VITAL SCIENCE 
BASED UPON 
LIFE’S GREAT LAW 
THE ANALOGUE OF GRAVITATION 
AGNOSTICISM REFUTED 
BY 
ROBERT WALTER, M.D. 
PHILADELPHIA 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
1899 Copyright, 1899, 
BY 
Robert Walter. 
Electrotyped and Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S. A. PREFACE. 
The underlying thought of this work is, that the 
living world is a fundamental department of natural 
existence, and is, therefore, subject to a fundamental 
law, perfectly analogous to Chemical Affinity and 
Gravitation. This law is proved by the results to have 
really been discovered, and its applicability to a Science 
of Human Health been demonstrated, making the 
knowledge of vital processes in both health and dis- 
ease to be as certain as the knowledge of chemical 
and astronomical processes. 
Among the many authorities to whom we are in- 
debted for aid in the development of this system we 
may mention Professor John Hughes Bennett, M.D., 
F.R.S.E. From his “ Practice of Medicine” we have 
made some valuable quotations (§§ 21, 30). Professor 
W. Stanley Jevons, of University College, London, 
has been equally helpful in the way of general science. 
This work has verified the following from his “ Princi- 
ples of Science” : 
“ Whoever wishes to acquire a deep acquaintance 
with Nature must observe that there are analogies 
which connect whole branches of Science in a parallel 
manner, and enable us to infer of one class of phe- 
nomena what we know of another. It has thus hap- 
pened on several occasions that the discovery of an 
unsuspected analogy between two branches of knowl- 
III Preface 
edge has been the starting-point for a rapid course of 
discovery.” 
The discovery of Life’s Great Law, in connection 
with its fundamental character, and its analogy to 
Gravitation and Chemical Affinity, has certainly proved 
“ the starting-point for a rapid course of discovery.” 
Where may one find the work that has solved so 
many and profound problems, cleared up so many 
mysteries, and given logical proof of so many truths, 
as does this one ? It will be found to embody: 
A New Theory of Creation. 
A New Theory of the Constitution of Nature. Only 
John Tyndall seems to have got any glimpses of it. 
A New Theory of the Constitution of Man. 
A New Theory of Vital Force. 
New proof of the Immortality of Man. 
Convincing proof that the paradoxes of Scripture 
and the Golden Rule are scientific and practical truths. 
But these are only preparatory to its great object, 
the establishment of a Science of Human Health that 
shall prove exact and reliable. Such a science involves 
a reasonable solution of the great problems of physi- 
ology and Medicine, which it is admitted has never 
before been effected. The Nature of Disease, the 
Modus Operandi of Medicines, and the Law of Cure 
have at length received a consistent solution, and been 
developed into a practically successful system. 
Life’s Great Law is not only the analogue of New- 
ton’s law in its nature, character, and results, but in its 
mode of discovery. Many years of earnest study and 
personal experiment occasioned a conception of truth 
sufficiently clear to induce laborious investigation, 
IV Preface 
which revealed the fact that several of the accepted 
doctrines of Modern Science were directly opposed to 
its inferences. As a consequence the intended publi- 
cation of this work was suspended for several years. 
Mr. Herbert Spencer has been the author who has 
most pointedly controverted its doctrines. This, at 
first, was a matter of great surprise to us, for our 
system is distinctly a system of Evolution. We soon 
found, however, that many able scientists, such as John 
Tyndall, Professor Owens, Duke of Argyle, and others, 
were opposed to Spencer, and we were soon led to 
doubt that Spencer’s system is one of Evolution at all. 
This conviction continued to grow upon us until 
finally Professor Henry Drummond, though earnestly 
advocating the Spencerian doctrines, in his work, en- 
titled “ The Ascent of Man,” admits in the last chapter 
of that work that the system is really one of Involu- 
tion. It can be called Evolution only by recasting 
human language, which to meet its necessities Drum- 
mond very generously does. “ Evolution,” he says, 
“is not to unfold from within; it is to infold from 
without.” No clearer, truer, or more succinct defini- 
tion of Spencerian Evolution was ever given. It is a 
system of infolding, and requires no other condemna- 
tion than the proof of this fact. It is incongruous 
with itself and with all known truth. 
Evolution is the doctrine of Moses and Jesus, of 
Paul and Luther. It is the most conspicuous, certain, 
and common fact of every-day existence. We are 
ourselves its most prominent subjects. But Mr. 
Spencer is an Involutionist. He rarely uses the word 
“ evolve,” but continually employs the term “ involve.” Preface 
He has no thought of unfolding realities. He is for- 
ever intent upon infolding them,—intent upon involving 
all things in the circumstances of their environment. 
Environment is the pet term of our modern authors. 
They even go so far as to credit all progress and all 
development to its operations. And yet they have 
never expounded its laws. This work announces and 
demonstrates the laws of Environment, and gives con- 
clusive proof of the effects of every agency, habit, 
indulgence, upon the human organism, and of the 
processes by which these effects are produced. 
These laws are secondary to, and logical deductions 
from, Life’s Great Law, and are confirmed by every re- 
curring fact of existence. They are the analogues of 
Kepler’s laws in Astronomy, and of Dalton’s in Chem- 
istry. They are Life’s practical working laws, four 
in number, and are denominated by us The Laws of 
Vital Relation. 
Not only do these laws emphasize the truths of the 
Christian religion, but they come with emphatic en- 
dorsement of the Temperance reformation. The one 
obstacle to the success of the total abstinence idea is 
false medical practice. They give an overwhelming 
demonstration of the fallacies of medical as well as 
social stimulation. 
These varied truths have been developed, and the 
fallacies, especially of Spencerian Evolution, exposed, 
by insisting upon a careful distinction between Force 
and Motion, Cause and Occasion, the Force that op- 
erates and the Conditions for its operation. It is only 
by confounding these that the Involution advocates 
can make any progress. The Correlation and Con- Preface 
servation of Energies is admitted, but Mr. Spencer’s 
leading doctrine, the Transformation of Forces, is 
shown to be nothing more than 
“The baseless fabric of a dream.” 
Even the true theory of clouds and rain is shown 
to be conspicuously different from the theory advanced 
by Herbert Spencer and others. If Vital Science has 
done nothing else, it has given clear, definite, and 
indisputable evidence of the fallacies and falsities of 
Spencerian Evolution. 
The very large range of application of the princi- 
ples of this work is the best proof of their truth. To 
conceive a theory applicable to one subject, which 
may be varied many times and always be wrong, is a 
comparatively easy matter. To conceive one theory, 
however, which is applicable to all subjects,—to dis- 
cover one law which agrees with all known laws, and 
from which is deduced still other laws, in perfect an- 
alogy with corresponding truths, and which discloses 
convincing proof of the errors as well as truths of 
science, of philosophy, and of religion, is an achieve- 
ment never before condensed into so short space,—or, 
indeed, into any space. We agree with Mr. Spencer 
that “ philosophy consists in the establishment of con- 
gruity . . . down even to the components of every 
inference and every observation.” This work clearly 
shows that all processes agree with all other processes ; 
it establishes a universal harmony never before at- 
tained. 
It is not to be expected, of course, that no error of 
detail in our work is to be found. Very likely there 
VII Preface 
are many such errors. We can only crave the reader’s 
indulgence if he finds them, and plead the fact that 
the work has been written in such moments as we 
could steal from active practice, and so cannot hope 
it to be at all what it should be. We must, at least 
persist in the claim that we have uncovered a great 
truth, which has in it the elements of a mighty revo- 
lution ; and that in its leading features we have piled 
proof upon proof to a degree amounting to a very 
complete demonstration. With these suggestions we 
send it forth on a mission of mercy to a long-suffering 
humanity. 
Robert Walter. 
Walter’s Park, Pa. CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER I. 
SECTION PAGE 
1. Nature, Science, and Logic, and their relations 17 
2. Nature a process of work—Science studies the process ... 17 
3. The Facts Observed—Color-blindness 18 
4. The Facts Inferred—Must be verified—Circumstantial evi- 
dence 18 
5. Science must be practical—How effects are produced; Na- 
ture of Causes 19 
6. Force and Law; otherwise Power and Wisdom; and their 
relations 20 
7. Causes and Occasions defined 22 
8. The Nature of Force 23 
9. Force and Motion, and their relations 24 
10. Energy and Motion, and their relations 24 
11. The Nature of Law—Varied definitions 25 
12. Law a reality; sustained by Force it is the cause of all 
things; the Lawgiver 26 
13. Law must be correctly formulated 28 
14. Principles defined—Nature an evolution of invisible principles 28 
15. The Telescope of Science—All depends upon the point of 
view—Looking in at the wrong end 31 
16. Of adhesion to principle—Science based upon principles and 
Science destitute of principles 33 
DEFINITIONS AND RELATIONS. 
CHAPTER II. 
17. The Highway of Thought—Which way shall we go? ... 35 
18. We choose the forward and outward plan—from Cause to 
Effect, from invisible to visible, as Nature works 36 
THE TWO SYSTEMS—OF THOUGHT AND WORK. Contents 
SECTION PAGE 
19. Reason requires a postulate; impossible to reason from facts 
of observation 37 
20. Human thought and work must correspond with Divine 
thought and work—Man thinks as plants grow—Evolution 
of the invisible causes 38 
21. The two classes described as exact and inexact by Professor 
John Hughes Bennett—Exact Science presupposes dis- 
covered principles 39 
22. Bennett’s prediction—The importance of finding the seed . . 40 
23. The first step towards the discovery—What the seed is like . 41 
24. The advantages of the logical method 42 
25. Why Empirical Science continues 43 
26. The practical bearings of these thoughts 43 
27. The conflict as old as the human race—Adam and Eve the 
first empirical scientists 44 
28. The Christian system described 45 
29. By their fruits ye shall know them 46 
30. The fruits of inductive Science—Authorities quoted .... 48 
CHAPTER III. 
EVOLUTION VS. INVOLUTION. 
31. The universal harmonies of Nature 50 
32. Is the process one of Evolution or Involution ?—Drummond’s 
theories 51 
33. Drummond’s surprising contradictions—Herbert Spencer and 
the Apostle Paul 51 
34. The essentials of Christianity involved in this question—The 
Heredity doctrines of the Bible 52 
35. Spencer reviewed—Heat and light transformed into sensation 
and thought disputed 54 
36. The absurdity of the transformation doctrine—Tyndall vs. 
Spencer 55 
37. Spencer’s explanation of how tickling is carried on 56 
38. Why he cannot explain how heat, light, etc., generates 
thought 58 
39. Spencer’s theory of clouds and rain shown to be erroneous . . 59 
40. Spencer’s theory of the cause of the development of the chick 
controverted 60 Contents 
SECTION PAGE 
41. The Nature of Life reviewed and Spencer’s definition refuted 62 
42. The contradictions of Spencer’s later volumes—His definition 
of Nerve force 64 
43. Spencer’s opposition to all scientific doctrines on the subject 
of classifications 65 
44. His admission of incongruity in his central doctrine .... 68 
45. Spencer substantially ignores the commonest fact of Life . . 69 
Heredity or Environment, which?—The true Evolution 
defined 70 
CHAPTER IV. 
THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE. 
46. His existence, relations, and certain inferences to be consid- 
ered 73 
47. His existence proved by the consistency of the results, by the 
failure of Agnostic philosophy, and by the order of univer- 
sal production 74 
48. Every Cause anterior to its Effect proves His existence ... 75 
49. Every Cause interior to its Effect—Evolution the true system 
of Creation—Spencer admits the impossibility of Creation 
by external power 76 
50. The invariable processes of existence 78 
51. The invisible God and the God manifest of Revelation ... 79 
52. The invisible Force and the Force manifest of Science ... 80 
53. The Relations of the Invisible to its manifestations in both 
Science and Religion—Heredity and not Environment the 
source of all things 81 
54. Necessary Inferences from the admitted facts—All real causes 
are invisible 82 
55. All real causes are the comprehensive equals of their effects . 84 
56. Mr. Spencer’s doctrine of the Great First Cause and its legiti- 
mate inferences—He is either Infinite Mind or he is a very 
Little First Cause 84 
57. He is the Source of all Life and of all Mind 87 
58. He is described by the things he has created—He is Life, 
Mind, Wisdom, Intelligence, Power 88 
59. God declared in Man—He works according to plan .... 89 
60. Infinite Intelligence and not blind force 90 Contents 
SECTION PAGE 
61. The summing up of the conclusions 91 
62. Nature a Trinity, the product of a trinity of Forces .... 92 
63. The Unchangeable God the cause of all changes—The prin- 
ciple explained—The power and value of prayer .... 94 
64. The Unchangeable is unchangeable 95 
CREATION ; OR, HOW THE WORK IS DONE. 
CHAPTER V. 
65. The Processes of Creation—Paul’s doctrine 99 
66. Present processes describe past processes—Rom. i. 20 . . . 101 
67. Science confirms Revelation that the visible manifests the 
invisible 101 
68. Wisdom, Power, and Requisite Materials the elements of 
Creation 102 
69. Distinguished in scientific phraseology as Law, Force, and 
Matter 103 
70. Law and Force inseparable—both invisible and unchange- 
able, while matter is plastic 104 
71. These principles applied to the growth of human beings— 
The relations of fish and brains 106 
72. Causes, Occasions, and Results defined and distinguished . . 106 
73. Mechanical and chemical illustrations 108 
74. Illustrations in the Vital realm 109 
75. Causes, Processes, and Effects, and their relations 111 
76. Creation through Force intelligently or persistently directed . 112 
77. Force persists in three directions 113 
78. The Process is the outworking of power 113 
79. A knowledge of the directing principle the important thing . 115 
80. Creation by Law, declared by Revelation and confirmed by 
Science 115 
81. Nature's primal law—The Law of Light—Chemical Affinity. 116 
82. The Law of the Firmament—Gravitation 118 
83. Life’s Great Law; and the Trinity of Nature 118 
84. This classification a reality and not a subjective conception . 119 
85. Every effect in Nature due to one or other of these causes . 120 
86. The Creative Week—All results traceable to one or other of 
Nature’s intrinsic forces, directed by its proper law . . . 121 
87. These Laws applied in fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, sug- 
gestive of special creations 123 
XII Contents 
CHAPTER VI. 
SECTION PAGE 
88. Force, Motion, and Matter distinguished 124 
89. The great error of confounding Motion or Energy with 
Force 124 
90. Force, passive and active—primary and secondary .... 126 
91. The error of placing Gravitation and Chemical Affinity in 
the same class with Heat and Light 127 
92. Force a trinity, not a unity 128 
93. Forces are causes and always invisible—Motions are effects 
and usually observable 129 
94. What these forces have done 130 
95. How to discover the Forces of Nature 131 
96. The Search for Vital Force 133 
97. Life only from Life—The less cannot produce the greater— 
Causes always internal; occasions external ...... 135 
98. The indestructibility of Life—Life returns to its Source, as 
Spencer admits 138 
99. The Laws of Nature correspond in classification to its 
Forces—They are primary and secondary 140 
100. Motion or Energy is Force in action—Why Force appears 
as Motion 141 
iox. Occasions distinguished from Causes—Conditions distin- 
guished from Forces 144 
102. Tyndall’s explanation—No real transformation 146 
103. Forces reproduce their positions 147 
104. Sunlight a motion, not a force—an occasion of growth, not 
a cause 147 
105. The admitted confusion of the accepted theories 149 
X06. Forces categorically distinguished from Motions by reverse 
processes 149 
107. The true position of Gravitation and Chemical Affinity 
proved by reverse processes 150 
108. The secondary cannot be correlated with the primary ... 151 
109. Transforming the baser forces into Life as impossible as 
transmuting the baser metals into gold 152 
THE COSMOS ; OR, THE CONSTITUTION OF NATURE. Contents 
CHAPTER VII. 
VITAL FORCE : ITS NATURE AND SOURCE. 
SECTION PAGE 
111. The organic world a fundamental department of Nature—Its 
force fundamental 153 
112. All things the product of Force—The two classes of Force 
individualized 154 
113. Vital Force returns to the Source whence it came 155 
114. Vital Force not transformed physical and chemical forces— 
LeConte reviewed—Which is cause and which condition 156 
115. Herschel’s Rules employed to demonstrate the sources of 
vital development 157 
116. Vital Force from Heat, Light, etc., reviewed 160 
117. Food in its relations to Vital Force 161 
118. Necessity for sleep proves that Vital Force is inherent . . . 162 
119. Le Conte’s illustration of how Light becomes Vital Force, 
controverted 162 
120. LeConte’s theory of clouds and rain also controverted . . 163 
121. The pivotal doctrine of Evolution—Whence the power that 
develops? 165 
122. The power that elevates Man 168 
123. Can the less include the greater?—Is the Creator a Great 
First Cause or a Little First Cause ? 168 
124. Whence the sustaining power of Life ? 170 
125. The Source of Vital Force—The Reproduction theory . . 170 
126. Reproduced from the Unconditioned Reality or Unknowable 
Realm—The Occasion mistaken for the Cause .... 171 
Reproduction results from Desire—All growth the answer 
to Desire 173 
127. Objections answered 177 
128. The immortality of Life follows 178 
129. How to prolong earthly life 180 
CHAPTER VIII. 
THE EGO ; OR, THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN. 
130. The relations of Man to the Universe restated 181 
131. Force inherent in the nature of things—Vital Force inherent 
in living things 182 Contents 
SECTION PAGE 
132. An inherent force a primal force—Vital force a superior 
force 183 
133. All causes invisible—The Ego defined—The Trinity of Man 184 
134. The healing power and its source—Employs in its work all 
principles beneath it—Proof of Vital Force 185 
135. The healing power distinguished from working power . . . 188 
136. A new classification of Vital Force—Inherent capacity and 
available power 188 
137. The elements of long life 189 
138. Inherent Vital Force not a lump-sum—Medical Science vs. 
The Sermon on the Mount 190 
139. The proportions of the combination the important thing . . 192 
140. This classification of Vital Force compared with Spencer’s 
classification of physical force 194 
141. The Great Delusion 195 
142. The power that a man is conscious of possessing is the 
power that is going from him—Unconscious power the 
real power 196 
143. The living organism compared to an electric battery . . . . 198 
144. The Storage Battery a better illustration 199 
145. Long life inversely related to great vigor—Examples . . . 200 
146. Vital Force is our inheritance—Energy is force in process 
of expenditure 201 
CHAPTER IX. 
life’s great law. 
The Analogue of Attraction of Gravitation. 
147- Success requires both Stability and Flexibility 204 
148. These are secured by immutable laws, in response to ever- 
changing conditions 204 
149. Law to be valuable must be formulated—Newton’s formula 
—What Newton discovered 206 
150. Formula of Life’s Great Law—The only merit of the 
Author 207 
151. The analogy perfect—The value of analogy—Jevons quoted 208 
152. The Telescope of Science employed to illustrate Nature . . 209 
153. The Universality of Life’s Great Law 209 
XV Contents 
SECTION PAGE 
154. Lionel Beale and bioplasm 210 
155. The cause of Vital movement 211 
156. All protoplasm alike—Drummond’s quotation from Huxley 213 
157. A materialist’s description quoted 214 
158. Illustrations from every-day life 216 
159. Nature and origin of Evil 217 
160. General perversions of Vital instincts 218 
161. Life and Mind, and their relations—Ramsey’s Applied 
Anatomy quoted 219 
162. How drugs produce effects 221 
163. The successes and failures of all forms of treatment ex- 
plained—Powwowing, Incantations, Faith-Cure, Mind- 
Cure, Regular Medicine, Homoeopathy, Sympathetic pow- 
ders, Sir Humphry Davy’s Thermometer-Cure .... 222 
164. The power and the process always the same 223 
165. Life’s Great Law enforced by vital power, the true principle 
of Life and the source of all vital operations, whether of 
health or disease 224 
CHAPTER X. 
166. The Influence of Environment heretofore a subject of specu- 
lation—The laws of Environment to be expounded . . . 227 
167. We must exist before we can be influenced by Environment 
—Life the product of inheritance—Our Laws are laws of 
Life 228 
168. Man the victim of delusions—Some have been exposed— 
There are worse to follow 229 
169. The four laws named—The Law of Action—The Law of 
Power—The Law of Effects—The Law of Vital Accom- 
modation 229 
170. The Law of Action formulated—Dictionary definitions of 
Action—Does Medicine act—food, drink, clothing, vomit- 
ing, purging 229 
171. Causes and Occasions again distinguished—it is by con- 
founding them that the most absurd doctrines are enabled 
to survive 231 
172. What difference does it make which acts, the medicine or 
organism, as long as we get the action 232 
ENVIRONMENT ; OR, THE LAWS OF VITAL RELATION. Contents 
SECTION PAGE 
173. The organism acts because it thinks—We change the action 
by changing thoughts 234 
174. Nature of disease explained in the same way 234 
175. The Law of Power formulated—Ilerschel’s Rules again 
employed—The modus operandi of medicines demon- 
strated 235 
176. Medicines cure diseases by producing diseases—The effects 
of tonics and stimulants 236 
177. The Law of Effects formulated 237 
178. Illustrations—Anaesthesia—Alcohol—Opium—Cocaine . . 238 
179. The power of habit explained—Alcohol, tea, coffee, tobacco 
—Try it and prove it 240 
180. The same principles apply to all tonics, stimulants, anodynes, 
chologogues 241 
181. Further proof of the law—The energy of medication shows 
why all medicines are poisons 242 
182. Why medicines act on some organs and not on others . . . 244 
183 The law applies to every act, habit, indulgence, of the in- 
dividual—Applies to horses 244 
184. Why people must sleep—This law explains everything— 
Dancing, eating, drinking—The Water-Cure—The Cold 
Bath 245 
185. This law the child of the ages—first recognized by the Great 
Teacher—Recognized in Medicine one hundred years 
ago 247 
186. The paradoxes of Scripture and the Golden Rule explained 
—The Law of Similars 247 
187. The Law of Vital Accommodation—Nature’s Balance-Wheel 
—The reforms of the day must be subject to this law— 
Reform needed rather than revolution—Man the product 
of evolution 251 
CHAPTER XI. 
THE MODUS OF MEDICINES ; OR, DO THEY STRENGTHEN YOU ? 
188. The term Medicine made to include all agencies employed 
to improve health or cure disease 254 
189. Newton’s demonstration that the real is the opposite of the 
apparent applies to Medicine—The Law of Effects ... 255 
XVII Contents 
SECTION PAGE 
190. The facts of medical practice 257 
191. Why not take a drink? 258 
192. Will they strengthen us ? 259 
193. Whence comes the increased power ? 260 
194. The drunkard’s organism in evidence—Causes confounded 
with Occasions ' 261 
195. Herschel’s rules again applied 263 
196. A further test—The drink-and-drug habit explained . . . 263 
197. Vital Energy again shown to be opposed to vital power . . 264 
198. Stimulants and tonics increase the consumption of food—So 
does labor—Cui bono ? 265 
199. Life depends upon what a man has, not upon what he expends 266 
200. The Great Delusion once more 267 
201. All violent appliances stimulating 268 
202. The Water-Cure and its effects—Illustrative cases .... 269 
203. The recuperative influence of the ball-room considered— 
How sleep recuperates 271 
CHAPTER XII. 
THE NATURE OF DISEASE. 
204. The danger of dealing with a thing whose nature we do not 
understand 274 
205. Disease a natural process illustrated by other natural pro- 
cesses 274 
206. The force of disease is the force of health, and both are 
Vital Foice 275 
207. Professor Wood’s confession that disease is an invisible 
process of life 277 
208. Quain’s predictions—right yet wrong 278 
209. The processes of Life described—disease distinguished from 
health _ 280 
210. Disease-germs and their work—Importance of cleanliness . 281 
211. The sources of impurities 282 
212. Professor John Hughes Bennett’s theory commended and 
extended 285 
213. Causes again distinguished from Occasions 286 
214. Disease defined—Irritation its first obvious process .... 288 Contents 
SECTION PAGE 
215. The delusive nature of irritation—Professor Wood quoted 
—Irritants are stimulants, and vice versa 288 
216. The second stage of Disease—Congestion 291 
217. Obstruction the great cause of congestion—Prevailing 
methods criticised 292 
218. The great need is Rest—Rest of heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, 
stomach—The danger of heart tonics 295 
219. The destructive results of predigested foods 296 
220. The work of the vital organs—How to rest them—The 
philosophy of bleeding 297 
CHAPTER XIII. 
THE LAW OF CURE. 
221. Is there such a law?—Strange that poisons should cure dis- 
eases 300 
222. The solution of the problem involves careful distinction 
between Causes and Occasions 301 
223. All vital causes hereditary—Environment the source of 
occasions 301 
224. Two opposing methods of curing diseases 303 
225. The Cure may be worse than the disease 305 
226. Medicine the occasion not the cause of vital action .... 306 
227. How large shall the dose be? 307 
228. The Regular and Homoeopathic schools contrasted .... 308 
229. Both schools based on the curative power of drugs—Hahne- 
mann’s law 309 
230. Medicine is matter, not spirit—What it does—Law of 
Similars 311 
231. Medicines opposed to disease 314 
232. The negative plan of curing diseases 315 
233. Health by living healthfully the true idea 316 
234. The testimony of Dr. Isaac Jennings 317 
XIX VITAL SCIENCE. 
CHAPTER I. 
DEFINITIONS AND RELATIONS. 
“ The confirmation of theories rests upon the compact adaptation 
of their parts, by which, like those of an arch or dome, they mutually 
sustain each other and form a coherent whole.”—Bacon, as quoted by 
Herschell. 
I. Nature is the book we read; Science is the inter- 
pretation of what we read; while logical common-sense 
is the process of reading it. A magnificent volume 
by an Omnipotent Mind, in language that is divine, 
needs to be translated into human language, and sim- 
plified to the capacities of the human understanding. 
