending of plague and
leprosy in one unifaction of disease, upon the whole, leprosy
having the greater ascendancy, but nevertheless a hybrid
between that and Levant plague.

On the other hand the Athenian plague is viewed as a
hybrid of a certain rubeoloid disease, partaking in a modi-

2O Introduction.

fied form both of rubiola and variola, and this crossed with'
leprosy, the two poisons, as an epidemic, meeting each other
on the confines of their natural borders, Arabia and the
Nile, through the country of Ethiopia ; and as a hybrid of
germs, both arising out of hot climates, and of pure animal
origin ; like grafts upon particular stocks, under favourable
conditions, are far more fruitful than either scions, when left
to themselves. So when leprosy was grafted on a rubeoloid
germ, the latter of which retained its individual stamp the
most, an acute and wide-spread disease, of 'certain specialities
peculiar to both, was the result.

In order to establish certain facts in relation to leprosy a
general outline of chronology is given from the time of
Abraham to the time of Christ. During part of this long
period reference is made to man's age being 70 to 80 years
of duration, from the time of the Egyptian Exodus, but
longer antecedent to that time. Next, that the first general
recorded epidemic which spread over the known world was
about 767 B.C.

Again, that leprosy was always endemic in Egypt from
the earliest historical records to this day, but it spread into
Asia Minor several times before 767 or 750. That after
60 B.C. it spread not only in Asia Minor but also to Southern
Europe, as Italy and Spain. But from 750, or thereabouts,,
until 103 B.C., leprosy outside Egypt was apparently a
totally unknown disease, for which reasons are given why,
if it had been outside Egypt, it ought to have been found

Epidemics. 21

among the Lacedemonians, who were in part of Jewish
extraction. But in 800 B.C. it was in Palestine, and well
known to the Jewish priesthood; yet shortly after this period
we do not again hear of it in Asia, Greece, or in any place
outside Egypt, until the time of Pompey the Great.

Attempting to go further back into the sources of disease
and epidemics than the period history assigns for the
founding of Rome, 753 B.C., some examination is made of
the period of the Biblical record of the Noachian flood
to the Egyptian exodus, this is called the epidemic of human
decay, and as no idea is given of the diseases of men at this
period, but only their longevity, it is further named the
chronographic epidemic.

This epidemic lasted through an era of about 850 years,
and is called the period of induction of human diseases.
From the Egyptian exodus on to 745 B.C. is a period of
about 746 years when diseases became established in such
manner, as the decay of the constitution of man rarely
sustained its vital integrity beyond 70 to 80 years. Subse-
quent to this time epidemic eras have been pretty regular
in their recurrence, of about every 640 years more or less.

The most important of all subjects to establish is the
veracity of the chronographic epidemium, inasmuch as it
affected life the most markedly of all, and its proof lies
upon the veracity of the Bible, than which no book is more
doubted in its ancient historical details, and proof from outside
itself is most desirable. To this end the great pyramid and

22 Introduction.

relics of ancient astronomy are faintly glanced at, as afford-
ing corroborative evidence, and more to be relied upon than
the doubtful products of pre-historic man.

Sir John Herschel is quoted as an author who was
anticipated by the builders of the great pyramid in his
conviction that records of science ought to be entombed in
imperishable monuments, which goes far to show the.
advanced state of civilization in ancient Egypt.

Leaving for a while the history of epidemics we come to
the etiology and the poison as a material agent, which
constitutes the materia corporis of infection in epidemic
diseases. Sir H. Holland appears to have first suggested
an insect origin for cholera, and this was a great advance,
because it widened our conceptions of active agents as
living germs of disease.

Upon the whole, cholera is viewed as promoted in its
development and spread by special kinds of fungi, whose
pabulum is decaying animal matter, when outside the
living body, and where decaying animal matter is found in a
moist or wet condition, then, where cholera is present, we
may expect its intensity to be very greatly increased.

These fungi probably act as a catalytic on the blood, and
promote its decomposition, with depression of the heart and
small arterial muscles, or partial paralysis. Agues, it is
assumed, are produced in a measure by fungi also, but such
as feed upon moist vegetable decaying matter, and especially
fungi, which retain vitality in almost all seasons, but are

Epidemics. 23

most vigorous in damp, moist weather, and also from early
morning dews.

An animal sarcode, or zooitic fungi, as they are here
called, are supposed to be chiefly concerned in such infec-
tious diseases as rubeola, variola, typhus, plague, spotted
fevers, etc. Whilst for cancer and tubercle, the degradation
of a higher class of tissue by some imperfect or depraved
form of nutriment is the supposed efficient cause of these
morbid growths or deposits.

A faint outline is referred to of the epidemic era in which
we now live, dating from 1817 to 2457. First, as to the
decline and fall of blood letting, which, started in 1823, grew
less reckless and less, from 1833 to 1854, when as a rule,
in Great Britain, it was universally condemned, and is now
fast dying out in France, Italy, and Spain, etc.

The great cause of this change is considered to be the
diminished force of the heart, as the chief organ isolated in
our own epidemic era, and is that organ most under the sway
of the metamorphosis of disease as implanted on our own
special era ; and because the heart, as a propelling power to
blood throughout the body is feebler, therefore, the tendency
to sthenic inflammation is less, and many surgical opera-
tions are much better borne on that account. In fact, the
European constitution is much more approaching to that
of Asia and Africa since 1850 than it was in 1800.

The result of this feebler action of the heart leads more
to passive congestion in the capillaries, and serous, and
saneous exudations, and less fibrinous.

24 Introduction.

The lungs giving, through auscultation, a better chance of
observing changes going on in their structure, some refer-
ence is given to a certain lung affection with congestion, that
has been observed with much attention in man since 1849.

Here the necessity of several long and forced inspirations
is given as an efficient means of detecting pure congestion of
the lungs from tubercle, pneumonia, or syphilitic infiltration.

A short outline is given of the same disease in an acute
form in cattle ; commonly called the pleuro-pneumonia of
cattle, but really a blood disease of far wider range than the
lungs and pleura; but since 1856 it has become much
modified, or more restricted to the lungs and pleura. It
made its appearance in Ireland not far from 1840, and
about 1846 in our own land ; proving remarkably destructive.

Yet it must be observed that there is a gradual change
passing over the vito-physical resources, through the
process of nutrition generally, which is slowly and imper-
ceptibly altering, and in many cases, improving our
vegetable and animal products.

Breeding and cultivation get the entire credit for the
changes effected in our fruits, cereals, and floral gardening ;
and also in our horses, horned cattle, sheep, and poultry,
etc. ; but here a strong suspicion is thrown out that the
change in the nutritive powers of animated creation have
undergone a slight, but certain modified condition since the
ingress of the present epidemic era, dating from 1817.

From this point a wider application is given to epidemic

Epidemics. 25

epochs than that pertaining to improvements and changes
in the culture of vegetable forms, or the breeding of animals,
etc. ; since their effects are traced in relation to dynasties,
and the rise and fall of nations.

Acre, on the coast of Palestine, is taken as the centre from
which in increasing circles, and wider spread areas from
that centre, civilisation has been ever moving, and dynasties
rising and falling from the time of Egypt's greatness to
the present time.

The kingdoms of Egypt, Judah, Babylon, and Nineveh,
Medo-Persian, Grecian, Carthaginian, Roman, Saracenic,
and present European supremacy are taken under review,
and from thence a close analogy is recognised between the
spread of epidemics, and the length of their epochs, and
that of the rise and fall of empires and dynasties, with
many intervening peculiarities.

It is considered that the present anthropological era which
began about 1817, taking Europe as its chief basis of
extension, is spreading its leavening influence in a wider
area from Acre than any previous anthropological era, and
gives promise of knowledge and science spreading to every
part of the world.

The human mind is taking a wider, deeper, and more
general expanse than has hitherto existed, and implanted
upon this is the universal adoption of the principles of
association and large combinations, whether it be for com-
mercial, scientific, or religious ends, or for pleasure, or

26 Introduction.

aggressive purposes, as large combinations of skilled men in
the art of war, large associations for political purposes, and
societies, trades, and clubs without end, and all taking a
different standard for their progress and stability to the
societies of past ages. For in this era the press and publicity
is the received standard, and secrecy is going fast into the
shades of neglect and distrust.

The end of such association and free intercourse must be
wide-spread civilisation, in which for all grades of mankind
an equal code of civil rights must be accorded, or the end
will be greater and more destructive wars than the world
has ever seen. Moreover, the difference of races and colour
has within it no sound ethnological basis for introducing
class distinction, in according rights to them upon a moral
basis, inferior to that pertaining to the white man.

The contrast of Empires, between the ancient and modern
worlds, demand that equal rights be shown to men of all
colours. The African and Asiatic nations and tribes are
here briefly referred to.

A comparison is made between the rise, spread and decay
of epidemic periods, and anthropological eras, with the view of
vindicating the course taken of introducing anthropology in
association with vital force, and showing that the moral
force or power may, through its destructive creative genius,
pervert and render useless to him the rich bounties which
vital force gives to man, if security to property goes not
hand in hand with judicious labour.

Epidemics. 27

A more careful examination into the causes of epidemics
is now given than at the commencement of the Sketch,
from a reconsideration of the materials and data gone
over, in which much recapitulation may be observed,
yet for the end of viewing the same general facts from
different points, this form of analysing is the most fit
for a subject in itself naturally so difficult, and may be,
in some measure, examined from a more general survey of
leading facts ranging over a longer period of history than is
usual in such matters.

Climate, heat, drought, mildew, locusts, heavy rains,
earthquakes, volcanoes, trade winds, &c., are here briefly
referred to ; and in their relation to vital force, or its
abstraction or perversion, as in the form of disease, these
several agencies are admitted to have a very marked effect,
but all of them more of an endemic, rather than of an
epidemic nature. But such diseases as the Levant plague,
or cholera, from their regular advance, and encircling
the whole globe, and continuance from time to time over a
long series of years, can scarcely be viewed as arising from
changes wrought by an eclipse, comet, earthquake or volcanic
eruption, or mildew, or locusts, etc., etc.

A brief examination is instituted of the change in tempera-
ture on the earth's surface from the time of Job on to our
own time ; or from 1500 or more B.C. to 1870 ; showing
generally that heat has increased as we near the tropics and
decreased towards the Arctic regions in regular gradations

28 Introduction.

for 3300 years and more. That northern climates were
warmer and southern climates cooler in the early history of
the world, but during the progress of epidemic epochs they
have undergone a slow but sure change.

Halley's theory of trade winds, &c., is generally admitted,
but denying the sun to be sole regulator of them, because,
if so, year by year they would return to the day and the
hour, which is far from being the case.

An internal source of disturbance is suggested as a neces-
sary accessory to the sun ; to account for the checks to
winds and monsoons on the one hand, and for the varia-
tions of cold and heat on the other hand, occurring daily,
which, from being sudden, and not gradual, cannot have an
origin in solar distribution, or in the action of the sun's rays
on the earth's surface.

A short examination of Gilbert's and Halley's theory of
-magnetism as being a revolving solid mass towards the
centre of the earth is given, and Dr. Barlow's and Haustein's
of more recent times, and the general conclusion adopted is,
that our chief disturbing agency to health, and promoter of
-disease has an internal rather than an external origin, viz. :
that of an electro-magnetic nature, or, that within the earth,
the electro-magnetic, or some like force, is disturbed, and
subject to consecutive changes which affect the surface of
the earth and its organized creation.

The secular variation of the compass from east to west
is about 320 years, and back again another 320, so that a

Epidemics. 29

complete revolution is about 640, or the period here fixed,
by observation from history, as being the period or epoch
of an epidemic era. Some general reasons are given for
supposing the historical data for inferring an epidemic era
is 640, and the secular variations of the compass being
also 640 years for a complete revolution, are not mere
coincidences.

This inference is concluded by a general expression of
belief that imponderable forces govern worlds and systems,
hold in integrity the existing mechanism of the earth
internally, and retain in integrity and perfect harmony the
suns and planets beyond our earth, and the plants and
animals living on its surface.

But as an organizing and creative power, they have as
much to do with starting or originating mechanism as a fire
has to do with constructing a locomotive engine, though the
heat it supplies gives motor power to the mechanism.

This leads to the conclusion of the treatise by an exami-
nation of the epochal and detrital theory of geology, which
is combated and doubted upon two independent bases. The
first is, that the chemical constituents, as found in granite,
are found in the sedimentary rocks, in such excess and dis-
proportion, that the one cannot be derived from the other.

2ndly : That the mechanical effect of detritus must be to
mix stratum with stratum, and their contained organic
remains, especially those of small size, which are easily
transported by water from place to place, but the oppo-

3O Introduction.

site is the received geological theory, namely, that every
stratum contains its own special fauna and flora, and
when those of one epoch are found intermixed with the
fauna and flora of another epoch or stratum, that, in such
case, they are derived impurities, and the organic remains
are NOT in the place they were first deposited as sedi-
mentary rocks.

GEOLOGY.

THERE has been for long, say for fifty years or so, a sort
of precise and yet reckless way of dealing with mundane
antiquity. Thirty thousand and five hundred thousand
years may have been allowed as sufficient time for the
formation of some special stratum ; and for another, upon
some basis of analogy, or something equally general or
equally precise, one million or five millions : a few odd
millions of difference in duration in such mighty changes
being unimportant matters, where time has to be calculated
by billions or trillions, rather than by the million or the
thousand.

The general tenor of such teaching has rested for the
most part upon two hypotheses; the one being that of
Detritus, from slow and successive waste from granite, with
alternate stages of depression and elevation of this and
super layers of rock, by forces sufficient to raise the earth
bodily, if any one knew where to fix the fulcrum.

32 Introduction.

The other is based upon the fact that each stratum has-
its own special kind of organic remains, and which organic re-
mains are never found in any other stratum ; and if approxi-
mately found, they are of diminished or increased growth to
that of some special stratum in which they are indigenous,
or else modified in some particular manner, so that a good
palaeontologist could readily distinguish the aborigines from
the strangers, or derived impurity.

The general lesson which was implied by such special
aggregation of organic bodies, and also from the great lapse
of time which existed between the end of one formation and
the end of another, and so on, implied, for special organisms,
a special preparedness to receive them, and before a sufficient
state of preparedness could be obtained, adapted for great
varieties of growth, long ages or epochs must elapse, till
finally an age arrived which permitted all, or nearly all,
varieties of form and species from lowest to highest in the
scale of vital organism to live contemporaneously, though it
is admitted in very different proportion as to size, number,
and aggregate quantity.

Why one period of the world should be so uniform and
specially adapted for a teeming variety both of plants and
animals, and other periods or epochs appear to have been
comparatively restricted to few varieties, seems, to say the
least, wondrous strange.

Again, why the Creator had to fit up the world one way,
and in another epoch has to fit up the same world in another

Geology. 33

way, appears equally strange, the more so, as for every

epoch, adaptation was the prime point.

\

This implied progressive improvement in the adapter,
only limited his skill and power ; indeed, so patent has
this appeared to some minds, that to them an adapter, or
moulder, was not essential, and by leaving matter to itself,
if only time enough were given to it, it would fall into
proper mould and order of itself.

The writer, early in the year of 1864, wrote a pamphlet,
entitled, " Doubts Relative to the Epochal and Detrital
Theory of Geology," challenging the soundness of these
theories, but discussing the subject in as few words as it
was possible in such an extensive subject. Copies were
sent privately to several distinguished geologists and
others at the time.

It is reprinted at the end of this treatise for the purpose
of suggesting that, vital force in its geological chart is
anything but driven into a corner for evidence that its mani-
festations are necessarily gradational and progressive, any
more than the organic bodies in the Laurentian rocks, or
fossil man near Mentone, go to establish the same from a
purely Palseontological point of view, or the recent re-
searches of Sir W. Thomson on certain physical difficul-
ties in relation to the same theory.

There are four points considered :

ist : From a practical point of view granite may be con-
sidered as the true base of all rocks, from the trituration
and waste of which all others have been formed. Trap and

3

34 Introduction.

basalt, etc., being too insignificant and, also, too recent
in extrusion upon the surface of the earth, to be of any
importance in accounting for the materials of either meta-
morphic or sedimentary rocks.

Both in the metamorphic and sedimentary rocks there
is a marked discrepancy between them, in the elements
they contain, and those possessed by granite. For instancer
the proportion of lime in these rocks cannot be less than
15 per cent, of lime — may be it is not placed too high by
making it even as high as 25 per cent. ; whilst in granite the
per-centage of lime cannot be higher than 8 per cent., but
5 per cent, will be much nearer the mark.

Again, carbon is not found in granite, or in the smallest
amount imaginable, not as much as i in 1,000. Yet, in
addition to the carbon, as a hydro-carbon, in our coal beds,
and the carbonic acid in our atmosphere, there is at least
four times more carbon contained in lime, in the form of
carbonic acid, extending from metamorphic rock on to chalk,
than is to be found in all other sources put together. These
illustrations pertain to the positive side of the question.

But the negative side appears to be equally decisive upon
the matter, for we find potash as much as 7 to 10 per cent,
in granite, especially in felspar, yet, in the midst of such
extensive disintegration, there is not so much as one single
stratum of potash, or any salt of it, in any portion of the
earth's surface, unless it be found in strata like to
common salt. Hence it is clear that granite never was,

Geology. 35

nor is, the source of our existing strata, as the result of
either slow or fast, or any other kind, of disintegration.

2nd : The small amount of vitrified rock in granite is
opposed to the earth ever being a ball of fire, or a molten
mass. Moreover, those forms of matter most difficult to
fuse would be at the base, and the lighter portions, or more
easily fusible, would be on the surface, of which we have no
trace whatever, but much to the contrary.

On the other hand, the gradual rise of the land above the
water, and land plants and animals appearing more and
more as we near the tertiary strata or beds, show the expan-
sive effect of heat within, and not the contraction of the
surface from the withdrawal of heat.

3rd : The conformation of our mountain ranges and
steppes, or successively elevated plains and prairies, demon-
strate that the heat of the earth is not at its centre, but at
a distance of about 800 to 1,000 miles from the surface,
and in depth probably not above 5 to 25 miles, taking an
average throughout.

From these considerations it is inferred that we never
have had very much molten debris of any great depth issuing
from the inner parts on to the surface of the earth.

4th : That organic remains, abide after their kind, each
in their own stratum, prove that detritus never unsettled
them ; therefore, they constitute no basis from which to
judge of age or duration. This fact is entirely conclusive
against the formation of rocks from the debris or waste of

3—2

36 Introduction.

previous rocks or strata, as the strata of the tertiary period
cannot have been assisted by the debris of the secondary or
sedimentary rocks, for they have no organic remains of the
secondary strata, but only those which are peculiar to the
tertiary, unless it be such organic remains as are classified
by geologists as derived impurities.

UPON VITAL PHYSICS-

No writer has more correctly expressed the usually re-
ceived opinions of physiologists, concerning vital forces,
than Dr. J. Hughes Bennett, in his " Outlines of Physiology"
(page 44) :—

" In studying the different phenomena (whether physical
or vital), physiologists are in the habit of using the term
force much in the same manner as it is used by the general
cultivators of science. Mechanics has its forces, such as
that of the lever ; Chemistry has its forces, like that of
affinity ; and Physical Sciences has its forces, like that of
attraction. Physiology, also, has its forces. It has been
supposed that, in the same manner, we have physical
attractions and repulsions. Then we have contractile,
nervous and generative forces. The idea of force, whether
in physics or physiology, as explanatory of phenomena,
must be regarded only as a theory, as a mental creation,
which we employ as a convenient term to satisfy that
intense desire of arriving at definite causes which is instinc-
tive in man. On the other hand, it is often employed to
express action which may be demonstrated and often
measured. In this sense, it is as applicable to the action
of the stomach, or of the liver, as it is to that of an electric
telegraph, or a steam-engine." In short, vital force is often

38 Vital Physics.

understood as a distinct and peculiar force of its own,
directly antagonistic to ordinary physical force in many
respects. Scarcely a greater dishonour could befall
a man, than for him to suppose that vital force is but
natural force placed by moulding or organizing special
kinds of matter in a cumulative order of development,
whereby each successive order of atoms appropriated to the
primitive would add to the presiding force ; and so, with
increase of matter, comes increase of force.

This brings life down to gravitation, and places all in one
series of uniform force, which at present cannot be demon-
strated. First, let it be observed that in itself force implies
antagonism, and as matter is viewed as an inert substance,
variably affected by force, it would be as well to be explicit,
since, for the want of plainness, persons differ who sup-
pose that they entirely agree.

In the first place, gravitation as a law, as it is frequently
called, and not the attraction of gravitation, is a misnomer
in the sense of being a force — it is merely the result of a
force, and in itself is no more an active force than a boiler is
to a steam-carriage. The boiler confines and directs the
force, but the active force itself is the heat applied to water con-
tained in the boiler. All weight is in direct relation to attraction,
which is the real active force. A pound of lead or cork, upon
the hypothesis of every particle being equally attracted to the
earth's centre, tells for certain that the amount of atoms is
the same in both ; but suppose a man weighed out twenty
pounds of iron shot, and in the counter-poising scale his
weights were made of brass, what a difference in the weight
it would make, if under the counter, and directly opposite
the scale containing the shot, there was a powerful magnet.
It is easy to conceive, according to the power of the magnet,
that the twenty pounds of shot might weigh twenty-two or
four. If, instead of a counter, a large amount of magne-

Vital Physics. 39

tized iron lay, twenty to sixty feet below the surface of the
earth, over a considerable extent of area, in such case tht
pendulum (if composed, in parts, of steel), would give a
greater result than the exact amount of matter justified.
But if it were composed in part of gold, and some large
mass of matter of a diamagnetic character were placed in
like manner, another source of error would come into play,
though not to so great an extent as would arise from
magnetized iron acting upon a steel pendulum.

The fact that greater density of matter over a given area
is admitted, as affecting the pendulum in its oscillations,
also leads to the examination of another source, not of
error, but of misunderstanding, about which the most
perfect accord is supposed to exist. Ask two men, perfectly
conversant with the subject, " What do you understand by
every particle of matter in the universe attracting every
other particle, with a force varying inversely, as the
square of their mutual distances, and directly as the mass
of the attracting particles ?"*

The answer given is one of the two following : Either that
matter in one mass, which is the greater, attracts the
matter in the smaller mass, not in relation to the amount of
matter in the greater, but in the less mass of matter,
because it is equal and mutual (in relation to distance), and
the greater mass only attracts in proportion to the amount
of atoms contained in the less, and no more, because, to
repeat, it is equal and mutual. t Or the following : That it
is inversely as the distance and directly as the mass ; and
that the smaller mass is, therefore, drawn towards the larger
mass, not in proportion to the amount of matter which the
smaller mass contains, but according to the plus of matter the
larger mass represents over that of the smaller, and so the less

* Grant's " History of Physical Astronomy," page 26.
f See Airy, quoted at page 51.

40 Vital Physics.

is compelled by the greater in proportion to its mass. This
latter is, no doubt, the correct interpretation of the facts
observed in relation to the oscillations of the pendulum
when tried at the base of large mountain masses.

But it still remains to be asked, Is the Vllth Proposition
and its Vllth Theorem, in the third Book of the " Principia,"
correct according to the advanced state of experimental
science or practical chemistry, which runs as follows :—
" Gravitatem in corpora universa eamque fieri proportion-
alem esse quantitati materise in singulis" ?*

If towards the earth's centre is alone meant, then it may
be safely granted that all particles of matter, when removed
a given distance from each other, have, or may have, an
equal attraction for each other, though this cannot be
positively proved as yet. But the mean of the whole will
certainly be in the centre, whichever view is correct ;
and, for astronomical purposes, the centre is the point in
distance from which all objects ought to be calculated.

But when mutual attraction is insisted upon at any
distance, then nothing can be more false than the doctrine
of equal attraction ; for the entire science of chemistry rests
upon the unequal attraction which given elements have for
each other, from the repellent condition in which electric
currents, or caloric, places different material substances or
atoms towards each other.

Boyle's experiment, so often cited, of a feather and a
sovereign falling simultaneously to the bottom of an ex-
hausted tube, connected with an air-pump, appears to settle
the whole matter at once, and proves that every particle
of matter is equally attracted towards the earth's centre^
Such might do to settle men's minds pleased with toys.
But remove all resistance to falling bodies, and the inherent

Newton's " Principia," third edition, page 403.

Vital Physics. 41

velocity of the accelerating force is alone left, whether its-
degree of plus in attraction in one body, as compared
to another, be as i to 1,000,000, or as i to 2. The
amount of acceleration would be identical. But drop balls
made exactly alike, but of different materials, from one
height through a resisting medium, and first test them
for porosity by the best constructed microscope, and the
amount of acceleration between each would better test
equal or unequal conditions of attractive force than each
being placed in a non-resisting medium.

Occasionally the man of science indulges in the pleasing
recognition of the consistency of scientific men in their
modes of interpreting Nature, and recoils with well-measured
irony against the man of literature, politics, or theology,
contrasting most favourably his own adopted pursuits with
those of the, said to be, less positive and more doubtful
kinds of study. If the man of science were measured by
the standard of consistency in relation to physical force,
and votaries from the domain of two of the most exact
sciences were canvassed upon this subject, the result would
astonish some of the outsiders who came rather to learn
than to criticise. Let one on either side be quoted.

" Our notions," says Professor Graham, " of the range of
temperature acquire all their precision from the use of the
thermometer. Cold, for instance, is allowed a substantial
existence as well as heat, in popular language. What is
cold ? It is the absence of heat, as darkness is the absence
of light."*

Contrast this with Mr. Grant's remark upon the tangen-
tal force. " The resistance offered by a body to move in
a curvilinear orbit has been termed its centrifugal force ;
it is therefore equal, and opposite to, the resolved part of the

* Graham's " Elements of Chemistry," first edition, page 21.

42 Vital Physics.

centripetal force, which acts perpendicularly to the tangent.
Hence, when a body revolves in a circular orbit by means
of a force directed to the centre of the circle, the centripetal
and centrifugal forces will be equal ; but in every other case
the latter of these forces will exceed the former, and will tend
not to the centre of force but to the centre of the circle of
curvature, corresponding to the infinitely small arc of the
orbit in which the body is moving at the given instant. It
is obvious that the centrifugal force has no positive existence.
It merely arises from the resistance offered by the inertia of
the body, in virtue of which the latter tends to persevere in
a straight line."*

Now, cold is the condition in which attraction acts
without the counterpoise of heat, and in chemistry it is
nothing ; heat in chemistry is the real force, and it repels
particle from particle.

In astronomy, the repellent force, or centrifugal force,
as it is called, is inertia — i.e., do nothing, till a tap is given,
or something starts off motion ; and that tap is the
full extent of all repulsive force from the first start until
now, and though continually drawn from this tangent
towards the centre, yet it is unsubdued, and is as fast as
ever, trying to break off into the straight line of the tan-
gent, from inertia or nothing at all ; whilst attraction is
the active force busily engaged in bringing about the ruin
of this first tap, and though it has been at it for ages, yet
it cannot, with all its activity, subdue this first slight tap
or start. Hence the attractive power in astronomy is entirely
master of the ceremonies, and the repellent power is nothing
at all — it is a mere cypher, a nonentity ; but in chemistry
the repellent power is the lord paramount, and settles all
difficulties under the name of caloric, and the attractive
power becoming more and more developed as heat is with-

* Note in Grant's " Physical Astronomy," page 23.

Vital Physics. 43

drawn, is nothing. It will be said that cold is a term
applied only to temperature, and, as heat or repulsive force
is withdrawn, so cold becomes manifest, or is there. Quite
so, but the attractive force is stronger as the repellent
force diminishes. This is a perversion, it is said ; attraction
belongs to all particles, and is their state of natural inertia,
but, when heat is given, motion begins, and the natural
inertia is overcome by the force of repulsion, or caloric.
Put it anyhow, the more attraction acts upon particles in
the mass, the more are they in a state of inertia and nothing-
ness. Next, in astronomy, the more the repulsion shows
itself, either by its distance or velocity, the more it proves
inertia ; and the more the attractive force acts, as when
three bodies are in one line, as sun, moon, and earth, so
much the more evidence is there that a real force is in
action, and not inertia in the slightest, for the inertia plays
its cards all the other way,* and has a tendency to fall out-
wards from the line of the orbit, and that in a most
determined manner, without the aid of any force saving the
inexhaustible impetus in the line of its tangent, which was
first given to it by a gentle tap — " Now go about your busi-
ness." No one who has carefully examined the nature
of the planetary motions can for one moment doubt the
sufficiency of the explanation of motion by attraction pro-
ceeding from the sun as a centre, and that it thoroughly
explains the orbital motion of the planets and satellites, if
the preliminary proposition be granted, that the tangental
force, once started, is incapable of being brought to com-
position and resolution by continuous deflections from the
straight line, by the action of the attractive force.
That a planet, running in an orbit, obeys the order of increase

* It must be borne in mind, in speaking of cold and heat in relation
to physics, that there is no reference to these conditions as applied to
sensation.

44 Vital Physics.

and decrease of acceleration, as it nears or recedes from the
perihelion, is simply a law of motion based upon the direction
in which the planet goes, if its course is in an ellipsis ; for if
it were moving in a perfect circle increase of acceleration
would not exist, but the radius vector (drawn from the sun to
the planet) would not only sweep over equal areas in equal
times, but equal areas would extend over equal distances
in the line of the orbit in like times, and that without the
slightest variation of time in traversing the line of the orbit
throughout all parts of its course. This part of orbital
motion is therefore freely admitted, and if not it does not
matter, for observation proves it, whether admitted or denied ;
but the subject of inertia, as applied to tangental motion,
is rejected on other grounds.

Inertia is complete passiveness ; so that a motion started
in a straight line continues in a straight line, ad infinitum,
if unchecked or uncounterpoised, and this passiveness resides
in all matter. Now, if motion in one direction is checked
by that of an opposite, we certainly get the diagonal or
resultant of the two, but we do not get inertia active to
resist the continued central force which gains by being
neared ; and it is admitted that in one direction it has already
given way to the diagonal, and in the diagonal direction it
must again succumb in like manner from mere passiveness,
and far from falling off from the circumference of the orbit
it must be getting nearer the centre, according to the law of
inertia.

Secondly, matter as inert cannot move in two different
directions ; it must go in one direction or another, not in two
at one and the same time. Therefore, as the matter of this
earth is at all times moving in a circle, by revolving round
its own axis, every particle of matter in the globe is changing
every minute in the direction of its tangent ; therefore,
it follows that it is impossible for the matter of the

PLATE I.

Page 45.

X-

\

Vital Physics. 45

earth to be moving in a tangent, always tending, to a greater
or lesser degree, in a direction external to the earth's orbit.

It will be said : This law of tangental force, or no force,
is merely axoidal, and cannot interfere with the tangent of
orbital motion. So far from its not affecting the subject,
it is a subject upon which the entire doctrine of inertia rests,
since, as we recede from the centre of a planet to its circum-
ference, every particle of matter is increasing in its ratio of
acceleration of motion, and, if not restrained by the force of
attraction, would fly off at various degrees of acceleration
in the line of the tangent the planet happens to be moving
at the time, and in every direction, as dust from a carriage
wheel when running with great rapidity.

Moreover the orbital motion and axoidal cannot both be
west to east, if there were no force, but that of the tangent
in the direction originally given, and from which it is by
attraction constantly deflected, as may be easily shown by
diagram No. I.

Let S stand for sun and E for earth, Z Z' for the earth's
orbit, and X X' for the line of the tangent. Let A G and
A S, E G, E F, B S, B F represent the entire direction of
the attractive force between the earth and sun. Grant that
the line X X is the line of direction of the tangent from X
to A and then to B.

If, then, in all motion of the earth, in its orbit round the
sun, or any other planet, the tangent takes the initiative, it is
slightly in advance of the attractive force, or that the sun
is attracting the earth towards its centre, but never directly
into its centre, because of the ever-shifting position of the
earth in its orbit, by reason of its tangental motion ; then the
centre of the earth, by such onward motion of the tangent,
will be slightly in advance of the centre of attraction of the
earth as given at the point E, whilst a straight line drawn
from S to P through E would exactly bisect the earth into

46 Vital Physics.

two equal parts, P C K A and P C K B, each to each.
But the true axis of the earth by the motion of the tangent,
shifts from the line X A E to the line X A N, and a
straight line from the sun's centre through the earth from
S to O bisects the earth into two unequal parts, whereof the
section O D L B is less than the section O D L A, the
amount of difference being included between the lines
O D L and P C K.

As the attractive force acts equally through all parts of
the earth from A to B when at rest, when in motion, the
direction of attraction being from A to B, there is an excess
of attraction from N to A plus that of N to E, by reason of
the acceleration of the tangental motion from X to X',
whereby in forces seeking their equilibrium the planet or
earth E would be drawn from O towards A in the direction
of A to K, and the axoidal motion would be in the reverse
order to that of the line of the earth's orbit ; for upon the
hypothesis of tangental force being the initiative of orbital
motion, and attraction the deflecting force which determines
orbital direction, it follows that the axoidal motion of the
earth would be in the reverse direction to that which is known
to exist, and that it would move from east to west, which is
not the case.

That it is viewed as the antagonism of an active to a pas-
sive force which determines the earth's orbit, and that that
force is the tangental, a short quotation from Airy's " Ipswich
Lectures " will suffice, page 80. Airy says : " The theory
is this, that if we suppose the planets to be once set in
motion (by some cause which we do not pretend to know),
then the attraction of the sun accounts for the curved form
of their orbits and for all their motion^ in those orbits." It
is to be observed, that they are first started in the tangental
course for them, or, after the tangental has started, to repeat
then the attraction of the sun accounts for the curved form

Vital Physics. 47

of their orbits. Again, page 81, Ibid : "The first law of
motion is simply this, If a body be once set in motion, and
if it have a certain velocity given to it, it will continue to
move (if not acted upon by another force) in a straight
line with unabated velocity. Hence, the law of motion
by the tangent is the first or starting law of motion for
the earth and planets in running along the course of their
orbits."

By this very law of motion the axoidal motion would be
in the reverse order of direction to that in which it is found.
It is asked, But does not this go against the attractive force
being the only force? Certainly, but in explaining the
orbital motion the axoidal motion is never referred to, as
though the two motions had no relation to each other, though
effected by one and the same force. This absence of explana-
tion is the more mysterious, as the axoidal motion is often
referred to in works of astronomy, and is a matter universally
examined by all practical observers.

Can anything be proposed as an off-set, supposing the
tangental is only admitted as a qualifying agent in account-
ing for both orbital and axoidal motion? Here a suggestion,
rather than a demonstration, is given without further
apology. Let it be supposed that there are two forces of
unequal acceleration ; or, to put it in other words, that one
obeys the law of intension in inverse ratio to the square of
the distance, and the other, which is the weaker of the two,
diminishes in the degree of acceleration more slowly than that
of inverse ratio to the square of the distance, and in pro-
portion to the mass.

This ratio of diminution requires a little explanation.
Then let it be said that a force called attraction dimi-
nishes in intensity of force as it recedes from the focus
of action in a fixed and constant manner, and also in
a very rapid manner ; but a force, here called the

48 Vital Physics.

repellent force, diminishes in intensity as it recedes from
the focus of action in a constant and regular manner, but
much less rapidly than does the attractive ; and as a result of
this slower diminution in acceleration or intensity, it gets
the start of the attractive, or is in advance in motion
over the attractive, arid always pushes the attracted body a
little ahead of the curbing or attracting force.

To illustrate this, let it be supposed that S is the
Sun and J Jupiter, or any other planet. Let G G G G
represent the direction of the repellent force, and H H H
of the attractive ; and let A B represent the line of
equipoise of the two forces in relation to their nearness
to the sun. Or that, at the line A B, the attractive
and repellent forces have attained their perfect equili-
brium, but inasmuch as the rate of acceleration is greater
in the direction of G G G G than in the opposite direc-
tion of H H H, it follows that the increased acceleration
will ever tend to project J towards the line C D, but
the acceleration losing in force directly in relation to its
distance from the sun, and attraction, by its slower ac-
celeration but greater force, effectually checks the repel-
lent force, when it reaches C D, and being no longer equally
equipoised, brings J back to F E ; for the ratio of accelera-
tion in the adverse direction will, by inertia itself, be carried
beyond the line of equipoise A B, but the increased resist-
ance of the repellent force at E F will be too great for
attraction to further overcome, and aided by the accumulated
force at E F, rebounds back to C D ; and in this manner, by
two forces of unequal acceleration, a constant ingress
towards and egress from the sun, are sustained in the form
of perpetual motion. It is this unceasing oscillation, as
here supposed, which tends to bring about that unresting
state of the waves, present at all times, whether in storm
or calm, as distinct from the tide, and is dependent upon

PLATE II.

Page 49.

Vital Physics. 49

some condition external to the oceanic atmosphere.
This, then, is the primary condition of motion in the
planetary system, as the result of two forces possessed of
unequal degrees of acceleration. It will be objected
that if the oscillation is so great in proportion between
the moon and the earth, or the sun and the planets, as
from the line F E to the line C D, that our astronomical
instruments would have long since detected it. Such,
no doubt, would be the case, or even a i,ooo,oooth part
of the implied distance. But the diagram (No. II.) is
intentionally exaggerated for the purpose of more clearly
indicating the kind of motion, and not its degree. With
two antagonizing forces, as here maintained, let a tap be
given to the sphere J at the point I, in the direction of J,
and immediately the balance of equipoise is cast into a
new direction, and in the onward motion, the sphere
or planet, would ever be moving in advance of its true
centre, and would describe a small arc in advance of
the true centre, whilst revolving round its own axis and
the sun. But inasmuch as these two forces perfectly
equipoise each other, no new line of force will ever be lost,
but sustained for ever according to the direction in which it
is given, because the centre of equilibrium is not dependent
upon the outside force or tangent, but upon mutual and
unchanging antagonism inter se, and in whatever direction
that antagonism starts in that direction it will continue,
because there is no new outside force to interfere with the
direction once started, whether that direction be from east
to west or from west to east.

This view rests upon the assumption that axoidal and
orbital motion are the result of the antagonism of real and
active forces, and also that, without direct antagonism
between forces, orbital and axoidal motion have no existence.

4

50 Vital Physics.

It need scarcely be said that outside astronomy it never was
supposed to exist.

If it be granted that axoidal motion is obtained by two
distinct forces, the repellent and attractive, naturally antago-
nizing each other, how, it is asked, is the orbital motion
obtained ? By a third motion or force, namely, the
tangental. This force or direction of motion, it will be
said, has already been disposed of as being destroyed by its
direction being lost by the axoidal motion. Truly, such has
been maintained when axoidal motion has to be sustained
by one isolated force, the attractive, and the tangent left as
the only remaining line of motion, which acted in antago-
nism to the centralizing direction of attraction ; for in such
case it has to fulfil the double function of axoidal and
orbital motion, which motions are in many respects inde-
pendent of each other, and perfectly distinct in their line of
direction. But if the axoidal motion is already accomplished
by the joint action of two distinct and antagonizing forces,
the tangent only directing the antagonism in a fixed
and constant course, which is the exact function for
which it is called in, then all that is wanted receives its
full accomplishment by admitting the tangental motion
to start the orbital, and with it the axoidal, and no more.

If the two forces were of exactly equal acceleration, the
tangental would simply produce orbital motion, for, no
balance being lost by unequal acceleration, axoidal motion
could have no existence ; for axoidal motion for its pro-
duction demands, not only opposing forces, but also that
those forces be unequal in their degrees of accelera-
tion, one moving more rapidly or else more slowly than
the other.

That the repellent force is distinct from the attractive, in
that it is in proportion to the mass, and not directly as the
mass, one or two suggestions will be given tending to prove it.

Vital Physics. 51

But let the subject of attraction being directly as the
mass, be first examined.
Airy thus speaks of it : —

" There is only one more point regarding the law of
gravitation, on which I will here speak ; it is the velocity or
the change of motion which an attractive body produces on
another body. I have spoken of attraction as if it were
directed towards the sun, but we shall find that experiments
of various kinds lead us to this conclusion — that every
particle of matter attracts every other particle of matter,
and that every planet attracts every other planet, that
every planet attracts the sun, that the sun attracts the
planets, and that the sun attracts the moon, and the moon
attracts the sun, and that every body attracts every other
body. Now the thing I wish you to understand is this :
Suppose Venus and the sun are at equal distances from the
earth, then the earth pulls the sun out of its way, just as
much as it pulls Venus out of the way; the enormous
difference of magnitude of the attracted bodies makes no
difference in the movement which the action of the
attracting body produces on them. If there are two bodies,
a great one and a little one, and if something else attracts
them, the great body is pulled through as many feet or
miles in an hour as the little one."*

Perhaps there is no subject more difficult to comprehend
than attraction being directly as the mass ; the general
impression is that attraction is directly in proportion to the
mass, but to suppose the earth to pull the sun as much out
of his way as the sun does the earth, at once dispels the
illusion.

* Airy's " Lectures on Astronomy," delivered at Ipswich, 1848,
fourth edition, page 106.

4—2

52 Vital Physics.

Let a different mode of illustration be given, that a
clear view may be obtained as to what directly as the mass
signifies.

If instead of using the words directly as the mass, it be
enunciated that the less of two unequal masses represents
the degree of attractive force in operation by the two
bodies mutually attracting each other, then a better concep-
tion might be obtained ; for the greater mass only attracts
the lesser in proportion to the amount of matter the smaller
of the two bodies contains, and the attractive force of the
greater is only equal to the amount of atoms contained in
the less, yet where the sun and moon and earth are in
conjunction, as in the spring tides, their mutual attractions
are greater than either alone; but this arises from there
being two independent centres, both pulling and being
pulled one way, combined with the relation of distance, and
not from the direct increase of matter represented by the
moon, added to that of the earth, simultaneously acting in
one direction.

It need scarcely be added, that directly as the mass and in-
versely as the square of the distance only applies to large
bodies, when removed beyond a certain and, as yet, unknown
distance from each other ; for the action of the pendulum is not
only affected by large mountain masses within a given radius
from the point of observation, but also by the density of
masses beneath the earth's surface, whereby the motion of
the pendulum is much affected, in areas no great distance
from each other. A very important analysis of this subject
has been given by Archdeacon Pratt, of Calcutta, on the
deflection of the plumb line in India, caused by the attrac-
tion of the Himalaya mountains, and of the elevated
regions beyond, and its modification by the compensating
effect of a deficiency of matter below the mountain
mass.

Vital Physics. 53

11 On the Degree of Uncertainty which Local Attrac-
tion, if not allowed for, occasions in the Operations of
Geodesy." By the Venerable J. H. Pratt, M.A., Archdeacon
of Calcutta, 1858 ; and again, 1863, to the Royal Society.

In the repellent force, accumulation of force in relation to
mass is admitted, or that repulsion is in proportion to the mass ;
and that, in relation to distance, it diminishes less rapidly
than inversely to the square of the distance. To discuss
this rigidly is not attempted in the slightest in this short
chapter, but only the simplest illustration. If, then, heat
represents the repellent force in one form, few would be
disposed to doubt that its intensity increased in relation to
the mass that is burning, cceteris paribus ; but as applied
to the planetary system in relation to the orbital and the
diurnal motions, the following examples appear to bear
upon the present subjects. From Brand's " Dictionary of
Science," &c., 1852, Article " Planets" :—

PLANET.

DIAMETER.

VOLUME.

DIURNAL MOTIO

Mercury-

0,398

0,063

brs.

24

m.

5

sec
28

Venus

975 0,927

23

21

7

The Earth 1,000 1,000

24

0

0

Mars 0,517 °^39

24

39

21

Jupiter

10,860

1,280,900

9

55

50

Saturn 9,982

995,000

IO

29

17

The orbits of Mercury and Venus are less than that of the
earth, each respectively, and therefore to be nearly 24 hours
in rotation on the axis, or over that time, in so short an
orbit, shows retardation in the axoidal motion in relation to
the orbit. But in Mercury, in proportion to the orbit, the
axoidal motion is much slower than in Venus, but the mass
or volume is so much less ; and therefore it suffers much

54 Vital Physics.

from lack of accumulation of repellent power in itself to-
wards the sun, and hence becomes slower in its axoidal
motion. Venus is better, because it has greater volume.
Mars falls short again, for as the distance increases, and the
repellent power does not lose acceleration in equal ratio
with the attractive for equal distances, the further from the
sun with equal masses, and the greater ought to be the
axoidal motion till the mean distance of our planetary system
is passed ; but the loss by volume accounts for this, whilst it
explains the increase of axoidal motion in Jupiter, whose
volume is so great, and the slight diminution in Saturn,
with his decreasing volume though increasing distance.

After having so far discussed the subject of an active
repellent and attractive force as bearing upon the planetary
motions, the following propositions or assumptions will
be given, with the object of placing the laws governing
matter generally, and that of the planetary bodies spe-
cially, upon a more comprehensive basis, and in a form
more capable of adaptation to the many conditions in
which matter is found in the organic and inorganic worlds
respectively.

1. That there are three entities, two imponderable and one
ponderable, occupying and building up, as it were, all space.

2. That the two imponderables are fluids, which have
equal extension throughout the universe, and interpenetrate
each other, but are of unequal acceleration.

3. One fluid is the attractive, and is of constant and
invariable acceleration, and is always inversely to the square
of the distance, as far as is known.

4. That the other imponderable is repulsion, and of greater
acceleration than that of attraction, but is variable ; the
acceleration is greater as it reaches the middle of our

Vital Physics. 55

planetary system, and slightly slower after it has reached
the mean distance. (The planetary system reaching from
Sun to Neptune.)

5. The repulsive fluid is also capable of abstraction and
of accumulation within given, and, as yet, undetermined
limits. This fluid is considered to be that fluid known in
science as caloric, electricity, and light *

6. The third entity is ponderable, and exists in both a fluid
and a solid state, occupying a part of space, and commonly
known as matter. In itself it is variable, and resolves itself
into elements and atoms, or small particles ; the several
elements or their atoms each possess distinct and peculiar
properties.

7. As each atom occupies some portion of space, so it
must possess some form, and as each element is peculiar
and distinctive in its properties, so all the atoms pertaining
to each element have a special form, each differing from the
other inter se ; and as a sequence to this it follows that each
atom has an internal and external condition.

8. That the two imponderable fluids permeate all matter
in two distinct ways : — ist. Every atom is permeated by
one fluid chiefly internally, and by the other fluid chiefly
externally. In one atom repulsion is plus internally and
minus externally, and in another it is plus externally and
minus internally, and so of attraction. But 2ndly, the

••• Upon this interesting subject much new matter is given, and old
well examined, by Dr. Tyndall. " Heat a Mode of Motion," 5th edition,
1875. Also see " The Radiometer/' by Mr. Crooks ; " Light a Mode of
Motion."

56 Vital Physics.

degree of plus and minus in the atoms of the several distinct
elements is dissimilar and special.

9. That the two imponderables diffused throughout all
space are at perfect rest with each other, but being dis-
similarly and unequally conditioned in the entity matter,
there is ever a tendency to change and motion in matter,
from the two imponderables ever tending towards equi-
librium or rest. Hence, perpetual motion in the heavenly
bodies, and constant change in matter, but especially mani-
fested in animated nature.

What is here meant as inequality of permeation in
degree or amount may be illustrated in the following
j^p-nner. Take iron or steel, gold, strychnine, and hydrogen
as so many distinct samples.

Iron is an element of remarkable tenacity and of sin-
gular variation in this respect, when subjected to different
degrees of heat, but it is still more marked in the compound
steel.

Let it be granted that iron possesses the attractive fluid
largely, that it possesses it largely by central permeation
of its atoms, and conversely, that the repellent fluid or
entity is superficially applied, and in a small degree, the
result will be two-fold. First, that heat will be slowly
appropriated by each atom, whilst it is immersed in that
entity or fluid in a very concentrated form, as in a very hot
furnace, and therefore the approximation of each particle or
atom will be slowly changed or it will be melted.

Carbon being an element in which the repellent and
attractive fluids are about equally divided, and in which
probably the repellent is the central fluid, different degrees
of diffusion of this element in the iron gives to steel the

Vital Physics. 57

special properties of brittleness and tenacity in a higher
degree than iron possesses when uncombined.

The mode in which caloric is suddenly or slowly
abstracted from the steel is the chief cause of the
particles of iron being equally or unequally adjusted each
to each, and therefore of the metal being elastic, or brittle
and hard ; as well as that it contracts unequally without
air or gas, as it cools down.

Gold will illustrate the matter in another form ; it is a
soft, but remarkably ductile or malleable metal. How can
this be explained ?

Supposing the ultimate atoms of gold are superficially
held together each to each by an external attractive fluid, and
repel each other centrally, but that these two fluids are not
equal in proportion each to each, but that the external
attractive fluid or force is considerably plus that of the
central repellent force, it follows that adhesion to each
other's surfaces will be sustained to the level of their intact
integrity, however finely beaten out ; because the attractive
force being plus on the surface, the edges of the atoms
will adhere to each other, whilst the repellent being minus
very considerably, under ordinary circumstances, the force
applied from centre to centre of each atom will be unequal
to destroy the plus of the superficial attractive binding
force, and so fine continuous extension is sustained. Again,
from the repellent force being small in each atom,
it is slow to receive caloric in each particle, till that
fluid is present in a concentrated form, as great heat,
when it melts the gold. Hence the high degree at which
gold melts, or its particles acquire central repellent
force sufficient to overcome superficial attraction, and
separate particle from particle. Yet, for strength, the
attractive force not being central, toughness and hardness
are not attained.

58 Vital Physics.

Put it in another form. Gold melts at a very high
temperature, and is ductile and malleable ; iron melts at a
still higher temperature, but is very slightly either ductile
or malleable. How are the two to be explained ? First,
gold is not strong or tough, but ductile and malleable,
because its ultimate particles do not hold together from
force at their centres ; whilst, secondly, the superficial
attractive force of gold is great as compared with the central
force. Iron, in these respects, is the counterpart to gold.

Therefore, the particles hold each other from falling away
from each other in gold with the greatest firmness and tenacity
from superficial attraction, as distinct from central attraction.
On the other hand, in gold there is no fulcrum of rest or
adhesion, but, as it were, a very vacuum or want of individual
bond each to each. The bond is that of any with any that
may touch the superficies ; hence the entire want of
definiteness, or particularness in the direction of force, and
this alone accounts for the universality of the extreme
ductileness of the metal, and its indefiniteness in applica-
tion to a specific or special end where strength is required.

The melting point between iron and gold rests in all
probability upon the natural unimpressibility of each to the
repellent fluid, whether superficially or centrally applied,
both being sparingly impressed with that fluid, and of the
two iron probably the least.

Let hydrogen be next examined. This metal or gas is,
so far as at present known, the lightest. And why ? We
do not know ; but, amongst other things, it is suggested that
it is an element the atoms of which are (as compared with
other elements) permeated with central attractive force,
and superficially very freely supplied with or surrounded
by repellent force, and that for this latter it has an in-
tense susceptibility to its presence. Hence, it readily changes
from solid compounds into the gaseous state, and each

Vital Physics. 59

particle equally repels its neighbour from the rapid
appropriation of caloric or the repellent force on its
surface, whereby each particle is freely separated at equal
distances from its neighbouring particles throughout the
entire gaseous mass.

When hydrogen is gaseous, free caloric or positive heat is
appropriated, so that the caloric between particle and par-
ticle is entirely appropriated to the one function of repulsion
between particle and particle.

Hence, caloric is fixed and constant in each element, and
each atom pertaining to such element, cceteris paribus ; yet
when not so conditioned the separate elements are, accord-
ing to the conditions under which they are placed,
proportionally susceptible to the influence of caloric, under
one condition appropriating much caloric, and under another
yielding up the amount of caloric previously held, as
condensation either from pressure or chemical action ; the
chief disturbing agent to the attractive fluid being the
variable proportion in which caloric can be entertained or
appropriated by all kinds of atoms, whether appropriated
centrally or superficially by any particular kind of atoms.
The amount of appropriation of caloric is variable, according
to changes in external conditions, but constant under like
conditions in like atoms.

Again, a more difficult subject remains to be examined as
illustrative of a type, namely, a compound radical, or, for
the sake of precision, a " molecule," the word molecule
being here used to denote a compound of affixed proportions.
The compound radical or molecule, selected merely as by
accident, falls upon the alkaloid strychnia — a vegetable
molecule, the proportion of whose atoms is as follows : —

Carbon 21, Hydrogen 22, Nitrogen 2, Oxygen 2.
The several atoms of C, H, N, O, combined in a fixed

60 Vital Physics.

proportion as before indicated, constitute one organic
molecule.

Suppose further, that each atom in this molecule be
classified into central and superficial attractions, and
carbon and hydrogen be viewed as having central attraction,
and oxygen and nitrogen as being attractive superficially.
Here, in the very midst of a new entity or molecule, degrees
of force are acting towards each other, in response to each
other's needs, so as to constitute a fresh centre of motion
and action, but each elemental atom possesses the respec-
tive fluids in different degrees. Say, hydrogen is sparingly
affected by the attractive force, but very susceptible to
variations of the repellent force. Carbon possesses more of
attractive force than hydrogen, and less of the repellent
superficially. So oxygen possesses more of the repellent
force centrally in proportion to the attractive force, and
nitrogen is centrally repellent but superficially very feebly
attractive (providing nitrogen itself is a pure element, and
not a compound of silicon and hydrogen).

As some standard of acceleration for a fixed condition
must exist, cczteris paribus, this standard is given to the
attractive fluid, which fluid is considered to be invariable ;
and the same in every atom and molecule at all times
in the ratio of its acceleration, the point of variation being
taken from the repellent fluid, which can decrease or
accumulate from any given point as a standard, as water
at 60°, or oil at 60°. Caloric can be given up at this point
down to zero, or accumulate up to 212° or higher, ac-
cording to atmospheric pressure.

Hence the mutual attractions and repulsions constituting
the inherent forces of a molecule at any given time may be
entirely changed by variations in temperature, destroying all
chemical affinities ; the plus of caloric, beyond a given
standard of heat, say 600°, being usually sufficient to destroy

Vital Physics. 6r

the mutual balance of antagonizing force and to obliterate
the entity as a molecule, and to resolve it back to its atomic
permanency, the caloric having outlawed the attractive
element in the molecule by repulsion.

Having so far denned what is to be understood by a
molecule, it will be well to next consider what is to be
said of the molecule itself as an abiding element, or as a
synatomic compound or molecule. It may be therefore said
that each synatom or molecule is in itself to be considered
as having distinct degrees of repellent and attractive fluids
permeating its substance, each specific synatom, as of fibrine,
albumen, protein, strychnine, and quinine having its own
fixed and constant measure of appropriation of each fluid,
according to external conditions, some being more attrac-
tive centrally and others superficially, but in the organic
world so duly adjusted^as to be pretty evenly balanced when
in a state of perfection, but most of them very susceptible of
the appropriation of caloric ; the inorganic synatoms being
frequently the reverse of this, as carbonate of iron, oxide of
iron, oxides of metals generally, and earths, as carbonate
of lime, sulphates and nitrates, etc., etc. But all synatoms,
when solid, by absorbing caloric, are rendered liquid, and
absorbing free caloric when fluid, become gaseous in one or
more of their elements, or change directly to the gaseous
condition.

It may be presumed that the properties of atoms are not
only bound by the different degrees of contending forces
existing in each particle, but by the special form each atom
possesses. Thus, in crystallography special substances
have their particular forms of crystals, as tartar emetic and
arsenic, bichloride of mercury, silicon, carbon and iron, etc.
If certain aggregate forms of matter have a specific range of
crystal formation, does this arise from the absence or
presence of form in the special elements or element entering

62 Vital Physics.

into that particular aggregation ? No doubt, from form
itself being a special part of the constitution of every atom
in each class of element, as of gold, silver, iron, lead,
nitrogen, iodine, etc.

For how can it be that certain elements unite with other
elements, as chlorine with lead, gold, copper, iron, etc., and
in each of these its union tends to disintegrate, loosen, and,
aided by water, to liquefy several elements of greater or less
density and hardness, so that the inherent attractive powers
are much enfeebled or rendered partially nugatory; but
when added to a liquid salt of silver the mass separates
itself from previous combinations, and falls down as a solid,
the closeness of whose ultimate atoms, each for the other,
excludes the water or the caloric from widely separating
their respective atoms ?

It is said that this is a matter of chemical affinity.
Granted that it is a matter of affinity, is not iron capable of
attracting carbon and oxygen with great facility, especially
the latter, the same with sulphur and its oxides, and in each
of these attractive force on either side binds the respective
elements to each other in a close and compact manner, so
that iron can closely attach itself to other elements, and
so can silver, both as an oxide and as a nitrate ? But iron
refuses to unite with chlorine as a solid salt, but with silver,
whose attraction of atoms for each other is by no means so
strong as that observed in iron, unites to chlorine with
intense affinity ; not because it is an element of any strong
attractive force in itself between its own particles, for,
comparing silver with iron, it is not so tough as iron, and it
melts at a lower temperature.

This contrast in the degree of affiance in two elements so
opposed to each other can resolve itself only into a mutual
affinity for each other, powerfully aided by the mutual
adaptation of form to each other.

Vital Physics. 63

Why, again, are one or two elements so intermeddling
with so many others as oxygen and chlorine, whilst others
attract a neighbour to them with difficulty, as nitrogen
directly with any of the ancient metals?

Not surely because it has no affinity for other elements ;
else what becomes of our cyanides and nitrates, etc. ? Their
presence speaks for itself, but if form aids in adaptation and
close impaction, then the matter is clear enough, and no
one can doubt this, if oxygen is carefully weighed with other
elements. Its form adapts it for general intrusion, and with
many very close impactions, and so attractive influence is
aided by mere fitness, and such elements as nitrogen and
chlorine have specific forms that, upon the whole, badly
adapted themselves to other elements when brought into
close contact.

Thus, if the primitive form of oxygen is that of a solid
scalene triangle, it is but few forms with which it cannot
edge itself in some way or other ; but if chlorine be a solid
equilateral triangle it is few forms with which it can
well fit ; but it would be much worse if nitrogen were an
unequal ovoid as an egg, as for any real closeness of compact
it would be almost, if not entirely, impossible — even a solid
cube would be much more adaptable. Hence, in seeking
to explain hardness, softness, and feebleness of attraction
between elements, form appears to hold a certain and im-
portant position.*

* Since this was written, Professor Tyndall and many others have
directed their attention to the ultimate forms of atoms, but as they do
not in any wise change any leading point, the original description has
been retained.

64 Chemical Affinities.

OF CHEMICAL AFFINITIES.

Form and unequal susceptibilities to two permeating
fluids would appear to give all that is essential in determin-
ing special affinities chiefly known as chemicals. But here
a source of great confusion arises — namely, how is matter
usually conditioned.

There is the old attraction of aggregation, and chemical
affinities ; in other words, there are two forms of affinity or
attraction, mutually opposed to each other.

First, of aggregation. This is an affinity of like for like, as
the various constituent elements forming felspar or mica,
dolomite, and carbonate of lime. None of these are simple
elements, but they may be counted as synatoms or mole-
cules of like elemental constituents, and as such they have
mutual attractions which bind molecule to molecule.

So in the organic world the same thing exists in a very
complex order, as the spiral tissue, pith, and true woody
fibre of trees and plants each manifests an elective aggre-
gation of like for like, just as in muscle the alternate
structure is one form of like for like, and the external sheath
is another form of the self-same order of attraction. Gold
and iron, lead and silver, whilst pure and simple, have the
same form of attraction set forth in its most defined form of
like to like, or similar attraction.

This form of attraction is common to all great masses of
matter, and metals after subjection to very high tempera-
ture; also to masses of matter which have been subjected
to great pressure. In other words, it is a form of attraction
that is the most abiding, and found in all great masses of
solid substances scattered over the face of the earth.

So great is the tendency in Nature to similarity of attrac-
tion, that when large mounds of rubbish are made by
successive additions and have stood for long, the several

Chemical Affinities. 65

constituent parts are prone to arrange themselves in layers
of special materials.

The* late mound of the Vauxhall Gardens, when cut
through some 60 or 70 years after its formation, showed
this peculiarity very distinctly — clay, sand, pebbles, and
small fragments of pottery ranging themselves in consecu-
tive and singular order. Even a heap of stable sweepings,
forming the midden, after two or three years, arranges itself
into a manure of alternating layers of dark chocolate and
green strata.