In Nature, Science, and Logic, we have object, 
subject, and process, all indissolubly connected, illus- 
trating the same principles and tending to the same 
conclusions. Nature is the thing that really is; Science 
is the description of how it is; while logical reasoning 
is the process of the description. 
2. Nature exists both in mind and in things. We 
use the term in the larger sense to include universal 
Nature, made up of causes and effects, and their mu- 
tual relations. For Nature is a process of work, just 
as truly as she is a product; and what the process is, 
in order that we may predict or determine the result, 
17 Vital Science 
it is the work of Science to discover and disclose. 
How Nature does her work—that is, how she grows 
a plant, produces fruit, builds a man, makes health or 
disease, in order that we may take advantage of and 
control the doing—is the work before us. 
3. Science is a mental picture of both process and 
product. It is made up of facts; Nature is made up 
of facts. It is based upon principles; Nature is the 
product of principles. There are facts observed and 
facts inferred in both Nature and Science; and it is 
the work of Science to establish their existence and 
trace their connections. 
The Facts Observed are known as phenomena, 
the things we see and feel, the symptoms, as the physi- 
cian would say, constituting the apparent world. But 
all experience proves that the apparent world is not 
the real world. It is the world in which man shares 
his knowledge with the brute, and upon which all men 
are on the same level, or if there are differences, they 
are too often in favor of the more ignorant. Color- 
blindness, both physical, intellectual, and moral, is a 
sad fact of humanity. 
4. The Facts Inferred.—Man is possessed of Rea- 
son, whose first work is to infer the invisible from the 
visible,—the unknown from the known. Observation 
has already shown that phenomena are effects ; reason 
declares that effects are necessarily the product of 
causes; and the facts inferred become at once the 
great necessity of Science. (§ 18.*) They are value- 
* The sections in this work are numbered for ease of reference, and 
these references are frequently made to point the reader to further 
discussions of the subject. Definitions and Relations 
less, it is true, until carefully verified; but it is really 
this verification which makes them to be facts of infer- 
ence. They would seem to be the circumstantial evi- 
dence of Science, and hence the most reliable form of 
scientific knowledge. 
5. Nature, therefore, is made up of causes and 
effects, constituting the Facts Inferred and the Facts 
Observed, and it is the work of Science to trace by 
logical processes the relations between these classes, 
showing what causes produce what effects, in order 
that we may obviate, produce, control, or, at least, ex- 
plain the effects. Science to be valuable should be 
practical. Its province is to confer power; knowledge 
is power. It will be found to be something more than 
speculations regarding natural phenomena in order to 
satisfy a natural curiosity. The Science here proposed 
is a logical development of discovered truths, from 
which has been deduced a system of health that has 
proved successful and exact in practice to an unex- 
ampled degree. By way of development of this system 
we proceed to consider,— 
How effects are produced. Only through the opera- 
tion of causes. We propose the use of words in their 
legitimate meanings, and, turning to the dictionary for 
definitions, we learn that an effect is “ that which is 
effected by an efficient cause;” while a cause is “ that 
by the power of which an event or thing is,” “ a prin- 
ciple from which an effect arises.” (Century Dictionary.) 
We are, therefore, justified in making the emphatic 
statement, to be herein fully illustrated and established, 
that every cause is a power or principle (§§ 54, 70); and 
this we shall soon learn (the Great First Cause alone 
19 Vital Science 
excepted) is constituted of Force under direction of 
Law. (§ 14.) In every department of natural exist- 
ence work is being performed, and the human mind 
has never yet conceived a means of doing work, pro- 
ducing effects, performing functions, except by the use 
of Force, mental or physical. Mr. Herbert Spencer 
very properly bases his system upon Force as “an 
ultimate of ultimates,”—the basic principle of natural 
existence. Who can doubt that the power to do al- 
ways precedes the thing done ? 
6. Phenomena could not exist except through the 
forces of production. But these forces could accom- 
plish nothing unless directed to their accomplishment. 
The process is Motion, the product is Matter, and both 
of them exist in accordance with Law. If it were 
possible to conceive that Force were undirected, or 
irregularly directed,—if water were attracted now 
downward, then upward, and anon were destitute of 
direction; if steam represented contraction as well as 
expansion; and so of all forces if they were irregular 
in their operations, how could any work be done ? If 
the universe were the product of chance, indeed of an 
infinite succession of chances, the orderly arrangement 
of its parts becomes the most stupendous miracle ever 
presented for human contemplation. 
But it is not the product of chance; it is the product 
of Force under direction and control of Law. (§ 69.) 
It is the force of Gravitation under its proper law that 
holds the world in place and produces all astronomical 
phenomena. It gives power to air and water to op- 
erate our mills. Water-power is gravity-power. So 
is wind-power. So of other mechanical contrivances, 
20 Definitions and Relations 
the power that makes them capable of doing work is 
the force of gravity under its proper law. It is gravity 
that floats the balloon, holds the railway train to its 
track, makes the ship to float or sink. In all these 
cases there is but one force under control of the one 
law (§ 86), all other elements of the result consisting 
simply and only of the occasion or condition for the 
operation of the force. (§§ 73, 101, 114.) Natural law 
is inseparable from natural force; the wisdom of di- 
rection is the very essence of natural power. Given 
Force directed by Law, or Law sustained by Force, 
as you choose, and what further is needed to account 
for and explain all phenomena? 
The discovery of the Law has in every age accom- 
plished just this result. How could it account for and 
explain the phenomena unless it was an important 
agent in the production of the phenomena ? If Law 
is not the directing principle of Science, what, then, is 
its function ? And if it has no important function, 
how can its discovery be of such great consequence, 
as Archimedes, Newton, Lavoisier, and others have 
proved? Can there be anything more absurd than to 
urge, as some modern authors do, that “ Organic form 
is the result of motion in direction of least resistance.” 
According to this doctrine, Paul and Luther, and the 
martyrs and sages of all ages, were “ modes of motion” 
proceeding in direction of least resistance. Or, if it 
be claimed that they only operated as men in direction 
of great resistance, while their own production was 
due to “motion in direction of least resistance,” we 
have the real Spencerian doctrine, of great things out 
of small, of motion out of inertia, of Life out of no 
21 Vital Science 
Life, of a universe out of a very Little First Cause. 
On the contrary, organic form is the product of Force, 
and all Force operates under direction and control of 
Law; it is the Law that determines the form of the 
motion. Every tree that grows, grows in opposition 
to gravity, which is the direction of greatest resistance. 
We would emphasize the truth also, that the work 
done describes the quality and degree of the power 
employed. There is no other measure of power known 
to man than the work it does. There is no means of 
distinguishing the kind of power employed but the 
function it performs. The man who asserts that vital 
function is the product of physical force draws on his 
imagination for his facts. 
Let it be noted, also, that the doing of the work 
involves the expenditure of the power. By expendi- 
ture we mean, not its loss or destruction, but its change 
of position. (§ 127.) Perpetual motion, spontaneous 
generation, something out of nothing, is no part of 
true science. Ex nihil nil fit. Every cause has the 
power to produce its effect; but when the effect has 
been produced, the power that produced it has been 
transferred to the effect. (§§ 49, 95.) It is impossible 
that both can possess the same power at the same time. 
7. Causes and Occasions.—These must not only be 
distinguished from each other, but the distinctions must 
be carefully maintained, if our processes would lead 
to correct conclusions. If a cause is “ that by the 
power of which a thing is,” an occasion is not also the 
power. On the contrary, the dictionary tells us that 
an occasion is “ an accidental cause.” It is not the 
power by which the thing is done, but the incentive Definitions and Relations 
or condition for the operation of the power. (§§ 101, 
126 j£.) To occasion means “to induce” or “to bring 
about.” It is a remarkable fact that every result in 
Nature involves both the cause and the occasion; in 
other words, involves the poiver that operates and the 
condition for its operation. It is by confounding these 
that the most erroneous conclusions are reached. Mr. 
Spencer confounds them. (§89.) Professor Joseph Le 
Conte, in order to sustain the so-called evolution 
doctrine, transposes them. (§ 114.) This subject, 
though one of the most important to all true science, 
and especially to a Science of Human Health, must be 
deferred until we reach its application in the solution 
of the numerous problems which present themselves. 
8. The Nature of Force.—To condense into a 
paragraph a description of Force, and to define it in a 
phrase, preparatory to a more elaborate investigation 
in Chapter VI. of its nature and work, let us say, It is 
intangible and invisible, known only by its effects. We 
know that it is under the direction and control of law, 
and is, therefore, persistent yet flexible, continuous yet 
changeable; and while elusive, fickle, and dangerous 
in the highest degree when we fail to obey its laws, 
yet as certain in its operations under the direction of 
law as the throne of God is immutable. It is universal, 
omnipresent, eternal; and, as Newton demonstrated it, 
“ every particle of matter in the universe” is a store- 
house of it. To give to it its broadest signification, 
let us say, Force is that which does work. (§ 76.) What 
kind of work ? The kind which the Law directs. In 
one hour it warms us; in the next it carries us to our 
homes or dumps us in the ditch. It holds us securely 
23 Vital Science 
on the mountain-top or dashes us over the precipice. 
It shelters us from the storms of winter or explodes 
us into ten thousand fragments. How necessary that 
we should learn and obey the Law, and be prepared to 
supply the conditions which determine what the result 
shall be! 
9. Force and Motion.—The natural distinction 
between these must also be maintained if we would 
have science. On this subject we can but appeal to 
the intelligent common-sense of every reader. Force 
is the power, and motion is the immediate product; 
force is the cause, and motion is the effect; motion is 
the work, and force, under direction of law, is the 
power that does the work. Ordinarily it were a work 
of supererogation to urge these self-evident truths, 
and were it not that the most important and revolu- 
tionary of modern systems of thought, obtains its 
whole significance, as we shall see, by confounding 
Force and Motion, Cause and Effect, in the most arbi- 
trary and absurd fashion (§§ 42, 89), we should not feel 
justified in calling attention to the subject. It is incon- 
ceivable that Mr. Herbert Spencer is wholly uncon- 
scious of his transgression of proprieties in this respect; 
we can here simply call attention to the confusion 
which he introduces into the subject, and shall in the 
proper place have occasion to review his positions more 
fully. (§ 89.) 
io. Energy and Motion.—These would seem to be 
identical. Scientists use the terms interchangeably. 
Whenever matter changes position or condition, as, 
for instance, when water runs down-hill, or coal is 
burnt, or gunpowder explodes, neither the material, 
24 Definitions and Relations 
nor the force inherent in the material, is lost or de- 
stroyed, the matter has simply passed to a new state, 
carrying its forces with it; but in the process of doing 
so it has developed an energy which men have for 
ages been learning to appropriate for the doing of 
work. It is Energy or Motion that does work,—per- 
forms function; but it is Force that produces the 
Energy; and while the Energy is lost in the work 
done, the Force has only changed position. Force, 
whether mechanical, chemical, or vital, is persistent, 
eternal, immortal, inherent in the nature of things; it 
is only the Energy or Motion, developed from the 
Force as it falls to lower levels, that is conserved or 
transformed, as eminent authorities agree, and as we 
shall clearly show in Chapter VI. 
n. The Nature of Law.—The common-sense 
view of Law has already been indicated, but it may be 
well here to more definitely and categorically define 
what is meant by the term. As applied in Science it 
is described as “ a proposition which expresses the 
constant and regular order of certain phenomena, or 
the constant mode of action of a force.” (Century 
Dictionary.) 
No one can, we think, doubt the correctness of this 
definition. It is expressly limited so as to come within 
the facts of observation, without importing into it any 
theory of its existence. Agnostic Science prides itself 
on not knowing too much, and is thus especially care- 
ful to infer as little as possible. But it has inferred 
the existence of Force, which it never saw, and of Law 
which is the complement and counterpart of Force, 
and without which Force would be valueless; why 
25 Vital Science 
not carry the inference one step farther, and infer what 
seems to be a necessity by every principle of reason, 
analogy, and common-sense,—viz., the existence of the 
Lawgiver ? We assert the applicability to Science of 
the primal definition of Law, that it is “ a rule of action 
prescribed by authority.” (Century Dictionary.) In 
other words, the authority prescribes the action. The 
first definition above given restricts it to the work of 
Ascribing the action of force,—of telling what has 
been done; a definition which is true as far as it goes. 
But does it go far enough ? Whatever we know of 
Law, by association with men and things, leads us to 
view it, not as a declaration of what has been done, but 
as defining what shall be done, and especially how it 
shall be done. It is not the province of the Law to 
describe what the citizen has done, nor even what he 
may do, but to prescribe the terms on which he may 
act. He may build a residence, but, if in the city, he 
must take out his permit; he may peddle goods, but 
he must have a license to do so; he may hunt or fish 
at the proper season; may even kill or cure, if he has 
the proper authority. 
12. Again, it is asserted that Law has no positive 
existence, but is only “a mode of motion,” illustrating 
the sequence of effects, and is, therefore, the result of 
the peculiar order of things observed. We inquire, if 
Law is the result of the operations of Nature, what is 
the cause of these operations, and especially of this 
order? Again, how does the discovery of the Law 
enable us to predict with certainty what will happen 
under given circumstances if it is not the Law which 
causes it to happen ? (§ 94.) Again, if Law is the 
26 Definitions and Relations 
product of Evolution, why does not the Law change 
as all other products of Evolution change ? The Law 
of the Lever, for instance, has been known for more 
than two thousand years, and if it be the product of 
Evolution, some change, however slight, must be at 
length observable. But no one suspects such a thing. 
Law is unchangeable because it is the edict of an un- 
changeable Lawgiver; if it were the result of Nature’s 
processes, it would illustrate the same progress which 
Nature everywhere shows, and be continually chang- 
ing, slightly, it may be, but certainly. Unchangeable, 
it produces all changes in answer to the ever-changing 
conditions of natural existence, and so illustrates the 
character of its Author. 
No one will object, we believe, to this view of the 
matter except those who take pride in being Agnos- 
tics. But this is the Agnostic’s own position; we 
have only put his two and two together. Mr. Spencer 
may be said to be the great apostle of Agnosticism, 
but admitting into his system two great facts, he must 
not evade the legitimate inferences from these facts. 
Fact one, the universe is the product of a Great First 
Cause. Fact two, the production is through the 
operation of Law; making the conclusion inevitable 
that the Great First Cause, operating only through 
Law, is a Great Lawgiver. He could not be the 
Great First Cause unless he is author of all causes and 
all effects, of which Law is one of the most important. 
In other words, using Mr. Spencer’s own arguments, 
every effect involves the existence of a cause; the 
universe must, therefore, have begun with a cause; 
this cause must be the equal of all causes, and is, 
27 Vital Science 
therefore, a Great First Cause. All causes produce 
their effects under the control of laws; therefore the 
Great First Cause operates through Law, and unless 
it be affirmed that Law is the Great First Cause, which 
no one believes, then the Great First Cause must have 
given the Law, and is, therefore, the Great Lawgiver, 
which is the only rational position. 
13. The nature of Law involves another considera- 
tion of even greater importance,—viz., a correct for- 
mulary of it. A law is a rule by which work is done, 
so that if we would be successful in doing the work 
we must learn the rule. Gravitation is a good name 
for a law, but it does not define the law; so of Chem- 
ical Affinity, the Law of the Lever, and others; the 
name gives us no power to use them, it is the formula 
of the law that is the essential thing. “ As the long 
arm of the lever is to the short arm, so is the power to 
the weight it will raise,” is the formula that makes the 
lever an immense power in the hands of the scientist. 
Just so the knowledge that gravitation operates 
“ directly as the mass and inversely as the square of 
the distance” is knowledge of immense value. Chem- 
ical Affinity is the name of a law, but it is not the law. 
Just so Persistence of Force may be a proper name 
for the Law of Evolution, but how the law operates 
is what we want to know, and we commend to Mr. 
Spencer, for instance, Newton’s formula as a sample 
after which he could properly pattern. 
14- Principles Defined.—The term Principle is in 
such general use, and occupies so important a place in 
the discussions of this work, as it should in all scien- 
tific discussions, that we deem it of great importance 
28 Definitions and Relations 
to get a clear, yet comprehensive, definition of the 
term. Webster defines it as “ beginning,” “ commence- 
ment,” “ source or origin,” “ that from which anything 
proceeds;” also, “ a fundamental substance or energy.” 
It is evident, therefore, that the term is as applicable 
to Nature as to Science, constituting the last analysis 
of created existence, the fundamental substance or 
energy from which all Nature proceeds. And this is 
as it should be. Science being a description of Nature, 
—a mental picture of an existing reality,—should illus- 
trate her in her beginnings as well as in her processes 
and conclusions. Nature’s beginnings are, therefore, 
the beginnings of Science; her processes are the pro- 
cesses of Science, and her products the conclusions of 
Science. 
But we have already noted that the beginnings of 
created existence are made up of the Force that does 
the work and of the Law by which the force operates. 
Thus, a principle of science is made to include a 
knowledge of the law by which the work is done. 
This truth is fully illustrated in the physical sciences, 
especially astronomy, which deals with physical force 
not only, but with the laws of its operation. Also in 
chemical science, which deals with chemical force and 
the laws by which it works. In perfect analogy with 
these, we assert that a Science of Human Health, in 
order to be worth anything, must deal not only with 
Vital Force, but with the law or laws of its operation. 
The Law is an essential factor; the title of our work 
would not answer to our conceptions of propriety 
unless we are able to disclose the laws of all vital 
manifestations. 
29 Vital Science 
But we have still another important definition of 
Principle,—viz., “ a comprehensive law or doctrine from 
which others are derived, and on which others are 
founded.” (Webster.) This is a most comprehensive 
definition. We shall discover that there are but three 
such principles in the universe, from which all other 
principles are derived: the one, the basis of mechan- 
ical existence; another, the source of all chemical 
laws and forces; and the third, to be here disclosed, 
the source of all vital activities, the basis of an exact 
physiology. 
This principle, as are all other principles, is invisible 
and intangible, but none the less real; and it will be a 
part of our work to show that Nature as a whole, and 
in every part, is an evolution of invisible principles, and 
not the involution of external matter ; and that Science 
is a corresponding deduction from such principles, and 
not inductions from observed facts. 
The relation which a fundamental principle holds to 
the forces and laws of Nature may be properly ex- 
pressed in a logical formula, as follows: 
Force 
Law 
= Principle. 
Thus, as a principle is “ source or origin,” “ that from 
which anything proceeds,” and as Science is knowl- 
edge, so a principle of Science is a knowledge of the 
force which produces the phenomena under considera- 
tion, and of the law by which the force operates to their 
production. And as the principle, which is the equiv- 
alent of Nature’s force and law, is the source from Definitions and Relations 
which all phenomena proceed, whether they be the 
symptoms of health or disease, so we may illustrate 
Science, in any department of Nature, by the following 
diagram: 
Fig. i. 
Produces all 
Effects 
True Principle 
Governs all 
Phenomena 
Appearances 
Explains all 
Besults 
From the true principle proceed all the facts, phe- 
nomena, effects, results, and appearances of the natural 
world; and while these are unlimited in number and 
variety, the principle from which a given class springs 
is one and indivisible; and, while it is impossible for 
us to become acquainted with all the facts of life, it is 
easy enough to deduce conclusions, and produce from 
the principles, once discovered, results, infinite in num- 
ber and variety, and absolute as to certainty. As long 
as we continue to observe effects or appearances, re- 
maining ignorant of the principles which produce 
them, we may properly be called experimenters, in- 
ductionists, practitioners, but we are not scientists. 
In order to be scientists, so as to be able to control or 
at least explain results, we must attain to the Principle, 
which consists of the Force that produces the results, 
and of the Law, according to which they are produced. 
15. The Diagram may be called the Telescope of 
Science, which brings whatever is found within its 
scope near enough to permit of accurate knowledge. 
But it is something more than a telescope. As from 
31 Vital Science 
a single force, operating according to Law, is produced 
all the phenomena of its class, so the philosopher, 
looking in at the small end of the glass, gets at once 
a comprehensive view of the whole science, including 
all its facts and laws, and is enabled to explain every- 
thing. This is the logical and scientific method of 
deducing conclusions from primal principles. By re- 
versing the picture, we get the empirical or inductive 
method of arriving at knowledge. The philosopher 
who trusts to observation is looking in at the wrong 
end of the glass, causing the principle at the opposite 
end to appear infinitely distant and trifling. The 
great truths which have shaken society to its centre 
have always appeared insignificant to the superficial 
observer, while to the discoverer, the Newtonian phi- 
losopher, the comprehensive thinker, the true principle 
is a pearl of priceless value. To him who has attained 
the true vantage-ground of observation, by discovering 
the principle, everything seems clear, full, and obvious ; 
speculations give way to knowledge, and empiricism 
to the certainty of science. Facts, though otherwise 
obscure and difficult to be appreciated, are brought 
near enough to permit of thorough investigation, and 
the consequent attainment of order and certainty. 
Facts may be conceived to be the fulcrums on which 
to rest our levers, but principles are the levers which 
move the world. They constitute the keys which un- 
lock the storehouses of knowledge, and bring within 
our control the inexhaustible resources of Nature. It 
was not a lack of facts which prevented the discovery 
of the circulation of the blood previous to Harvey, 
nor that left astronomical discoveries to Copernicus, 
32 Definitions and Relations 
Kepler, Newton; it was not a scarcity of chemical 
operations in Nature that so long prevented Alchemy 
from becoming Chemistry; so it is not a lack of phys- 
iological facts or experience that prevents the estab- 
lishment of a Science of Human Health, or a true 
philosophy of existence. The treasures of knowledge 
in this respect are vast indeed, while the experience 
and experiments of physicians are beyond computa- 
tion. Every phase of health and disease has been 
subject to intellectual treatment for ages, to result in 
endless confusion and disastrous uncertainty; not be- 
cause of a lack of observed facts or of intellectual 
ability, but from a failure to discover the principles 
from which Nature operates. 
The true object of Science is to furnish us with 
principles of conduct, not to declare to us the Abso- 
lute, and leave us helpless beneath its iron grip. Its 
value consists in telling us what, and what not, to do, 
in order to take advantage of Nature’s processes. It 
is the real world, the hidden causes of things, the in- 
visible forces and laws of existence, that we seek to 
discover, in order that we may avoid danger, provide 
against disaster, and appropriate the good of life. 
16. Of Adhesion to Principle.—But of what use 
are principles unless in practice we adhere to them ? 
To be unprincipled in social, moral, or political life is 
one of the most unfortunate states of mind for any 
human being to illustrate, for it means inevitable mis- 
fortune, disgrace, and poverty. How much better or 
worse is it to be unprincipled in Science ? If want of 
principle makes a man to be unreliable and dangerous, 
what shall we say of systems that are destitute of prin- Vital Science 
ciples ? We are called upon to deal with both kinds 
every day,—principled and unprincipled men, and 
sciences based upon principle and systems that have 
no principles. Who would hesitate to choose between 
them ? Chemistry is a science because it is based 
upon principles. Alchemy was a superstition and a 
fraud because it had no principles. Mechanics and 
Astronomy are sciences because of their underlying 
principles, which are clear, definite, and indisputable. 
But what shall we say for the two great impressive 
systems of our day, Medicine and Agnostic Philos- 
ophy, neither of which have any principles sufficiently 
clear to permit of accurate statement, but, on the con- 
trary, are claimed to be inductive sciences whose prin- 
ciples it is proposed some day to discover ? 
We propose for our readers a science based upon 
discovered principles,—an evolution of first truths in 
perfect correspondence with the evolution of Nature, 
of which Science is a description. 
34 CHAPTER II. 
THE TWO SYSTEMS—OF THOUGHT AND WORK. 
“ Nothing is more certain than logical truth. . . . The mathemati- 
cian is strong and true as long as he is logical, and if number rules the 
world, it is logic which rules number.”—“ Principles of Science,” by 
Professor W. Stanley Jevons. “The application of Scientific 
Method cannot be restricted to the sphere of lifeless objects.”—Ibid. 
17. The highway of Thought, like every other 
highway, leads in opposite directions to opposite con- 
clusions. It is a well-travelled road. No matter which 
way we turn, we shall find ourselves passing and re- 
passing the bewildered ones, who are now trying this 
way and then that, in the hope of reaching the goal 
of their ambition. 
Shall our processes be outward and forward, or 
backward and inward ? is the very first question that 
presents itself. Of late years the backward and in- 
ward, called also the inductive process, has been unduly 
advocated. There are those, of whom Francis Bacon 
is the great representative, who tell us that it is the 
only way of attaining to reliable knowledge. It has 
even come to pass that no science but what is called 
inductive is considered worth anything. And that 
such claim may be sustained its advocates forget their 
own principles, and assert that Astronomy and Chem- 
istry are inductive sciences. 
The same thought has been very properly extended 
35 Vital Science 
to the creations of Nature. The Mind is a part of 
Nature, and its processes illustrate those of the other 
parts. If Science is an integration of facts, Nature is 
a corresponding integration of matter; if Science is 
the product of observation, Nature is the product of 
Environment. If Environment is the source of Life, 
and Mind, and all other things, it is entirely consistent 
that Science should be the product of observation and 
experiment. It is our great modern philosopher who 
teaches that Creation is “ the integration of Matter 
and concomitant dissipation of Motionthat Life is 
the product of Environment, being nothing more than 
“ a mode of motionand that Science is a mass of 
facts, organized, it is true, but apparently without an 
organizing principle. 
18. We choose the forward and outward plan as the 
method of our creations, whether mental or physical. 
As the Universe was created, so man is created, so 
the human mind thinks, and so Science is produced. 