This form of attraction is that most commonly found
in Nature, at least in the inorganic world, and widely
contrasts with what is usually understood by chemical
affinities, which will be here named eclectic attraction

This eclectic attraction is very singular in its modes of
manifestation; to bring it about perfectly it requires the
component parts of which any combinations may be formed
to be brought into a fluid state, either as solutions or gases ;
as tartaric acid and bicarbonate of soda, if kept compara-
tively dry, change very slowly indeed into the neutral salt
Tartrate of soda, but dissolve each in water, and the action
is almost instantaneous. But if a large mass, say one
million of tons, were buried in the earth and subjected to
great pressure, it is very doubtful if, after a hundred years,
the salt would not be reduced to some more simple elements ;
just as the neutral salt sulphate of iron would probably
revert to some sulphuret. Fluidity, and given ranges of
temperature appear essential for the due manifestations of
eclectic attraction. As living bodies are a compound of the
similarity attraction, and the eclectic, it is deserving of
notice that the primary part of conversion of raw material
to be changed into animal tissue passes through a series of
processes, as moistening, crushing, churning, and then suspen-

5

66 Chemical Affinities.

sioninahomogeneousfluid. All the crushed and churned matter
in the stomach is reduced to a uniform liquid pap or mass,
which in its turn is raised to a uniform standard ofe
heat, and then it is passed on, to be presently taken up
into the blood (and expelled in part as effete from the
system) by a series of tubes and vessels — which, in the
case of veins 9 let in much fluid and permit little to exude
— and lacteals, which take up the more dense particlesy
each to remix in the double blood reservoir of admixture and
purification — the heart and lungs — from which they depart to
be diffused and to irrigate by self-appropriation a 11 the tissues
of the body.

Between entrance as raw material, and exit as effete
matter, every particular particle has been reduced to succes-
sive changes in a moist or fluid condition, accompanied with
a relative amount of fixed or free caloric ; and, according to-
the balance of materials and the caloric set free or appro-
priated by each particular particle, so are the changes in
eclectic attraction ever undergoing successive orders of com-
binations and dissolutions till restored back to the inorganic
kingdom.

That which takes place in organized beings in regular
order of succession is, in principle, going on in the chemical
laboratories of the manufactories of various kinds of
material of human device and ingenuity.

In principle, the eclectic attraction is a series of atomic
and synatomic or molecular changes, that, in their respective
attractions for each other, show the greatest variety in their
degrees of attraction, as in bone, membrane, muscle, and
areolar tissue ; and which, with few exceptions, change
their mutual affinities when placed beyond given ranges of
temperature, or when placed under great pressure by sur-
rounding substances.

No doubt the fluid caloric, in giving molecules and atoms-

Chemical Affinities. 67

freer motion between each other, is one chief cause of
eclectic attraction manifesting itself ; also, by the elements
appropriating certain proportions of this fluid, the relative
bonds of attraction are disturbed, and dissolutions and re-
combinations of particles with particles is constantly re-
curring.

The views here given, as the effects of two opposing fluids
upon particles or atoms, are also in harmony with the
dynamics of the heavenly bodies, so far as regards their
orbital motions, by their mutual attractions towards
each other. Moreover they attempt to explain the effects
of two fluids mutually antagonizing each other, and con-
stituting distinct and opposing forces in relation to all
matter in each individual molecule or atom ; by which means
a wide field is opened at once for the operations of forces,
as applied to organized matter, as distinct from inanimate
matter, and full scope is given for every form of matter and
every degree of hardness, softness, and also for polarity of
atoms and synatoms ; neither do such assumptions interfere
with the multifarious forms in which caloric, magnetism, and
electricity — and perhaps light — mutually transform them-
selves into each other's places.

Whilst in organism it reserves to us the sun, as an ever-
fresh fountain, to quicken on the surface of the planet the
repellent force, by the action of his own force of
repulsion upon the surface of our globe, in the form of
heat and light, and by his spots apparently modifying
our superficial magnetic currents ; while the planets,
in their acting again upon the sun in some form
or other, restore back that force which is supplied
to them by his influence, either in the form of magnetism
or in the form of latent caloric, which acts and reacts
upon matter without absolute loss of caloric to the sun, as is
ordinarily supposed.

5—2

68 Chemical Affinities.

But no force, howsoever used, can explain the mechanism
of organism. Force is but law — it cannot organize; and in
all cases the being or object organized demands for its
distinct form of manifestation the direct will of the Creator
in the first case, no matter how forces act and react upon
each other, after the organized matter has first received its
stamp of reciprocated actions and reactions in the outward
processes of development and decay from the seed to the
seed again ; for each seed has within it the stamp of the
Creator's Will, and no germ is able to originate new germs
distinct to those of its own primary conditions, the great
apparent differences being the controlling effects of cir-
cumstances in lower types or organizations; and that like
genders like is here embraced in its totality, with this
remark, that after leaving the lower forms of animal
life, the unisexual system in animals gives greater facili-
ties for transmutation of species ; but in lapse of genera-
tions, if procreation is retained, the progeny of dissimilar
species reverts to one or other of the primitive forms,
whichever condition it is living under, that is most favour-
able for retaining the type of one or the other primitive
species in greatest perfection, and not to a new or distinct
species; and so the persistency of species resolves itself
back to that form of development in which it was first
placed.

The first impress given to each organic form of life is,
in animated creation, as much a stamp given to matter
in a particular mould, as a likeness is to the die which
impressed it. So an acorn is the first organic impress
to the oak, and a pip to an orange-tree, and the spawn
of a fish to its responsive salmon or trout. In astronomical
science the primitive tap, or the duly-adjusted impetus
given to matter at its start, from its own inertia, in the
line of the tangent, determines by attraction the planets

Chemicar Affinities. 69

moving in their orbits, and so secures by that one tap the
motion of the planets in their orbits for ever, and sets in
motion the equally complex axoidal motion ; and what the
tap is to orbital and axoidal motion in astronomy, that is
the original mould or stamp upon each series of molecular
arrangement, in the germ known as perfect seed, to organic
nature. In one system it is unifaction of motion ; in the
other the stamp of the germ leads to the unifaction of
generation, but quite as distinct in one as the other.

It will be said that the opinion given at first was that it
was one force, as vital force, which ruled both the organic
and inorganic world. This is perfectly true.

Matter being subject to interpenetration by fluids having
adverse action upon itself, makes the expression of those
actions conveniently range themselves on the side of matter
itself, as though the matter had in each of its atoms direct
force or power, though the different degrees of susceptibility
each element, in its atoms and primitive compounds, has for
the respective fluids, are the direct and only measure of the
force which it possesses ; but as these are distinct and
peculiar in each element, so the effect is uniform and
invariable in every atom similarly conditioned throughout the
universe, and that effect in its totality is the universal law
of Precursion.

Or, that every atom of each distinct kind of element has
a different degree of attractive and repellent power to every
other atom with which it is surrounded or brought in
contact, whereby all the grades of hardness, softness,
elasticity, brittleness, opacity, etc., etc., are produced ; and
from this law of motion and rest all natural mechanism is
sustained ; though rest, abstractedly considered, is but a com-
parative thing, as absolute rest exists nowhere in this
universe, for things apparently at rest are still moving, as
the hand that writes and the paper inscribed are both

7O Chemical Affinities.

moving at a great rate from diurnal axoidal motion, inde-
pendent of other incidental motions. Again, the candle that
burns has its matter in most contrasting motion. The stearine
that is still an eighth of an inch below the flame is in gentle
motion just at the line of junction with the wick, but when it
reaches the lighted wick by capillary attraction, it is in much
greater motion ; but this is comparatively slow motion com-
pared with the new compounds of carbon and hydrogen formed
by heating the hydro-carbon, as well as much of the
volatilized hydro-carbon decomposed. The caloric set free
by these rapid changes in chemical compounds is, in a great
measure, re-applied to increase the amount of space inter-
vening between each atom of matter, and by such re-
application is spent, in a measure, by securing greater
repellent action, which ceases to be manifest at the point
where the flame ceases.

The rapidity of motion, and the freedom, by increase of
space, which each atom has whilst revolving on its own axis,
especially if there be many different ultimate forms of atoms,
will gender undulations of a minute character, and adapted
for impressing the retina. Here the condition under which
matter of a given composition is placed results in a uniform
and fixed series of changes, and so would continue ad
infinitum if similarly conditioned; but the ability to secure
such results centres itself in the law of Precursion.

A tree brings forth its fruit — say, an apple-tree. The pip
is beautifully entombed in its sarcocarp and epicarp ; then
comes the germ within the pip. This gorgeous encasing
coffin, placed under the spacious vault of heaven, rots and
liberates the pip, softened and swollen from moisture and
heat ; and the rain, or the tread of some bird or animal, aids
in finding it a cover in Mother Earth. Here it bides the
frost and snow of winter, and spring comes — then heat.
Whence this heat ? Is it caloric foreign to that gendered

CJtemical Affinities. 71

•on this terrestrial globe, though called into action by opera-
tions going on in an object millions of miles off? No.

Doubtless the sun's calorific rays are identical in nature
with that agent on earth, and liberated by chemical action,
and known as positive heat or free caloric. By solar caloric
the ostrich's egg is hatched, as is the pheasant's by sitting
upon it, and so giving off animal heat.

This agent caloric starts motion in the pip — it is the re-
pellent to attraction, and the matter in the pip or germ first
begins to act and react from the decomposing matter of the
pip itself, and, from the vigour gained by this appropriation,
new and increasing actions and reactions on matter external
to itself now take place ; and these increased actions only
cease when every reaction has completed itself according to
the stamp given to its first germinal condition when en-
tombed in its sarcocarp and epicarp, and every fibre, pith,
liber, bark, leaves, and perfect circulation result out of
the actions and reactions impressed upon the form of matter
agglomerated together in the germinal spot contained in
the pip, and first nourished by its own decaying matter, which
is suitable pabulum for aiding actions and reactions in each
upon the other from the first germinal agglomeration to the
perfect fruit-bearing apple-tree, etc.

But it will be said, How are we to account for the doctrines
of Morphology ? It is by the action and reaction of repulsion
and attraction, in the form of specific fluids of a purely
interpenetrating character, that we are to account for the
endless changes in matter adverted to in the manifestations
of a tree's growth and decay, arising out of the stamp of the
first germinal impression.

Or are we to say that the law of Precursion deter-
mines every pliant movement in the axial changes of
a bud from the leaves to the petals, stamens, anthers,
pistils, stigma, pollen dust, and granules on to the germ,

72 Chemical Affinities.

carp, sarcocarp, and epicarp, etc., etc. ; or, again, from the
collar to the downward root and the upward stem, and to all
the tissues comprising woody fibre, spiral and cellular
tissue, etc., etc. ?

This is a perversion of the meaning of law. Law retains
order — it does not create ; the law of Precursion sustains
in their original integrity the order of successive changes,
and that morphology which was stamped upon the molecular
arrangements imprinted upon each particular kind of seed
or germ by the Creator ; so that, if a particular imprint
were stamped upon a given germ, it would go on moving
in that order of succession which would bring the individual
parts and combinations, peculiar to the parent from which
it sprang, back again to the germinal condition whence it
started. The law of Precursion only tends to keep and
preserve in a uniform and constant manner the form of
growth imprinted first upon the germ from whence the
parent sprang ; and it is the office of this law to preserve
this succession in the same plants, trees, shrubs, etc., etc.,
from year to year, and, as it were, to secure in constant
action their genesis, first set light to by the expression of
Will in the Creator.

Precursion does not retain the centres of ossification in
distinct segments in the fishes of the sea, and so permit
of a long season of progressive enlargement in all parts of
the frame of the finny tribes of the deep ; neither can the
same law determine the early and rapid welding together or
connation of the ossific centres of the feathered tenants of
the air. These, and a thousand — yea, and thousands upon
thousands of minute details resolve themselves into the
archetypal plan of the primitive germ imprinted upon every
organic product it has pleased the Creator to make.

So the planets in their orbits move in an ideal inclined
plane, which is bisected at the centre of the extremes of

Chemical ^Affinities. 73

orbital distances, and the centre of each semi-orbit is the
point from which the planet may be said to start, as the centre
of the, perihelion, whence it runs down at an ever-increasing
ratio of acceleration till it reaches the centre of the aphe-
lion, from which point it moves within an ever-decreasing
ratio of acceleration, till it reaches the same point in the
perihelion from whence it started (and during the whole of
the time the axoidal motion is not identical to the second
in its duration, but is always suffering some small increase
or decrease of time). The cause of this motion in an
inclined plane is not very apparent. (Airy's " Lectures," pp.
83, 84.) But, probably owing to some peculiar internal
construction of each individual planet as yet not determined,
so in like manner the cycle of the year, unless artificially
interfered with, is the usual time in which the circuit of
morphological changes in plants undergoes every order of
form, from the point of comparative rest and quiescence to
the same condition again, saving in that order of growth in
the vegetable kingdom known as cryptogams, whose order
of growth and^decay observe a fewer order of changes.

The more simple forms observe a much shorter period
of vitality, but these appear, in many instances, to obey the
influence of the moon rather than the sun, and are more of
nocturnal and lunar periodic order than those of a higher
and more complex organization. How far the lower forms of
animal life, as madrepores, millepores, etc., or some of the
porifera, etc., etc., are influenced by the moon does not
appear very evident, but in the vegetable world lunar
influence has been long observed, especially by water
engineers, in the amount of vegetable growth in reservoirs as
the moon gets towards the full. Though these phenomena
are explicable upon principles of simple light and heat,
yet they retain so close an analogy in the history of periodicity
in some diseases, in relation to diurnal motion, as is

74 Chemical Affinities.

manifested in neuralgic and nervous affections and fevers,
that it is difficult to conceive the due adjustment of plane-
tary motions to meet the successive requirements adapted
to complete certain successive orders of change in a morpho-
logical point of view, and certain forms of disease,* without
conceiving at the same time that one general law influences
and binds together near and remote objects in one common
focus of interdependency and correlation of actions.

Again, the sun gives us many rays and colours
in one whole, and the earth, in organic nature, reflects those
in distinct separate colours, above all, in a condensed form,
in the Morphology of leaves; whilst that bright and burning
luminary probably receives back in another form the rays
he has sent forth, in some of the many metamorphic con-
ditions which the antagonizing fluids assume in ful-
filling their multifarious offices, as colour and heat trans-
formed to magnetism and galvanism, etc. The effects are
left behind in new combinations of matter ; but the active
agent is restored back to its original source, the sun.

* See Graves's " Clinical Medicine," page 436.

Light and Colour. 75

UPON LIGHT AND COLOUR IN RELATION TO
VITAL FORCE.

From the humble attempt to acquire a more wide-spread
and pliant order of force or forces, with their endless shades
of affinities and repellents, than gravity can give, all blend-
ing into one great and general result — namely, the diurnal
and annual motion of a planet round the sun, which is so
adjusted that the light and dark, heat and cold, in their
successive orders minister to the well-being of Nature on its
surface — we next come into collision with the most de-
lightful and beautiful of all subjects which can please the
eye or fascinate the imagination. That subject is light,
a subject interwoven with every shade and variety of
vital force, as manifested in animal or vegetable life in all
the shades and varieties of the never-ending series of colours,
and their blendings.

Ethereal undulations and fine matter, or corpuscles,
divide the field of honour in the court of theory in this
field of enquiry.

One who cannot call himself so much as an ama-
teur, and whose acquirements are so shallow, can scarcely
be permitted to express any opinion whatever in such
a matter. Therefore, leaving the subtle points of Biot,
Arago, Hunt, Herschel, Brewster, and the marvellous tracts
by Airy, etc., that which is here advanced is of the simplest
character imaginable, and has relation only to reflected and
not transmitted light.

First, whether correctly or incorrectly, the construction

76 Light and Colour.

of the eye, especially the human eye, has appeared to the
writer to be more adapted, taking all points in review, to
respond to undulations than corpuscles, or units of matter
flying off from a large burning disc, such as the sun.

Secondly, whether corpuscles from the sun, as a finer
polarized form of matter, or undulations, are the real cause
of colour, both resolve themselves into matter in one way
or the other; for whatever be the initial velocity of any
particular kind of rays, the angle upon which they pitch, and the
fineness or smallness of that angle, will have much to do in
the way in which any particular ray is reflected or
absorbed, which latter results in blackness ; whilst other
surfaces present a facing, whereby every ray is equally re-
flected, and not absorbed — hence whiteness, yet the form
of ultimate atoms, either as elements, or when combined
into given compounds, as gold and chloride of gold, iodine
and iodide of potassium, give a special form in their
simple or combined state, whereby given rays are well
reflected, or rays cross each other and give complementary-
hues and colours, or they are imperfectly or partially re-
flected, or at such an angle that the reflection meets the
eye partially, and hence dulness of lustre or hue, and feebly
developed colour ; so that whether special kinds of atoms
come from the sun, or special atoms on the earth reflect on
the surface rays of undulation from the sun, the result is
nearly the same, the stationary matter or atoms upon the
earth produce the phenomenon of colour by reflection.

Thirdly, mordants, having the power to fix colours, could
not well do so, and keep them in the figures, etc., in which,
as dyes, they are impressed upon cotton or muslin, if they
only retained intact a particular mechanical form of sur-
face, instead of maintaining a particular chemical com-
pound, itself of particular atomic form and composition.

Fourthly, occasionally blind persons are found to have

Light and Colour. 77

remarkable powers of discerning colours by touch. As this
can result neither from transmitted or reflected light, the
special kind of surface is the only thing left for detecting
the colour which presents itself to the touch.

It would therefore appear, in the case of the blind, that
some fine impression reaches the touch from given colours,
or surfaces possessing those colours, which nothing else
imitates, and which cannot be supplied by the sun, so far
as we can judge.

For if it be said that there is fine matter left on a given
surface by the action of the sun's rays, in those things
which do not transmit rays, but only reflect them, and from
much exposure that matter from the sun has accumulated ;
on the other hand, it must be said length of exposure helps
colours to fade considerably, and therefore material from the
sun accumulating is scarcely feasible.

The view of a local surface of special ultimate forms from
definite chemical compounds, forming molecules of precise
angles and shapes, whereby certain rays are always reflected,
and others partially, and some, as those at direct right
angles, not at all, will give an insight into the reason
why vital manifestation in every form of differentiation
is accompanied by a change of colour in the organs
and tissues of any given product, as the leaf, through its
morphology, to the flower and the fruit ; and every organ
of the body and tissue, especially those of external manifes-
tation, as feathers, hair, etc., are continually presenting
to the eye endless varieties of colours and shades of hue,
but in a pretty constant form of repetition in the wild state,
from light, moisture, and food being, upon the whole, very
similar ; but under the care of man, these always suffer
many changes by crossing with one man's stock and another ;
for no two men cultivate exactly alike, or feed alike, or
protect from weather alike, or drain and manure alike, so

78 Animal Morphology.

that modifications in colour are constantly occurring in
domesticated animals and farm stock, as well as in floral
culture, from some one or other of these causes modifying
the process of nutrition, and, therefore, of the condition of
ultimate molecules, however slight that change, chemically
considered, may be.

But molecule may refer to two, three, or more atoms
constituting one primary compound or radical, which, as
an organic substance, enters into the composition of one,
two, or more animal or vegetable tissues or membranes ;
and each of such molecules, having its own special form,
will reflect rays in its own special and distinctive manner.

Having sufficiently briefly referred to the subject of colour
in relation to vital manifestation, a few remarks will be next
given upon plasticity of cell architecture, arising from cell
differentiation and morphology passing from primary cells
on to membrane and tissue generally ; or the changes which
occur in the order of vital manifestation in animals.

UPON ANIMAL MORPHOLOGY AND
DIFFERENTIATION.

As in floral hues and tissues generally, between one structure
and another having separate colours, there is mostly some
change in the chemical composition of the respective tissues,
whose colours are distinct from one another ; as the floral
part is usually very distinct in its several parts from the
leaf, and the petals from the pistil, and pollen dust from
either ; so, in all organic architecture wherever new forms of
tissue or membrane require hardness, softness, elasticity, etc.,
to enable them to fulfil the functions to which they are
destined, there we find, as the requirements may be, either
the cell walls, or coutense, accumulating special material

Animal Morphology. 79

or definite chemical compounds to adapt it for the changed
differentiation made, so that each cell may be fitted for its
new destiny, as gelatine transformed to bone receives lime,
etc., into its cell structure, and so a pliant cell becomes
hard and resisting; but, moreover, cell differentiation, to
adapt itself to cell architecture, undergoes every form of
transformation which mechanism can devise to adapt itself
to the circumstances required, so that out of the same
primary impregnated ovum, in plants are formed pith,
spiral fibre, woody fibre, parenchyma of fruit, and the hard
structure of shell, as in the stone fruit, etc., etc.

In animals we have, from the same primary impregnated
ovum, in the onward course of cell differentiation, serous and
mucous membrance, brain and nerve structure generally,
muscles, bone, integument, nails, hoofs, horns, and hair,
etc.*

As cell differentiation and morphology in the vegetable
kingdom have received such marvellous elucidation through
Goethe, by a series of careful comparisons, and subsequently
from the patient researches of mam- microscopists and
physiologists, of whom Schleiden may be said to take the
lead, little more can be said than has already been said
upon this interesting subject in its leading outlines, though
in detail there is a large and ever increasing field of labour,
unoccupied in various special branches, of intense interest.

But for the animal kingdom there has scarcely been any
attempt to unravel this interesting but marvellous subject,
and were it not for the probability of being able to condense, in
a very brief manner, some general observations, which appear
to have a very close relationship to the subject of morphology,

* In connection with cell differentiation, read the able article upon
the " Structure and Growth of the Elementary Parts of Living Beings,"
by Dr. L. Beale, British and Foreign Quarterly Review for July, 1862.

80 Animal Morphology.

as it exists in the animal kingdom, no outline would
be attempted in such an intricate subject. But such as
it is, in its leading outlines, is here briefly laid before the
reader.

A general assumption is made that all cells are more or
less formed of an inner and outer wall, here technically
called membrane ; and membrane in its lowest form is called
cell membrane. This does not imply that the inner wall
may not be continuous with and constitute a part of the
soft or granular part within the cell, but in vegetables all
cells and morphologies consist of binary membrane.

On the other hand, it is assumed that all cells of an animal
origin have within them, or by differentiation have pertain-
ing to them, the essential conditions of an inner, middle,
and outer membrane, one of which is called contractile
membrane.

In animals a plus membrane is added, or a plus material
property is added to that pertaining to vegetables — namely,
a contractile membrane.

The grand distinction, therefore, in cell morphology and
differentiation, between animals and vegetables, is, that in
material organism, vegetable membrane is essentially a
bipartite membrane, and animal membrane is an essentially
tripartite membrane.

What will best illustrate the nature of a tripartite mem-
brane is the simple silicious porifera or sponges.

Granting the outer wall to be a more or less silicious
deposit in the jelly-like substance of the sponge, and the
inner contained sarcode, or jelly, to be the inner coat ; yet by
imbibition from without, as by capillary attraction, fluid is
constantly and imperceptibly flowing from without inwards ;
but all through the pores and half tubular structure of the
sponge, fluid may be seen thrown off at repeated intervals,
from these open spaces filled with sarcode.

Animal Morphology. 81

Here, in this low form of animal life, we see an action
going on quite contrary to either syphonic action, capil-
lary attraction, or exosmosis, etc. It is marked by intervals
of intermission, and answers to nothing but a species of
alternate relaxation and contraction ; the effect is the inter-
preter of the cause. No direct observation can discover in
the sarcode, or jelly, muscular structure, but the effect tells
us that the fluid suffers compression at one time and is free
from it at another time.

Again, in polypiphera many motions performed by these
low types of animal life can only be explained upon the
supposition of their having contractile power within them-
selves, though muscular structure cannot be detected in
their organism.

Hence it is inferred that long before real muscle appears
a contractile power exists — the result of material organism,
which starts motion independent of the ordinary surrounding
physical forces, though itself the result of special material
adjustment of molecules with molecules of a given and
definite character.

It is only after very great and highly-modified cell differen-
tiation that we find cell architecture isolating the contrac-
tile membrane into a distinct structure, and assuming the
true character of muscle.

Again, that which constitutes high and low forms of
animal life appears to be, the number of tripartite mem-
branes which are distinct the one from the other, in one
living organism, and, by a wonderful adaptation in morpho-
logy, mutually blend with each other.

A brief enunciation of them, as belonging to man and
mammalia, will be first given, with this proviso — that
connective tissue, though the most useful in all the body,
and ready to lend a helping hand in all difficulties as
a supernumerary, yet in differentiation is at par, and

6

82 Animal Morphology.

is, in mammalia at least, the lowest form of tissue, and in
the series of differentiations from primordial cells to brain
tissues it is the lowest and most diffuse general tissue,
which serves as general servant to all the membranes.

In true Mammalia it may be affirmed that they have ten
membranes of a tripartite character.

Firstly : The abdominal viscera and glands generally from
mouth to anus, consisting of serous, muscular, and mucous
membrane, constitute but one tripartite membrane — the in-
flections of mucous membrane in the form of glands, as
Brunner's, Peyer's, liver, pancreas, etc., being included as
parts of the abdominal mucous membrane, and outside a
second, or serous membrane, with unstriped muscle be-
tween as a third membrane.

Secondly : The broncho-plural membrane, with its minute
and limited bronchial terminal muscular coat, but in some
mammalia not purely constrictors or sphincters to the
air cells, for they extend here and there to the larger
bronchi.

Thirdly : The genito-urinary membrane.

Fourthly : The mammary system.

Fifthly : The lacteo-lymphatic system.

Sixthly : The musculo-osseous system.

Seventhly : The brain and arachnoid.

Eighthly: The veno-arterial system, or circulating system.

Ninthly : The ganglionic system.

Tenthly : The integument, which is viewed as a compound,
or tripartite membrane.

These systems, or tripartite membranes, are most com-
pletely interlocked with each other, and also they are
capable of the widest and most varied conditions of trans-
position.

The first membrane of a tripartite character, as here
maintained, is the alimentary canal and its appendages.

Animal Morphology. 83

From mouth to anus there is one continuous membrane,
the mucous.

Its- chief distinction is, the very varied forms in which
it is found to infold itself as inflections, constituting the
chief membrane, with connective tissue, of gland structure,
as salivary glands, gastric follicles, intestinal glands, and
the biliary and pancreatic glands. In all these there is a
great proneness to cell destruction and replacement in their
active functions.

Externally the mucous membrane has its own serous
membrane, the peritoneum, which does not in all points
oppose itself as a counter membrane, but is deficient in
the buccal and oesophageal and rectal regions ; but it
follows it pretty closely in its abdominal connections,
to carry out its mechanical or passive function, as a
pliant smooth agent, in forming an extensive ^ and ever
changing soft joint. Here, then, the function is rather
vital mechanism than chemico-vital or alimentative.

Between these two membranes is a third membrane,
possessed of contractile motion — namely, muscle. At either
end, by a law of displacement, where function requires
it, the organic muscle gives way to striped muscle, as in
the buccal, palatal, and pharyngeal regions, and in the
rectal region likewise.

Secondly, the lungs are examples of the tripartite
membrane.

The mucous membrane from the larynx, ramifying into
all the smaller bronchi, ends in sacs, each of which has a
sphincter, guarding its commencement, of organic muscular
fibre — the sacs themselves, connected to each other,
chiefly by connective tissues, serve as surfaces for blood
vessels to ramify ; and on the external part the pleura

t close the whole, and, like to the peritoneum, serve the
irpose of a soft and pliant joint.
6-

84 Animal Morphology.

Here the proper muscular structure, which constitutes
the contractile membrane, suffers great displacement, owing
to the office it has to fulfil, in giving the slight initiatory
start to respiration, by confining in the air cells the inspired
air for one or two seconds, and then freeing it, which
is afterwards carried on by the striped muscles of respi-
ration belonging to the bony walls of the chest, or the
respiratory muscles of Sir C. Bell.

By confining the air for an instant in the air sac, not only
is the eliminative or destructive process aided by external
motion ceasing, but, increase of heat expanding gas, when
it relaxes again, gives an impetus to the exit of effete
matter by elasticity.

Thus, under considerable displacement, we retain in the
lung membrane the triple division of parts, and, as far
as muscle is concerned, in a very limited and restricted
degree.

It is not improbable that we may find the nasal mucous
membrane, with the palate regions, a distinct membrane,
with the levators of the palate as its special muscles ; and
that the rings of the trachea and larger bronchi are nothing
else than very highly-differentiated and highly-modified
serous membrane, fulfilling a purely mechanical function, and
so far displaced and modified as to aid another membrane
in the due fulfilment of its function ; as the teeth are the
millstones for the stomach, and the systemic arteries and
veins are the food-distributors to the chylo-lymphatic
system ; the one being dependent upon the other for the due
fulfilment of their functions.

The Genito-urinary organs are singular in their diffe-
rentiations, and require in some measure a wider con-
sideration than might at first appear, yet in itself simple and
singular.

The oneness of mucous membrane which pertains to the

Animal Morphology. 85

urethra, bladder, kidneys, the vagina, and the uterus need no
discussion on the side of the female sex ; neither in the male
of the oneness of the mucous membrane of the urethra,
bladder, ureters, and kidneys, nor yet of the vas deferens, and
the tubuli uriniferi of the same sex, as those are matters of
simple dissection and careful tracing. They are essentially
continuous mucous membranes, even to the Fallopian tubes
and fimbrias of the female. The muscular membrane
is found in the bladder and urethra, chiefly in the male
sex, and in the uterus and vagina additionally in the
female sex ; but in neither is there any proper serous
membrane.

For both the serous membranes of the ovaries in the female
sex, and the tunica vaginalis propria and reflexa in the male,
are properly considered as pertaining to the peritoneum of
the abdominal viscera, and in nowise belonging to the genito-
urinary system. But, however displaced and differentiated,
it may be asked, Where do you find the serous membrane ?
Some would say, in the differentiated and homologous struc-
tures of the labia minora and clitoris of the female sex,
and the corpora cavernosa and corpus spongiosum of the
male sex ; inasmuch as in one respect these may have a
remote relation to serous membrane in function, since they
are essentially mechanical in their function, and aid in ac-
complishing an end which is altogether impossible to be
accomplished as an active vital function, unaided by a func-
tion which in itself is so entirely mechanical, and of inde-
pendent and perfect adaptation ; but these probably belong
to the Mammary system.

Yet it must be borne in mind that neither male nor
female sex are complete in themselves, and, by a peculiar
differentiation, the ends of vital operation cease by their
own independency of action ; and not until the separate
mechanisms are united by intercourse in the continuance

86 Animal Morphology.

of the successors to their own species is the perfect mani-
festation of the tripartite membrane completed.

But the ovum, impregnated by the granular matter of the
male, in process of time is not only protected in an air-tight
cavity, but soon a placenta is formed, and an investing serous
membrane, though materially modified ; holding within it
fluid for the better protection of the growing foetus, and also
to render pressure to the mother more equable and less
fixed. Here, then, we observe the ever-recurring fact, that
the serous membrane is always devoted to a mechanical
end, rather than that of an active vital function, as is
shown in the development of the amnion.

True to its function as an excretory membrane, the
mucous membrane of the uterus, after due course of time,
in which the mucous and muscular membranes are under-
going a process of development and extension, in co-
relation to a more ultimate growth contained within, which,
by regular and equably sustained heat, aided by constant
nourishment, arrives at perfection in about 273 to 280 days.
A change now takes place, and the true excretory func-
tion of mucous membrane, aided by muscular force, begins
to manifest itself. For a few days there is a greater or less
amount of secretion or discharge, and a general lubrication,
to be followed by most violent and effectual efforts at
expulsion per vaginam.

It is probable that the exciting cause of this great effort
arises primarily from a leaning in the mucous membrane
of the uterine system to assume a special function, which
is its legitimate function when fully developed.

This new function produces a secretion of a stimu-
lating nature, and probably contains lime as one of its
essential elements, beginning at its free or Fallopian
end, and thence communicating stimulation to the
ovaries.

Animal Morphology. 87

It may be well to remember that in its analogue in
oviparous animals and birds, the oviducts, xby a process
of secretion, obtain for the ovum the material for its outer
shell; which, when completed, and imbibition can no longer
go on, though the function is retained for the use of the
following immature ovum, the active secreting surface
refuses to retain in situ the living mass, which needs no
further lime to form an external casement. The excess
of that material, not being freely appropriated by imbibition,
will act as a stimulant to bring into play nerve and
muscular power.

That such is the case in the human being is inferred
from a variety of incidents which have presented them-
selves in actual practice, but the enumeration and circum-
stances of which would trench too much upon space in so
short an abstract as is the present ; but one thing can be
referred to without requiring much detail. It is the fre-
quency with which calcareous matter is found infiltrating,
sometimes slightly, and sometimes very much, into the
substance of the placenta and the mucous surface of the
uterus opposite to the placenta.

Occasionally it is so abundant as to convert the placenta
into a semi-bony substance of considerable hardness and
roughness, and, in detaching it from the uterus, requires
very considerable nerve as well as manual dexterity. The
great danger, of course, in such cases, is the violent stream-
ing haemorrhage.

Having said so much about the genito-urinary mem-
brane, the next membrane to be considered is the Mammary
membrane, which, in its transpositions, displacements, and
differentiations, is as singular as any membrane hitherto
considered.

The mammae are singular organs, as bags and teats in
cattle, swine, dogs, etc., etc. Though variable in their forms

88 Animal Morphology.

and modes of distribution, yet they are always in pairs
or symmetrical.

The lactiferous tubes are inflections of mucous membrane,
and the teats or nipples are supplied with a greater or less
amount of erectile tissue.

The difficulty is to discover where its duplicate serous
and muscular membranes lie ; for, however displaced, the
distinct membranes may be found, in some form or other,
in some near or distinct locality.

Taking, then, the cervical fascia, which is but condensed
connective tissue, it is found that this fascia spreads over
and under the clavicle or subdermal ossified membrane, and
thence it extends towards the mammary region. Also the
same fascia dips down, and, running along the course of
the large vessels proceeding from the heart, expands itself
and envelopes the heart, where it constitutes the fibrous
membrane of the pericardium, within which is enclosed the
serous membrane of the pericardium.

This serous membrane is evidently in co-relation with the
primary cervical fascia.

The heart itself, where it is double, is, correctly speaking^
a symmetrical organ, but for obvious mechanical purposes
is lodged in one cavity of the chest, (not necessarily the
left) ; for if central the hard and projecting surfaces of the
vertebrae would be decidedly objectionable to the freedom
of its action, whilst its receiving fascia from either side the
cervical region is suggestive of its equilateral origin.

As the fibrous coat of the pericardium by its origin pro-
ceeds from the cervical region, and is therefore an essentially
external or subdermal membrane, so the contained serous
membrane, with its accompanying fibrous membrane, must
also be a subdermal membrane.

But in its symmetrical relations, as being the enclosed
sac protected by the fibrous sheath proceeding from the

Animal Morphology. 89

cervical fascia, its primary seat or origin is from the fascia
on either side the neck ; and had the rudimentary ribs or
true haemal arches in the cervical region been fully developed,
we might have had the mammas in the neck and the serous
membrane, enveloped by a strong fibrous sheath, in one or
more detached positions, according to the site and position
of the mammary distribution, and the heart altogether
differently arrranged, but within the cervical haemal
arches.

But as it now is, the mammary glands, saving their being
placed somewhere in the anterior aspect of the haemal
arches, have no fixed form of distribution. Ruminants
have one locality, canine another, pachydermata a some-
what roving order of distribution, and man another. So,
in the displacement of their serous membrane, though
constancy is observed, yet it is far removed from the
seat of its original place of distribution.

This singular membrane is essentially a subdermoid tri-
partite membrane, and carries with it a singular differentia-
tion in its contractile membrane. This membrane, being
outside the neural and haemal arches, demands new func-
tions, and partakes of a new form of differentiation in the
form of striped muscle, and the Plafysma is probably
the simplest form of a true subdermal muscle in man, and
is the true contractile membrane of the tripartite mammary
membrane.

The mammary tripartite membrane is interesting upon
another score than that which, as it were, introduces us to
a morphology and differentiation in cell development most
extensively used in the animal kingdom — namely, the striped
muscular membrane.

For this membrane — namely, the mammary membrane —
appears to be the last membrane added to the vertebrata, which
introduces us into the highest class of animals ; and its classi-

90 Animal Morphology.

fication is based upon that membrane particularly, as the
name indicates, its technical nomenclature being Mam-
malia.

Remove this membrane and we run down immediately to
aves, reptilia, and pisces, or vertebrata with a thin covering
of fibrous sheath over the heart, but entirely devoid of a
proper serous coat.

It is, then, the adding of membrane to membrane in their
ever widely differentiating forms, and the blending of each
membrane's special functions, which constitutes the diffe-
rence between the lowest porifera and the highest order of
mammalia.

And as we remove one membrane and then another, so do
we gradually descend from one grade in the animal kingdom
to another. But it is probable, as in the insect tribes, that
we have not, as the arrested conditions of high life, the
permanent conditions of lower life in some almost unnecessary
part ; but that the presence of an entire membrane is pre-
sented to us in such an organ as the antenna of a butterfly
or the sting of an hymenoptera, so that abortive or frag-
mentary representatives in lower life are ever presenting
themselves as specific peculiarities in certain families and
orders of lower life, especially in that of the insect kingdom.

We now turn to the more difficult tripartite membranes
connected with the distribution of food for alimentation to
the several tissues, and the destructive process connected
with the removal of effete material.

The three membranes concerned are the ganglionic,
lymphatic, and circulatory systems respectively.

We will begin with the Circulatory membrane.

It consists of a serous membrane, elastic tissue, and
fibrous membrane, and beaded muscles lying internal to the
fibrous structure.

The internal tubing of the veins and arteries consists of

Animal Morphology. 91

serous membrane, with an external fibrous structure, which
fibrous membrane appears to be the basement of the mucous
membrane, and has suffered an apparent arrest of all further
mucous structure till it arrives at the capillary system, to
which it has been transposed. Here the peculiar active cell-
appropriating and eliminating powers (which are supplemented
by supplying capillary vessels to the muco-glandular structures
in the great alimentary mucous membrane) indicate a close
approximation in the capillary system to the function of mucous
membrane, where much destructive cell change is ever going
on, with an occasional economic ulterior end, as in the
pancreatic and biliary secretions.

But in the capillary system the serous structure almost,
if not entirely, disappears, and the capillary tubing is little
else than enclosed walling, where active cell destruction is
going on, and is abetted by exosmose and endosmose,
aiding in the process of appropriating new and eliminating
old material, between the moving blood current and the
greater or less stationary structures through which it
passes.

This, then, gives us a sample of partial membranous
displacement in the capillary system, where the membrane,
in its basement part, is running along in the veins and
arteries, with its complimentary serous membrane, through
most of its course, and the active functional tubing is
placed half between the arteries and veins, under the title of
the capillary system.

The muscular membrane in the circulatory system, both
in arteries and veins, occupies the middle coat, but is
sparingly distributed to them, unless it be at some particular
point here and there ; but the middle elastic fibrous coat of
the larger arteries is probably composed, in a great measure,
of differentiated contractile membrane in a low meta-
morphic form ; for it is difficult to conceive, if some low form

g2 Animal Morphology.

of contraction of a very abiding character did not exist in
this structure, how it could remain in a contracted condition,
and narrowing the calibre of an artery for long, and at
another time leaving it dilated according to the amount of
fluid passing through it, if the true beaded muscle had all
the work to do, and in its action it was not supported by a
slower and more abiding form of contraction.

The membrane just described gives an excellent illustra-
tion of the adaptation of tripartite membranes to other
membranes of very widely different cell differentiation, since
the capillaries reach almost every tissue of the body.

Added to the circulatory system is the Lacteo-lymphatic
system, which is an economic and supplying system to the
circulatory. Its structure is in many points similar to the
former in its tubing, and ramifies almost every structure of
the body.

Its internal coat is serous, its outer fibrous, and its middle
is muscular, but sparingly developed.

Beyond its being a conductor of aliment through the
thoracic duct to the circulatory system, by an entrance into
the left subclavian vein near to its junction with the internal
jugular, aided by the ductus lymphaticus dexter on the right
side, it scarcely appears to perform any duty beyond that
of imbibition of prepared aliment from the small bowels,
and waste exudations from the capillaries of the system, or
effete matter which is not returned into the general cir-
culation, and which can be employed a second time to
repair destructive processes.

But in the midst of this conveyance a glandular system,
as mesenteric and lymphatic glands, intercepts the course of
conveyance, and apparently subjects the chyle, or lymph, to
some independent vito-chemical change, and may be adds,
through a process of cell destruction, fresh material in such
way and measure as produces in the moving fluid a gradual

Animal Morphology. 93

and nearer approach, both in colour and chemical com-
pounds, to pure blood.

The chemico-vital function is the true function peculiar to
mucous membranes, but in the complicated structure of
these glands an outline of membrane is almost impossible ;
it rather appears to be a heterogeneous mixture of dis-
connected tissue, bound by fibrous and connective tissues ;
but in their function these glands partake of a decided
chemico-vital rather than mechanical function, and are,
therefore, viewed as transposed and differentiated mucous
membrane, the outward fibrous membrane being the true
basement membrane of lymphatic mucous membrane, and
the glands but more active cell-destructive and chemico-
vital organizers of the same membrane.*

The next membrane for consideration is the Ganglionic
membrane.

This, then, introduces us to the most questionable and
difficult of all we have as yet encountered, the more so on
account of the peculiar notions of the writer, who is any-
thing but orthodox, from a general physiological point of
view, as to the real function of the sympathetic nerves.

Apart from morphology, or membranous differentiation,
the special function of the sympathetic system has been
viewed simply as a collector and distributor of electricity.

From whatever point it is viewed, its end is to produce
harmony of action in the organic functions. Hence its in-
direct name of sympathy; and its grand plan of accom-
plishing that end is by economising waste electricity, and

* Some physiologists understand by basement membrane its active
epithelial coating, or, in other words, its secretive or excretive function
in the form of active and defined cell development ; but when base-
ment membrane is here used, it is a term to signify the sub-tissue of
a more or less purely fibrous structure, over which is laid the super-
structure of active cell development, often partially glandular, and
always of a special cell differentiation.

94 Animal Morphology.

expending it where it is required — at least, such is the
notion here advocated.

With this preliminary explanation, an attempt will be
made to describe its morphologies, and transpositions, and
displacements.

It will be observed that the genito-uririary membrane, in
its true morphology, is so far free from contiguity in its
membranes, that it really has no serous membrane until
the independent sexes are made one by cpnception.

Again, in the mammary membrane displacement is
recognised in its fullest sense, and displacement is used to
economise membrane in its completest form.

Moreover, it is doubtful whether the mammary membrane
is not extended in the sexes to the erectile tissues, not only
of the nipples, but also to the clitoris and the corpus
spongiosum and cavernosum, as highly-modified serous
membrane ; and the mucous membrane of the glans as
modified mucous membrane, ending at the commence-
ment of the urethra, the muscular membrane being repre-
sented by the accelerator urinse and erector penis ; the
excess of the mammary membrane in the teats, as an
erectile tissue of the female, being compensated by the
excess in the male organ of generation by the highly-
modified serous membrane, as corpus spongiosum and
cavernosum.

If, then, displacement of membrane in the several parts
of a tripartite membrane is admitted in the genito-urinary
and mammary membranes, it is equally applicable to the
ganglionic tripartite membrane.

It is probably the fact that the lacteo-lymphatic membrane
and the ganglionic tripartite membrane are complimentary
membranes, and where one is absent the other is also, and
they are both supplementary to the circulatory or the veno-
arterial membrane, and are tributary and subservient to it.

Animal Morphology. 95

To come to the long-deferred point, the ganglionic
tripartite membrane consists of three parts : —

Firstly : The ganglia, as the cervical, prevertebral or
thoracic, • the solar plexus, and the greater and lesser
splanchnic plexuses, etc., etc.

Secondly : The branches, or communicating fibres.

Thirdly : The muscular membrane, which membrane
consists of the heart and the organic muscular fibres termina-
ting arteries, or the capillary termination of arteries.

The ganglia are viewed as the glandular or mucous
membrane perverted, yet in its differentiation retaining its
function, but perverted in its physical character in toto.
The communicating fibres are serous membrane in function ;
and the heart and capillary muscular fibres are the true
contractile membrane belonging to the ganglionic system.

The enormity of this morphological change and displace-
ment will be greatly questioned; probably it will be the point
at which many will say we can no longer go with such
extravagances.

But, strange as this explanation may appear, it is more
than probable that it is abstractedly correct. For if we
take into consideration that the lower forms of the subver-
tebrata have no real heart, neither have they any lacteo-
lymphatic system, nor yet ganglionic system, the feeble
circulation and the power through imbibition and exosmosis,
especially where the circulation is feeble and slow, need no
complicated system of elaborate digestion or conversion of
aliment into blood, nor yet any complex and perfectly
rhythmical and systematic form of carrying on the distribu-
tion of aliment ; or a beautiful system for removing and
economising of old and used-up material ; but in higher life
these complex systems are essential to the well-being of the
individual, and cannot be well dispensed with.

The first question that arises is, Why should the heart

g6 Animal Morphology.

have ramifying through it such a progressive increase of
ganglia, and nerves distributed from them ?

In a system, as the human body, we have thorough domestic
economy throughout — to wit, where old tissues are re-used,
as in the lymphatic system, as well as in the biliary and
pancreatic ; yet, in relation to electricity, what provision has
Nature employed to turn an active agent into genuine
utility, such as free electricity, since for waste exuded
material a lymphatic system is in full operation, and is of
the greatest service ? But what is done to get rid of super-
fluous electricity set free by chemical action ?

The answer is that a system is at hand and in constant
operation for this very thing — namely, the ganglionic
system ; and its function is to collect electricity, and at its
ganglia to transmit it, after modifying or changing its course,
so as to direct every slight change in degree, intensity, or
condition of electricity, into its right and suitable channel
from ganglia to ganglia, until it has met with its final
distribution at the ramifying ganglia of the heart, and also
the minute muscles placed round the termination of small
arteries.

But from all we know, mechanical pressure is always
sufficient to excite muscular contraction in organic muscular
fibre, but two other agents also greatly influence it.

ist : Electricity intensifies muscular irritability, and so
greatly aids regularity and quickness of action.

2nd : Temperature greatly aids it ; when above a given
point the action of the heart is increased, and below a
given point it is greatly depressed.

The two great points of distribution, then, appear to be
the heart and the muscles surrounding arterial capillaries,
and, being under the guidance of one system, they will
always act in sympathy with each other, and in health in
harmony with each other.

Animal Morphology. 97

Concerning their distribution to the capillary termini of
arteries, nothing is known with certainty ; but with regard
to the heart, the distribution of its ganglia and nerves
indicates an arrangement of a most comprehensive cha-
racter for complete diffusion throughout that organ. For
our more precise knowledge about th'e nerves of the heart,
we are chiefly indebted to Dr. R. Lee and Dr. James
Pettigrew.

It will be perceived that the endocardium, which is con-
tinuous with the arteries and veins, has no relation in its
muscular membrane to the heart, but the muscular coat of
the heart is the excessive development of a distinct tripartite
membrane — namely, the Ganglionic muscular membrane ;
and this membrane is, as it were, wedged in between the
junction of the spent and depurated blood and the new
blood by the lymphatic system, and the fresh blood from
the lungs made ready to go its round of vital operations
between waste material and fresh matter to the several
tissues of the body.

If it be true that ganglia are distributed to the arterial
muscular fibres at their distal termini and at the heart, and
that this membrane is really an economiser and distributor
of electricity, then its freedom of action and independent
origin as a distinct tripartite membrane can be easily ex-
plained.

For, in such case, the heart will be ruled in the degree of
its action in sympathy with the body generally — not from
the kind of blood flowing through it, unless when the kind
also extends to the quantity ; but it will be more influenced
by the effect which blood has in relation to chemico-vital,
and therefore electric changes which are going on in remote
parts of the body, and thus tone down or rouse the heart
up to more energy, according as these changes modify the
electric equilibrium in morbid function and nutrition; and

7

98 Animal Morphology.

so local electric changes will become early notified to the
heart before the mass of blood suffers any important change.
Moreover, the minute arteries will be depressed or excited
in their muscular walls by the local condition of electricity,
and the part itself will be the first partaker of any change
of circulation of a retarded or accelerated nature.

This would well explain Haller's observations on the
increased local circulation in inflammation ; for if it began to
increase locally the current of blood in the arteries of the
affected part or limb by stimulation and dilatation of them,
then, as a sequence, the venous blood would become pro-
portionally increased in amount, and end in local plethora.

But if the heart and vessels were all one membrane, the
more active function of the heart must be more or less
in abeyance to, or in harmony with, the slow contractile
powers in the larger vessels ; and the contraction and dila-
tation of the arterial system must keep pace with the quick
or slow action of the heart, which would subject the circula-
tion to too sudden and extensive changes, and would prove
a source of great danger.

We now leave the membranes more especially concerned
in vegetative life and turn to the tripartite membranes of
animal life.

The mammary tripartite membrane has already been
examined and viewed as essentially transitionary ; whilst
the veno-arterial membrane was considered an essentially
diffused vegetative membrane, and fulfilling the ordinary
chemico-vital function -of a mucous membrane in the
ramifying capillaries pertaining to muscle, bone, and nerve
belonging to animal life, and other membranes — in fact, to all
membranes external to itself; and when, from peculiar circum-
stances, the ordinary functions of chemico-vital forces are
inadequate to minister complete efficiency whilst supplying
the wants and removing the debris of the essential organs

Animal Morphology. 99

necessary to sustain a complete equipoise between waste
and supply ; then the veno-arterial membrane plants reserved
stations to act upon emergencies, as a species of temporary
scaffolding, or refreshment stalls, which are by no means
essential to the well-being of the system, in the form of the
vascular glands of Paget, in which vito-chemical changes,
and probably certain mechanical advantages, as diverticula,
are secured, whereby sudden variations in function, or more
chronic conditions of disease, or disturbed function, can be
better sustained.

But we now leave, in a great measure, chemico-vital
changes, and those conditions which are essential to secure
vital integrity, to consider those higher and more ulterior
ends which bring vital force into direct antagonism with
the physical conditions by which it is surrounded, by opposing
counter-physical and mechanical agencies versus gravitation.

We begin with the somatic, or body senses — more especially
the senses of touch, and force or weight, or the muscular
sense of Sir C. Bell, and the sense of want, or hunger, which
latter has elsewhere been called the hamal sense, and is so
closely connected with the ganglionic system in many parts
of its distribution as the par vagum, or pneumogastric nerve,
which sensory nerve is the first of the somatic senses in
the order of appearance in the subvertebrate kingdom.*

Each sense has superadded to it, its own proper tripartite
membrane or sense apparatus, which, for completeness and
distinctness, stands in bold contrast to all previous mem-
branous mechanism and cell differentiation ; but in its
first metamorphic change it approximates in some measure
the system of metamorphosis from which it has emerged.

* " An Experimental Inquiry into the Existence of a Sixth Sense," by
R. F. Battye. Vide Edinburgh Monthly Journal of Medicine for Feb-
ruary, March, and April, 1855, and Edinburgh Medical Journal for
February, March, and May, 1859.

7—2

ioo Animal Morphology.

The par vagum, or hcemal sense, is supposed to give conscious-
ness to its owner both of hunger and suffocation, etc., according
to the state of the blood in that particular organ to which it
is distributed, in contrast to those senses which give
consciousness to pressure, resistance, and external stimuli.
Hence, in determining the function of this sense by
irritants and mechanical injuries, only one side of the
question is settled, and that is the negative one, or the
want of action ; nay, even the par vagum may be cut, and
the cut end of the nerve on the proximal side to the brain
may give sensation to the central mass as though it were
still intact, and acts may follow as if it were in its natural
condition, so far as eating and breathing are concerned. Just
as men with an amputated leg often speak of the toes
itching or the limb paining, which no longer exists as an
integral part of the body, so after section of the par vagum
acts follow from mere sight, which are dictated by central
sensation. Certain states of blood, as of given conditions of
acid — as of carbonic, lactic, hydrochloric, etc., etc., which has
not yet been fully excreted from the capillary network — are
supposed to be the natural stimulants to the par vagum in
exciting the feeling of hunger and suffocation, etc., the one
pertaining to the lungs, the other to the stomach. No
doubt the heart, liver, and small bowels yield certain morbid
feelings when their functions are impaired from some altered
condition in the capillary system of the organ affected.

The par vagum, then, is considered to be a true sense,,
placed in proximity and juxtaposition with the other senses
in the great central mass — the brain.

This sense gives information to the brain of certain wants
and states belonging to the organic, or vegetative conditions
of the body, more especially that of the stomach and lungs,
but leaves to other senses information beyond this part of
bodily framework.

Animal Morphology. 101

The senses of touch, and of force, or weight, give informa-
tion of the surfaces of bodies, and also, in the sense of force,
their Degree of resistance and proportions of weight.

The weight of bodies and degrees of resistance to muscular
force are measured, as is here supposed, by one sense, com-
monly known as Sir C. Bell's muscular sense, but it has
"been also maintained to reside in and about joints ; but not
solely here, as it appears to have a partial distribution on
particular parts of the integument, as at the bend of joints,
the palms of the hand, and the soles of the feet — in fact, to
all those parts of the integument which, when wetted, feel
the cold from evaporation or cold liquids the most. The
sense of touch is more adapted to recognise the roughness
or smoothness of bodies and their equable warmth, both
senses embracing, as part of their function, states of tempera-
ture. The sense of diffused touch recognises heat the most
quickly, and the sense of force, when distributed to the in-
tegument, recognises cold the most quickly ; in this country
between 56 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit being about neutral
ground, but above this point the back of the hand quickly re-
cognises increasing heat in water, and below this point —
that is, below 56 degrees — the palm of the hand most easily
detects falling temperature.

Mention scarcely could be made, in so brief a sketch, of
such matters as heat and cold, or even of pain, as having
special senses for each ; but as there is a growing tendency to
increase the number of our senses among physiologists, and
those of the highest cultivation in this branch of medical
knowledge, a reference to it appears necessary, the more
so because a careful examination of details leads to a
supposition that special senses carry with them certain
collateral elements, that appear to be possessed in different
degrees by all the senses ; as, for instance, that of pain and
also of heat or cold, each having a certain higher, or lower,

IO2 Animal Morphology.

perception of one or the other, as their particular cerebral
impressions and anastomosis with each other in the great
central sensient mass may impose upon each individual
sense.*

Certain senses, as the optic and acoustic, appear to be
specially free from any marked changes of temperature,
saving during fevers, etc., when their functions, with that of
the cerebral mass, frequently suffer considerable change.
Also from indigestion, and the presence of certain acids
and other compounds in the stomach and bowels, unpleasant
sensations of heat are experienced, the result of impressions
on the periphery of the par vagum, etc.

OWEN considered that the special senses carried with them
certain anatomical peculiarities which entitled them to the
nomenclature of sense capsules.

It is almost a pity to alter nomenclature to fit it to any
special theory, or new explanation ; but inasmuch as capsule
is too circumscribed in its application for the present subject,,
the nomenclature of sense apparatus though rather indefi-
nite in its signification, will be used in preference to sense
capsules, for it is sufficiently expansive to admit any of the
senses into its category of objects.

Leaving, then, the precise object for which, in the diffe-
rentiations of the notochord, the nomenclature of the arches
is adopted, as that of the haemal and neural arches, it is
here assumed that these arches are the apparatuses of three
senses — the senses offeree, touch, and want, the two former of
which inosculate and intersperse with each other at several
points, though at no point do they amalgamate so as to consti-
tute one sense ; but they frequently occupy the same ground,
or area of surface, by the interpenetration of their fibres. So,

* Edinburgh Medical Journal, 1859, p. 797.

Animal Morphology. 103

in diffusion of their fibres from their spinal roots, they
occupy a common neural arch, or the posterior arch of the
notochord.

On the other hand, the sense of want, elsewhere called
the hcemal sense, and giving consciousness both of suffoca-
tion and of hunger, occupies the anterior arch of the noto-
chord ; or, in other words, it is the true sense to the haemal
arch.

In introducing to the notice of the reader the sense appa-
ratus pertaining to animal, as distinct from vegetable life,
a totally new order of membranous differentiation occurs,
and general metamorphosis ; the true transitionary mem-
brane being the mammary. And here a few general remarks
will be made.

For the sake of uniformity, and perhaps also to make the
subject more simple, the plan of giving the three membranes
— serous, mucous, and contractile — will be adhered to ; and the
fourth division, a true animal nerve membrane, which in-
cludes sensation and motion, will be given as a sense for
which a tripartite membrane is supplied, to enable it to fulfil
its functions, and to obey the mandates of its requirements,
which proceed from the brain, or great emporium of »all the
senses. But, rigidly speaking, the membrane of animal
life is a quaternary membrane, or a quadruple membrane,
and consists of nerves of sense and motion of a voluntary
character, and also of an involuntary character, one proceed-
ing from the spinal cord, and the other from the brain ; and,
in speaking of animal life membranes, they ought to be ex-
pressed as each membrane consisting of four divisions —
nerve, contractile, serous, and mucous membrane. But, as
before said, nerve will always be understood, and each mem-
brane will be spoken of as a tripartite sense apparatus.

So each special animal membrane is, as it were, nothing
more nor less than a series of mechanical appliances, here

104 Animal Morphology.

called sense apparatus, placed at the disposal of each special
sense, to enable it to accomplish that fixed purpose in the
animal economy for which the sense was destined, either for
protecting and preserving the being, or to make life more en-
joyable ; whilst the brain and spinal cord are membranes to
themselves, ruling and co-ordinating the several sense mem-
branes or sense apparatuses.

Moreover, in the sense apparatus, membrane undergoes
an entire change in differentiation in its animal life. The order
of development is essentially segmental. To illustrate this
matter, let it be supposed that the typical vegetable mem-
brane shall be the intestinal canal from mouth to anus. We
have the serous and mucous membranes tolerably continuous,
and also the contractile membrane. The reverse of this
pertains to the sense apparatus of want, and also of force.
Take the former. The small intestines, liver, heart, and
lungs, as well as stomach, claim some share in the pneumo-
gastric, though, for reasons longer than can be here ex-
pressed, the liver and small bowels are provided to some
extent with nerves of force as well as of want, or the haemal
sense ; but accept its value as moderately correct, we have
the ch&st and abdomen under the guardian care of the
haamal sense. This sense has for its tripartite arrangement
three distinct membranes — serous, mucous, and contrac-
tile.

Of these, take the contractile membrane ; it includes all
the respiratory muscles — as intercostal, abdominal, and
diaphragm, etc. Though all working in unison to one end —
namely, to promote the function of respiration, and more
occasionally to empty abdominal fulness in the actions of
vomiting and defecation — yet, in respect of attachment, as
of origin and insertion of muscles, though the end is empty-
ing out to make room for healthy material, with the ex-
ception of the diaphragm, every part of the contractile

Animal Morphology. 105

membrane is isolated by origin and insertion, as so many
segmentations, under the title of muscles.

As. of the sense apparatus of the haemal sense, so also of
the sense apparatus of the sense of force ; it is essentially
segmental in the contractile membrane. Whilst all the
membranes of animal life are essentially segmental, that
of the serous membrane is pre-eminently so in the sense of
touch. But of that more by-and-bye. To express the same
view in another form — instead of a continuous membrane,
the same membrane is repeated over and over again in
completing any proper or special membrane.

To give a simile of a quadruple membrane may perhaps
assist our understanding of the engrafting of the senses, on
leaving the brain and spinal cord, as being a part of a special
membrane external to the brain, and henceforth incorporated
with the functions and working of a distinct apparatus,
whilst in its major function it is debtor to the brain
itself.

Let a gasometer stand for the brain ; the main pipes and
service pipes for the spinal cord and roots of nerves.
But from the house meter and within, all gas apparatus
and piping inside the house is bought and sold with the
house ; but though the proprietary is distinct, yet all burners
in a house are more dependent upon the supply from the
gasometer forty yards off, or one or two miles, than they
are for any supply they get as the result of gas-fittings
within the house. This is a rough simile, but it may serve
to illustrate what is meant by the senses in their ultimate
distribution outside the brain and spinal cord ; when
external to these centres each sense has its own tripartite
membrane, as each house has its own gas-fittings distinct
from the gas-works.

We now go on to consider the haemal sense, or parvagum,
alias the sense of want ; as hunger, etc., it occupies its proper

io6 Animal Morphology.

arch, and has its own tripartite membrane — serous, muscular,
and mucous.

The ribs, sternum, and cartilages represent the mucous
membrane, the intercostal muscles, and the diaphragm, with
the abdominal and perineal muscles changed and modified,
with the abdominal ribs arrested in development, so as to
allow freer motion of the trunk upon the limbs ; these all
combined represent the muscular or contractile membrane;
and the synovial sacs placed at the ends of the ribs represent
the serous membrane. Segmentation in the serous mem-
brane at the heads of ribs is here represented in a very com-
plete form ; with the attempt in the sternum, in man and
most mammalia, to form one continuous portion of bony
membrane, alias mucous membrane.

Again, as contrasted with the interosseous muscles, the
various directions and forms of distribution of the abdominal
muscles must be viewed as a species of muscular segmentation.

So that one of the first indications of this sense apparatus
is segmentation, which must be viewed as a kind of diffe-
rentiation in the main, distinct from that of the differentiation
in organic life ; arising from the fact that membrane repeats
itself in the form of continual segmentation in all its tripartite
divisions. Again, in the great change in differentiation
of the several divisions, the contractile membrane and the
mucous membrane — one as the striped muscle of animal life,
the other as bone and cartilage, and the third very little
removed in cell differentiation, as synovial membrane, from
serous membrane in the vegetative organs of the body—
the principle of segmentation, which appears to be abhorred
in the one, is common in the other, and this makes the
great difference between them.

The apparatus for protecting and defending the haemal
sense, as in a castle, from external injury, especially in its
distribution over organs which bear external pressure badly

Animal Morphology. 107

— as the heart, lungs, etc., the liver also — is very singularly
protected by the bony framework ; whilst, on the other
hand*, this apparatus is made subservient in its offices to the
next great sensient apparatus — the tripartite membrane of
the apparatus of the sense of Force.*

This apparatus may be justly termed the complete subdermal
sense apparatus, and consists of the limbs and jaws, and the
vertebral column ; and the mammary, as the transitional
subdermal membrane.

In this the osseous framework stands for the mucous
membrane, synovial membrane for the serous, and striped
muscle for the contractile membrane.

Before entering into an outline of the relations which this
system of bony framework stands to the sense of force, it
may be well to state that it was this tripartite membrane
which first led to the hypothesis that the human frame, and
animal life generally, consisted of a succession of tripartite
membranes — the lower in the scale of life the fewer, and the
higher the greater number and complexity of tripartite and
metamorphosed membranes of every conceivable form of
cell differentiation.

Whenever there were good grounds for believing that there
was diseased bone, as caries, there was a distinct form of border
and eversion of the ulcer on the skin opening opposite, or more
distantly placed, but leading to the diseased part; when there
was no apparent pus for weeks from diseased bone, and long
before it became loose, this ulcer on the skin, with the
everted edges, told one tale — namely, diseased bone was near.

Why, it was asked, should the skin have such a sympathy
with bone ? What is there in bone distinct to other tissues ?
It is often the case that matter partly escapes from a cellular
abscess beneath the skin, and long before all has drained
away the outward opening in the skin heals, only to reopen

* See Monthly Journal of Medicine for February, March, and April, 1855.

io8 Animal Morphology.

at that or some neighbouring spot, when the matter has,
like leaven, in neighbouring structures turned more to
matter ; but in bone no such thing. The annoying little speck
of bone has not been removed, and though for one or two
days the outer ulcer on the skin appears as if it would
heal, yet month passes over by month, till at last the dead
portion comes away ; and not till then will it heal, and that
soundly in a day or two.

The question recurred and recurred, again and again, Why
so much sympathy for bone in the integument, as compared
with other structures ?

Compound fractures illustrated the same matter, but then,
as the late Mr. Skey has said in the Lancet for August, 1870,
that the bruising and contusion of the surrounding parts in
the fractured bone lowered vital integrity, and so greatly
prolonged recovery. But a case occurred in 1865 that set
this view at rest, and carried with it a strong conviction
that between the integument and bone there was some basis
of sympathy more than we yet fully understood.

The same had been observed in many other diseases of a
chronic nature, the sympathies of which were more deeply
seated than anything the nervous system could explain, and
of a more decidedly vital character.

But, without further entering upon practical and patho-
logical matters, the case will be briefly given.

F. B., aet. 34, in February, 1865, had a furunculus in the
right thigh, about the middle, from which in due time a
core came away, and then healed. In May he had a second
one higher up, and somewhat below the trochanter major,
but more posteriorly ; from this a large core came, and was
in process of healing, and he at work again, though in
removing furniture he left the heavier work to his men.

Before it was entirely healed, and when removing
furniture, he gave a helping hand to some very heavy

Animal Morphology. 109

furniture, and in the strain felt a snap in the right thigh ; it
was at right angles to the long axis of the femur, and close
to its lower third. He walked home with much difficulty,
and was surprised at the trouble he had to get upstairs to
bed ; but as there was very slight displacement, the weight
of the body for so serious an accident, was well borne.

Examination proved the nature of the accident, and when
recovered, the thick, hard callus settled it still more, if
more could be required. It was seen later on by a surgeon
of much eminence belonging to one of our large metropolitan
hospitals, who also confirmed the diagnosis.

Here there was no bruising or contusion accompanying
the fracture. The fracture was clear and unmistakable.
The two preceding furunculi were also unmistakable, the
last about ten inches from the seat of fracture.

If air getting to the connective tissue is the chief cause,
as some maintain, of matter forming at a distant part from
the opening, there had been a fair opportunity in the opening
in the integument caused by two previous furunculi, for
inflammation and abscess ; the last of which, at the time of
fracture, was fast healing.

But the fracture itself, contrary to all that might be
expected, proved as intractable as any compound fracture is
wont to be. By the third day the tumefaction was very
great, soon to be followed by an enormous and long-con-
tinued discharge of pus, first by the opening in the skin made
by the core of the furunculus, and then in three separate
places — one near the knee, one near the fracture, and a third
opening was about five inches above the seat of injury.

In six months the patient walked moderately well on
crutches, and in three months more with a stick, and
returned to his usual duties after that ; but the last-
mentioned opening remained open, and, extending by a long
sinus to the callous bony structure, for more than six years,

no Animal Morphology.

discharging daily a small quantity of yellow, and sometimes
a chalky-looking matter.

Air, it was certain, could not be the cause of such a
tremendous disturbance in the fractured limb per se, because
the opening in the skin had been before the fracture, and
twice in the space of three months.

The bad condition of the system could not be the cause,
because it was the same as existed immediately before the
fracture.

Bruising and contusion could not be the cause, since the
limbs had had no bruise, or blow, or injury from without
whatever.

The solution to the difficulty was one that had long pre-
sented itself, not only with regard to bone, but other
structures. Could nerves account for it ? This had long
been doubted, but here no doubt was left. The sympathy
was of a morbid nutritive character, and prevented assimila-
tion through the entire connective tissue, which appeared to
run parallel with two distinct tissues — bone and integument.

The inference drawn was that there was a closer identity
of origin in two such opposite structures than was usually
held ; and, carefully weighing the morphological doctrines
of Goethe, the conclusion drawn was that bone, in its very
highly-organized condition, was very distinct from a mere
hard mechanical substance, and the constant supply of
blood and cell changes known to occur in bone indicated in
the midst of pure mechanical agency active vital changes,
coupled with peculiar cell secretive power, that entirely ex-
cluded bone from being viewed as a simple mechanical struc-
ture; and that probably bone acted, as by deputy, through the
blood, in using lime as an antiseptic, as well as by its agency
aiding the process of disintegration in other structures.

Again, examining skin and bone with muscle and serous
membrane, a general conclusion was arrived at — namely,

Animal Morphology. in

that all complete membranes, howsoever modified in structure
and cell differentiation, yet retained three primary elements.

ist : A contractile membrane.

2nd : A secretive and assimilative membrane ; and

3rd : A membrane, in all instances devoted more or less
to mechanical purposes.

As the subdermal membrane is the largest and most
elaborate of the tripartite membranes, and that one which
led to the analysis of the rest of the structures of the body
as so many varied and highly metamorphosed membranes,
the grounds for suspecting so singular an arrangement of
tissues and textures, as that based upon a very complex scale
of tripartite division of membrane have been here, as it were,
introduced, that a notion might be given of what were the lines
of reasoning, from so small and unusual an incident as a
compound fractured femur without a blow or a crush, which
led to the present tripartite membranous theory.

No attempt at a refined or very careful analysis of the
tripartite membrane of the sense of force can be given,
because it would consume space equal to more volumes
than one, if carefully and minutely examined.

When a man enters a boat to row himself on the water
the motion of the boat is reversed to his sight, and he has
to move backwards instead of forwards, because of the
mechanism of his own frame, plus that of the fluid in which
propulsion is effected ; yet a fish moves head foremost and
a fowl does the same in air or water, and so do all vertebrae
and the entire of insect life.

This arises from a singular principle of mechanism belong-
ing to vital mechanics, called, for want of a better name,
emergency. The name, it is admitted, does not appear to
imply any principle of mechanism whatever ; but motion
in the universe appears to be based upon some common law

ii2 A nimal Morphology .

or principle, which fails not to assert its pre-eminence, even
in little and trivial matters. But the leaning to grow out-
wards and to move outwards has a wide-spread application ;
but a law or principle of mechanism in Nature was first
suggested by the fact that many mechanisms of man in
their grand finale had a backward motion, but in animals,
though capable of backing, yet their natural motion was
forward, or in the direction of the head. The conclusion
arrived at was that the combined actions of muscles turned
towards some one particular axis, or point.

The direction of fish, in their combined muscular motion,
is centred towards the head ; birds near the sacrum, or near
its juncture with the vertebrae ; and mammalia towards the
seventh cervical vertebra, but for man a double axis is
claimed, one at the sacro-lumbar articulation, and the other
at the seventh cervical.

Of course, there is no intention of giving a laboured
account of the numerous data and details used in coming to
such a conclusion. Neither is there any request made that
the conclusions may be accepted as correct, because no
reasons are given.

The object of giving these conclusions is merely to
facilitate description, and that one point may be steadily
kept in view — namely, that gravity and resistance are the
leading elements for consideration in viewing the greater
part of the osseous and muscular system, as one compre-
hensive and complex tripartite membrane.

A fish has, properly speaking, but one limb — namely, the
vertebrae and muscles posterior to the dorsal region, or
region posterior to the ribs. The fins are as so many side
sails to poise and adjust motion; but, to speak in vernacular
language as distinct from scientific, the tail has the major
motion and the chief propelling motion, or the posterior
limb of the fish is, so to speak, the only limb of the fish ;

Animal Morphology. 113

and with that limb is combined motion that propels the
head in advance of the location in which the fish was, before
such motion commenced.

In the motion of the fish the greatest power of resistance
is towards the head, in the direction of the great premo-
tionary sense sight, which sense, in relation to comparative
or gradational anatomy, is next in order to the sense of
want, or the par vagum.

Again, the greatest proportion of weight is anterior to the
tail or posterior limb, so that propulsion has weight in
advance of the propelling power.

Birds have the same peculiarity, for the greatest weight is
anterior to the axis of their motion, or combined result of
musciilar motion. It is scarcely fair to mention it, but this
was first arrived at by experiments, not upon birds, but upon
one or two foolish Cheiropterae, which were led astray by
white traps. Till then no trouble existed as to the way of
the eagle in the limpid air, neither had the Duke of Argyle
written at that time upon this elegant and beautiful subject,
and made it popular.

The experiments were conclusive and decisive. The
upshot of the whole matter was this — wing action was so
arranged, that force from the motion of air by muscle
was backwards, and that it was greater than the gravity
placed in front of it. Hence the head of the bird moved
in advance so much every motion of the wings.

When birds swim, and when they walk, the gravity is
greatest in front of the axis of muscular motion, which is
near to the sacro-vertebral articulation ; when walking the
toes are anterior to the axis of gravity, as also in running;
but the axis of muscular motion is between the joint (as of
the hip or acetabulum) and the sacro-vertebral articulation,
and very slight adjustments of the axis of gravitation deter-

8

H4 Animal Morphology.

mine whether in running, flying, swimming, or walking
motion should be directed into its greatest or slowest form
of speed — flight always requiring gravity in the greatest
excess anteriorly to the axis of muscular motion, for which
purpose the tail acts as a sure and ready rudder to give the
balance of direction in relation to gravity.

As for mammalia, the seventh cervical is invariably lower
in the body of the vertebra than the sacro-lumbar articula-
tion, save, perhaps, in the giraffe and elephant, and may be
the Baska horse (a beast of burden employed in Central
Tartary), when moving on all fours.

But wherever the body of seventh cervical is higher than the
sacro-lumbar articulation, there we have no power to jump
in that animal, and it always moves either walking or
running in the equilateral form — that is, one side moving
backwards and the other moving forward together as equi-
lateral halves, and never alternately, as in pigs, rats, asses,
horses, and antelopes, etc., etc.

Hence all mammalia move towards the point of greatest
gravity, which is towards the body of the seventh cervical
vertebra, at which point gravity tends both from the sacro-
lumbar region and from the head and neck. The trunk of
the elephant, and the long neck and head of the giraffe, and
the heavy head of the Baska horse, all tend to compensate
for the elevation of the body at the seventh cervical
vertebra.

Of course, in these latter animals, the long withers or
spinous processes stand for nothing. Elevation must only
be taken from the body of the vertebras, and not from the
spinous processes.

The outcomings of this arrangement of muscle and bone,
in a complex machine, is to enable force in muscles both to
meet resistance in fluids, either of air or water, and also to
enable the bony framework to maintain its balance during

Animal Morphology. 115

flight, swimming, diving, and rapid running, without fear
of an upset or capsizing, to use a most expressive term ;
the apparatus of the sense of want, or par vagum, acting
from a mechanical point of view, as well-stowed ballast,
materially aids safe and rapid motion, and aids in giving a
right direction to gravity.

Taking, then, the entire of this membrane as under the
guidance of the sense of weight or force, its great object is
locomotion ; whether in flight, defence, or prehension, the
grand point is one and the same — locomotion.

Its general outline is thus summed up — a vertebral
portion, three sets of limbs, and three plants, upon which
the limbs are placed or fixed, with their complement of
voluntary muscles and synovial membranes.

Let it be granted that the occipital bone is in some
measure the counterpart to the sacrum ; that the condyles
of the occiput are equal to the sacro-lumbar articulation of
the os sacrum ; that the long tube, posteriorly bounded by
the spinous ridge of the sacrum, is represented superiorly
by the foramen magnum of the occiput ; that the basilar
process of the occiput is equal to the anterior portion of the
sacrum, and the posterior expanded plane or curve of the
occiput, with its roughened transverse ridge's, is equal to the
posterior portion of the sacrum, with its spinous and trans-
verse ridges — then we get to the entire terminus of the series
of segmentation, known as vertebrae, with their expanded
and modified terminations.

The plants, or bony attachments at either extremity of
the spine, are highly modified homologies of each other, and
subserve distinct ends in bone mechanism. The mastoid
process, with its serrated articulation with the occiput ;
the zygomatic process, and its union with the malar bone,
are viewed as so many modifications of the ilium, pubes and
ischium, with limbs, fixed and modified to this occipito-pelvic

8—2

n6 Animal Morphology.

plant ; also the superior and inferior maxillaries, as limbs,
but, as it were, in direction at right angles to the limbs of
the sacro-pelvic plant. The teeth and dental apparatus
are so many devices, which blend with the sense of force,
that are parts of the integumentary membrane, and are
supplied with very fine nerves of touch within, like to the
digital apparatuses pertaining to the anterior and posterior
limbs.

The scapula, with its supplementary clavicle, is the re-
maining plant or foundation upon which the limbs are set.
Taking advantage of the hsemal arches, it is almost as highly
modified in some of its homologies with the sacro-pelvic
plant as the occipito-pelvic plant is with the sacral, and
in all points is wonderfully adapted to avoid shocks, and
from its muscular adjustments to obtain free and rapid
motion with great strength.

Concerning the homologies, differentiations, and arrests
of development that occur throughout the vertebrate series
between the fore and hind extremities, it is out of the
compass of this paper to supply ; for only so much is given
as is sufficient to direct the attention to the extent and nature
of the tripartite membrane of the apparatus of the sense of
force or weight.

To whatever intermediate function and use this mem-
brane in the economy may be devoted, taken as an entire
and complete membrane, its function and end is to interlock
segment to segment, so as to secure locomotion in every
form and variety in which we see it carried out in verte-
brate animals.

It might be considered that here was a proper place
to give an analysis of that most complete and thoroughly
worked-out monograph, by Mr. Parker, F.R.S., upon " The
Shoulder Girdle;" but, howsoever such an analysis might
grace an humble paper of this kind, the tracing of one is to

Animal Morphology. 117

illustrate Nature's work in the order of progressive develop-
ment ; but the other is a more humble attempt to utilize
the facts after they have been acquired, and to go no further,
for fear, in wading too far in such delightful streams of
knowledge, the understanding might get out of its proper
depth.

Nothing need be said in vindication of the sense of force,
as its discussion here would be out of its legitimate place ;
but it may be asked, Of what use, in contending with re-
sistance of a directly physical nature, is a sense that gives
a knowledge of the outside or superficies, as the sense of
touch ? Surely, if there is no sense to give knowledge of
gravity or resistance, we have a large locomotive apparatus
left without a guide to inform us of the amount or degree
of force which should be used in opposing resistance ;
and force is purely an ideal inference, if strength and power
are never felt in individual bodies or persons.

The tripartite nature of this membrane needs very little
examination, as bone is viewed in this membrane as modified
mucous membrane ; the voluntary muscles belonging to the
jaws, spine, and limbs, are the contractile membrane ; and
the synovial sacs of the joints, and the articular processes of the
spine and condyles are the serous membrane — each membrane
being marvellously segmented and adapted to the general
end of locomotion.

The joints, and not improbably bone, in a measure, being
supplied chiefly with the nerves belonging to the sense of
force ; their distribution to muscles is much doubted, for to
get a true estimate of the degrees of contraction or force in
muscles, it would require the most diffused and minute dis-
tribution of nerves conceivable ; but if distributed in and
about joints the amount of nerve tissue required would be very
greatly reduced, with an equally good channel for measuring
and adjusting force or weight, since all force in some way or other

n8 Animal Morphology.

has to be transmitted through joints, and in them we have a
ready medium, with a smaller area, to supply with nerve
fibres.*

We now come to the third somatic sense, or the sense
apparatus of touch, whose tripartite membrane is the
integument.

This membrane is the most diversified of all membranes
in its forms of morphology and modes of cell differentiation.

It consists of the contractile membrane, in the form of
beaded muscle, and dartos ; of a serous membrane, highly
modified in the form of hair, scales, nails, claws, feathers,
hoofs, etc., according to the special requirements in par-
ticular animals, birds, and fish. The basement mem-
brane appears to be essentially of that character com-
mon to mucous membrane, rather than serous ; and the
perspiratory glands and oil glands are essentially of the
mucous order, being inflections from the surface, and
secreting defined chemical compounds, and here and there
most conducive to the well-being of the animal. The serous
membrane appears to be in man a kind of arrested and
abortive membrane, and which is here called fragmentary.
In the subdivision of the animal kingdom, fragmentary con-
ditions of membrane are very common, merely serving one
particular end, and no trace to be found elsewhere.

In man it is essentially fragmentary, and also in swine ; but
in all instances it is segmented in the highest degree, and
then hypertrophied as in hair, feathers, scales, etc. In nails
and hoofs it constitutes a terminal segment. Horns belong
to the same category, and the spines or quills of the por-
cupine and the carapace of the tortoise, the armadillo, and
numerous fraternity of the same outward hard casing. The

* " Upon Nerves distributed to and about Synovial Membrane, as
being a Special Seat of Nerves of Force." See Monthly Journal of
Medicine, February, 1855, Edinburgh.

Animal Morphology. 119

teeth are not exceptional, but they contain within them the
conditions of a serous and mucous membrane, or bony and
enamel substances, etc.

It will be said that, in ordinary serous membrane, we have
no ground for supposing it ever assumes a truly fine segmen-
tation, so as to form hair, etc. But even here we have in
the lining membrane of the ampullae of the semicircular
canals of the ear fine hair-like processes, which membrane
is essentially a serous one.*

But membrane in morphology, from its very metamorphic
changes in cell differentiation, must alter in its form and
structure ; but in its function it will always possess in every
membrane the essential type in relation to the rest — namely,
physical and mechanical convenience without either con-
tractile or active vital function. It is even doubtful
whether serous membrane could on its own surface form
a true ulcer, like to bone and mucous membrane, on account
of its peculiar vital endowments, though apparently so
highly organized in man, as in the pleura and peri-
toneum.

It has been already remarked that nerves of force are
distributed on the integument in certain parts, as in the
bend of joints, the palms of the hands and soles of the feet,
along the mesian line of the lips, centre of the forehead,
the nipples, and between the fingers and toes. In all these
places, if water is applied, and then blown upon for a few
seconds, cold is very quickly felt.t

Touch, on the other hand, is found at the lips and palate
generally, especially the tip of the tongue, and the pulp of
the teeth, the finest particles being recognized when pressed
between the teeth, and the tips of the fingers and toes.

;: Vide Huxley's " Elementary Physiology," page 223. 1869.

f Edinburgh Medical Journal for March, 1859 : " An Experimental
Inquiry into the Existence of a Sixth Sense."

I2O Animal Morphology.

The conjunctiva is also very well supplied with this
sense, and possibly bone and muscle in a very slight degree,
but bone more than muscle.

Touch is the true prehensile sense of the body, as located
in the mouth or lips, the hands, and especially the tips of
the ringers and toes.

But touch is something more than this. It has a unity
of sensation that gives a kind of ubiquity of feeling all
over ; one part cannot well be touched without the entire
body feeling a unity of pleasure or pain, of warmth or of
coldness, of creeping or curdling, according as its action
is excited by external sources, or by mental induction or
impression.

In this general feeling, if it is brought into close collision
on the integument with the sense of force, for we have with
the impressions of softness, sharpness, smoothness, or warmth
or coldness, associated the feelings of resistance, hardness,
weight and burden, strength or vigour.

This blending and co-relation of senses is beautifully
exemplified in the neural arch of the sense of force, which
further illustrates the blending of force and touch in the spinal
arches, and foramina, which subserve for the mutual dis-
tribution of both these senses, both centrally and peripherally,
and, in a great measure, has been the cause why senses so dis-
tinct in function and office, are so usually confounded as one.

Though more directly relating to the brain, yet a word
may be said upon the three somatic senses — the sense of
want, of force, and of touch.

It is usual to consider the striped muscles as strictly
voluntary, with a certain amount of unwilled action, or
sustained excito-motory or spinal continuous action, biit for
initiation dependent upon the will.

Very little reflection is required to rectify this palpable
error.

Animal Morphology. 121

Encase — as was once done by an artist, in taking a cast
of the chest of a pugilist — the entire thorax in a wall of
plaster of Paris, and in much less time than an hour the
sufferer would be dead from asphyxia.

For why ? Because the expansion and contraction in
the air cells of the lungs is the minimum of respiratory
action, carried on by inflating and compressing the lungs,
through the medium of unstriped muscle ; for the inter-
costal and abdominal muscles, with the diaphragm, have by
far the most to do with the respiratory function ; and in
the spinal cord the respiratory tract of Sir C. Bell is the
chief ministrator of nerve tissue to these parts, but by no
means the only one.

These muscles never cease, save by an effort of the will,
to act day and night from year's end to year's end quite as
much as the heart. Life hangs on the balance of this
continuous action, and, so to speak, the major action is as
involuntary as is the peristaltic action of the bowels.

Hence striped muscle is, under certain conditions, as uni-
form in its action, and as constant, as the beaded muscles of
the vegetative organs ; whilst those striped muscles be-
longing to the limbs, etc., take rest as much as the senses
do during sleep. Of course, in muscular structure, in
health there is, whether contracting or not, a certain
amount of tenacity or vitality, which appears to always
hold them in readiness for action ; but, so far as direct con-
traction and relaxation are concerned, they are in sleep, and
at many other times, motionless.

It is evident that the functions of locomotion and rest
are so blended in these two senses, force and touch, the
latter being the sense that most incites to rest — smoothness,
calmness, and softness or repose — that the continuous
action of one is adverse to the other, and co-ordination
of functions, in relation to the securing an end, is essential.

122 Animal Morphology.

From a mere animal point of view, the integrity of touch
and force are dependent upon the conditions indicated by
want for their continuous activity either in procuring food,
or by exercise, increasing the demand of fresh supplies of
air, etc.

Hence two senses are the servants, or handmaidens, of one
— namely, the sense of want — the indications of which are
material supplies for material wants, and material rest when
those wants are supplied. Hence, again, the successive
alternation of repose and exertion.

How are two such contrasting senses to be reconciled by
subservient co-ordination and perfect reciprocity ? Probably
the cerebellum has more to do with this co-ordination than
any other part of the nervous system.

The experiments of Dr. Dickinson, chiefly upon serpents,
are much in favour of such a view.* In this important
function it is not improbable that the cerebellum has a cer-
tain inhibitory power over continuous nerve action, which
puts a bar upon either sense taking an independent and
continuous course of action, but makes one to be in part
dependent upon the other for its continuous and sustained
action.

Not that this view per se excludes the cerebellum from
having some nerve relation to the blood and assimilation.
What are often called internal, or central fits, and which are
frequently followed by changes in the blood, that tend to
retard motion and free circulation, have, in all probability,
some relation to a special function of the cerebellum which,
in nerve tissue, almost classifies it with mucous membrane
in relation to active vital function — a function which it can
fulfil without injury to sensation, since it is not in direct re-
lation to any sensuous function whatsoever.

* " On the Functions of the Cerebellum," by W. H. Dickinson,
M.D., British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, Oct. 1865, p. 455.

Animal Morphology. 123

As we have arrived towards the central nerve mass, the
brain, which is the real seat of the senses, a general outline
ought to be given of the metamorphoses and differentiation
of this structure and its relation to the senses.

The question is put, What is brain ? The brain is pro-
bably metamorphosed muscle or contractile membrane,*
metamorphosed into an impressible concentrating membrane,
in contradistinction to a contractile membrane.

Its proper serous membrane is the arachnoid, with the
lining membrane of the ventricles, and its proper mucous
membrane is represented in the spreading ossified membrane
constituting the skull, segmented separately for each sense
and in such a manner as to protect the delicate fabric or
contents of all the senses in one centre of co-ordination or
reciprocity, and hermetically sealed box.

The spinal cord, unless viewed as a mere distributive
organ to the nerves from the brain, is but an external exten-
sion of brain influence, that saves the brain the necessity of
continually applying itself to direct and adapt motion once
started; for by a series of incident and reflex actions, it
sustains the action already started, and, in so far as it
continues action once started, it is of inferior order, or has
a lower function to perform in the animal economy than
the brain itself, to which it stands as clerk of the works
during the master's bidding, and sometimes in his absence,
or when the brain is having repose. Its bony segmentation
is for convenience, and more equal nerve distribution.

It has a corresponding mucous and serous membrane to
that of the brain itself.

The brain, moreover, is the centre of a series of limbs,
whose special functions, by its being an impressible concen-
trating membrane, are to co-ordinate and direct motions by a

* Vide S. W. Mitchell, M.D., U.S.A., "On Injuries of Nerves,' &c.

124 Animal Morphology.

species of interdependent necessary reflex actions, whereby it
regulates and guides the actions of the several limbs into
one harmonious whole of mutually subservient agents one
to the other. The senses of sight, hearing, smell, and taste
are merely a succession of suppressed limbs or extremities,
whose object is better gained by saving material, and
altering the mechanical contrivances, as so many in-
stances of special morphology, so as to secure greater
extension of limbs by superior and more refined forms
of mechanical and, in taste and smell, chemical con-
trivances.

There is, perhaps, no part to which greater importance
ought to be attached than to the four senses — smell, taste,
hearing, and sight ; they are truly the interpreters to the
remaining three, which have already been given. They are,
as it were, complementary senses, neither of which performs
its functions well without the education of the other. Sight
aids hearing, because sound is so much better appreciated
when the head is turned conveniently for its reception ; and
sounds in their kind are so distinctive that, from experience,
we know for a given sound we have a given object in form
and size to look at, as a fiddle, a bassoon, a cock, or a crow
to turn towards, before we direct our best attention to the
point from whence it proceeds ; but, after seen and followed
by the eye, the sounds are more clearly defined and the
intensity more accurately measured.

If so much can be said of sight directing and educating
the ear, much more may be said of sound indicating the
point towards which sight ought to be directed.

The ear is more universal in its appreciation of its own
natural stimulus than the eye ; hence sounds from behind,
the sides, or in front are nearly equally appreciated, and in
such manner sight is directed to the object from whence
sound comes almost instanter. A horse trotting on a

Animal Morphology. 125

country road may be often heard half a mile off or a quarter
of a mile, but it is nearly as well perceived by sound half a
mile- behind as half a mile in front ; yet, if there were no
hearing, the same horse would not be perceived till its rider
brought it to the front.

Smell and taste are almost still more co-related in function
and education to each other than even sight and hearing,
and it is more than possible that part of the enjoyment of
food receives the connoisseur's approbation through the com-
bination of two distinct kinds of impression at one and the
same moment.

Touch and force are so interlocked by the apparatus for
their distribution, and perfect appreciation of the end which
each have respectively to fulfil, that it is almost impossible,
saving by special experiment, to isolate and distinguish one
from the other, so mutually do they aid and reciprocate with
each other in their respective functions.

But the sense of want, or of hunger and suffocation, are
here represented as one sense, through the par vagum.
Hunger being the chief want in man and mammalia to
which it is directed ; suffocation only comes into occasional
action when placed in non-respirable air.

Hence, in its essential action it has no proper counter-
poise or balance by another sense in direct relation to itself,
and, of all the senses, it stands the highest in its adaptation
to self-preservation ; since food in one form or other is
essential to existence, and in animal life prehension and
locomotion, saving in the lowest forms of the sub-kingdom,
are essential as a means to an end in procuring food. And, as
we get into the vertebrate, sight and hearing appear more
or less essential in directing and properly using locomotion
and prehension ; whilst smell and taste are the special
sentinels attendant upon hunger, to guard against satiety
being sought for, as by smell in hunting, or appropriated by

126 Animal Morphology.

taste, when it is not suitable aliment for the animal exposed
to hunger. These sentinels are specially endowed with
the proper appreciation of what is suitable food for most
things likely to be placed within their reach, and is one of
the forms in which instinct manifests itself.

In one way or the other, then, it may be said that the re-
maining senses are servants to one special sense, over whose
door is written, in more than iron characters, " That self-
preservation is the first law of nature." This sense is the
sense or consciousness of hunger.

But in birds, as pigeons, rooks, swallows, etc., etc., and
in insects, especially the winged insects, as the hymenoptera,
it is probable that the par vagum is the seat of a true
double sense, and in the sensorium gives two distinct kinds
of impression or sensation. The power to retrace their
habitations, when far from home, in such small animals as
bees, and with eyes constructed upon such singular optical
principles, cannot possibly be from sight, nor yet from smell,
as they are far inferior in smell to the common imtsca vomi-
toria ; but the distances to which they travel, and the cer-
tainty of their return, bespeak a guiding power distinct
either from smell or sight.

Pigeons conveyed in hampers, and never once placed in a
position of surveying the country across which they will fly
in retracing their homes, yet, by winging their flight direct
for their old abode, over one hundred miles, indicates a posi-
tive guiding sense. Whence do they obtain such know-
ledge of distance and .locality?

It is presumed that the sense of suffocation, or impure air,
acts only in man to show him the deficiency of oxygen, and
in the asthmatic occasionally other telluric, or atmospheric
peculiarities are included. In certain classes of insects and
birds this sense is open to stimuli, connected with certain con-
ditions of atmosphere, that are always in active operation

Animal Morphology. 12?

with certain conditions of the surface of the ground, or sub-
stratum, beneath which special conditions are so far changing
every few yards in continuous succession that, though they
are totally unrecognized by us, yet, that to these winged
tribes, they give distinct sensations in the act of respira-
tion, which, reaching the sensorium, are there registered ;
and, when the desire for return arrives, then, one by one, the
past order of sensations becomes only sufficiently intense to
be agreeable to the creatures feeling, when they are return-
ing within a given range from the point from whence they
were first received.

This view makes sensation in its general principles, or
binary product, a self-instructor by principles of contrast and
comparison.

It will be said there are eight, and not seven, senses, and
that previously it had been said that there was a decided ob-
jection to needlessly increasing the number ; to which reply
is made, that it is more than probable that there are only
seven senses in any one body or being. The sense of smell
is particularly deficient in most birds, especially such as
arrive in fixed localities after travelling very long dis-
tances, as is the case with the cuckoo, the swallow, and
the passenger pigeon.

The observations of any one individual are totally insuffi-
cient to settle a matter like the present, but the general
notion entertained about the senses is this — that the Telluric
or the atmospheric sense (for such a name may stand for the
travelling sense), and the sense of smell, are mutually com-
pensating senses, or where one is, there the other is absent,
or for all practical purposes may be counted as absent. In
man, for instance, it is so for a non-active sense for locality,
that it may be doubted whether it has ever shown itself,
saving here and there in some blind man, as Metcalf, unless
perchance it is unduly exalted in asthmatics, when it is the

128 Animal Morphology.

result of abnormal action from disease, rather than that of
normal action in health.

Again, in pairing off the senses, each pair may be divided
into the active and reposing senses, though repose and action
are here used merely as comparative terms. Smell and sight
are those senses in mammalia chiefly used in the chase and
pursuit of food.

The sense of force is the one chiefly engaged in
locomotion, and moving the body from one place to
another ; and the sense of want or hunger is the initiatory
or prime mover of all the rest, and rouses the other senses
to action.

Taste, hearing, and tactile touch, with softness, smooth-
ness, etc., are all more or less brought into use when the
range of the active senses is applied to a limited area, and
more bound by external conditions. An animal grazes
whilst very slowly moving or standing, and man sits and
eats. The notes of birds are given when near to each
other, to apprise their fellows of distant danger seen, or else
to soothe and cheer a mate whilst sitting upon the nest .
Sustained notes appear to be rarely used during much
motion or intense watching, so that the pleasurable in-
dulgence, both in sounds and taste, is only known under
circumstances of comparative stillness and inaction. Tactile
touch is chiefly in action when more active locomotion has
ceased.

So between all the senses there is a kind of comparative
activity in one, and quietude in the other; whilst the sense of
hunger, being due to certain states of blood, during repletion,
a complete negation is given for a while, to its activity, to be
again brought into activity by fasting.

It is curious to observe that this one sense, having no-
proper couplet, and in wild animals is the proper initiative
sense to put into action the rest, has in itself a kind of nega-

Animal Morphology. 129

tive condition leading to rest more or less complete. For
when satiety is attained hunger has no existence, and im-
pressions from that source are null and void, and with that
a general tendency to quietude and inaction.

If the seven senses are more carefully considered from
another point of view, they naturally divide themselves into
three body senses, or the somatic senses, and four accessory
or supplementary senses, orthe 7rapairio$, or the paraitic senses.

The somatic senses are touch, weight, and hunger, and
give us a knowledge of self, or supply to us the condition of
consciousness known as the ego — or conscious ego.

The paraitic senses are supplementary to and servants of
the somatic senses to a greater or less extent, and include
the senses of sight, hearing, smell, and taste.

These last-named senses are viewed as having peculiar
apparatuses of metamorphic sense differentiation, distinct
from the differentiations of the somatic senses in many and
important particulars.

The paraitic senses are, saving in the sense of taste,
elongated limbs, having special apparatuses for communi-
cating afar off the conditions and circumstances of nature,
through fixed and definite media, so that all necessary prac-
tical knowledge is supplied of external surroundings, by a
new device in adaptation of limbs or indirect tactile touch,
external to and beyond the range of the somatic senses.
But the conscious ego (formed by the somatic senses) would
be little else than a cipher in the world, with all its powers of
locomotion, prehension, and satiety, unaided by the accessory
senses, or servants to the somatic ones, yet with their aid
the servants will carry out more completely what by himself
the master cannot accomplish ; and one of the main points
that servants can do for a master, which the master alone
cannot do, is, that through representative servants he can be
in two or three places at one and the same time ; so we can

9

130 Animal Morphology.

both hear, see, and smell at one and the same time, and
the conscious ego is aware that it participates in all these
several advantages by a kind of plurality of ubiquity.

This plurality of ubiquity in the paraitic senses, by in-
structing the somatic senses, is accomplished through the
brain ; and the brain, in function, is nothing else than the
medium of union and greater extension of limb development,
under a peculiar metamorphic differentiation, capable of
adapting these limbs, or special senses, to higher and more
extensive ranges of knowledge and perception.

Instead of giving a minute detail and defence of this
singular view of the senses, here designated the paraitic senses,
a remarkably short and tabulated view of the tripartite
arrangement of membrane in the several paraitic senses will
be given, with scarcely an explanation or defence through-
out, as an outline forbids lengthened discussion.

I.
TRIPARTITE MEMBRANE OF THE SENSE OF TASTE IN MAN.

Mucous Membrane. — Mucous membrane of the tongue and

salivary glands, and hyoid bone.
Serous Membrane. — Vocal cords and epiglottis.
Muscular Membrane. — Constrictors of the pharynx, and

muscles moving the tongue, as the glosso-hyoid and

glosso-pharyngeal muscles, etc.

II.

THE TRIPARTITE MEMBRANE OF THE SENSE OF SMELL.

Mucous Membrane. — The Schneiderian membrane, the
lachrymal apparatus, and the lining membrane of the
Eustachian tube and Tympanum, the two latter divi-
sions being displaced portions of this membrane ; the
bony plates, as the turbinate bones, the vomer, the os
nasi, and the Palati bones.

Animal Morphology. 131

Serous Membrane. — The fibro-cartilages of the nose, and

the cartilaginous rings of the trachea.
Muscular Membrane. — Levator palati, tensor palati, tensor

tarsi, and the muscles comprising the external nasal

group.

III.

THE SENSE OF HEARING.

This sense, and that of sight, appear to have two tripartite
membranes — an essential, and a supplementary
tripartite membrane.
Essential Tripartite Membrane, or Inner Ear.

Mucous Membrane. — Cochlea, with its modiolus and the
semi-circular canals.

Serous Membrane. — Lining membrane of cochlea and semi-
circular canals and otolithes.

Muscular Membrane. — Arytaenoid muscles displaced to

regulate the voice.
Supplementary Tripartite Membrane, or External Appendages.

'Mucous Membrane. — The small bones of the Tympanum, with
the membrane round the fenestra ovalis, and mem-
brana tympani, being a species of basement
membrane.*

Serous Membrane or Differentiation. — The cartilage of the
concha as far as to the membrana tympani, and the
elastic tissue of the Eustachian tube.

Muscular Membrane. — The muscle moving the small bones
of the ear and concha.

* Of course, in fishes, where the small bones of the ear are
differentiated into large lateral bones of the head, their associations with
hearing are nil, and the impressions are chiefly given to the sense of
force ; but these bones really belong to the outer protecting department
of the skull more than to any particular function of the ear direct, for
this sense in fishes is feebly developed.

9—2

132 Animal Morphology.

IV.

THE SENSE OF SIGHT.

The Essential Tripartite Membrane.

Mucous Membrane. — Membrana pigmenti, alias Choroid

membrane.

Serous Membrane. — Jacob's membrane.

Muscular Membrane. — The ciliary muscle and ligament, the
latter being probably modified muscle.

Supplementary Tripartite Membrane.
Mucous Membrane highly modified. — Cornea.
The Muscular Membrane. — The oblique and recti muscles,

with their membranous expansion, the sclerotic coat;

the orbicularis palpebrarum and the levator palpebrse ;

and the corrugator supercilii displaced.
Serous Membrane. — Crystalline lens, and aqueous and vitreous

humours.

The highly modified and differentiated condition of the
paraitic senses, and proneness to displacement inter sey
renders it extremely difficult to trace their relations and real
locality, since each in its function is so much aided by one
in close relation to it. And as in the brain some appear to
combine, as it were, by commissure, and to blend the pro-
ducts of their various stimuli by a peculiar interlacing of
fibres reaching to certain cineritious cells or gre,y substances,
so, in their external apparatuses the tripartite membranes of
these senses appear to interchange one with another.

As the sense of smell supplies to the eyes and ears a
certain amount of mucous membrane, as in the lachrymal
apparatus, and to the tympanum and Eustachian tube in the
ear, so the sense of taste supplies, in its serous membrane, the
arytenoid cartilage and epiglottis, which are regulated by

Animal Morphology. 133

muscles in relation to the muscular membrane of the
internal ear.

If the sense of smell includes the nasal apparatus, down
to the trachea and larger bronchi, as its proper serous mem-
brane— the mucous membrane, as extending to the same
parts and to the eyes, as the conjunctival membrane, and
to the ear, supplying, by displacement, the Eustachian tube ;
and the nasal and palatal muscles be viewed as the contractile
membrane — then we have in the sense of smell a certain
co-ordination of structures and apparatus which, in the
economy of Nature, is closely interlinked with mechanism
and function.

Again, as we descend in the aninual scale, we find fishes
merely selecting suitable localities for spawning, and the
male and female nidus of a new generation requires no
further intercourse than that the myriads of ova cast in
the water should, after extrusion, be fructified by the milt
of the male. Between these two stand an intermediate
group, the reptilia, which are passed by for the present, with
their reduced vertebras in the cervical region.

Here, then, we have a distinct line drawn as to the order
of procreation, and the amount of care necessary to bestow
upon the young offspring. The lower the scale, the less
need of care for the offspring. In other words, with this
lowered standard of care for the young, runs the lower
standard of animal heat.

If to this be added, as we lose the sense of smell, and
with it the accompanying sense apparatus, in the trachea
and larger bronchi — that we have an imperfect ear, so
that no Eustachian tube is wanted ; and an eye of great
perfection, but from the medium in which it lives no
lachrymal apparatus is wanted — then we can come to
quietly consider how, in such general outward conditions,
a bony mechanism should be withdrawn, and a distinct class of

134 Animal Morphology.

vertebrata should present themselves under a great variety
of forms and sizes, which no longer need a distinct
bony region. This bony mechanism is the proper cervical
region ; and the shoulder girdle is here, but a supplement
to the back of the head ; and flanking between the shoulder
girdle and the maxillaries are the small bones of the ear in
man and mammalia, enlarged to an enormous size, as a
kind of outside hoarding, to aid, with the shoulder girdle, in
protecting the heart and gills in their newly-acquired position
and function outside the ribs ; because the sense of smell in
water is useless ; to which all other parts are adapted, as the
absence of feet and legs, for without a neck the others would
be useless.

In such a brief outline it is impossible to go further than
indicate the effect of removal of a tripartite apparatus in
altering the whole phase of sequences. Neither can it be
said that such phenomena as neckless vertebrata are a
necessity from the medium in which they live, and the
velocity with which they have to move, either for food or
for safety. For though their own condition is necessarily
a water one, yet we have tenants of the deep, and tenants
of the rivers and lakes, which run from fish to reptiles of
varied size and form, and even to mammalia themselves,
which, though beautifully metamorphosed and differentiated
— so as to be adapted to the element in which they mostly,
and some entirely, live — yet they possess some kind of a
cervical region, and with it some abortive attempt to deve-
lop the sense of smell. But in most birds and insects a
modified trachea and air cavities and vessels are used as an
apparatus for the Telluric sense, which is a complementary
sense to that of the sense of smell.

We will now leave the subject of the senses to shortly
refer to that organ, the centre of all the senses, and the
source from which all active animal motions tend, or

Animal Morphology. 135

from which they originate — namely, the brain. As already
indicated, the brain is here viewed as metamorphosed
musde.

It may be asked, How was it that the brain came to be
adjudged as metamorphosed muscle ?

To give the real reasons in full is almost impossible, as
one suggestion came from one source, and another from an
opposite source ; and through a long series of years suggestion
after suggestion will arise, which, when all are collated, lead
to some more or less general conclusion. This again wants
sifting and resifting, for the purpose of exhuming the dead
matter and retaining the living and true matter.

For many years a general notion had existed, as before
stated, that our planetary system, and a very extensive
amount of our vital mechanics, were based upon a system of
evergency. The principle is so far carried out as to explain
or account for animals being organized and adjusted, that,
as symmetrical bodies, they are stronger on one side than the
other, or possess the greatest precision of motion on the
right side (which is, of course, most easily proved in man) ;
and that man, for instance, with the planets, in the order of
his motion, is in perfect harmony when naturally endowed,
or when he is right-handed, with this general principle of
evergency.

For, let a man revolve upon his heel and follow his nose,
and not recede from it and go backwards way ; but let him
go forward and follow his nose — which, by-the-bye, is rather a
homely form of expression — he will invariably move in the
direction of the earth's axis, and the most active or right side
will be placed outwardly, and he will revolve on the left foot
from west to east, in the same direction in which the matter
of the earth has its greatest and least acceleration.

In other words, the side of strength will be outwards, and
of weakness towards the centre of revolution, which is inwards.

136 Animal Morphology.

The principle, then, of evergency, or turning outwards — as
vegetables, which grow by the root much less than outwardly
from the earth — is apparently implanted upon nature
generally, with here and there exceptions ; and it is the same
principle which is implanted upon all the senses. For in their
bond of mutual recognition or brain-consciousness, the sense
apparatus, in all, is external to the centre storehouse or
emporium of consciousness.

Observing, then, that the emporium or brain itself reflects
the entire product of all the senses by an impressible power,
which, as by a looking-glass, exactly duplicated the external
recognizers, or sense apparatus or limbs, it was inferred
that that principle of duplication must be the true and
exact counterpart to evergency ; and as a consequence the
principle of conscious reflexion, or re-duplication of the
senses in the form of consciousness — we say, as a true
counterpart to evergency — the brain function which stamps
itself by the power or principle of consciousness, is correctly
counterparted by the principle of invergency.

As, then, muscle and tendon are under the regulation and
direction of the senses, and as the senses peripherally and
centrally are specially modified to receive impressions from
special stimuli — as air, colours, odours, etc., etc. — and by
tubing convey impressions from one to the other, as from the
periphery to the centre, according to fixed laws of reciprocity,
so in that reciprocity from the centre, metamorphosed muscle
or brain is identified to be the chief agent of direct sympathy
between muscles and the senses (and also from the spinal
cord) ; therefore, between these tissues there must be a close
identity of structural origin, as they have such an entire
identity in their aiding, carrying out, and perfecting each
other's functions.

It is therefore inferred that white conducting fibres are
analogues of the tendons and the sarcolemma of muscles ;

Animal Morphology. 137

and the ultimate nerve distributions in the several senses,
as well as the cineritious matter of the brain and spinal
cord,. are analogues of muscular fibrillae or true muscular
structure. Thus the brain and spinal nerves, with their
ultimate nerve distribution, are considered in their differen-
tiations as morphologies of muscle.

Though it may seem strange, yet the muscles of voluntary
motion are viewed as differentiated brain, responding to the
cineritious or grey matter of the brain and spinal cord ; and,
to speak in a figure, are a species of conscious or recipro-
cating agents to the brain, outside the domain of its own
special conscious agency.

Again, for the brain to be truly invergent, the right ought
to change for the left, which is the case, the left side of the
brain ruling the right side of the body.

It is with extreme regret that, in speaking of the senses of
force, touch, and want, no better authority can be given, so-
far as the writer knows, than those contained in the Edinburgh
Monthly Journal of Medicine for 1855, including the numbers
of February, March, and April, the title of the article being
" Upon an Experimental Inquiry into the Existence of a
Sixth Sense ; " and in 1859, for March, April, May, some
further researches, including suggestions in relation to a
seventh sense, in the Edinburgh Medical Journal, by the
same author.

Whether from an over-weaning fondness for one's own
child, or from a fair and honest examination of the
contents of these articles, the writer will not attempt to-
decide : but length of time has rather confirmed him in
his original researches, than led him to doubt or abandon
them. For instance, in the sub-kingdom we naturally ask,
Of what good would the sense of touch be to the common
crab, save in the fragmentary form of the antennae, with its.
hard and stony shell ? But force to such a creature would

138 Animal Morphology.

be everything, and balance, which goes with force. Again,
Of what use would force be, saving to the foot, to such
creatures as most of the molluscous animals ?

But, in a crude essay like the present, details must be cur-
tailed and broad outlines alone be suggested or touched
upon.

In the vegetable kingdom morphology is already, at the
hands of Goethe, prepared to hand complete and exact, and
not as the present animal morphology, in a most sketchy
and hurried manner, with scarcely a moment's lingering to
see the fields, whether they yield oats or wheat ; the sketch
is so rapid, and withal so remarkably defective as a treatise
to itself ; but it is only given as a kind of suggestive ideal
system, which has been passed over in rapid succession, in
order that in a bird's-eye view the whole of the animal
kingdom might be taken in at one sweep. And now briefly
for the vegetable kingdom.

The morphology of the leaf, through the flower to the
fruit, is now left just as it is found (discretion being the
better part of valour) ; so is the cortex, or the outer bark ; but
there are two things worthy of attention — firstly, the relation
of the outer bark, or cortex, to the leaf ; and secondly, the
density of the wood in relation to the leaf.

ist : In such trees as the oak, the ash, the beech, and the
elm, etc., all being simple leaves, the roughness of the bark,
when the trunk is considerable — say of twenty years' growth
— appears to depend, in some measure, upon the depth of
sinuosity, or the depth of serration, or dentation of the leaf.
The oak is deeply sinuous, and the bark is very rough ; the
hawthorn not far different, and it is very rough when
growing alone, and where the trunk has stood twenty or
thirty years. The leaf of the beech is very even all round
the margin, and the bark is the same ; the elm leaf is finely
serrated, and the roughness of the bark is very equal, but

Animal Morphology. 139

not deep. So of different kinds of apple, pear, and plum
trees of twenty to thirty years' growth, in a large orchard,
some. will be more dentated, or serrated, than others, and
the bark will agree much with the condition of the leaf.
There is one remarkable exception, and that is in the com-
pound pinnated leaf of the common acacia (Robins pseud-
acacia), where the leaf is ver}r smooth round its borders, and
the bark is very deeply grooved and rough. Upon carefully
examining this leaf, it appears almost as if the mid-rib was
a continuance from the petiole, and the leaflets were really
transverse or side-ribs, called lateral nerves, with the paren-
chyma interrupted or arrested in its development, and
therefore formed of a succession of apparently real leaflets.
If such should really be the case, then the deep rough
fissuring of the bark only confirms the general statement
here made.

Again, the roughness or smoothness of the bark is not
the only point connected with the bark which is connected
with the form of the leaf; for, in some trees, the bark scales
off in patches or flakes, and does not appear to groove in the
line of the long axis of the trunk, nor at any angle with that
far short of what might be termed, in rather freely-used
language, at right angles to the long axis. In such trees the
leaves appear to be broader at right angles to the mid-rib than in
the direction of the mid-rib — as, for instance, the bark of the
sycamore tree scales off in flakes and does not fissure ; also
the very singularly arranged bark, or cellular integument of
the birch, which peels off in a circle, and yet is deeply
fissured in the bark in old trees ; but the leaf is well serrated
on its borders, and is as broad transversely as in the line of
the mid-rib.

Again, the stem as a whole, in the last year's shoots, or
growth, is much more frequently found quadrangular in
evergreens, or trees which, though not evergreens, yet retain

140 Animal Morphology.

their leaves till very late in the season, as the blackberry
and the privet trees, or shrubs, than in those trees which
shed their leaves in mid, or late in the autumn — as, say, in
September and October in this country ; but to this general
statement there are many exceptions.

2nd : The density of wood, especially in its centre, when
a tree is in its vigour — say, 40 to 60 years of age — and the
bark in the trunk is complete, is, cczteris paribus, harder wood,
especially in its centre, in ratio to the thinness of the mid-rib,
as compared with aggregate of the transverse ribs (or lateral
nerves). To illustrate this matter, a cherry tree in its
centre is rarely ever hard wood when cut at 60 years
of growth, though the intermediate wood is hard ; the
same maybe said of the horse-chesnut. If, then, any of these
trunks are compared with the beech or the oak at their
centres, at 60 or 80 years of growth, the hardness is much
greater in the latter than in the former. Then take an oak
leaf and a beech-tree leaf, and examine the transverse ribs
with the mid-rib, and the mid-rib is scarcely equal in the
amount of its substance as compared with the transverse ribs;
but in the cherry tree, and especially in the chesnut tree,
the mid-rib is very large as compared with the transverse
nerves.

Again, the size and length of the nerves to the mid-rib
of the leaf, appears to have something to do with
the length of the woody fibre, or with the fragibility
of the trunk or larger branches. This is well illustrated
by two trees which develop timber in moderately equal
ratios of time — namely, the beech and the elm ; the beech
forming timber in many localities where the other grows-
well, but the beech makes timber the quicker of the two.
The beech leaf is much larger and longer altogether than
the elm, and its timber is far less brittle, from the woody
fibre being longer than that of the elm.

Animal Morphology. 141

These observations are upon an extremely limited scale,
yet they have included most of our forest and garden trees,
and, when carefully examined, appear to be sufficiently
uniform to claim a short notice, when passing in review
morphology in its general bearings upon vital force, showing
that there is a general interdependence of parts, in a whole,
throughout all its general bearings.

But, as regards the approximation of identity in relation
to the two kingdoms, there is but one general impression
here maintained, and that is, that in cell development,
throughout its endless morphologies and differentiations,
there is nothing that really stands equivalent to a tripartite
membrane, or any cell possessing a really genuine con-
tractile power, self-existent in the tissues of the vegetable
kingdom. All assimilations to contractile tissues are all so
many modes of utilizing external nature, so as to bring
about peculiar kinds of mechanism ; such as the sensitive
plant, Venus's fly-trap, the opening by night or closing by
night of certain flowers, and the twisting of leaves to moist
wind and exposing their stomata, etc., etc. The rising of the
sap is due alike to the expansive effects of heat, and, may be
also, to chemical changes, effected by the chemical rays of
the sun, both aiding to compel a vacuum, Nature's great
horror; and, for fear of falling into any quagmires from this
source, she has secured a most perfect mechanical parasite, if
such aterm may be generalized, in her great agent, atmospheric
pressure; add again to this capillary attraction, and the law of
diffusion of fluids, especially aided by membrane, as shown
by Graham and Duhamel in osmosis and dialysis, and then
we have all the agents necessary to perpetuate successive
changes and progress, in increased decay and in onward
development, which are required after the first start of the
true vegetable fructification of any special kind of ovum.

As there is no real contractile force in the vegetable

142 Animal Morphology.

kingdom, there can be no real representative of a nervous
system — above all, of a sentient nervous system, as the brain,
etc., as is here maintained ; for, as already advanced, the
brain, which is part of a tripartite membrane, is viewed
only as a peculiar morphology of muscle, and wherever
there is animal muscle there we have some kind of a brain
or neural mass, however small or oddly arranged ; and these
two systems, the cerebral and the animal muscular systems,
are so arranged that, however fragmentary and apparently
independent one system is of another, yet that these two
systems are always mutually interdependent and co-related.

Yet, even here, vital force asserts its right to turn to use, in
its multifarious products, the principles in one kingdom by
adopting them in another; and the exogens and endogens
are independent expressions of the principle of invergency
and evergency in very complex mechanisms, side by side —
very simple mechanisms, in which the different principles of
inevergent and evergent mechanism are adopted. Thus we
have, as exogens, the fine and complex mechanism from ovum
to fruit of the massive oak, and the more simple one of a cow-
slip or a strawberry, etc.; or, of endogens, in the lofty cocoa-
nut and the fragile grass, or the beautiful tulip. The prin-
ciple is the same — its mode of application is as contrasting
as a needle is to a steam-engine.

The general conclusion arrived at from the foregoing
examination of matter, organized and unorganized, is, that
vital force manifests itself obedient to general laws, and in
detail adapts itself to particular mechanical principles, and
to uniform plans of mechanical simplicity and complexity, in
constructing bodies from the lowest forms to those of the
highest order of organization.

The principles of mechanism, and the general laws to
which the whole universe is subject, are so harmonious in
their operations, that the Architect and Law-giver must be

Animal Morphology. 143

in perfect union, or have one mind and will ; or if without
mind and will, all has been done exactly as if mind and will
were .never absent.

We now turn to examine vital force in its more general
and extensive forms of manifestation, as affecting large areas
of the earth's surface ; and the constant ebb and flow of those
changes in vital manifestation known as Epidemics.

EPIDEMICS.

Vital action, or force, takes a much wider sway than that
of merely retaining in integrity the component parts of a
system, or interdependent portions of a complete whole or
body, for it manifests itself in waves and patches over
large areas and in particular parts of the world ; and also
its modifying powers are shown in long or short periods of
endemic variations, and more widely-spreading changes,
called Epidemics; or metamorphic conditions of disease,
which are greatly concerned in developing the energies
of races, and also in limiting the well-being of habitable
tracts of the earth's surface.

In fact, coupled with duration, change is written upon
every portion of the globe ; and metamorphic phases of
disease and health are spreading their special stamp of vital
manifestation in every historic period ; and each successive
generation feels that change, more or less. The bare culture
of the ground, the upturning of the soil, the destruction of
many kinds of vegetable growth, to be succeeded by one,
two, three, or more of a particular kind ; the amount of
forest, wooding, fencing, grazing, and cereal yields that any
given track of land produces, as well as its manuring, water-

144 Epidemics.

ing, and drainage, all tend to regulate the amount of health,
and the totality of disease and death in that given area.
The food, labour, and exercise, the clothing, housing, and
bedding of man and animals, alike promote disease or
minister to health.

Certain localities, in their geographical features or
geological positions, entail certain fixed and recognized
diseases, as swampy lands. Lincolnshire and Kent, for
instance, give (or once gave), as a birthright to their in-
habitants, a large preponderance of ague. The Alpine and
Derbyshire waters, being excessive in lime — the Alpine
giving magnesia additionally — induce goitre and cretinism.
The ploughing or digging of certain kinds of soil, whether it
be in Ireland, Scotland, England, China, India, or the
Americas, etc., are frequently attended with special forms of
fever and bowel affections, etc., etc.

Human tenements overcrowded, or long inhabited,
without regard to daily cleanliness, and periodic renovations
in the coating of the walls and ceilings, etc., and neglecting
the careful removal of surface soil to suitable distances,
and then to be subjected to special management, having as
its basis complete or limited chemical changes — all, or
several of these agencies, have, as their natural sequences,
the power of inducing or intensifying special forms of
disease.

Hence endemic disease, being disease in some special
form, or of a more intense character in one locality than in
another, embraces in its agency a variety of conditions,
both personally and relatively to the individual or the
community, as well as the incidental geographical tract, or
geological stratum, in which a community or an individual
may be located, which are inimical to health.

To these may be added, not only the moral and vicious
habits of particular individuals, or even whole communities,

Epidemics. 145

but the particular hereditary vice or kinds of constitutions
gendered by such habits and transmitted to their posterity,
such as certain forms of dyspepsia, induced by epicureanism
or 'gormandizing; unnatural thirst, as, when adult life is
attained, from parents drinking ardent spirits, etc. ; mental
excitability and uncontrollableness of temper in the offspring,
induced by over study and loss of sleep in a parent, or,
what is often a much more common cause, the indulgence
in youth of uncontrolled self-will and excessive liberty or
power; habitual idleness and dilatory habits, entailing on
the offspring, from want of food and force of example,
harmless, or else cunning and inenergetic children, in whom
systematic work is almost beyond the power of endurance.
All these, and many more, resulting from moral defection,
entail suffering, trial, and early-exhausted constitutions,
which rob the children in man and woman-hood of health
and energy to a great extent, and, if not actually shortening
their days, in utility limiting their labour, to nearly half its
proper and natural value, to themselves and their offspring.

The moral and vicious habits, in relation to health and
disease, may not be improperly called entailed endemic or
hereditary diseases ; and in many respects they are the
most inveterate of all diseases. They sap the vital powers,
and are a leaven of disease, which damps and blights the
primary vital impress continuously, and more certainly than
any other endemic form of disease to which our race is
subject, from the cradle to the grave.