From an invisible but real interior to an obvious 
manifestation, is the order of Existence, without an 
exception in the universe. Science to be worth any- 
thing must be logical, deductive, evolutionary, corre- 
sponding to the evolutionary processes of Nature. We 
urge Heredity as the Source of all things (§§ 34, 45), 
as opposed to the Environment doctrines of our 
modern authors; and upon this thought proceed to 
build a Science of Human Health. 
These two systems of Thought—the backward and 
inward, and the forward and outward, called also the 
inductive and deductive, the empirical and logical—are 
the only ones. Both systems are claimed to be founded 
36 The Two Systems—of Thought and Work 
upon Fact, but not upon the same class of fact. The 
one bases all practice upon the facts of observation, 
and claims that its processes are inductive. The other 
claims the discovery of a fundamental truth as its 
basis. In both cases, reasoning is supposed to precede 
practice. But the postulates from which the reasoning 
is conducted differ as do cause and effect. All observ- 
able facts are effects of something preceding; the 
something which preceded is the cause, which, being 
discovered, constitutes an eternal verity which changes 
not, and so becomes the unchanging basis from which 
reasoning may be conducted. Such a process is 
natural; consistent with all the processes of Nature. 
The Mind thinks as Nature works. The Duke of 
Argyle well says, “ Reason requires some postulate, 
some primary truth” from which to reason. Only 
causes are primary. And causes, we have seen, are 
principles, which are defined as “ Source” or “ Ori- 
gin,” “ that from which anything proceeds.” The 
postulate from which one may reason is, therefore, the 
cause or source of all that one’s reason may logically 
reach. 
19. Reasoning from facts observed, if such be pos- 
sible, is an unnatural process. 
“ Saw with his own eyes the Moon was round, 
Was equally sure the Earth was square, 
Because he had travelled twenty miles, and found 
No sign that it was circular anywhere.” 
But no man really reasons from a fact of observa- 
tion. “Science is in the mind,” as Professor Jevons 
well says, so that the postulate from which reasoning 
37 Vital Science 
proceeds must also be in the mind, and this makes the 
supposed fact to be, not one of observation but of con- 
ception. Empirical scientists reason, not from what 
they observe, but from what they think they observe. 
And as appearances are so often deceptive, it is not 
wonderful that empirical science,—science based upon 
supposed fact,—even if dignified by the new title 
inductive, has always proved itself unreliable. The 
history of Alchemy, Astrology, and Medicine is a 
history of delusions, in every case based upon sup- 
posed facts of observation. It is the great Bacon who 
says, “ It is constantly received and avouched that 
the anointing of the weapon that made the wound 
will heal the wound itself.” Men conceived—they 
thought they observed—this fact, and reasoned from 
it to the most absurd practice. It was an assumption 
from which they reasoned, as men often do, and the 
conclusion cannot be more reliable than the assump- 
tion. 
20. Human thought and human work must corre- 
spond with Divine thought and work if it would be 
successful. It is no more conceivable that a logical 
conclusion can be before its postulate than an effect 
can be before its cause, a tree before its seed, or a 
child before its parents. And every conclusion is an 
evolution of its postulate just as truly as the plant is 
an evolution of its seed. Science is no more an 
“ integration” than it is an aggregation of observed 
facts. It is an unfolding of conceived principles cor- 
responding to every living organism which is also the 
evolution of a conception. Creation, whether of a uni- 
verse, a world, a living thing, a science, or a thought, 
38 The Two Systems—of Thought and Work 
is a manifestation, evolution, or unfolding of an in- 
visible potency, which, really existent, had within it 
“ the promise and potency ” of all which followed. 
It is an evolution of invisible principles, and not the 
involution of “ things seenis the evolution of a 
Divine Plan, and not the “ integration of matter.” 
Scientific reasoning, therefore, proceeds from cause 
to effect, from seed to fruit, from principle to product, 
corresponding to all other natural processes. Such 
reasoning reduces the complexities of Nature to the 
simplicities of Science. The products of Nature are 
multifarious, even beyond human comprehension. As 
long as we confine ourselves to the world of observa- 
tion we must continue in a state of bewilderment. 
Causes, on the contrary, are few in number, simple in 
character, and having discovered those of any class, 
we have attained to a certainty of knowledge which 
contrasts gloriously with the previous speculations. 
All causes are forces; all forces are directed by laws; 
there are but three ultimate forces with their corre- 
sponding laws. (§§ 83, 99.) To reduce the complexities 
of Nature to the simplicities of Science involves pri- 
marily the discovery of the Law, which, sustained by 
its proper force, produces, controls, and, being under- 
stood, explains all the phenomena of its class. Such 
a science is based upon Reason, and is, therefore, logi- 
cal, deductive, exact. 
21. Professor John Hughes Bennett, of the Univer- 
sity of Edinburgh, an able and experienced teacher of 
Medicine, distinguishes with great clearness in his 
“ Practice of Medicine” between real and fictitious 
science. He says (p. 4),— 
39 Vital Science 
“ If we regard the whole field of human knowledge, and reflect on 
the differences which exist among the various sciences, we must insen- 
sibly be led to classify them into two great divisions,—viz., the exact 
and the inexact. All the sciences belonging to the first class are char- 
acterized by the possession of a primitive fact or law, which, being 
applicable to the whole range of phenomena of which the science con- 
sists, renders its different parts harmonious and the deductions of its 
cultivators conclusive. Thus, the physical sciences possess a primitive 
fact in what is called the law of gravity. It was Sir Isaac Newton 
who demonstrated, by a happy effort of genius, that all the planets in 
our system gravitate towards the sun by the same law, and in conse- 
quence of the same principle, as that by which bodies on the earth 
gravitate towards its centre. . . . This law applies to all the facts of 
which physical science is made up. In the same manner, Chemistry 
possesses a primitive fact in what is called the law of affinity, discov- 
ered later by Lavoisier. If we mix two salts, which mutually decom- 
pose each other, a third salt is formed by the union in definite propor- 
tions of their constituent elements. This, in the language of the 
chemists, is brought about by chemical affinity. . . . The possession 
of this primitive fact, then, communicates the greatest accuracy and 
precision to the sciences that possess it, and on this account they are 
called the exact sciences. 
“ But there are other sciences which are altogether destitute of a 
primitive fact, which consist of groups of phenomena, each of which 
may or may not be governed by a particular law (?). Such a one is 
agriculture. . . . The same means, apparently, which operate at one 
time fail to do so at another. Such sciences, then, are denominated 
inexact sciences, and it is to this class that Medicine belongs. 
“ Now, the cultivators of Medicine have always been, and are still 
endeavoring to render the science exact; and hence, at varied times, 
individuals have brought forward what they conceived to be a law or 
primitive fact, and have tried to show that it was applicable to all vital 
phenomena.” 
But, after showing that none of the previous at- 
tempts have succeeded in reducing all vital actions 
to one law, Professor Bennett proceeds: 
22. “ Medicine, then, in its present state, possesses no primitive fact. 
But is it not very possible that it may do so at some future time ? 
40 The Two Systems—of Thought and Work 
During the many ages that existed before Newton physical science was 
as inexact as that of physiology is now. Before the time of Lavoisier, 
chemistry, like physiology, consisted of nothing but groups of phe- 
nomena. These sciences went on gradually advancing, however, and 
accumulating facts, until at length philosophers appeared who united 
these together under one law. So Medicine, we trust, is destined to 
advance, and one day another Newton, another Lavoisier, will arise, 
whose genius will furnish our science with its primitive fact, and 
stamp upon it the character of precision and exactitude.” 
The essential truth advanced by this able teacher 
but confirms what wre have been saying. Science must 
be based upon its primitive fact; that is, the fact from 
which it is deduced. And as Science is a perfect de- 
scription of Nature, the primitive fact of the one must 
be the primitive fact of the other. We repeat, as 
Nature grows, so Science is to be deduced; as Nature 
proceeds from seed to fruit, so Science proceeds from 
principle to product, the principle corresponding to 
the seed and the product corresponding to the fruit. 
The overwhelmingly important consideration is The 
Finding of the Seed—The Discovery of the Principle. 
Such discovery is the starting-point of the Science. 
The impregnation of an ovum by the sperm of the 
male is not more necessary to the development of a 
living organism than is the discovery of the organizing 
principle to the development of Science. 
23- The first step towards this discovery is a knowl- 
edge of the composition of the principle,—a knowledge 
of what the seed is like. We have already attained to 
very clear ideas of the nature, character, and value of 
principles. Having found a seed of Science, we know 
what it looks like. We have been delighted to find 
how perfectly it resembles that great discovery of the Vital Science 
immortal Newton which enables the astronomers to 
weigh the worlds, predict conjunctions and eclipses, 
explain the tides, and solve many otherwise insolvable 
problems. A principle is a Force under control of a 
Law; it has been the discovery of the Law in all 
ages that has given exactness to Science. More than 
twenty years ago we discovered the one great law 
which controls all vital phenomena; it has only been 
since we commenced to write our system that we have 
learned how erroneous are the doctrines of Modern 
Science concerning the nature and source of Vital 
Force. Vital Force, under direction and control of 
Life’s Great Law, is the “ primitive fact” of Vital 
Science, which “ primitive fact” having been estab- 
lished, makes the Science logical and exact. We 
would exalt the power and value of logic in spite of 
the fact, which we recall, that it was an eminent medi- 
cal professor who so ridiculed it in his poem, “ The 
One-Hoss Shay,”—ridiculed, of course, the logic with 
which he had become familiar in his profession. 
24. The advantages of the logical over the experi- 
mental method are proved by every-day facts, and 
may be described as, First, economy; by it we avoid 
waste of material, time, and energy; Second, as cer- 
tainty; we know beforehand just what we can and 
cannot do; and, Third, exactness; it being possible 
to verify conclusions, correct errors, or change plans 
while they still continue to be theoretical, instead of 
changing them when they are found by application to 
be faulty or wrong. It is too late to correct the treat- 
ment of a patient after he is dead. 
We might occupy pages in describing the wonderful 
42 The Two Systems—of Thought and Work 
results of logical science, but cui bono ? It is impossible 
to conceive of the accomplishment of any important 
undertaking except in answer to logical deductions. 
Correct plans have always preceded successful prac- 
tice. 
25. Yet still Empirical Science flourishes, due, no 
doubt, to the continually recurring necessities for 
action while as yet the true principle remains undis- 
covered. This is especially true in Medicine. Sick- 
ness and death never wait on the convenience of doctor 
or patient. The doctor must prescribe whether he 
understands the case or not. The profession have 
been treating patients for generations notwithstanding 
their confessed ignorance of the nature of disease and 
the absence of any consistent theory of operation. 
There can be but one true theory of anything, but 
who can tell how many erroneous ones are possible ? 
One may shut his eyes and shoot in the dark at a flock 
of pigeons with the certainty of hitting some, but when 
there is only one in the whole flock that we want, and 
we don’t know which that is, we are much more likely 
to miss than to hit it. Inductive Science of every 
name is shooting in the dark with but one pigeon to 
hit,—only one correct theory of Nature’s processes 
possible. And that it has not hit the right one is 
proved by the fact that it is still inductive. Recall 
how long men clung to Ptolemaic Astronomy without 
hitting the right theory of the universe, while during 
three thousand years of Medicine all kinds of theories 
have been advocated and practised without bringing 
to it success or certainty. 
26. These truths have an extremely practical bear- 
43 Vital Science 
ing. They affect not only a man’s science and his 
business, but his social, political, and religious in- 
terests. Life in every aspect of it is a development 
of thought, and like thought has its two opposing 
forms of development,—the expedient and the princi- 
ple. Shall we stick to principles or yield to expe- 
dients? The practical man says, Adopt the expe- 
dient; the Scientist, the Christian, the statesman, says, 
Stick to your principles. The successes and failures 
of life show that both roads are well travelled. “ Pa- 
tient continuance in well-doing” leads to glory and 
honor. On the contrary, “ those who obey not the 
truth,” but live in the apparent, forever adopting 
plausible expedients, as did the great father of Modern 
Induction, suffer accordingly. 
“ Nae rules nor roads observin’, 
To right or left eternal swervin’, 
They zigzag on, 
Till cursed wi’ age, obscure and starvin’, 
They aften groan.” 
27. The conflict between these opposing systems 
of thought and work is as old as the human race. It 
is beautifully illustrated in that great allegory of the 
Garden of Eden where Man had placed before him the 
same choice which we all have every day,—the choice 
of knowledge through Faith, or through Works, 
through conviction of Truth or through Experiment. 
He chose Experiment then, as he still chooses it. And 
he has reaped as he had sown. The Tree of Knowl- 
edge of Good and Evil is still before every man. The 
serpent principle says to-day, as it has always said, 
44 The Two Systems—of Thought and Work 
“ In the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, 
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” 
Many a young man seeks through experience to get 
his “ eye teeth cut.” The wise parent said, and con- 
tinues to say, “ In the day thou eatest thereof, dying, 
thou shalt surely die.” Both speak the truth. Our 
parents ate; their eyes were opened; they had tasted 
of both Good and Evil, whereby they might dis- 
tinguish the one from the other. Becoming ac- 
quainted with Evil they were tainted with it as inno- 
cence always is. Fear now entered their souls; the 
birth of conscience had occurred; and one sin natu- 
rally leading to others, man began the downward road 
to death. The name of the first empirical scientist 
was Adam, whose experiments are being daily repeated 
by modern inductionists. He lost his life but he 
gained knowledge, and it is said of his lineal de- 
scendant, Francis Bacon, that he also lost his life in 
making an experiment. 
28. The Christian plan is the opposite,—the logical 
plan. It begins in conception, proceeds to conviction, 
—a real birth of truth; and being born again by the 
power of Him who is the Truth,—who came to “ bear 
witness unto the truth,”—man’s course is upward to 
Life rather than downward to Death. And all by 
virtue of power inherent in him. The Christian sys- 
tem bases everything upon Heredity. Even the 
worlds were created by “ the first-born of every crea- 
ture.” Its leading doctrine is, “Ye must be born 
again.” The other system teaches the elevation of 
man through power from without,—through power 
from Environment. 
45 Vital Science 
The Christian system would elevate man through 
power from within. “ Lo! the Kingdom of God is 
within you.” The one system says, “ Try, and find 
it out for yourself;” the other says, “Ask and ye 
shall receive” through “ Christ in you, the hope of 
glory.” The one says, “ Learn wisdom by experi- 
ence ;” the other says, “ If any man lack wisdom, let 
him ask of God,” “ whose temple ye are.” The one 
says, “ Believe only what you seethe other teaches 
faith in the things “ not seen.” The one urges that all 
knowledge comes from observation of things visible; 
the other declares Faith to be the conviction of things 
invisible. The one says, “ Observe, experiment, try;” 
the other says, “ If ye continue in my words ye shall 
know the truth.” The one would have us observe 
the ordinances, obey the commandments; while the 
other says, “ Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty where- 
with Christ hath made us free.” The one urges de- 
pendence upon Environment, another name for slavery; 
while the other teaches the freedom of Christ. Both 
plans lead to knowledge, but the ease and certainty 
of the one contrasts gloriously with the labor and 
sorrow of the other. We commend the same prin- 
ciples in Science that have so often proved effective 
in Religion. 
29. It were unnecessary to pursue any investigations 
as to the relative values of these opposing systems of 
thought and work. The facts speak for themselves. 
The power and value of Christian life and doctrine 
are undisputed and indisputable. No honest thinker 
doubts the wonderful superiority of Christian over 
Hindoo, Chinese, or Mohammedan civilization. True, 
46 The Two Systems—of Thought and Work 
this superiority is often accredited to Science, but 
whence the Science ? Why not China and India have 
been the leaders in the world’s progress instead of 
Europe and America? We need only say that the 
faith underlying the Science which has built our cities, 
developed our country, built our railroads and steam- 
ships, established lines of rapid communication be- 
tween varied countries, is distinctly logical and Chris- 
tian as opposed to the speculative, agnostic, and 
skeptical systems of our day. 
Modern Inductive Science, so called, illustrates other 
principles, and is derived from other sources. Bacon 
and Compte were its founders, Darwin and Spencer 
are its leaders; but they have all distinctly deserted 
the paths trod by Newton, Huyghens, and Faraday; 
by Watts and Stephenson, Fitch and Fulton ; by Morse 
and Bell, and a host of others who have trod the path- 
way to fame by appropriating and applying the facts, 
not of the far-off islands of the Sea, but of every-day 
life. These believed in and adhered to principles; it 
was the distinguishing characteristic of the lives of the 
great founders of modern induction to be so destitute 
of moral and political principles that they didn’t know 
that Science needed any, and so proceeded to teach 
men how to construct systems according to their 
fancies, unguided by any controlling principles. But, 
as Professor Jevons well says,— 
“ Within the last century a reaction has been setting in against the 
purely empirical procedure of Francis Bacon. ... I take the extreme 
view,” he says, “ of holding that Francis Bacon, though he correctly 
insisted upon constant reference to experience, had no correct notions 
as to the logical method by which from particular facts we educe laws 
of Nature.” 
47 Vital Science 
30. And now as to the fruits of modern induction. 
No better illustration can be found than modern 
Medicine. “ Medicine is a Science of observation 
and induction,” as old Professor Chapman well said, 
and as such illustrates with great force the value of 
inductive methods. Physicians are not less competent 
than other observers. And no one can dispute that 
they possess larger opportunities for observation than 
most men. And yet the absurdities and contradictions 
of practice are a never-ending source of confusion and 
dismay to the practitioners. We could fill volumes 
with confessions of their ignorance, error, and failure, 
but will content ourselves with a summing up of the 
results of medical practice by that eminent French 
physiologist, Bichat, whose words here quoted have 
often appeared in medical works and been repeated in 
medical conventions. We quote them from Bennett’s 
“ Practice of Medicine,” p. 332, as reliable testimony 
to the uncertainties of modern inductive science. 
“ There have been no general systems in the Materia Medica; but 
this science has been alternately influenced by the prevailing theories 
of physic. From hence proceeds the indefiniteness and uncertainty 
which mark it even in the present day. It is an incoherent mass of 
incoherent opinions and probably of all physiological sciences that in 
which the inconsistencies of the human mind are most glaring. What 
do I say ? It is not a science for a methodical and philosophical mind; 
it is an incongruous combination of erroneous ideas, observations often 
puerile, means at the least fallacious, and formulae as fantastically con- 
ceived as they are preposterously combined. It is said that the prac- 
tice of combined physic has something repelling in it. I will say 
more; in those principles which connect it with the Materia Medica 
it is absolutely revolting to a rational mind.” Bennett further says, 
“ Magendie observes that one chemist is in accord with another as to 
his fundamental facts, and that the phenomena observed in his labora- 
48 The Two Systems—of Thought and Work 
tory are the same in Paris as in New York, in London as in Calcutta.” 
But, he adds, “ it would be a painful task to pass in review the dif- 
ferent modes of medical treatment employed in different localities for 
the same diseases. Even in Paris should an individual be attacked by 
typhoid fever, the treatment would vary according as he was sent to 
this or that hospital. Most of our scientific anatomists, like Bichat 
and Magendie, have continued to distrust the influence of medicines 
in disease, and have taken too little interest in therapeutics. The con- 
sequence has been that the generality of medical practitioners are edu- 
cated in a blind faith as to the properties and uses of drugs, a faith 
which has, in most cases, descended to us from a barbarous age, has 
become traditional, and possesses no relation to the present state of 
medical science.” 
Bennett continues to “ feel astonished at the un- 
founded assumptions, want of evidence, and even un- 
reasonableness which characterize writings on the 
action of medicines,” and we ask, Why? Because 
“ Medicine is a science of observation and induction;” 
which means that it has not yet discovered its funda- 
mental truths and is, therefore, compelled to specu- 
late concerning appearances, or at best to reason from 
assumptions, for it has nothing else to reason from. 
Reason, we repeat, “ must start from some postulate,” 
and to be trustworthy this “ postulate must be a 
primary truth which cannot be denied.” Anything 
and everything may be denied in Medicine and can 
be met only by counter-denial; for of its fundamental 
principles it may be truly said “ nothing is known.” 
49 CHAPTER III. 
EVOLUTION VS. INVOLUTION. 
Being a short review of some leading philosophic thoughts. 
“ Every great advance in science consists of a great generalization, 
pointing out deep and subtle resemblances.”—Professor W. Stanley 
Jevons in “ Principles of Science.” 
31. Harmonious relation of the varied parts, other- 
wise termed consistency or congruity, is the acknowl- 
edged fact of universal existence; and, as Mr. Herbert 
Spencer observes, “ It is the business of philosophy 
to establish their universal congruity . . . down even 
to the components of every inference and every ob- 
servation.” The whole, being made up of the parts, 
makes every part necessarily consistent with the 
whole. The most perfect analogies will be found be- 
tween the parts. It is for this reason, we have said, 
that Nature, Science, and Logic are indissolubly con- 
nected, (§ i) illustrating the same principles and tending 
to the same conclusions. Not only does “ every par- 
ticle of matter in the universe,” as Newton proved, 
but every process and every conclusion, agree with 
every other particle, process, and conclusion. To 
have discovered the point at which all the parts meet, 
and the plan by which they are all united into a con- 
sistent whole, is to have made the true discovery, and 
while Darwin, Spencer, Tyndall, Huxley, Haeckel, Evolution vs. Involution 
Helmholtz, Mayer, and many others, have contributed 
to the grand result, we believe it will not be claimed 
that all the truth has been elucidated. 
32. We proceed to the inquiry, Is the process of 
Creation, whether past or present, one of Evolution or 
of Involution ? in order that we may the more clearly 
discern the processes of disease and cure, of life and 
health. The question is not one of philosophy 
simply, but of Science, and especially the Science of 
living existence. We are stimulated to the consider- 
ation of this subject because of the suggestions of 
Professor Henry Drummond, who, evidently accept- 
ing the evolution-doctrine of Herbert Spencer, dis- 
cusses it with great fluency in his “ Natural Law in the 
Spiritual World,” but more especially in his “ Ascent of 
Man,” and concludes this later volume with a chapter 
on Involution, in which he repeats the arguments of 
his Natural Law, and urges that the “ supreme factor 
in all development is Environment,” and “ everything 
that lives, lives in correspondence with this Environ- 
ment.” “ Tree and root find their explanation not in 
something in themselves, but mainly in something 
outside of themselves.” “ The secret of Evolution 
lies, in short, with Environment,” and then, as if to 
explain himself fully, he says, “ Evolution is not to 
unfold from within; it is to infold from without.” 
(Ascent of Man, p. 324.) 
33- All this is very surprising when we reflect that 
Mr. Drummond was a Christian minister and an un- 
doubted believer in the Christian Scriptures. He did 
not, we are sure, intend to suggest that in order to 
spiritual development the new birth is unnecessary, Vital Science 
but he does suggest it. If “the natural environment 
gives men their natural faculties,” and “ the spiritual 
environment affords them their spiritual faculties,” as 
he says, where is the necessity of being born again ? 
Mr. Drummond very truly says, “ What Biography 
would speak of as parental influence, Biology would 
speak of as Heredity; and all that is involved in the 
second factor—the action of external circumstances 
and surroundings—the naturalist would include under 
the single term Environment. These two, Heredity 
and Environment, are the master influences of the 
organic world. They have made all of us what we 
are.” And he continues on the next page, “ Of these 
two universal factors, Heredity and Environment, it is 
unnecessary to balance the relative importance here. 
The main influence must be unquestionably assigned 
to the former.” How, then, can he say that “the su- 
preme factor in all development is Environment” ? It 
cannot be both Environment and Heredity at the 
same time. This palpable contradiction is due to the 
attempt to mix the oil of Christianity with the muddy 
waters of Agnosticism. To make Herbert Spencer 
and the Apostle Paul yoke-fellows in the same phi- 
losophy is an almost incredible incongruity which can 
satisfy neither Paul nor Spencer. 
34- The very essence of Christianity is involved in 
this question. The Environment doctrine is the same 
which Paul so vehemently attacked in his letter to the 
Galatians eighteen hundred years ago. According to 
Spiritual Christianity, God is the Universal Father, and 
the “ new birth” is the source of spiritual faculties. It 
is son-ship that makes us heirs of God—heirs of His 
52 Evolution vs. Involution 
nature, character, possessions—and joint heirs with 
“ the first-born of every creature.” Being heirs makes 
Heredity to be the source of Life, whether natural or 
spiritual, with Environment as the occasion or condition 
for the expression of the inherent powers and capacities. 
This distinction between occasions and causes, as 
well as between the conditions for the operation of a 
force and the force that operates, we shall learn in 
succeeding chapters (§§ 72, 73, 74), is a fundament- 
ally important one, and the failure to observe it, the 
leading source of the confusion that has betrayed not 
only Mr. Drummond, but many other Christian men 
to the support of the Agnostic system. “ Wherefore 
thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son then 
an heir of God through Christ.” Environment never 
did and never can produce what did not previously 
exist potentially; but once a thing really exists, En- 
vironment may supply the conditions or constitute the 
occasion for calling forth the inherent powers. And 
the process is Evolution in its only true sense,—the 
outworking of internal powers, while the contrary 
which Mr. Spencer persistently urges is Involution, 
the inworking of external forces. 
The Christian idea is, “ the Father in me and I in 
the Father.” In the language of Paul, it is “ Christ in 
you the hope of glory.” It was Jesus who taught us 
to say “ Our Father in Heaven” and declared, “ Lo ! 
the Kingdom of God is within you.” “ If Christ be 
in you/’ says Paul, “ the body is dead . . . but the 
Spirit is life.” “ If the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus 
from the dead dwell in you ... he shall also quicken 
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Vital Science 
And again, “ Know ye not that ye are the temple of the 
living God” who “ worketh in you to will and to do.” 
35. These are not Spencer’s doctrines. On the 
contrary, his whole philosophy was intended to destroy 
every thought of internal powers and capacities. He 
substantially ignores Heredity, and maintains in all his 
discussions that not only all vital development, but 
Life itself, in every form and manifestation of it, is due 
to Environment, and he had a much clearer idea of 
what is meant by Environment than had Mr. Drum- 
mond. Spencer began at the beginning, and consist- 
ently taught that every process, function, and organ- 
ism—that all existence, indeed—is due to Force. He 
just as clearly perceived that there are two kinds of 
force in the universe. The one he calls “ intrinsic” 
and the other “ extrinsic.” He calls them also passive 
and active, “ the force by which it (a thing) exists is 
passive blit independent; while the force by which it 
moves is active but dependent.” No one will dispute 
these well-nigh self-evident truths. Religionist and 
Scientist here meet on common ground. But here, 
too, they part, and thereafter pursue exactly opposite 
courses. While Paul refers all development to the 
power within—“ the Spirit of Life”—that “ worketh in 
us to will and to do,” Spencer definitely, categorically, 
and persistently urges that all development is due to 
power from without. In § 23, “ Principles of Biol- 
ogy,” Mr. Spencer says,— 
“ It is a corollary from that primordial truth which, as we have seen, 
underlies all other truths, that whatever amount of power an organism 
expends in any shape is the correlate and equivalent of a power that 
was taken into it from without.” 
54 Evolution vs. Involution 
This is the same doctrine that is persistently urged 
in his “ First Principles,” where he says (§ 70) that 
“ the transformation of an egg into a chick,” that “ any 
change of a fixed quantity of matter into a new 
shape,” and that “ any surplus forces expended in 
movement,” are all “ derived from this same pre-exist- 
ing external force.” And he proceeds (§ 71) to show 
that the “ forces which we distinguish as mental come 
within the same generalization.” 
“Those modes of the Unknowable,” he says, “which we call 
Motion, Heat, Light, Chemical Affinity, are alike transformable into 
each other, and into those modes of the Unknowable, which we dis- 
tinguish as sensation, emotion, thought; these in their turns being 
directly or indirectly retransformable into their original shapes. That 
no idea or feeling arises, save as a result of some physical force ex- 
pended in producing it, is fast becoming a commonplace of Science; 
and whoever duly weighs the evidence will see that nothing but an 
overwhelming bias can explain its non-acceptance.” (The Italics are 
ours.) 
36. Does the reader perceive any incongruity in the 
thought that all operations, taking place in a living 
organism, are due to external and alien forces, while 
its internal and intrinsic forces are dormant until some 
alien work is to be performed ? The living organism, 
like all other existences, possesses intrinsic and inherent 
forces, as Mr. Spencer must admit; why not conceive 
that it is the intrinsic force of the organism that does 
the work of the organism, and not an extrinsic force ? 
Shall we conceive that it is steam that operates the 
steam-engine and electricity the electric motor, or the 
reverse ? Shall we conceive that our thoughts and 
feelings are the product of our inherent life-powers or 
of extraneous forces ? Professor John Tyndall would 
55 Vital Science 
seem to have written his “ Constitution of Nature” for 
the purpose of exposing the errors of this transforma- 
tion doctrine. The assertion that Heat, Light, and 
Chemical Affinity are alike transformable into sensa- 
tion, emotion, thought, and that these are retransform- 
able into Heat, Light, Chemical Affinity, etc., is so 
repugnant to human common sense, and so opposed 
to all experience, that it constitutes one of the most 
marvellous exhibitions of “ overwhelming bias” ever 
given. Once a thing is transformed into another 
thing it ceases to exist in its former state, so that if 
heat is transformed into thought, feeling, and action, 
as Mr. Spencer teaches, it must disappear as heat 
correspondingly. 
37. Mr. Spencer also teaches the equivalence as well 
as the transformation of forces. If the development 
of the chick “ is altogether a question of heat,” as 
he says (§ 41), there must have been a great loss of 
heat in order to bridge the between the egg 
and the chick. And if the chick’s life returns to heat 
the chicken must become a red-hot coal when it dies. 
For Mr. Spencer proceeds to emphasize these doc- 
trines by declaring a quantitative as well as qualitative 
relation between these forces, using the phenomena of 
tickling and the consequent “ incontrollable move- 
ments” as illustration. We quote (§ 71): 
“ Any hesitation to admit that between the physical forces and the 
sensations there exists a correlation like that between the physical 
forces themselves must disappear on remembering how the one cor- 
relation, like the other, is not qualitative only but quantitative.” 
And, after giving varied illustrations to prove this 
statement, he proceeds,— 
56 Evolution vs. Involution 
“ Besides the correlation and equivalence between external physical 
forces and the mental forces generated by them in us under the form 
of sensations, there is a correlation and equivalence between sensations 
and those physical forces which, in the shape of bodily actions, result 
from them.” . . . And as one of the important illustrations we read, 
“ unusual excitement of the nerves of touch, as by tickling, is followed 
by incontrollable movements of the limbs.” 
All this is for the purpose of teaching the “ trans- 
formation and equivalence of forces.” There is no 
point to his illustration if the “ incontrollable move- 
ments” of tickling are not the product of the force 
employed in the tickling. But he is compelled on 
the succeeding page to admit that this is not so, but 
that the results of tickling and similar phenomena are 
due to “ the forces called vitalbut he consistently 
maintains that these vital forces are the “ correlates of 
the forces called physical.” It is the great funda- 
mental doctrine of his system that physical force is 
the ultimate cause of all phenomena, but he has just 
now been teaching that it is the immediate cause as 
well. Finally, however, he concludes that he must 
retract this sweeping assertion. 
But we have no special desire to expose Spencer’s 
verbal inaccuracies, if it be possible to conceive that 
these are only verbal; it is his fundamental doctrines 
that are on trial. The real question is, Are vital 
phenomena of all kinds the product of external forces 
or of internal forces ? Is Life the product of bread 
and beer or of inheritance ? of extraneous force or of 
inherent force ? The arguments, proofs, and demon- 
strations belong chiefly to succeeding chapters; we 
are here only exposing the incongruities of a system 
57 Vital Science 
that bars the way to a Science of Human Health. 
Without further remark we would refer the reader to 
Spencer’s chapter on “The Transformation and Equiva- 
lence of Forces” (which are not properly Forces at 
all, but only Motions) as one of the most remarkable 
essays ever written, while we proceed to one or two 
references to this subject from the same source that 
are worthy of consideration, preparatory to a fuller 
examination of his leading doctrines. 
38. “ How this metamorphosis takes place,—how a force existing as 
Motion, Heat, Light, can become a mode of consciousness,—how it is 
possible to generate the sensation called sound, or for the forces 
liberated by chemical changes in the brain to give rise to emotion,— 
these are mysteries which it is impossible to fathom. But they are not 
profounder mysteries than the transformation of the physical forces 
into each other.” (First Principles, § 71.) 
Of course not. In both cases these are mysteries 
because the claims are false. Mystery has been the 
refuge of error in every age. Mr. Spencer’s confes- 
sion of mystery is the condemnation of his system. 
Once upon a time a certain professor propounded to 
a class of thirty-nine students the question, “ Why 
does fresh water begin to freeze at the top and salt 
water at the bottom ?” and gave them twenty-four 
hours for reflection before answering. Next day 
thirty-eight students gave as many ingenious explana- 
tions, but the thirty-ninth replied, “ It doesn’t do it, 
sir.” “ How do you know ?” “ I tried it last night.” 
We have tried a good many of Mr. Spencer’s facts, 
and found them exactly not so. The fact is, he is so 
committed to the transformation and equivalence doc- 
trines as a necessary foundation for his system that no 
58 Evolution vs. Involution 
illustration is too far-fetched to be acceptable to him 
if it gives the slightest appearance of answering to 
his theory. Indeed, we repeatedly find him pervert- 
ing the simplest facts of Science and giving to them 
a wholly illegitimate meaning, in the hope of bolster- 
ing up this transformation and equivalence sophistry. 
The phenomena of clouds and rain is an excellent 
illustration. 
39. “ If we ask,” he says, “ how came the rain to be in that position 
whence it fell ? the reply is, The vapor from which it was condensed 
was drifted there by the winds. If we ask, How came this vapor to 
be at that elevation ? the reply is, It was raised by evaporation. If 
we ask, What force thus raised it ? the reply is, The Sun’s heat. 
Just that amount of gravitative force which the Sun’s heat overcame in 
raising the atoms of water is given out again in the fall of those atoms 
to the same level.” (First Principles, § 69.) 
If it were not that Mr. Spencer had a theory to 
sustain we feel sure that he would have made another 
explanation. The force that raised the water to the 
clouds is the same force that brings the water down 
from the clouds,—viz., Gravitation. The Sun’s heat is 
the occasion for the operation of gravity, but Gravita- 
tion is the cause or power that raises the water, on the 
same principle that it raises the hot air, or any other, 
balloon. (§§ 72, 73, 119.) The atmosphere in imme- 
diate contact with the water having become moistened 
by capillary attraction retains the Sun’s heat to an 
extent that dry air will not, and becomes, therefore, 
of less specific gravity than the dry atmosphere, and 
rises upward just as cream rises on milk. Gravita- 
tion, by pulling down, causes the lighter vapor to 
ascend. By and by the vapor loses its heat, especially 
59 Vital Science 
when it strikes a current of cold air, and becoming 
heavier than dry air (because it loses its heat more 
readily than dry air, just as it previously gained heat 
because of being moist), Gravitation brings it down 
again in the form of rain. In other words, moist air 
is a rapid conductor of heat, easily gaining it or losing 
it, while dry air is the best possible non-conductor of 
heat, and so loses and gains very slowly. Moist air 
quickly becomes heavier than dry air, and just as easily 
becomes lighter than dry air, under change of tem- 
perature. Gravitation is, therefore, the cause or force 
that lifts the vapor up and brings the rain down, heat 
and capillary attraction being the occasions or condi- 
tions necessary for this peculiar operation of gravity. 
(§ 120.) 
40. Mr. Spencer’s theory of how the egg becomes 
developed into a chick is equally at variance with the 
facts. In § 70 he says,— 
“ The transformation of the unorganized contents of an egg into the 
organized chick is altogether a question of heat; withhold the heat 
and the process does not commence; supply the heat and it goes on 
while the temperature is maintained but ceases when the egg is allowed 
to cool.” 
No one questions that there is force stored within 
every egg, and that this force is invisible, known only 
by its effects; why not conceive that when a chick 
comes forth it is because of the force stored within,— 
the chick from chicken vital force; the duck from 
intrinsic duck-force; but when the egg is resolved 
into gases it is because it had no life-force, but only 
chemical and physical forces? Why search the bound- 
less expanse of the heavens to find the force which Evolution vs. Involution 
produces wheat or rye, dog or hen, monkey or man, 
when the real power is immediately before us, stored 
in the wheat or rye, monkey or man, as no man can 
soberly and intelligently deny? Matter without force, 
which is internal to it, is an admitted impossibility; 
but the force which is internal to one thing is external 
to other things; by what process of reasoning may 
we infer that it is external force that does the internal 
work, and internal force that does the external work ? 
We are quite of the opinion that the great Architect 
of the universe was much wiser and more economical 
of His forces than Mr. Spencer has imagined Him to 
be, in that He puts internal, intrinsic force to the 
doing of internal work; and each after its kind, chem- 
ical force for the doing of chemical work, mechani- 
cal force for mechanical work, vital force for vital 
work. 
But let us return to the egg. We invested in an 
incubator and gave the subject a faithful trial, and 
soon found that moisture is as important as heat. At 
least, no amount of heat would give us viable chickens 
unless the moisture was attended to. We found, also, 
that the rapidity of development bore no relation to 
the amount of heat, as it should do if heat were the 
cause. (§116.) Indeed, though we boiled the egg for 
a week, we could discover no evidence of a coming 
chick. We found also another important truth, that 
under the same circumstances of heat, moisture, etc., 
some eggs would bring forth chicks, black, white, 
brown; some ducks; while some would develop into 
noisome gases. It is evident that there must have 
been some other reason for the varying results. Was Vital Science 
it the thermometer? A thermometer cured Sir Hum- 
phry Davy’s patient. (§163.) We found that unless the 
thermometer were always present there would be no 
chick. Every man who has not closed his mind and 
steeled his conscience so that he shall not know, knows 
well that the important determining factor in these 
results is included in the single word, Heredity. 
Every fact in the universe, as far as it has any bearing 
on this subject, goes to show that Life is the cause, ex- 
ternal agencies the occasions; motion the immediate 
effect; and evolution, in its philological and only true 
sense,, the process. (§§ 72, 73, 74.) 
41. But we shall not content ourselves with an 
examination of the details of Mr. Spencer’s work; the 
author’s mature conclusions from the facts and argu- 
ments are the important things. The nature of Life 
is necessarily a subject of surpassing interest in this 
connection, and Mr. Spencer has devoted many chap- 
ters to the elucidation of the facts on which to base a 
consistent definition of Life. But even then he has 
not begun at the beginning; he assumes the existence 
of organic matter without even suggesting how or 
where he gets it. But after appropriating without ac- 
knowledgment this product of Life, he proceeds to 
show its remarkable instability, which makes it subject 
to changes under the slightest influences, and from 
thence proceeds to suggest, not to prove, that Life, 
which never appears except in organic matter, is the 
product of incident and external forces, which, by 
accident, it may be, have been brought in contact 
with the matter. Nerve-force, which he admits he 
does not understand, he nevertheless asserts is “ habit- 
62 Evolution vs. Involution 
ually generated in all animals, save the lowest, by 
incident forces of every kind.” We note a consist- 
ency here. If external forces produce all our thoughts, 
feelings, ambitions, activities (§ 35), why should they 
not produce Life itself? If they can produce the very 
highest manifestations of Life, why not the lower 
manifestations ? And this is what Mr. Spencer teaches; 
Life and all that follow are the products of incident 
and external forces. 
In the process of working up this theory there is, 
it is true, much doubt and hesitancy exhibited; but 
the result is finally reached, and the finished product 
appears in these words: 
“The broadest and most complete definition of 
Life will be—the continuous adjustment of internal 
relations to external relations.” 
In accordance with this system Life has no essen- 
tial existence, but is simply and only a name given to 
certain peculiar processes of change going on in mat- 
ter, as the product of external forces. In more popu- 
lar phraseology, “ Life is a mode of motion,” just as 
is heat, light, electricity, etc. In § 85, “First Princi- 
ples,” Mr. Spencer says, “ Life, as it exists in all the 
members of such species, is an extremely complex kind 
of movement, more or less distinct from the kind of 
movement which constitutes Life in other species.” 
(The italics are ours.) Thus, Life is neither force, 
matter, nor mind ; but rather the motion resulting from 
the force. It is soberly asserted, and sought to be 
proved, that all our thoughts, feelings, ambitions, per- 
ceptions of right and wrong (if we have any), are but 
“other forms of manifestation of external” physical 
63 Vital Science 
forces. Mr. Spencer does not deny the existence of 
internal and intrinsic forces in Nature; but it would 
seem that human life is unworthy of being constituted 
of them. Force, he agrees, is the ultimate principle 
of existence, but Life is not such a force. In accord- 
ance with his theory, there would seem to be no such 
thing as the Ego. We are only “ modes of motion,” 
due to food and drink, circumstance and surround- 
ings, so that when the motion ceases all is ended. 
There is no other life, because there is no essential 
present life. Death ends all, as birth began all, and 
the peculiar concatenation of circumstance which this 
so-called Evolution produces is the only father or 
creator men need. 
42. Mr. Spencer has not, however, always consist- 
ently adhered to his own principles. In his “ First 
Principles,” we read “ that no idea or feeling arises but 
as the result of some physical (external) force ex- 
pended in producing it,” but in his “ Principles of Biol- 
ogy” he has become much more conservative. He 
there says (§ 21),— 
“ But there is a kind of force manifested in some classes of living 
bodies which we cannot identify with any of the forces manifested by 
bodies that are not alive,—a force which is thus unknown, in the sense 
that it cannot be assimilated with any otherwise recognized class. I 
allude to what is called nerve force.” 
Why not conceive that it is this intrinsic nerve- 
force, rather than extrinsic heat, light, or electricity, 
that produces all our ideas and feelings ? Is it not 
much more reasonable to infer that the “ incontrollable 
movements” connected with tickling are due to this 
64 Evolution vs. Involution 
nerve-force rather than to the very slight application of 
force from without ? 
But we read in the same section, “ Whether we 
shall ever know anything more of this nerve-force 
than that it is some species of molecular disturbance 
that is propagated from end to end of nerve, it is im- 
possible to say.” 
In the previous volume Mr. Spencer taught that 
vital force, nerve-force, sensation, are all the product 
of external forces which have been transformed from 
something pre-existing, but now we learn that nerve- 
force is probably nothing more than some kind of 
“ molecular disturbance,” and this, no doubt, prepara- 
tory to a corresponding definition of Life, already 
foreseen, which makes Life itself to be simply Motion, 
disturbed or otherwise. We think the reader will 
readily agree with us that Motion is the product of 
Force, and that nerve-force is something more than 
“ molecular disturbance.” But we shall learn, when 
we come to study the constitution of Nature, that 
this confusion of Force with Motion is the pivotal 
doctrine and necessary prerequisite to Spencerian 
Evolution. 
43. And now, in the light of these remarkable phil- 
osophic doctrines, is it wonderful that Mr. Spencer 
should need to overturn the accepted doctrines of all 
previous science in order that he may build up his 
great system ? From these discussions concerning 
nerve-force he proceeds at once in search of a proxi- 
mate definition of Life, and so begins his Chapter IV., 
which, in a foot-note, he says has been carefully revised, 
by the following (§ 24) : Vital Science 
“ To those who accept the general doctrine of Evolution it needs 
scarcely to be pointed out that classifications are subjective concep- 
tions, having no absolute demarcations in Nature corresponding to 
them. They are appliances by which we limit and arrange the mat- 
ters under investigation; and so facilitate our thinking.” 
This facilitation, we believe, depends entirely upon 
how we make our classifications. Those which are 
not true to nature cannot facilitate our thinking to any 
good purpose. A false classification will surely lead 
to false conclusions; and, if we may be pardoned the 
suggestion, this is why Mr. Spencer denies the possi- 
bility of any true natural classifications. The very 
essence of science consists in finding the correct line 
of demarcation between things. “ All logical infer- 
ence,” says Professor W. Stanley Jevons, of University 
College, London, “ involves classification, which is, 
indeed, the necessary accompaniment of the action of 
the judgment.” And again he says, ‘‘The value of 
classification is coextensive with the value of science 
and general reasoning;” and he quotes Professor 
Bowen, of Harvard College, as saying, “ Perhaps it 
will be found in the sequel that classification is not 
only the beginning, but the culmination and the end 
of human knowledge.” On the contrary, Mr. Spencer 
finds, “ When we attempt to define anything com- 
plex . . . we can scarcely ever avoid including more 
than was intended, or leaving out something that 
should be taken in.” Can there be any better proof 
that he has failed to discover the correct classification ? 
He is floundering in the realms of speculation, unable, 
in the dim light which he possesses, to distinguish 
Nature’s lines. This was clearly shown in the very 
66 Evolution vs. Involution 
beginning of his work, when, after correctly dividing 
natural existence into inorganic and organic depart- 
ments, he proceeds to explain that he has not dis- 
cussed Inorganic Evolution, because “ to do so 
would have occupied two volumes, one dealing with 
astrogeny and the other with geogenybut he pro- 
ceeds “to the more important applications of the 
doctrine.” 
This classification of the Inorganic world into 
Astrogeny and Geogeny, we must remark, may be 
popular, but it is not scientific, and not at all adapted 
to any consistent philosophy of existence. It is a 
classification based upon appearances instead of facts. 
To consider the constitution and relations of the stars 
as a subject distinct from the constitution and re- 
lations of our Earth is not in accordance with New- 
ton’s demonstrations. Nature's laws are the only re- 
liable lines of demarcation in the universe. And are we 
not entitled to view with grave suspicion any system 
of philosophy which fails to make practical use of 
the discoveries of Newton, Lavoisier, and Dalton, as 
Spencer’s surely does ? To suggest that laws so fun- 
damental as Gravitation and Chemical Affinity play 
no important part in the evolution of existence is a 
monstrous thought; we prefer to observe the legal di- 
visions of inorganic existence, and shall delay a mo- 
ment to indicate the rational divisions of inorganic 
evolution: 
I st, The Chemical, which deals with the composition 
of matter throughout the universe, not only, but with 
the changes that are ever going on in its composition 
or constitution; in a word, with its evolution; and, 
67 Vital Science 
2d, The Mechanical, dealing with the relations of 
masses of matter to each other, and with the means 
of maintaining or changing these relations, describing 
mechanical evolution. 
Unlike Mr. Spencer, we have not in this classification 
“ included more than was intended, nor left out any- 
thing that should be taken in.” On the contrary, it 
is a classification as exact as mathematics, and as 
trustworthy as every true science.* 
44. But a much worse incongruity appears in con- 
nection with the very central doctrine of this so-called 
evolution. Mr. Spencer begins his “ First Principles” 
with the announcement “ that unified knowledge con- 
stituting completed philosophy is a knowledge com- 
posed of parts that are universally congruous; and 
besides seeing that it is the business of philosophy to 
establish their universal congruity, we also see that 
every act of the process by which this universal con- 
gruity is to be established, down even to the compo- 
nents of every inference and every observation, consists 
in the establishment of congruity.” 
We learn, therefore, very truly, that “every act of 
the process” of establishing a philosophy is a process 
of “ establishment of congruity,” a fact which causes 
* The extent to which Mr. Spencer has carried his system of Invo- 
lution, even to the breaking down of natural distinctions in every 
direction, is a psychological study worthy of his own great intellect. 
What can the ordinary mind think of the following from § 40 of his 
“ First Principles” (second and revised edition) ?— 
“ There is no mode of establishing the validity of any belief ex- 
cept that of showing its entire congruity with all other beliefs.” 
We had never before been told that the true and the false are en- 
tirely congruous with each other. 
68 Evolution vs. Involution 
us to be surprised beyond measure when we read, 
“ Principles of Biology,” § 74,— 
“ But as before said, such difficulties must necessarily present them- 
selves if organic forms have arisen by insensible gradations. We must 
be content with a course which commits us to the smallest number of 
incongruities; and this course is, to consider as an individual any 
centre or axis that is capable of independently carrying on that con- 
tinuous adjustment of inner to outer relations which constitutes Life.” 
Whence the necessity of pursuing a course which 
commits us to incongruities if the system we are 
advocating is composed of parts that are “ universally 
congruous” ? Do not these “ smallest number of in- 
congruities” conclusively show that our author has 
not found the thread that is capable of leading him 
through Nature’s labyrinths ? 
45- One more incongruity and we proceed to indi- 
cate a theory of existence which, we believe, eliminates 
all incongruities, and declares a philosophy consistent 
with itself and with all known facts and laws. Mr. 
Spencer claims that his philosophy is synthetic, made 
up of inductions and generalizations from observed 
facts, and yet we find him substantially ignoring the 
plainest, most frequent, and all-inclusive fact of exist- 
ence, Heredity, while he rummages the realms of the 
unexplored and unknown for facts on which to base a 
philosophy of existence intended to overthrow all 
previous conceptions of truth and remand us again to 
speculative chaos. Heredity, as every one knows, 
brings forth Life; no man since the world began ever 
observed the production of Life through any other 
means. We aver that Mr. Spencer’s system is a base- 
less speculation concerning this, its central doctrine. 
69 Vital Science 
In spite of all observation that Life comes only from 
Life,—in spite of the admitted fact that a Great First 
Cause must be acknowledged,—Mr. Spencer teaches 
that Life is generated by mechanical influences play- 
ing incidentally, and perhaps accidentally, on Matter. 
(“ Principles of Biology,” Vol. I.) But he has been 
unable to wholly ignore Heredity. He admits the 
fact of parentage, but hear what he says of it: 
“ A positive explanation of Heredity is not to be expected in the 
present state of Biology. We can look for nothing beyond a simpli- 
fication of the problem, and a reduction of it to the same category with 
certain other problems which also admit of hypothetical solution only.” 
We have failed to discover in Mr. Spencer’s 
work the “ universal congruity” which he promised, 
not only, but the slighest evidence of “ any simplifica- 
tion of the problem” of Heredity, notwithstanding 
that it is the problem of all problems with which 
organic philosophy should deal. 
We return to the thought which underlies this chap- 
ter. There are before the world to-day two opposing 
theories of existence, well described by the terms 
Evolution and Involution, referring respectively to 
Heredity and Environment as the sources of their 
power. Must we trace Life to Heredity or to Environ- 
ment? Mr. Spencer says Environment, and so plaus- 
ible have been his arguments that a goodly number of 
writers have accepted his doctrines, which is very sur- 
prising in view of the fact that it is an accepted prin- 
ciple of all modern thought that things are produced 
now as they always have been produced; so that if 
Environment ever produced Life it still produces it; 
if it produces it now it has always produced it. Is 
70 Evolution vs. Involution 
this what observation shows ? Mr. Spencer says that 
Environment produces the chick. Can he correspond- 
ingly dispute that he is himself the son of his father? 