If, therefore, treating upon the subject of epidemic and
endemic diseases, a wider range is given than is usual, it
must be borne in mind that this outline of epidemics, etc.,
has for its object the tracing out of external agencies in
relation to vital power, and not the internal or inherent
force which implants in matter a self-interdependent power,
which is, in co-relation of elements and their interdependent

10

146 Epidemics.

functions, not only superior, but , antagonistic to the sur-
rounding inorganic world. Epidemic conditions are those
external conditions, or continuous changes, occurring in the
surrounding inorganic world, or the antagonism between
higher and lower grades of organic life, which tend to reduce
the products of vital power to a lower level, or to limit the
number of individuals, or amount of matter that is directly
under the sway of vital force.

From such a point of view it is evident a wider range of
contingent agencies, always at work for evil or for good, in
relation to the applying of a given force, as vital, to bring
about a given result, must be taken into consideration in a
general and comprehensive manner.

The sun, as the centre of our system, and the spring of all
vital phenomena in the vegetable world, and from thence
by induction to the animal world, requires a first considera-
tion in examining the relation of the external world to vital
phenomena.

Every part of the earth, during the circle of its journey
round its own orbit, has exactly the same number of hours
and minutes of light at the poles, the Equator, or the
temperate regions ; but, in relation to diurnal continuance
of light, the greatest possible variation is attained, from
twenty-four hours of exclusion of sunlight in the Arctic
regions for a certain period of the year, and at another part
of the year continuous sunlight for the same space of time —
twenty-four hours — to the very moderate variation of an
hour or less on either side of twelve hours in the Equatorial
regions ; and between these points every intermediate gradua-
tion of time in the twenty-four hours between the seasons
of winter and summer. Therefore, from the amount of sun-
light in the year upon every portion of the globe, no inference
can be drawn as to health or sickness, barrenness or
fertility.

Epidemics. 147

Oblique and vertical rays of the sun much more materially
affect the heat on the surface of the earth than the duration
of light. The rays are most vertical in the tropical regions
of the earth, and the least in the Arctic regions, where, on
the contrary, the rays attain to their greatest obliquity. In
summer the rays are always more vertical than in the winter
or the cold and rainy seasons; hence the direction of the
rays of the sun is most important, in relation to diurnal heat.

Humidity and high barometrical pressure affect the develop-
ment of positive heat in the highest degree ; hence valleys
are hot with high barometrical pressure, and mountains are
cold-, where rarefaction is great, and barometrical pressure is
diminished. And as positive heat, emanating from the rays
of the sun, is a vivifying agent, and the chief of all known
agents, it follows that long-extended plains, where rarefaction
is very limited, and yalleys well watered by rivers and
streams, will give the largest per centage of vegetable and
animal organization, and in equal latitudes high mountains
will be most scanty in their yield of organized products.

But as year by year the same amount of sunlight, whether
checked by clouds or not, is not the question ; but the sun
shines from above upon the same lands, and gives light year
by year for the same length of time, and at the same period
of the year, in every place alike throughout all ages — there-
fore, so far as relates to diurnal light, no part of the earth
receives more one year than other, nor is the slightest
amount of abatement to be found in solar distribution of
light in any one part of the earth at the same period of time.

Spots upon the sun affect the magnetic currents on the
earth somewhat, when present, but how this magnetic
disturbance affects growth and vegetation at present we
are in perfect ignorance, and among disturbing agents
on the earth's surface, as yet, no positive inference of any
kind can be drawn.

10 — 2

148 Epidemics.

Our trade winds, siroccos, monsoons, etc., take their lead-
ing course of current, or direction of motion, from the com-
bined action of rarefaction from the sun's heat, and the angle
in relation to the earth's orbit at which the sun's rays fall
upon any particular portion of the earth's surface ; but if the
appearance in time of such periodic wind currents depended
solely upon the sun's rays, then they would always appear
to the day and the minute in every part of the earth's sur-
face where they are found; for the time the earth reaches any
particular part of its orbit, and the amount of light which
shines upon any particular part of the globe being always
the same, the time of their appearance would be always
identically the same, year by year, from age to age. But
inasmuch as occasionally they are a few days too early, and
frequently a week or two weeks later than their accustomed
time, it is plain that some agency beyond that of the sun's
rays has a powerful effect, and is a disturbing element in
this perfect system of light administration, whereby the
legitimate effects of solar calorification are limited, and
diverted from their correct time of systematic recurrence.

The general inference, then, is this — that in relation to
epidemics the sun may be viewed as an indeterminate
agent, and a non-producer of epidemics. The one sole
agency of the sun, external to his direct rays, as chemical,
actine, calorific, and luminous, if such divisions of the rays
are tenable in the present day, in the latter of which the
solar spectrum apparently reveals identical elements in the
sun to those that exist upon and constitute the chief
elements of the earth, which in many respects, to say the
least, is exceedingly problematic — to repeat, the sole agency
beyond the rays of the sun are the spots of the sun.

Whatever may be the exact chemical constitution of the
matter of which these spots are composed, two facts are
apparently clear ; first, that the spots are non-luminous ;

Epidemics. 149

secondly, that no rays proceed from the spots, but that they
have a certain effect upon the magnetic, or the electro-
magnetic condition on the earth's surface.

This fact strongly confirms the views of Oersted, that the
force called gravitation is perfectly expressed by the power
or force called magnetism or electro-magnetism, the same
as Lord Bacon suggested, as the controlling power which
governed the moon in her circuit round the earth. For the
spots on the sun, it is presumed, are masses of matter un-
smelted by heat, and retain their inherent cohesion amidst
the furnace by which they are surrounded ; or, to say the
least, they are free from the chemical changes to which
surrounding matter is subject. Hence, in such case, the
solid matter on the surface of the sun has a free and inde-
pendent action, distinct from that of the incandescent
surface, and in nature more akin to the solid noncandescent
materials towards the centre of the sun ; and, in their
relation to our earth and the planets, give a truer transcript
and interpretation of the nature of that union between the
matter of the sun and the planets, from their relation to
magnetism, than the incandescence of the matter of sun,
ending in the phenomena of light, heat, and chemical changes
on this earth, as well as in the sun itself.

Granting that the spots on the sun give us some key,
from the very slightly greater nearness to the earth of solid
matter on the surface of the sun, to that of matter towards the centre
of the sun, yet if, in so delicate a medium of response to the
slightest degrees of variation in intensity, the magnetic con-
dition of the earth at certain points is affected and rendered
apparent by the susceptibility of delicate electro-magnetic
instruments, it only follows that the natural attractive power
of electro-magnetism between the earth and the sun is
slightly modified by the proportion of distance from the centre
io the surface of the sun; and that the earth's surface, being

150 Epidemics.

unity, takes cognizance of the slightest variation of material
change on the surface of the sun. But this natural sequence of
perception of a force, in relation to distance, in two bodies
mutually affected by distance, is real and determinable ; but,
in relation to material disturbance of matter on the surface
of the globe as an efficient agent to promote disease, it is, so
far as we yet know, perfectly innocuous, and its case must
be dismissed as a true bill of cause to epidemic or endemic
disease, as not proved.

Hence, as an active agent in promoting epidemic or en-
demic disease, the sun may be allowed to pass muster as
being a non-active agent in initiating or producing epidemic
or endemic disease, unless it be sun-stroke, the prickly heat
of tropical climates, and liver affections, by, in part, sus-
pending the functions of the lungs, as promoters of heat, and
throwing a great plus of hydrogen and carbon on the liver,
instead of excreting them by the lungs, as water and car-
bonic acid, when aided by the absorption of oxygen from the
atmosphere.

Between earthquakes, volcanoes, and epidemics no direct
co-relation can be established, since small-pox, influenza,
plague, fevers, and cholera, etc., appear quite independent
of these terrestrial disturbances. For instance, plague has
affected certain countries and localities with great intensity,
as Marseilles in 1720, Naples 1656, London 1664-6, Moscow
1770, Bassora, Persia, 1772, and many other places at
particular times between these periods ; but between the
advent of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, saving catarrh,,
as the mechanical effect of fine dust proceeding from the
first outburst of Mount Hecla, there does not appear to be
any regular coincidence between earthquakes and epidemics.

It is quite true that epidemics are constantly recurring,
and so are earthquakes, but at very different parts in the
earth, and by no means in a certain order, in relation tO'

Epidemics. 151

time, between one and another, so as to lead to an inference
of cause and effect.

For instance, the year 1755, taken altogether, was as
memorable a year as any in modern times for earthquakes.
It began with Quito, in South America, and ended with the
famous one of Lisbon ; but this and the following year are
not remarkable for any epidemic disease, nor the two years
preceding the year 1755.

But Asia Minor was visited with very severe epidemic
disease in 1760, which proved remarkably fatal. This
country was, so far as is known, totally unaffected by the
earthquake of 1755, which extended in a line from the north of
Ireland to Morocco, Lisbon being the focus of its explosive
powers.

In Mexico, in 1759, a mountain was raised by lava running
from a volcano, but its distance from Syria, and all inter-
mediate parts, presenting nothing peculiar in relation to
epidemics, would lead to the general inference that the
opening of this flue, to let the expansive force of heat have
due vent, had nothing to do with the plague in Syria in
1760.

For the last hundred years and more, Chili has been a
repository of earthquakes, and coast elevations have been
considerable through their accompanying elevating force.
In Concepcion is to be found a very focus of this oft-
recurring force ; yet in these regions yellow fever and
cholera have neither been more severe, nor have they visited
these regions and localities, nor yet any other epidemics,
more frequently, or in greater intensity, than other parts of
the North and South American Continents.

The history of ancient and modern times gives no better
coincidence between epidemics, volcanoes, and earthquakes,
than those incidentally given as a sample in the foregoing
remarks. And identity of time, in relation to succession of

152 Epidemics.

events between earthquakes and epidemics (save in the
cases of the Athenian Plague and the Levant), are so
entirely deficient, as measured from this standard of order in
succession of events, that either, standing in relation of
cause and effect, must be entirely abandoned. Whether
Comet Wine will meet with the same respect, the announce-
ments of the wine merchants must settle ; but their effects
upon health belong entirely to the imaginations of super-
stitious people, and not to the close inductions of observing
men; for, like earthquakes, the order of succession is equal
to that of a cock crowing when a kite flies, or a balloon
mounts the air — he may crow at such a time, or it is quite
possible he may let it alone ; but, generally speaking, neither
would have a very close dependency upon the other.

Heavy falls of rain, snow, dry seasons, and over wet ones,
also strong winds, each have an effect upon health, but it
is purely endemic, and refers more to the effects of cold and
damp, or over heat and exhaustion from defective appetite
and intense thirst, which may be viewed as physical causes
of disease in a great measure ; but, added to heat or cold,
direct want of food and of clothing, and over-crowding (the
result of poverty), then we beget active local causes of
disease, each providing their own morbific poison, as shown
in typhoid or typhus fever, remittent fevers, dysentery a"nd
erysipelas, etc., etc., pneumonia, liver disease — as in the
Irish famine of 1844 to 1846 — and a host of minor affections,
from haemorrhoids to prurigo. But it cannot be denied that
in camp and jail fevers — the effect of filth, over-crowding and
defective nourishment — fevers have been gendered on the
spot which have acquired a true infectious character, for
all traces of their being imported appear to be totally in-
capable of demonstration, as shown in many of the visita-
tions and reports of prisons given by John Howard ; but
numerous instances are given where prisoners brought to

Epidemics. 153

trial, after detention for a short time, have infected persons
listening to their trial in open court.

Strong winds often have a most beneficial effect in pro-
ducing an entire change of atmosphere, and introducing one
free from the same morbific poison which the previous air
tenant possessed ; and by this means a disinfectant is
supplied upon a large scale, and free of cost. Hence strong
winds may be viewed as revivifying agents in the wheel of
Nature, during certain periods of endemic and epidemic in-
vasions, and stagnant air as a depressor of vital energy, and
a reservoir for retaining in suspension morbific germs of
disease. Cholera and scarlatina have frequently undergone
partial suspense for a week or two, after strong gales, over
any particular spot where these diseases are very prevalent ;
but the intermission is but for a season, and morbific poison
soon re-asserts its prerogative, till time has allowed it to
waste its native vigour, and to die a natural death.

When local causes are cited as feeding, and, in some
in stances, creating endemic diseases, such as fevers, dysentery,
certain lung diseases, arising from given trades, as gun-
smiths, needle and glass-grinders, paralysis from lead, etc. —
and due weight ought to be given to these several agencies —
yet in the midst of these local causes we find that one leading
type of disease, as cholera, influenza, sweating sickness, or
plague embraces all trades, localities, and countries — or in
the course of a few years half a continent, or as in cholera,
half the habitable portions of the globe are encompassed by
it — then we have to appeal to some more general and
universal cause or causes than such as pertain to trades,
habits, vices, defective and bad food, over-crowding, bad
water, bad drainage, and defective sanitary care.

Let infection, then, be the admitted basis of small-pox,
cholera, influenza, yellow fever, leprosy, and plague.
Granting these diseases have a more general and wider

154 Epidemics.

spread agency than can be conceded to any mere local
cause, and, from receiving the title of endemic disease, are
transferred to the more extended field of epidemic disease, the
first point that attracts the attention is the selection which
epidemics make out of the vast range of organized products;
for if endemics select a limited area, or given trades, etc.,
epidemics select kinds of diseases, and special objects of
attack, in such way and manner that one attribute of
epidemics may be recognized as that of isolation.

It may be illustrated in the following manner. In 1771
mildew attacked the wheat crops in the United States of
America and oats in Scotland, whereby these cereals, in
their respective countries, yielded a most defective harvest.
In 1830 to 1832, potatoes were considerably diseased in
America, Germany, and Ireland, probably in the form of a
fungi adhering to the fibrillse or roots of the bulbs, occasion-
ing a drying or withering of the bulb itself. But in 1845-6
Great Britain, Ireland, and a large portion of Europe
suffered from severe epidemic potato disease, spreading
over whole fields and countries with fearful rapidity, and
as a deadly plague — the leaves and stems turning black and
lifeless, and in another week or ten days the entire crops
would become like charnel-houses of corruption and stench.
This destructive disease still lingers in Europe, and in the
Emerald Isle is a greater curse to the land than the plague
of frogs in that charmed land of cabins and domestic stock.

What can be said of bulbs, cereals, smaller plants,
and shrubs can scarcely be applied with propriety to
vegetable organism of a larger growth, since disease
may attack the flowers or fruit of vegetables of larger
growth; but, as yet, no instance is recorded of the destruc-
tion of our larger trees, such as belong more especially to
the forests and parks, as the oak, the elm, the beech, the
cocoanut tree, mahogany or cedar trees.

Epidemics. 155

But, upon the whole, vegetable life, from the green sward
in the field to the stately forest tree, enjoys an immunity
which scarcely pertains to any class of animal life from
insect life to the huge pachydermata, and, last of all, to man
himself.

Preceding human epidemics, insects, gnats (and spiders
in Germany, 1612, and in Spain, 1709), and locusts, with
caterpillars in ancient and modern times, have swarmed
and infested regions and tracts of land in a most destructive
form, and frogs, etc., in a most unpleasant manner; but,
in proportion as we admit their predominance in certain
years, their disappearance in many instances indicates a
greater blight to their onward procreation and increase than
did their first development into a temporary pest, so that
here again we meet with isolated increase and destruction
almost in one and the same breath.

Epidemics have proved destructive to special classes of the
animal kingdom, which indicates a power of destructive
agency that at once excites curiosity, and claims an almost
solemn reflection as to the guiding hand which can limit
and determine over a widespread field such precise selec-
tion.

In Spain, in 1761, the dogs died in great abundance from
some particular epidemic then prevalent. Their brother
chips in zoological classification, but with tail and toes, that
have created an invidious wall of separation, were brought
into a kind of parallel approximation in the United
States of America in 1771, when almost all the foxes died
out.

No less singular was the isolation of the tenants of the
oceans in 1529, for this year epidemic disease proved destruc-
tive to the porpoises in the Baltic. Fishes, lobsters, and
oysters each in their turn have proved victims to pestilential
disease. Birds, both domesticated and wild, have from

156 Epidemics.

time to time given evidence of widespread mortality in their
ranks, as grouse, pheasants, pigeons, poultry, etc.

And if these, in their turns, are visited by epidemic
disease, with how much more certainty can diseases in
horned cattle, horses, sheep, and swine, etc., be cited as
proving the fact of isolation, both in disease and species?
The foot and mouth disease, since 1839, has from time to
time attacked our horned cattle, but rarely the horse, if ever.
The pleuro-pneumonia, which has swept thousands of milch
cows from our sheds, has rarely touched the horse, save at
the Cape, where horned cattle appear, until lately, to have
been free from this form of disease. Influenza has visited the
horse and proved either destructive, or has temporarily laid
him aside for considerable periods of time ; whilst rinderpest
has kindly refused to ally itself to man or beast, save to
the bovine species, and has shown at once how defined in
its species and how diversified in the objects of selection
are the subjects of epidemic disease.

Diseases of horses and cattle appear from time im-
memorial to have been closely allied to diseases in man,
when either have assumed an epidemic form, since one
has so frequently followed close upon the track of the other.
Rome, the great nursery of epidemics in the form of dire
pestilence, gave constant illustrations of this close connec-
tion between man and cattle. For brevity's sake, let one
sample suffice: — " Annis 332, 296, and 291 B.C., Rome was
again and again visited by pestilence, which was particularly
fatal to breeding women and to breeding cattle. A similar
visitation affected Rome, Anno 272 B.C."* Here the identity
cf condition in contrast with the distinction of zoological
classification is so great, that we are almost led to the in-
ference, which in later ages has demonstrated itself — that

* Bascome on " Epidemic Pestilence," 1851, page 10, to which work
I am a great debtor.

Epidemics. 157

diseases in distinct classes of animals may be so closely allied
to each other that the lines of differentiation may culminate
in the line of their mutual substitution, with the reduction
o^ their mutual activities in the order of propagation ; as
in cow-pox, for small-pox, virus, by transplanting or exchange
becoming nil for infection from the side of cattle to man,
but analogous in differentiation or change in the nutritive
functions of cell life, whereby resistance to repetition of the
disease is obtained as completely in one form of the disease
as the other, or as perfectly by the invader as the aboriginal,
which demonstrates their proximity of parentage, or in
familiar language, consanguinity.

The same author, Dr. Bascome, gives another illustration
of the approximation in diseases of cattle to that of man,
when it is present in the form of pestilence. He quotes from
a Roman author, whose name is not given, but whose views
are fully expressed in one short clause* : — " Pestilentia quae
priore anno ingruerat in boves, eo veteret in hominum
morbos." However similar or dissimilar pestilence in cattle
and man might be within the short space of one year, no
doubt can exist, from the clause quoted, that the Roman
writer considered that it was the same pestilence which
was destructive to man that was the year previous destruc-
tive to horned cattle.

The general sentiment which is here conveyed by an
ancient writer is fully substantiated by a long succession of
epidemic periods since he wrote — namely, that epidemic
disease in the bovine species has very frequently been
preceded or followed by epidemic disease in man. In our
own days this has been exemplified in the pleuro-pneu-
monia of cattle of 1846, preceding and following the
cholera of 1849 and 1853, but since 1855 it has been
gradually declining, but is more common in man of

* Dr. Bascome on " Epidemics," page n, 1851.

158 Epidemics.

late years, especially in its preliminary form of con-
gestion of the lungs ; whilst, on the other hand, the intense
outbreak of small-pox in 1870, which but for vaccination
would have been most fatal and extensive, was preceded by
rinderpest in cattle, a disease the destructiveness of which
was brought to a stand-still by that most perfect of all
modes of isolation, burial — a method scarcely practical in
its application to man. Just think how the world would be
turned upside down if, to stamp out small-pox or scarlet
fever, a common receptacle was prepared, and the infected
were shot and buried, to check the spread of infection!!*

The possibility by isolation of stamping out infection in
the genus homo is entirely impossible. The virulence may
be mitigated, and in a measure limited ; but, from civiliza-
tion being a complete network of intercommunication in
its most varied forms, the subtlety of infection must gain
vent in some form or other. If it be limited to the chimney
top, even there it would get a vent equal to a letter ; and
from thence infection would kindly shed its domestic favours
upon some unsuspecting but highly susceptible object of its
care and watchful solicitation.

But, whilst reflecting upon epidemics, it is interesting to
observe how the principle of isolation applies itself to
species, or a special class or order of life. Infection itself
spreads from like to like, man to man, and cattle to
cattle. Certain it is that such diseases as glanders pass from
horses to man, and rinderpest from cattle to sheep, and
hydrophobia from dogs and wolves to man; but its extension
from the prime source to a second order or species of animal
life checks its procreative properties, and so a limit in
extension is effected.

Hence in all epidemics limitation of the vital force is

* See the several Reports upon the Origin and Nature of Cattle Plague
in 1866, presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her
Majesty.

Epidemics. 159

isolated to given orders of organized beings and objects,
and by fine forms of differentiation, amidst a thousand forms
of vegetable growth, a potato or a wheat field is selected ;
and every spot of vegetable life surrounding this field, or
particular class of vegetable, is growing in luxuriance,
amidst the cold sheet of death which is shrouding in decay
its smitten neighbour.

The fox runs to and fro from place to place, and, just
infected by contact with a neighbouring fox, enters a hen
roost, kills a hen, and leaves the rest, from fear of a sur-
prisal by the farmer's dog, whose approach is known by his
cry. Not a death occurs from his disease; no pheasants,
hares, or ruminants of any kind fall victims to the dis-
temper the fox holds within his active frame ; but himself,
and every fox he meets, falls a victim to that particular
disease he has. Again, if it is not infectious, then all the
more singular it is that an influence which is diffused over
a. large tract of land should only isolate one species; and, by
some subtle differentiation in vital conditions between the
fox and every living being by which the fox is surrounded,
the evil or the destructiveness of the differentiation only
falls to the special organism called the fox, whose shade of
differentiation in vital power and function is bound by such
fine lines of variation as to defy the most exact scan of
human induction and human knowledge.

The tenants of the deep, from time to time, have shown
the same tendency for epidemic influence to spend its devita-
lizing force, or to divert the vital force into an especial
channel or order of organism. What applies to vegetables
and animals applies with equal force to man. From one
end of nosology to the other, in every widespread epidemic,
we have the reiterated assurance that this form of disease is
a part of the existing epidemic influence ; and the other
form of disease belongs to a distinct order of affection to
the prevailing epidemic.

160 Epidemics.

Hence, in extension of disease in epidemic periods,
isolation is an essential feature in its diffusion and onward
development. Moreover, it is common to have excess of
development in the insect world and lower forms of animal life
in particular kinds or grooves, whilst a higher class, or man,
falls a victim to special forms of disease in great numbers and
wide areas; but in such way that it is in its destructive
powers subject to law and order. For what is a particular
disease, but the imprint or law of that particular epidemic ?
And what is the diffusion of that disease but the order in
which the law is extended and adjusted in its application ?

Such a thing as a general diffusion of death or disease in
equal ratio and proportion to all organized beings and
objects, within a given area, is unknown and has no exist-
ence. Epidemium is always in its diffusion and application
special and limited ; and in its principle of distribution is
conformable to the law of isolation.

Thus, in 1831-32 and 1849, cholera was a diversion of
vital force in a particular form of limitation to human life ;
gangrene of the spleen in Russia; influenza in North
Europe, 1837; potato famine in 1846 and rinderpest in
1869, are all samples of vital force acting in special forms
of deterioration or perversion to health.

CONCERNING THE PROGRESS OF EPIDEMICS.

It is important to observe that upon the whole epidemics
are progressive in their area of diffusion, and for the most
part radiate from some particular or endemic area — as
cholera from the Ganges, leprosy from Egypt, and the plague
from the Levant. Also in their duration certain particular
types last for centuries, then gradually decay.

Supposing these remarks are illustrated by four well-
established diseases or epidemics — leprosy, Levant or bubonic
plague, small-pox, and cholera — more light will be thrown
upon the subject generally.

Epidemics. 161

It will be found that, taking the year 1817 as a starting
point for a new epidemic era, that about every 640 years
there* have been great epidemic changes or new forms of
disease introduced, or old ones revived and spread over wider
areas. Take the era from 1177 to 1817 as the last period.
True plague shortly after this period or in 1217 visits Italy ;
1222 Egypt, France, and Germany. In 1252 it visits
England ; 1347 this country is again visited, Italy again in
1477 ; but from 1517 till 1666 it was visiting all the great
Continental towns, and from thence travelled into the sur-
rounding countries, and from time to time paid a visit to this
country, no country appearing to escape its awful calamities
— Spain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, and
many other lands, venting its last fury in this country in
1666. From this time it ceased in our land, but it returned
to its native place in and about the Levant by way of
Dresden, Dantzic, and Marseilles in 1720, Vienna and Hun-
gary 1722, Moscow 1772, Egypt and Constantinople between
1778 and 1792 ; but since 1772 it has lingered much in
Egypt and Asia Minor, where it still lingers, and often
breaks out in a destructive manner in and about the locality
of its first centre or endemic area.

Small-pox first appeared in England about the year 1174,
or three years earlier than the fixed period, 1177. It was
general throughout Europe in 1436, and in 1638 it got to
America. If it came to England in 1174 it must have passed
through France first, for it had been long before in Spain.
Its widest diffusion and greatest mortality appear to have been
attained in the seventeenth century, but at all times since its
appearance north of the Apennines it has been a most fatal
disease, breaking out in special parts in great severity until
its arm of destruction was mutilated and impeded by vaccina-
tion. The years 1870 and 1871 would perhaps have seen
as widespread destruction from this plague, as from any

ii

1 62 Epidemics.

former visitation in Northern and Mid-Europe, but for
vaccination.

There appears to be no authentic record of this disease
passing further north than the Apennines and the Pyrenees
from 1170 to 1174, which is not far off the hypothecated
time of 1177, the assigned date or period for fresh epidemic
outbreaks.

Leprosy is a chronic disease, and, as an endemic or
epidemic disease, it never creates the same amount of fear
and dread from its destructive powers, as diseases of more
active and rapidly fatal tendencies. Its popularity, and the
interest taken in it generally, arises more from the general
abhorrence mankind have to all mutilations and diseases of
the skin; there is no disease of the skin which creates
more intense disgust, and about which infection is more
entirely dreaded, than pertains to the cutaneous and con-
stitutional disease called by the Greeks elephantiasis, and
by the Latins lepra, or in modern times leprosy.

Its fatality does not appear to have been great at any
period of history, and many of its victims linger on, an
eye-sore to their friends and a burden to themselves. The
leper, from being a nuisance to society, has become a trouble
to the State, and Dr. Bascome informs us that so early as
1237 leprosy was a matter of legislature in England ; and
certain it is that immediately after the crusade under
Richard the First, and known in history as the Third
Crusade, leprosy was very common in this country and in
France, which would be about the year 1190. It does not
appear that the First Crusade of 1095 to 1099, under
Godfrey de Bouillon, brought amongst the retainers in that
mighty host, who returned to their native lands, the much-
loathed disease, leprosy.

From the time of the Third Crusade to the end of the
sixteenth century, leprosy was endemic in Great Britain,

Epidemics. 163

where there were many lazar-houses built for the reception
of the sufferers from leprosy ; but at the end of this period
the/ gradually sank into the disreputable use of being a kind
of casual-wards for vagrants, with old ulcers, and any
loathsome self-created or natural ulcer on the skin, or
cutaneous affection, the presence of which was supposed by
the professional mendicants to afford an all-sufficient plea
for why the opulent, out of their abundance, ought to give
freely and ungrudgingly to the sufferers and distressed in
their sore afflictions.

In 1477 leprosy appears to have been very prevalent in
Spain ; and in the city of Lebrija, in the province of
Andalusia, so late as 1726 to 1764.

Abstracting 640 from 1177, leaves 537. The period, then,
between 537 to 1177 next comes under review — a period of
history the most replete with interest to the entire family of
man, for it embraces the period of the planting and policy of
the nations which rose upon the decay and downfall of the old
Roman world, and introduces us to the infancy and child-
hood of modern Europe. But it also brings us back to the
alphabet and spelling-books of mental infancy and mental
childhood, and that to an extent which is almost incredible.
Such historians as Hallam, Guizot, and Craik, with all
their force of diction and illustration, almost fail to convince
the manhood of Europe, that in childhood such imbecility
and intellectual weakness could ever have been the lot of
cultivated and refined modern Europe.

In, therefore, everything that is said upon this epoch on
epidemics, such as choose to differ, especially after the
eighth century, can do so with the utmost liberty, for variety
of opinions are always admissible where data can scarcely
be adduced.

Having so far prefaced the subject of the epoch from 537
to 1177, little else can be said beyond mere generalities.

II — 2

164 . Epidemics.

It appears, then, that small-pox was first mentioned as
occurring in Arabia 572 ; but how far it had spread, or
where the first place of its appearance was noted, is not at
all certain, but that it was recorded as existing in Arabia,
572 A.D.*

All history combines to fix its seat of origin in Arabia, and
that this disease certainly commenced as an epidemic
disease in the sixth century.

George Cedrenus, one of the Byzantine historians, wha
lived in the fifteenth century, a monk of a very legendary and
speculative mind, mentions that the Emperor Diocletian
died of small-pox ; but when that monarch had laid down
the imperial purple, and had retired to a private dwelling in
the beautiful country of Salona, it must not be supposed he
had no domestics, and that these domestics had no com-
munication with the external world ; that clothes were not
washed; that tradespeople, retainers, and visitors never came
to his residence ; and, in the midst of such varied sources
of infection, that the plague of small-pox was dropped from
the clouds, and in a fine virgin soil it only touched one
victim, and did not at the same time spread its baneful
malignancy, like a devouring fire, on every side. Though
Dr. Bascome mentions it as a matter of fact (" Opit. Cit.,'r
page 22), and does not in the slightest refer to Diocletian's
end being probably by his own hands, yet the authority and
the entire circumstances of the case have such a legendary
air about them, that the whole affair is not worthy of a
minute's reflection.

But upon small-pox being an ancient disease, and
antecedent to the sixth century, the decided judgment of
Francis Adams, the learned editor and commentator upon

* Also see Paulus yEgineta, Vol. I., page 330, Sydenham Society's
Edition.

Epidemics. 165

Paulus ^Egineta, is dead against it. He says : — " We may
mention that, after having read, we may say, every word of
every ancient writer on medicine that has come down to us,
we can confidently affirm that the Greeks and Romans are
altogether silent on the subject, and that we are indebted
to the Arabians for the earliest accounts which we have of
these diseases (small-pox and measles)."*

The earliest data we have of it is in a MS. at the
University of Leyden, which gives the year 572, but how
much earlier there are no certain means of determining. It
was in Italy 614 ; and Spain 714, three years after the
Saracens established themselves at Cordova, and conquered
part of Spain. How it first reached Rome there is nothing
of a decided character, but its being in Spain in 714 is
directly traceable to Saracenic invasion. The conquerors
brought the disease with them.

From these two dates, 614 and 714, till 1174, the historian
has no certain grounds for speaking upon the plague of
small-pox as having any regions beyond Italy and Spain,
where this disease had spread itself.

The origin of the epidemic in Spain is apparent enough,
because its spread would be coeval with its introduction by
the Saracens, the same people amongst whom it first
appeared in the sixth century. But it does not appear
to have settled in France at that time ; the southern
mountain barriers of the Apennines, the Pyrenees, and the
Alpine ranges gave small-pox its geographical boundary in
Europe. But in the next period, from 1177 to 1817, it fre-
quently scourged the entire of Europe, selecting at one
time one country and then another, and at times the whole
of Europe simultaneously, as in 1436.

So of the true Levant plague; it appeared between 543 and

* Paulus yEgineta, Vol. I., page 330. Sydenham Society's Edition.

1 66 Epidemics.

566 in all countries bordering the Mediterranean, and south-
ward, apparently by the way of Aden, on to India and Bom-
bay. It visited Italy again in 614 — if during this period it
had ever entirely left it.

Though this disease broke out with such power and fatal
effects in the sixth century, no traces of it appear to be
found in Mid Europe, or to the North, till we reach the
second period, between 1177 and 1817 ; during the first four
centuries of which period it was a fatal scourge to every
city in Europe, breaking out with unequal violence, and at
unequal times, in this city or that country, and in this town
or that village, sweeping the population off as with the
besom of destruction.

Though negative evidence is the weakest of all evidence,
yet the absence of all mention of Plague and Small-pox in the
earlier historic records of Mid and Northern Europe is the only
basis for supposing that they never reached these lands before
1177. It is still more to be regretted that history is more per-
fectly blank upon epidemics, which have slain their ten thou-
sands, than about war, which has slain its one thousand,
though the fears and customs of nations have received in their
domestic habits more moulding and fashioning, and their
destinies and successes have been more wrapped up in these
fatal scourges, than by successive warlike contests; yet, with
the exception of one or two historians, such as Thucydides
and Procopius, the world, through history, would scarcely
know that epidemics had ever existed, or they only existed
for a few weeks or months, for the purpose of disappointing,
some prince, or duke, or ambitious robber from carrying his,
ill-conceived schemes and worse designs into immediate:
execution.

Leprosy is mentioned as known in Italy in 614, and in
Spain lazar-houses were erected, 1067 A.D. But history
is remarkably vacant in records of disease from no to 6oor

Epidemics. 167

saving among the Saracens, several of whom give excellent
descriptions of leprosy, and were familiar with it from Spain
to Bagdad.

'As small-pox and plague, as described by the Arabian
physicians and by Procopius, were unknown before this
time, leprosy is the only disease through which we can trace
the metamorphosis of disease in an old and well-authenticated
malady, which sprang from the earliest land of wealth and
civilization, and to this day remains, under every vicissitude
of dynasty, the constant pest of its first endemic seat, the
land of Egypt.

What further can be said upon epidemic eras must be
chiefly confined, in the form of epidemic disease, to this old
and despised disease, leprosy.

Strange to say, no veneration is paid to leprosy by the
votaries of antiquity to this very day ; though, as an old
and somewhat transformed ailment, having for fashion's sake
slowly moved with the times, it can claim respect and
abhorrence from the Pharoahs on to the days of Queen
Victoria.

To return, leprosy was in Spain 48 B.C., and was intro-
duced there by Pompey's army. That army was in Asia
Minor from 65 to 62 B.C. Pompey disbanded his army at
Brundusium in 62 B.C., or in the same year that he left Asia
Minor.

In this manner leprosy spread from Egypt to Italy and
Spain, where it appears to have remained, or rather, as
Tacitus informs us, in Italy it soon disappeared altogether ;
but in 614 it reappeared, and was so far prevalent that it
received special consideration at the time. As this disease
is slow in its spreading, and also, in addition to its admitted
hereditary nature, is, as an endemic affection, scarcely
conceded to be aided by infection, it may be presumed to
have been slowly reviving for some 50 or 60 years earlier.

1 68 Epidemics.

And the same may be said much later on with regard to
Spain, for in 1067 lazar-houses were common in Spain ;
but they do not appear to have been restricted to the Arab
population, and were asylums for the poor of all nation-
alities who suffered from this loathsome malady.

If infection be granted, France had been slow to receive
the infection, as she was not under the necessity of resorting
to lazar-houses till much later. If it was hereditary, then
it had spread by intercourse very widely ; and if endemic in
Spain at this time, and for some time previously, the
hereditary bias may be dispensed with, as it is hereditary
in Norwegians now without any African admixture of blood,
and its pure endemical origin excludes both Pompey and
the Saracen from aiding it in any way whatever. But its
hereditary nature would admit of a slow and very doubtful
extension throughout Spain.

Upon the whole, Italy and Spain, both having had it
within 60 B.C., and its reappearing after some 600 years of
comparative absence, and being sufficiently frequent to
claim for it a passing notice by the historian, and still more,
a notice from existing rulers to build houses as asylums for
those afflicted with it — all this shows that some change in
those lands had occurred, no doubt of a subtle and obscure
nature, which permitted and aided the spread of this awful
chronic malady from the seventh century and onwards.

But let us enquire how Pompey's army became subject to
this malady.

Egypt was the common focus or centre of leprosy, and so
early as 1490 B.C., or earlier, it is admitted by the Egyptian
historian Manetho to have an existence in his native land ;
but he fathers the disease upon the Hebrews, who brought
it with them from Canaan.

Whether, therefore, the statement of Manetho is right or
wrong in relation to the Hebrews, it is clear that Egypt

Epidemics. 169

had it from a very remote antiquity ; and as Avicenna
maintained it was endemic in Alexandria, and Lucretius
stamps it as a disease originating within the influence of
the Nile, it is, perhaps, not going too far to say that
Egypt is its native soil, or its constant centre and endemic
home.

It was evidently spread beyond its legitimate bounds in
26 A.D., because the New Testament refers to the cleansing
of ten lepers in the land of Palestine about this period ; but
what is much more to the point of time, is the spread of
leprosy in Italy and Spain in the year 60 B.C. and onwards,*
before which time Pliny affirms it was never known in
Italy. He states it was imported from Egypt by Pompey
the Great. Other historians have evidently followed Pliny
in this matter, but it is a slight error.

Dr. Bascome (" Opit. Cit.," page 15) says that "the
first appearance of leprosy in Spain coincides with its
introduction into Italy, after having been prevalent in the
army of Pompey the Great about sixty years, more or less,
before the coming of Christ." Again, the same writer
says : — " Anno 60 B.C., Spain, according to the opinion of
several ancient and modern writers, both foreign and
national, was one of the countries most subjected to the
frightful disease of leprosy," where it has remained ever
since.

Pompey was in Spain, as proconsul, from 76 to 71 B.C.,
and after defeating Perperna he returned with his victorious
army to Italy. In 66 Pompey was appointed to terminate
the war against Mithridates, which ended in 63 B.C. In 62
B.C. he returned to Italy, and at once disbanded his army
at Brundusium. In 48 B.C. Pompey marched into Thessaly,
at the head of an army of 40,000 (Plutarch), and was

* Vide Paulus ^Egineta, Vol. II., page 6, Sydenham Society's
Edition.

170 Epidemics.

defeated in the neighbourhood of Pharsalia by Julius Caesar;
from thence he took ship for Egypt, and all but landed, when
he was assassinated by the order of the Egyptian king,
Pompey traversed Asia Minor, from Armenia and Pontus
to Coelo-Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. Twice during that
time he wintered at Pontus ; but at no time, not even in his
death, did the sole of his feet rest in Egypt. Therefore,
whatever disease Pompey's army brought to Italy, it did
not contract it in Egypt (where Gabinius entered with a
Roman army in 55 B.C.) ; but it was in Asia Minor where his
victorious army came, and saw, and conquered, and con-
tracted leprosy as a final legacy, the reward of living in an
enemy's country.

It can be scarcely said that leprosy was endemic in Asia
Minor, though God had threatened the Israelites with the
diseases of Egypt, if they did not keep steadfast to his laws
which he gave them by Moses. And we may infer that one
of the curses inflicted upon his chosen people was the
disease leprosy, which was contracted in Egypt.

Its spread in Asia Minor must have been very extensive
in 66 B.C., and probably it had outstripped its old territory
for some 40 years or so to have become so general that an
army, well fed, clothed, and disciplined, should have become
so affected by it that it became a focus of disease in other
lands upon their return from active warfare.

Recruits from Nearer Spain and Italy composed the great
bulk of Pompey's army, and on their being disbanded at
Brundusium, whatever the more enterprising and active
might do, the sick and disabled would seek for protection
and quiet among their own relatives, and, according to the
old and very popular notion, in their native air and country.
In this manner the recruits from Spain who were lepers on
their return would find their way back again to. Spain, and
those of Italy to their own relatives in their own country.

Epidemics. 171

If it is contended that at a given period leprosy was
endemic in Asia Minor, it must be said that its slow progress
as an endemic disease, especially to strangers, is very
marked. Take Bergen for a sample, where a stranger settling
amongst them is scarcely ever known to become subject ta
it ; much more a people whose habits, diet, active duties,
and healthy or cheerful minds, elated by many successes,,
would be the last of all to be subjects for the slow induction
of endemic disease of a very chronic character.

It could not be possibly of hereditary origin, because pro-
creation with natives in four years could send back no men
ready for soldiers, but little children, to Italy, old enough
neither for training nor enlisting ; and Pompey's army, when
disbanded, would scarcely be burdened with little children.
Pliny says, according to Adam's "Commentary" upon Paulus
JEgineta, that when it was imported from Egypt it raged for
a time, but soon became extinct.

By raging we understand that it spread itself to many
persons in Italy, irrespective of the soldiers; or to large
numbers beyond those who first brought the disease with
them, who were of Pompey's army. Its rapid spread
excludes hereditary origin, whilst its early extinction, or so
far as not to be generally known, if at all, as at present in
this country (England), indicates that its endemic form
found in Italy an unsuitable soil where it might plant itself
as a vigorous colony of blighted men. This view is con-
firmed by Celsus, who states that it " is a chronic disease,,
almost unknown in Italy, but very common in certain
countries."

If, then, its origin was not endemic, nor yet hereditary, it
must have been epidemic, or by some peculiar change in
relation to the earth, whereby a disease, formerly settled
within a given area, receives some fresh impulse and further
powers of development than usual, and spreads, as it were,.

172 Epidemics.

from land to land from a given centre, from some unknown
agency, giving special activity, or power, to a poison when
introduced into the system ; which, in the case of leprosy,
creeps over the whole frame, the kidneys excepted, and in
time destroys its entire functions and vitality.

Not like cholera, and especially influenza — which, in a
single night or a week, will attack a whole house, the side
of a street, the wing of a barrack, or an apartment in a ship
— some die, and some recover to propagate no evil to their
offspring, unless cholera here and there predisposes to
malignant disease, which, from several singular cases within
personal knowledge, it almost appears to have this leaning
at times ; moreover, at times, adverse to the line of human
intercourse, and at other times in obedience to it, if decaying
animal matter is found in the same tract. But leprosy
in 60 B.C. only followed the course of human intercourse,
and that intercourse of a very definite and precise kind-
veterans of a conquering army which laid at the feet of their
commander the rich lands of the East.

Its sudden spread in Italy and its early decline bespeak at
•once the infectious origin of a disease in a land, at the time
•of its entrance, ungenial for its continuance as a fixed and
local disease ; whilst its appearance in Spain about the
same time and from the same source, but abiding there, and
also known in many lands (as Celsus informs us, and others
later on), indicates that Spain (and North Africa, etc.)
afforded for the new visitor the conditions required for a
permanent and fruitful habitation.

Passing over a multitude of subsidiary matter, it may be
said of leprosy that it is now very rarely infectious, but in
its progress slow, and for the most part endemic ; and in those
parts where it is endemic its progress is mostly shown in its
hereditary tendencies, but withdrawn from its endemic
centres — as from Bergen, New Brunswick, etc. — and the

Epidemics. 173

offspring migrate to the Western States of America, or some
genial locality for the sufferers, and its hereditary bias soon
dies orut. But in the East, in the South Sea Islands, in
New Brunswick and Norway — in fact, in a range of wide
circumference from its old centre the Nile — leprosy is show-
ing itself as a widespread and inveterate disease, but at the
present time rarely infectious.*

This disease, then, as the oldest-known disease, and whose
centre is on the banks of the Nile, ought to show, if there
is such a thing as metamorphosis of disease, indications of
change of a slow and progressive character ought to exist ;
and one of these changes appears to be that of infection,
which it once possessed, but now has nearly lost. More-
over, its geographical distribution has assumed large pro-
portions, and the victims it seizes are now becoming very
numerous and alarming.

In the days of Moses, its external manifestations were
considerably varied to leprosy as it now exists, or that de-
scribed by the earlier Arabian, Roman, and Greek writers,
and also of a very decidedly infectious character. That of
Pompey's time was most likely a nearer approach to the
Mosaic type than that which followed after, and was
transitional in most of its outlines between the Mosaic and
Greek or Arabian form, inasmuch as the disgust to the
personal appearance is not so strongly marked as in earlier
writers, nor yet the fear of infection ; yet the personal appear-
ance to this day constitutes a very leading feature of dis-
gust, and the avoidance of lepers, by later writers, is often
referred to on this very ground.

It must be granted that the leprosy of Moses is only so

# The point of non-contagion in leprosy has been fairly disputed by
Dr. G. A. Hansen, Bergen, Norway, in an able article " On the Etiology
of Leprosy," in the British and Foreign Mcdico-Chirurgical Review,
April, 1875.

174 Epidemics.

far given as to describe its first appearance, and not its history
or course in the least ; since the object of the law re-
lating to leprosy was to exclude all contact of lepers with
healthy persons. It was one of those diseases of Egypt
which the Israelites had to a limited degree in Egypt ; and
it is plain that its spread by infection ought and would be
limited by isolation from the very first. And, secondly, that
if a national calamity, there was no special virtue, if it was
of Divine permission, why it should be increased by apathy
and stulted moral appreciation of that which was chastise-
ment from God, from that which was indifference to the rod
and Him who used it.

Its fatal character is given us in the life of Uzziah, King
of Judah, whose leprosy was directly of Divine infliction, who
died a leper, and was buried apart in the burial-ground of the
Kings of Judah (II. Chron. xxvi. 16 — 23). His sons being
born antecedent to his disease, of course no hereditary taint
could be transmitted. But the curse upon Gehazi, that
" the leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee,
and unto thy seed for ever" — i.e., as long as his seed should
continue to beget, so long should leprosy appear in his
posterity, as for ever, here, means no more — implies an
infliction more heavy than that which was usual to lepers ;
or, in other words, that in his family in particular it should
be hereditary.

This also implies, what is now a mere matter of history,
that leprosy does not destroy the power of procreation ; it is
quite possible it may limit it, since at its early advent
victims of this disease are excessive in their sexual passions ;
hence one of its names, satyriasis. This peculiarity is given
by Aretaeus, and several Greek and Arabic writers.

But it is a remarkable fact that in the Levitical institu-
tions not one word is said about the children of lepers, nor
yet a word about the divorcing of lepers, or isolating

Epidemics. 175

their children, or forbidding them to marry ; but if it was a
disease so much excluded from ordinary intercourse with
men.that the Leviticallaw actually demanded that "he shall
put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean,
unclean " (Leviticus xiii. 45), How is it that his children,
if it was hereditary, were not included in the same con-
demnation ?

But it will be said the fact of his being excluded the camp
and dwelling alone, abhorred of men and women, would be
sufficient to exclude marriage, or his wife remaining with
him. This would answer very well if it were not certain
that women occasionally have leprosy, and for them the
same regulations pertained as were instituted for the male,
and lepers of either sex were not forbidden to live together.
Moreover, the Levitical law distinctly assumes that cases
would present themselves of long standing, and which,
through carelessness or indifference to the law, long escaped
detection ; for, Moses writes, " When the plague of leprosy
is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest ; and
the priest shall see him : and, behold, if the rising be white
in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be
quick raw flesh in the rising ; it is an old leprosy in the skin
of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and
shall not shut him up : for he is unclean " (Leviticus xiii.
9 — n). The bare fact of no provision being made for
hereditary leprosy, and the greatest caution being taken
that it should not be approached within given limits by
living cotemporaries, points precisely to the fact of its
non-transmissibility, but to its present infectious cJuiracter,
probably from the breath as well as body exhalations ; which
view was entertained by Aretaeus, Galen, and Avicenna, the
latter mentioning that it is also endemic in Alexandria ;
and the Arabian, Alsaharavius, maintains three causes : —
1st, hereditary taint ; 2nd, food ; and 3rd, contagion

176 Epidemics.

through the medium of respiration. The two last writers
are some centuries later than either Aretseus or Galen, and
wrote at a time when the Mosaic disease was passing from
the infectious into one nearer to the modern form, which is
truly endemic and hereditary, but rarely infectious.

This brief outline of the metamorphosis of the oldest
disease in the world will give some idea of the constant
changes which well-known diseases are prone to assume
after the lapse of ages.

Modern pathologists, and may be nosologists, will main-
tain the invariability of disease ; as some zoologists maintain
the permanency of species in animals, not even admitting
an improved breed by crossing, or the admission might be
clothed in the language of a forced deviation from Nature
by selection, contrary to the ordinary plan of Nature, but
when left to itself would resolve itself back into the primary
form of either one or the other of its progenitors.

But this is exactly the point aimed at, not to show that
cholera ever becomes yellow fever, or that typhus fever is
ever ague, though typhus fever may be nothing else than the
epidemic and infectious form of endemic typhoid fever.
The leading object designed is to show that vital power has
very singular selective powers, shown alike in ordinary
ailments, endemic and epidemic diseases ; but that, with this
great tendency to isolation in its destructive, or its preserva-
tive powers, yet that all diseases, in process of time, undergo
modifications in type, duration, and activity, from constrained
circumstances acting within, or upon the earth's surface ;
moreover, that changes pass over the whole globe, and
affect every kind and form of disease, and may-be the entire
of our vegetable economy in an almost imperceptible
manner, ranging over extensive eras, and probably not far
distant in duration from every 600 years ; but, according to
the nearest approximation, about every 640 years.

Epidemics.

Again, in epidemic eras, generally towards the last 150 to
100 years, the dominant type begins to slowly decline, and
its, mbre active powers to abate ; but it probably, after it
first breaks out, does not get to its full vigour until 200 years
from its start, and remains at that point for about 250 years,
and then begins to decline. Every few years it spreads
itself over wide areas of the earth's surface ; and then
again, as if ashamed to show its hydra head, like the
serpularia, it draws in its widespread arms into the lands
and places in which it is constantly settled as an endemic
disease — the light of science, and may-be cries to Heaven
for its abatement, both demanding its speedy subsidence.

Supposing it be correct to say that the lurking pest, leprosy,,
was roused from its Egyptian lair to spread by inroads upon
the East and the West, and so included North Africa and
Asia Minor in 103 B.C. ; then in 60 B.C. the kindred soil to
North Africa, i.e., Spain, had it brought to it by its usual
manner of extension — namely, infection ; whilst in Italy it
found an ungenial soil for its localization, as Pliny would make
us believe. But from about 100 to 150 A.D. some indications
are left of its having made itself well known in Italy, and
means were put in practice for its amelioration ; which,
from the nature of things, is highly probable, considering at
this time the comparatively settled state of the civilized
world, and the greater facility in such case for the putting
in practice sanitary measures.

Dr. Hecker has referred to the only one which was then
adopted, which was judicious, and upon the whole com-
paratively efficient. He writes : — " Arrangements for the
protection of the healthy against contagious diseases, the
necessity of which is shown from these notions, were re-
garded by the ancients as useful ; and by many, whose cir-
cumstances permitted it, were carried into effect in their
houses. Even a total separation of the sick from the healthy,.

12

178 Epidemics.

that indispensable means of protection against infection by
contact, was proposed by physicians of the second century
after Christ, in order to check the spreading of leprosy."

Of course, if it was getting less in the second century, the
adoption of total separation of lepers from the healthy would
not have been dreamed of. Neither would lazar-houses
have been common in Spain in 1067 A.D. if for some long
time before leprosy had not been on the increase in Spain,
which, from 537 A.D., when history refers to its prevalence,
would give a period of 530 years. It would be on the in-
crease from about 537 to 600 A.D., and then more gradually;
for it is some length of time before a chronic disease like
leprosy makes much impression upon the community at
large.

Again, we find England legislating for it in 1237, an^
Spain again in 1441. Of course in England it was new
since 1177, and not till some centuries after its appearance
in Spain was it to be found in England, though probably
soldiers in the armies of Vespasian and Titus had remained
some two to three years in Palestine before 70 A.D., who
found their way back to Gaul and Britain as lepers at that
early period, but died out without its spreading, from the
ungenial condition of something in those lands at that time
to its spread ; but changes slowly going on within and on
the earth's surface prepare lands for the reception and en-
grafting of disease, which at another time cannot be properly
acclimatised. So we find that after 1177 an aptness for
leprosy and other diseases had over-shadowed the variable
clime and habits of the British people, and what the Crusaders
got in Palestine was propagated and became indigenous to
our land for some 300 years, after which time it slowly
declined, and has now completely died out.

Of small-pox and Levant plague, we hear little, if any-
thing, of them in North Europe from about 537 to 1174;

Epidemics. 179

but 150 to 200 years after 1 177 — which is the next epidemic era
—the already rising cloud begins to thicken up to 1670 to 1680,
and thunderclap after thunderclap drops down its showers of
pestilence and disease in the form of small-pox and plague
in every city in Europe, and all the known world. Here in
one ten years, there in another ten years, then twenty, then
thirty, and then again simultaneously over all Europe and
Asia ; the most terrible and fatal storm of disease occurring
in the form of Black death between 1348 and 1357, the three
first years being the worst.

A curious and interesting enquiry presents itself in this
Black death, which may be counted worthy of a passing
notice, or, if it may be so styled, an attempt to break ice.

First : Can two diseases run parallel in the same body at
the same time ?

Second : Can two diseases amalgamate or coalesce, and
out of that coalescence produce one new disease or hybrid ?

First : Those who have seen much of scarlatina, measles,
and small-pox, will have seen these affections running
parallel with each other in the same person at the same
time occasionally. Varicella, with measles or scarlatina,
is not very infrequent ; but the varicella in such cases is,
though distinctive, of a very mild form, and the size of the
pustule is very small. So far as personal knowledge is
concerned, the infection is quite as active when combined as
when either is distinct, but the severity of the attack is
much milder and the duration shorter. The first few hours
of appearance of the rash appear to be the most trying to
the constitution ; that passed, the two affections appear
to modify each other, and to put a bar to each other's
intensity ; so that molecular change or cell nutrition under-
goes less trial to its own processes of nutrition than when
either runs its course alone. Variola and measles are
rarely seen in the same person at the same time ; and by the

12 — 2

1 8 o Epidemics .

ancients, as they were cotemporaries in their time of
appearance in Arabia, they were supposed (as Rhases and
other Arabian physicians) to be different modifications of one
general disease ; but the duration of one or the other is so
distinct that their mutual check upon each other is but for
a short season, the variola occupying the same parts of the
body when measles has disappeared as were occupied
previously by that disease. Hence the check is merely a
repression for a season, and does not appear to modify,
hasten, or shorten the variola a single day.

When only one case of combined measles and small-pox
has been seen it is not prudent to say much respecting it, but
in giving an opinion, one thing only can be mentioned
with certainty — namely, that the duration of the variola so
far exceeding that of measles, it does not appear from its
very nature to be so adapted to check and limit the other
as diseases whose duration are much nearer to each other
in running their course.

But in the Black death a very different tale must be told
to that of measles and scarlatina together, or either of these
with varicella.

Black death came apparently by way of China, according
to Hecker, and thence by Persia to Asia Minor, and to
Europe in 1348. Bascome gives it an African origin, and
then to Asia ; and Rapin, with his annotator, Tyndal, give it
a Tartar origin, and from Cathay, in Asia, on to Constanti-
nople and Europe. Its spread all over Asia, Europe, and
Africa was more rapid and destructive than any pestilence
before or since.

It was, in all respects, the Levant plague, first described
by Procopius, save one, and that one was the lung affection —
characterized by laborious respiration, much cough, and
finally bloody expectoration, the sure sign of a fatal end,,
soon to be followed by haemorrhage and death.

Epidemics. 181

Gibbon, in his " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,"
•copies directly from Procopius, who gives a very faithful outline
of the plague as seen in his day. Let this description, then,
suffice for our present purpose : —

" Ethiopia and Egypt have been stigmatized in
every age, as the original source and seminary of the plague.*
In a damp, hot, stagnating air, this African fever is gene-
rated from the putrefaction of animal substances, and espe-
cially from the swarms of locusts, not less destructive to
mankind in their death than in their lives. The fatal disease
which depopulated the earth in the time of Justinian and
his successors, t first appeared in the neighbourhood of
Pelusium, between the Serbonian bog and the eastern
channel of the Nile. From thence, tracing as it were a
double path, it spread to the east, over Syria, Persia, and

* I have read with pleasure Mead's short but elegant treatise, con-
cerning " Pestilential Disorders," the eighth edition, London, 1722.

f The great plague which raged in 542, and the following years
(Pagi, Critica, torn, ii, p. 518), must be traced in Procopius (Persic, lib.
2, c. 22, 23), Agathias (lib. 5, p. 153, 154), Evagrius (lib. 4, c. 29), Paul
Diaconus (lib. 2, c. 4, p. 776, 777), Gregory of Tours (torn, ii., lib. 4, c.
5, p. 205), who styles it Lues Inguinaria, and the Chronicles of Victor
Tununensis (p. 9, in Thesaur. Temporum), of Marcellinus (p. 54), and
•of Theophanes (p. 153). [The Lacus Sirbonis inspired terror among all
the nations of antiquity. It was the fabled abode of Typhon, the evil
genius of so many mythologies. Beneath its bed were boiling streams
of bitumen and springs of naphtha, which often sent up lurid flames
and heavy vapours ; these were imagined to be the breath of the demon.
(Herodotus, 2, 6 ; Plutarch, Anton., c. 3 ; Strabo. 16, 762.) In the
course of ages this formidable lake was reduced within very narrow
dimensions. (Pliny, 5, 14.) The retiring waters left a wide morass or
bog, over which the winds spread the sands of the neighbouring desert,
fatal to the unwary who ventured on their surface (Diodorus Siculus,
i, 30.) From this bog there issued, in the days of Justinian, a double
miasma. The decaying exuviae of the sea and the fumes of heated
bitumen combined to impregnate the atmosphere with noxious vapours.
These, inhaled by depressed and spirit-broken multitudes, living in
filth, and indulging in the artificial excitement of stimulating drinks, pro-
duced the disease, no less by moral than by physical infection, which
was carried, with such calamitous violence, from clime to clime. The
ancient lake of Sirbonis has nearly, if not entirely, disappeared.
(Cellarius, 2, 792.) But the name is still retained in maps, given to an
apparently more recent collection of pools and lagunes, separated from
the Mediterranean by a newly formed bank. These are called by the
Turks, Sebakhah Bardoual, or the lake of Baldwin, from that hero of
the Crusades having died, when King of Jerusalem, in 1177, at the
neighbouring town of Rhinocorura, the modern El Arisch. One of the
latest and most authentic accounts of them may be found in the " De-
scription de 1'Egypte," drawn up from the official papers of the memo-
rable French expedition (torn, xvi., p. 208). — ED.

182 Epidemics.

the Indies, and penetrated to the west, along the coast of
Africa, and over the continent of Europe. In the spring
of the second year, Constantinople, during three or four
months, was visited by the pestilence ; and Procopius, who
observed its progress and symptoms with the eyes of a
physician,* has emulated the skill and diligence of Thucy-
dides in the description of the plague of Athens. The
infection was sometimes announced by the visions of a
distempered fancy, and the victim despaired as soon as he
had heard the menace and felt the stroke of an invisible
spectre. But the greater number, in their beds, in the
streets, in their usual occupation, were surprised by a slight
fever ; so slight, indeed, that neither the pulse nor the colour
of the patient gave any signs of the approaching danger.
The same, the next, or the succeeding day, it was declared
by the swelling of the glands, particularly those of the groin,
of the arm-pits, and under the ear ; and when these buboes
or tumours were opened, they were found to contain a coal,.
or black substance, of the size of a lentil. If they came to
a just swelling and suppuration, the patient was saved by
this kind and natural discharge of the morbid humour. But
if they continued hard and dry, a mortification quickly
ensued, and the fifth day was commonly the term of his life.
The fever was often accompanied with lethargy or delirium ;
the bodies of the sick were covered with black pustules or
carbuncles, the symptoms of immediate death ; and in the
constitutions too feeble to produce an eruption, the vomiting
of blood was followed by a mortification of the bowels. To
pregnant women the plague was generally mortal ; yet one
infant was drawn alive from its dead mother, and three
mothers survived the loss of their infected foetus. Youth
was the most perilous season, and the female sex was less
susceptible than the male ; but every rank and profession
was attacked with indiscriminate rage, and many of those
who escaped were deprived of the use of their speech, with-
out being secure from a return of the disorder.! The
physicians of Constantinople were zealous and skilful, but
their art was baffled by the various symptoms and per-

* Dr. Freind (Hist. Medicin. in Opp., p. 416 — 420, Lond., 1733) is
satisfied that Procopius must have studied physic, from his knowledge
and use of the technical words. Yet many words that are now scien-
tific were common and popular in the Greek idiom.

f Thucydides (c. 51) affirms that the infection could only be once
taken; but Evagrius, born 536 A. D., who had family experience of the
plague, observes, that some persons who had escaped the first, sank,
under the second attack ; and this repetition is confirmed by Fabius.