Again, if Environment produces Life it must carry- 
on the functions of Life; if it carries on the func- 
tions of Life it must have produced Life. Mr. Spen- 
cer is himself the great authority for the Persistence 
of Force. In the nature of things no power can 
produce a continuous creation except as it preserves 
what it creates. No process could produce what it 
cannot reproduce. No one dare dispute that it is 
through Heredity that we all exist,—that we have all 
been created, produced, reproduced. It was even 
through Heredity, “ the first-born of every creature,” 
we are told, that the worlds were created ; it is, as it 
always has been, through the same Heredity that man 
has been created. How shall we conceive of any 
other principle of production for chick or duck, vege- 
table or animal ? And how else shall they or we be 
preserved, repaired, healed ? How else shall we pro- 
duce Science except through the development of its 
germinal principles ? Throughout Nature it is some- 
thing from something, and each after its kind, which 
something possesses hidden within it the potency of all 
that follows. It is chick from an invisible principle of 
life within the egg; it is plant from a corresponding 
invisible principle within the seed; it is science from 
discovered principle; and all things from an efficient 
and sufficient Great First Cause, by whom all Nature 
is produced. In other words, we assert “ congruity 
down even to the components of every inference and 
every observation.” Vital Science 
If every consistent philosophy must begin with 
the assumption of a self-existent something, who 
is the Source and Author of all, so, if congruity 
would be universal, every other organized system, 
whether intellectual, animal, or vegetable, must also 
begin with the existence of a something that shall 
answer to all its parts. It is the discovery of this 
something that has enabled us to prepare the fol- 
lowing pages. It is the discovery of this something 
that has compelled us to expose the errors and con- 
trovert the conclusions of those who by every right 
of position and learning were our teachers. Mr. 
Spencer claims that his system is evolution, but in 
order to sustain his claim he is compelled to make his 
own dictionary. “ Evolution,” he says, “ is an integra- 
tion of matter and concomitant dissipation of Motion, 
during which the matter passes from an indefinite, 
incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent hetero- 
geneity, and during which the retained Motion under- 
goes a parallel transformation.” In contrast with this 
system we teach Evolution, the outworking of interior 
principles, and not Involution, the inworking of exter- 
nal forces, corresponding precisely with the methods 
of study elucidated in a previous chapter,—viz., deduc- 
tion or reason, being a development of truth previously 
hidden within the postulate from which it is derived, 
as opposed to induction and consequent speculation 
based upon facts of observation. 
72 CHAPTER IV. 
THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE. 
“ In our search for a cause, we discover no resting-place until we 
arrive at the hypothesis of a First Cause; and we have no alternative 
but to regard this First Cause as Infinite and Absolute. These are in- 
ferences forced upon us by arguments from which there appears no 
escape.”—Spencer’s “ First Principles.” 
46. We necessarily approach this subject with con- 
siderable diffidence, and, of course, do not presume to 
speak authoritatively; but there is so much involved 
in a correct conception of the nature and character of 
the cause and origin of the universe that we are em- 
boldened to apply the principles already suggested to 
the consideration of 
First, The existence of a Great First Cause; 
Second, His relations to His Universe; and 
Third, Certain necessary inferences from the facts. 
If Science would be deductive, logical, and exact, 
it must begin where the processes it proposes to de- 
scribe begin, and continue along the lines of Nature’s 
work to follow closely the threads of her operations, 
and map them out for the consideration of the in- 
quirer after truth; in a word, paint a picture of Nature 
as she is. In doing so the scientist will frequently 
cross the tracks of the bewildered ones who have 
been wandering aimlessly through a dreary waste 
of words, or energetically following up some false 
73 Vital Science 
trail; only here and there encouraged by the em- 
blazoned truth of the world’s discoverers which marks 
the pathway to exact knowledge. Inasmuch, there- 
fore, as the science here sought to be established is a 
fundamental one, tracing directly to the origin of ex- 
istence, we are called upon to start with this origin 
and follow our science in lines parallel to its sister 
sciences, chemistry and mechanics (astronomy). For 
chemistry and mechanics are fundamental sciences, 
preparatory to living existence, and like it, tracing 
directly to the Great Lawgiver who said, “ Let there 
be light; and there was light.” Our work heretofore 
has been preparatory, mapping out our plan, clearing 
away the rubbish, and gathering together the mate- 
rials, and we now proceed to constructive realization. 
We would start with a foundation deep down in the 
nature of things, established upon a recognition of the 
existence and sufficiency of a Great First Cause. Is 
there such a cause,—a cause whose power, presence, 
and sufficiency shall account for all that is? The 
proof may come in varied ways: 
47. First, By the consistency of all the results 
reached. If a consistent, reasonable, and sufficient 
system based upon this theory can be established,—a 
system in which all facts shall be in agreement with 
all other facts, universal harmony having been ob- 
tained,—we are warranted in accepting as very sug- 
gestive, at least, the hypothesis of a Great First Cause. 
Second, The confession of agnosticism by all who 
have sought to conceive a system without admitting 
such cause into its parts and processes, even though 
it was conceded in the beginning, and especially the 
74 The Great First Cause 
evident incongruities of the system, is hardly less 
satisfactory proof of His existence. 
Third, The unitary nature of existence implied in 
the term universe, which is universally acknowledged 
to be correctly descriptive of the Cosmos we inhabit, 
is itself important testimony to the existence of a 
great Source and Author of all. But this universe 
appears to us in three distinct departments, the Chem- 
ical, Mechanical, and Vital, as we have already sug- 
gested, and will further show (§ 83) which depart- 
ments again illustrate an infinite variety of motions, 
activities, productions, individuals, showing that the 
order of existence is from one to many,—that is, from 
cause to effects in great variety (§ 85), from seed to 
fruit as every fruit-tree proves, from principle to prod- 
ucts innumerable, as, for instance, Chemical Affinity 
makes gunpowder and explodes it, and so is the real 
cause of all the results of the explosion. Reversing 
the order of our investigation, we learn that causes 
become less numerous as we trace them backward 
and still farther backward, all of which justifies us in 
concluding that all causes are traceable finally to one 
all-pervading cause, whose existence shall account for 
all that is. With this fact as a starting-point, and re- 
calling what we have already shown, that reasoning 
must proceed from cause to effect and never in any 
other direction (§ 18), we proceed to note that: 
48. Every Cause must be Anterior to its Ef- 
fect.—No effect can produce its own cause. Mr. 
Spencer well shows that the universe could not create 
itself, which is equivalent to the admission that no 
part of the universe could create itself. He also rejects 
75 Vital Science 
the self-existent theory, which would seem to be only 
slightly different from the self-created one, and is 
equally sure that the universe could not be created by 
external agency, in all of which respect wTe agree with 
him, especially in regard to the latter conception. But 
we are not prepared to admit that we have thus ex- 
hausted the range of possible methods. What objec- 
tion is there to the theory of 
49- Creation by the Outworking of Internal 
Power ?—The term evolution would seem to necessi- 
tate this thought. True, it may be asserted that this 
involves the idea of self-existence, but inasmuch as 
every other possible conception involves this idea in 
some form, we shall here admit it, and urge the truth 
of the evolution as opposed to the involution doc- 
trine. All productions are necessarily the result of 
power, and this power must, it is evident, be either 
internal or external to the thing produced, which 
makes the process to be correspondingly evolution or 
involution, and we can discover no good reason for 
conceiving that the processes of universal production— 
the production of a universe—differ in any essential 
particulars from the processes everywhere in vogue. 
We believe in “ congruity, down even to the compo- 
nents of every inference and every observation.” As 
the whole is made up of the parts, so we are war- 
ranted in asserting that the whole was produced as the 
parts are produced. It is inconceivable that there is 
one order of work for the whole with a contrary order 
for the parts. If it is “ unthinkable” that the universe 
could be created by external agencjq how is it any 
more “ thinkable” that some part of it could be cre- 
76 The Great First Cause 
ated by external agency ? We assert the evolution 
doctrine that all are parts of one stupendous whole. 
We shall expect to establish, as the only reasonable 
conception, that, as all things are the product of force, 
and all things contain force, so it is the force in the 
thing that produced it, and not the force from without. 
Two and two make four only because they are in- 
cluded in the four; oxygen, hydrogen, and chemical 
affinity make water only because they are included in 
the water. So we assert it as a universal fact of obser- 
vation, that all causes are interior as well as anterior 
to their effects. And this suggests the corresponding 
truth which Science and Religion agree in affirming,— 
viz., that the Creator is universally present in His 
Creation, a self-existent Great First Cause, forever 
working out His great designs. (§§ 76, 78.) If not 
in His universe, where else could He be ? If not 
everywhere present in it, how could a sparrow not fall 
to the ground without His knowledge, or how could He 
be the cause of all ? We assert, therefore, as a fact in 
perfect agreement with all that has preceded, and to 
be further established by the consistency of all the 
results reached, that the cause of anything (a cause 
being defined to be “ that by the power of which a 
thing is”) is interior as well as anterior to its effect. 
Even a cannon-ball would seem to carry within it the 
momentum which produces its destructive effects. So 
the force of every explosion resides in the thing 
which explodes and not in the accident which occa- 
sioned the explosion. So, too, we shall see, it is the 
force in the horse that makes him run, and the power 
in the man that makes him think; indeed, we shall Vital Science 
demonstrate, if we have not already done so, that the 
cause and source of all living existence and all vital 
activity, is interior, and not exterior, to the living 
thing. Mr. Thomas H. Huxley’s description of the 
work of the “hidden artist” (§ 156) is exactly in point. 
Indeed, all the facts of life teach but one story of ex- 
istence,—viz., that it is the outworking of an internal 
and invisible principle. What is universally true in 
the living world we are warranted in declaring to be 
true with regard to the development of the universe 
as a whole; it is the outworking of an internal power, 
who is the efficient and sufficient cause of all develop- 
ment. 
Mr. Spencer must not complain at the application 
of his own principles. He has admitted that every 
effect must have its cause, and that the Universe being 
an unlimited organization of causes and effects, must 
result from a Great First Cause, which, by the terms 
of his constitution, must be equal to, and include, all 
causes and all effects, and if this cause could not be 
external, which he says is “ unthinkable,” how can the 
subordinate causes be external to their effects ? The 
processes of Creation must be consistent from the 
beginning “ down even to the components of every 
inference and every observation.” 
50. As Nature, therefore, produces rock or moun- 
tain, lake or sea; as she develops an egg, a rosebush, 
or an orange, so the universe has been produced; and 
so must be developed science, philosophy, all knowl- 
edge. From an interior (invisible) principle outward 
to results is the process of existence without an excep- 
tion in the universe. Exceptions belong to the realm 
78 The Great First Cause 
of speculation. It is impossible to conceive that The 
Unchangeable, in the working out of His decrees, has 
ever dropped a thread or failed to include universal 
existence in the one great plan. Mathematicians do 
not record exceptions; mechanical laws know no ex- 
ceptions ; in a word, the laws of Nature are invariable, 
universal, omnipresent, illustrative of the character of 
their author. Men talk about “ exceptions to all rules” 
only in connection with human inventions. Who ever 
discovered an exception to Gravitation, Chemical Af- 
finity, the Law of the Lever, or any other principle of 
Nature. It is an equally remarkable fact that the 
Christian Scriptures, whether by the mouth of Mat- 
thew, Mark, Luke, or John, Paul, Peter, or James, 
never makes an exception to the universality of any 
truth, all of which goes to prove a consensus of opin- 
ion as to the unity of things that is very remarkable. 
If it is a rule, therefore, that the causes of things are 
internal to the things, it is a rule without an ex- 
ception. And thus, while the proof of evolution may 
not as yet be conclusively established, the preponder- 
ance of evidence is so overwhelmingly in favor of the 
outworking principle that we may defer further con- 
sideration of it to §§ 78, 121, while we proceed here to 
note an agreement between Science and Religion, or 
more properly between the natural and the spiritual, 
that has, we believe, been generally overlooked. This 
agreement may be expressed as follows : 
51. While the fact that all things are from one 
great, Eternal I Am is everywhere admitted, the pro- 
cess of their production illustrates a hazy indefinite- 
ness in both the theologic and scientific mind that is 
79 Vital Science 
very remarkable. The Christian Scriptures teach that 
all things were created by and for one “ who is the 
image of the invisible God,” “ the first-born of every 
creature,” “ who is before all things and by whom all 
things consist,” and who is described also as “ God 
manifest in the flesh;” “the Word” “the way, the 
truth, and the life.” 
In other words, they teach that “ there is but one 
God and Father of all,” who created all things for 
His own glory, but that the work was accomplished 
through a God who was manifested to create the 
worlds (Col. i. 16) ; to preserve the worlds (Isa. xlv. 22, 
23) ; to redeem the worlds (John iii. 17); to take away 
sin (1 John iii. 5); to destroy evil (Rev. xxi. 4, 5); to 
give light and life and truth (John i.). It is the relations 
between this God manifest and the Invisible God that 
have not, we are sure, been generally apprehended, and 
because of the resulting confusion, skepticism is only 
too general, and even avowed infidelity not uncom- 
mon. Those who adhere closely to the idea of the one 
God are prone to reject the idea of a God manifest, 
and those who exalt the personality of the Christ are 
constantly liable to the conception of two or three 
Gods rather than one. 
52. Science agrees with Religion in illustrating the 
exactly parallel confusion of thought. Take, for in- 
stance, Herbert Spencer’s “ First Principles,” which 
might perhaps be called the agnostics’ Bible, and we 
learn that force is the “ ultimate of ultimates” (§ 50); 
that it is “ indestructible” (§ 54); “ persistent” (§ 60) ; an 
“ Unconditioned Reality,” “ without beginning or end” 
(§ 62); that it is “ intrinsic,” “ passive,” “ unknowable,” The Great First Cause 
“ that absolute force of which we are indefinitely con- 
scious as the correlate of the force we know” (§ 62); 
and also, “the force by which matter demonstrates 
itself to us as existing and the force by which it de- 
monstrates itself to us as acting.” It is evident, there- 
fore, that Science recognizes the existence of two 
kinds of force as the source of all things, in perfect 
consonance with the Christian’s recognition of the two 
personalities who are equally the source of all things. 
The true relation between these two classes of force 
Mr. Spencer does not claim to understand. Nor do 
any other scientists so far as we are aware. Just as 
Revelation declares Father and Son, the invisible 
God and the God manifest, so science says (§ 60), 
“ The forms of our experience oblige us to distinguish 
between two modes of force; the one not a worker of 
change, and the other a worker of change, actual or 
potential,” both of which are described as being 
“without beginning or end.” (“First Principles,” § 62.) 
Here, then, Christian and scientist meet on common 
ground. The “ passive,” “ independent,” “ intrinsic 
force” is beyond human ken except as the active force 
reveals its nature; so we know God only through the 
active manifestation of Him, through whom all things 
were created, preserved, redeemed. (1 Tim. iv. 10.) 
53. The Christian doctrine of Father and Son and 
the scientific doctrine of Force and Motion illustrate 
the same principles and are susceptible of the same 
explanation. As the Son is a manifestation of the 
Father, so active force is a manifestation of the passive 
force. As it is “ the Father in me and I in the Father,” 
so intrinsic force is existent in all energies and all Vital Science 
motions. And as the Son is not transformed but only 
derived from the Father, so active force is not trans- 
formed but only derived force. As “ it is the Father 
that doeth the works,” so it is intrinsic force that per- 
forms all functions, no matter if observation does as- 
cribe these functions to active force called also Energy 
or Motion. This is one great truth, at least, which 
this work proclaims; vital function is the product of 
inherent, intrinsic, vital force,—the product of Hered- 
ity,—which under certain conditions has become ac- 
tively engaged in doing work,—that is, in making 
changes in answer to changed conditions, and is not 
at all the product of Environment or external force, 
motion, or energy, any more than the Son is a higher 
development of the natural man. 
We conclude, therefore, that as the God-man de- 
clared God in the man, so active, extrinsic, working 
force declares or manifests force that was previously 
passive, intrinsic, non-working. The power within is 
the only true power, whether actively at work or pas- 
sively existent. Actively at work, it is producing 
changes; passively existent, it is preserving things as 
they are, but always ready to respond to changed con- 
ditions. God in Creation is the only true theology, 
whether preserving or producing. Manifested in man 
or in matter, the fact remains that all that is, is the 
product of interior, invisible, intrinsic forces, and 
never in any sense the product of those which are 
exterior. 
54- And now, having described, in some respects at 
least, the relations of the Great First Cause to His 
universe, we proceed to the consideration of 
82 The Great First Cause 
Certain Necessary Inferences from the Facts. 
—One of the first of these is, that all causes are in- 
visible. (§ 133.) This is true whether we refer to the 
Great First Cause or to any subordinate efficient agent 
in the universe. The causes of things are the principles 
of existence, and principles, we have seen, are forces 
directed by laws. (§ 15.) Every principle of operation 
is an invisible force, having an unchanging order of 
work, which force, being recognized by the mind, be- 
comes a principle of science, which produces, governs, 
and, being understood, explains every phenomenon 
that follows. The Creator is invisible, as is the crea- 
tive principle in a seed, a bud, a germ, an egg. Exist- 
ence is the unfolding of invisible creative principles 
which seize upon and mould to their uses the visible 
things of Nature. (§§ 70, 71, 93.) From the invisible 
to the visible is the order of creation declared by 
Revelation (Rom. i. 20), and confirmed by Science, 
without a single well-established or even possible fact 
in the universe to controvert it. The chick is not the 
development of the visible materials of the egg, but of 
an invisible power of life that seizes upon the material 
and builds from this material an organism to corre- 
spond with the parent life,—from the duck, a duck; 
from the chicken, a chick; but from the egg without 
life, explosive gases. (§§ 67, 69.) Recognizing this 
truth, we need not say that no explanation of form, 
color, or character of the production is possible. Like 
begets Like. An interior, invisible cause of existence 
is, therefore, a necessary conclusion of the human in- 
tellect, and is confirmed by the analogies of Nature 
in every department. (§41.) 
83 Vital Science 
55. But the arguments that are admitted to sustain 
this conclusion yield an exactly similar and equally 
important one, which though just as logically certain, 
may not be as readily admitted, though we cannot see 
how any thinker can doubt it,—viz., that the cause, 
whether first or last or anywhere along the chain of 
causes, must be the comprehensive equal of the effect. 
The stream cannot rise higher than its source. A 
cannon-ball cannot expend or give off more energy 
than it has received. If the rivulet can flow but one 
inch higher than the sufficiency of its cause, there 
is no reason why it shall not climb the mountain-top 
and “ increase by force of its own intensity,” as the 
quack doctor says of disease. If one-thousand-mil- 
lionth portion of an atom can be added to the uni- 
verse beyond the sufficiency of the cause, there is no 
reason why the whole universe shall not exist inde- 
pendently of a cause; and if the universe is causeless, 
all its parts must be equally so, and every principle of 
science must consequently fail. If the less include 
the greater, perpetual motion must not only be ad- 
mitted but infinite existence be the product of non- 
existence. If the slightest increase of the effect be- 
yond the sufficiency of the cause can be secured, 
every relation of cause and effect must fail, and not 
only Science but the human mind be proved incom- 
petent to any conclusion. 
56. But as we have here the pivotal doctrine of our 
system, especially in contrast with Spencerian Involu- 
tion, it is important that we shall, if possible, give 
proof of its truth as complete and as perfect as the 
case will permit. How better do it than to apply the 
84 The Great First Cause 
arguments of Mr. Spencer himself. On page 37, 
“ First Principles,” he says,— 
“ We cannot think at all about the impressions 
which the external world produces on us without 
thinking of them as caused; and we cannot carry out 
an inquiry concerning their causation without inevita- 
bly committing ourselves to the hypothesis of a First 
Cause;” and, after a page of argument, he concludes, 
“ We have no alternative but to regard this First Cause 
as Infinite and Absolute.” Why call Him Infinite and 
Absolute if it is not the recognition of the fact that He 
includes all causes,—past, present, and future. Is it to 
be supposed that the Infinite and Absolute First Cause 
did, in the beginning, simply start the ball rolling, so 
that it has been going upward ever since by virtue of 
its original momentum ? May we presume that the 
Great First Cause first put the universe in motion and 
then deserted it to its own devices ? Or must we con- 
clude that the Creator is in His creation the efficient 
and sufficient cause of all that is ? If the cause is not 
the equal of the effect, then some part of the effect is 
causeless, and if a part is without cause, why not the 
whole? If the Great First Cause is not the equal and 
source of all causes and all effects, why call Him an 
Infinite and Absolute First Cause? 
Consistency of thought demands that we proceed 
in our processes in a straightforward manner through 
infinite time to infinite results. If the dead can pro- 
duce life, if unintelligent matter can produce intelli- 
gence, there is no reason why man shall not progress 
to infinite capacity by virtue of power residing in the 
circumstances of his Environment, and if infinite re- 
85 Vital Science 
suits can be obtained by progress in one direction, we 
are for the same reason justified in concluding that 
this infinitely upward process began with nothing. If 
the universe has come up by slow degrees from next 
to nothing, as Mr. Spencer seems to think, why not 
call the First Cause, the Little First Cause. He is cer- 
tainly either Little or Great ; the logical outcome of 
much modern philosophy is that He is very little. To 
talk about developed intelligence while as yet there is 
no intelligence from which it can be drawn, is an error 
of reasoning hardly excusable in a philosopher. It is 
not conceivable, Mr. Spencer declares, “that the Uni- 
verse created itselfhow is it any more conceivable 
that some part of it created itself, that Mind and Life 
are the result simply of certain relations which exist 
between varied forms of matter ? If it be contended 
that matter possesses infinite intelligence, then it would 
follow that matter is alive and has mind; but this is 
not claimed. Life is defined simply as a “ mode of 
motion” due to a fortuitous concatenation of circum- 
stances, but has no positive existence. It is neither 
cause, power, nor intelligence. It is nothing but a 
peculiar relationship between varied classes of matter, 
so that it follows, inevitably, that as soon as the corre- 
spondence between the internal and external is inter- 
rupted or destroyed, the life is ended, man is no more; 
there is no other life. 
We have definitely and categorically resisted this 
conclusion, and proceed to the establishment of a 
science on another basis. Life only from Life is the 
true theory of organic development. The facts of 
observation confirm the deductions of reason and the 
86 The Great First Cause 
inferences of analogy, without a fact in the universe to 
throw doubt upon the conclusion. It is with eminent 
satisfaction that we trace our genealogy through the 
ages to Him who is the Source of all life, and who has 
enough still and to spare. Let others seek to establish 
their paternity as they will, our life is not simply “ a 
mode of motion,” but a substantial reality, the gift of 
Him who is Infinite in this respect as in all others. 
Life, Eternal Life, is the cause and source of all that is ; 
is, indeed, the efficient and sufficient Great First Cause, 
who embodies and includes all other causes. In a 
word, Life is the moving, energizing, determining 
principle of Existence, Who is in and through all 
things, and “ by Whom all things consist.” It was 
Life Eternal that commanded the worlds into existence, 
as the necessary prerequisite for the development of 
Life, infinite in variety, in numbers, and capacities with 
which the world is inhabited. 
57. Life in Nature appears first in protoplasm, in- 
definite, organless, living matter, which, though alive, 
is not Life, for we may see dead as well as living pro- 
toplasm, showing that Life is something distinct from 
either. Though organless, it produces all organs, as 
all observers agree, and still it is each after its kind. 
Vegetable protoplasm will not produce animals, nor 
animal protoplasm man. Life, therefore, as an indis- 
putable, observed fact, is not the result, but the cause of 
organisms. (§ 54.) 
But we are reminded that organisms produce proto- 
plasm. Certainly. Reproduction is one of the great 
facts of life; but reproduction only because of an in- 
herent power to reproduce. The creature perpetuates 
87 Vital Science 
and reproduces himself only because he is himself a 
partaker of Life from the source of Life, and has been 
endowed with the capacity to give to others of what 
he has received. And even that which he gives must 
be from the Great First Cause, through parent to child, 
to all the millions who have lived and died, and who 
yet will live and die. (§ 126.) 
The Great First Cause must therefore be acknowl- 
edged to be an Infinite Cause,—infinite in duration, in 
power, in character, in quality. Progress is the great 
fact of the ages, but progress beyond the Source and 
Cause of all is impossible. It will continue through 
infinite existence, but will never, can never, exceed its 
Source, any more than existence, as we have it, could 
have developed from something infinitely beneath it, 
and, finally, from nothing. 
The reason, therefore, that concedes a Great First 
Cause to be necessary also concludes that this First 
Cause shall be the equal of all that follows,—the equal 
of the infinite capacity to which all things tend. Up- 
ward and not downward—upward to the cerulean of 
the heavens, and not down to the mud at the bottom 
of the sea—must we look for the origin of things,— 
upward as high as mortal conception can reach, to the 
good and the true, the bright and the pure, beyond all 
realization, ay, beyond, but in the direction of, our 
fondest dreams of goodness and beauty. 
58. The character of the Creator is, therefore, de- 
scribed by the things He has created. He is alive, 
because there is life; He has mind, because there is 
mind; intelligence, because of intelligence; wisdom, 
because of wisdom; power, because of power. The 
88 The Great First Cause 
less cannot produce the greater. If something cannot 
come from nothing, then of necessity the something 
from which it came must be the equal, at least, of the 
something that did come. Life came only from Life, 
and Mind from Mind, and the characteristics of the 
effect describe with great precision the source from 
whence it came. The Divine Mind is of necessity 
illustrated in the human mind; the one, however, 
infinitely above the other. He is Creator, Preserver, 
Redeemer, Governor, Tutor, Father; and Like be- 
gets Like, in character if not in degree. The pro- 
cesses of the human mind must illustrate, therefore, 
the processes of the Divine Mind. “ That which 
may be known of God is manifest in them, so that 
they are without excuse,” the Apostle says. (Rom. i. 
18.) 