Epidemics. 183

tinacious vehemence of the disease ; the same remedies
were productive of contrary effects, and the event capri-
ciously disappointed their prognostics of death or recovery.
The. order of funerals, and the right of sepulchres, were
confounded ; those who were left without friends or
servants lay unburied in the streets, or in their desolate
houses ; and a magistrate was authorized to collect the
promiscuous heaps of dead bodies, to transport them by land
or water, and to inter them in deep pits beyond the precincts
of the city. Their own danger, and the prospects of public
distress, awakened some remorse in the minds of the most
vicious of mankind ; the confidence of health again revived
their passions and habits ; but philosophy must disdain the
observation of Procopius, that the lives of such men were
guarded by the peculiar favour of fortune or providence. 0
He forgot, or perhaps he secretly recollected, that the
plague had touched the person of Justinian himself ; but the
abstemious diet of the emperor may suggest, as in the case
of Socrates, a more rational and honourable cause for his
recovery.* During his sickness the public consternation
was expressed in the habits of the citizens ; and their idle-
ness and despondence occasioned a general scarcity in the
capital of the East.

"Contagion is the inseparable symptom of the plague;
which, by mutual respiration, is transfused from the in-
fected persons to the lungs and stomach of those who
approach them. While philosophers believe and tremble, it
is singular that the existence of a real danger should have
been denied by a people most prone to vain and imaginary
terrors. t Yet the fellow-citizens of Procopius were satisfied,

Paullinus (p. 588). I observe that on this head physicians are divided ;
and the nature and operation of the disease may not always be similar.

* It was thus that Socrates had been saved by his temperance, in the
plague of Athens. (Aul. Gellius, Noct. Attic., 2. i.) Dr. Mead
accounts for the peculiar salubrity of religious houses by the two
advantages of seclusion and abstinence (p. 18, 19).

f Mead proves that the plague is contagious, from Thucydides, Lu-
cretius, Aristotle, Galen, and common experience (p. 10 — 20) ; and he
refutes (Preface, p. 2 — 13) the contrary opinion of the French phy-
sicians who visited Marseilles in the year 1720. Yet these were the
recent and enlightened spectators of a plague which, in a few months,
swept away fifty thousand inhabitants (" Sur la Peste de Marseille," Paris,
1786) of a city "that, in the present hour of prosperity and trade, con-
tains no more than ninety thousand souls. (Necker, " Sur les Finances,"
torn, i., p. 231.)

a It must be borne in mind in Gibbon's days that the assumed philosophers had put
an extinguisher upon Providence, which has since been protected with a wet sheet,
because the extinguisher was just beginning to melt from heat within.

184 Epidemics.

by some short and partial experience, that the infection
could not be gained by the closest conversation ; and this
persuasion might support the assiduity of friends or physi-
cians in the care of the sick, whom inhuman prudence would
have condemned to solitude and despair. But the fatal
security, like the predestination of the Turks, must have
aided the progress of the contagion ; and those salutary pre-
cautions, to which Europe is indebted for her safety, were
unknown to the government of Justinian. No restraints
were imposed on the free and frequent intercourse of the
Roman provinces ; from Persia to France, the nations were
mingled and infected by wars and emigrations ; and the pes-
tilential odour, which lurks for years in a bale of cott©n, was
imported, by the abuse of trade, into the most distant
regions. The mode of its propagation is explained by the
remark of Procopius himself, that it always spread from the
sea-coast to the inland country ; the most sequestered
islands and mountains were successively visited ; the places
which had escaped the fury of its first passage, were alone
exposed to the contagion of the ensuing year. The winds
might diffuse that subtle venom ; but, unless the atmosphere
be previously disposed for its reception, the plague would
soon expire in the cold or temperate climates of the earth.
Such was the universal corruption of the air, that the pesti-
lence, which burst forth in the fifteenth year of Justinian,
was not checked or alleviated by any difference of the season.
In time, its first malignity was abated and dispersed ;
the disease alternately languished and revived ; but it was
not till the end of a calamitous period of fifty-two years,
that mankind recovered their health, or the air resumed its
pure and salubrious quality. No facts have been preserved
to sustain an account, or even a conjecture, of the numbers
that perished in this extraordinary mortality. I only find
that during three months, five, and at length ten, thousand
persons died each day at Constantinople ; that many cities
of the East were left vacant, and that in several districts of
Italy the harvest and the vintage withered on the ground.
The triple scourge of war, pestilence, and famine, afflicted
the subjects of Justinian; and his reign is disgraced by a
visible decrease of the human species, which has never
been repaired in some of the fairest countries of the
globe."

Dr. Bascombe, in his " History of Epidemics," describes

Epidemics. 185

the plague of 1348 as plague with a lung affection. " This
malady," he says, " was accompanied by fever, difficulty of
breathing, and spitting of blood ; the respiration was so
laborious that the sick were obliged to be always in an
upright posture ; deglutition was difficult, attended with
flushed countenances and great restlessness ; at the outset
the cough was violent, but without loss of blood ; after a
short time, the expectoration becoming bloody, haemorrhage
succeeded, when death ensued in three days ; spots and
abscesses sometimes formed when the disease was protracted
unto the fifth day." (Page 50.)

Though lengthened, an outline of the black death or plague
of 1348 will be given from Dr. Hecker, translated by Dr.
Babington in 1833, where a brief sketch is found of its
history and nature, and its alliance to bubo and carbuncular
plague, as first fully described by Procopius. Let it be
observed that vomiting of blood, with mortification of the
bowels, was occasionally present in the Levant or Justinian
plague, but there is no mention of laboured breathing, spit-
ting of blood, and then haemorrhage, in the Justinian plague;
but what haemorrhage there was belonged rather to intense
congestion in the veins of the stomach, ending in haema-
temesis and vomiting from impeded circulation in the liver
and abdominal organs, but not at all arising from the lungs
in any way whatever. Hence the lung affection in the Black
death of 1348, and onwards, was an affection superadded to
the Justinian plague.

" The nature of the first plague in China is unknown. We
have no certain intelligence of the disease, until it entered
the western countries of Asia. Here it showed itself as the
Oriental plague, with inflammation of the lungs ; in which
form it probably also may have begun in China, that is to
say, as a malady which spreads, more than any other, by
contagion — a contagion that, in ordinary pestilences, requires

1 86 Epidemics.

immediate contact, and only under unfavourable circum-
stances of rare occurrence is communicated by the mere
approach to the sick. The share which this cause had in
the spreading of the plague over the whole earth was cer-
tainly very great ; and the opinion that the Black death
might have been excluded from Western Europe by good
regulations, similar to those which are now in use, would
have all the support of modern experience, provided it could
be proved that this plague had been actually imported from
the East, or that the Oriental plague in general, as often as
it appears in Europe, always has its origin in Asia or Egypt.
Such a proof, however, cannot be produced so as to enforce
conviction ; for it would involve the impossible assumption
that either there is no essential difference in the degree of
civilization of the European nations, in the most ancient
and modern times, or that detrimental circumstances, which
have yielded only to the civilization of human society and
the regular cultivation of countries, could not formerly have
maintained the bubo plague.

" The plague was, however, known in Europe before
nations were united by the bonds of commerce and social
intercourse ;* hence there is ground for supposing that it
sprung up spontaneously, in consequence of the rude
manner of living and the uncultivated state of the earth —
influences which peculiarly favour the origin of severe diseases.
Now, we need not go back to the earlier centuries, for
the I4th itself, before it was half expired, was visited by
five or six pestilences. t

" If, therefore, we consider the peculiar property of the
plague that, in countries which it has once visited, it re-
mains for a long time in a milder form, and that the epidemic
influences of 1342, when it had appeared for the last time,
were particularly favourable to its unperceived continuance
till 1348, we come to the notion that in this eventful year,

* According to Papon, its origin is quite lost in the obscurity of
remote ages ; and even before the Christian era we are able to trace
many references to former pestilences. " De la peste, ou epoques
memorables de ce fleau. et les moyens de s'en preserver." T. II.,
Paris, An. VIII. de la rep. 8.

f 1301, in the south of France; 1311, in Italy; 1316, in Italy, Bur-
gundy, and Northern Europe ; 1335, the locust years, in the middle of
Europe; 1340, in Upper Italy; 1342, in France; and 1347, in Mar-
seilles and most of the larger islands of the Mediterranean. Ibid.,
T. II., p. 273.

Epidemics. 187

also, the germs of plague existed in Southern Europe, which
might be vivified by atmospherical deteriorations ; and that
thus, at least in part, the Black plague may have originated
in Europe itself. The corruption of the atmosphere came
from the East ; but the disease itself came not upon the
wings of the wind, but was only excited and increased by
the atmosphere where it had previously existed.

" This source of the Black plague was not, however, the
only one ; for, far more powerful than the excitement of
the latent elements of the plague by atmospheric influences
was the effect of the contagion communicated from one
people to another on the great roads, and in the harbours
of the Mediterranean. From China the route of the caravans
lay to the north of the Caspian Sea, through Central Asia,
to Tauris. Here ships were ready to take the produce of
the East to Constantinople, the capital of commerce, and
the medium of connection between Asia, Europe, and Africa.*
Other caravans went from India to Asia Minor, and touched
at the cities south of the Caspian Sea, and lastly, from
Bagdad, through Arabia to Egypt ; also the maritime com-
munication on the Red Sea, from India to Arabia and Egypt,
was not inconsiderable. In all these directions contagion
made its way ; and doubtless Constantinople and the har-
bours of Asia Minor are to be regarded as the foci of infec-
tion, whence it radiated to the more distant seaports and
islands.

"To Constantinople, the plague had been brought from
the northern coast of the Black Sea,t after it had depopu-
lated the countries between those routes of commerce ; and
appeared, as early as 1347, in Cyprus, Sicily, Marseilles and
some of the seaports of Italy. The remaining islands of the
Mediterranean, particularly Sardinia, Corsica, and Majorca,
were visited in succession. Foci of contagion existed also in
full activity along the whole southern coast of Europe ; when,
in January, 1348, the plague appeared in Avignon, % and in
other cities in the south of France and north of Italy, as well
as in Spain.

" The precise days of its eruption in the individual towns
are no longer to be ascertained, but it was not simultaneous ;
for in Florence, the disease appeared in the beginning of

* Compare Deguignes, Loc. cit., p. 288.

| According to the general Byzantine designation, " from the
country of the hyperborean Scythians." Kantakuzen, Loc. cit.
t Quid. Cauliac, Loc. cit.

1 88 Epidemics.

April ;* in Cesena, the ist of June ;t and place after place
was attacked throughout the whole year, so that the plague,
after it had passed through the whole of France and
Germany, where, however, it did not make its ravages until
the following year, did not break out till August in England ;
where it advanced so gradually, that a period of three months
elapsed before it reached London.! The Northern King-
doms were attacked by it in 1349 — Sweden, indeed, not
until November of that year; almost two years after its
eruption in Avignon. § Poland received the plague in 1349,
probably from Germany, || if not from the northern countries ;
but in Russia, it did not make its appearance until 1351,
more than three years after it had broken out in Constanti-
nople. Instead of advancing in a north-westerly direction
from Tauris and from the Caspian Sea, it had thus made the
great circuit of the Black Sea, by way of Constantinople,
Southern and Central Europe, England, the Northern
Kingdoms and Poland, before it reached the Russian
territories ; a phenomenon which has not again occurred
with respect to more recent pestilences originating in Asia.

" Whether any difference existed between the indigenous
plague, excited by the influence of the atmosphere, and that
which was imported by contagion, can no longer be ascer-
tained from the facts ; for the contemporaries, who in
.general were not competent to make accurate researches
of this kind, have left no data on the subject. A milder and
a more malignant form certainly existed, and the former was
not always derived from the latter, as is to be supposed from
this circumstance — that the spitting of blood, the infallible
•diagnostic of the latter, on the first breaking out of the
plague, is not similarly mentioned in all the reports ; and it
is therefore probable, that the milder form belonged to the
native plague — the more malignant, to that introduced by
contagion. Contagion was, however, in itself, only one of
many causes which gave rise to the Black plague.

" This disease was a consequence of violent commotions
in the earth's organism — if any disease of cosmical origin
can be so considered. One spring set a thousand others in

* Matt. Villani, Istorie, in Muratori, T. XIV., p. 14.
\ Annal. Caesenat., Ibid., p. 1179.
I Barnes, Loc. cit.

§ Olof Dalin's, " Svea-Rikes Historic," III. vol., Stockholm, 1747 — 61,
4. Vol. II., C. 12, p. 496.

|| Dlugoss, " Histor. Polon.," L. IX., p. 1086, T. I. Lips., 1711, fol.

Epidemics. 189

motion for the annihilation of living beings, transient or per-
manent, of mediate or immediate effect. The most power-
ful of all was contagion ; for in the most distant countries,
which* had scarcely yet heard the echo of the first concussion,
the people fell a sacrifice to organic poison — the untimely
offspring of vital energies thrown into violent commotion."

Comparing the plague of Justinian of 526 A.D., which is
Gibbon's date for that plague, with the Black death of 1348,
it may be justly stated that both were bubonic and car-
buncular plagues, with a superadded lung disease in the
latter epidemic, which was as diagnostic in its laboured
breathing and spitting of blood as the presence of buboes,
etc., were in true Levant plague ; but carbuncles appear to
have been less prevalent in the latter epidemic than in the
Justinian one.

The general conclusion arrived at by comparing these two
well-authenticated and carefully described epidemics is this,
that distinct and specific affections in themselves occasionally
unite to constitute one continuous disease, by which the
entire system is pervaded and brought under complete sway
and conquest ; and in this new form of infection and wide-
spread diffusion, at least for a season or considerable
duration of time, as of several years, can be induced and
sustained.

A modification by blending appears to be the natural
result of coalescence ; hence in the majority of cases, even
where convalescence was established, carbuncles never
appeared, though buboes in the neck, armpits, and inguinal
regions were common.

Having advanced the hypothesis of hybrid diseases, as
distinct from parallel diseases running their course, though
modifying one another in one and the same person at the
same time, it may be asked, Is there any trace of hybridity
in any other disease than the Black plague, which probably
was the blending of an infectious lung disease of a more or

igo Epidemics.

less endemic character, common in the extensive plains of
Tartary, with another infectious disease known as the Levant
or Justinian plague ; the specific poisons at some point of
junction blending their primitive blastema, or something
equally incomprehensible (beyond the notion of their having
opposite centres of attraction, which will be equal to
mutual coalescence), and when blended being sustained in
their integrity by an exact epidemic constitution of atmo-
sphere adapted for their growth and diffusion, till every nook
and corner is reached where man holds intercourse with his
brother man ? Let this be briefly considered.

The Black death in all lasted about fifty years ; its greatest
destructive power was in the first few years of its advent
into Europe. About a hundred years after its disappearance,
the old plague took its usual course of visiting one city
for a year or two, another in a few years after, then diffusing
itself over a particular country.

But we find a new disease showing itself about the year
1494, though Florence and France appear to have shown indi-
cations of this disease towards the end of the twelfth century ;
and one of the Medici has honoured posterity by having his
name enrolled among the noble patricians of Italy who fell
a victim to Syphilis before it was generally known as the
mal de France.

Was this new disease a blending of plague and leprosy in
one new entity, or a disease retaining in itself some faint
outlines of both in a modified form ?

There is no disease in which contagion or direct local
contact is more essential to be subject to its infectious pro-
perties than is syphilis. Ancient writers - upon leprosy
appear to have judged infection arose from the breath and
body exhalations of the sufferer, and so of plague. Doubts
appear to be entertained whether now either of these diseases
are infectious — above all, leprosy. Plague is not hereditary,

Epidemics. igi

but leprosy is decidedly so. One disease is acute, and the
other chronic. Both appear to be blood diseases, but
leprosy, according to the ancients, was an universal and
internal cancer, working from within outwards, and laying
hold of every vital structure, which moderns have confirmed
save with regard to the kidneys. Plague was a blood and
lymphatic disease ; therefore its poison was prone to reach
certain glands, as of the inguinal and axillary regions and
the neck.

Syphilis, in its secondary or tertiary forms, is a blood
disease. Modern pathology has detected syphiloid infiltra-
tion, or morbific deposits, in almost every structure of the
body ; it is of limited hereditary transmission, and whether
it ever reaches the second generation is extremely doubtful,
though testimony here and there might lead to such an
inference ; but careful observation, and a little ordinary
discernment, might lead to a wholesome doubt as to the
value of the testimony given.

All matter from an exposed surface upon the extremities
is prone to excite inflammation of lymphatic glands in the
inguinal or axillary regions ; but the syphilitic poison is
perhaps more prone than that of any other kind to excite in-
flammation in the glands, and develop ordinary buboes.
Occasionally the soft superficial chancre will produce true
secondary symptoms without buboes appearing, and will in-
fect another person. Mr. A. had a soft chancre on the penis
at its middle ; its greatest width was transversely to its
long axis, never was hard, healed perfectly, and was followed
by eruption and ulcerated sore throat, and thinning of the
hair, all of which followed within three months from the
time the chancre healed, Mrs. A. followed in the train, but
a month later ; but got more distinct bald patches on the
head, and the hair very scanty elsewhere. Fifteen months
after, a son was born, and in six weeks a wretched syphilitic

i g2 Epidemics.

eruption appeared on the nates and arms, which was long in
being subdued. Here is a distinct case of secondary syphilis
from soft chancre without bubo, and it is not the only one
observed ; but in plague, occasionally, buboes will not pre-
sent themselves, yet the nature of the affection, and its fatal
end, are quite as certain as when bubo has appeared.

If it be granted that syphilis is a hybrid disease of plague
and leprosy, it must be added that their amalgamation has
modified and limited both alike in relation to fatality and
permanency of duration ; and in this respect it has much
the characteristics of hybridity in a general way. The dura-
tion of transmission from generation to generation is mate-
rially abridged, and the extremes of development are con-
tracted and modified ; different to that of the Black death,
in which, though the persistency of the disease was not so
great in duration as the common plague, yet its rapidity of
extension, contrary to hybridity generally, was increased
rather than diminished ; but this may be explained by both
poisons in their essential constitutions being but mere
varieties of a common species, both being essentially blood
poisons of an acute character, and in all essential points of
propagation and alimentation (if such a word for a poison
increasing by feeding may be used) closely allied, and, as
before said, mere varieties of the same species ; then, as
under favourable conditions of cross-breeding, increase and
multiplication would go on with redoubled energy to that
which either, in an isolated condition, could accomplish.

It is pleasing to observe, in the view here expressed of the
origin of syphilis, a somewhat similar notion is given by
Francis Adams in his " Annotations to Paulus yEgincta."
He writes: — " By the way, we may be permitted to state
that we have long been convinced that the syphilis of
modern times is a modified form of ancient elephantiasis
(leprosy of Arabs)." This opinion is maintained by several

Epidemics. 193-

of the writers of the Aphrodisiacus, and also by the learned
Sprengel, who gives a very interesting disquisition on
syphilis in his " History of Medicine."

The opinion already given about syphilis being a hybrid
between leprosy and plague, arose from the reading of his-
tory generally, and appeared to be forced upon the attention
by a close analysis of a large number of dissimilar and
closely co-related facts, scattered over a great variety of his-
torical incidents, from the time of Constantine the Great on
to our own times ; and it was pleasant to find the same
foot-path had been trodden by men whose learning and
judgment are deserving of much respect, and whose sen-
timents were hailed as a confirmation that both were going,
at least part way on the same journey. There is yet
another disease whose origin is interesting and singular,,
and for the details of which we have an eye-witness and
personal sufferer, whose powers of observation and careful-
ness of description place him at the head of all chroniclers
of disease that history has given. This disease is the
Athenian plague, as recorded by Thucydides.*

" When they had not been many days in Attica, the
plague first began to show itself amongst the Athenians ;.
though it was said to have previously lighted on many
places about Lemnos and elsewhere. Such a pestilence,,
however, and loss of life as this was nowhere remembered
to have happened. For neither were physicians of any
avail at first, treating it as they did, in ignorance of its.
nature — nay, they themselves died most of all, inasmuch as-
they most visited the sick — nor any other art of man. And
as to the supplications that they offered in their temples, or
the divinations, and similar means, that they had recourse
to, they were all unavailing ; and at last they ceased from,
them, being overcome by the pressure of the calamity.

* After comparing many translations, epitomes, and compliments to
Lucretius, the introduction of a verbal and exact translation of Thucy-
dides' description of the plague of Athens, by the Rev. H. Dale, is.
perhaps the fairest way of examining the whole subject.

13

194 Epidemics.

" It is said to have first begun in the part of ^Ethiopia
above Egypt, and then to have come down into Egypt, and
Libya, and the greatest part of the king's territory. On the
city of Athens it fell suddenly, and first attacked the men in
the Piraeus ; so that it was even reported by them that the
Peloponnesians had thrown poison into the cisterns ; for as
yet there were no fountains there. Afterwards it reached
the upper city also ; and then they died much more generally.
Now let every one, whether physician or unprofessional man,
speak on the subject according to his views ; from what
source it was likely to have arisen, and the causes which he
thinks were sufficient to have produced so great a change
[from health to universal sickness]. I, however, shall only
describe what was its character ; and explain those symptoms
by reference to which one might best be enabled to recognise
it through this previous acquaintance, if it should ever break
out again ; for I was both attacked by it myself, and had
personal observation of others who were suffering with it.

"That year then, as was generally allowed, happened to
be of all years the most free from disease, so far as regards
other disorders ; and if any one had any previous sickness,
all terminated in this. Others, without any ostensible
cause, but suddenly, while in the enjoyment of health, were
seized at first with violent heats in the head, and redness
and inflammation of the eyes ; and the internal parts, both
the throat and the tongue, immediately assumed a bloody
tinge, and emitted an unnatural and fetid breath. Next
after these symptoms, sneezing and hoarseness came on ;
and in a short time the pain descended to the chest, with a
violent cough. When it settled in the stomach, it caused
vomiting ; and all the discharges of bile that have been
mentioned by physicians succeeded, and those accompanied
with great suffering. An ineffectual retching also followed
in most cases, producing a violent spasm, which in some
cases ceased soon afterwards, in others much later. Ex-
ternally the body was not very hot to the touch, nor was it
pale ; but reddish, livid, and broken out in small pimples
and sores. But the internal parts were burnt to such a
degree that they could not bear clothing or linen of the very
lightest kind to be laid upon them, nor to be anything else
but stark naked ; but would most gladly have thrown them-
selves into cold water if they could. Indeed, many of those
who were not taken care of did so, plunging into cisterns in
the agony of their unquenchable thirst ; and it was all the

Epidemics. 195

•same whether they drank much or little. Moreover, the
misery of restlessness and wakefulness continually oppressed
them. The body did not waste away so long as the disease
was at its height, but resisted it beyond all expectation : so
that they either died in most cases on the ninth or the
seventh day, through the internal burning, while they had
still some degree of strength ; or if they escaped [that stage
of the disorder] , then, after it had further descended into the
bowels, and violent ulceration was produced in them, and
intense diarrhoea had come on, the greater part were after-
wards carried off through the weakness occasioned by it.
For the disease, which was originally seated in the head,
beginning from above, passed throughout the whole body ;
and if any one survived its most fatal consequences, yet it
marked him by laying hold of his extremities ; for it settled
on the pudenda, and fingers, and toes, and many escaped
with the loss of these, while some also lost their eyes.
Others, again, were seized on their first recovery with forget-
fulness of everything alike, and did not know either them-
selves or their friends.

" For the character of the disorder surpassed description ;
and while in other respects also it attacked every one in a
degree more grievous than human nature could endure, in
the following way especially, it proved itself to be some-
thing different from any of the diseases familiar to man. All
the birds and beasts that prey on human bodies, either did
not come near them, though there were many lying un-
buried, or died after they had tasted them. As a proof of
this, there was a marked disappearance of birds of this kind,
and they were not seen either engaged in this way, or in
any other ; while the dogs, from their domestic habits, more
clearly afforded opportunity of marking the result I have
mentioned.

" The disease, then, to pass over many various points of
peculiarity, as it happened to be different in one case from
another, was in its general nature such as I have described.
And no other of those to which they were accustomed
afflicted them besides this at that time ; or whatever there
was, it ended in this. And [of those who were seized by it]
some died in neglect, others in the midst of every attention.
And there was no one settled remedy, so to speak, by apply-
ing which they were to give them relief ; for what did good
to one, did harm to another. And no constitution showed it-
self fortified against it, in point either of strength or weak-

13—2

196 Epidemics.

ness ; but it seized on all alike, even those that were treated
with all possible regard to diet. But the most dreadful part
of the whole calamity was the dejection felt whenever any
one found himself sickening (for by immediately falling into
a feeling of despair, they abandoned themselves much more
certainly to the disease, and did not resist it), and the fact of
their being charged with infection from attending on one
another, and so dying like sheep. And it was this that
caused the greatest mortality amongst them ; for if through
fear they were unwilling to visit each other, they perished
from being deserted, and many houses were emptied for
want of some one to attend to the sufferers ; or if they did
visit them, they met their death, and especially such as made
any pretensions to goodness ; for through a feeling of shame
they were unsparing of themselves, in going into their friends*
houses [when deserted by all others] ; since even the mem-
bers of the family were at length worn out by the very
moanings of the dying,* and were overcome by their ex-
cessive misery. Still more, however, than even these, did
such as had escaped the disorder show pity for the dying and
the suffering, both from their previous knowledge of what it
was, and from their being now in no fear of it themselves ;
for it never seized the same person twice, so as to prove
actually fatal. And such persons were felicitated by others ;
and themselves, in the excess of their present joy, enter-
tained for the future also, to a certain degree, a vain hope
that they would never now be carried off even by any other
disease.

" In addition to the original calamity, what oppressed them
still more was the crowding into the city from the country,
especially the new comers. For as they had no houses, but
lived in stifling cabins at the hot season of the year, the
mortality amongst them spread without restraint ; bodies
lying on one another in the death-agony, and half-dead
creatures rolling about in the streets and round all the foun-
tains, in their longing for water. The sacred places also in
which they had quartered themselves, were full of the corpses
of those that died there in them ; for in the surpassing violence
of the calamity, men, not knowing what was to become of
them, came to disregard everything, both sacred and profane,
alike. And all the laws were violated which they before ob-
served respecting burials ; and they buried them as each one

* Or, " by lamenting for the dying." See Arnold's note.

Epidemics. 197

could. And many, from want of proper means, in consequence
of so many of their friends having already died, had recourse
to shameless modes of sepulture ; for on the piles prepared for
others, some, anticipating those who had raised them, would
lay their own dead relative and set fire to them ; and others,
while the body of a stranger was burning, would throw on
the top of it the one they were carrying, and go away.

" In other respects also the plague was the origin of lawless
conduct in the city, to a greater extent [than it had before
existed] . For deeds which formerly men hid from view, so
as not to do them just as they pleased, they now more readily
ventured on ; since they saw the change so sudden in the case
of those who were prosperous and quickly perished, and of
those who before had had nothing, and at once came into
possession of the property of the dead. So they resolved to
take their enjoyment quickly, and with a sole view to grati-
fication ; regarding their lives and their riches alike as things
of a day. As for taking trouble about what was thought
honourable, no one was forward to do it ; deeming it uncer-
tain whether, before he had attained to it, he would not be
cut off; but everything that was immediately pleasant, and
that which was conducive to it by any means whatever, this
was laid down to be both honourable and expedient. And
fear of gods, or law of men, there was none to stop them ;
for with regard to the former they esteemed it all the same
whether they worshipped them or not, from seeing all alike
perishing ; and with regard to their offences [against the
latter], no one expected to live till judgment should be
passed on him, and so to pay the penalty of them ; but they
thought a far heavier sentence was impending in that which
had already been passed upon them ; and that before it fell
on them, it was right to have some enjoyment of life.

" Such was the calamity which the Athenians had met
with, and by which they were afflicted, their men dying
within the city, and their land being wasted without. In
their misery they remembered this verse amongst other
things, as was natural they should ; the old men saying that
it had been uttered long ago —

" 'A Dorian war shall come, and plague with it.'"

Now there was a dispute amongst them [and some asserted]

that it was not a ' plague ' \loimos] that had been mentioned

in the verse by the men of former times, but * a famine,'

limos] ; the opinion, however, at the present time naturally

198 Epidemics.

prevailed that ' a plague ' had been mentioned, for men
adapted their recollections to what they were suffering.
But, I suppose, in case of another Dorian war ever befall-
ing them after this, and a famine happening to exist, in all
probability they will recite the verse accordingly. Those
who were acquainted with it recollected also the oracle given
to the Lacedaemonians, when on their inquiring of the god
whether they should go to war, he answered, ' that if they
carried it on with all their might, they would gain the
victory, and that he would himself take part with them in
it.' With regard to the oracle, then, they supposed that what
wasjhappening answered to it. For the disease had begun im-
mediately after the Lacedaemonians had made their incur-
sion ; and it did not go into the Peloponnese, worth even
speaking of, but ravaged Athens most of all, and next to it
the most populous of the other towns. Such were the cir-
cumstances that occurred in connection with the plague.

" The Peloponnesians, after ravaging the plain, passed
into the Paralian territory, as it is called, as far as Laurium,
where the gold mines of the Athenians are situated. And
first they ravaged the side which looks towards Peloponnese;
afterwards, that which lies towards Euboea and Andrus.
Now, Pericles being general at that time as well as before,
maintained the same opinion as he had in the former inva-
sion, about the Athenians not marching out against them.

" While they were still in the plain, before they went to
the Paralian territory, he was preparing an armament of a
hundred ships to sail against the Peloponnese ; and when all
was ready, he put out to sea. On board the ships he took
four thousand heavy-armed of the Athenians, and three hun-
dred cavalry in horse-transports, then for the first time made
out of old vessels ; a Chian and Lesbian force also joined the
expedition with fifty ships. When this armament of the
Athenians put out to sea, they left the Peloponnesians in
the Paralian territory of Attica. On arriving at Epidaurus,
in the Peloponnese, they ravaged the greater part of the
land, and having made an assault on the city, entertained some
hope of taking it ; but did not, however, succeed. After
sailing from Epidaurus, they ravaged the land belonging to
Trcezen, Halioe, and Hermione ; all which places are on the
coast of the Peloponnese. Proceeding thence they came to
Prasise, a maritime town of Laconia, and ravaged some of
the land, and took the town itself, and sacked it. After
performing these achievements, they returned home ; and

Epidemics. 199

found the Peloponnesians no longer in Attica, but re-
turned.

" Now all the time that the Peloponnesians were in the
Athenian territory, and the Athenians were engaged in the
expedition on board their ships, the plague was carrying them
off both in the armament and in the city, so that it was even
said that the Peloponnesians, for fear of the disorder, when
they heard from the deserters that it was in the city, and
also perceived them performing the funeral rites, retired the
quicker from the country. Yet in this invasion they stayed
the longest time, and ravaged the whole country ; for they
were about forty days in the Athenian territory."

The peculiarities of this plague may be put forward in the
following manner. It began at the head and eyes, which
latter were red and inflamed ; the tongue and throat were
tinged with bloody exudation and fetid breath. It then went
to the throat and chest, occasioning hoarseness and violent
coughing. Next it came to the stomach, occasioning vomit-
ing. At this stage, which was the seventh to ninth day,
many died ; but if he survived, the malady descended lower,
when diarrhoea came on, and probably caused, as Thucy-
dides affirms, ulceration of the bowels. Finally, many of
those who survived these sufferings had not yet seen the
end of the disease, for the poison of this plague, whatever
it might be, destroyed the integrity of structures remote
from the head, the first seat of its attack; and in the fingers
and toes, as well as the generative organs, amputation by
sphacelus was not infrequent ; and occasional destruction of
the eyes, and not merely of the sight, completed the sad
wreck which befel the survivors of this awful malady —
awful alike in its destruction of life, and awful, at times, in
the wrecks of men who survived its invasion.

To this category of evils, which in succession laid hold
upon the sufferers, let it be noticed that " externally the body
was not very hot to the touch, nor was it pale ; but reddish,
livid, and broken out in small pimples and sores." Adams

.200 Epidemics.

calls the pimples and sores phlyctsena and ulcers : — " The
skin reddish or livid, and covered with minute phlyctaena
and ulcers." (Paulus Agincta, Vol. II., page 279, Sydenham
Society's Edition.)

Here is a disease of which its counterpart cannot be
found in modern times. In one point it is evidently near
to small-pox — the livid skin from laboured respiration,
arising chiefly from the state of the throat, with the small
pimples and sores, in different stages of ripeness ; the
marked delirium which mostly accompanies this disease ;
its order of progress from the head to the feet, as is the case in
most eruptive diseases of an infectious character, as measles,
-scarlatina, and small-pox, etc. ; vomiting and bowel affec-
tions being occasionally very marked, and trying symptoms,
or rather conditions of the disease ; and, as a finale, where
recovery takes place, the occasional loss of sight. On the
other hand, mortification of the fingers, toes, and pudenda
no more belong to small-pox than does phlegmasia dolens
to typhus fever or croup.

Again, the duration of the disease is too short for variola,
when it proves fatal.

What can the true etiology of this disease be ? Conjecture
can alone be given, but no positive dictum, unless it be in
the highest degree of a presumptive and ignorant nature.

Suffer fools to speak, as it gives the wise an opportunity
of correcting and setting matters straight, after they have
been all disordered by consummate folly.

For years an idea has presented itself that diseases occa-
sionally converge, as in syphilis, as here given, and that occa-
sionally they diverge or fork outwards from a given centre.

Rhases and Avicenna, and all the Arabian physicians,
viewed measles and small-pox as having a common origin in
different conditions of the bile, but both had their origin in
the bile ; and small-pox and measles were always considered

Epidemics. 201

as two distinct, but closely allied, or twin diseases. That
both affect the throat, and chest, and the eyes is certain, and
also the skin. But the manner and degree of affecting those
parts," in many points, are widely different ; yet in the mode
of termination, when fatal, very similar in some points. In
both recession of the eruption is most dangerous; and in both
the breathing is often the chief and most important indica-
tion of a serious or fatal termination. These twin diseases
appeared in Arabia almost, if not quite simultaneously ; both
were skin diseases in a very important respect, and both
were infectious, and as a rule going about, or were epidemic
at the same time. In short, the inference was drawn
that they had one common origin, and that their origin
was in an older and distinct disease, which in lapse of ages
had varied considerably; and finally, at a new epidemic
era, had resolved itself into two free and independent
•diseases, now known as measles and small-pox.

The livid reddish skin, with pimples and sores, indicates
that two forms of eruption ran parallel in the same cases —
the pimples and the reddish skin ; and from the minuteness
of the observer it is scarcely admissible that in the short
space of seven days the fact of one being the forerunner of
the other, and only different in degrees of age, could have
escaped observation and careful discrimination ; but though
the disease presented two forms of eruption, yet the dis-
tinctive character of the disease was that it should have
this specific form of dissimilar sores, or spots, and. reddish
skin, and the very absence of it ought only to indicate some
modification of the disease in particular individuals, in whom
the admixture of kinds of spots or sores were not observable
when under the influence of the plague at that time.

So much for the eruption ; but neither small-pox nor
measles after recovery are followed by mortification of the
fingers and toes, etc. Neither, as a rule, is small-pox in

2O2 Epidemics.

itself so short in its course as the seventh to ninth dayr
unless something very unusual should occur to cut it short.

Ergotism is a disease in which this sphacelus can occur
as the result of diseased rye eaten as common food. This
has occurred several times at Sologne and other parts of
France ; and in our own country this disease occurred in the
family of John Downing, of Watlesham, so minutely de-
scribed by Wollaston. The rapidity with which sphacelus
occurred, after first being seized with pain, appears to have
been most marked, it happening so early as the fifth and
sixth day. But ergotism is neither infectious, nor yet
attended with any high fever, and it is entirely endemic.
But the plague of Athens was an infectious disease, and had
spread from Ethiopia to Greece, and who knows how much
further, and was a disease attended with delirium, intense
thirst, and very oppressed breathing; hence the bringing into-
play as a cause a special diet will in nowise account for
this extraordinary phenomenon of mortification of the ex-
tremities.

If it was not in all respects a disease sui generis, we must
supply for it a source which had both an infectious nature
and also made the extremities and remote parts its special
object of attack ; and if we are to say there was at that time
a disease which possessed that property in a special manner,
that disease must be admitted to be modified and accelerated
infection of leprosy poison, blending as a hybrid, with a
rubeoloid affection of an infectious character also, and in
many respects simulating, in the kind of its eruption, variola.

The Athenian plague has no counterpart in modern times,
and cannot be compared to any one single existing disease.

That it should now be extinct is no argument against its
former existence, if that plague was truly an animal poison
of the hybrid character, and of an infectious nature ; for
either the breed will go on till one or other lapses into the

Epidemics. 203

primitive species, and so continues for its natural period,
as the Black death returning to simple Levant plague, or
the disease has but a limited duration, and, by the reproduc-
tive power in hybridity being weaker than in the pure, ex-
tinction follows as a sequence and a check to vigorous re-
production.*

Upon what grounds, it will be asked, is a chronic affec-
tion made to ally itself to an acute disease, and to run a
course of such fearful haste as to do more in one month
than in its pure form it does in ten, twenty, or more years ?
Its chronic spongy gums, and its chronic bowel affection,
and its exceedingly chronic sphacelus, are so many adverse
conditions to an acute disease. Perhaps one answer to this
is, How does inflammation at one time assume a chronic
form and at another an acute form, one lasting years and
the other only a few days ? But it must be borne in mind
that, directly as is the intensity of an epidemic, so is its
acuteness, and as a rule so is its infectious nature intensified ;
and when supplemented by an acute rubeoloid disease, first
showing itself not far distant from the original seats of both
diseases — Ethiopia, which on one side has the Nile running
through its territory, and, on the other, is nigh to the con-
fines of Arabia. It is not difficult, under such circumstances,
to conceive that the endemic peculiarities of each, when
quickened and intensified by an epidemic era, favourable
for the regeneration of both endemics, should, by its
adaptency for each, make the nutritive focus of each assimi-

* In speaking of hybridity in such germs as are here called zooitic
fungi, or active animal germ sarcode, the condition of sexes is not
necessarily implied, but that germs have new properties and increased
powers of propagation by one kind of germ feeding upon an allied
animal germ, whereby activity, both as an infectious agent and as a
poison, may be increased and stimulated so as to modify and change
the kind of disease produced ; just as larvae in a hive are affected by the
kind of food supplied, so that an ordinary larva is changed into a queen
bee when perfect, and so becomes a reproductive bee. Culture also
greatly affects the functions and nutritive properties of vegetables.

204 Epidemics.

late to one general form of development and accelerated
mode of progress, especially if both be in their primitive
natures animal poisons, and out of the two produce a new
disease, stamped with distinctions different from either, but
marked with the leading lineaments belonging to both.
This is what we find in the higher orders of animal life,
when hybridity diverts nature from its pure line of repro-
duction. Yet, if it extends only to different breeds of the
same species, the cross improves and ripens the breed, and
the reproductiveness.

Let us now consider chronology in relation to Ancient
Epidemics.

If there is a part of history more intricate than another, it
is surely that period of the world between the fall of Nineveh
to the coming of Christ. But for this part of history
Clinton has done wonders, and he has done it honestly, for
in his voluminous chronology he has carefully cited his
authority in the original, and then gives his comment.
Layard has even done more ; he has rectified our chronology
t>y raising a dead literature, engraven on stone, into a new
•life; and Rawlinson, Pote, Bunsen, and Renan have each
in his way helped to unfold history in relation to chronology.
Leaving the old chronology, where Sardanapalus of 818 B.C.
is reduced to 650 B.C., we get to the more definite period of
the Jewish Captivity in Babylon, at 587 B.C. Comparing
this with the Olympiads, and the foundation of Rome, a
tolerable index of time may be formed ; as from the Baby-
lonish captivity and backwards a tolerably connected chrono-
logy can be fixed, taking not the Book of Judges, which, in
respect of succession, gives no data at all ; but, taking the
Exodus of Israel as a fixed period, and adding to that period
480 years, as given in i Kings, chap, vi., ist verse, which
was the fourth year of Solomon's reign, we get a very
tolerable outline of chronology from the time of Christ to

Epidemics. 205

the Exodus and the birth of Abraham. Rejecting, therefore,
the data supplied by Manetho as being in many points
markedly in error, and in others savouring so much of the
mythical, the old style of chronology by Usher is the one
chiefly followed. This chronology is singularly confirmed
by the genealogy of the Son of Man, as given in Matthew,
chap, i., verses i to 17.

Let the passage be quoted, and a few remarks made upon
it : — " So all the generations from Abraham to David (are)
fourteen generations ; and from David until the carrying
away into Babylon (are) fourteen generations ; and from the
carrying away into Babylon unto, or until, Christ (are) four-
teen generations." .

It is inferred that the generation only reaches to the birth
of Christ, and does not extend beyond it. Again, that it
starts from Abraham, which includes (as is here supposed)
his birth and onwards. One of the great difficulties is,
What is meant by a generation ? Secondly, Were the genera-
tions over this long period of time the self-same ?

The period from Abraham to the Egyptian exodus was
marked by a gradual decline in the duration of life ; and, in
the earlier period, from Arphaxad to Abraham, by a still
more rapid decline in the duration of life. But the dura-
tion of life reached its lowest ebb from the Egyptian exodus and
onwards, and that standard is the current standard of the present
day. So important was the fact, and so new to the coming
generation, that Moses expostulates and laments over it
in a most feeling and painful manner, as recorded in the goth
Psalm, the only Psalm of Moses incorporated in the Book
of Psalms. Moses there states that " The days of our
years are three-score years and ten ; and if, by reason of
strength, they be four-score years, yet is their strength
labour and sorrow ; for it is soon cut off, and we fly
away."

206 Epidemics.

Before this period the days of man were on an average
much longer, as is briefly tabulated below : —
Abraham lived 175 years.
Isaac ,, 180 ,,

Jacob „ 147 ,,

Joseph „ no „
Levi ,, 134 „

Moses ,, 120 ,,

Hence the period for a generation between Abraham and
Moses must be counted much longer than from Moses, or
the Egyptian exodus, to the time of Christ.

It will be found that, for all the young men who died in
the wilderness under Moses's leadership above twenty years
of age, forty years was given for them to die off, some by
special Divine visitations, and others by the course of nature,
but all were included under the period of forty years.

Without here entering into any lengthened dissertation
upon such an interesting subject, it will be laid down plainly
that " generations" does not signify the order of natural suc-
cession from father to son, but a given epoch or era, as of forty
years, in which time certain persons of a given descent were
born in such an epoch or generation, as from David to
Christ, and that certain essential connecting links were
maintained to give a correct order or line of descent, but not
all the direct successional parentages, as in a State peerage.
Again, 100 years is the period given for the Abrahamic
generation, or that period of time which, by the word " gene-
ration," Abraham would understand the duration of time
signified in his own day ; as from the time of his death,
which was 1821 B.C., to the time of his posterity occupying
the land of the Amorites, four generations extend their
duration into time, or that in or during some time of the
continuance of the fourth epoch of time or " generation "
his seed should possess the land of the Amorite. Now,

Epidemics. 207

taking Usher as our guide, we find that Abraham was born
in 1996, and died 1821 B.C.,* and Israel entered Palestine
under Joshua 1445, which gives a period of 376 years, which
is at the latter end of the fourth generation or epoch of
time from the time of Abraham's death ; and that in the
fourth generation Abraham's seed should possess the land
of the Amorites was, in Abraham's time, most intelligible
language to the great progenitor of the Hebrew nation, a
nation the most remarkable the world has ever seen —
remarkable in prosperity, in adversity, and in unheard-of
hardships ; and excelling all people upon earth in their
pertinacity of adherence to the traditions of their fathers,
and in ignoring the study of that Word upon which they
maintain their traditions are based.

If we apply the above remarks to the three fourteen
generations given, we shall obtain the following results : —

From the Egyptian exodus to Christ there will be thirty-
seven generations, each of forty years' duration, and five
generations each of 100 years' duration. Then add these
two together, and it will give —

37 generations of 40 years each are equal to 1,480
5 generations of 100 years each are equal to 500

Total 42 generations, or three 14 generations... Total 1,980
Kepler gives the time of Messiah's appearing as
six years, and not four years, before the
common period of reckoning, which is the
time here adopted, for reasons too lengthened
to be given in detail. Therefore, to 1980 add 6

B.C. 1986
For the generations in Matthew have nothing to do with

* Read carefully Genesis xv. 12 — 21, especially the i5th and i6th
verses.

208 Epidemics.

our starting the era of A.D., either before or after any fixed
period in our chronological systems.

According to Usher's determination of the birth of
Abraham as B.C. 1996, a variation of ten years occurs, and
also a variation occurs in the Egyptian exodus of B.C. 1491,
which, by adding six to 1480, makes it 1486, or only five
years short of Usher's assigned date, which, in so long a
period, is remarkable, and a very independent corroboration
of the general accuracy of the early chronology of this part
of the world's history ; and also remarkably confirms the
time of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and the Jewish captivity,
which commenced 587. For if we add six years to 560,
the length of fourteen generations of forty years each, we
have the date of 566 years, or a deficit of twenty-one years ;
but it was eleven years later than 587 that the entire
captivity was carried into effect, which would bring 587
down to 576, or only ten years longer than the period of
566. Yet this does not entirely embrace what the passage
quoted omits to say, for whether carrying away into Babylon
signifies the very commencement of the captivity, or some
portion of that time in which they were placed in captivity,
is somewhat uncertain ; for Matthew, in his genealogy, re-
ferring to the time of the Babylonish captivity, expresses
himself in the nth and I2th verses of the first chapter
somewhat indefinitely, and so far indefinitely that, if we
were to read " from or about the time of the carrying away
into Babylon," it would be equally as correct as reading
" from the carrying away into Babylon." He remarks that
" Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren about the time they
were carried away to Babylon." Adam Clarke makes some
learned remarks about this passage, for which see his well-
known " Commentary."

From the foregoing remarks, it is not unsafe to conclude
that the sacred historian signified that fourteen generations

Epidemics. 209

gave a close approximation to the real date of the commence-
ment of the captivity, but not its exact date; which, in so short
and comprehensive a chronology as that of St. Matthew's, is
most important, and strongly confirms the accuracy of the
outline of time given by Usher, from the birth of Abraham
to the Egyptian exodus, and again on to David (the
latter end of whose reign was in the beginning of the 28th
generation from Christ), and from David on to the captivity,
would be the first half of that period, and the latter half
from the captivity on to Christ. This, in difficult deter-
minations of time, gives an accessory to our means of
determining certain difficult dates, which heretofore has not
been brought into requisition.

We now leave the subject of chronology, as a science, to
apply it more directly to practice.

Petau Petavius, in his " De Doctrina Temporum," gives the
date of 767 B.C. as the time when a plague spread over the
whole world, as then known — some give 800 B.C., and some
a later date ; but all may be speaking of the self-same
epidemic, traversing different countries at nearly identical
times.

According to the view maintained in this short dissertation,
to 103 B.C. add 640 ; there will result 743 B.C., which
would be the time of the commencement of a new epidemic
period. The same would be slowly dying out towards 200 B.C.
This date is not far from that of Petau Petavius's, the
celebrated monk, as already given.

If from this date, or 743, we date back to the Egyptian
exodus, we have 748 years, or about 108 years more than
the epoch of 640. From the Egyptian exodus to the Deluge
is about 850 to 790 years B.C.

From the Deluge to the Egyptian exodus dates from 790 to
860 years, as expressed in round numbers, and from the
exodus to Christ 1491 years, the half of which will be about

14

2io Epidemics.

745 years, or close upon 743 years, the time which is here
fixed as the commencement of the 640 years serial changes
or metamorphosis in the epidemic order of manifestation, or
modifying the type of diseases.

The period of blending, and of pestilences attaining their
highest destructive powers, appears to be after the com-
pletion of the first 200 years, and before the last 150 years
are reached, of which the Black death and Athenian
plague are illustrations ; but the first outbreak appears to
be usually not quite so widely spread, but, within the area
it reaches, quite as destructive as at any future time of its
continuance.

Having made these few preliminary remarks, it is a matter
of much interest to observe that from 750 years B.C., on to
the coming of Christ, save in the earlier periods, where we
take the Bible as our guide, we are coming in contact, for
the first time, with tolerably reliable data from which to
measure the march of nations, and the erratic forms in
which science and civilization spread their not very huma-
nizing mantle over the inhabitants of the earth.

Nineveh, Babylon, Egypt, and Persia were either at their
zenith, or else close upon decadence, at the beginning
of this period; and Greece both rose to, and fell from, the
height of her greatness, and Rome, as a republic, attained
to the height of her power during this period.

It is worthy of remark, therefore, that from 750 B.C. on to
60 B.C. we find no record of leprosy anywhere, but Manetho,
who was a priest, or Egyptian magus, or something akin,
writing in the fourth century before Christ to Greeks,
in his attempt to calumniate the Jews as having brought
leprosy to Egypt, and left it a nation of lepers, gives us the
only proof we have that, during this period Egypt was the
great hot-bed of leprosy, in whose territory was always to
be found the elephantiasis of the Greeks.

Epidemics. 21 1

For, in accounting for its prevalence in Egypt in his own
time, he has to reproach a neighbouring and heroic nation,
who .were almost too few to be reckoned upon, from a
political point of view, as being worthy of notice in the scale
of nations ; but, to remove from Egypt the stigma of leprosy,
the Jews were a most suitable and safe butt of whom to
make a scapegoat, and to graft upon them the stigma which
belonged to themselves. For, of all historical data to show
that in Egypt leprosy has been endemic since history
commenced, this is the most unique and decisive we
possess, since, whoever brought it, when it got to Egypt it
is plain that there it became domiciled.

If, then, at this time it was present in Egypt, and absent
elsewhere, how is it to be accounted for ?

Perhaps a very meagre review of history upon this point
may be deemed useful.

In the present day, taken all in all, there is no greater
authority than Francis Adams, the learned translator and
commentator upon Paulus ^Egineta, published under the
auspices of the Sydenham Society. He says, after
enumerating a long list of writers : " We owe the earliest
notice which we have of this disease (elephantiasis) to the
poet Lucretius, who briefly mentions it in the following
lines : —

" ' Est elephas morbus qui propter flumina Nili

Gignitur ^Egypto in media neque praeterea usquam.' "

Lucretius flourished and published his great poem between
5; and 55 B.C.

As Lucretius was a man capable of abstract reasoning,
and in poetry could display the most subtle power of
denning and explaining causes and effects, according to the
point from which he viewed them, it is most important to
observe his style.

From the lines quoted we infer that Lucretius considered

14—2

212 Epidemics.

that leprosy was gendered in Egypt from the river Nile
which flowed through it, and it was never found in any
country except Egypt. Though he lived in the time of
Pompey's greatness, and died long before his fall, it appears
that his studious habits had made him comparatively
indifferent to current events, and his early love of Greek
literature engrossed his entire attention ; hence his entire
ignorance of elephas having appeared in the army of Pompey
a few years earlier than the time of his publishing his great
poem, which gives his opinion as to the origin of leprosy,
quite apart from the recent incidents occurring in the East,
and in so doing he assigns to leprosy an entire endemic
origin in the land of the Nile.

We are indebted to Pliny, and not to Lucretius, for our
first acquaintance with leprosy as an Italian disease of
recent importation.

The great father of medicine, Hippocrates, never mentions
elephantiasis, which is the Greek name for the lepra of
Egypt. For anyone who desires to examine the matter
carefully will find that the complaint called leprosy by the
Greeks was a superficial squamous disease, while elephan-
tiasis was that universally malignant disease which first
beginning from within worked outwardly; and, after the
system was more or less subjected to its power, then began
the external manifestations on the skin, in the form of sores
and scabs, and white patches and nodules, etc., etc.

Again, that leprosy during this period was limited to
Egypt only is remarkably confirmed by an almost un-
suspected historical coincidence, which is worthy of the
most careful consideration.

As Grote has shown, the Greeks borrowed little from
others, and gave abundantly from the self-creative genius of
their own independent mode of thinking and examining all
matters about which they wrote. But whence came they

Epidemics. 213

to use for a scaly and whitish eruption, of a somewhat
intractable, but by no means dangerous nature, the title of
leprosy, or lepra ? as leper zeber, or lepra zebra, are words,
no doubt, of ancient Coptic origin ; and whoever used these
names, lepra zebra, etc., identifies the people as being inti-
mate with an ancient race which, through every change of
dynasty, has retained its place as the poor bondsmen,
amongst whom one general complaint has adhered from
century to century through a long series of ages, and among
whom the original name has also retained its place ; and all
who have lived there long have become familiar with the
endemic antiquarian lepra, from contact with the old
Coptic or Egyptian race.

In the book of Maccabees — or, according to the Douay
version, Machabees (I. Machabees xii. I — 23) — we find an
account of the Jews under Jonathan writing both to the
Romans and the Spartans, the latter of whom they claim
as " their brethren." It is, therefore, evident that the
Lacedaemonians had in them Jewish blood, and both recog-
nized the other as brethren, which is here quoted in full for
the sake of confirmation : —

I. MACHABEES xn. i — 23 (DOUAY VERSION).

" Jonathan renews his league with the Romans and Lacede-
monians. The forces of Demetrius flee away from him*
He is deceived, and made prisoner by Tryphon.

i And Jonathan saw that the time served him, and he
chose certain men, and sent them to Rome, to confirm and
to renew the amity with them : 2 And he sent letters to the
Spartans, and to other places, according to the same form.
3 And they went to Rome, and entered into the senate-
house, and said : Jonathan, the high priest, and the nation
of the Jews, have sent us to renew the amity and alliance,
as it was before. 4 And they gave them letters to their
governors in every place, to conduct them into the land of
Juda with peace. 5 And this is a copy of the letters which
Jonathan wrote to the Spartans : 6 Jonathan, the high
priest, and the ancients of the nation, and the priests, and

214 Epidemics.

the rest of the people of the Jews, to the Spartans, their
brethren, greeting. 7 There were letters sent long ago to
Onias, the high priest, from Arius, who reigned then among
you, to signify that you are our brethren, as the copy here
underwritten doth specify. 8 And Onias received the
ambassador with honour : and received the letters wherein
there was mention made of the alliance and amity. 9 We,
though we needed none of these things, having for our
comfort the holy books that are in our hands, 10 Chose
rather to send to you to renew the brotherhood and friend-
ship, lest we should become strangers to you altogether :
for there is a long time passed since you sent to us. u We,
therefore, at all times without ceasing, both in our festivals,
and other days wherein it is convenient, remember you in
the sacrifices that we offer, and in our observances, as it is
meet and becoming to remember brethren. 12 And we
rejoice at your glory. 13 But we have had many troubles
and wars on every side ; and the kings that are round about
us have fought against us. 14 But we would not be trouble-
some to you, nor to the rest of our allies and friends, in
these wars. 15 For we have had help from heaven, and we
have been delivered, and our enemies are humbled. 16 We
have chosen, therefore, Numenius, the son of Antiochus, and
Antipater, the son of Jason, and have sent them to the
Romans, to renew with them the former amity and alliance.
17 And we have commanded them to go also to you, and to
salute you, and to deliver you our letters, concerning the
renewing of our brotherhood. 18 And now you shall do
well to give us an answer hereto. 19 And this is the copy
of the letter which he had sent to Onias : 20 Arius, king
of the Spartans, to Onias, the high priest, greeting. 21 It
is found in writing concerning the Spartans, and the Jews,
that they are brethren, and that they are of the stock of
Abraham. 22 And now, since this is come to our know-
ledge, you do well to write to us of your prosperity. 23
And we have also written back to you, That our cattle,
and our possessions, are yours : and yours, ours. We,
therefore, have commanded that these things should be
told you."

II. MACHABEES, xv. 38 — 40.

''38 So these things being done with relation to Nicanor,
and from that time the city being possessed by the Hebrews,
I also will here make an end of my narration. 39 Which
if I have done well, and as it becometh the history, it is

Epidemics. m 215

what I desired : but if not so perfectly, it must be pardoned
me. 40 For as it is hurtful to drink always wine, or always
water, but pleasant to use sometimes the one and sometimes
the other : so if the speech be always nicely framed, it will
not be grateful to the readers. But here it shall be ended."

There is some slight difference between the Douay and
the authorized version of the Books of Maccabees. It is
barely possible that the Apocrypha, being non-canonical
both with the Jews and the Protestants, and canonical with
the Catholics, that the latter sect have taken greater pains
with their translation, and their version has therefore received
a prior claim ; as in matters of pure history each other's
conceits may be quietly waived. The portion quoted in II.
Maccabees xv. 38 — 40 is given to meet the views of those
who disregard inspiration altogether, that they may see for
themselves that, whatever sects have made of the writer, he
himself had no conception of writing from inspiration, but
simply as a pleasing historian and author.

At what time they left Judaea is not given, but it was a
long time since they had had intercourse.

Probably it was in the days of the early kings of Israel,
when they frequently lapsed into open idolatry and followed
the customs of the surrounding heathen.

Ships from Sidon probably first removed them from
Palestine to Greece, or Sparta, where they lost their national
religion, and fell into the practices of those heathens
amongst whom they lived, and with whom they probably
intermarried, as a matter of duty and propriety — forgetting
altogether, or not heeding, the institutes of Moses, but not
forgetting the common diseases they had whilst in Egypt, and
which subsequently followed them to Palestine.

Granting the accuracy of the historian's account of the
nationality of the leading people of Sparta to be Jewish
(and the document has never been repudiated), it is natural
to suppose that, if a skin disease spread, and became scaly

216 Epidemics.

*L

and white, they would suspect it to be leprosy ; but that
disease, not being indigenous to Greece, nor yet having
spread by infection — there being no epidemic tendency to
aid its development in that part — no real malignant or fatal
leprosy would be found amongst them ; but a disease — which
in outward form put on several of the indications of the
Mosaic leprosy — got the title of leprosy which was simply
lepra vulgaris — a most troublesome disease of a very
superficial nature, and not having any fatal tendency.

But, when true leprosy came, it was unknown amongst
them ; its distinctness from lepra vulgaris, was readily
perceived, and a new or distinct nomenclature was adopted—
a disease with which they probably first became familiar
whilst Alexander the Great remained in Egypt; and though
called by the Egyptians lepra, they gave it at once, by a
wonderful practical gift, a totally distinct name, that the two
diseases, lepra viilgaris and, true leprosy, might never be con-
founded with each other. Hence the confusion of titles, for
one and the same disease, between the Greek and Arabic
writers. If then, leprosy, properly so called, had no
existence as a spreading disease out of Egypt from 750 B.C.
and onwards to 103, or 60 B.C., how are we to account for
its dying out so completely ; whilst in Palestine it was so
well known to the priesthood so late as 808 B.C., that its
rising upon the forehead, etc., of Uzziah, when sacrilegiously
entering upon the priest's functions, as a visitation from
God, they immediately thrust him out of the Temple ; and
until the day of his death he lived in a separate house to
himself? — the promptness of action at once indicating the
familiarity of the priests with leprosy at that time.

Taking as a convenient date 750 B.C., or thereabouts, it
appears that leprosy ceased to be a spreading disease, and
was unknown beyond its own endemic region, but other diseases
adverse to the spread and infection of leprosy prevailed through-

Epidemics. 217

out the world ; but by that peculiar modifying influence in
endemic eras, which appears occasionally to divert the
channel of disease into some new and intensifying order of
complaint of a transitionary character, when about midway
between the commencement and termination, in about the
year 430 B.C., from Ethiopia and Asia on to Greece,
disease of a spreading and infectious character — may-be
of a zooitic, or an animal nature — had probably engrafted
itself with latent germs of leprosy in an acute and highly
modified form, and known in history as the plague of
Athens. If so, leprosy was very genially mated to a
spreading and epidemic poison or scourge. And its
powers of flight arose from its newly-acquired alliance,
which quickened into active development a lethargic and
very chronic poison ; just as cross breeds for a season are
more prolific than pure, as the wild and domesticated cattle
of this country ; but, left to their own natural courses, they
lapse back into their respective primitive forms. And so,
when the epidemium of the era 750 to 103 was completed,
leprosy came out again under more genial auspices for its
own natural development and extension ; and in the next
era it spread to every country bordering the Mediterranean,
and made for itself a wider and better-established name, but
in a very materially modified form, to that known in the days
of Moses and Elisha.

The era from the Noachian flood to the Egyptian exodus
may be considered as the era of incubation or induction of
diseases generally, and might with propriety be called the
Chronographic era of human decay ; and from the Egyptian
exodus to the founding of Rome was the era of the settlement
of diseases, inherited from the great era of human decay.