59- We are called upon, therefore, to give some at- 
tention to the processes of the human mind as illus- 
trative of the processes of the Mind from whence it is 
derived. Because man thinks, God thinks; because 
man works, God works. Not that man illustrates equal 
wisdom or knowledge or power with the Mind from 
whence he came, but only that the correct processes of 
human thought illustrate corresponding processes of 
Divine thought. Man reasons ; therefore, God reasons. 
Man perceives ; therefore, God perceives. Man plans ; 
therefore, God plans. Man works according to his 
plan; therefore, God works according to His plan. 
It may, indeed, be truly affirmed that the order of suc- 
cessful work throughout the universe is always the 
same. The first step is the conception of the plan. 
God first conceived, then commanded, as does every 
89 Vital Science 
ruler; and into His work put His whole soul. And 
science that is Science, philosophy that is worthy 
the name, illustrates the order of creation, which is 
the order of divine thought, and, therefore, of human 
thought its offspring, which order is always deductive, 
evolutionary, logical. Science, like every other or- 
ganism, and like the universe itself, begins with con- 
ception, proceeds to conviction and application, and 
enjoys the fruits of its truth and faithfulness, and is 
thus descriptive of Nature’s processes. 
6o. The Great First Cause must therefore be in- 
finite intelligence, and not a blind, unreasoning force. 
If man is superior to the animal because of the pos- 
session of reason, so the Source from whence men and 
animals come must be superior to all of them because 
possessed of infinite reason. If the Great First Cause 
includes all causes, being above and greater than all; 
if the stream (of intelligence) cannot rise higher than 
its source; if every effect must have its efficient and 
sufficient cause; if Life comes only from Life; then it 
must follow that the Great First Cause illustrates the 
highest conceivable order of Life and Mind. The 
Great First Cause is infinite intelligence, being superior 
to all present intelligences not only, but superior to 
intelligence that may and will be developed through 
endless ages. Infinite progress we believe to be the 
destiny of man, but such progress is possible only 
because there is infinite existence from which man 
came and to which he may grow. And that such 
progress is in the direction of greater intelligence, 
knowledge, capacity, moral as well as intellectual, is 
predicated upon the fact that the condition of existence 
90 The Great First Cause 
described by the term Mind is the highest known, and 
that development, being upward, is, therefore, in this 
direction. Upon this principle man is superior to the 
horse, and the horse superior to such orders of ex- 
istence as illustrate less intelligence. 
Mind, Infinite Mind, is, therefore, the source of all 
things. This position is further established by the 
fact that it is absolutely necessary to the universal 
congruity which all philosophies seek to obtain. 
Mind, human or divine, is the directing principle of 
existence. Hands and feet, muscle and nerve, are the 
servants of thought. Every building, machine, gar- 
ment, every human production, is the product of 
thought; which is always the first and controlling 
agency. Mind illustrates the highest order of exist- 
ence, the end to which all things tend, only because of 
the existence of an infinite and unchangeable Mind 
which continues to draw all things to Himself, as we 
shall further see. (§ 121.) And the process is evolu- 
tion, in fact as well as in name,—the outworking of an 
internal power. 
6i. The requirements of human reason, therefore, 
necessitate the conclusion, 
That every effect presupposes a cause; 
That the cause is, and must be, anterior to 
the effect; 
That it is also interior to it, as the term evo- 
lution suggests; 
That it is invisible,—a principle forever 
outworking to results, seizing and appro- 
priating the materials of existence to its 
uses; Vital Science 
That the cause must be the efficient and 
sufficient equal of the effect; 
That the Great First Cause must answer to 
the requirements of all things just as each 
subordinate cause does to its effect, and 
that He must consequently be infinite to 
answer to the requirements of progress 
through endless duration; 
That Mind being the highest order of ex- 
istence with which we are acquainted, must 
constitute this Infinite First Cause, and be 
illustrated by all such processes as are 
necessarily inherent in Mind ; 
And, finally, 
That the Divine Mind is best described by 
those qualities which commend them- 
selves to the human mind as the very 
highest conception of what is good and 
true. 
62. It being a necessary conclusion, therefore, from 
all consistent thought, that all things proceed from 
the one Great First Cause, who is the efficient, and 
sufficient equal of all that is, and of all that ever will 
be, we are called upon to note once more that the 
process represents the outworking of interior forces, 
which forces are from the one Eternal I Am. Do they 
constitute the I Am? We shall not agree to this 
thought until it can be proved that Force and Law, 
Mind and Matter, are identical. Nor unless it can be 
equally shown that the law which controls the revolu- 
tions of the planets is the same that produces and ex- 
plodes dynamite, and brings forth countless living 
92 The Great First Cause 
things. We here teach the trinity of Nature, showing 
that the One God appears in Nature through three 
distinct forces, directed by correspondingly distinct 
laws, and that each department is “ immediately pro- 
duced” by the “ Unconditioned Reality,” in the same 
way and to the same extent that Force in general is 
admitted to be thus produced. So-called modern 
thought imagines that all things are traceable to the 
Great First Cause through a single line of descent. 
We insist upon appealing to the facts of observation 
which trace all things to the one cause through three 
distinct branches, as we learn from the Mosaic record, 
and which are confirmed by every recurring fact of 
existence. We shall, we believe, clearly show that 
Chemical Affinity (Mr. Spencer to the contrary not- 
withstanding) cannot be produced in Nature by any 
means known to man, but is, on the contrary, a primary 
force, the basic principle of material existence. We 
shall equally show, what Mr. Spencer admits, that 
Gravitation is also a primal force, and controls the 
relations of masses of matter to each other, while 
Life, Vitality, or Life-force is equally primary and 
ultimate, not producible in Nature, but tracing directly 
to the “ Unconditioned Reality.” As Life comes only 
from Life, so do all its manifestations. As we cannot 
originate the former, so we cannot originate the intelli- 
gence, wisdom, knowledge, truth, virtue, which it mani- 
fests. Fish, as we shall show, can neither make brains 
nor brains secrete thought, notwithstanding the fish 
may supply the materials for the brains, and the 
brains may be the organs through which the thought 
is expressed; but behind the brains, as well as behind 
93 Vital Science 
the thought, there is a Mind that produces both. 
Knowledge from knowledge, wisdom from wisdom, 
truth from truth, which is equivalent to Life from 
Life, and each after its kind, is the great fact of 
existence. 
63. But we must not anticipate. Succeeding chap- 
ters will deal very fully with this subject. In the 
mean time we proceed to consider another and very 
important element of universal existence,—viz., the 
Great First Cause is unchangeable. From hence the 
persistence of force, the certainty of Nature’s opera- 
tions, the stability of natural law. His first appear- 
ance is reported to us in the character of Lawgiver, 
by which matter was, and long has been, compounded; 
by which the firmament was established, and is main- 
tained, the planets carried to their places; and, finally, 
living existence created. But behind His laws must 
have been the character which produced them, Love, 
Wisdom, and Power, all of which are infinite and 
unchangeable. Stability is the first requisite of suc- 
cess. How can one hope to see a successful universe 
unless by patient continuance in eternal certainty? 
Reason, science, all thought, therefore, confirm Reve- 
lation, in the statement that He is the “ same, yester- 
day, to-day, and forever.” The Unchangeable Power 
and Wisdom are, therefore, the first element in the 
production of results, but every result, like every 
compound, involves at least another element, which, 
in order to the infinite variety of result everywhere 
observable, must be a changeable element. If both 
elements were unchangeable, no progress would be 
possible; if both elements were changeable or trans- 
94 The Great First Cause 
formable, the certainty of result would be greatly re- 
duced ; but with one, eternal, unchangeable cause of 
all things to answer with unvarying certainty to every 
change of condition or circumstance, we have the 
greatest possible flexibility combined with certainty. 
(§ 147) 
64. As a theory this truth will not be disputed by any 
thoughtful mind. It is, at least, one point upon which 
Science and Religion invariably agree. In practice, 
however, we fear the truth is not clearly discerned by 
either Science or Religon. In the minds of most peo- 
ple, even scientists like Tyndall, the duty and value 
of prayer are based upon the idea that by this means 
we may change the Unchangeable. Such a thought is 
as opposed to Revelation as it is to Science and com- 
mon-sense. To change the Unchangeable is a contra- 
diction of terms so obvious that it seems inconceiv- 
able that any intelligent man could entertain it for a 
moment. We cannot make the All-wise any better, 
wiser, or more powerful than He is, nor any more 
willing to give good things to them that ask Him. 
But we can fulfil the conditions, even if we cannot 
change the cause; and the distinction between condi- 
tions and causes we have already suggested, and in 
the next chapter will fully expound. The Christian idea 
is, that we “ shall not be heard for our much speaking 
but we must forgive others if we would be forgiven. 
Prayer is a thing not so much for public places “ to 
be seen of men” as for the silent chambers of one’s 
own heart. It must be coupled with a realization of 
need, as in the case of the publican, and with humility, 
as opposed to the self-satisfaction of the Pharisee; 
95 Vital Science 
and coupled with faith, with childlike confidence, with 
pure motive, and at once comes the invitation, “ Ask, 
and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, 
and it shall be opened unto you.” God is the Eternal 
Good, who, by the very terms of His constitution, 
must give good things to them that ask Him. Un- 
changeable, He is the Source of all changes, and 
what the change shall be depends upon the condi- 
tions supplied. Were He capable of being changed, 
there could never be any certainty in anything; 
but unchangeable, He answers to every change in 
the theatre of human thought and conduct, and gives 
good things to all who seek to be good. The testi- 
mony of Reason, Science, and Revelation is that 
Prayer is a condition, and when coupled with the 
other conditions of heart and mind, it brings its 
answer with the unerring certainty that belongs to 
Science. 
Nature furnishes in the laws of her fundamental de- 
partments an exact illustration of the character of the 
Lawgiver, as far as his Unchangeableness is concerned. 
What a blessed thing for man that Gravitation and 
Chemical Affinity are always “ the same, yesterday, 
to-day, and forever”! And what better evidence that 
they are the edict of an Unchangeable Lawgiver and 
not the product of Evolution? (§ 12.) If our enemy 
could, change them, what would become of us ? If they 
changed spontaneously, how could we be certain of any- 
thing ? It is because they are unchangeable that we are 
able to secure the utmost stability in our work. We 
always know what, and what not, to expect under a 
given set of circumstances, and are never disappointed 
96 The Great First Cause 
in our expectations where we have obeyed the laws. 
Can we not perceive the importance of certainty in 
our relations to the Eternal One ? Must our life con- 
tinue to be one of doubt, difficulty, and uncertainty 
because we cannot trust to the unchangeableness of 
the Great First Cause,—the cause of our being? In 
what, then, consists the value of Prayer ? Not to 
change the Unchangeable but to supply the conditions 
for the indwelling and outworking of the divine na- 
ture. We shall see (Chapter V.) that the one force, 
Gravitation, produces all the infinite variety of opera- 
tions in natural mechanics, and Chemical Affinity all 
the infinitely varied effects of chemistry, the very oppo- 
site results flowing from the same cause, in answer to 
changed conditions, a truth which is further elaborated 
in Chapter VI., and again in Chapter IX., showing 
that it is the unvarying nature of the law which estab- 
lishes certainty of result, corresponding to conditions 
supplied. So in the living world both health and dis- 
ease are the products of the same force in answer to 
opposing conditions. Just so the value of prayer is 
greatly enhanced by the unchangeableness of the 
Divine nature. 
While, therefore, Prayer is of immense consequence 
to every intelligent creature, in that it is to Life what 
the water-wheel or steam-engine is to manufacture, 
there is little value in merely saying prayers. Hea- 
thendom may seem to thrive under its forms and 
ceremonies, but it cannot continue indefinitely thus to 
thrive. Christianity urges what all human experience 
has proved to be valuable—fasting and prayer—as the 
means for divine indwelling and inspiration. In our Vital Science 
day, under the influences of involution doctrines, how- 
ever, fasting has become well-nigh obsolete, and men 
besiege the throne of the Immmutable under the in- 
sane idea that they can change the Unchangeable. It 
was the Lord who said to Moses, “ Why cry ye unto 
me ? Speak unto the Children of Israel that they go 
forward.” 
98 CHAPTER V. 
creation; or, how the work is done. 
“ It is no mere theory, but a fact as certain as any other fact of 
science, that creation has had a history. It has not been a single act 
done and finished once for all, but a long series of acts,—a work con- 
tinually pursued through an inconceivable lapse of time. It is 
another fact, equally certain respecting this work, that as it has been 
pursued in time, so also it has been pursued by method.”—Argyle’s 
“ Reign of Law.” 
65. How Nature does her work, in order that we may 
take advantage of her operations, appropriating her 
forces to our own uses, is, as we have seen, the work 
of Science, and the inquiry at once presents itself, 
What work ? The answer is, All work. The uni- 
verse is a unit as its name implies, so that all pro- 
cesses and all products, must correspond with all other 
processes and products. There are certain analogical 
principles which are common to all, which if we may 
discover and apply, will not only establish science, but 
indicate a philosophy, and each will confirm the other 
with confirmation which human reason cannot resist. 
We proceed to discuss the processes of Creation, past 
as well as present, and present as well as past, in order 
that we may discover and outline the processes of Life 
by which health is regained and maintained,—by which 
disease is produced and cured; which discussion is 
intended to yield a logical, consistent, and even obvious 
99 Vital Science 
solution of the great problems of physiology and 
Medicine. And this is not impossible. The records of 
the past offer abundant encouragement for the future, 
and we propose a systematic investigation of the facts. 
There are, as we have seen, before the world to-day 
but two opposing theories of existence,—Evolution 
and Involution,—only one of which, of course, can be 
the true one. The old theory of creation out of 
nothing by an Almighty Hand, in the space of six 
days, need not be here considered, as it is not now en- 
tertained by intelligent men. And yet we do not hesi- 
tate to assert that the Book gives a reasonable theory 
of Creation which accords with and explains all the 
facts as no other theory does. The scientific agnostics 
(if we may use the term) have been engaged in over- 
throwing the superstitions of ignorant men, all the 
while unconscious of the fact that Moses and Paul are 
the forerunners of modern scientific thought on the 
subject of Creation, as far as this is true. Moses, or 
whoever wrote the Genesis, describes the forming of 
the worlds, not necessarily out of nothing ; but, rather, 
—a fact which science asserts and reason infers,—that 
Creation is the product of Law, and that before Law 
was chaos, not non-existence. Paul describes also the 
Genesis in words so clear, forcible, and pointed that 
no intelligent man need err. “ By faith,” he says, “ we 
understand that the worlds were framed by the word of 
God, so that things which are seen were not made of 
things which do appear” (Heb. xi. 3), and he has already 
defined faith to be the “ conviction of things not seen,” 
a definition clearly applicable to scientific knowledge. 
We believe what we scientifically know, that the Sun Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
does not revolve around the Earth, for instance, and it 
will be found, as we proceed, that it has been the work 
of Science in all ages to revise our conclusions and 
correct our observations, proving that “ what we see 
we don’t see.” The real truth is always believed, not 
seen. Paul’s words might be otherwise translated to 
read, “ We are convinced that God commanded the 
worlds into existence, making out of the invisible and 
intangible realities an obvious universe.” Paul else- 
where declares that “ the things which are seen are 
temporal, but the things which are not seen (principles) 
are eternal.” How can the forces of Nature, invisible 
and indestructible as they are, have ever been created, 
if Paul knew what he was talking about? 
66. But Paul is still more clear and explicit in his 
declarations regarding Creation : “ For the invisible 
things of Him from the Creation of the World are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are 
made.” (Rom. i. 20.) By this we learn that the “ things 
made” declare the “ things invisible” that were not 
made, which language, we believe, is to be accepted as 
meaning what it says and saying what it means, in- 
stead of having imported into it our own notions, or 
passing it over as meaningless, as some of our com- 
mentators do. Paul, therefore, confirms, instead of 
controverts, the doctrines of modern science, that what 
we see going on around and about us every day, 
declares what took place from the beginning. 
67. The invisible realities from the beginning are 
therefore understood by the things that are made. 
What are the things that are made ? The universe 
consists not simply of worlds revealed to us by either 
101 Vital Science 
telescope or microscope, but of facts of observation 
and inference that are immediately open to us. There 
is the dwelling and the church, the watch and the 
locomotive, the plant and the tree, the horse and the 
man, each repeated ten million times for our use and 
instruction. And not only repeated for our use, but 
we have become co-workers in their production with 
the Great Creator. We make heat and light, elec- 
tricity and magnetism, houses and locomotives, and 
even the production of trees, animals, and new human 
beings is confided to our care. What are the great 
underlying principles of universal production ? All 
are parts of the one great whole, and all illustrate cer- 
tain great principles which are common to all. These 
principles may be declared to be 
Wisdom, 
Power, and 
The Requisite Materials. 
68. In order to a truthful philosophy of existence 
as well as a successful science, we cannot too strongly 
urge the importance of maintaining the natural distinc- 
tions between the above requisites to successful work. 
The materials used in the construction of any machine, 
or the development of any organism, must not be con- 
founded with the wisdom of direction or the power 
of work. The maker, the thing made, and the mate- 
rials of construction are entirely distinct as far as 
human experience goes, as we shall presently see. It 
is always power that does the work, and always wis- 
dom or intelligence that directs the power, which 
102 Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
operating upon matter changes it into other forms, or 
organizes it into other systems. No one can soberly 
dispute these truths, and yet great systems seem to 
ignore them. 
69. But these distinctions are better expressed in 
more scientific phraseology thus : 
Law.—The Unchanging Wisdom, 
Force.—The power that does the work, 
Matter.—The materials of construction. 
We shall consider the last and least important mem- 
ber of this classification first. Matter is material; its 
primal characteristic is inertia. No amount of soph- 
istry can ever expunge this truth from the records of 
Science. The materialist tells us that matter is never 
at rest. True ; but it is well known that matter does 
not move itself, the capability of being moved is one of 
the leading thoughts involved in the idea of inertia. 
Force is the ever-present, intangible, invisible some- 
thing that moves matter and constitutes the essential 
cause of all motion. Youmans, in his Chemistry, 
says, “ That which moves matter and produces change 
is called power or force. Matter and force are insepa- 
rable. We know nothing of force except through 
matter, and nothing of matter except by its forces.” 
Some have asserted, however, that force is only a 
property of matter; they might even more properly 
assert that matter is only a property of force. We 
believe all thinking men will agree that matter, as we 
know it, is the product of force. We have already 
shown that Life is a force, observable, it is true, only in 
connection with matter, but entirely distinct from the 
103 Vital Science 
matter, as proved by the fact that it is daily and hourly 
being separated from matter by death ; a thing which 
could not be if Life were not distinct from the matter 
which it leaves behind. Newton proved what Mr. Spen- 
cer urges, that every particle of matter in the universe 
is a storehouse of force; and all human experience has 
shown that Newton was right. The wonderful devel- 
opments of Chemistry in producing explosives demon- 
strate that the amount of force stored away in matter 
is far beyond what the human mind has heretofore 
appreciated, as witness the explosive power of dyna- 
mite, nitro-glycerin, gunpowder. And can any one 
suppose that the powers exhibited by these substances 
are only properties of the matter,—that is, that they 
have no positive existence ? 
70. But while force is closely connected with mat- 
ter and is the source of all its movements, it is even 
more closely united to the skill, wisdom, or law which 
originates and carries forward the work. Ever}/’ in- 
telligent human production begins in the conception 
of the plan, proceeds by virtue of human skill and 
power to carry out the plan, and in doing so operates 
upon the materials of construction. Brick and mortar 
and lumber are the materials which enter into the 
construction of the building, but what a perversion 
of thought to say that the brick and mortar made the 
building! It was the skill and power of the architect 
and workmen that made it, the materials being inert 
in the workmen’s hands. The same is true of watch, 
locomotive, or any other machine; the skill of the 
workman is one thing; the strength of the workman 
or the power supplied by machinery is another; while 
104 Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
the material used, whether steel, iron, copper, or silver, 
is still another. 
Why should not corresponding principles hold in 
the productions of Nature ? Earth, air, and water 
are the materials that enter into the structure of the 
plant or tree, but it is a travesty on human language 
to say that they made the plant or tree. The pro- 
duction of a tree involves both Power and Wisdom, as 
well as materials, just as does the production of a 
building ora locomotive, the only difference being that 
the Wisdom displayed in this case is unchangeable,— 
a fixed method of work described by the term Law. 
The same truth is illustrated in the hatching of the 
egg. The material in this case is matter within the 
shell; but the power and wisdom belong to and con- 
stitute the invisible principle called Life, as proved by 
the fact that one egg under the same hen brings forth 
a chick, the other one brings forth a duck, and the 
other explosive gases. Mr. Drummond’s theory that 
environment is the chief thing, and Mr. Spencer’s 
theory that it is everything, are absurdities. The en- 
vironment and the material of all these eggs were 
exactly the same, while the result in each case was 
exactly different; proving that it was neither environ- 
ment nor material, but Life that was the real cause of 
the living development. The structure of a horse has 
come forth from hay and oats, but who dare say that 
hay and oats ever made a horse ? Our learned pro- 
fessors should start a stock farm on this principle, for 
we are sure that if they went into the race-horse busi- 
ness they would make a great success in pitting com- 
pounds of hay and oats against thoroughbreds. Vital Science 
71. The same principles apply to the growth of 
human beings. The food one eats, air he breathes, 
and water he drinks are the materials of growth 
which he shares with his family and neighbors, and 
yet the results are not at all uniform. The proof is 
complete to every honest mind that some other power 
than environment must explain the great difference 
in results. It is Life, inherited Life, which makes 
men ; then why say that beefsteak makes muscle, or fish 
makes brains ? The learned professors who write such 
nonsense ought to begin their work by eating a whale 
or two. A little common sense introduced into this 
so-called science, which is the crudest kind of nonsense, 
would stop this ignorant phraseology, but more igno- 
rant theory, that is daily wafting men to destruction. 
It is Life, inherited Life, that grows both trees, horses, 
and men through the operation of fixed and immutable 
laws, which illustrate the wisdom and unchangeable- 
ness of the Lawgiver. Law is the architect, Force is 
the workman; while earth, air, and water are the 
materials out of which come forth all things, living 
and dead. 
72. But these truths may be still more clearly set 
forth under three similar heads : 
Causes, 
Occasions or Conditions, 
Results. 
Surely no one can doubt that these are entirely dis- 
tinct from each other, just as distinct as are forces, 
motions, and matter. As we have already noted (§ 7), Creation ; or, How the Work is Done 
a cause is defined to be “ the power by which an 
event or thing is,” “ a principle from which an effect 
arises while an occasion is defined as “ an event which 
affords a person a reason or motive for doing some- 
thing,” also “ an accidental or incidental cause.” The 
verb “ occasion” expresses the idea more clearly in that 
it means “ to induce,” “ lead to or indirectly cause.” 
The distinction, we are sure, is clear that to cause is 
to produce by virtue of a power that can produce, 
while to occasion is to supply an excuse or condition 
which calls forth the power. The result in any case, 
of course, depends both upon the cause and the oc- 
casion, but it must never be forgotten that it is the 
cause that supplies the power for the result, the occasion 
supplying only the incentive or condition for the 
operation of the power. So important is this subject, 
and so illustrative of the processes of creation, that 
we must examine it in further detail; for around this 
central principle will be found to circle not simply 
Evolution as a philosophy, but as a science of im- 
mense practical import to human health and life. 
Medical systems as we have them to-day, wholly in- 
ductive as they are, illustrate the same fallacies of 
theory and practice as does Spencerian Evolution, and 
will stand or fall by the same principles. 
In the quarry, near by, an explosion has just oc- 
curred, and great masses of rock are thrown high 
into the air. The result obtained was according to 
plan, and involved several preparatory steps: first, a 
crevice or hole into which the dynamite was placed; 
second, a small percussion-cap placed in the dynamite; 
and, third, the transmission of a spark of fire through Vital Science 
a fuse or from an electric battery into the percussion- 
cap. All things being ready, the battery is connected 
with the wires leading to the cap, which explodes, and 
instantly a terrific explosion follows and masses of 
rock lie scattered around. Here we have “ causes” 
and “ occasions” so intermingled as to require careful 
thought to separate them. We note that one class of 
these were external to the work done, and another 
class were internal. The force that burst the rock had 
evidently been stored in the rock in the form of dyna- 
mite ; the force that set off the dynamite was evidently 
stored in the percussion-cap within the dynamite; but 
the force that exploded the percussion-cap originated 
in the battery. The battery was the indirect cause or 
occasion for exploding the cap; the explosion of the 
cap was the “ occasion” of the explosion of the dyna- 
mite ; but no one can doubt that the real cause of 
the bursting of the rock was the liberation of the 
force stored in the dynamite, and not in the cap or 
galvanic battery. The process was one of evolution 
and not of involution; the power that did the work 
was not in the environment, and did not come from the 
outside,—that is, from the battery or cap,—but from 
within; it was the intrinsic power of the dynamite. 
Throughout the whole realm of chemistry the same 
principle is illustrated; the power that does the work 
comes invariably from within, while the occasion for 
the exhibition of the power is in the environment, 
supplied often by the chemist. 
73- If we pursue these investigations into the realm 
of Mechanics, including Astronomy, we are compelled 
to the same conclusions. The cause of the Niagara Creation ; or, How the Work is Done 
Falls is the gravity residing in the water which falls, 
but the occasion or condition for the fall of the water 
is the mountain of rock which obstructs its free passage 
to the sea. The cause of the motions of a water-wheel 
is also gravity stored in the water, but the occasion for 
its motion is the contrivance which carries the water 
into the wheel. The caicse which speeds the loco- 
motive is the pressure in the locomotive generated by 
the heat, while the cause which makes the heat is 
the combustion of coal. The cause of the motions 
of a watch is the force stored in its mainspring, but 
the occasion or condition for the peculiar motions is 
the arrangement of the cog-wheels. In all these cases, 
and in every other case, it will be noted that the real 
cause of the motion, development, or work done has 
been interior; while the occasion has very generally, 
if not always, been external to it. Environment, or 
external influence, therefore, is the occasion or condi- 
tion for great results; but the real cause of the results 
is internal, making the process to be invariably evolu- 
tion rather than involution. 
74- But these truths will be more readily appreciated 
when considered in connection with living existence. 
It is with vital science, and therefore with organic 
evolution, that we deal, using the inorganic world only 
as illustration of what we may expect in the organic. 
We strike our horse with a whip, and he goes down 
the road at a 2.30 gait; but we strike another horse 
with the same whip, and he goes at a ten-minute gait; 
we strike still another horse, and he runs away. Was 
the whip the cause or only the occasion for these varied 
results. The Involution theory teaches that it was the 
109 Vital Science 
cause; for Environment is always the cause in that 
system; we here teach that the whip was the occasion 
only, the real cause being the spirit and power residing 
in the horse. We cast a stone at a dog, and he runs 
from us or runs at us, and Involution says the stone 
did it. We affirm that the stone was only the occasion, 
the cause being inherent in the nature of the dog. 
We plant two trees in the same soil and give them the 
same care, and one yields us chestnuts and the other 
apples. Was it Environment or innate character that 
made the difference? We hatch eggs in the same 
Environment and get ducks, chickens, geese, turkeys, 
and our philosophers tell us that Environment did it. 
On the contrary, we declare that the process was evolu- 
tion and the cause was innate. We give two men a 
half-pint of whiskey each, and one becomes for the 
time a drivelling idiot and the other a raving madman. 
Was the whiskey the cause or only the occasion ? Did 
the whiskey give the strength and violence or only 
call forth the strength and violence ? But we give the 
same whiskey in smaller dose to a feeble patient, and 
he becomes stronger, pulse fuller, with everywhere 
apparent increase of vigor. Did the whiskey give him 
strength or only occasion strength ? If the violence 
of the madman was from his inherent power and 
nature, the whiskey only occasioning the excitement, 
why does not the apparently increased vigor of the 
sick man come the same way ? Why is it not simply the 
appearance of power,—power drawn from the patient, 
and not increased strength supplied to the patient ? We 
shall ask and answer the question by and by whether 
whiskey or any other tonic or stimulant ever gives or Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
causes strength to patients, or only occasions an ex- 
hibition and waste of what power they previously had, 
and shall chronicle the greatest delusion that ever 
afflicted the human race. It can be proved beyond 
reasonable controversy that the appearance of strength 
—the feeling of strength—is always coincident with, 
and the result of its expenditure, while the conserva- 
tion of energy in a patient, as in every other natural 
object, is coincident with its disappearance. It is for 
this reason that excitement, labor, business, gives to 
men a feeling of vigor to be followed in feeble persons 
by exhaustion, while sleep and rest take away the 
feeling of vigor to be followed by recuperation. But 
we must not anticipate; for a full and explicit examina- 
tion of this part of our subject the reader is referred 
to Chapters X., XI., XII., XIII. 
75. And now to complete the study of this subject, 
allow us to further consider it under the heads 
Causes, 
Processes, and 
Effects. 
By every principle of reason and common sense, 
therefore, we are compelled to the conclusion that 
causes are forces existing in the thing that does the 
work, and the process is evolution, not of matter but 
of the forces that operate upon and through the mat- 
ter. The effect is the change in the matter, due to the 
power of change which constitutes the cause. 
Further, we note that Force is always invisible, its ex- 
istence being known only by its effects. Effects, on the Vital Science 
contrary, as far as we appreciate them, are generally vis- 
ible, or obvious, making them much more readily ap- 
prehended than are the forces that produce them. We 
see or feel the effects, but we can reason only of forces. 
The result is that thoughtless people live in the appar- 
ent and too often unreal; while the real world is ap- 
prehended by prudent and thoughtful people only. 
When the thoughtless man sees a rosebud unfold into 
a rose he perhaps imagines that the material of the 
bud unfolded itself, but reason tells us that it unfolded 
because of the operation of an invisible power. Mr. 
Drummond says the power of unfolding resides in the 
Environment, while we are urging that the process is 
Evolution because the power is in the bud. If the 
power is in the Environment, the process would be In- 
volution, and we would never know whether the bud 
would come forth a rose, a lily, or a chestnut; but as 
the power resides in the nature of the bud, we know 
just what to expect. And this brings us to another 
consideration,—viz.: 
76. Force in order to do work must be either intel- 
ligently or persistently applied. All human productions 
illustrate force intelligently applied, as in the building 
of a house, a machine, or other operation of human 
work, while Nature's operations are all carried forward 
by force persistently applied, which really means ap- 
plied under the direction of law. In any case force is 
the absolutely necessary prerequisite to work, and this 
force must be directed if we would have definite re- 
sults. Human wisdom directs to human purposes, but 
in Nature a larger wisdom is displayed. The Silent 
Partner in creation, who supplies both material and Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
capital, has ordained the utmost stability and cer- 
tainty in Nature’s processes, so that man may know 
with certainty just what he may or may not achieve 
under the proper conditions. The storehouses of 
Force are abundant, and this works with the utmost 
persistence to the accomplishment of the purposes in- 
tended, so that man becomes the administrator of 
Nature’s resources as soon as he has learned the law 
by which she works. 
77. But Nature’s forces do not persist in one direc- 
tion only; the Creator was not satisfied to make a 
material universe simply; but having compounded the 
elements into tangible substances, He proceeded to 
separate these into innumerable spheres, setting them 
all in motion and giving to each its proper relations to 
all the others,—the Sun to give light and heat, the 
Moon to reflect her light, the Earth and other planets 
to bring forth countless myriads of living forms. At 
least three separate and distinct laws were necessary 
to these purposes, and we will find that Force persists 
in at least three distinct directions. The loving Father 
is the silent partner in carrying forward the affairs of 
Earth, and has contributed to the business of earthly 
evolution natural force in abundant measure under the 
direction and control of a trinity of immutable laws, 
causing human heritage to be an exhaustless quantity 
of definite quality of Wisdom sustained by Power. 
78. The Process, we have repeatedly shown, is Evo- 
lution,—the unfolding not of the materials of existence 
but of Wisdom and Power, which being known to us 
as Law and Force are always found internal to the 
things produced, whether we consider the universe as Vital Science 
a whole or any part of it, “ down even to the compo- 
nents of every inference and every observation,” as 
Mr. Spencer observes. A plant is the unfolding of 
plant life, showing itself in the materials which it ap- 
propriates from earth, air, and water, but is distinct 
from earth, air, and water just as a man is distinct 
from the clothes he wears. And Life is constituted of 
a force called Vital Force under the direction of Life’s 
Great Law. The grand result is the universe existing 
in three separate and distinct departments, each of 
which is still in process of development under the 
direction and control in large measure of the active 
partner in Creation,—Man. To be sure, Man has 
made bungling work of it so far; but inasmuch as the 
growth and development of the child and heir is of 
much more consequence than the goods he inherits, 
the wise parent is willing that he may even squander 
his fortune if that is necessary to teach him wisdom. 
To “become as gods knowing good and evil,” and 
knowing enough to cleave to the one and eschew the 
other, is a destiny that is worth all that it costs. 
Whether your son starts life as a millionaire or as a 
penniless student is of no consequence except as to do 
so tends to make or unmake the man. 
As the process of Creation, therefore, consists in the 
evolution of interior principles which are made to 
show forth through a material universe, and as all are 
parts of one stupendous whole, so each part must be 
in perfect analogy with all other parts not only, but 
perfectly illustrative of the Source from whence they 
come. The universe itself, as even the agnostics 
admit, must be the evolution of a great primal principle 
114 Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
of Existence, generally acknowledged in science as 
the Great First Cause. Because He is Infinite is no 
good reason for disconnecting Him from His Universe, 
nor can He be ignored in any true philosophy or 
science. He appears as the Lawgiver, whose laws 
illustrate His character, of which stability, certainty, 
immutability, are the chief characteristics, and, if con- 
gruity is universal, He performs His work as any other 
intelligence performs it, through the use of power, 
wisely directed, operating upon the necessary materials. 
79. A knowledge of the directing principle is the 
important consideration. A law once discovered con- 
tinues for all time a fixed centre from which we may 
deduce conclusions, and carry on practice, with a cer- 
tainty that knows no variation; and we repudiate with 
the utmost earnestness the theory that this thing 
which has in all ages proved to have such wonderful 
influence on human knowledge, is simply another 
“ mode of motion.” We have, on the contrary, clearly 
shown (§ 12) that law, in the larger sense, is the decree 
of an unchangeable Lawgiver, and, therefore, not only 
describes how things have been done, but in that very 
fact prescribes how they shall be done. 
8o. Thus far we have appealed chiefly to the testi- 
mony of reason, referring only occasionally to both 
scientific and biblical records for testimony, not con- 
sidered authoritative, but suggestive of the great truths 
we have been seeking to establish. We now crave 
the reader’s indulgence while we return to a more de- 
tailed examination of the Mosaic record as suggestive 
of still more definite truths which we propose to estab- 
lish in other ways in succeeding chapters. The Mosaic Vital Science 
record teaches, if it teaches anything, Creation by 
Law.* We first read, “ In the beginning, God” (the 
other name for Great First Cause), who said, “ Let 
there be Light, and there was Light.” In these words 
we surely read the decree of Omnipotence; that the 
Lawgiver established the great Law of Light cannot 
be successfully controverted. 
81. But what this Law of Light is the record fails to 
explain. Very likely the inspired writer didn’t know 
himself, and if he had known, how should he have 
put his words into form so that they should be better 
understood than they have been ? Language must 
first be formed, and ideas become fixed, before we 
can understand any writer’s doctrines. Knowledge is 
always a prerequisite to knowledge ; truth alone can 
beget truth, as Life alone begets Life. We must 
always know something before we can learn some- 
thing more, so that though the Book told the story 
of Creation four thousand years ago, it is only now, 
after Science has demonstrated her great truths, that 
we may begin to interpret the story of Creation as 
described in the Mosaic record. Science has demon- 
strated that all things, past and present, are the product 
of Law; and throwing to the winds our agnosticism, 
we learn how the law came to be; God said, “ Let 
there be Light, and there was Light.” 
If such a law was thus established, it must still 
be in operation, for the Lawgiver is unchangeable. 
* The Greek word bara, means to prepare, form, fashion, and who 
can doubt that Law formed the worlds ? The record is entirely silent as 
to what they were formed out of. Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
Has Science discovered such a law? Undoubtedly 
she has, but just what this law of Light is, is not even 
yet fully determined. It must be a primal law of Na- 
ture, and not simply an observed order of phenomena. 
Like the primal forces, it is “ immediately produced” 
by the “ Unconditioned Reality,” and is, therefore, not 
producible in Nature. We shall learn in a succeeding 
chapter that there are three great primal forces of 
Nature, coincident with their primal laws, Chemical 
Affinity, Gravitation, and Life’s Great Law, and that 
these terms are applied to laws quite as generally as 
to forces. Chemical Affinity, we shall discover, is the 
great primal force, and corresponding primal law of 
Nature, so that we are at once led to infer that the 
great Law of Light is Chemical Affinity. No one 
doubts the existence of such law, and that it is one 
great source of light is evident, but is it the great Law 
of Light ? We are aware of the fact that Scientists 
have very generally abandoned the theory that the 
light of the Sun is the product of Chemical Affinity. 
Perhaps they are mistaken, and it may yet be proved 
that the Sun’s light and heat are the product of this 
great law, sustained by its corresponding force. If 
this shall happen, it will not be the first time in the 
history of Science when pure theory has declared 
the existence of facts that could be obtained in no 
other way. Possibly, however, this great Law of 
Light may mean simply the law by which the in- 
visible realm was caused to develop into an obvious 
universe. Science has well proved that Chemical 
Affinity is the great basic law of created existence. 
It has formed the crust of the Earth, has developed Vital Science 
the constitution of the planets, combined the invisible 
gases, oxygen and hydrogen, into water; in a word, has 
produced a visible universe out of invisible potencies 
which were eternally before it. 
82. But though Chemical Affinity has produced 
visible and tangible matter, the universe was still in a 
state of disorder. Matter held no definite relations to 
matter; “ without form and void” was the fact of ex- 
istence even though nebulous matter had appeared. 
Another law which should stretch out the Heavens, 
establish a foundation for the worlds, gather the waters 
together, was necessary in order to carry out the great 
plan of the greater Self-existence. The other law is 
very naturally the law of the Firmament, now known 
as Gravitation. Can the reader conceive of any other 
way by which the worlds were swung into place, ex- 
cept by the power that keeps them in place ? Or the 
waters are gathered together into lakes and seas, and 
“ dry land” made to appear, except by Gravitation, the 
same power which we have shown now causes the 
mists above us to fall to earth as drops of rain ? And 
if Gravitation has condensed the mists into revolving 
drops of rain, why should it not condense the nebulas 
into revolving worlds ? 
83. But what a dismal abortion Creation would have 
been if it failed to include its crowning feature,—Life 
and Mind, two words to describe the same thing! 
We know not how to separate Life and Mind; in- 
deed, we shall learn that they are inseparable,— 
wherever Life is, Mind is, wherever Mind is, Life is. 
Living existence is the complement of Creation, the 
eternal fulness of universal existence. Shall the pro- 
118 Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
cesses of its creation differ from the processes which 
preceded it? or shall there be perfect analogy? In 
the language of the Genesis, the answer is, God said, 
“ Let the Earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding 
seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind.” 
Have we not here another decree, another law, which 
carries within it the promise and potency of living 
existence ? Life’s Great Law, we shall see, is the per- 
fect analogue of Gravitation and Chemical Affinity, 
and completes the circle of Created Existence, render- 
ing possible a true and logical philosophy side by side 
with the logical sciences. 
84. Science confirms what Revelation declares, that 
Nature exists, and is to be studied in her three funda- 
mental departments, 
The Chemical, 
The Mechanical, and 
The Vital. 
These are the divisions of Sir John Herschel, who 
studied nature and developed science before modern 
agnosticism began to sweep the foundations from the 
stores of human knowledge and remand us to the 
chaos from whence we came. Until Spencer classifi- 
cation was one of the principal means of arriving at 
the truth, and the divisions of Nature as indicated 
were of unquestioned value in leading to a knowledge 
of her processes. We return to the facts which are 
of higher authority than either Spencer or Herschel, 
and no unprejudiced mind can dispute that Nature 
exists, and is to be studied, Vital Science 
In her atomic constitution—Chemistry; 
In her Mechanical relations—Mechanics in- 
cluding astronomy; 
In her vital department—the department of 
Living Existence. 
This classification is not a subjective conception 
having no basis in Nature, but is exactly descriptive of 
Nature in her fundamental departments, and this would 
seem to be the meaning of the words, “ and the evening 
and the morning were the first day,”—the second day, 
third day. The intervening space was night, not day, 
and night meant, it is believed, simply that the laws 
promulgated were distinct and separate from each 
other. Gravitation has no connection with Chemical 
Affinity, nor Life’s Great Law or Force with either, 
notwithstanding they all deal with the same matter 
at the same time. “ Every particle of matter in the 
universe,” Newton proved, is under the control of 
Gravitation; but it is under the dominion of Chemi- 
cal Affinity at the same time, and all living matter is 
dominated by Life’s Great Law, which is the superior 
of both but which nullifies neither. The absurdity of 
modern effort, therefore, to generate Life by chemical 
processes is quite as evident as the alchemist’s attempts 
to transmute the baser metals into gold. 
85. But the most important consideration in con- 
nection with this subject is yet to be noted,—viz., that 
every effect, phenomenon, result, process, and opera- 
tion in the universe is directly traceable to one or the 
other of these laws. All are traceable to the Great 
First Cause, the one, great, self-existent and eternal 
Lawgiver, but this Great First Cause manifests Him- 
120 Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
self in Nature, not by a single law, but by a trinity of 
laws, which, sustained by the forces of Omnipotence, 
account for all that is. 
86. And this statement means more than at first 
appears; it represents a simplicity and a certainty that 
the philosophies have sought in vain, and yet so evi- 
dent that a wayfaring man though a fool need not err 
therein. 
It is not generally appreciated, that every change 
taking place in the relations of masses of matter to 
each other throughout the universe is under the control 
of one single, individual law sustained by its proper 
force. And this means that Gravitation is the real 
power that floats the balloon or dashes it to the Earth, 
that brings the rains down and carries the mists up 
(§ 114), that floats the ship or sinks it, that enables the 
man to swim or drowns him. It is the power that 
makes effective the lever, that runs the water-wheel 
and windmill, and everywhere produces all sorts of 
motions, similar or opposite, as the occasion or condi- 
tion shall determine. It was seen in the previous 
chapter that though the Great First Cause is abso- 
lutely unchangeable, that very fact makes the results 
of communion with Him to be infinitely certain, the 
results depending entirely upon the conditions we 
supply. The same truth holds good in dealing with 
His unchangeable laws; the result depends wholly 
upon the conditions we supply. If we supply the 
conditions for flight in the balloon, Gravitation will fly 
us, but if the conditions are for destruction, it will kill 
us. The same truth holds good in the Chemical 
world. Chemical Affinity makes dynamite and ex- 
121 Vital Science 
plodes it; it is the basis of gunpowder, and it explodes 
gunpowder. It makes acids and destroys them; 
makes out of the most harmless substances the most 
dangerous and deadly compounds. In a word, every 
change taking place in the atomic constitution of 
matter in the universe, is effected by the one law 
under the control of the one force. Just so it will 
be our privilege and pleasure to show that from one 
great, all-controlling law of life all the varied activi- 
ties of the living world, from the growth of a blade 
of grass to the sickness and death of a man or an 
elephant, are derived. It will not be so difficult to 
convince either the lay or professional reader that all 
the functions of the living organism in health occur 
in response to, or under the control of, one great law, 
but when it is urged that every symptom of disease, 
every fact of pathology, takes place under direction 
of the same law, there will be undoubted demurrer. 
And yet this is what we affirm, that no symptom of 
health or disease, no pain or pleasure, weakness or 
strength, is ever found in a living organism except un- 
der the control and direction of the one law, sustained 
by the one power,—the law that solves all physiologi- 
cal and medical problems, and gives, for the first time 
in the history of Medicine, a consistent, reasonable, 
and demonstrably true explanation of all its problems. 
If we supply the conditions for health, health will 
follow with unerring certainty; but if the conditions 
are for disease, disease will sooner or later follow as 
the Law of Vital Accommodation will permit. Chap- 
ter IX. will be devoted to a formulary of this law, the 
proof of its existence and the range of its applicability; Creation; or, How the Work is Done 
in the mean time we proceed to consider the work of 
the last half of the creative week as set forth in the 
Genesis. 
87. It is worthy of note that the foundations for 
universal existence having been laid, the great Law- 
giver is reported to have continued the process of 
creation, by practically applying the principles already 
established. The Sun, an immense orb of fire, could 
give light and heat only because of the operations of 
Chemical Affinity and Gravitation, there being no other 
conceivable means by which we can enjoy these bless- 
ings. And Earth and Moon and planets could roll 
around this great orb only by virtue of Gravitation, 
and light and heat would be useless for the Earth un- 
less there was Life to enjoy the light and heat. The 
fourth day’s work, therefore, consisted in bringing 
into existence the necessary conditions for the opera- 
tion of the laws already promulgated to the produc- 
tion of material existence, the establishment of the 
facts of chemistry and astronomy. Then comes forth 
bird and fish, and finally animals and man, through the 
operation of Life’s Great Law. 
We cite these facts not as authoritative declara- 
tions of creative energy, but only for the purpose of 
suggesting that man was probably a special creation 
in some sense. That he was destitute of the power, 
wisdom, intelligence, or goodness that he now pos- 
sesses we think the record shows, but that man is 
only a developed monkey, and tailless at that, as Mr. 
Drummond teaches we can at least say is not proved. 
123 CHAPTER VI. 
THE COSMOS J OR, THE CONSTITUTION OF NATURE. 
“ Grave errors have been entertained as to what is really intended to 
be conserved by the doctrine of conservation. This exposition I hope 
will tend to remove them.”—John Tyndall on the “Constitution 
of Nature.” 
88. Force, Motion, and Matter are, in accordance 
with the doctrines of Modern Science, sustained by 
the facts of common observation, the constituent ele- 
ments of material existence. Force is the cause of all 
material things,—a postulate concerning which there 
cannot be a reasonable, dissentient voice; Motion, 
called also Energy, the first effect of the Force, is the 
process—of all existence,—is Force, under direction 
of Law, in process of doing work; while Matter, as 
we know it, in its varied forms, is the product. Cause, 
Process, and Product, otherwise Force, Motion, and 
Matter, and their relations to each other, is the sub- 
ject immediately before us,—a subject which, though 
apparently quite simple, involves, nevertheless, a con- 
sideration of the great fundamental questions of exist- 
ence, which, while they never have been satisfactorily 
explained, and perhaps never will be, have of late 
years become so confused that the most contradictory 
doctrines have been advocated. 
89. The great error, in our opinion, consists in con- 
founding Motion with Force. (§ 9.) They are not iden- 
124 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
tical.* In a previous chapter, it is true, we gave to 
Force the comprehensive definition, “ that which does 
work,”—a definition which would undoubtedly apply 
to Motion; but Motion is always secondary to the 
Force. It is the process of which Force is the cause, 
and Matter, or material forms, in their infinite variety, 
is the effect. And while Motion exists between cause 
and effect, and is dependent upon both, it will not do 
to confound it with either. Here is the starting-point 
of Herbert Spencer’s wide divergence from the truth. 
It is the same error that makes Professor Joseph Le 
Conte become the ardent advocate of Agnostic Evolu- 
tion. Yet both these men admit that they do not fully 
understand the subject. Both agree that there are two 
kinds of Force, one of which they properly name 
Energy or Motion, while the other, Mr. Spencer says, 
“ has no specific name.” It needs none. It is real, 
intrinsic Force, the basis of created existence, which 
Motion is not. Motion is the process of doing work, 
while Force is the cause of the process. The utter im- 
propriety of using the terms interchangeably must be 
evident. Words hold the same relation to Science that 
*Rev. Wm. I. Gill has written an exceedingly interesting work, 
entitled “ Evolution and Progress,” in which he claims to give con- 
vincing proof of Spencerian Evolution. We quote a couple of illustra- 
tive headings: $ 5, “ Matter known only as Force;” § 9, “ All Motion 
is Force.” On such assertions Agnostic Evolution is built. Admit the 
premises and you admit all. Imagine Watts building a steam-engine 
on the assertion,—All steam is water. True, but it is something more 
than water. All Motion is Force, but it is something more than 
Force. On the same principle alcohol is food and flour is wheat. 
Spencerian Evolution can live only by closing our eyes to the natural 
distinctions between things. 
125 Vital Science 
figures do to mathematics, and it is just as reasonable 
to use interchangeably the figures 1, 2, or 10, as to use 
the terms Motion and Force interchangeably. Yet 
Professor Le Conte, when undertaking to show that 
“ Vital is transformed physical and chemical forces,” 
says in an explanatory foot-note (“ International Scien- 
tific Series,” Vol. VII.),— 
“ In recent works the word energy is used to designate active or 
working, as distinguished from passive or non-working force. It is in 
this working condition only that force is conserved, and therefore 
Conservation of Energy is the proper expression. Nevertheless, since 
the distinction between force and energy is imperfectly or not at all 
defined in the higher forms of force, and especially in the domain of 
life, I have preferred in this article to use the word ‘ force’ in the general 
sense usual until recently. I may sometimes use the word energy instead. 
If any one should charge me with want of precision in language, my 
answer is, Our language cannot be more precise until our ideas in this 
department are far clearer than now.” 
90. Thus we find Le Conte repeating Herbert Spen- 
cer in dividing Force into two classes, active and pas- 
sive, or working and non-working force, and admits 
that only the one kind is conserved, or, as Mr. Spencer 
terms it, transformed; and yet, still following Spencer, 
he persists in drawing conclusions from the one term 
used to designate two entirely different things. Had 
he undertaken to show that vital energy is the product 
of physical energies our objections would be less seri- 
ous, but when he proceeds to put Energy or Motion 
in the same class with Force, and use the terms inter- 
changeably as a basis for the development of impor- 
tant doctrines, it is but just that we demur to both pro- 
cess and conclusion. For instance, when proceeding The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
to show “ The obstacle removed” which had hereto- 
fore prevented the establishment of the Evolution 
theory, he says (Evolution by Le Conte),— 
“ Until about forty years ago the different forces of Nature, such as 
gravity, electricity, magnetism, light, heat, chemical affinity, etc., were 
supposed to be entirely distinct. . . . About that time it began to be 
evident, and is now universally acknowledged, that all these forces are 
but different forms of one, universal, omnipresent energy, and are 
transmutable unto one another back and forth without loss. This is 
the doctrine of correlation of forces and conservation of energy, one 
of the grandest ideas of modern times.” 
gi. Here we have gravity and heat, chemical affin- 
ity and light, as well as electricity and magnetism, all 
placed in the same category, and all transmutable into 
each other. Well might Professor Tyndall exclaim, 
“ But ambiguity in the use of the term ‘ force’ makes 
itself more and more felt as we proceed.” To place 
Gravitation and Chemical Affinity in the same cate- 
gory with light and heat is an incongruity of the sci- 
entific mind that is, to say the least, surprising. Heat 
and light are the prodiicts of Chemical Affinity and 
Gravitation, and under no circumstances can ever be 
transmuted into them. If they could, the heating of 
a piece of iron would add to its gravity, and all things 
would weigh much more heavily under the rays of a 
burning sun than they would at midnight. The asser- 
tion, as we shall see, that light and heat are transmu- 
table into Vital Force is equally at variance with the 
facts. Indeed, we are sure that it will finally appear 
incomprehensible that intelligent men could have made 
such serious mistakes on so important a subject as the 
forces of Nature. The error originated, no doubt, in Vital Science 
the erroneous conception, which Le Conte says is the 
product of the last forty years, that “ all forces are but 
different forms of one, universal, omnipresent energy.” 