From the settlement of diseases onward there have been,
in every new era, outbursts of diseases, undergoing many
shades of divergence, intensity, and differentiation in every

218 Epidemics.

imaginable form — fevers and agues taking the lead, as con-
stant pest-houses in every community ; next the eruptive
diseases, as measles, small-pox, and scarlatina, &c. ; and,
thirdly, plagues, or universal wide-spreading diseases, assum-
ing various forms and modes of manifestation, but always
at first of extensive range, and then peeping in at this city,
then spreading over that country; and in this town or village,
and keeping up a constant state of unsettledness in every
nation or city as to when it will be their turn next. The
Athenian plague, the Levant plague, the Black death, and
Cholera are those to which most attention has been directed
in modern times, and the small-pox and cholera because
they are present neighbours ; whilst of the Levant and
Athenian plagues it may be said that the Historian has
clothed them with the imperishable monument of a masterly
and comprehensively written description.

That one, the greatest of all, and which affected mankind
the most, was the Chronographic epidemium, about which we
can bring no contemporary history but that which is legendary
in confirmation of it ; the only distinctive testimony is that
which is written in the Bible. Hence it is called the epi-
demium of chronographic decay, and it is thus recorded
to us : —

Married, or
Lived Years. eldest son

born at
Arphaxad (born two years after the

Flood) 438 35

Selah 433 30

Eber 464 .. 34

Peleg 239 30

Reu — 239 32

Serug 230 30

Nahor 148 29

Terah 205 70

Epidemics . 219

Abraham v... 175 100

Isaac 180 60

Jacob 147 85

Levi 137 —

Kohath o —

Amram o —

Moses 120 —

During the first epidemium there do not appear to have
been any very extensive changes in the political or civil con-
ditions of man. Egypt at this time was the centre of art
and science, and probably the most intelligent and powerful
nation upon earth. Ancient Thebes and the Great Pyramid
bespeak a people far advanced in science, and of very
singular tastes ; their power of mummifying their dead is
not the least of those achievements which indicate a people
far advanced in civilization.

The succeeding age presents no very marked change in
the condition of mankind, innumerable petty warfares, and
free intercourse of nation with nation, without any special
accumulation of power and military skill in any one nation,
saving the Jews ; who, in the reign of David, rose to great
military pre-eminence, and in Solomon's reign to great com-
mercial and social importance. No kingdom was equal to
it for wealth, social rights, and security to person and pro-
perty ; but this is the one great empire that rose and decayed
during the epidemium from 1490 to 750 B.C. So far as
history is concerned, any dates prior to the Babylonish king-
dom or Nineveh appear to be next to valueless, saving those
arrived at through the record of the sacred text ; but as in
our day, as in all other days, when that Word was read and
known among the people, much contrast of opinion was held,
and still is, partly because of the necessary sequences that
must be drawn from a full acceptance of its contents, which
are of a kind not acceptable to the great mass of those who

22O Epidemics.

either hear it or read it ; and, again, because very few read
that Book straight through as they do other books, but, as
it were, in detached fragments and unconnected paragraphs,
especially at that time,*when the intellect is best fitted to
examine its worth and real merit, as from twenty to thirty
years of age. Hence, from these two causes, chiefly, the
Bible is rejected as a book of high authority by many
learned and able men, by which means our best authority
is very much laid on one side.

If, then, in recognizing a withering and blighting epi-
demium which cast its pall upon the entire family of man-
kind, and in 800 years, more or less, reduced the duration of
life from 400 years to 70 years of age, it is possible to dis-
cover that the past records of mankind leave us a trace of
this great change in relation to the duration of life, it will be
all-important — a change which, if true, must have destroyed
entire species of animals whose powers of endurance, through
many changes, is less persistent than those of man, chiefly
from man being a clothing animal, and capable, in a great
measure, of creating his own external circumstances.

Of this Chronographic Epidemium there are some few but
faint traces, but no great attempt will be made at proving
them, each person being savoured with a sufficient amount
of scepticism to allow his faith in old records to be but
little influenced by the general tenour which their real, or
supposed teaching may suggest, until we launch into the
pre-historic age of mankind ; when thoughts can add wings
to their wearied journey, and in a few short pages we can
contemplate mankind as huntsmen, worm-diggers, snail-
eaters, and general consumers of vermin and vegetables \
feeble, imbecile, incapable of much physical exertion, and
standing up to fight their own way in the midst of forests
teeming with wild beasts and creeping things, swamps and
jungles, and every vicissitude of weather ; and, last of all,

Epidemics. 221

instead of sinking into petrified organic remains, rising, like
" authors under difficulties," to be the lords of creation, or
chiel organic compounds, who, through selection, have
attained to a maximum of development.

But let us halt for a moment, and learn from true records.
Mrs. Marcet, in the "History of Astronomy," issued by the
Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge, has indicated
that India, China, the Chaldees, and Egyptians had attained
to a very correct knowledge of the yearly cycle of 365 days.
Without entering into the fractional details, or the difficulties
which beset a very correct determination of time, it may
be said that they had great ability to indicate the time of
eclipses. It must be said that, with their defective methods
of determination, without the aid of very long observations in
the same individual, from great defects in the powers of
expression of any abstruse calculation, the accumulation of
knowledge and experience, sufficient to gain a correct know-
ledge of the precise working of the time-piece of Nature,
is next to impossible, if not so altogether. But if one man,
or many men in different regions of the earth, having a
special aptitude for observations of this kind, lived over 150
years of real active life, man would during that time, in a
good Eastern country, not only with the instruments he
used to guide his observations, get very proficient, and, by
dint of observations often repeated, correct the errors of his
own instruments ; but also, by a long succession of obser-
vations, he would, from long experience, be capable of
rectifying and harmonizing defects of an early period, and
so be enabled to elicit great general facts, as guiding-posts
for future generations, in clear and intelligible language,
without a hundred and two formularies, to correct the defects
of differential elements which must necessarily creep in, but
which, by a powerful synthetical and analytical process, over
short periods of time, can now weigh in the balances,

222 Epidemics.

and the minus or plus be added or excluded, as certain
defects in the method of observation may require.

This, then, is one reason why, in those early nations, and
such nations as have suffered little from the change of
dynasty or masters, we find handed down to their posterity
very fair outlines of the data arrived at for calculating
eclipses, and of dividing time by the year and the month
in ancient astronomical records, and their posterity, from
shortness of life, not attaining to their wisdom.

That this may not appear absurd one further corollary
will be given, in the fact that in Egypt is the largest
building the world has seen, and probably considerably the
oldest. The means of acquiring correct data for calculating
eclipses, and the cycle of the year and the month, are given
in the proportions of the building itself, known as the Great
Pyramid ; where a correct proportional measurement of
the earth's diameter is found, the basis of our yard and inch
measure, and the key to all our astronomical measurements
is here preserved, as in an observatory exposed to every
storm, and every change of dynasty, for perhaps 4,000 years.

Mr. John Taylor and Professor Piazzi Smyth have
changed this meaningless mass of masonry into a speaking
monument, that displays the science of the ancients as a
diamond in a casket of gold.

With regard to Professor Smyth's view of its being built
by masons divinely inspired, and so over-riding all diffi-
culties, there is a very important objection, which is the
more unwillingly given, because it is evident that the learned
professor in his work* desires to honour God by ascribing
inspiration to the builders. To give the matter shortly,
the grand residuum of all is that our inch measure is in-
herited from and preserved in the proportions of the Great

* " Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid," by Professor C. Piazzi
Smyth, F.R.S.S.L.E., London, 1864.

Epidemics. 223

Pyramid. Its basis of numeration is five and twenty-five
inches, which latter appears to have been the common
standard of measurement. This standard, when reduced to
i-25th, gives us the inch as a unit, which is 5OO,ooo,oooth
part of the earth's diameter. In the beautiful fitting or
jointing of one stone against another, the Pyramid, like
the Jews maintain for Solomon's Temple, is air-tight, or
nearly so, tissue paper being too thick to pass between
the seams of the joints or fittings of stone against stone in
this wonderful Pyramid.

To be as brief as possible, the Jews, who were long in
Egypt, did not bring with them the unit or inch measure,
and then the foot or two feet. They brought with them
no pyramidical proportion whatever, but merely a con-
venient system for a set of rustics, who understood pasturage
and, in a measure, agriculture, and not science and fine arts.
The finger, the hand, the span, and the fore-arm, to the
tips of the fingers, were the natural standard, and for most
purposes were admirable ready reckoners, for they were
always at hand. When more civilized, they got these ready
reckoners more fixed and uniform as standards, as must
necessarily be the case as they became more settled, and,
in many respects, much more mechanical and artistic in
their works and requirements as occupants of a conquered
country. When settled, the cubit was fixed at twenty-one
inches and two-thirds, or more. The old astronomer Greaves,
in 1639, being the one whose inquiries in the East upon
the cubit and the hand-breadth are now usually quoted,
gives the cubit as 21.888, and the hand-breadth as 3.640 ;
adding these two together we get Ezekiel's cubit, for which
read Ezekiel xl. 5, and xliii. 13.

At the time Ezekiel gave his measurements of the Temple,
usually called Ezekiel's Temple, he was, and had been, for
many years a captive in Babylon. It is singular to observe

224 Epidemics.

that, in giving measurements for his new Temple, the
standard of measurement is altered to nearly the pyramidical
standard of 25, or rather 25 J inches; and it is not im-
probable, when greater care has been bestowed upon these
measurements, the real standard of the cubic and hand-
breadth will give us exactly 25 inches.

From observing the nearer approximation to the pyra-
midical standard in Ezekiel's cubit to the old standard
cubit, it is inferred that whilst a captive in Chaldea he had
found a more fixed and precise standard used by the itine-
rant Masons, who carried on the most important works
in those days, requiring the skill alike of the mason, the
smith, and the carpenter. These would be the same order
of men of whom Hiram of Tyre was chief at the time of the
building of Solomon's Temple. This cubit or measurement
Ezekiel was divinely taught to use in giving the measure-
ments of his new Temple — a measure which was probably
the standard when Hiram quarried, and sent to Jerusalem,
ready dressed and proportioned, all the stones which, fitted
together, made a perfect whole, without the sound of chisel
or hammer, and without the need of trowel and plaster or
cement, as was the case in the building of Solomon's Temple.

Hence, though the builders of the Great Pyramid are not
believed to have been divinely inspired to make a standard
of weight, nor for the central coffer a standard of measure,
yet it is recognized as that standard which was divinely
approved of in the Temple measurements given by Ezekiel.

But this standard, it is inferred, was known and in use in
Babylon as much as it had been in Egypt in remote ages.

And how are we to explain it ? Simply that the long,
careful, and assiduous attention given to the movements of
the heavenly bodies, but, above all, to the action of the sun's
rays during the axoidal or diurnal motion of the earth, led
to certain and precise notions as to the length of the earth's

Epidemics. 225

axis, and to the circumference of the earth's orb at any par-
ticular spot from whence it might be taken.

A rod, or two rods of unequal length, but of very exact pro-
portions, and placed at suitable distances from each other,
upon a flat, wide, and smooth pavement, and carefully
marked year by year and day by day, would in time give all
the essential elements whereby the length of each particular
day could be ascertained ; but it would be a work of enor-
mous labour, and would require many years to rectify and
re-rectify slight errors, and a very retentive' memory, in
addition to a very large amount of notes of daily measure-
ments, and these tried and re-tried year by year till all was
reduced to the greatest point of correctness.

Moreover, to train another as a magus in all the details
of his art, and to obtain a perfect mastery of its practice,
would require many years of experience before he became an
expert; but when an expert, his predictions and calculations
would be viewed as from the gods.

For in those days goodness and kindness were not deemed
as godlike, but concealed wisdom, and inexplicable announce-
ments and heroic deeds of daring, which were only seen in
the dark, were those which raised a man to the estimation of
being in contact with divinity. Such men, being at the beck
and wink of the king, enabled him to appear before his
people as a half deity and some one superhuman, who treated
the poorer members of his nation as beasts of burden and as
slaves. It is only under such considerations, and having as a
king such wealthy men as the kings of ancient Thebes or No,
that it is conceivable that the most accomplished masons the
world ever saw, possessed of geometrical science, and of instru-
ments of the most perfect constructions, would ever attempt
so stupendous a work as the Great Pyramid; and nothing less
than the King's Royal Command would secure its erection, ac-
companied with instructions to found a building which should

15

226 Epidemics.

not suffer the skill and science of the magi to die out before
successors could suitably take their place. " Seeing that life
was becoming so much shorter, and the time allotted for acquiring
precise knowledge, from long experience, was getting too curtailed to
allow of experts becoming thoroughly finished astrologers and wise
diviners, therefore the masons received the order to build us
a temple of Time, and a place for a standard of measure and
weight, that our successors be not robbed of their revenue,
which is paid by both these standards ; which done, our best
deed for our posterity will be completed." Such is supposed
to be the spirit of the instructions to the Masons of " The
Great Pyramid," which is left as a monument of a long-
lived age ; but, through the onward curtailing of days,
it never served the purpose for which it was designed,
as a perfect and beautiful sun-dial of great use to the
State, and of daily study for the magi ; it has only re-
mained as an idle monument of human decay, to speak in
these latter days of the times and doings of a bygone
epidemic period, which has given us but this one amazing
monument of the learning and comprehensiveness of
those who lived in an age of great longevity,* which,

*' The Great Pyramid was built as an imperishable monument to an-
ticipate and preserve the labours of experts in science from being lost
by the rapid decline of human longevity is manifest from its site, where
rain rarely falls ; its entire want of architectural beauty ; its singular
construction for the equal distribution of weight ; its perfect uselessness
as a dwelling-place ; the intricacy of the way to its central chamber
affording secresy ; its marvellous adaptation to preserve a standard
of weight by securing water undisturbed from external sources, and of a
fixed temperature ; its dry measure being of imperishable stone, and
the chamber itself of those dimensions which give as a standard of
measure the earth's diameter reducible to the inch. Secresy is one
important matter in the whole, and is certainly the best kept by trans-
mission to a limited number, from generation to generation, as among
the Hindoos ; but where decay of life is so rapid, such transmission in
the Chronographic Epidemic was impossible, as father and son and
Preceptor would all die old men about one and the same time. Hence
the need of an imperishable Temple to Science, but was in its day pro-
bably called a "Temple to Time."

Epidemics. 227

though recorded in stone, is only plainly written in the
Bible.

To 'many not accustomed to enter into the views and
sympathies with which scientific men embrace certain
leading points of great interest, the idea of building a large
structure to preserve intact their own long-laboured-for
conclusions will appear most absurd, and a perfectly useless
outlay of money; and many would almost count Rulers
half-witted who would lend themselves to such absurd notions
when the whole might be done upon parchment with indelible
ink, and, in a scroll, be preserved air-tight for ages, in
a much more manageable and useful form. But in so
measuring the weight and importance of leading scientific
research, let us read the words of one of our most ac-
complished and able scientific writers in 1831, who lived
years after to write in Good Words the importance he attached
to the inch measure as a unit, as recently suggested by the
writings of Mr. John Taylor : —

" But it is not enough to possess a standard of this
abstract kind ; a real material measure must be constructed,
and exact copies taken. This, however, is not very difficult;
the great difficulty is to preserve it unaltered from age to
age ; for unless we transmit to posterity the units of our
measurements, such as we have ourselves used them, we,
in fact, only half bequeath to them our observations. This
is the point too much lost sight of, and it were much to be
wished that some direct provision for so important an object
were made.

" Accurate and perfectly authentic copies of the yard and
pound, executed in platina, and hermetically sealed in glass,
should be deposited deep in the interior of the massive
stonework of some great public building, whence they could
only be rescued with a degree of difficulty sufficient to
preclude their being disturbed, unless upon some very high

15—2

228 Epidemics.

and urgent occasion. The fact should be publicly recorded,
and its memory preserved by an inscription ; indeed, how
much valuable and useful information of the actual existing
state of arts and knowledge at any period might be trans-
mitted to posterity in a distinct, tangible, and imperishable
form, if, instead of the absurd and useless deposition of a
few coins and medals under the foundations of buildings,
specimens of ingenious implements, or condensed statements
of scientific truths, or processes in arts and manufactures,
were substituted. Will books infallibly preserve to a remote
posterity all that we may desire should be hereafter known
of ourselves and our discoveries, or all that posterity would
wish to know ? and may not a useless ceremony be thus
transformed into an act of enrolment in a perpetual archive
of what we most prize, and acknowledge to be most
valuable ? "*

Save in the point of publicity, what a commentary is the
Great Pyramid upon the words and clear-sightedness of one
of the greatest of modern philosophers ! who lived to see the
verification,, in recent discovery, of the importance of
material measures transmitted to posterity in an imperishable
form.

From the foregoing examination of epidemics, it will be
perceived that a general idea of epochs is suggested ; and
also, since about the year 100 or 103 B.C., the general
epidemic epoch has been about 640 years, and from 200 to
400 years from the beginning of such epoch there is a
tendency for poisons, distinct in their specific actions upon
animal, and more especially human life, to lose some of
their sharp defining pathological effects, and to blend and to
cross, as hybrids, with each other, and so produce a very

* Lardner's " Cabinet Cyclopaedia," 1831. " The Study of Natural
Philosophy," by J. F. W. Herschel, Esq., M.A. ; from page 128 and
note. Longman & Co., Publishers.

Epidemics. 229

modified change in their modus operandi, as distinct and
specific in their action as poisons, either in more intense
and generally destructive powers, as in the case of the
Black death ; or of a more chronic and milder, yet equally
prevading form, as in syphilis, or blended Levant plague
with leprosy. If these views are correct, it is not going too
far to say that since 1817, when we entered upon a new
epidemic era, the blending of the two diseases will slowly
but inevitably assume some new or modified form of manifes-
tation, or run slowly into one or the other, as hybrids under
new circumstances will do, but both, under a new era, in a
considerably modified form, to that belonging to their own
indigenous epidemic eras.*

From 103 B.C. to 2347 B.C. is a period of 2,244 years, or
thereabouts, and in this period is embraced the Chrono-
graphic epidemic period of about 800 years duration or more ;
after which period the induction, or great variety, of diseases
to which mankind is subjected took their present essentially
destructive outlines and demarcations ; which, as ages have
gone on, have had a tendency to gradually differentiate, and
sufficiently so to demand distinct descriptions and forms of
recognition, properly arranged under some general class or
order of diseases, as are supplied in Nosological systems.

Then, from 1491 to 746, or 750 in round numbers, is a
period of 741 years. This is considered the period of the
settlement of diseases, or that period in which the constant
induction of new forms of disease became less frequent, and
existing diseases repeated themselves, upon the whole, with
greater uniformity and constancy than in the preceding
epoch.

And finally, from 750 to 103 B.C., which embraces a period
of 647 years, we begin to enter upon the era of more

* It may be well to mention that this portion was written some years
ago.

230 Epidemics.

ordinary and regularly repeating epidemic eras of about
640 years duration ; from which time epidemics of a
specific character took wings to themselves, and appear to
have ranged in some one particular form, or type of disease,
over large and extended areas of country ; and, during their
prevalence in any one locality, to have kept in check and
absorbed into themselves the chief mortality to which, at
that specific time, human beings and cattle, etc., were
subject.

CONCERNING THE POISON OF EPIDEMICS.

With all our improved pathology, during the last sixty
years, including Baillie, Rotetansky, Williams, Virchow,
H. Jones, J. W. Ogle, Lionel Beale, S. Wilks, and a
host of contemporary writers, there still appears to
be a sad want of a wider view of the active moving
agency in the form of infection, when such exists, in
promoting the spread of epidemics. For the spread of
cholera, Sir H. Holland gave us his insect theory, and now
most stand by a fungiferous theory, for its active poisonous
effects on the human system. This appears to be a great
advance in our etiology of epidemics ; and probably the
theory of fungi imbibing decaying animal matter, and
growing and multiplying rapidly, whilst such material can
be obtained in a semi-humid, or liquid condition, especially
from contaminated water and moist air arising from sewers,
etc., gives a very accurate idea of the leading element of loca-
lizing disease, when the epidemic condition is present; but
only when that condition is present, which no doubt gives
an aptitude in certain kinds of fungi to assimilate, after a
particular manner, decaying animal matter in such way as
renders them poisonous to the human^ frame; and, when
fungi have entered into the human blood, of their acting as a
catalyctic, and disposing the blood to undergo rapid and

Epidemics. 231

great changes in a short time. If small in quantity, then the
change is much slighter ; and if fresh and active, and in
large. quantity, then it is necessarily fatal — first acting upon
the heart, and then upon the lungs ; suspending in part the
functions of both those organs, whilst rapid enteric, and
probably also gastric desquamation, allows the rapid
filtering through of the more serous part of the blood. But,
if this filtration can be checked within given limits, and the
vitality of the blood is not entirely over-balanced, the
ability of the blood to readjust the disorganization by a
converse catalytic power, which resides in so much blood as
is still unchanged by the morbid action of the poisonous
fungi within it — then restoration to integrity in the blood is
rendered easier and more certain, and resumption of the
normal functions of all parts of the body, including the
brain, kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, and muscles, etc., is
rendered more uniform, and of much shorter duration, and
therefore much safer to the patient, than if left too viscid
by over-draining.

But, it is probable that agues of various kinds have a
fungiferous origin, as well as cholera ; and, almost to speak
metaphorically, cholera is the prince of agues, and is by far
the most acute and the most fatal, as well as in our own
days the most wide-spread ague the world has ever seen;
though cholera is of endemic origin in India, and of very
great antiquity, as it is referred to in the Vedant, yet
perhaps not as old as Brahminism itself. For the Divine
Books, or the Vedas, were probably not completed till the
early part of the Christian era, and of course the Vedant
somewhat later. If such really be the case, the antiquity of
cholera, so far as written evidence is concerned, will
scarcely be so old as some would claim it to be, and its
extension beyond the Indian continent not quite so long
delayed as some writers suppose, though it has often

232 Epidemics.

appeared south of India in the isles of the Indian Ocean
before 1817, but not north of the Himalayan range.

But, in addition to fungi, is it not possible to suppose an
animal sarcode as perfect and yet as simple in structure as
the fungi (bearing in mind in all animal growth the
tripartite element), and capable of transportation, as a light
and almost impalpable dust, from person to person, as much
as we imagine that fungi are, as evidenced in certain skin
diseases which are propagated by close contact or actual
touch, and much easier of conveyance than the ponderous
acari, on the animal side, propagating their brood of ova, to be
kindly housed in the next neighbour's hand, who by gentle
contact is sufficiently felicitous to be honoured with their
presence ?

Such an assumption would, in many respects, assist in
explaining the singular and regular successional changes
through which many of the zymotic diseases pass, as
scarlatina, variola, rubeola, and typhus, etc. And may
not typhus fever be counted but a mere variety of typhoid,
and many of the miliary and spotted fevers of old authors,
by accepting, in a wide and comprehensive sense, the notion
of an independent existence in the materia morbi of
infection, beyond the limit of its first and endemic origin,
by admitting in epidemic periods something akin to
the phenomena of Parthogenesis, so well established by
Steenstrup and Owen, etc. ; whereby it would be shown
that certain epidemic conditions gave to existing zooitic
fungi or animal fungi — if the term can be allowed — new and
independent powers of increase and extension, which, with
the subsidence of the epidemic, lapsed back to their former
endemic slums and rookeries ? Then we should get over
many outstanding difficulties in the way of the rise and
spread of infection.

Such an assumption has often a appeared as almost an

Epidemics. 233

essential in accounting for some of our zymotic diseases.
But for cancers, consumption, etc., it is not essential as a
primary starting-point that we admit an ascending scale of
cell development ; but the degradation of a higher cell
development to some lower and yet more independent
condition of cell development, which, from undergoing the
transformation into a lower form, or degradation of develop-
ment, especially in cancer, is more persistent in its increase
of growth.

The very nature of this rapid outline, or sketchy allusion
to many important matters, necessarily excludes the idea of
a lengthened examination, or attempted defence, of subjects
so replete with interest, and yet so obscure in tracing the
data and groundwork of the assumption so concisely given ;
but the suggestion must be allowed to suffice for the
present.

Concerning the present epidemic epoch, from 1817 to
2457, or thereabouts, it will be said that, calculating from
the past, much might be suggested for the future ; but
there is an old saying, " Least said the soonest mended,'*
therefore as little will be said as possible, consistent
with a very patient review of the leading facts, or
at least a very fair share of them, the chief source of
which knowledge has come from reading the present
literature of the day, of which none is more admirable for
so complete an index to disease as that supplied to us
through our weekly, monthly, and quarterly medical
periodicals. Here and there some author stands boldly out
to claim a passing consideration who appears, in a measure,
more prominent and bewitching in his style, or more terse
and comprehensive in his matter, than perhaps the current
periodical literature of the day can lay claim to ; yet even
here much has first gained its way to the public by appear-
ing in periodical literature. Perhaps such authors as

234 Epidemics.

Trousseau, Paget, Greaves, Marshall Hall, Prout,
Abercrombie, and Liebig may be instanced as a few out of
many from which all branches of medicine have received an
impulse and a kind of tincture and bias, either from the
facts they have brought out in a prominent manner, or from
the methods they have pursued in arriving at the conclusions
they have enunciated to the world.

Added to these is that undefinable something which
personal observation acquires, or sifts and analyses, which
no amount of reading and study can ever supply or engrave
upon the mind with half the strength, or with equal
accuracy and due appreciation of the real and doubtful from
the decidedly fictitious. Therefore, taking all matters into
consideration, it is contended that gradually from 1823 on
to 1833 blood-letting was gently on the wane, from which
time, by Marshall Hall's work upon blood-letting, it got a
first decisive check ; from thence till 1841 it got a more
decided check, chiefly from fevers sustaining blood-letting
less and less. Cases which appeared to do well at the first
from the bleeding, as they advanced towards their end (third
week), manifested such exhausted powers of life, that fatality
was decidedly greater in typhoid and typhus fever in those
who were bled than those not bled. From this time
onwards bleeding was gradually falling into disgrace, and
after 1854 it may be said that it was, as a universal and
beneficial remedy, thoroughly condemned ; from thence and
onwards in Great Britain it is only occasionally resorted to,
and under circumstances of very mature consideration, with
the greatest regard to the quantity to be withdrawn at the
time.

On the Continent, especially the south of France, Italy,
and Spain, blood-letting is still much practised ; but the
leaning to frequent neuralgia, and general proneness to
disease and local inflammation in those who have been

Epidemics. 235

heavily bled, is now awakening a growing anxiety for the
future well-being of those who have suffered from heavy
depletions.

'What does this teach? Not a new theory about blood-
letting altogether, but something of a wider and far more
general character. The general teaching of facts on a very
large scale tends to the inference that the heart is, in some
way or other, that organ of the body which, taken all in all,
is the one which is more below par in power and function in
the present epidemic period than that of any other organ in
particular.

Many have long suggested that heart diseases are be-
coming much more frequent than in former times ; but as
to actual organic diseases it is very doubtful if such is really
the case.

Perhaps dilatation is getting more frequent, especially of
the right side ; but for London especially it may be said
that the hurried rushing to railway stations, and the sudden
cessation of all muscular motion the moment after arrival,
has no inconsiderable amount of sin at its door, which will
account for one form of heart affection. So likewise the
increased leaning in London and many of our large towns to
build very high has a similar tendency, and is most felt
among certain classes of servants and lodgers.

But our railways, our boat and pedestrian racing, our
stupid Alpine displays of courage and folly, have really
nothing to do with the stamp of an epidemic bias. Such
incidents would have an injurious effect in the long run in
any epidemic epoch, no matter what particular bias that
might take. Such incidents might be called accidental
endemic acts, inseparable from the circumstances under
which any community may chance to be living, and partake
of a mechanical bias rather than a vital or morbific state.

Again, heart diseases appear to be more frequent by,

236 Epidemics.

perhaps, ten to one than they were formerly, because
formerly they were known by their remote effects, especially
upon the pulse and by dropsy ; but now, long before a
patient can have the most remote idea of any ailment at the
heart, hardening and thickening of the valves, and old
adhesions of the pericardium, can be detected by the mere
motion and impulse of the heart ; regurgitation and un-
rhythmical action, when only slight, can be frequently
detected long before the pulse gives a faithful index, unless
it be by the symphograph ; much more pericarditis,
effusion, endocarditis, and many other affections of a
grosser or more apparent character can be made amenable
to the several indications which careful auscultation, and,
with regard to site and size, percussion supply. Hence,
from the mere fact of increased diagnostic powers,
occasional diseases of a very fatal character in a specific
organ are remoulded into a great number of slight, and, in
many instances, very manageable diseases, and into a few
that are very serious, and often necessarily fatal diseases of
the heart.

But what is here maintained is, that we have no direct
proof of the greater tendency to disease of an organic
character in the heart ; but that, taken upon the whole, the
heart, as a central organ of the body, has less power to
propel the blood throughout the body than formerly; that
the hard wiry pulse, so often found in brain affections and
serous inflammations, is now scarcely ever known or felt ;
likewise the hard, wiry, and almost incompressible pulse is
to the present, or rather rising generation, a perfect myth.
The frequency of serous and congestive apoplexy is now
common, and not the exceptional apoplexy; whilst apoplexy
from extravasation is not so frequent as formerly. The
firm, organizable, and tough or friable lymph in serous
inflammations is now rarely seen ; it is altogether more

Epidemics. 237

plastic, soft, and yielding than that of former times. Also
our large ovarian operations, and large incisions for different
objects through the abdominal walls, are less prone to run
into intense serous inflammation. The same was long
recognized among the nations of India, and the negro
populations in the West, who bore abdominal incisions and
recovered, when we rarely ever knew of an instance of the
kind. Hey, in his " Surgical Observations," gives one
instance of recovery in a woman after violent laceration.
In fact, our entire constitutional bias is more Asiatic and
African than it was ; we bear large and capital operations
much better, and if we are not well fed and sustained, we
sink and die off under them much more quickly than
formerly.

Plastic operations, conservative surgery (anticipated, in a
measure, by Gooch and Hey), mechanical means for arresting
haemorrhage, as by accupressure, ligature by cat-gut, and
silver wire ; compression in aneurism, and a host of other
improvements, justly claim our admiration as so many
advances in modern surgery — a science which in its palliative
and curative effects has far outstripped medicine ; and in
nothing has the gratitude of mankind to look back upon
with more unfeigned thanks than to its last two master
strides, anaesthesia and antiseptic appliances. Yet, with all
these improvements, the tolerance of the human constitution
to bear great operations, especially those which interfere
with serous membranes, has run remarkably parallel with the
decrease of tolerance to the bearing of blood-letting; and the
proneness to less violent and throbbing sthenic inflammation,
well described and illustrated by such authors as Alison and
Cooper ; whilst it is to be borne in mind that many of our
leading improvements in surgery anticipated ether and
chloroform, or carbolic acid and permanganate of potash,
and antiseptics generally.

238 Epidemics.

Such men as Abernethy, Sir A. Cooper, Dupuytren, Larey,
Lisfranc, Hennen, Mott, and Warren are men of a past
generation, who were as daring and skilful in surgery, with
many brilliant cotemporaries, as the world ever saw ; but
these men would have shrunk to do what we now do with
perfect success, not for want of skill or judgment, but from
that wholesome dread which experience gave them of the
extreme proneness which serous membranes had in their
time, from very slight injuries, to run into violent and fatal
inflammation.

Perhaps some will say, Did they know the right use of
brandy and stimulants? Query : Do we know it ourselves ?
Do not cases do much better with malt liquors and wines,
than with the newly acquired property which alcohol gets
by being isolated by the heat applied to the Still ; whereby
is gendered a craving for the like to be repeated, immediately
upon recovery from a debauch and sickness from its presence
the night before ? This appears to be contrary to nature,
and certainly our ordinary malt liquors do not usually create
such an unnatural craving, and are much safer and more sus-
taining— and, above all, our numerous kinds of wines— than
distilled liquors, however little or much diluted.

The great increase in the use of ferruginous medicines,
either artificially prepared, or supplied at some one of
Nature's numerous springs, tends greatly to show how much
attention is given to languid action of the heart ; an action,
also, almost invariably present where there is much
neuralgia, however much the venous system locally, in the
neighbourhood of neuralgia, may be heated and congested
by plus of blood to the affected part.

If, upon the whole, the force or power of the heart is
lower now than fifty years ago, what ought the natural
difference in the type of disease to be ? This is a hard and

Epidemics. 239

comprehensive question, but surely it deserves a passing
consideration. Suppose it be assumed that 22 parts of
blood represent the given quantity of blood flowing through
the system, and to the arteries be allotted 6 parts, to the
veins 7 parts, and to the capillaries 9 parts, which together
will make 22 parts ? (The quantities here given are purely
hypothetical.)

The capillary system is here represented as containing
more than either the venous or arterial systems ; that it of
course delivers its blood to the veins at a slower rate of
velocity than that belonging to the arteries ; but the veins,
having a larger capacity for blood than the arteries, the
discrepancy of velocity in the veins is compensated by their
greater cubic contents, giving to the right side of the heart
an amount equal to that injected into the arterial system
by the left side of the heart. But the most difficult system to
understand is the capillary system, a system which appears to
have some motor power plus that of the heart, and, in a
measure, independent of it ; nevertheless, as a whole, it acts
synchronously with the blood propulsion delivered to it by
the action of the heart. Moreover, the momentum with
which it receives blood from the heart invariably regulates
the momentum of the circulation running through its own
finely spread net-work of tubing; but, inasmuch as the
blood travels through a larger cubic space in the capillaries
than in the arteries, as well as its being checked by increased
friction, the momentum offeree with which it enters the veins
must be considerably diminished. But put the matter in
another light, and then a clearer aspect will be obtained. Let
the time or velocity be the same, and the size of the bodies
the same, in which two hearts are placed. One heart shall use
force in one hour equal to move loolbs., and the other force in
the same time equal to move 8olbs., the weight being divided

240 Epidemics.

into fractional parts for given seconds of time ; yet, howsoever
it is divided, if the result be the difference of i-5th in one
hour, what effect will this have upon a system whose cubic
contents is greater than that of either the arteries or the
veins, and upon a system which, acting synchronously with
its supply of blood from the heart, yet in itself has a certain
vis vita of its own of a motor nature ? The lesser force
will leave the blood to be more dependent for the due and
systematic delivery of each fresh amount, at each impulse of
the heart, upon its own vis vita ; and if through cold,
excessive heat, or any depressing agency in any part, that
vis vita is lowered, then the amount of blood will pass tardily
into the veins, and its tardy delivery will be chiefly dependent
upon the action of the heart, or the impetus with which it
arrives at the capillaries from the heart — the natural result of
which will be a partial and unequally distributed clearance
of the capillaries, and increased dilatation and retardation of
blood in them, with much local congestion, but of a passive
character, with serous rather than fibrous exudations, and,
in many instances, a chronic condition of congestion, from
blood in its own vessels remaining fluid for long, and there
being every now and then an effort in the capillary vis vita
to expel its present contents ; but, being in a chronic state of
dilatation, the emptied vessels will be quickly refilled, and
kept distended; whilst, if the power of the heart is more
complete, and congestion does occur, it is not from want of
power in the capillaries to complete the task laid upon them,
for the heart itself, more or less, makes sure of this, if the
tubing is left uncontracted. But it is quite possible, under
greater force from the heart, if anything occurs to upset or
lower the integrity of any particular part, that then the
capillaries, by over friction, become irritated, and contract
too much, or their contraction lasts too long, so that arterial
blood flows too freely to the contracted tubes, and a

Epidemics. 241

species of acute congestion and morbid nutrition sets in,
which altogether, interferes with the local integrity of the
part, and gives us all the results known as acute inflammation,
with certain alteration of structure in the part affected.

Now, it is to the former condition of passive congestion,
without much alteration of structure, saving in capillary
dilatation, that attention is chiefly directed.

It is, then, this state, that in our day exists so long without
running into all the sequelae of true inflammation, that is
so often witnessed, and in no organ so frequently as that of
the lungs, in which, through sounds, the various changes
can be traced from month to month and day to day if re-
quired.

Let brief mention be here made of chronic congestion of
the lungs, so common since 1849, and which is so frequently
confounded with consolidation of the lungs from pneumonia,
and with extensive tubercular deposit ; and which, under
change of air, to the delight of the physician, and sometimes
to his great astonishment, and to the advantage of the
patient, frequently ends in most perfect recovery, especially
if, for two or three years in succession, a change of air for
two months is insisted upon, for fear, through sameness of
atmosphere and duties, the system should become enfeebled,
and as a result a relapse should occur.

Upon the whole, this affection does not appear to have
obtained that share of careful attention which its importance
appears to deserve.* It is very common, but mostly ends
in phthisiss pulmonalis, or a very lingering type of pleuro-
pneumonia. The indications of the latter rarely set in
before six to twelve months have passed over, and the fatal

* Since this was first written great attention has been paid to chronic
pneumonia, and different forms of consolidation of the lungs, beside that
of tuberculosis pure and simple ; but it will do no harm to record
matters as they have presented themselves in the order of personal
observation.

16

242 Epidemics.

end may be deferred for three or six months longer ; some
cases are even still more prolonged.

A patient comes, say, a young man of twenty-five years of
age. He is not himself — fancies he is thinner; keeps at
his daily occupation as usual, but gets very tired by night,
is fresh again after a night's rest, and goes through
morning duty pretty well, but flags much towards evening.
The appetite is fair, but the relish for food is less than
usual ; he smokes, but thinks it scarcely suits him. Here
his troubles end, save, perhaps, he has some indigestion, and,
may be, some palpitation, with slight dilatation of the right
ventricle ; and if very great nicety be used, though the right
auricle is naturally possessed of the greatest share of irri-
tability pertaining to the several cavities or sections of the
heart, yet it will be found, after careful examination, that it
is irritable in excess over its natural standard.

The upper part of both lungs antero-posteriorly are care-
fully examined, and the pseudo-complaining patient passes
muster, the respiration being perfectly natural, both in
regard to the character of the respiration and time ; the
pulse is 65 to 75, rarely below the first or above the latter,
unless nervous under examination.

Quinine, iron, alkalines, and vegetable bitters, or some
agent to act upon the liver, with instructions to avoid fatigue
and cold, amount to the whole that is done. In London
patients go and see some new face about once a month,
if they fancy they are no better. So, after being seen
once or twice, fresh medical advice is sought; the same
category is gone through, saving that the patient is most
particular to mention that every morning dark phlegm is ex-
pectorated. After it has been dislodged the cough ceases,
and scarcely ever returns during the day.

Occasionally an idea is entertained that there is a deficit
in the quantity of urine, which is really the case in rare

Epidemics. 245

instances ; it is very rarely albuminous, and if so it is transient
and small in quantity, but enough to be able to say it is
decidedly appreciable to other eyes than the initiated.
Being annoyed at the ill-success and progressive weakness,
and slight but continued wasting, the patient returns to his
old medical adviser ; fortunately he has taken a recent cold,,
and much mucous rale and bronchial roughness is perceived
in the upper part of the chest, but the expectoration is frothy
and not very tenacious.

He gets better, and now he has been trying one and
another for six months ; his bronchitis is ended, but he
evidently continues wasting, and assures his medical
attendant that he brings up more phlegm than ever, and
every morning he fancies he will be choked from the diffi-
culty of its rising ; and for the first time complains of the
soreness of his sides, but usually the right side most; for this
congestion is far more frequent in the right than the left
lung. The patient is now examined towards the base of the
lungs on the sides, behind, and anteriorly. As a rule,
the side and anterior portion of the lower half of the lung is
affected ; and now there is a noisy, crackling crepitation
over the affected part, but for the extent of surface no great
amount of fever or heat exists generally, unless there is a
very irritable heart, when there is usually more fever than
with a quiet heart. The expectoration is not rusty nor
streaked with blood, but it is becoming more finely frothy
and tenacious. Soon suspicious signs of dulness in one or
both lungs appear in the upper part, and it is not long before
patches — one, two, or more — are found, where the respiration
is not quite equal, rather more noisy, and yet no true
crepitation nor mucous rale. It is the sound of air running
over hard and non-elastic surfaces ; tubercle is rapidly
depositing, and in a few months it runs through softening

1 6 — 2

244 Epidemics.

and elimination, leaving one or more vomicse to mark the
presence of common consumption.

During this time the lower half of the lung appears
frequently to improve, only to take upon it a new phase,
and before the fatal result tubercle and vomicse have found
a place in the lower half of the first affected lung.

If tubercle does not appear, the chronic congestion appears
to gradually extend upward ; constant, slight, and, now and
then, sharp pleuritic pains are felt ; and the continuous dull
surface, with distant crepitation, announces the presence of
pleuritic effusion, and with it the constant desire of the
patient to be raised in bed.

Neither does the evil end here, for mostly the left lung
becomes involved in the same congestion, and, in rare cases,
there is effusion into the pericardium, but rarely announced
by distinct pericarditis ; there is a dull, slow, and oppressed
movement of the heart for perhaps a fortnight to a month
before it appears, and a tendency to faint from any exertion,
but the heart remains of natural size and rhythmical ; at
times a case will present itself without any valvular affec-
tion, and yet be very unrhythmical. The effusion shows
itself by increased difficulty of breathing, a feebler pulse
and beat of the heart, and a most distinctly-wider surface
over which the palpations of the heart can be felt, which
percussion more precisely defines. Dropsy, of course, in
such cases, ushers in the last phase of this disease.

It is deserving of the most careful consideration that in
the earlier stages of congestion, strange as it may appear,
percussion gives an amount of resonance totally unaccount-
able ; but in two months later no complaint upon this head
can be made, as it is dull enough.

How, then, is it recognized at all ? It is rather singular.
Upon examining the lungs from above downwards, the
intensity of the sound by auscultation gradually diminishes

Epidemics. 245

as the base is reached — indeed, before it is reached it is, in a
healthy state, almost inaudible ; but in these cases of chronic
congestion the graduation stops suddenly, usually below the
the fifth or sixth rib, and is reduced to a fine, thin, soft, and
equal breeze, neither distinctly murmur nor distinctly
bronchial, but soft, equal, and finely breezy, and from this
point it rapidly gets less and less distinct. This is the
beginning of chronic congestion.

When it is non-resonant under percussion, and no sound
can be elicited by auscultation, how then is it to be dis-
tinguished from pure pneumonia, or consolidation from an
old attack of broncho — or pleuro-pneumonia, or from
syphilitic infiltration, which may in rare cases begin at the
lower half, though this is not usual ? This is a point of
great difficulty at first sight ; but there is a very simple
method, which can be given in few words.

A given portion of lung is apparently perfectly solid.
Auscultation gives no sound — percussion gives a dull heavy
thud, and not the distinct pitch of tubercle. What is going
on beneath ? Request the patient to take several forced
inspirations, and during this time keep the ear, or stethoscope,
against the chest ; if it is consolidation from inflamma-
tion there will be no result, or only a few unequal harsh,
half-crackling, bronchial pipings ; if syphilitic infiltration
the same will be heard, but somewhat freer in certain
portions or patches (besides which, there is a great deal of
previous history to guide in syphilitic infiltration) ; but if the
infiltration is recent there is a harsh breeziness, and dry piping
under forced respiration. But where there is true congestion
there will be, with forced inspiration, very fine, equal, and soft
piping, which is invariably present in all cases of pure conges-
tion of much intensity. If there is a spot where it is entirely
absent, there will be found, as the case goes on, some in-
dications to show that change of structure was the real

246 Epidemics.

cause of the absence of all sound, most likely lung apoplexy.
By forced inspiration is meant several efforts to fill the chest
with air by a strong voluntary effort.

It will be said, Have not several of our societies of late
years given very full details of cases of chronic broncho-
pneumonia, and also of acute and sub-acute pleuro-
pneumonia ; and does not the Pathological Society, in its
"Transactions," give very careful reports of autopsies bearing
upon this very point in a very elaborate and careful manner ?
Why, therefore, enter into its initiatory indications with so
much form and detail ? Everybody knows it must have a
beginning, and also everybody knows that no two cases are
exactly alike ; therefore, such a parade of details is totally
unnecessary.

Here and there one may be found who has examined this
lung affection with much care and exactness ; but for its
early manifestations there is scarcely a full detail yet given,
and for its full and careful description there is still an urgent
demand from the pen of some one familiar with the disease,
and able to do it that justice its importance demands. In
the meantime, this rough outline is given for those who have
not carefully examined it. But the important point in
treatment rests upon its early detection; and its total
painlessness, the equable breathing of the subject of it, and in
its early stage the very frequent clear resonance of the chest
on percussion, the frequent absence of cough and the
presence of dyspeptic symptoms, with, occasionally, a very
excitable heart — all of these tend to lead the mind astray
from the real nature of a disease which, in its last stage, if
phthisis does not appear, yet itself is about equally fatal as
that destructive disease.

Again, it will be said, Why should one man be familiar
with the commencement of a disease, and another equally

Epidemics. 247

up to the mark, or very much superior, should altogether
fail to detect it in its early stage ?

Abe.rnethy sighted off his patient and diagnosed his
disease without scarcely a word, and many have tried to
imitate this real or supposed acuteness in a very superior
and accomplished surgeon. But it is good enough for men
of slower thought, and less prescience, to compass an end by
much more common tactics than sight alone ; and, to very
dull men, the aid of two or three senses is called into
requisition to make them ordinarily safe in careful diagnosis.
From a habit early contracted (by reading in the Lancet
one of Arnott's lectures), no patient, for more than twenty-
five years, has ever been prescribed a dose of medicine
without inquiries about the head and downwards throgh
the entire trunk, and invariably examining, in some way
or other, the heart and lungs, and the lungs from apex to
base.

In this manner many a latent heart and lung disease has
been detected where there has not been a single symptom
which the eye could recognise, or the patient has mentioned,
which could lead to the supposition of the slightest flaw in
either of these important organs, but which auscultation or
percussion has detected in a moment.

The only way to prove many of our morbid changes to
have this or that origin is not in the autopsy, for that is the
end of the beginning, but it is to observe the disease from
its first deviation from health, and from that point to slowly
mark the successive inroads from health to functional and
then to structural changes ; by which means a moderately
correct history of the pathological changes in their order
of succession and intensity may be obtained, much better than
by the most exact descriptions of diseases given subsequently
to their having arrived at a fixed stage of development, or
from the most accurately conducted autopsy, aided by every

248 Epidemics.

modern appliance which chemistry, light, or micrology can
afford.

If, then, in giving a description of chronic congestion of
the lungs, and one which very rarely presents itself as an
acute disease,* a difference exists to those usually given in
works treating upon lung diseases, one apology alone can be
given for the apparent difference, and it is this — that, as a
rule, the lungs and heart are not subjected to ausculation
if no symptoms are apparent of some chest affection,
either from direct observation or from some remarks made
by the patient ; but the more uniform habit of examining all
patients by auscultation in a rapid manner, and more care-
fully, if anything in the rapid form of examination seemed to
indicate some error in function or sound, would often lead
to more accurate knowledge of the course of a disease as
it passes from beginning to end.

Whilst speaking about chronic congestion in man, which
is also found, as before said, in an acute form, but
much more rarely, the fact ©f pleuro-pneumonia in cattle
observed chiefly since 1846 in this country must not be
entirely overlooked. The disease is still present, but in a
very modified condition, compared with that in which it
presented itself at the earlier period.

Milch cows suffered mostly, and in London it would last
from ten days to twenty-one, and now and then for six
weeks. It was essentially the same in London and the
country, but decidedly more acute in the country.

In the earlier part of this affection the trachea and larger
bronchi were affected from the commencement of the disease,
and cattle would cough up long masses of organized lymph
or false membrane, similar to what is occasionally coughed
up in cases of croup, only much longer and more massive.

* For the acute form, now much modified since 1841 in Ireland, see
the Edinburgh Medical journal, October, 1856, p. 360.

Epidemics. 249

The heart, liver, and kidneys, especially in the country,
suffered almost as much as the lungs and pleura.

Much attention has been given to this disease, both in the
living animal and at the post mortem, years ago ; but having
written to a veterinary surgeon in the country, whose know-
ledge of the disease and extensive opportunities of witnessing
it on a large scale give great weight to everything he says,
his description is preferred to that of limited personal
experience.

As the letter of inquiry included one or two further
particulars in reference to epidemics, their introduction into
the reply given will be easily understood.

March, 1851.

Dear Sir, — In reply to your inquiry, I beg to inform you
that, in nearly all cattle that have come under my notice
with what is termed the " disease," the symptoms are —

ist: Droops the head, appears dull, and feeds but seldom;
separates from the herd ; a slight but continuous oozing of
saliva.

2nd : The appetite is further diminished, a slight cough,
and difficulty of breathing ; milk diminished.

3rd: The respiration becomes short, hurried, and difficult;
the cough is hard, dry, and suppressed.

The action of the heart is violent and tumultuous, the
respired air is hot and moist, the hide is dry and generally
sticks to the ribs. Pressure over the regions of the kidneys
and liver cause the animal to yield ; in this stage there is a
total loss of appetite.

4th : The respiration, which appears to be now chiefly
carried on by the diaphragm and abdominal muscles,
becomes still more rapid than in the former stage. An
opaque film covers the eyes, which appear starting from

250 Epidemics.

their sockets. The diaphragm sometimes acts convulsively
when the animal catches her breath, starts, and gasps as
if from a stab. The body swells and acquires a doughy feel;
the soft parts pit on pressure.

The breath, during the second and third stages dis-
agreeable, in the fourth becomes horribly offensive. The
stench from the excretions is insupportable, yet the animal
does often exist for many days almost deprived of
instinct.

The pulse, according to the severity of the disease, ranges
from forty-three to one hundred strokes per minute. It is
full, hard, wiry ; in the fourth it is generally small but
rapid, yet vibrates but seldom, and even then but little
under the finger. The expectorated matter in the early
stages is scanty and mucous; in the latter, viscid, tenacious,
streaked with blood, and sometimes a sort of bloody
purulent matter.

Postmortem. The first stomach always full ; I have not
seen one vomit.* The windpipe is extra vascular, the pleura
filled with water, the lungs congested, dark coloured,
swollen, and breaking readily under the fingers ; the liver
frequently enlarged to an extent that might be supposed
scarcely possible, its entire surface of a dark greenish colour.

On making an incision into it a quantity of dark fluid blood

escapes, as from animals killed by the electric fluid. The

heart presents all the appearance of violent inflammation.
The ventricles of the brain frequently found filled with

purulent matter, and the enclosing parts bearing all the

evidence of inflammation.

The Foot-rot. — I have known cows convey it to the

sheep, and sheep to the cows. I do not know of man, dog,

or cat being made ill by diseased animals.

* I mentioned two animals which did vomit in the letter first written.

Epidemics. 251

The rot in sheep is not the least connected with the
sore feet.*

The year 1838 was the first of my hearing of the mouth-and-
fobt disease in cattle, sheep, and pigs. — I remain, etc., etc.,

To R. F. B. J. C.

N.B. — Mostly, if not always, false membrane is found in
the trachea and bronchi. t

It may be said that in the country the disease is much
more acute, or was many years ago ; that the liver was
rarely so intensely congested or enlarged in town as in the
country, but the kidneys were much the same in both
localities. The brain was very rarely affected in town.
Upon the whole, the disease was more sub-acute in London,
and acute in the country ; and, like the tolerance of blood
letting, the sthenic condition of constitution during illness,
and tolerance to blood-letting, remained in full vigour much
longer in the country than in large towns and London.

When an account is now read of pleuro-pneumonia as
affecting cattle, the extent of disease and its intensity will
be found to be very much abated, though still very fatal ;
but anyone characterizing the epidemic as simply pleuro-
pneumonia, takes a very narrow view of the real nature of
the affection.

The chronic congestion of the lungs in man from 1849 to
1853 was far more complicated than now ; the trachea, and
bronchi, the heart, with occasionally dropsy, and not in-
frequently suppression of urine for twenty-four hours, com-
plicated this affection. But now the complaint, upon the

* It is a liver affection.

f In the Farmer's Magazine, 1851, an account of the peri-pneumonia
in cattle in Auvergne is given by M. Yvart. This account refers chiefly
to the lungs and pleurse, and is fairly given for extreme cases ; but I
may add that J. C.'s account is much shorter, and agrees very much
more with my own personal observations in 1851.

252 Epidemics.

whole, resolves itself simply, in its first and second stages,
into slow and spreading congestion of the lungs, and an
irritable heart ; and, in the third stage, into pure chronic
pneumonia, with or without pleuritic effusion, and more
rarely effusion into the pericardium. It appears to be
identical with the chronic catarrhal pneumonia of Hedinger
(B. and F., January, 1870, p. 116).

On all hands, the diminished power of the heart's impulse
in propelling the blood through the system powerfully con-
tributes to a general abatement of all the more acute and
inflammatory conditions.

It will be said that the leading epidemic of the present
century — cholera — and the leading defect upon a special
organ, are both placed under contribution as selecting the
heart as the chief centre from whence evils spreading to
other organs are powerfully aided and sustained. This is
quite true, but why a fungiferous poison in the vegetable
kingdom (the supposed material poison in cholera) should
acquire a specific action upon the heart, more than any
other organ, appears to arise from the very impressible
nature of the lower forms of life to undergo changes in
their development and properties from slight difference
in the kind of nutriment upon which they feed ; and if
the direct nutriment by which they grow occasions such
changes in their form and size, etc., is it difficult to con-
ceive that some great and general agent, or force, which
directs and gives form to disease, should not also give to
fungi, when this force is passing over the earth in certain
waves, a new power by slightly regulating their molecular
changes, whilst feeding upon certain kinds of aliment — to wit,
decaying animal matter and decaying vegetable matter — and
in this manner each, according to the aliment upon which it
feeds, presenting different properties when playing upon the
human economy as a blood parasite — one tending most to

Epidemics. 253

this organ or special function, and the other to a distinct
function or different organ?

But it will be said that the lungs are viewed by some,
especially by Dr. G. Johnstone, as the centre of evil in
choleraic poison. Upon this theory much may be said ; but
in the midst of so much controversy one important point
appears to be lost sight of — namely, that our physiology, in
relation to sympathy between the heart and lungs, is scarcely
sufficiently recognized. A man is very weak; he goes
upstairs ten steps, each five inches deep, and he breathes
rapidly and oppressedly. Another has dilatation of the right
side of the heart, but is not wasted in flesh ; but let him do
the same feat, and he breathes just as bad. A third has a
large frame, and no excess of fat, but altogether a feeble
heart ; with the same feat he has the same difficulties.

The cause is said to arise from either a deficit of blood
to the head, or unequal distribution of blood to the lungs.
But the change in the breathing is so instantaneous and so
very decided, that the changed quantity of blood in the
lungs in so short a time cannot possibly affect it, and
certainly it is not from increased quantity in the lungs, as in
congestion ; for it is from very carefully repeated observa-
tions, running over many years, that the conclusion is
arrived at, that the proportion of blood in the lungs between
rest and motion, or walking on flat and rising ground, as
the true factor of the hurried respiration, is a pure myth.
Why the heart suddenly increases its rapidity - at both
ventricles, when the body is raised, belongs to the function
of the heart alone; but why increased action in the respiratory
muscles, and also increased respiratory action in the air
cells is superadded, is truly a reflex excito-motory act, and
of such a nature that it is impossible to affect the heart
specifically in its motion without the entire respiratory
system going along with it; the heart, upon the whole, acting

254 Epidemics.

more quickly on the lungs than the lungs do on the heart.
This, in some measure, may account for the diminished
respiratory function in cholera, though the heart is the first
organ markedly depressed.

Leaving cholera, it may be truly said that neither does
the work of sympathy stop at pure function, but it acts
oddly as a nutrient disturbing element ; for it is by no means
limited to rheumatism to have metastasis from the heart to
the lungs, as pneumonia, and back again to the heart. This
metastasis every now and then occurs in mere chronic con-
gestion of the lungs. And, without attempting to be in
the most remote manner personal, we have known physicians
of deserved reputation each scouting the diagnosis of his
professional brother, from one saying one month that there
is intense congestion of the lungs, the next month the other
saying that there is no disease of the lung whatever, but
there is enlargement and hypertrophy of the heart, and the
feet beginning to slightly pit, the sequence of a progressive
disease of the heart of one or two years' standing, But, on
the days both examined, both conditions were present in the
manner indicated, minus a proper history for two years'
valvular disease or narrowing of the aortic orifice.

Such cases are very tiresome, and, what perhaps is worse
still, the prognosis is so very annoying, for usually a fatal
result is hinted at, if not directly affirmed. But, having now
seen seven of these strange cases, they have served quite as
a caution against hurried prognosis, for all ought, upon
scientific grounds, to have died ; but, according to an old
Roman maxim — " divide and conquer" — all the cases in which
this metastasis could be well proved recovered after a very
trying and lengthened illness, and entirely contrary to ex-
pectation in the first three cases.

Having diverged from the more direct subject of examina-

Epidemics. 255

tion, let us return back to the present epidemic epoch. It
it be supposed that an idea is entertained that the great
change in vital manifestation is shown only in the heart,
as a leading centre of disease, such a notion would be very
incorrect ; for though the nutritive processes of the body,
in its molecular cell growth, is by far too intricate a subject
for existing scientific appliances to reduce to anything like
an appreciable matter of fact, yet an entire survey of animal
and vegetable stock, reference being had to our cultivated
plants and our domesticated animals, will lead to a some-
what singular conclusion.

Since 1817 few of our species or kinds of potatoes are in
existence which were favourites with the growers before that
time, or even as late as 1832. The old kinds either are
subject to the existing* potato disease of 1846, or they are
less productive, or are uncertain in their yield ; hence new
kinds have taken their place.

The same stands good of our strawberries, goose-
berries, and more recently of our currants and rasp-
berries.

The apple of Henry VIII. , and of the Stuart dynasty,
stood the test for generations, and perhaps apples of a finer
flavour, or trees of finer growth and of greater productive
powers, it is impossible to conceive ; but now they are all
either dying out, or from woodiness of flavour, or too great
tartness, are entirely rejected — nay, their meagre productive
powers are too scanty to view them otherwise than
cumberers of the ground, and fresh grafts from old stock
are anything but satisfactory, on the grounds of meagre
productiveness.

Of course, pears, plums, and cherries are placed in the
same general category. The cherry tree, though a tough
and enduring wood, and very productive, yet the fruit is
now slowly giving way to the introduction of new and better

256 Epidemics.

kinds ; at least, if in flavour inferior, yet in size or pro-
ductiveness superior to old stock.

Our glass or frame products scarcely admit comparison,
for in the eighteenth century they were cultivated by
amateurs as luxuries in this country, but now as necessary
appendages to ordinary gardening, and also to supply a
constant and increasing demand in the market.

Our poultry, cattle, sheep, and horses have undergone an
equally remarkable transition, and probably ere long their
food, in the form of cereals, roots, and bulbs, have under-
gone, and will undergo, an almost similar transition, down
to our grasses and clovers.

Here we are opposed by men of science. What has
crossing done for horned cattle ? Observe the Teesdale
short-horned cattle — first improved* from Holland, again
from our native wild stock, and thirdly from crossing with
certain of our native domestic breeds. Is not crossing a
direct improvement, purely the result of observation and
close induction ?

Again, is our racer the same now as in days of yore ?
Has he not more stature, muscle, length of stride, and, for
age, much greater endurance than a hundred years ago ?
And has not Godolphin sternly held our blood pure, though
the Barbary breed was blended with his at the start ?
Granted ; and all subsequent crossing. But here has not
the crossing been, not with fresh imported pure Arab, which
is much needed, but with different removes of pedigree from
the same great sire, Godolphin ?

Our roadster, hunter, carriage horse, and draught horse —
are they not all at this day in a state of transition ? What
breed, or cross of breeds, stands the chase the best ? What
kind stands our roads without shaky fetlocks and faltering
knees ? Are we as yet settled with any special stock ? Have
not all points to be selected, interspersed with some abomi-

Epidemics. 257

nable flaws, which in the sale ought to be kept strictly in the
background, for fear the purchaser will count him dis-
qualified for future stock ?

Which of our breeds are settled for the end for which they
are wanted, even at the present day ? Have not some dis-
qualifications presented themselves that, in the eye of the
breeder, are quite within the range of possible exclusion
which as yet have not been surmounted ?

If so, what does it say but that, for our own day and
generation, the cross that will yield us a permanent species
for many generations, which will not be perpetually going
back to this fault of the dam and that fault of the sire, is
not yet begotten ?

But that cattle and horses do in time so cross, that some
permanent stock is produced that meets existing wants, and
retains its efficiency for many generations without returning
to one or other of its pristine progenitors, is beyond all
doubt a positive fact, as certain well-known breeds in past
generations abundantly prove.

But it must be observed that chemistry, applied to
agriculture, and to improved productive soils, and their
contained nutrient growths, is altogether a problem of the
greatest utility to man, and also of the greatest scientific
difficulty ; and kinds of crops, in relation to quality of breed,
are of the greatest importance to the breeder and producer of
the present day.

It will be said that, a queen bee being dead, the hive
selects a successor in the larval state, which by the rest is
so fed and nurtured that the size and form are marvellously
altered and enlarged, and the ovi sac is enormously
developed, and she ceases to be a neutral, but becomes the
matron of a large and busy population, which, swarming,
populates a fresh hive, and doubles the wealth of the lucky
owner. This, then, is instinct's chemico-vital teaching

17

258 Epidemics.

upon food. But how by science are we to change the very
fate of Nature, and to have on one acre a supply of food for
twenty cattle instead of one, and those twenty shall be
in all points superior to the solitary animal that fed upon
the husks that Nature yielded of herself, as compared with
the luxuriant products which labour, directed by science,
freely supplies to the man who is diligent and wise in all his
undertakings ? Is it, then, here that we suddenly break off
from mere change of breed to the facts and blessings of
science ?

But to return. What gave rise, more than a hundred
years ago, to our aiming at -improvement by crossing ? Let
it be suggested, in reply, Was it not because the breeds of a
past age were fast lapsing into some form or other of the
pristine stock from which they first originated, and with
relapse all the benefits of some anterior cross were gradually
bringing out the defects of successional purity ; whilst, on
the contrary, the accident of cross, undesigned by the wild
cattle, had in itself given rise to the suggestion that purity
only led to the onward tendency of defect? Hence, suitable
crossing, attempted by enterprising men, was adopted to
counter-check this downward degeneracy, out of which
suggestive influence (or, according to Bain and Carpenter,
unconscious cerebration or brain secretion of a good work
instead of a vile and wicked work) arose a new stock of
sires and dams, the short-horned breed, whose destiny is
for some time to come to affect the stock of cattle in all
lands.*

It will be said, What about the horse ? The answer is,
that the crossing of all breeds has altered, and in some
instances greatly improved the horse, for the draught the

* Upon this matter consult " Youatt upon Cattle," 1834, by the
Society for Promotion of Useful Knowledge.

Epidemics. 259

least; for the road, the chase, and the cavalry the improve-
ment has been considerable ; but for the race, saving where
feeding, stabling, and management are concerned, but
very little has been done, though the old stock of the
eighteenth century is not perfectly adapted for the present
century, and crossing would probably change the qualities
of the racer much, and make him, with our recent Royal
Turkish stud, a hardier, stronger, and more enduring
animal than he at present is, but probably not a fleeter or
larger horse. These latter qualities, no doubt, are greatly
the result of food, air, warmth, and well-regulated exercise,
with abundance of ease during the breeding period. The
amount of rest and gentle open air exercise, without too
rich feeding in the time of breeding, is essential in improving
the breed of cattle and horses.

It is too much to enter at length into any floral products,
the decay of old kinds of plants and shrubs, and the adopting
of new and varied kinds of the same species. The same
may be said of crossing and improving our poultry and
aviary generally. Nor yet is it quite the thing to examine
our forest trees, as the oak, the beech, the elm, etc., etc.
These, of all other things, with our higher mammalia, in
their native wild state, suffer the least by epidemic changes
within the memory of man ; but yet it is not quite clear
whether the oak is not rather on the decline in its toughness
and growth, and the beech improved in both respects, during
the last fifty years, in this country and Europe generally.

But questions of so great importance and so difficult of
solution require observations and comparisons beyond the
reach of most men to give, before anything can be decided
worthy of much attention.

After these general observations, further inquiry into the
subject of transition or metamorphosis, so far as regards vital
phenomena, will be declined, feeling assured that in about

17—2

260 Epidemics.

2,000 to 2,100 A.D. the generations then living on this earth
will witness important changes in disease and its manage-
ment, and probably in the spread and onward development
of greater and wider nationalities, and less frivolous patriotic
affectations than the world has ever yet seen.

Moreover, it is to be hoped that that vile and base demon,
under the name of Patriot and semi-religion, who, in a nation's
prosperity, will hurl it into fierce war — not to raise a trampled
nation from its grave of social and political life, but to hurry
into extravagance, debt, and frequently well-merited degrada-
tion— will be swept from the threshold of every home and
every pettifogging principality and corner of the earth ; and,
in the place of a money-seeking or vain patriot, men will
arise that will study and diligently apply themselves to band
nations into families, and the labour of nations into the
individual wealth of each member of the family community.

Before concluding these very imperfect reflections upon
epidemics generally, and especially upon what may be called
epochal epidemics, a few remarks will be made upon the
rise and fall of nations in relation to epochal epidemics.

The scholar, the anthropologist, and ethnologist, must not
look for any servile submission to the dicta of any particular
school, or to the plan of detail as being fashioned upon this
or that author's model of unfolding history or explaining its
course and end. What is here written is for a defined
object, and the generalizations given are those respecting
which all can agree or differ without having their own
special theories much disturbed this way or that.

Taking Acre, on the coast of Palestine, as a centre ; from
2340 to 1200 B.C., civilization arose and spread to the west
of Acre ; Egypt, with Thebes or No and Memphis, was
then the centre of civilization. When Egypt arose to a
nation which absorbed commerce and science more perfectly
than surrounding habitable portions of the earth is not

Epidemics. 261

known. In Abraham's time it was known for its resources
as a granary; hence resorted to in famine.

Not far from 1500 B.C. the Ammonites, Moabites, and
Edomites began to settle as a people of considerable power
and of peculiar inventive genius and warlike habits ; how
long before is a matter of great difficulty to determine.
These all lay on the south-west of Syria.

These several kingdoms, together with the Canaanitish
nations, the Caphtors or Philistines, and the Syrians to the
east of Acre, fell under the dominion of the kingdom of
Israel about 1060 to 976 B.C.

From this period the kingdom of Israel, as a great power,
rapidly declined, first through permanent division in itself,
and now weakened by division, to the existing power of
Egypt, and the rising powers of Nineveh and Babylon
further to the east of Acre, one on the banks of the Tigris
and the other of the Euphrates. These two kingdoms
appear to have rivalled each other, and alternately to have
been under subjection to one or the other till about 606 B.C.,
when Nineveh finally fell under the superior power of
Babylon.

About 715, or more, B.C., Israel was absorbed into the
kingdom of Nineveh or Assyria; and Judah, 587 B.C., and
Tyre, 572 B.C., alike fell under the sway of Babylon.
From 606 to 538 B.C. Babylon may be considered as the
greatest monarchy the world had seen, whose centre was on
the banks of the Euphrates.

This empire may therefore be considered as the ending of
a series of dynasties, of a circumscribed distance from the
centre assumed — namely, Acre, beginning with Egypt, and
ending about 538 B.C. with the fall of Babylon. This, then,
was the last embers of a dying-out greatness which com-
menced to wane about 730, and went on with rapid steps
till the death-blow to Assyria and Tyre gave to Babylon the

262 Epidemics.

crushing centralization of all power in the East and Egypt ;
which, when it fell, all Asia Minor fell with it under the
prowess and tact of Cyrus the Great.

Before calling the attention to Greece and Rome, let a
rapid outline be given of Asia Minor and Egypt; for
Western Asia and Eastern Africa, with or without ^Ethiopia,
had a never-ending vicarious existence, until Rome stepped
in to settle all differences, and, finally, to absorb them under
Pompey and Caesar.

Babylon succumbed to the Medo - Persian dynasty,
founded and consolidated by Cyrus the Great about 538 B.C.
This dynasty continued for about 207 years as the head
kingdom in Asia Minor and Persia, when it fell, in 331 B.C.,
before the prowess and energy of Alexander the Great of
Macedon. This latter kingdom, the kingdom of Macedon,
fell under the power of Rome 168 B.C., and the remainder
of Alexander's dominions fell into the hands of the
Romans under Pompey the Great, and Caesar, and their
successors from 63 B.C., and ending in 70 A.D. by the fall
of Jerusalem under Titus.

It may be here observed that from 750 to 100 B.C., with
the exception of the little valiant kingdom of Judah under
the Maccabees, that whilst Asia Minor was a centre of great
and gradually divided powers, the people themselves gene-
rally became more and more servile, so far as history can
well trace them, and submissive to authority, without regard
to its legality or otherwise. This was the ruling character
amongst both the Asiatics and Egyptians, which remains to
this day.

Hence dynasties whose chief element was Asiatic fought
against and hated one another, not from the daring and
bravery of their soldiers so much as from their numbers, and
the chance of their being led by an energetic commander,
the fear of whose vigilance and severity urged them to fight

Epidemics. 263

far more than the contempt or even fear in which they held
their foe. So the effeminancy and spirit of servile obedience,
without regard to truth or honesty, were slowly but surely
crushing the nationality and independency of the Egyptians
and Asiatics during this epoch, from 750 to 100 B.C.

But, whilst this spirit was spreading over the population
of Western Asia, a new era was coming over the nations to
the north of Acre, Greece, and Rome ; and, in a measure,
Carthage, further to the west of Africa, partook of a popular
and free or independent character.

Not far from 750, Greece a little earlier, and Rome a little
later fix, by their own chronology of Olympiads and Anno
Urbis Conditas, the starting-points of their respective
dynasties.

Rome lived for about 1,200 years, and ended by a pack of
roughs and a small people, the Heruli, under a daring and
sagacious leader, Odoacer. 475 A.D.

Greece ended by the fall of Athens, under Sylla, 86 B.C. ;
but her chief power fell with Macedon, 168 B.C., or 82 years
before the fall of Athens, after a duration of about 600 to 680
years.

Whatever remnant there was of Rome, as a part of the
old Roman Empire under Belisarius, the famous general
of Justinian, the final extinguisher of Rome, as a centre of
military power, was put on by the successor of Belisarius ;
for N arses created Ravenna as an appendage to the Eastern
Empire, under the title of Exarchate, 568 A.D., at which
time Rome was a province, or subjected to the authority of
the Exarchate of Ravenna, from which she emerged as an
ecclesiastical capital under Pepin and his son, Charlemagne.

From 750 — or rather 730 A.u.c. of Varro — to 568 is 1,298
years, being a difference of about go years or more between
the fall of Rome, under Odoacer, and its final extinction as a
capital, under Narses, 567 or 568 A.D.

264 Epidemics.

Greece rose to the zenith of her military greatness as a
compact state, and, at the same time, was the mistress of
art, science, and philosophy, from 490 to 360 B.C. During
this period lived Miltiades, Themistocles, the indomitable
Leonidas, Aristides, Pausanias, Pericles, Socrates, Alcibiades,
Phidias, Plato, Praxiteles, and Epaminondas, with a host of
other great and wise men, whose like the world has never
seen since for originality of thought and perfection of com-
position, or consummation of symmetrical and ideal beauty.

As a great and aggressive power, her training under the
aggressive policy of the Medo-Persian dynasty placed her
suddenly on the pinnacle of fame from 336 to 323 B.C.,
under the command of Alexander the Great, and introduced
her to an empire which, under the extent of its territory and
weight of administration, divided itself into four considerable
kingdoms ; but that which was of the shortest duration after
the division of Alexander's empire was the parent of the
rest — namely, the kingdom of Macedon, as before mentioned,
which ended in 168 B.C. ; and the glory of Greece, the centre
of learning and nationality, the city of Athens, surrendered
to Rome 86 B.C. So Greece became a Roman province.

Rome, on the contrary, gradually rose from her Samnite
victories to her death struggle with Carthage from 264 to 146
B.C., when, after three dreadful wars, with Hannibal, the
greatest of all generals, at the gates of Rome in the second
Punic war, she was obliged to submit to the degradation
of a Roman province ; whilst Marius, Sylla, Pompey, and
Caesar to the north, the east, and the south of Rome added
kingdom to kingdom, declaring thereby to surrounding
people the greatness and majesty of Rome.

Nor can it be said that the name of Rome ceased to be a
terror, and the seat of appeal, to the nations of the known
world till the time of Diocletian, who by associating
Maximianus in the rule of the empire divided council in

Epidemics. 265

286 A.D., giving to his colleague the western portion of
the empire, himself retaining the east as his portion.
This 'independent rule and division of authority led his
successor to further embody the idea by material agency.
Hence sprung up, under Constantine the Great, the eastern
capital of the Roman world; and this capital remained, under
a long succession of events, as the capital of the Greek
empire till 1453, when Mahomet II. made the city of
Constantinople the future capital of the Ottoman empire,
which remains so to this day.

But the majesty of Rome, though marred and reduced,
still retained a venerable and dignified position until the
persistent childhood of Arcadius and Honorius, the sons of
Theodosius the Great, by their puerile rule, neither aided
each other nor defended themselves, nor appreciated those
who did defend them, and so Rome lost her majesty and
authority at one blow; and in less than a century after
submitted to the sovereignty of Ravenna, in 568 A.D., as a
dependent city, as before stated.

About this time an uneasiness began in the troubled sea
of Arabian nomad life, and the land of the desert began to
show symptoms of a restless tribal discontentedness ; perhaps
it is not far from fact to say that it began about 530 A.D.
Chemistry, medicine, algebra, and astronomy found amongst
its olive and dark tribes an attractive home. A blind
credulity, which first led idolatry to be stamped out of their
peninsula, drove them on to see in themselves a mightier
power than the spreading savour of that Gospel which for
three years was preached by the greatest of the apostles —
Paul — in their sandy plains, and which, with occasional
preachers or Jewish disciples, worked as a leaven for
centuries. But, in the might of their own individuality, and
in the assurance of their own Impostor, who performed all
his miracles in the night and in the dark, they began, in

266 Epidemics.

632 A.D., as religious fanatics and earnest disciples, to
demand the acceptance of the Koran as an obligatory con-
dition of peace from Egypt and North Africa to Spain and
the South of France, all of which lie to the west of Arabia
and to the west of Acre ; and, to the east of the same point,
from Asia Minor to Persia and India, Arabian power asserted
its supremacy.

With a stoicism, mingled with a fanaticism, the Arabian
nomad spread, by his conquests and his abstract sciences, a
species of adventurous chivalry and philosophical indifference,
with undoubted military prowess and daring, that placed the
Saracen at the head of the nations of the world as a
conquering power, Cordova being their Athens, and nursery
of refinement and learning.

It was a species of barbaric civilization which gave to
Europe its present numerals, and to mathematics all
its earlier algebraic signs, which is the true source
of our great advance over the ancients in the physical
sciences.

The Saracenic empire, as a conquering and ruling power,
lasted from 632 to 1237 m Spain, when their cousins, the
Moors of Africa, overthrew them; and in Asia till 1258, when
the Tartars took Bagdad. But their blood and their
customs still, more or less, remain in the nations they
conquered and overran.

Its duration was between 600 and 700 years, and all they
have left behind them belongs to the scientific world, and
the world of blind credulity in an impostor ; whilst the
Romans have left us as the basis of our laws their system of
jurisprudence, which is engrafted upon that inimitable
institution of Gothic origin, the jury ; whilst the Greeks
have influenced our oratory, sculpture, and architecture, and
almost every department of art, science, and government,
more than any other nation. Nay, the genius of the Greek

Epidemics. 267

nation is the admiration and the legacy of all nations, and,
though dead, she yet speaks in all the sons of taste and
refinement, since, by printing, her works have been
familiarized to posterity.

We next come to Europe generally, the true political
focus of which has stranded to the north-west from Acre,
including Italy, Germany, France, and England, Denmark
and South Sweden with Norway, Prussia, Poland; whilst
Russia, to the north of Moscow, has taken no important
part in the history of the world till the Turkish supremacy,
after 1453 and later.

But who is going into the subject of the Visi-Goths of
Spain, the Ostro-Goths of Italy, the Alemanni, the Saxons,
Suevi, Burgundians, Belgians, Gepidae, Scandinavians, the
Norsemen, Gauls, Franks (Eastern and Western), the
Vandals, Huns, Sarmatians, Finns, and Magyars ? Suffice
it to say such people lived, and though they are all dead
now, under one name or another, in their successors, they
have gone back to where they came from, as the Huns ; or,
through cross with other and neighbouring tribes and
kindred, their names are lost but not their blood, as the
ancient Iberians with the Visi-Goths and Moors ; the Gauls
with the Franks ; the Aborigines of Central Germany — call
them Kitcheners, or Earth-diggers, or by any other name —
with the Alemanni and their confederates. These people,
having given national customs and warlike habits, are
admitted as inhabiting Central and Western Europe. They
lived, and acted, and fought, and hated, and despised one
another as nationalities, and as countrymen they oppressed
one another in their domestic and social relations, and
helped one another in their national existence.

Making one or two splendid exceptions, especially in
Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, Otho the Great, and, if it-
is permissible, Canute the Great, and a host of smaller fry, it

268 Epidemics.

is scarcely necessary to say that from 568, or rather 537,
there is scarcely a man in Europe of an enlarged mind, and
possessing a real love of liberty, learning, or of wise adminis-
trative capacity, saving what is held as a birthright from the
customs and manners of the nation or the tribe to which
they belonged, that can be found from this date — 537 to
1177.

Henry Beauclerk, or Henry I., is said to have had a love
of learning rather than its possession, noo, and he gave a
kind of spur to learning, as historians tell us ; but who were
those that found him a patron of learning is more a matter
of assertion than of illustration. But it is evident that his
love of learning was so exceptional in those days that any
man who could have composed, after the days of Boethius,
anything equal to " Jack and Jill," or the tale of the " Cow
with the Crumpled Horn," would have been handed down to
posterity as the patron of learning, and the producer of
superior rhythm in verse for the age in which he lived.
Percy and Hallam, before this date (1177), can scarcely give
us one verse of superior, if equal, rhyme to the two samples
indicated. It was in this age of darkness that the Saracen
stood foremost among the nations.

To rob the Saracen of his natural intellectual superiority,
it is said that they borrowed largely from the Romans, but
especially from the Greeks ; and much of their apparent
superiority arose from how they availed themselves of the
learning of their predecessors in the republic of literature
and science. Yet it must be observed that the early
portion of the Saracenic conquests was marked by a people
who viewed all learning contrary to the Koran as heretical,
and all that was not opposed to it as unnecessary, for it
contained all that man required ; hence the burning of the
Alexandrian Library, and the general rejection of learning
of a foreign origin till a later period.

Epidemics. 269

With all this against the onward development of intel-
lect and culture, they managed to erect upon the native
vigour of their own minds a system of notation and of signs,
which has been the basis of our present advanced state in
the abstract sciences; and in later days their knowledge of
Greek writers in matters of medicine, etc., proved how
ready they were to appreciate the works of other men, where
the admission did not directly interfere with the arbitrary
rules of their own tenets and doctrines.

But the nations which swarmed Europe, during the decay
and final fall of the Roman world, were by tenet willing to
adopt the faith of the conquered people, and to adapt
themselves to many of their laws and customs. Yet with
equal, if not far greater opportunities of acquiring a know-
ledge of the literature of the ancients, their works and
lives remained for centuries a cipher and an untold tale to
the nations of North-Western Europe, their decay in litera-
ture and learning advanced with rapid strides, and, as this
epidemic period ended in 1177, thick darkness covered the
face of all minds and intellects to the North-West. Italy,
the focus and centre of all that was learned and great, had
sunk into the lowest depths.

From 1177, and onwards for 100 years, the progress of
knowledge was slow but distinct.

Within this period the pointed or Gothic architecture
appeared, at the beginning of the century. Next the
English minstrels, the German minnesingers, and the
French troubadours began to produce a rude form of
poetical composition, and a kind of ruder music. Painting,
also, was more cultivated. These all indicate a slow but
increasing power of intellect. But the frequent burning
and persecution of heretics, as the Albigenses and
Waldenses, the forbidding the reading of the Bible to the
laity, and the more general introduction of auricular con-

270 Epidemics.

fession, all tend to show the rising of an independent and
thinking people, while those in authority were feeling that,
by this craft we live and all opposition must be suppressed,
for fear that our craft should fail.

The third, or great and awfully destructive crusade,
occurred at the early part of this epidemic era, or in 1188 to
1190 A.D., and many smaller ones after it ; but the blind
foolery which led such hosts to leave home and fight, more
with the elements and hunger than with the avowed enemy,
seemed to act as a leaven upon the popular mind; and
many of the leaders began to reflect, and to refuse a blind
obedience to the entreaties and exhortations of one man,
who in his wisdom had taught them the folly of obeying his
mandates, equally indicate a better tone of mind, and
more correct appeciation of the merits and demerits of the
teachers.

But, before this period, failures and badly concerted plans
neither led them to see the folly of their labours, nor the
utter heedlessness with which the lives of thousands upon
thousands were sacrificed to the whim and caprice of mere
vainglory, if such a designation is not giving to these
undertakings a more honourable motive than really belonged
to them. But now the tide of reflection had set in, and
before 100 years were over the name of crusades was the
watchword for resistance and indifference.

In our own land the first grasp at true and substantial
liberty took its rise within this period, in the grant of the
Magna Charta, 1215 A.D.

Having said thus much for the first hundred years, amidst
all the feuds, wars, bloodshed, and chivalry, which rather
disgraced than honoured humanity, no very great advance
took place from this time till 1438 to 1471, when the art of
printing began to be fairly established.

But the craving desire for learning had set in before the

Epidemics. 271

discovery of this art. The Reformation had set in about the
beginning of the fifteenth century. The great morning star
of that mighty revolution of thought and independent
reasoning made his appearance, under the name of Martin
Luther, 1417.

The craving for tracts and works, by the great Reformer
and against him, created the necessity for the more rapid
multiplication of copies than writing could supply ; hence
came in the art divine, by human hands, of printing.

This great impulse was no doubt aided by the fall of
Constantinople, and the flow of Greek literature into Europe
through that incident.

From the reign of Henry VIII. till the close of the reign
of George III., the spread of knowledge and the expansion
and independence of the human mind, more like a god than
a created being, had flown as from a fountain of troubled
waters on a sea of never-ending conflict, with never-ceasing
rewards to those who, in their frail barks, cast themselves
upon its tempestuous waves ; but, strange to say, as the
journey ended, and the shore is sighted, the grand result of
culminating forces has been a good landing, and accumulating
security to man, with increasing wealth and prosperity to
all nations, through this fountain of knowledge, whose
waters are often bitter in the mouth, but in their effects
sweet, and give greater security to property, and add im-
mensely to the well-being of the human family, for the wide-
spread increase of knowledge has tended towards power and
independence.

A few names may be here mentioned from Luther, as
Calvin, Erasmus, Galileo, Shakespeare, Bacon, Descartes,
Milton, Bunyan, Locke, Newton, Smith, on to Cuvier,
Napoleon, Pitt, Herschell, Davy, Berzelius, Franklin,
Jonathan Edwards, and Kant, Byron and Goethe.

To give anything like a comprehensive view of the vast

272 Epidemics.

field which has been so rapidly passed over is foreign to the
present purpose, and anything but desirable. The thought-
ful reader will, in this sketchy outline, supply the deficiencies
by his own ready and comprehensive memory, aided, no
doubt, by many painful and some pleasant reflections. But,
on the relation in which these remarks stand to epidemics, a
few words may be said.

Taking as a sample the epidemic period of 1177 to
1817 ; we have the Levant plague running through
till about 1777, when it ended in Moscow, and then it settled
in its own centre between Egypt and Turkey, or Acre as a
centre. In 1348 the Black death, and 1517, its successor,
the Sweating sickness, gave a new form to disease, and
intensified mortality by adding to the existing form of
plague ; whilst about 1495 to 1497 syphilis created a new
order of disease, or was itself an amalgam of two previous
and old diseases (as plague and leprosy), which maintains
a vigorous dominion to this present day.

If, then, we take into consideration, in epidemics, from an
anthropological point of view, peoples and forms of govern-
ment, their rise and spread from distinct geographical areas
(as the Levant plague, small-pox, and syphilis as analogues
in material disease), and observe their rise, spread, sudden
development of power, decline, and decay, we shall observe
a remarkable coincidence and analogy between them.*

Take the Grecian kingdom. Its rise was about the
beginning of a new epidemic period, or near the year 750
B.C., and Rome was not far from the same period.

* It must be borne in mind that in Epidemic, as well as Historic,
Eras the time for development, extension, and decline, is considered to
be about 640 years. But it is not to be understood as a sharply-defined
line in Chronology, since either eras may be a few years antedated or
postdated. In such cases, it may be well to view the slight variation in
date as the morning and evening stars announcing the advent or de-
parture of the respective epochs.

Epidemics. 273

It rose to its greatest glory from 490 to 360 B.C. as a
centre of learning and refinement, but about 400 years, or
rather more, from its foundation, it launched out into a
mighty empire, and then it began slowly, and in a little
more than a century to rapidly decline, and in about 650 or
640 years to be practically an extinct kingdom.

This in many points bears a remarkable resemblance to
the epidemic period between 1177 to 1817, especially when
we consider the frequent changes of geographical centres of
power in Greece, as Sparta, Athens, Thebes, Macedon, and
Corinth ; so the plague had so many endemic centres,
not to mention its sudden accession of power in the Black
death in Europe in 1348, and the Sweating sickness
after.

Again, Rome more resembled the plague from 550, or
thereabouts, to 1817, the earlier part of this plague
ravaging all the lands on the Mediterranean, and spreading
inland until checked by mountain ranges. But after 1177,
or thereabouts, perhaps rather earlier, it outstepped the
boundaries of its first spread, and got into Mid and Northern
Europe, asserting its dominion over all other diseases during
the time of its invasion of any particular city or province.

Rome spread gradually her power and conquests through-
out Italy, then to Carthage, and Macedonia ; and as her first
period of development was reached, which would be about
90 or 80 B.C., she began to take a wider range, and more
comprehensive forms of rule and discipline, in the form of
Dictatorship ; and from Marius on to Octavius Caesar she
raised the power of her dominion, both in resources and
territory, till her sovereignty extended over Central and
North-Western Europe, and from Egypt to all Asia Minor.
After this period she once or twice extended her dominion
towards Persia and the Caspian, but the weight of her
empire enfeebled her aggressive powers.

18

274 Epidemics.

For the first 200 years, or from 80 B.C. to 120 A.D., she
reigned; in glory, and acquired a high position for taste,
learning, and refinement, and wonderful organization and
legal administration. She now began to amalgamate in her
population and customs with many of the conquered nations,
and by 400 years, or more, after her new influx of greatness
and power, or about 320 A.D., she had attained the chief end
of her greatness ; and, during the next 240 years or so of
her existence as a political power, Rome declined and
rapidly sank under the gathering clouds of ignorance, sloth,
and bigotry.

Scarcely did the old Roman provinces find that they were
free from the power and slavery of Rome, than a new
epidemic period commenced, and with it a nation arose to
the south of Greece and Rome, but not far distant, as a
centre, from Acre — the illiterate, unorganized, and re-
verential servants to custom, which latter was the only basis
of real civilization then possessed by the Arabs. But the
nomad tribes of the land of the desert, or the Saracens,
sprang as a mighty host into teachers of faith and doctrine,
and admirers of abstract sciences, chemistry, algebra,
astronomy, and the humane science of medicine. With
discipline and courage they became arbitrators of the largest
portion of the old civilized world, and that, despite all the
previous knowledge, discipline, and arts of the nations
which held their conquered provinces for centuries before
them.

A revolution so great and so lasting, for it ran out for
quite 640 years, is in itself the most singular illustration of
nations rising and falling with epidemic periods which
history unfolds, and in this instance very much in alliance
with its own gendered epidemic diseases — small-pox and
measles.

Its decay is as remarkable as its rise, and no usual

Epidemics. 275

method of explaining this remarkable anthropological pheno-
menon has as yet been given, after the ordinary method of
explaining such incidents in other nations and races.

On the threshold of its decay, and taking a wider area
from the centre, Acre, fallen and benighted Europe, great in
the pride of her petty strifes and interminable quarrels,
begins to shake off the dust of her slumber; and, as a
mighty giant, scarcely knew that she had lain down to be
shorn of her strength by treacherous Delilah, till her
opening eyes and the thongs of her feudal slavery warned
her that she was naked, and wretched, and poor. But, with a
slow and onward march, the intellect of Europe widens,
deepens, and expands, till in about 1580 to 1680 the bright-
ness of her glory and the strength of her majesty muster
around her memory intellects as great as the world ever
saw; and like Rome's first anthropological era, in 1817, when
her first era ended, she set in a halo of greater and more
commanding freedom and independent government, with
peoples more enlightened and laws more equal, and, since
1600, with further extension to the East, and the West, and
the South, of the principles of liberty and progress than
the world had ever seen at any period of its existence.

This anthropological era, with its rich accumulations of
intellectual and material wealth, it has bequeathed to the
era in which we live; and, taking Acre as a centre, it
is easy to perceive that in the increase of area from that
centre there will be a greater, wider, and more minute and
exacting form of social intercourse, which will spread and
influence the entire globe more than man has yet seen, and
will unite all nations and families in one great social
compact.

It being laid down as a principle of civilization, from a
geographical basis, that it spreads in successive increasing
curves of area from its centre, which is Acre ; that it

18— 2

276 Epidemics.

began not far from about the year 1490 B.C., and has pro-
ceeded on to 1817 A.D., but we have in our day arrived at an
area of circle which, in its extension, bids fair to include the
whole earth ; and, as a necessary sequence of such wide-
spread civilization, in consequence of its central position by
land and by sea, the increasing intercourse of mankind and
the commissariats of the world being necessarily interwoven
with each other, it is easy to perceive that the old centre,
Acre, by the singular site it occupies in the earth, must be-
come the great depot of the increasing expansion of commerce
and civilization.

But this has little to do with our subject, save as an
incidental coincidence. Our chief points for consideration
are the necessary effects of the more general expansion of the
human mind throughout all branches of the human family.

The essential feature that most clearly manifests itself in
the early part of the existing anthropological era is the
strong bias in all undertakings, and in all attempts towards
progress and improvements, to adopt ASSOCIATION
and wide-spread combinations as a basis or principle of
action.

Furthermore, added to the associative principle, is the
ever-increasing adaptation of the inventive genius of man to
impress upon man the necessity there is for his neighbour to
be his debtor for the comforts, conveniences, and safety
which each may enjoy.

Among these, steam conveyance by land and sea, electric
telegraph, cheap postage, artificial lighting, and above all
compulsory education, which is fast entwining itself
throughout every government in the civilized world,
rank the foremost in aiding the rapid advance of the
mutual dependence of all mankind one upon another, and
each feeling he is for all he possesses more or less dependent
upon the good offices and industry of his surrounding neigh-

Epidemics. 277

hours ; or more distant adventurers, who ply by ship or land
from distant parts for mutual exchange of goods ; or,
through instruction by missionaries or other friends, are
brought into sympathy and fellowship as individual mem-
bers of one large and variously-gifted family.

From whatever point it is viewed — open or secret, social,
political, or religious — the great and grand movements in
the world are now promoted, and effect is given to them, by
association, and not by the wealth, or influence, or social
position of any one individual. In all these movements the
great centre Estate is the Press. Gas, steam, electricity,
and education may all lend their aid to secure one general
result, but daily and periodical literature is the nest in
which all are nurtured, and in their onward movements are
sustained.

But without a strong bias, which by feeding is promoted,
for progress and development, the Press might work in
vain, and individual members might groan and sigh under
wrongs and servitude ; but the individual desire for position
in the social world is so great, and oftentimes repeated with
a never-ceasing multiplication of adventurers in the same
field of change and advance, that the stream of free and
independent thinkers, from the lowest grade of intellect to
that of the most multifarious and gigantic proportions, is
waxing greater and greater ; so that, ere this epidemic or
anthropological era is ended, the supremacy of free and
associative thought appears likely to encircle the entire
world. Black and olive, copper and florid, or white appear
from the remotest parts of land and sea, within a range of
little less than sixty years, to have encompassed a circle of
transition from bondage to independent, though limited,
thought, which throws into the shade all efforts at general
civilization which have influenced the world during any
previous period of its history.

278 Epidemics.

Observe our enormous armaments — our Crimean, Franco-
Austrian and Franco-Prussian wars, the American Federal
and Confederate war, and the Brazilian war ; how, in
every instance, the numbers engaged, as compared with like
territories, for equal chances of loss and gain, in former
times, are truly frightful, and the expenditure, for the luxury
indulged, is wholesale ; yet, strange to say, with an off-set
on one side or the other of economy and benefit !

Talk of the Teutons and Cimbri in old Marius's time, who
cut them up by the thousands upon thousands ; and of the
armies of Xerxes, against whom 300 Greeks made an
abiding and depressing impression upon the half rabble and
ill-disciplined troops of an Asiatic despot ; what are these
compared with the well-accoutred, disciplined, and carefully-
provisioned troops of a minor European state of the present
day ? Why, they would be but food for slaughter, and as
chaff before the wind for efficiency and destructiveness.

Turn to our ramifying (and — to their fellow workmen —
arbitrary) trades unions ; societies for sickness, death,
and burial ; our insurance companies, scientific and social
sciences. Such, in all grades and ranks of society, is the
tendency to gather strength by association, that even gun
clubs for the destruction of sparrows have not been found
wanting in certain of our young adventurers in the field of
distinction and merit ; and, when great fields are occupied,
the tendency to association will extend itself to the honour-
able distinction of Fellow of the Black Beetle and Rat Club.
What may we infer from this widespread and open system
of association, as distinct from guilds and secret societies
common in the Middle Ages ? and for their very existence
and maintenance each and all are debtors to the Press for
publicity.

Without begging the question too far, if safety to society
is the great enigma to be solved, its natural and true escape.

Epidemics. 279

from anarchy, and its elevation to greatness and perma-
nency, is to reject as a basis of ethics or code of social
integrity any author who teaches supremacy to any branch
or race of mankind. Equal rights and equal liberties must
be accorded alike to all, so that a basis of common rights
and equal law may be accorded to all ; otherwise the social
advance of mankind will be blocked by unequal and highly
egotistical assumptions ; and bondage of one branch of
mankind under the other must follow as the practical result
of such assumptions. Hence the Bible, which admits all
mankind to be one family, and demands equal law, with
widely different obligations according to natural gifts and
special privileges, must necessarily be the basis and starting-
point of true national ethics among mankind. To all these
general observations, it will be said that the dark tribes of
mankind are inferior to the white tribes, and the woolly-
haired can never compete with the straight-haired ; nor yet
the dark with the light and fair of mankind.

Such talk is grand in the extreme. But, a hundred
generations back, what were the colour and features of our
progenitors ? Again, a hundred generations back, what
were the white people doing, and where did they live ?
In Central Asia ? in the wilds of Siberia ? or on the top
of the Himalaya Mountains ? It is to be feared that
the Dead Letter Office would give answer — " Address not
known."

You say the colour is nothing. Oh, indeed ! That is
nothing. Well, it is all features. Granted. The lady in
Egypt had a small and arched foot, small hand, and more
receding forehead. Granted. She was barren, and there-
fore extinct in another generation. And the Circassian ?
Oh ! what of him or her ? Why, when free, a nation of
masters and slaves, and a father and a brother to a sister or
a daughter as low in moral status and as stupid as any serfs

280 Epidemics.

that trod on English ground, and even baser than they ; but
in features and colour, why, ne plus ultra.

It will be said the monuments of antiquity have not been
examined, and only a partial history of mankind has been
taken under review. Answer : The monuments of antiquity
are occasionally examined with an intense desire to get at
facts — nay, now and then a skeleton and a skull ; and it is
surprising to find that the slave then is now the master.
The Jew in chains is the chief among men for meanness,
for intellect, for integrity, and for generosity. In fact, there
is not at present a great nation upon earth which does not
view as half-effeminate and degraded the people who once
were sovereigns upon earth.

You say history is at fault ; races never change. If, then,
they do not change they must die out ; and so history, as a
record of facts, must be very defective. Well, it is true
history is defective, but geography is scarcely so much at
fault as the chronicler. If, then, the geographer is mode-
rately correct, and given races leave one locality in Asia and
come to another in Europe, where were the present
occupants of Europe, or what were they doing, 3,000 years
ago, or 2,000 years ago ? Were they in the wilds of
Tartary ? Nay, say the Franks, eastern and western, are
descendants of the remnants of Babylon and Nineveh ; and
the Goths, or Saxons, etc., etc., came from somewhere, but
arrived on one side the Caspian before touching Sarmatia,
Asia Minor, or Europe. Their pedigree is wonderful, and
their deeds mighty. But how about these Teutons, Saxons,
and Alemanni, etc. ? Why, if they were not great they
ought to have been great, for we are their children ; and our
forefathers buried their greatness in the wilds of oblivion, or
in some menial and pettifogging community, so that history
is silent, because the children did not honour and write for
mankind the deeds they did in the past.

Epidemics. 281

The upshot of the whole matter is this — that, so far as
defective history gives us data, either by architectural
monuments or by written statements, either the best blood
of ancient races died out after a given culminating point of
progress, and left the field to be occupied by inferior but more
abiding blood ; or, as a man at the top of the tree gets some
untoward bad luck, begins to get lower and lower, till the
next generation forgets his position and greatness, and the
poor in the neighbourhood alone remember the habitations
of fallen greatness, so a nation, once trampled down and ex-
hausted of its resources and liberties, falls, in lapse of ages,
into a menial position, and is an object, not of fear, but of
patronizing sympathy and contemptuous indifference as to
its threats, large talk, and puerile efforts at distinction or
authority — to wit, Turkey, Spain, Greece, and Egypt.

The African's limited and child-like intellect, with strange
notions of duty, right, and social privileges, tending strongly
in the individual as years advance to assume a cruel and
unfeeling regard for his neighbour, and only grows wise in
cunning and cruelty as he gets older, is, through his inter-
course with European blood, fast observing the evils he
suffers through his service to the white man, and is ready
to adopt measures for his own comforts and advantage, with
an increasing desire with those advantages to maintain his
own freedom ; though, as far as the individual is concerned,
he gradually is more cruel and cunning as his age advances.

And this increasing perception of liberty is the first spark
for many ages, which has passed over the African nation,
that gives a clue to his associating in many devices put
forward by Europeans to turn his country into a large pro-
ducing field for the good of all.

But it is going too far, as some would have it, to suppose
that Africa was always equally debased as on its south-
eastern and western coasts it is at present found ; relics of

282 Epidemics.

civilized customs, and such as imply much knowledge and
science, even still exist to mark that once a people of a
superior position to those who now inhabit Western Africa
lived on that continent.

Where went the Carthaginians, who in the days of
Procopius were in a state of half-nudity, and occupying the
confines of the old Carthaginian territory, when the
conquering Saracens ran as swift spoilers through North
Africa ? One thing we know, namely, that the Vandals
escaped to the mountains of Morocco ; but where went
these half-savage and enduring Carthaginians ? Did any
of them form into caravansiers, and, aided by camels, cross
the Great Sahara and spread along the West Coast of
Africa, and so relics of old customs pertaining to higher
civilization found their way to Western and Central Africa ?
Such an origin is barely possible.

Leaving Africa, we get to the widespread, social, self-
complaisant Asiatic, whose passive obedience and content-
ment have suffered a very material change by the blood of
the restless and warlike Saracen. And now that she is
pressed on the north by Russia, and on the south by Great
Britain, and the stay of her contentment, her idolatry, is
fast yielding to the ingress of Bible knowledge — without
much Christian life, but with an intense interest to dive into
the secret of European success and greatness — Asia on every
side is adopting the principles of combination, in little and
great affairs, to carry out the local schemes of any who are
anxious to promote them.

Thus, it may be said, throughout the four great Continents
and Australia, that the generalizing of association in little
and great matters is gradually being stamped upon the
present anthropological era. What its ending may be, or
whether, as in the history of empires, about midway
between it shall be on the wane, or give place to something

Epidemics. 283

more comprehensive and masterly, science has no sufficient
basis in past history to speak with anything like decision ;
but it is well known, among a large number of the students
of 'the Bible, that a great and widespread benevolence is
confidently expected by a large number of Christian men,
and that the principle of association will, ere this is con-
summated, be ushered in by one or two extremely extensive
battle-fields, which, from the wide area from which the
combatants will gather, would be totally impossible without
considerable experience, and unless the minute ramifica-
tions of the general principles of association had taken an
abiding place among the inhabitants of the entire civilized
world.

Like epidemic eras, the anthropological eras bear a close
analogy.

If, after the first two or three centuries of an epidemic, we
have some new forms, or interlockings, or amalgamations,
and towards the 450 or 500 years we have a leaning to decay,
as in the Levant plague ; or, like leprosy, changing its forms,
and spreading wider at one time than another within given
periods, so in the extension and rise of empires we have the
same. Greece had existed as a power for nearly 300 years
when it attained its highest glory ; but little over a century
had gone over its climax of glory, when it merged into a
Macedonian monarchy, and, ere 500 years had passed over,
its glory was fast fading and dying out ; whilst Rome came
from under her Samnite victories and Punic wars to be,
within 400 years of her foundation, a consolidated power,
which, for about 200 years, she had being making strenuous
efforts. Her wide-spread dominion quickly followed suit,
and, like the spread of leprosy in the twelfth century — from
being but little known in South Europe, it passed its original
bounds in a new epidemic era — so Rome attained in a new
epidemic era, under Sylla, Marius, Pompey, Caesar, and or*

284 Epidemics.

to Diocletian, a supremacy in an anthropological sense, and
a boundless sway over the civilized world, which mankind
has never seen realized since. Then, for the last 150 years of
this era, Roman power sank fast into the shades of increas-
ing darkness.

From thence we see the Saracen arise, and Europe
growing darker and darker ; but in about 300 years to 350,
the Saracen begins to wane — about goo A.D. — and, by the time
his era is ended, the blight of decay fast passes over his
dominions. The Turk, the Tartar, and the hirelings in
Egypt, slowly crushed and damped his ardour, and crippled
his power on every side, and about 1237 to I258 the Saracen
fades away. And now Europe begins to progress slowly
indeed, but surely, till about 300 years from the time of the
new anthropological epidemic era of 1170 or thereabouts,
and the dawning star of awakening intellect bursts into the
sunlight of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to go on with
a slow progress of onward expansion, till it ends, in the early
part of the nineteenth century, to take upon itself a wider and
more general expanse throughout the entire globe ; nursing,
protecting, and sustaining this onward spread, through the
agency of association, till consolidated strong enough, we may
hope, in the strength and vigour of its own great power, it
may stand upon foundations of merit and greatness suffi-
ciently strong not to require the constant care of association-
nursing, but be able to breathe the pure air of a more indepen-
dent, mental, and social empire which shall be more abiding,
and for the wider development of individual welfare and
security to mankind.

Exception will be taken, in treating upon epidemics, that
ethics and anthropology are here introduced ; but as between
the animal and vegetable kingdoms there are culminating
points and strong points of analogy, as well as of contrast,
so between the vital and moral force there is a mutual appro-

Epidemics. 285

priation and welding of which it is well to give a passing
notice.

If— '-through any peculiar telluric, geodic, and magnetic, or
any other condition of the earth, or the adoption of par-
ticular habits, dietary, customs, or social virtues or vices,
taken from a given centre, as Acre, we find, as ages roll on,
a continued series of alternations, and wider and yet wider
extensions and developments of social and dynastic empire,
till it threatens to envelop the whole world, and to culminate,
from its excellent geographical position, in making Acre its
grand central depot and great commercial market-place—it
is inferred, from some unknown or known influence, that the
organic functions and nerve-enduring powers of the great
central cerebral masses are adapted within certain areas, and
with races of men previously very differently fitted by
customs, habits, and natural advantages, both of climate,
soil, and geographical position, to be recipients of great
metamorphoses, and to undergo very marked and unmis-
takable changes in the functions and powers of the brain —
hence we recognize the brain and nervous system as the
more immediate cause of successive changes of dynasties
and empires, from a physico-vital point of view.

But with these changes in man's cerebral mass, which is
the great instrument of the mind, it is well to observe that
the pure physical power, or improved capacity and endur-
ance of the brain and nerve centres, is turned, in an endless
variety of forms, into a very widely destructive power by
the moral force which rules and guides the physical power.
For the physical power, which is the result of vital power
or force shown in instinct or identical successive courses
of action, under similar external conditions, is, for alien
purposes, exceedingly circumscribed ; whilst the moral
force is wide-spread in its alien manifestations, and its
aim in destruction is directed chiefly against accumulated

286 Epidemics.

property and cultivated lands, or all things which the hand
of man aids in producing.

The watchful care and knowledge which enables man to
plant and gather of the products of the earth, his neighbour,
with like care and watchful knowledge, tries to destroy.

If, then, man's moral force is not, in so great an age of
association and combination as is the present anthropo-
logical era, kept in check, and guided by some fixed and
central ethical and comprehensive benevolent principle and
system (and we have it already to hand in the New Testa-
ment), the result of great and ramifying association, with
the ever-increasing means, by machinery and invention, of
bringing that social principle into practical effect — from the
world's past history, it is quite certain, if the moral system
of an enlarged and practical benevolence does not gradually
leaven the whole human race, that the vital force, through
human devices of a destructive character, will expend itself
in covering whole tr acts of land with thorns and briars and
rank and useless vegetation, in the place of the rich harvests
of corn, and wine, and cattle, and all that is useful to both
man and beast.

Hence, though the digression into anthropology, as given
to us in history, may be considered somewhat foreign to a
mere sketch of vital force, yet, when it is more carefully
examined, a co-relation and balance between the moral and
vital force meet in such a culminating point, and frequently
in an antagonistic form, that the bare suggestion of their
having a common field of action on this small planet of ours
is scarcely out of place.

WE NOW COME TO THE SUPPOSED CAUSE, OR CAUSES,
OF EPIDEMICS.

It will be perceived that neither earthquakes, volcanoes,
comets, mildew, swarms of locusts, heavy continued rains,

Epidemics. 287

nor too long continued droughts, are admitted as the cause
or causes of epidemic disease, in the broad sense of that
word ; but something more regular, constant, systematic,
and always fraught with marked changes in the form of
diseases, and in the type of those diseases, which are of a
more constant and ever-present character — as inflam-
mations and haemorrhages, etc., as contrasted with new
forms, like to Black death and cholera. And, with these
changes in disease, the intellectual and moral condition
of mankind have been closely associated, or at least
an attempt has been made to show the probability of
such a relationship.

It is well to remark that mildew, foggy weather, long
frosts, long droughts, volcanoes, and earthquakes, and it
may be in some very limited manner comets and eclipses,
each have some effect in the promotion of epidemics, but
that promotion partakes more or less of an " endemic character."
In the case of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, especially
in those of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, certain
emanations of a gaseous or material character may also have
partaken of a poisonous character, and, to whatever extent
those emanations extended, there specific diseases might
have arisen as a direct effect of the diffusion of a poisoned
atmosphere ; yet, even under such circumstances, the spread
of disease could scarcely be conceded to have much more
than a widespread local or endemic influence. But in such
a disease as the Levant plague or cholera, the regular
advance and encircling diffusion over the globe, in the
process of years, could scarcely be allowed to have its origin
and diffusion as a sequence and effect of any particular
emanation from any particular spot upon the earth's surface.
Its march and invasion would forbid any such hypothesis,
unless it be admitted that some particular emanation in
itself cast out and diffused some special kind of vegetable or

288 Epidemics.

animal spore or fungoid diffusible germs, which as a perma-
nent growth is highly improbable.

Even here we are met by the fact of such a disease
as cholera, being an old and endemic form of disease,
changing its character, and spreading more than the locust
in every clime under the sun. How an eruption from the
same centre, if such had been the case, could give new
powers of diffusion and extension, centuries after, is as
utterly inconceivable as that an eruption should have first
originated in one part of the globe, and yet eruptions of
apparently a like nature or character should have never
had a similar effect in any other part of the globe.

Again, heat, either in excess or in defect, is a great factor
of disease. The extremes between 32° and 120° Fahr.
seem to be moderately well borne by vegetable life, and if
we consider the teeming multitudes in India, China, and
Central Africa, and of Central and South Europe, it appears
to be equally well borne in animal life as represented in
man, who, it must be observed, is a nude or clothed animal
according to the exigencies of climate and customs, etc.
But thirty degrees, above or below these points or ranges,
is fraught with the most dangerous consequences to both
animal and vegetable life; yet epidemic disease never ap-
pears to avail itself of these extremes for the end of encom-
passing with disease and death the multitude of victims
which fall under its fatal grasp.

But it must be observed that during epidemic eras slow
and gradual changes in the earth's temperature have taken
place — but very much quicker, and of a far more marked
character than ever could have been brought about within
the historic age of man — by a slow decrease in the eccen-
tricity of the earth's orbit, as maintained by the late Sir J.
Herschel ; which changes, from their speed, indicate some-
thing within the earth itself of a slow and gradual nature,

Epidemics. 289

but quicker and quite independent of the eccentricity of the
earth's orbit.

For, howsoever we turn about, since the historic age of
man, the difference with which the sun's rays have been
received on the earth's surface, upon the score of the
eccentricity of the earth's orbit, is merely fractional ; and
the diurnal amount from year to year on any particular spot
of the earth is, from a practical point of view, the same
now as it was in the days of Nimrod and Pharaoh I., if
anybody knows on what day he ascended the throne in the
days of Egyptian greatness.

Let us look at one or two of the indications of slow and
gradual changes of temperature on the earth's surface within
the historic period of man.

Job says that " my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a
brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; which are
blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid."*

Here the very description indicates ice in a pond, or
covering a running stream ; for though snow is white, when
water by flowing has covered it and then frozen it in, the
whiteness disappears, and a blackish look results. If such
a passage as this is given, to illustrate the deceitfulness of
character, to the hearers whom Job was reproaching, it
cannot be doubted for one moment that both speaker and
hearers were perfectly familiar with the fact which is here
used as a simile for character.

To speak of the face of the deep, as in another passage of
Job, being as stone and frozen ; and a brook freezing snow
in its course and covering it with ice in such a land as
Idumea, or Edom, or Arabia Felix appears incredible ; but
from 1600 or 1500 B.C. this was a fact well known to
the learned in that land, and familiar to a degree that

* Job vi. 15, 16 ; also see Job xxxviii. 30.

290 Epidemics.

suffered it to be used as a matter of common illustration of
subjects not otherwise so well understood.

Again, to speak of the coast of Greenland, now encom-
passed, ten, twenty, and thirty miles from shore, with
a belt of ice, being in 982 A.D, perfectly free from ice, and in
1 121 A.D. a bishopric appointed by Sigard, King of Norway,
and in a short time having sixteen churches, one hundred
and ninety hamlets, and two convents, appears equally in-
credible ; but by the year 1408 ice so far increased round
the coast, that Norway and Denmark ceased to count Green-
land as a colony of any practical utility, and as utterly
beyond the reach of maritime adventure.*

The Bosphorus was ice-worthy from land to land in 764,
and 860 the Adriatic was frozen.

The Thames and the Baltic, and many rivers in England,
were frozen between 1063 and 1683, especially from 1407 to
1683, and again in 1789 and 1814.

For the first four centuries of the Christian era the
climate of England was not very inferior to that of Italy,
and most of the fruits, especially the vine, which are
peculiar to Southern Europe and Central Germany, were
commonly grown in this country in the open air, and came
to great perfection ; but as a wine-producing country, for
more than a thousand years, England has been as barren in
this produce as the Isle of Skye or the coast of Finland.

From these and many other considerations, too numerous
to be mentioned, it may be generally affirmed that within
3,000 to 4,000 years the more southern, and, proximally, the
regions nearer the equator, have become hotter than in
former times, and the more northern regions have become
increasingly colder, with very marked and irregular excep-
tions, as in the years for this country of 1826 and 1868 ; but,
be it understood, without any perceptible change in the

* See Scoresby's " Voyage to Greenland," 1823, introduction.

Epidemics. 291

amount of the sun's rays falling on our planet from year to
year during the whole of this period.

Under similar solar conditions our monsoons, siroccos,
and trade winds, which, according to the solar theory, ought
to come to the minute year by year, are far from obeying
that law of uniformity ; for so great is their deviation from
this rule, that year by year the agriculturists and the tax-
gatherers in India are looking for their advent with the
greatest anxiety, as their frequent delays so materially
affect the crops, which for want of sufficient rain within a
given time determines their almost total failure, or contrari-
wise, an abundant harvest.

If it is not the sun's rays, nor yet the qualified intensity of
them, through the spots or opaque masses on the sun's disc
which are observable from time to time, what is the
efficient cause of so much . variation of temperature on the
earth's surface, within given areas, which is capable of pro-
ducing such an amount of irregularity ? It will be said that
the ever-varying conditions on the earth's surface, from the
slow and gradual changes of depression and elevation in the
masses resting on the surface, are the efficient causes.

But this will suffice. For, putting on one side the general
and vague statements of older writers B.C., let us consider
one or two of the remarks of authors since the time mercury
was received as a standard of measure for temperature.
Fahrenheit's being used in this country as the usual standard,
it is here followed. Quoting from Haydn —

In 1796, Dec. 25, London, cold 16° below zero.

,, 1854, Jan- 3> » c°ld 4° below zero.

,, 1860, Dec. 25, ,, cold 18° to 15° below zero

in several places in
England.

,, 1810, Jan. 13, Moscow, mercury frozen hard.
Here four instances are given, and many might be added — as

19—2

292 Epidemics.

from Dr. Short's work on the " Comparative History of the
Increase and Decrease of Mankind in England, with a Meteo-
rological Discourse," 1767, and many recent authorities — to
show that changes in temperature are neither gradual nor
equal, year by year, for the same locality. Here also consult
the meteorological charts of Greenwich and Kew, or Paris
and Berlin, when it will be found that thermometrical varia-
tions of 30 degrees are not very infrequent within 48 hours,
for like times of the day or the night.

It is therefore clear that the mere surface of the earth,
with its equal or nearly equal solar rays, cannot at all affect
the equilibrium of temperature, by any sudden and violent
changes within two or three days. Again, as all our storms
and rain-falls are equally regulated by temperature, it
follows that no surface change in electricity or magnetism can
possibly accomplish such sudden and important variations.

Electric and magnetic variations, that are not sub-alluvial
in their origin, must be accomplished by reciprocity of
changes going on between lunar and solar rays, animal and
vegetable organisms, and the general surface or stratified
rock superficies of the earth ; but the equal, gradual, and
uniform nature of each, cateris paribus, is such as to totally
exclude the earth's surface as the great regulator of the
sudden magnetic or electro-thermal variations now known to
be perpetually occurring, and we must, as a sequence, admit
a central or internal source as a regulator of the magnetic
and thermo-electric conditions apparent on the surface of
the earth.

These considerations lead to the inferences arrived at by
Dr. Gilbert, 1600, and Halley at a somewhat later period—
the former of whom judged that, towards the earth's centre,
there was a large magnetic mass, and the latter that the
earth consisted of an inner and outer magnetic shell,
revolving one within the other, but at very nearly equal

Epidemics. 293

ratios of motion ; but the difference of ratio was sufficient to
account for the ever constant change or variation of the
magnetic needle towards the Northern and Southern Poles.

In more modern times we understand that in both hemi-
spheres, north and south, the poles have, in relation to the
earth's axis, an eastern and western centre of magnetic attrac-
tion, or there are two northern magnetic poles and two
southern.

The time in which each completes a revolution of 360° is
variable. Dr. Barlow calculates the north-western pole to
complete its revolution once in 850 years, and Haustein cal-
culates the weaker pole as 860, and the stronger about
double that time, or 1,740 in the northern hemisphere, and in
the southern 1,307, and the stronger in 4,609 years. The
observations and calculations, though accurate enough over
a limited period of time, as those of the southern- hemi-
sphere, have been very recently made. But it is impossible,
from the shortness of time over which these observations
have run, to arrive at anything like a just estimate of
the time required to complete any given revolution in the
southern hemisphere, or eastern side of the northern hemi-
sphere. Again, the declination or secular variation of the
compass moves from east to west, and back again. In 1580
it was slightly to the east, in 1660 it was due north, and
1818 to 1823 it attained to its extreme westerly direction,
and it has since been moving eastward.

To complete one oscillation, or complete extension of
variation from extreme west to extreme east, it is calculated
that a period of 320 years is required, and, of course, to
regain the extreme west again would be another 320 years ;
which periods, added together, give the epidemic period here
maintained as based upon historical data extending over
1,900 years, or from the time of Pompey's conquests in the
east on to the present time, and not at all upon any mag-

294 Epidemics.

netic theory or observations ; since the historical data had
heen arrived at some years before the magnetic observations
had been brought under notice.

The two works, from which the short abstract upon
terrestrial magnetism is given, are, first, Sir W. Snow Harris's,
F.R.S., "Rudimentary Magnetism, "in Weale's Series, 1850;
and, second, the article " Magnetism," in the second volume of
" Natural Philosophy," published by the Society for the Pro-
motion of Useful Knowledge. Much progress has been made,
or theory suggested, since these works, but nothing that has
materially shaken the outline broadly and yet briefly given
in them.

It will be said that, between the time for the completion
of an oscillation wave and its return, and a certain
assumed historical data of 640 to 650 years, there is a lucky
coincidence, and nothing more ; but, as it is quite an unde-
signed coincidence, the historical data being assumed years
before the oscillation wave was known, perhaps such a
coincidence is worth while being considered.

As we have now arrived at a point where some general
theory must be assumed as having some co-relation to vital
physics and epidemics generally, a short summary of ob-
jections, and of things approved of in relation to some final
theory or explanation, will be necessary.

ist : If the light and heat of the sun, aided by the reflected
light of the moon, is equal year by year, and, with the ex-
ceptions of eclipses, spots on the sun, and comets, may be
counted as actually invariable, it is legitimate to infer that
they are not the cause or causes of the great variations of
temperature, drought, excessive rain-falls, snow-storms, and
frost, which occur year by year, or every few years, in all
parts of the globe, and of such magnitude and variety as
to be the source of great care and anxiety in our clothing,
gardening, farming, and grazing operations ; that suffering

Epidemics. 295

and even death are the direct results of the unequal distri-
bution, at given seasons, of heat and moisture over limited
areas of territory.

The famines of Persia and India will illustrate this
statement, and in our own land the drought of 1868 might
suffer feeble comparison in recent periods.

2nd : No changes on the superficies of the globe are of
an extensive character, and at the same time sudden, but
they are slow and gradual, unless we admit those from the
interior which reach the surface, as earthquakes and volca-
noes ; but it is no infrequent thing, within 48 hours, to
experience a change in temperature of 30 degrees Fahr.
Such sudden changes are impossible to result from chemical
decomposition, when they range over miles of territory, and
much less can the regular solar heat vary so suddenly.
Hence the changes arising from solar heat or chemical de-
composition are totally insufficient to account for those
frequent and sudden changes of temperature and moisture
so commonly experienced, or for those changes of a longer
duration and of a more subtle nature, called epidemic
periods, which so materially affect the vital conditions of
particular districts, and of large portions of the globe
itself.

3rd : Force, in some way or other, holds and binds this
earth together — call it attraction of cohesion, aggregation,
or attraction of gravitation. It is force of some kind which
holds this earth together. But to be force, as already men-
tioned in the chapter upon vital physics, antagonism is
essential.

And the earth itself has within itself the antagonizing
forces of repulsion and attraction, but in such very different
degrees, and manifested in such a variety of forms, that the
whole earth is in unceasing action throughout, in the forms
of magnetism, diamagnetism, internal heat, and fire, with

296 Epidemics.

the outcome of constant processes of elevation and de-
pression ; whilst, by the very nature of its rock superstruc-
ture or stratification, an enormous amount of dry, moist, or
wet galvanic action is going on, which in less than 50,000 years
bids fair to destroy, by its constant disintegrating effect,
every petrified remain contained in our stratified rocks ; and
the present state in which they are found too surely marks
the slow process of disintegration, or decay, to which
they have been subjected ; whilst through some chemical
process, carried on by electro-magnetism and galvanism
chiefly, our forest of Coniferae have undergone a half
crystalline and stony change in the form of coal beds.
Added to these, such constant changes are going on in the
magnetic dip, and in the position of the magnetic poles,,
that it is impossible to deny, that within herself, the earth
has constant and ceaseless work going on, and by forces in
perfect unison, and in perfect Harmony with those forces
which bind the earth, the sun, and all the planets to each
other.

Hence it is inferred that, as certain actions and forces,
between this earth and the sun, are essential for the due
display of vital phenomena on the surface of the globe in
the form of animals and vegetables, so for the preservation
and due integrity of vital forms existing in the two kingdoms
those forces which are within the earth, also, have a certain
and constant effect upon all things moving and growing
upon its surface ; and that, from the changes and balancing
of forces within, the vital organisms receive energy, or are
retarded in those functions and forms of manifestation
which they exhibit on its variable and ever-changing
surface.

But, from the nature of epidemic and many other
phenomena, it is assumed that there are regular and con-
secutive changes constantly going on within the earth, but

Epidemics. 297

not of that equal and invariable character observed in the
motions of the planetary bodies; and that, at some time or
other, some violence has occurred to its internal constitution
or mechanism, which has thrown out of order that
uniformity of sequences, so much observed in our seasons,
and our diseases, yet not to that degree in which general
laws cannot be distinctly traced and plainly indicated.

That violence, or a succession of violent shocks, upon a
large and gigantic scale, have occurred to this globe,
geology has long since recognized. From the views
already given in relation to the earth itself having, from the
constant relation of forces within itself, a true and certain
effect on vital manifestations on its surface, it will be
perceived that no changes, of any great magnitude within,
can occur without, in some measure, the vital integrity of
objects on its surface being more or less affected ; but
changes far greater, and of a more powerful nature, than
anything merely going five to ten miles below the sur-
face.

The great question, therefore, is this — Is stratification
the result of slow and gradual changes, running over a long
series of years and ages, till we gradually arrive at the expres-
sion of an epoch, may-be, of 1,000,000 years, or twice or three
times that time, to be succeeded by another epoch of equal
or longer duration ? Or is rock stratification owing to some
mighty and much more comprehensive catastrophe, and is
the present order of things simply the outcomes of all the
good and evil which that mighty change has left to mark
its completeness and its existence ?

To this latter view the writer is disposed to lean, no
matter what the enormous difficulties are which appear to
stand opposed to it ; and in 1864 he wrote a short tract
anonymously, entitled " Doubts Relative to the Epochal
and Detrital Theory, by a Near Kinsman of Thomas

298 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

Didymus," which tract has a very direct bearing upon the
whole subject.

The entire evidence of a succession of changes and con-
vulsions of the earth, or only one mighty and exhaustive
one, turns upon the subject of rock formation from detritus,
and this paper will conclude the present short treatise on
vital force, and is, as it were, a kind of corollary to the
entire subject of epidemics.

DOUBTS RELATIVE TO THE EPOCHAL AND DETRITAL
THEORY OF GEOLOGY.

As epochs or eras in geological language are not accepted
as representing the exact opinions held by most geologists
at the present time, and any attempt to disprove the epochal
or detrital theory of geology, based upon the notion that
every stratum has been formed at a particular period of
time, and that during the same period of time none other has
been in process of formation at some distant portion of
the globe, is totally unnecessary ; since most geologists are
prepared to admit that upon distant areas of the earth's
surface, in one part a given stratum may be completed,
whilst at another part a new stratum is in process of
formation. Thus free scope is left for the application of
the developmental theory of Darwin, upon the basis of
natural selection, without the necessity of supposing each
new species requiring a special act of creative power for
its manifestation, but only an improved condition favourable
for its development.

. Detrital Theory of Geology. 299

But whilst the distinction of epochs or eras is rejected as
being totally inapplicable to any particular formation, as
regards the period of deposition in all parts of the earth at one
and the same time, yet, on the other hand, it is maintained
that, in any given area or locality on the earth's surface,
every stratum there found super-imposed upon another, is
as distinct and separate in relation to time as the several
strata therein contained are distinct from each other.

Hence any given locality, from the strata it contains,
correctly expresses according to the detrital theory, by the
order of super-position, the relative periods or epochs at
which each individual stratum therein contained was
formed ; and, also, from the depth and contents of each
stratum, the length of period required for its formation is
surmised.

It is the purport of this paper to question the validity of
DETRITUS, as being a sufficient means of explaining the
formation of strata, and, therefore, of the value of Strati-
fication as a means of determining the age of the earth, or
how far we are justified in viewing it as a chronological
chart.

The original crust of the earth, whether regarded as of
aqueous or igneous origin, is admitted on all hands to have
been GRANITE, and is thus described by a well-known
author: — "The unstratified or igneous rocks occur in no
regular succession, but appear amidst the stratified without
order or arrangement, heaving them out of their original
horizontal positions, breaking through them in volcanic
masses, and sometimes over-running them after the manner
of liquid lava. From these circumstances they are in
general better known by their mineral composition than by
their order of occurrence. Still it may be convenient to
divide them into three great classes — granitic, trappean, and
volcanic ; granitic being the basis of all known rocks, and

300 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

occurring along with primary and transition strata ; the
trappean of a darker and less crystalline structure than the
granitic, and occurring along with the secondary and
tertiary rocks; and the volcanic, still less crystalline and
compact, and of comparatively recent origin, or still in
process of formation."

It is, then, from this primary rock, granite, that we ought
to seek for the elements found in subsequent rock formations,
which take their origin from the granitic series ; oceanic
currents, winds, rains, floods, frosts, thaws, heat, rivers,
and seas, all aiding to disintegrate and drift from one point
to another fine particles of dust, sand, and detritus
generally, accumulated from the attrition of granite in the
first instance, and afterwards from rocks formed out of such
attrition, and exposed to like disintegrating agents as first
acted upon the granite, each assisting by their own
materials in the formation of subsequent strata. But in
the secondary and tertiary formations, vegetable and animal
organization largely contribute to fix the character and
structure of considerable portions of particular strata.

Such being a general outline of the formation of strata,
and the source from whence they proceed, it follows that
from this primary rock, granite, we ought to seek for the
elements which make up the more recent ones, which are
said to originate from it. But if elements are found in
these rocks which granite does not contain, or if elements
are contained in very great abundance in the strata above
granite, and in granite they are found in very small pro-
portions, it is evident that they are not derived from the
mechanical disintegration of that rock, aided by the
accumulation of depositions in the form of organic remains*

From the foregoing general observations it will not be
deemed irrelevant if the attention is now directed to the-
ORIGIN OF LIME, as a constituent of most stratified and

Detrital Theory of Geology.

301

transitionary rocks, in some occupying a limited range in
their constituent parts, and in others by far the greater
bujk,% whilst at all times it is very limited in granite.

The most important step in such an inquiry is to ascer-
tain, as near as may be, the chemical composition of
granite ;* and to this end a table (No. I Table) is supplied,
chiefly gathered from a FEW of the analyses of Bischof, and
added to those of Brande and Page. In this table many
minerals known to exist in granite, but which are only
occasionally found, such as orthite, apatite, &c., are
designedly omitted, as also is garnet (which occurs more
frequently in eruptive rocks than in granite, and which,
moreover, in its chemical composition in relation to lime is
very variable, lime being sometimes altogether absent),
because the quantity of lime derivable from such sources is
too inconsiderable to deserve attention.

TABLE I.

1

Alumina.

•
1

Potash.

1

Magnesia.

1

c

0

Eruptive Often found among
rocks. the eruptive rocks.

AS
Q2
l|4<

11

B|

Dd.Pge

U

Ji

w

* 3

li-

Dd.Pg€

1 Felspar

67
46

100

59
59
42
52
461060
65-52
6370
69-00

Same
ai

44^3
48-00
52-52
53

19

14

H

10

10

..

20

7

2

J

0-80

11-32
4-50

I'7
6

Mica

Quartz

Hornblende
Steatite

10

17-61
23'95
19-43

as Ortl
id Albi

16-48
34-24
30-03
5

14

7*014
0-94
2-05

O'2O

loclase
te.

12-58
19

7
12-98

I'2O

(equal
ofP
and
coml

875 *

i;70
8-n
11-47
parts \
Jtash 1
Soda [
rined. J
57

4-5I

20

32
40

12
I4t028

trace.

19-06
0*50
0*19
15

7

'I

1-25

Serpentine

Chlorite

. Hornblende

Orthoclase ,

Oligoclase
Albite

Adular

' Magnesia Mica
1 Potash Mica

* In examining the analyses of granite, a careful distinction ought to
be made between the granitic and granatoid rocks.

302

Doubts Relative to the Epochal and
TABLE II.*

TERTIARY OR
CAINOZOIC.

Mineral accumulations of historic period,
Pleistocene,
Pleiocene,
Miocene,
Eocene.

SECONDARY OR MESOZOIC.

Cretaceous.

Chalk of Maestricht aud Denmark,
Ordinary chalk with and without flints,
Upper green sand,
Gault,
Shanklin sands, Vectin Neocomian or lower green sand,
Wealden clay,
Hastings sands,
Purbeck series.

J

"3
O

6
•

3
>— i

Portland oolite or limestone,
Portland sands,
Kimmeridge clay,
Coral rag with its grits,
Oxford clay with Kello way's rock,
Cornbrash,
Forest marble and Bath oolite,
Fullers' earth, clay, and limestone,
Inferior oolite and its sands,
Lias upper and lower with its intermediate marlstone.

i, "
Hi

Variegated marbles,
Muschelkalk,
Red sandstone, gres bigarre", bunter sandstein.

PRIMARY OR PALEOZOIC.

fej

&« g

Zechstein, dolomitic, and magnesian limestone,
Lower new red, conglomerate and sandstones,
Coal measures.

Carboni-
ferous
Limstne.

Carboniferous and mountain limestone, with its coal, sand-
stone, and shale in some districts.
Carboniferous slates and yellow sandstones.

a

0 C

«.2

Modifications of old red sandstone.

Silurian.

Upper Ludlow rocks, Wenlock shale and limestone, Wool-
hope limestone,
Middle Caradoc sandstone and conglomerate,
Lower Landeilo, Bala, and Snowdon beds.

il

Barmouth sandstone, Penrhyn slates, Longmynd rocks, and
various rocks below the Silurian.

HYPOZOIC.

«v

0 £

S£

Beds of mica schist, consisting of quartz and mica with or
without felspar or garnets, chloritic schist, talc schist,
quartz rock, clay slate, limited beds of iron ore.

i
%

c
O

Beds of gneiss, consisting of laminae of quartz, felspar, and
mica ; beds of mica schist, quartz rock, limestone, horn-
blende schist.

PRIMITIVE OR
IGNEOUS.

Syenite, ^ The relative position and age of these rocks
Porphyry, is more or less uncertain, though it seems
Basalt, probable that they may stand in the order
Porphyritic granite, J here assigned to them.
( This system of igneous rocks descends to an undefined
Granite, j depth, and is assumed to rest upon the internal liquid
I nucleus of the globe.

From Lardner's " Popular Geology."

Detrital Theory of Geology. 303

In examining the rocks formed from granite (including
their organic remains), there are none which require a more
careful consideration than the gneiss system, the same
being first in order after granite, but in chemical composi-
tion containing an excess of lime as compared with that
rock. In this system hornblende schist occupies a pro-
minent place, in conjunction with talc, chlorite, and mica
schists, amongst which latter magnesia takes a more pro-
minent place than lime.

The texture and appearance of the metamorphic rocks
closely resemble that of granite, and the extreme com-
minution of their crystals closely approximates the primary
plutonic rocks. They appear to consist of little else than
crystals of granite, worn and comminuted, and thrown
together into strata, or thinly laminated beds of granite
debris deposited from water, which had worn the granite
rock in one part of the ocean, and by currents conveyed it
to another.

By observing Table I., the per-centage of lime and mag-
nesia in hornblende exceeds that in mica or felspar very
considerably ; and hornblende is a rock very generally dis-
tributed in the granite series, though more superficial and
more limited in quantity than either felspar, quartz, or mica.
Hence hornblende is naturally looked upon as the source
of lime and magnesia in the metamorphic rocks, if these
rocks are formed MERELY by the disintegration of the
granite. But in the gneiss system hornblende crystals
occur in such great abundance as hornblende schists, that it
must be inferred that this schist, in the gneiss, represents
fully and ENTIRELY all the hornblende derivable from the
disintegration of granite.

Now, in the gneiss system, dolomite (composed of equal
proportions of lime and magnesia), is occasionally found, and
the talc schist in the same system contains as much as

304 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

36 per cent, of magnesia. It, therefore, cannot be supposed
that the hornblende in the granite, which is pre-occupied in
forming the hornblende schist of the gneiss system, can also
suffice to yield in addition as much lime and magnesia as
occur in the dolomite and talc schist of the same system ;
and still less that it should, beyond that, suffice to account
for the lime occurring as carbonate of lime in the primary
limestone of the gneiss system.

Again, even supposing that the hornblende schist has had
both magnesia and lime abstracted from it, and in places
here and there it be found to be considerably freed from
them, yet the amount of hornblende or syenite is so incon-
siderable as compared with quartz, mica, and felspar, that
it is totally insufficient to supply the amount of crystalline
limestone and of lime contained in dolomite found in the
metamorphic rocks ; and the mere fractional amount con-
tained in felspar is scarcely worth a serious consideration in
accounting for so large an amount of lime as is found in the
primary limestone and dolomite belonging to the gneiss
system.

If then lime, as contained in granite, is more than ex-
hausted in supplying the first series of the transitionary
rocks, and that alkaline earth is there taking precedency
over its representative in granite, what can be said of lime
in the strata above them ? Passing over the Skiddaw
system of rocks, in which hornblende and chiastolite slate
are largely supplied with magnesia rather than lime, we
come to the Cambrian and Silurian systems. In these
rocks, whether the Bala or the Llandeilo, the Plinlimmon
or the Wenlock rocks be examined, there we find LIME in
considerable abundance, and among the alkaline earths
taking the foremost position. From the silurian onwards,
through the Devonian, carboniferous, new red sandstone,
on to the chalk, lime is found amongst the alkaline earths in

Detrital Theory of Geology. 305

by far the greatest abundance, magnesia the next in
frequency, and potash the least ; neither is this order of
amount or frequency changed when the tertiary formations
are carefully considered.

For if the chief elements or earths were arranged in the
order of frequency or quantity in the granite, and then the sedi-
mentary rocks, they would stand pretty nearly in the follow-
ing order : in granite — silicon, alumina, potash, magnesia,
iron, soda, and lime, would represent the relative amount of
the component parts, commencing with silicon as the most
abundant, and lime as the least ; whilst in the sedimentary
rocks the arrangement of the constituent parts being made
in the order of frequency or amount, the following would
obtain : silicon most abundant, alumina and lime nearly
equal, and magnesia, iron, soda, and potash much less
abundant.

After a careful consideration, by the data supplied, of the
component parts of the sedimentary and granitic rocks,
though there is no certain measure, it is probably not far from
the truth to estimate lime in granite as about 3 per cent., and
in the sedimentary 16 or 17 per cent. If such, then, be an
approximation to the actual relation of lime as contained in
the two kinds of rocks — plutonic and sedimentary — whence
is it that such a contrast in the quantity of LIME should
exist, when one is derived in part or entirely from the
other ? In the mode in which the matter is here put, it will
be said, nothing can be admitted which does not involve the
absurdity, that the effect is greater than the cause. There-
fore, for the better appreciation of this important subject,
one or two of the usually supposed sources of LIME will be
examined.

As, before there were rivers, the mighty ocean appears to
have washed over or rested upon ALL rocks, so in its waters
will be found all the soluble salts not reduced to an insoluble

20

Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

rocky precipitate, and what lime at that time was not a
component part of granite, etc., was a component part of
the oceanic waters. Again, taking the wide expanse of the
ocean as it now exists, and from its intensely salt flavour
towards the Equator, and its slightly salt flavour in the
Northern Ocean, especially in the Arctic regions, the waters
between the Mediterranean and the British Channel may be
considered as a fair average. If, then, the two analyses be
taken, the one by Dr. Schweitzer for the British Channel,
and the other by M. Laurens for the Mediterranean, the
following results are obtained : —

TABLE III.*

English
Channel.

Mediter-
ranean.

Water .

064. '74.072

(XQ'26

Chloride of Sodium

27*0^048

27*22

,, Potassium

O'76<[(2

O'OI

,, Magnesium
Bromide of Magnesium

3-66658
O'O2Q2Q

6*14

Sulphate of Magnesia
,, Lime

2-29578
i -40662

7-02
0*15

Carbonate of Lime

O"O33OI

O'2O C Mg.

1000 '00000

lOOO'OO

With the results set forth in Table III., let it be granted
that if all the lime could, at one given instant, be precipitated
from the ocean, even then, the deposit would not form a
seam or stratum of two yards in perpendicular depth ; which
would be a mere fraction compared with the actual amount
of lime present in the successive sedimentary rocks. Its
very sparing solubility, compared with soda and potash,
except as a chloride of calcium, excludes the supposition of its
having entered largely into the composition of sea water.
And if it had been contained as a chloride, sulphuric acid is
the only acid found in sea water capable of precipitating it,

* Graham's " Elements of Chemistry," ist edit., p. 266.

Detrital Theory of Geology. 307

when it would have appeared as insoluble gypsum — a rock
found here and there in the sedimentary series, especially in
the triassic and tertiary systems, but nowhere to any great
extent. On the other hand, if it be imagined that heat has
expelled the chlorine, and so a large sediment of lime has
been precipitated, still, setting aside every difficulty as to
where the chlorine went, and how it was again taken up to
form a chloride of sodium, etc., it may be briefly stated that
such a process would only assist to explain the formation
of ONE STRATUM or layer, and would leave the rest to
chance.

Hence the conclusion of Bischof may be adopted without
hesitation, that — " The assumption that sea water contained
a larger quantity of carbonate of lime at the period of the
formation of the great limestone strata from the transition
limestone to the chalk, and that the increase of limestone
formations during this period was a consequence of the
decrease of this carbonate in sea water, is contradicted by
the circumstance that it would then have been impossible
that a solution should have been left which is so far from
saturation as the sea water of the present time ; for all pre-
cipitations which result from evaporation of solutions leave a,
saturated mother liquor.

" It is, therefore, evident that in every point of view the
assumption that our great limestone strata, from the
grauwacke limestone to the chalk, have resulted from the
evaporation of sea water, is altogether unfounded."*

It being granted that the LIME in granite, superadded to
that of the lime in sea water, is insufficient to account for
the amount found in the sedimentary rocks, as now known,
the important point still remains to be answered — Whether
the calcareous casts or exuviae of the universally diffused

* "Chemical and Physical Geology," by Gustav. Bischof. Vol.1.,
page 178.

20 — 2

308 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

families of the foraminifera and polypifera have not been the
efficient factors of our lime strata ? The bare fact that much
of our lime, especially in the oolite and cretaceous systems,
is nothing else than organic exuviae, is too patent to admit
of a moment's doubt as to its correctness ; but the difficulty
does not rest with the admission of such facts, since the
original doubt still presents itself — Whence do these polypi
obtain their lime ? The answer to this question usually is,
that however small the quantity of lime sea water contains
in a given measure, yet such is the industry of the madre-
pores, astrseas, the millepores and seriatopores, that islands
are raised by them in the midst of the ocean, and a continent
is being girt by their increasing labours. Granted that it is
so, yet the BED of the ocean in many parts, and the washing
of its endless SHORES, yield a constant fresh supply of lime
to those waters from which the lime has been abstracted
by the industrious zoophytes. The founding and extending
of coral-reef building has nothing to do with the small
amount of carbonate of lime held in solution in sea water at
any one given time, but whether, when that is exhausted by
the reef-building polypi, there is placed within the limits of
the ocean's expanse lime sufficient to replace that abstracted
from the waters, and so the unceasing demands of the polypi
receive an unceasing supply.

For if there is not sufficient lime, then, where that limit
defines itself, there their work must cease — since zoophytes
are no more alchymists than the higher order Bimania — and
the power to convert silicon or alumina into lime, where the
latter element (or compound) ceases to exist, would be
necessary to enable them to carry on their work ; for they
cannot create matter or lime, they can but apply it when
present. Therefore, the organic source of lime is bounded
by the same limit as that of pure sedimentary rock — namely,
the quantity deposited as exuvice is limited by the sources or means

Detrital Theory of Geology. 309

of supply. If, furthermore, it is maintained, that the ocean
has within it springs of carbonate of lime, yet those springs
cannot have their source where granite is the bed ; for what
it contains in a very small proportion, it cannot supply in a
very large one. Hence, from whatever side it is viewed,
the lime contained in coral-reef, etc., cannot have its source
in or from granite.

Another source of lime must not remain unnoticed —
namely, the eruptive rocks that are not granite, for M. de
Beaumont has shown that these latter rocks have protruded
themselves through strata even later than the secondary,
upheaving, dislocating, and displacing their previously hori-
zontal beds or plains.

As far as the eruptive rocks stand related to lime and
stratification generally, there is much difficulty in deciphering
their origin and effects, and they are closely connected with
the internal heat of the earth. The seething waves of liquid
fire, which, on approaching the crater of an active volcano,
can be distinctly heard, and which, after being long pent up,
pour forth their fiery streams as a devastating scourge upon
all around, bespeak the potency of the element at work, but,
like their own clouded light, leave us in ignorance as to the
extent of the hidden caldron, or its location in the bowels of
the earth.

Though the heat beneath our feet increases by regular
increments, after a certain depth from the surface — say, in
temperate regions, from 60 to 90 feet, and by calculation the
earth is proved to be in a state of fusion at a comparatively
short distance from the surface, yet the mean density of the
earth, as proved by the oscillations of the pendulum, forbids
the notion that the interior can be lighter than the crust, or
that the liquid lava poured out from a volcano can have the
same specific gravity within as on the surface, if it be liquid
at one fourth the semi-diameter of the earth, and that

310 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

liquidity be produced by a degree of heat of far greater in-
tensity than can possibly be produced on the surface.

Under such conditions of heat, and allowing with Dr.
Young that " at the earth's centre, steel would be com-
pressed into one-fourth and stone into one-eighth of its
bulk,"* yet, as the heat is still increasing as the centre is
neared, it is difficult to conceive how molecular attraction
could resist the expansive power of heat, and that any
other than a perfect fluid of a homogeneous nature, and of
no very great specific gravity,* occupies a very considerable
portion of the earth's interior ; the researches of Airy and
Hopkins have gone far to determine such a condition.

In contrast with this conclusion, and also with that now
very generally adopted, of the earth having once been a fluid
or molten mass moving in its orbit as a fiery meteor, the two
following facts relative to the earth's surface appear to be in
direct opposition.

ist : From whatever point of view the internal heat of the
earth is measured, the external area of the globe cannot be
more contracted than it has been for ages past, for the
amount of unconformity in the sedimentary rocks is less in
proportion, so far as observation has yet extended, to the
amount of disruption of granite, or of irruptive rocks, since
such sedimentary rocks have been formed ; which circum-
stance bespeaks rather an increase than a decrease of the
earth's superficial area. Moreover, the general elevation of
the sedimentary rocks from the time of the metamorphic
rocks until now, as shown by the increase of LAND plants
and animals, especially AFTER the formation of the Cum-
brian, Cambrian, and Devonian systems, all tend to the
same conclusion. For during their formation the almost
total absence of land organic remains, and, in some parts,
the great abundance of marine remains, attest the univer-

* Lyell's " Principles of Geology," 8th edit., page 515.

Detrital Theory of Geology. 311

polity of sea distribution, and the remarkably slight elevation of
the land ; whilst, after these formations, land remains become
more extensive and abundant.

If, then, it is admitted by geologists that the aqueous and
atmospheric oceans are and have been the same in all ages,
for the increased elevation of land above the sea, it must be
admitted that the earth's area has, in process of ages,
expanded rather than contracted, and that the gradual
gaining of the land over the sea is owing to an increase of
expansive power or heat, and not to a decrease ; for all forms of
matter, save that in the form of water, CONTRACT when they
have passed from a fluid into a solid condition. The flues of
the earth, in the form of active volcanoes, are but relics of
this elevation, and are so many safety-valves to moderate
and equalize the relation between land and sea, and to check
too sudden or unequal elevations between the bed of the
ocean and the land. At least, from known data, such an in-
terpretation is perfectly valid.

Cracks and fissures from the cooling and contracting of
the molten mass, allowing the protrusion of more deeply-
seated porphyra, syenite, etc., etc., would only abstract heat
and matter from the interior to be placed upon the surface,
and would thereby occasion depression and increased sub-
mergence of land elsewhere, and could not in any wise lead
to the gradual gain of the land over the sea, but, so far as
the heat is concerned, to positive loss by radiation.

The known decrease of the solar heat upon the earth's sur-
face is perfectly compatible with the increase of the earth's
area, since by it the surface of radiation is increased ; and if
the atmosphere through which the sun's rays penetrate is
the same, then, the superficial area being increased, rare-
faction will be increased, and positive heat will be rendered
latent, and so the mean temperature of the earth will be
.slowly diminished ; it being assumed, at the same time,

312 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

that the atmosphere is the same now as then, and that its
amount of aqueous vapour be constant, and so the effect of
the chemical or calorific rays of the sun were brought into
action then as at the present time.

The slow decrease in the eccentricity of the earth's orbit
ought also to be borne in mind, as a further source of dimi-
nished solar heat.*

Should it be said, on the one hand, in opposition to the
aforesaid conditions of increased superficial area and dimi-
nished heat, that such increased area is merely fractional
in relation to the diameter of the earth, it ought, on the
other hand, to be remembered, that the diminution of solar
heat, as determined by positive data, is merely fractional,
though it is well proved.

2ndly: Let it be granted that the space included between
the two circles, " ©ut, out, out," and " in, in, in," represent
the solid crust of the earth, as set forth in the accompanying
diagram ; and let A, B, C, be an equilateral triangle, whose
base shall extend from B to C, and whose apex shall be A.
If, then, force be acting equally in all directions, as from the
inner circle of the earth's crust, " in, in, in," which inner
circle forms the outer boundary of a great caldron, and at the
point A the crust shall yield, then the lines F F F will re-
present the direction of force from the circumference to
the sides of the triangle, and the equilateral triangle ABC
will give the widest base conceivable, in the straight line
B C, in which it is possible that force, effecting a rupture
at the point A, through the earth's crust to the point P, can
attain.

After making all due allowance for the thickness of the
sides of the mass elevated upon the earth's surface from
such a base to the height of five to ten miles, it is impossible

* Vide Sir J. Herschel's " Discourse on the Study of Natural Philo-
sophy," 1831, p. 147.

PLATE III.

s Page 312.

Detrital Theory of Geology. 313

to conceive the mountain mass to have a base much wider than
that belonging to the base of an equilateral triangle.

But, on the other hand, grant that the earth has a central
nucleus, and that the heat has not rendered fluid all the
matter from the inner circle to the centre, then let X Y
be the base of the isosceles triangle X Y Z, and let Z be
the apex.

As the central nucleus, being solid, must be the fixed
resisting medium for all force gendered by heat acting to-
wards the earth's surface, then, as the base from which that
force acts cannot be wider than the diameter of the central
nucleus, however large or small that nucleus may be, it
follows that, for the crust to yield opposite to the apex of
a triangle so formed, as at the point P, opposite Z, the
elevation on the surface formed by force so acting, must
have a base far narrower than the length of either of the otJier
two sides leading to the apex.

Hence, if force act either from a fixed central body, or
from the sides of a large enclosed caldron, the elevation on
the surface arising from it, and only acting at one point, so as
to form a mountain or peak, will have the sides as long or
longer than the base, as the case may be, but under no circum-
stances will the base be materially wider, the discrepancy being
little more than fractional.

In contrast with this induction, stands the formidable
phalanx of all the mountain systems in the world, of every
hill, and, almost, hillock, found on land ; for at the base of
each, whether it be of the Himalayan range, the Andes, the
Alpine, or any other mountain range, let a bore or tunnel be
cut through, and in many the base would be quite five times
longer than the height taken at its highest peak ; and there
are few which would not have a base three times longer,
or wider, than the height ; while, in a mountain formed
upon the basis of an equilateral triangle, the base would not

314 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

be nearly so much as twice as long as the height, nor more
than equal to the sides, but considerably under that propor-
tion, if raised from a central nucleus.

To obtain a base sufficiently broad to meet the case as it is
.actually found, a line of resistance much more superficial
than from a supposed central nucleus, or from the sides of
an enclosed sphere, must be assumed, in order that the base
on the surface may be formed by force acting from a surface
below sufficiently extensive to secure the base known to exist
on the surface above.

Let it, therefore, be granted that the circle " in, in, in,"
contains a smaller circle within it, L R, L R, L R. The
same circle shall be an unyielding circle, and be called the
•" line of resistance. ,'\ If, then, between the two circles there
is an expansive force, as fire, acting upon the earth's crust
(which crust may be supposed to be less deep than repre-
sented in the diagram), then, according to the area of
resistance occupied along the line or circle of resistance
L R, L R, L R, so would be the extent of the base below
to the surface above belonging to any particular mountain
range or peak, the requisite amount of force being a priori
assumed as a necessary element in the postulate.

The extent and degree of elevation of our table lands,
steppes, and mountain ranges, ought, in time, by careful
calculation, to lead to a very close approximation as to the
depth from the earth's surface of the line of resistance under-
lying the heat.

Against this view, it will be said that too great an amount
of solid matter would be admitted to account for the mean
density of the earth. Granted, if it were necessary to admit
the whole to be solid beneath the line of resistance ; but a
fluid so slightly compressible as water might be admitted as
occupying a portion of the space, especially if the earth, in
conformity with all organic bodies, has within itself a fixed

Detrital Theory of Geology. 315

internal structure ; and if not, yet the form, proportion, and
extent of the great mountain chains, or backbones of the
eartrj, our table-lands and steppes, ought to demand that
the formation of their physical construction be explained
independent of all ulterior facts that may hinge upon their
elucidation — since careful induction, from well-known data,
can only lead to greater light and higher truths.

From the foregoing reasons — namely, ist, the gradual
increase of land over sea, which has been going on through
successive orders of strata ; and 2ndly, from the nature of
conformity in our mountain systems and table-lands, etc. —
it is inferred that on the earth's surface we have nothing
lower in order of stratification than granite ; for if a lower
form of rock existed capable of transfusion between the
granite (and not veins and masses of particular forms of
melted granite), surely the conditions requisite for its trans-
fusion have been abundantly supplied both by the gradual
extension of the solid area of the globe, and also by the com-
paratively superficial depth at which the heat is located, and
which would have forced other matter above, in a manner suffi-
ciently plain so as to lead to no doubt as to its lower origin,
both from its own character and the extent of surface it would
occupy at different districts over the globe ; but granite is
evidently sufficiently thick and extensive under all circum-
stances to fill up, by its own melted substance, all cracks,
dykes, and fissures that may occur from the loss of continuity
in its own substance, as is continually seen in the vitrified
masses of granite running for miles in particular directions,
and materially interfering with the quarrying of granite in
the numerous Tors in this and other countries, and known
as " horse tooth."

Hence the conclusion drawn is, that granite is the true
primary rock, and that trachyte, basalt, trap, or greenstone,
etc., etc., are but melted forms of- either granite or some one
or more of the metamorphic or secondary rocks, and that

316 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

the eruptive rocks are in origin above and not below granite,
which is the generally received opinion.

But if it be granted that the eruptive rocks are BELOW
granite, yet their extent is too limited, and the TIME of their
disruption in the order of stratification too recent, to admit
them as agents that can have supplied much of the material
for lime and magnesian limestone found in the sedimentary
rocks, from the gneiss system to those of the cretaceous or
tertiary formations.

Hence the eruptive rocks, as agents in supplying lime to
the sedimentary ones, are insufficient, whilst their origin is
hidden in much obscurity.

Having examined the origin of lime as derived from
granite upon the detrital theory, and found it wanting, it is
not unfair to inquire how the case stands as regards the
POTASH in both felspar and mica. As both these components
of granite contain much more potash than lime — say five of
potash to one of lime — we ought, by the process of
mechanical disintegration, to have for every foot in thickness
in lime, about five feet of potash. And if, in addition, the
laws of solubility are to be taken into account, then, as potash
and soda are much more soluble than lime or magnesia, the
excess of potash over lime ought to be greater still ; and
instead of being i to 5, it ought to be nearer i to 8. But
what is the fact ? In the whole geological series of stratifi-
cation, there is not one single potash stratum, only given
beds, like to common salt.

Now, water disintegrates felspar, and with it the
contained potash, as most engineers connected with water-
works will decidedly affirm. And upon this subject Graham
thus speaks : — " A comparison of compact and disintegrated
felspar shows that by the solvent action of water, the latter
has been deprived of half its silica, and above three-fourths
of the potash."* Hence the non-appearance of potash as the
* Graham's " Elements of Chemistry," ist edition, page 522.

Detrital Theory of Geology. 317

sole or chief ingredient of any stratum formed from granite
detritus cannot be attributed to the resistance which that
rock is capable of offering, by reason of its compactness,
to the solvent action of the water on the potash contained
in it.

But it will be said that sea water, freshwater, land plants,
and all alluvial soils, especially those of India, and soils
not far distant from mountain ranges of granite formation,
have potash ; and though unaggregated into distinct strata,
yet, as it pervades all strata, or NEARLY so, its amount
must be very great, and in a measure proportional to its
excess over lime in granite. If such be the inference, then,
how does it happen that in all soils and strata where potash
is found, there lime is found, and almost invariably at a
higher rate of per-centage than potash in the same soils ?
In addition to which facts, lime is found aggregated into
distinct and special strata of its own elemental composition.

To sum the whole matter up. Nothing but difficulties
arise by endeavouring to refer the quantities of the four
great mineral alkaloids found in the earth's successive strata
from the first metamorphic to the last of the tertiary and
post tertiary rocks, to granite as their origin, and assume that
mechanical disintegration, aided by organic action, has
been the means of supplying the different elements in their
relative proportions to the several strata in which they are
found.

To pass from fact to simile. It is as though a salesman
had contracted with certain farmers for certain produce —
say, for bacon 20 tons, butter 15 tons, lard 5 tons, and
cheese 3 tons ; and the whole are duly catalogued in the
accompanying invoice when delivered, and when the invoice
is examined, the order is said to be correctly executed. The
goods are presently unpacked and warehoused, and after
being carefully weighed, the following discrepancies are found

318 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

between goods and invoice : bacon, i ton ; butter, 12 tons ;
lard, 5 tons ; and cheese 30 tons. If for these four edibles
the four alkaloids are substituted, and they are placed in the
following order, an approximation to the truth may be
obtained: — In granite: potash 20, magnesia 15, soda 5,
and lime 3 parts ; and in the sedimentary rocks : potash i,
magnesia 15, soda or sodium 5, and lime 30 parts.

It will be asked — if granite does not supply the lime, from
whence does it come, as there is no other source for it, upon
the detrital theory ? Answer — Reject the theory, hold to the
lime, and all the known facts of stratified rock composition ;
and, as it is a very HEAVY subject, weigh it well, and pro-
nounce no opinion until materials and theory counterpoise each
other. The writer himself will not venture to supply any
theory.

But providing no theory can be found to answer, by reason
of the difficulty in accounting for the occurrence of one chief
element, ought the entire theory of detritus from granite on
that account to be rejected, since it is the most plausible
source of the constitution of the strata of the earth's crust ?
Answer — If lime were the only element unaccounted for, still
it is so largely distributed, and so important, that any source
which fails to supply that one ought to be fatal to the
theory.

But there is another element equally widely distributed,
and of very considerable amount, and of which granite is
almost, if not entirely, devoid, viz., carbon — an element
which from its mode of combination does not occur to the
recollection so readily as lime, and which, in the form of
hydro-carbons and carbonates, is almost of universal distri-
bution, and of which the atmosphere, when charged to satura-
tion, could retain but a mere fraction of the amount known
to exist. For, though a carboniferous era for the coal
measure has been heralded by a very questionable densely-

Detrital Theory of Geology. 319

carbonized atmosphere, yet, such an extreme hypothesis
bein^ admitted, the utter valuelessness of it is apparent when
the amount of carbon contained in lime and magnesia, in the
form of carbonates, is borne in mind, which in itself can
scarcely be much less, if any, when each are isolated, than
that contained in the coal measure. Added to which is the
present amount of carbon contained in the atmosphere, and
in vegetable and animal products all over the world. And
when all these are considered, the failure in granite to supply
carbon is most complete.

Having now dismissed the subject of supply and demand
between granite and the sedimentary rocks, a friend to the
detrital theory would say, " All that has been said about
granite sounds very well, but how about the organic
remains ? " For if there be one fact more certain than
another with respect to stratification being the result of the
slow wasting and deposition in the sea, or land-locked lakes,
of the debris of one order or system of creation with its
necessarily accompanying soil or rock, slowly consolidated
by pressure and mutual attraction of its particles, surely that
fact is, that every stratum has its own peculiar organic
remains. Thus, Mr. Page, in his " Advanced Text-Book,"
which gives an excellent summary of the present state of
geology, describes the theoretical aspect of the science : —
" By examining, noting, and comparing, as indicated in the
preceding paragraphs, the geologist finds that the strata
composing the earth's crust can be arranged in series ; that
one set or series always underlies, and is succeeded by, a
different set ; and that each series contains the remains of certain
plants and animals not to be found in any other series."

It is quite true that in the transition between one stratum
and the next in order above it, the same organic orders and
families will be found, and here and there — as with the
Terebratulze, Products, the Ammonites and Encrinites,

32O Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

etc. — different groups and species pass through a long suc-
cession of strata, yet the individuals of each stratum have a
sufficiently defined marking and proportions to determine
which stratum produced them, and if found out of their
proper order, receive from the experienced palaeontologist the
condemnation of being derived, and not properly indigenous
to that formation.

Without, therefore, any laboured attempt to prove that
which geologists already grant, that each stratum contains
its own organic remains, within certain geographical areas ;
or attempting to show that organic remains, though not in a
regular gradational order, as a whole observe an ascending
or progressive order of organization, it will be only necessary
to observe that, from the lower Silurian and Laurentian on-
wards to the highest of the secondary rocks, or the upper
Cretaceous formations, and onwards through the Tertiaries,
we have successive forms of algae, confervse, mosses, ferns,
monocotyledons, as palms and canes, or the order of cyca-
deoidese and coniferas, with the still higher dicotyledons per-
taining to the vegetable kingdom. And in the animal king-
dom innumerable genera and species now extinct and
unrepresented, with genera fully preserved in the existing
fauna, but whose precise individual species or family remain
distinct from the lowest of the rhizopods or protozoae to the
higher forms of mammalia.

The only general exception to this distinction in the indi-
vidual species is in the lower forms of protozoic life, where,
from the variety and close proximal forms different species
undergo from different degrees of pressure, heat, and perhaps
light to which they have been subjected, distinct species and
genera are occasionally almost indistinguishable from each
other, as has been shown in the beautiful monographs by
Messrs. Parker and Jones, and the more elaborate work,
issued by the Ray Society, upon the Foraminiferae, by the

Detrital Theory of Geology. 321

joint labours of Carpenter, Jones, and Parker. Therefore, in
determining their presence or absence as identical species,
between one stratum and another, or in past strata and the
existing fauna, much care is required, and, as determining
agents for particular strata, are, for the most part, not to be
depended upon.

From this rapid review of organic conditions, from' the
lowest of the protozoa to the higher mammalia, let the
attention next be directed in reviewing the forces of nature
which tended to establish that order of stratification now
found in the geological chart of rocks.

The attention is first arrested by the fact that different
epochs or intervals of stratification are marked by more
violent forces of elevation acting powerfully and somewhat
abruptly at one period, and more gradually and continuously
during the intermediate periods, as at the present time in
Scandinavia, along the coast of the Mediterranean ; and in
the Pacific along the coast of South America, where
elevations or depressions are going on slowly but constantly,
and in many other parts.

After the formation of the metamorphic rocks, the
elevating forces first appear to have broken forth through
the Silurian and Devonian systems in great violence, and to
have considerably elevated the submerged rocks, fracturing
and dislocating them in bold and unequal proportions ;
whilst from thence till the Permian system was formed, the
same work of increasing elevation of the land was going on,
but in a more gradual and regular manner. After the Permian
system was finished, nature roused up her semi-quiescent
forces into more powerful operation, and the Triassic system
abounds in bold and rugged mountain scenery, with abrupt
fractures and mountain elevations, the evident result of
internal forces expanding and raising the crust of the globe
above its former level most extensively and violently.

21

322 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

From this period till the completion of the cretaceous
system, the same forces, acting more equally and regularly,
were increasing the general area of the land above that of
the water ; and after this system was nearly completed, the
tertiary rocks were ushered in by a general and violent
action of forces which had been long at work as slow and
almost, at parts, imperceptible elevating forces, but were
now put forth in all their plenitude and grandeur, as the
lofty summits of the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Andes, with
many others, significantly attest ; and by such process of
elevation, in a short period, the relations between land and
sea approximately assimilated themselves to those pertaining
to the historic era of man.

Thus from the silurian to the permian, and from the
permian to the cretaceous or lower tertiary, the land has
been continually gaining in area at the expense of the sea,
and the fauna and flora have become more terraceous in
their structure and habits, and their organization has more
and more rapidly assimilated itself to the necessities and
conditions of land habitation.

With this increasing elevation of the land, rivers and
fresh-water lakes became more common and extensive ;
animals of a higher order became more general ; whilst the
flora of the tertiary series exhibited in elegant contrast the
trees and plants of tropical with those of more temperate
regions, the soil being carpeted with mosses and grasses
analogous to those now existing, where the exogenous and
endogenous growths blend and contrast with each other,
and frequently succumb and rot through the officious attach-
ment of their less honoured but more tenaciously vital
neighbours, the cellularies and their allies.

From, therefore, the foregoing review of the effects of the
elevating forces, and the onward progress in the floral and
faunal development, it may be inferred that, at least, in the

Detrital Theory of Geology. 323

laws of nature or of physics generally, the tertiary formation
assimilated itself in every respect to those laws now binding
and governing the structure and mechanism of organic and
inorganic matter.

That this general inference will be admitted no reasonable
doubt can be entertained, since the laborious and masterly
work, " The Principles of Geology," by Sir C. Lyell, has
been so long and favourably received, not only by British
geologists, but by their Continental and Transatlantic
brethren. That able author has laboured to show that the
entire series of sedimentary rocks need no other forces for
their production than those now existing and in constant
operation, providing that the birthright of TIME can be
sufficiently extended so as to reach back to the limits of
their first genesis.

The same subject is somewhat cautiously but very com-
prehensively summed up by the writer of the article
"Geology," in the "English Cyclopaedia." He thus writes :
— " Successive phases of the aqueous and igneous agencies
over the same region appear, either contemporaneously or
successively, to have affected all parts of the earth's surface
accessible to man ; so that everywhere there is proof of
great revolutions in the condition of land and sea. More-
over, it appears that to each general system of stratified
rocks, indicative of a corresponding great system of physical
agencies, peculiar races of plants and animals belong ; with
new physical conditions new forms of life came on the globe,
vanished with those conditions, and gave place to others
equally transitory. If, now, we compare the modern survey
of nature with any similar work, executed on the same
principle, for any one of the earlier epochs, it is certain that
the earth has undergone many very extensive revolutions
in all that respects its aqueous, igneous, and organic
phenomena, before arriving at its present state; it is equally

21 — 2

324 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

certain that between the epochs of these revolutions the
state of the earth was not extremely dissimilar to that which
we now behold ; yet, because the organic beings preserved
in the earth in each of these systems are peculiar to it, and
differ from the others and from those that now live, we
cannot possibly doubt that the points of difference are nume-
rous, general, and important."

The same writer thus speaks of the tertiary periods : — " In
general, no contrast can be more complete than that between
the secondary and the tertiary stratified rocks ; the former
retaining so much uniformity of character, even for enormous
distances, as to appear like the effect of one determined
sequence of general physical agencies ; the latter exhibiting
an almost boundless variety and relations to the present con-
figuration of the land and sea not be mistaken. The organic
bodies of the secondary strata are obviously and completely
distinct from those of the modern land and sea; but in the
tertiary deposits it is the resemblance between fossil and
recent kinds of shells, corals, plants, &c., which first arrest
the judgment."

If, then, it is granted that the same physical agencies
were at work from the commencement of the tertiary period
to the present time, and therefore that the known phenomena
occurring along our rivers, lakes, shores, and deltas, or oceanic
estuaries, were the same then as now, and also that the
effect of the trituration of the water on the sides and at the
bottoms of rivers was then as it is now, and that at the time
of the commencement of the tertiary period the greater part
of the earth's surface was covered with secondary rock for-
mations, how is that tertiary formations do not abound in
the organic products washed down by, and precipitated from,
the waters that have flowed over, say, oolite or Jurassic,
the Wealden or chalk formations, or, not to be par-
ticular to a shade, say from the coal beds of the car-

Detrital Theory of Geology. 325

boniferous era, or some of the numerous organic bodies of
the silurian age ?

ItMs again repeated, that the laws in operation in the
tertiary period being the same as those now in operation,
why do we not find, as the effect of trituration and drift,
organic bodies transported from the secondary to the tertiary
formations with as much ease and frequency as such small
objects as boulders are, and now and then small masses of
rock ? Is it that organic bodies, once petrified and con-
solidated by pressure, cling with a tenacity stronger than
life to their native fatherland ?

If such is to be the admitted assumption, how strangely
have we ignored our premises. For is there a shore, say a
Norfolk crag, a southern chalk cliff, or a northern coal bed,
which is washed by the ocean's waves, and the sea border
in close proximity does not contain with the debris the organic
products of that border, whilst the mid-ocean is loaded with
organic bodies peculiar to, and distinctive of, the present era ?

It is beyond dispute that such a state of things is now
going on, and every sea deposit has its derived organic re-
mains from the shore to which it lies contiguous ; no matter
what that stratum is in which organic bodies are contained,
the contiguity of that rock to a shore occasions the corre-
sponding sea deposit to partake of derived impurities, which, so
far as letters engraven in stone can attest, most plainly and
silently express the fact that the era which classified organic remains
in special compartments has passed for ever. And should an era
follow the present historical era, our successors, by a process
of natural selection, being of a higher order than ourselves
(providing the SELECTION be not like that of the mare for
the male donkey), would find organic remains not only alike
in genera and family, but of precise and individual species
with those belonging to rocks of old formations, as of chalk,
oolite, permian, silurian, &c., &c., mixed and commingled

326 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and

with the flora and fauna of the quarternary or historical
formation.

Professor Owen, in his " Palaeontology," page 12, thus
incidentally alludes to it : — " Most of the fossil genera, and
even some of the species, pass through many formations."
And concludes by saying — " It has, however, been observed
that fossil rhizopods, set free by the disintegration of rocks,
are mingled with the recent shells on every beach; and Mr.
McAndrew has obtained them in this condition from great
depths of the mid-channel."

Again, Mr. Page, in speaking of icebergs, says : — " Nay,
icebergs have been encountered in the North Sea covered or
interstratified with ancient soil, among which were the
bones of mammoths and other extinct animals, still further
confusing the nature of their deposits by mingling the
remains of an existing fauna (reindeer, musk ox, Arctic bear,.
&c.) with one of a much higher antiquity."

If our logic proceeds from direct facts as they stand
revealed in the contents of each stratum, or from general
and precisely defined principles, how is it POSSIBLE to main-
tain that the tertiary periods in their organic remains should
be so distinct from the entire secondary (saving at their
lowest margin with certain chalk formations), and yet that
they should be formed from the detritus or washings of
numerous preceding strata, and those strata themselves
formed in a great measure by debris from each other ?

To be certified as to the correctness of the conclusions,
there is no need for any very lengthened analysis of the con-
tents of each stratum, since, in exact proportion to the
increased knowledge of the conditions in which the strata,
with their organic bodies are found, will be the increased
evidence of the fact that the strata of the earth's crust were
not derived from each other, either wholly or in part.
Whilst, on the other hand, the explanation or theory of each

Detrital Theory of Geology. 327

formation, being derived from previous strata or rock, is so
plain and under such simple physical conditions, that the
resuk is entirely impossible.

No one has more simply and lucidly described these con-
ditions than Mrs. Somerville (" Physical Geography," 4th
edition, 1858) : — " Aqueous rocks are all stratified, being
sedimentary deposits from water. They originate in the
wear of the land by rain, streams, or the waves of the ocean.
The debris carried by running water are deposited at the
bottom of the seas and lakes, where they are consolidated,
and then raised up by subterranean forces, again to undergo
the same process of destruction, after a lapse of time. By
the washing away of the land, the rocks are laid bare ; and
as the materials are deposited in different places according
to weight, the strata are exceedingly varied, but consist
chiefly of arenaceous or sandstone rock, composed of sand,
clay, and carbonate of lime."

Taking the above as a correct statement of the detrital
theory, the inevitable conclusion arrived at must be that of
a contradiction, providing it is maintained that every stratum
has its own peculiar organic remains, and every stratum
derived from such previous order of stratification is, as to
entire identity of individual species, perfectly free. Or, in
other words, the derived must be, in all points of organism,
self- created and independent of the source from whence it
proceeds. And the organic remains being to each stratum
peculiar, upon a derived or detrital theory, is self-destruc-
tive.

Many other difficulties, upon a detrital theory, might be
urged — such as the tertiary basins ascending above and de-
scending below the sea level in the midst of secondary rocks,
and obtaining successive land and marine remains ; whilst
the granite itself, which underlies all rocks, must fracture
around the limits of the basin several successive times, in such

328 Doubts Relative to the Epochal and Detrital Theory.

cases, to account for successive formations in a circum-
scribed area, of both land and marine stratification, with
their respective organic remains. But enough has already
been said to justify a Doubt relative to the Epochal and
Detrital Theory.

INDEX.

ACCELERATION, in attraction constant, in repulsion variable, 60

ACRE an imaginary centre of Dynasties, 260-276

Airy's Explanation of, directly as the mass, 51

Animal tripartite membrane, 6, 82

Animals and Vegetables, distinction between, 9, 141

Antagonism essential to demonstrate force, 38

Apology for brevity, 9

— for the introduction of Anthropology, 26, 284
ASSOCIATION, a principle of action in present era, 25, 278
Astronomy, by the Ancients, in relation to Longevity, 221
Atoms permeated by two fluids unequally, 55

Atoms have a fixed form, 61

Attraction and Repulsion of unequal Acceleration, 2, 47

directly as the mass often misunderstood, 39

— , equal, opposed to Chemical Affinity, 4, 40

Similar and Eclectic, 64

Attractive force fixed, Repellent accumulative, 4, 53
Axoidal and Orbital Motion require active forces, 2, 45

BARK of trees in relation to the leaf, 138
Bennett's, Dr. J. H., ideal notion of Vital Force, 37
Black-death, a graft upon Plague, 18
— , by Hecker, 185

and Plague a hybrid disease, 189

Blood-letting, its decline and fall, 234

Boyle's Experiment under the air-pump indecisive, 41

Brain and Spinal Chord, metamorphosed muscle, 88, 123

— a Concentrating Organ, 123
centre of a series of limbs, 123

— , its use in relation to the senses, 130

— , Reasons for judging it to be metamorphosed muscle, 135
, Senses after leaving the, have each a proper sense apparatus, 105

330 Index.

CARBON, its source, 318

Cell differentiation changes with kinds of nutriment, 78

comparison between Animals and Vegetables, 79

Cerebellum, supposed compound function, 122

Cervical region withdrawn in fish, and with them no plurality of

limbs, 134

Chemical affinity, opposed to equal attraction, 4, 40
Cholera and fungiferous poison, 253
Chronology, Usher's adopted, 204

, Remarks upon St. Matthew, 205

Circulation, its relation to the state of the heart, 238
Colour, determined by molecular arrangement, 5, 78

, known as reflected light in organic bodies, 5, 75

, uniform in the wild condition, but variable under cultivation, 77

Compass, secular variations of, 29, 293
Connective tissue not membrane, 82
Contractile tissue, none in Vegetables, 140
Cross breeds in Cattle and Horses, 258

DIFFERENTIATION and Metamorphosis, 5, 78
Diocletian, Emperor, remarks upon, 164
Disease, change of type, 176
, its induction and planting, 229

EARTH, the, being once a molten mass, rejected, 310
Earth's internal magnetic mass, 292

— Stratification, its origin, 297

— sudden thermal changes, 291

surface and interior, suffered at some time a great physical^

change, 294-297

Earthquakes and Volcanoes not causes of Epidemics, 287
Electricity, its distribution to the heart, and the muscles terminating

arteries, 92-98
Endemic conditions the result of civilisation, 10, 143

— conditions of a hereditary origin, 145

— and Epidemic diseases in relation to Vital Force, 146
Epidemic Eras, their duration, 16

Eras, an outline of their course, 18

— , present Era, 23, 299

in present Era, Heart most affected, 23, 235

Eras last about six hundred and forty years, 161, 177

— Eras in relation to the Rise and Fall of Empires, 25, 260
, the Chronographic, 217

Index. 331

Epidemics, Comparison with the Rise and Fall of Empires, 283

, their Supposed Causes, 18, 286

, General Summary, 294

— • — * General Observations, 10, 152

— , ISOLATION a principle or law in, 13, 150

— , their progress, 160

Erectile tissue in relation to mammary membrane, 93
Ethical code equal for general civilization, 278
Evergency a principle of Mechanism, in

and Invergency, 136

Exuviae as producers of lime, 308

FISH, axis of muscular motion in, 108

Floral changes, 259

Food affesting development, 257

Force undemonstrable without Antagonism, 2, 38

— , or influence from Sun to Earth, probably restored, 74
Forces in Nature which regulate Stratification, 321
Fracture, case of compound, Sympathy between bone and integument,
108

GEOLOGY. — Epochal theory untenable, 29

The Earth never a Molten Mass, 35, 310

Four points considered as adverse to the Epochal Theory,

33

Granite not the Source of all our Strata, 35, 299
— , Composition of, etc., 301

— , Comparison of Stratified rocks and Granite, 304, 317
Organic remains peculiar to each Stratum adverse to

Detrital Theory, 35, 319
Outline of duration of Epochs, 31, 299
Special adaptation of the Earth's crust for new orders of

organized products, 32
Geology, Pamphlet upon, Anonymous (1864), 33

, Tertiary conditions of fauna and flora, 322

Gibbon, Extract upon the Levant Plague, 181
Gravitation accounts for Orbital Motion not Axoidal, 43

the result of Attraction, 38

Granite fracture about the same area to great depths, many times, 327
Great Pyramid in relation to Longevity, 222

, for why it was built, 225

Growth of Animals and Vegetables in present Epidemic Era, 254

332 Index.

HEALTH in relation to moisture, etc., 13

Heart's action feeble in present Epidemic Era, 235

and Lungs, sympathy between them, 253

Heat a motor power, especially in germ development, 71

as a factor of disease, 288

, its depth within the Earth, 312

a Repellent force between Atoms, 70

Herschel, Sir J., upon authentic weights and measures, 227

IMPRESSIONS on each kind of germ, and impetus by the tangent

compared, 68
Inertia, passiveness of, 44

JOINTS, not muscles, the correct location for taking cognizance of
resistance and weight, 117

LANGUAGE of Science inexact, 41

Leaf in relation to the density of Wood, 140

in relation to the Bark of Wood, 138

Leprosy an early infectious disease, 17

, did Pompey's Army bring it from Egypt ? 168

, when it first reached England, 162

— appeared in Europe, 167

— , its infectious and hereditary conditions, 172
in the days of Moses not hereditary, 173

— , true, not mentioned in history from 750 to 64 B.C., except in
Egypt, 210

— , its origin by Manetho, 211
Light, undulatory theory of, some things which favour it, 76

— in relation to colour, 5, 75
Lime in sea-water, 306

— , proportion of, between stratified rock and granite, 305

— , Supply from Eruptive rocks, 309,315
Lung affection in Cattle, 248
Lungs, Chronic congestion and its diagnosis, 241

MAGNETISM and Attraction, 149

, Electro, Earth's poles N. and S., 292

Mammalia, homologies of limbs and pelvis in, 115

Matter permeated by Antagonistic fluids, 56

Mechanism, principles of, in Animal and Vegetable Kingdom,

8, 135. *42
, principles and laws of Nature in union with each other, 142

Index. 333

Membrane, Animal Tripartite, denned as contractile, serous and

mucous, 7, 80
Merrvbranes, Tripartite, number in Mammalia, 81

— , Alimentary, 83

— , Circulatory, 90

— , Ganglionic, 92

— , Genito-urinary, 84

— , Lacteo-lymphatic, 91

— , Mammary, 90
Membrane, Nasal, probably a distinct, 84

— , true animal, essentially quadruple, 103

— , true animal, essentially segmented, 104
Metamorphosis and differentiation, 5, 78

Morphological Changes, the outcome of Creative Will on the
germ, 72

— completed in the cycle of a year, but lunar changes affect lower

forms the most, 73
Mountains, base and elevation of, opposed to great depth in the heat

of the Earth, 313

Muscle, striped, involuntary under certain conditions, 121
Muscular Motion, axis of in Fishes, 112
in Birds, 113

— in Mammalia, 114

NATURE, her laws and principles of Mechanism harmonise with each

other, 142

— , her law the same in past eras of Geology as in the present, 322
— , Precursion the great law of, 4, 69

OERSTED upon Magnetism, 149

Organic and Inorganic Kingdoms are under the same laws, i

Organic remains distinct in each stratum, 35, 319

in relation to epochs, 319

— not derived from one stratum and supplied to another. 326

— , why in strata by detritus they do not intermix, save those of

present era, 325

Organization, mechanism of, and the laws of nature, their distinctive-
ness, 29
the result of Will, and under law, 68

PARTURITION, an excretory function, 87

, lime a stimulant in, 88

Patriotism, a word misapplied, 260
Plague, Athenian, a hybrid disease, 19, 199

334 Index.

Plague, Athenian, by Thucydides, 193

and Black-death Hybrid, 179

, extract from Gibbon, 181

, Small-pox, and Leprosy widespread Epidemics, 15, 160

— , and Small-pox North and South of the Mediterranean, and after-
wards spread to Mid and Northern Europe, 16, 179

Poisons in Epidemic, Animal and Vegetable, 230

Polypifera and Sponges have a Contractile Membrane, Si

PRECURSION, the great law of Nature, 4, 69, 72

Principles of Mechanism in the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, 8,
i35> T42

PROPOSITIONS aiming to unify the laws of Motion and Chemical
Affinity, 54

Pyramid, the Great, in relation to longevity, 222

, why was it built, 225

RACES in Africa, remarks upon, 281

in Asia, remarks upon, 282

of Mankind, their distinctiveness, 279

Repulsion, an accumulative force, 50

— in proportion to the Mass, 53
Resume, 27

SEA-WATER, its composition, 306

, Bischof's assumption, 307

Seasons, wet, windy, hot, or cold, not causes of Epidemics, 152
Sense apparatus, each has its own, 102

Haemal, 106

Subdermal, for Force, 107

— of Touch, 118
of Force, essential to realise resistance, 117

— of Smell, its absence and withdrawal of cervical region, 133
Telluric or travelling, 126

Senses, educators of each other, 125
, Seven special, 8

— of Smell, Sight, and Hearing elongated limbs, abridged by

Mechanism, 8, 124
, Three Somatic, of Want or Haemal, of Force or Weight, and of

Touch, 99

, division of, into active and passive, 128

, into Somatic and Paraitic, 129

Paraitic, outlines of apparatuses, 130

of Touch and Force in relation to integumentary distribution, 119

Index. 335

Senses of Touch and Force use the neural arches in common, 120
Small-pox, remarks upon, by Dr. F. Adams, 165

— »and Plague, their spread after 1177 A.D., 166
Spinal Chord and Brain metamorphosed muscle, 8, 88, 123
Spirits, Remarks upon their use, 238
Sun, direction of his rays in relation to heat and vital phenomena, 147

— , his force, or influence upon the Earth, probably restored, 74

— , his heat, regulated by the internal condition of the earth, 147

, a non-producer of Epidemics, 148

, Spots on the, in relation to Epidemics, nil, 150

— , a Vitalizing agent, n, 146

TANGENTAL Force, its use, 2

never expended, 42

only gives direction to motion, 49

Temperature, compared for 3,000 years, 27, 288

, the Earth's internal condition regulates heat on the surface, 28, 147

, as by Wind, Monsoons, and Frosts, 289

VARI^E, 1-328

Vital conditions affected by internal magnetism, 295

Physics, i, 37

Volcanoes and Earthquakes not causes of Epidemics, 287

FLEET STREET PRINTING WOK). t, FLEET STREET, E.C.

14 DAY USE

RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED

This book is due on the last date stamped below, or

on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.

nr

.... !l-j/p

Subject
Irnme

o Recall
iately

General Library

U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES

ilium mi

k