This is the energy which Mr. Spencer says “ has no 
specific name.” It is rather conceived to be a fountain 
in Nature which appears now as Gravitation, then as 
Chemical Affinity, anon as heat or light, electricity or 
magnetism,—the very statement of which exposes an 
incongruity. Gravitation and Chemical Affinity are 
not energies derived from the one force, but they are 
themselves primary forces, inherent in the very nature 
of things, while heat, light, electricity, magnetism, 
etc., are “ modes of motion” produced from these pri- 
mary forces, as Professor Tyndall clearly shows. And 
while he does not clearly dispute the transformation 
of forces, he definitely shows that neither Chemical 
Affinity nor Gravitation can be transmuted into any- 
thing else. “ In no case,” he says, “ is the force which 
produces motion annihilated or changed into anything 
else.” * Gravitation and Chemical Affinity produce 
heat, but in no proper sense are they transformed or 
converted into heat. 
92. A careful study of the subjects of Force and 
Motion, and their relations, has compelled us to the 
conclusion that there are in Nature three distinct 
primal forces,— Gravitation, Chemical Affinity, and 
Vital Force. From these have been developed a mul- 
titude of energies or motions, potential and dynamic, 
which, unlike forces, are constantly changing, but 
which, like forces, are capable of doing work, so that 
* The Constitution of Nature. 
128 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
we are compelled to divide the forces of Nature into 
two classes, the primary and secondary. The former 
is real, intrinsic Force, and being intrinsic, it is not 
transformable, but constitutes that unchangeable “ ul- 
timate of ultimates” which is inherent in the nature 
of things ; while that other source of work which is 
constantly varying and changing, and is producible 
from Force, we shall call secondary Force or Motion. 
To distinguish between these and establish their re- 
spective existence and work we proceed to note that 
Primary forces are not producible by any means 
known to man, while 
Secondary forces are not only producible, but 
would seem to exist only as productions of 
Nature. 
These facts surely justify our refusal to place them 
in the same category. Gravitation, we shall see, is 
the great representative primary force, with heat as 
the great secondary force. Scientists continually 
speculate as to the cause of the Sun’s heat, which 
they ascribe now to Gravitation and anon to Chemical 
Affinity, but we never read any discussions as to the 
source of the Sun’s affinity or gravity. These forces 
are admitted to be primary and independent, while 
heat is equally conceived to be secondary and de- 
pendent upon force that is primary. Professor Tyn- 
dall suggests that possibly all the heat in the universe 
is due to Gravitation; he seems to have forgotten his 
declaration that Chemical Affinity is also a source of 
heat. 
93. Force differs from Energy or Motion also by 
being invisible and intangible, known only by its Vital Science 
effects, as are all real causes, while Motion is often a 
fact of observation. It is Mr. Spencer who asserts that 
“ Motion and Matter are differently conditioned mani- 
festations of Force.” The forces of Nature are in 
Nature, a great triune reality, the cause and source of 
all motions and all productions, the motion being the 
process of transferring the force from one condition of 
matter to another. 
94. Did these forces create matter, or is matter 
eternal ? Science and Revelation agree in affirming 
that they did in the beginning just what they are 
still doing, bringing forth from the invisible realm all 
created things. Further than this we have no warrant 
for believing; something out of nothing, even by 
Omnipotence, is nowhere taught in either Science or 
Revelation. “ The invisible things of Him from the 
creation of the world are . . . understood by the things 
that are made,” is the way Paul puts it. And Science 
confirms what common sense suggests, that things 
are now made by the use of Force under the direction 
of Law, so that we are justified in inferring the same 
principles of operation throughout the ages. We 
have, we believe, clearly shown that the Unchange- 
able Creator has not changed the order of His work. 
What other power could have produced a rock, a 
plant, or a man than the power which now produces 
it? And what other process than the process now 
in operation ? What power or method could have 
swung the worlds into place other than that which 
keeps them in place?* The persistence of Force, as 
* It is believed that the theory of clouds and rain 20, 40) gives 
the key to the revolutions of the planets. If the cooling of the clouds 
130 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
well as the unchangeable character of Law, is a neces- 
sary inference from the facts. 
95. If we proceed now to discover what forces 
created the worlds, we are led to inquire what forces 
remain in them as necessary to their existence; and 
vice versa, if we would discover what forces remain in 
the worlds, or in any part of them, we have only to 
learn what forces were necessary to their production. 
Force can neither be weighed, measured, nor observed ; 
invisible and intangible, we know of it only by its 
effects, which effects always include the force that 
produces them. Just as any compound includes the 
elements and forces that made the compound,—just 
as every product includes the factors that constitute 
the product; so the worlds include and enclose all the 
factors that have produced them, of which force is 
the first and all-important. Mr. Spencer refers to 
Gravitation as the great representative force. He 
says, “ Force is our ultimate measure of matter, and 
the quantity of matter is finally determinable by the 
quantity of gravitative force it manifests.” * And 
this is the proof, he further shows, that matter is 
indestructible; it is indestructible because force is 
indestructible, because force is persistent. Since the 
discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, Gravitation has ob- 
tained such a place in Nature that it would be a work 
is the occasion for Gravitation to bring them down in the form of re- 
volving rain-drops, why not the cooling of the nebulae permit Gravi- 
tation to condense the worlds into revolving bodies, which have not 
fallen only because there is no large attracting body to overpower the 
present arrangement. 
* First Principles, § 61. Vital Science 
of supererogation to undertake by any arguments to 
show that it is one of Nature’s primal forces. But 
it is not the only one; nor is it the first. Gravitation 
swung the worlds into place and now maintains them 
in their revolutions. It gathered the waters together, 
and now preserves them in rivers, lakes, and seas, 
distinct from the “ dry land.” It brings down the rain 
to water the Earth, and, Mr. Spencer to the contrary 
notwithstanding, it lifts the mists into clouds. (§ 39.) 
But there must have been material compounds be- 
fore the worlds could have revolved, and water before 
there could have been river, lake, or sea, and Science 
demonstrates to-day that all these are the products 
of another force, known as Chemical Affinity, under 
direction of other laws. If Chemical Affinity makes 
water now, it has always made it; and if it be neces- 
sary that Gravitation shall remain to preserve the 
revolutions of the planets, it is just as necessary that 
Chemical Affinity shall remain persistently in all ele- 
ments and in all compounds, to preserve the latter or 
to change them into other forms. Chemical Affinity 
is, therefore, by every consideration a primal force, 
existing in Matter side by side with Gravitation, and 
just as necessary to its continued existence as is 
Gravitation. In other words, as the only evidence that 
Matter exists en masse is the gravity it manifests, so 
the only evidence that Matter exists in an elementary 
state is its power of combination with other elements 
to form other and unlike compounds. Let us imagine, 
if we can, that the power of combination should de- 
part in any degree from oxygen or carbon because of 
their being combined. The thought is inconceivable. 
132 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
The only knowledge we have of oxygen is through 
its power of combination ; to destroy the affinity would 
be to destroy well-nigh all material existence, just as 
would the destruction of Gravitation. Stability of 
combination and unchangeableness of ratios is a primal 
fact of chemistry. In the face of these facts it were a 
work of supererogation to inquire if Nature’s primal 
forces are transformable into each other. As each is 
necessary to the constitution of Matter, and as Matter 
is indestructible, so these forces are persistent, and, 
therefore, cannot be transformed without destroying 
the Matter. 
96. And now we proceed to inquire if there is ob- 
servable in Nature any other force which answers to 
the requirements of a primal force,—viz., Producible 
only from the Unconditioned Reality or Unknowable 
Realm, and, therefore, 
First, Non-producible in Nature; 
Second, Non-transformable from or into anything 
else; 
Third, Indestructible; and 
Fourth, Necessary to the existence of Nature as we 
find her. 
Chemical Affinity and Gravitation, as we have seen, 
answer to all these requirements (though we shall be 
further called upon to disprove contrary claims with 
regard to Chemical Affinity), being neither producible, 
destructible, nor transformable, while without them 
natural existence is impossible. We inquire now if 
they account for all things. Common observation 
shows that there is before us another realm, which, 
while subject to the laws and forces of the physical Vital Science 
realm, can neither be produced nor controlled by these 
laws and forces. Chemical Affinity and Gravitation 
constitute the forces of the inorganic world, and an- 
swer to all its requirements for continued existence 
and constant change; but they do not answer to the 
requirements of the organic realm. From them all 
purely inorganic energies, motions, processes, are de- 
rived ; but it is admitted that the inorganic realm 
constitutes but one, and perhaps the least important 
department of Nature, the organic world representing 
the complement and fulness of natural existence. It 
is the source of this realm, and especially of living 
existence, that we are now interested in. Shall we 
conceive the organic world to be a mere incident of 
Nature, produced from the inorganic realm through 
the operation of the inorganic forces, or shall we con- 
sider it a department or primal division of natural ex- 
istence ? If it is a primal division, then it must be the 
product of a primal force. It were incongruous with 
all facts and knowledge to produce a primal depart- 
ment through secondary forces,—to make one-half, 
and perhaps the most important half, of existence to 
be a mere incident of previous operations, the product 
of incidental, destructible, and changeable forces. For 
this is the doctrine of the philosophy we controvert. 
Material things, it admits, are the product of forces 
“immediately produced” by “the Unconditioned Re- 
ality” or Great First Cause, but living existence, only 
happened to be,—the product of a fortuitous con- 
catenation of circumstances. The unreasonableness 
of such position must be evident. We prefer the theory 
that Nature is consistent; that the organic, and most 
134 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
important half of created existence, is perfectly anal- 
ogous with its sister-half,—the inorganic,—in so far 
at least as its production is concerned. We prefer to 
consider it as primal division of Nature, the product 
of a primal force derived directly, instead of indirectly, 
from the Cause of all. If this is not the true position, 
then the division of natural existence into inorganic 
and organic departments is an improper one, which 
no one ever before suspected, in that it makes the 
organic realm to be a subdivision of the inorganic. 
97. The force which has produced this organic realm 
is known as Vital Force. This, at least, is the force 
which now produces all living things, and as far as 
observation goes, all organic matter.* Not until the 
chemist proves himself able to produce in his crucible 
a grain of wheat that will grow, or a viable egg from 
the elements of matter, will we be justified in abandon- 
ing the use of the term Vital Force, and in surrender- 
ing the idea that the organic realm is a fundamental 
department of natural existence. In the mean time 
we continue the inquiry, Whence comes Vital Force,— 
the real, essential power of Life,—that which produces, 
repairs, and maintains in existence vital organisms ? 
Vital energies or motions is another subject,—Is mo- 
tion derived from Vital Force, just as heat, electricity, 
etc., are derived from, but not identical with, Gravita- 
* Chemists have so far succeeded in their attempts to produce or- 
ganic matter by chemical processes as to have produced a compound 
of the same chemical constituents as the urea of animal urine. Urea 
is the product of decomposition in an organism which employs chemi- 
cal as well as mechanical processes in carrying forward its operations, 
and being the product of decomposition, it is entirely reasonable to 
suppose that it is a chemical quite as much as it is an organic product. Vital Science 
tion and Chemical Affinity? Our inquiry is as to the 
source of Vital Force, the power of Life. The only 
reasonable answer is that it comes to-day as it has 
always come, from previous Life, whether we consider 
life in general or the particular Vital Force that makes 
up the life of the organism. Living forms from living 
forms, whether the form be bioplast or cell, organ or 
organism, is a fact of observation which continues 
beyond dispute. Life is reproduced both in and from 
the living organism, but it cannot be originated, as 
every recurring fact of existence shows. 
And no creator or creature can give to another more 
than he himself possesses, a truth which will apply all 
along the chain of reproductive causes until we reach 
the Great First Cause, who is, therefore, necessarily a 
living existence,—Infinite, Incomprehensible, Eternal. 
Neither Life as a whole, nor any part of it, can be 
produced in Nature, nor from anything in Nature that 
is less efficient than itself. The “ spontaneous genera- 
tion” theory has been abandoned by all thinkers; the 
time has come when the transformation doctrines 
should be equally abandoned. If Life de novo can- 
not be produced from the inorganic forces, what rea- 
son can there be to believe that Vital Force, the power 
and source of Life, can be so produced ? If the artist 
may not endow his statue with life and breath, where 
is the chemist who can endow the cell with its won- 
drous power to reproduce itself, and by processes of 
segmentation and proliferation construct the mechan- 
ism of horse or man ? 
Life only from Life is a fact of observation which 
human reason cannot resist. Only “ overwhelming The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
bias,” determined upon maintaining a theory, right or 
wrong, can continue to teach that “ Vital is transformed 
physical and chemical forces.” Vital Force, as well as 
Life de novo, is a development of Vital Force, just as 
knowledge is from knowledge, Science from Science, 
wisdom from wisdom. Like begets Like the world 
over. Human ingenuity can no more transform the 
baser forces into Life than the Alchemists could trans- 
mute the baser metals into gold, and we have the same 
reason for using the term “ baser forces” that we have 
for the use of the term “ baser metals.” The attempt 
to get something out of nothing, or what is the exact 
equivalent, to get something of a higher order out of 
a lower order of existence,—to barter something of less 
for something of higher values,—is a practice not con- 
fined to philosophy, but it is unphilosophic. On the 
contrary, to get something we must have something to 
start with, and the thing which comes can never exceed 
the source from whence it came. Even infinite gravi- 
tative power could not beget a human mind. So fish 
cannot make brains, nor brains secrete thought, even 
though the fish may be the material that enters into 
the construction of brains, and brains are the organs 
through which thought is expressed. (§ 68.) Brains 
do not secrete thought nor the liver bile, as some 
would have us believe. (§ 71.) Behind the brains, and 
behind the liver, is an intelligence which, having made 
these organs, now uses them. The “ hidden artist,” as 
Mr. Huxley denominates him (§ 156), having built the 
organism to suit his purposes, continues to use that 
organism for his purposes. The plant comes only from 
seed, but not primarily from the material of the seed; Vital Science 
the animal comes from the egg, but not chiefly from 
the material of the egg; the rose comes from the rose- 
bush, but not alone from the material of the bud. To 
prove how true all this is we need only to expose to 
great heat the bud, seed, or egg, so that while all the 
material remains, the Life having disappeared, no de- 
velopment can follow. Existence is made up of Force 
as well as of Material, of Mind as well as of Matter, 
of Conditions and Occasions as well as of Causes, and 
it is always important to distinguish between them. 
(§§ 72, 73, 74.) The causes of things, we have seen, 
are always internal and invisible, occasions or conditions 
are usually external, while the materials of construc- 
tion are usually tangible and visible,—the subject of 
observation. 
98. And now as to the indestructibility of Vital 
Force. If it may not be produced in Nature, neither 
can it be destroyed. If it be a primary force, the 
source of a primal department of Nature, then it must 
be persistent, indestructible, immortal, as are all other 
primary forces. And thus we have entered the real 
battle-ground of the opposing philosophies. If Life 
is simply a “ mode of motion,” transformed from other 
motions or forces, and all our thoughts and feelings are 
but new forms of the external forces, as Mr. Spencer 
teaches, then, of course, when the motion ceases the 
Life is ended. And this really seems to be in accord- 
ance with the facts of observation. Appearances are 
certainly against the theory that Life is persistent. If 
we may trust to observation, sensation, appearance, the 
philosophy here advocated is a fallacy and a falsity. 
But we have clearly shown that we cannot depend The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
upon what we see or feel. It has been the work of 
Science in all ages to correct observation and demon- 
strate that appearances are deceptive. “ Things are 
not what they seem” is just as good science as it is 
poetry. It was the discovery of the great Newton 
that certain things are the exact opposite of what they 
seem to be, and we shall here extend that thought 
indefinitely. The Sun does not revolve around the 
Earth, nor is Vital Force either producible or destructi- 
ble by any processes known to man. If producible, 
it is for the same reason destructible; if destructible 
it is producible. The argument stands thus: Vital 
Force in the bioplast, in the cell, and in the completed 
organism is transformed from physical and chemical 
forces, as Mr. Spencer claims and as Mr. Tyndall ap- 
parently denies, and returns to them at death; or it is 
“immediately produced” from the “Unconditioned 
Reality,” as Mr. Spencer declares of Force in general, 
and returns at death to the same unconditional realm, 
—“ to the God who gave it.” It is Mr. Spencer who 
teaches that force returns to the condition from whence 
it came. If transformed from heat, it does or may 
return to heat; if a thought comes from electricity, it 
returns to electricity; the transformation-doctrine very 
properly teaches a return, at times, to its original 
shape. Mr. Spencer, therefore, testifies to the return 
of Life, at death, “ to the God who gave it,” provided 
only that He did give it. (§ 35.) 
The opposing philosophies of our day all circle 
around that great doctrine which was intended to over- 
throw all existing doctrines,—viz., the Transformation 
of Forces, or, as otherwise expressed, the Correlation Vital Science 
and Conservation of Energy, the truth or error of 
which, as far as it relates to Life, will be further con- 
sidered in the next chapter. In the mean time, relying 
upon what has been already said, we postulate the great 
truth, that Vital Force is one of a great trinity of forces, 
under direction of a corresponding trinity of laws, 
constituting the all-sufficient basis of universal, created 
existence. All other forces are dependent upon and 
derive their significance from these primal forces; all 
other laws are empirical and subsidiary to the laws 
which control these primal forces; every motion, 
energy, phenomenon, every effect, fact, process, re- 
sult, in the universe is traceable to one or other of 
Nature’s fundamental departments, each clearly de- 
fined by its law, sustained by its proper force, Chem- 
ical Affinity, Gravitation, or Vital Force. Attraction 
of Cohesion and Capillary Attraction may not be 
clearly included in our scheme any more than in any 
other scheme (they are probably allotropic forms of 
Gravitation), but we have, we believe, made clear dis- 
tinctions between Nature’s forces and her motions, no 
matter whether these are physical, chemical, or vital. 
99- These divisions of Force into primary and sec- 
ondary is perfectly illustrative of a corresponding 
division of Law. Law and Force, we have seen, can- 
not be separated. As there are primal forces, so there 
are corresponding primal laws, each force having its 
own law; and as there are secondary forces, so there 
are secondary laws. And as it is everywhere admitted 
that force is “ immediately produced” from an “ Un- 
conditioned Reality,” so we have shown that all primal 
laws are the immediate decrees of the same Reality, 
140 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
the Great First Cause. Argyle’s “ Reign of Law” 
distinguishes between these laws as follows: 
“ And so the law of Gravitation is not merely an * observed order’ 
in which the heavenly bodies move, . . . it is . . . the force which 
compels these movements, and, in a sense, explains them. . . . The 
three laws of Kepler were simply an observed order of facts. . . . 
The higher law discovered by Newton revealed their connection and 
cause. ... In the light of this great law, the three laws of Kepler 
were merged and lost.” Just as we may suppose the motions are 
merged and lost in the results they produce, or, more properly, in the 
forces which produce them. ($ 12.) 
Chemical Affinity is another primal law, as we shall 
show, though it does not seem to have been properly 
formulated, while Dalton’s deductions are its sec- 
ondary and working laws. In perfect correspondence 
with these we propose to formulate Life’s Great Law 
not only, but four Laws of Vital Relation, empirical 
and secondary to the former, constituting Life’s order 
of work. These secondary laws, just as the secondary 
forces, are incidental, but not primary to either material 
or vital existence. In all cases they are the product 
of the never-ceasing changes going on in Nature, 
while the primal laws or forces are the causes of these 
changes. Heat, light, electricity, etc., are the motions 
produced by Gravitation, Chemical Affinity, and Vital 
Force, just as Kepler’s laws are the result of Gravita- 
tion, Dalton’s the product of Chemical Affinity, or the 
Laws of Vital Relation are the deductions from Life’s 
Great Law. Nature’s secondary laws and forces are 
the incidental causes of things, the products of those 
which are primary, necessary, and ultimate. 
ioo. The relations of these forces to each other is 
141 Vital Science 
the next important subject, lying as they do at the 
very basis of any vital science not only, but of any 
consistent philosophy of existence. If we admit that 
active force is Motion, as the scientists certainly do, it 
follows that it is dependent upon the passive, intrinsic 
force which, present in all Nature, produces it. Pro- 
fessor Tyndall clearly shows that Motions or Energies 
are produced from such forces as Gravitation and 
Chemical Affinity, but he just as clearly proves that 
they are not transformed from them. What else can 
active force mean unless it is that force has become 
actively engaged in doing work ? Force must have 
existed before it acted. It was passive before it could 
do work. Passive, it was engaged in maintaining 
things in statu quo, but having become active because 
of changed conditions, it is now producing changes in 
the relations of the substances in which it exists. And 
what better term to describe this form of force than 
Mr. Spencer’s word, Motion. But because Motion is 
acknowledged to exist as “ a mode of force,” shall 
we treat it as force simply ? When we observe force 
engaged in doing work, shall we conceive it to be a 
force from without, transformed from something else, 
or shall we properly conclude that the force inherent 
in the nature of the thing has become actively at 
work, making changes in the thing? 
And now we may properly inquire, What is it 
that makes the passive force become active ? Why 
should passive, intrinsic force, whose work it is to 
maintain things as they are, ever become engaged in 
changing things ? Why not all things maintain the 
dead-level of an eternal stand-still ? Or, if changes 
142 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
must be effected, why not carry them forward by 
forces especially provided for that purpose? Our 
answer is that a reasonable economy is illustrated in 
the Creator’s work. Simplicity rather than complexity 
is the order of Nature. We have already shown that 
the very opposite results often follow the same causes 
in answer to opposing conditions. (§ 86.) Gravitation 
brings the rain down and carries the mists up (§ 39), 
floats the balloon or dashes it to the earth, causes the 
ship to sail (it is the real cause of wind) or sinks it, 
permits the man to swim or drowns him. (§ 74.) So 
Chemical Affinity makes dynamite and explodes it, 
makes the most deadly compounds, or the most inert 
agents out of the same elements, in answer to changed 
conditions. (§ 86.) And we shall conclusively show 
that all the varied activities within the vital organism, 
whether of health or disease, pleasure or pain, growth 
or decay, are due to the operations of one intrinsic, 
persistent force, called Vital Force, passively existent 
when not actively at work, and actively at work only 
because it was previously existent. The principle 
which explains all this may be expressed in a word, 
thus, Changed conditions always involve changed ac- 
tivities and changed results. As already hinted, at 
least two elements are necessary to any result, just as 
to any compound, which elements are Force, and the 
condition or occasion for the operation of the Force. 
(§ 72.) We repeat it as an invariable fact of existence, 
that in order to have something we must have some- 
thing to start with. Something cannot come out of 
nothing. Change involves change, progress necessi- 
tates progress. Somewhere in the ages a something Vital Science 
occurred which set in motion a machinery that can 
never cease as long as Force is persistent and Law 
unchangeable. With every change new combinations 
are effected; each new combination necessitating a 
corresponding action and reaction, so that Motion, 
once begun, can never 'cease until Time shall be no 
more. It is in these facts that we find the explanation 
of the innumerable motions, energies, activities, which 
grow out of the three primal forces of Nature. 
ioi. Whenever, therefore, matter appears, it is only 
because it has Force stored within it, which Force, 
existing both as Gravitation and Chemical Affinity in 
all matter, and in addition, as Vital Force in the living 
world, maintains, because it has produced all material 
forms, and constitutes Nature’s storehouse of Force, 
capable of being drawn upon for further work as 
occasion requires. 
And the reader is requested to note the words, “ as 
occasion requires.” Force must exist before it works ; 
it is passive before it can be active. As long as mere 
existence is the thing desired, Force exists in the 
Matter to preserve its constitution; but as soon as 
occasion requires, or conditions change, as in the ap- 
plication of heat to an egg, or a spark of fire to gun- 
powder, this same force passes from the passive to the 
active state. It becomes working instead of simply 
existing force. This seems to us the only rational ex- 
planation of the source of Energies or Motions. It 
is not good science to say that passive force must 
always remain passive, and that whenever we observe 
force in the active state we must conceive it to be an 
extraneous force transformed from something else. 
144 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
Where did that “ something else” come from ? Have 
we not conclusively shown that real, intrinsic force 
can never desert the matter in which it is inherent 
and cannot, therefore, ever become transformed into 
anything else ? Force which is inherent, intrinsic, 
and passive frequently passes to the active state when 
occasion requires, as, for instance, the Gravitation 
stored in the water of a lake or river may be drawn 
upon to grind the flour or do other work whenever 
we supply the water-wheel and machinery at a lower 
level. The gravity is the power that does the work, 
and the water-wheel is the occasion or condition for 
doing it. While the water remained at the higher 
level the gravity was passive, but as soon as we 
opened the gate and allowed the water to run into the 
wheel, it became active. Just so Chemical Affinity 
makes heat, which, applied to water, produces an ex- 
pansive energy called steam, which under certain con- 
ditions will do much work. 
So, too, Force stored in dynamite or gunpowder is 
passive as Chemical Affinity, but as soon as we ap- 
ply the proper heat the force becomes active,—ex- 
plosive energy. So it is the force in the vegetable 
that enables it to grow, sunlight and heat being the 
occasion for the growth. In the same way it is the 
force in the horse that enables him to run, but it is 
the whip or command which occasions the running. 
It is the force in the man that makes him think, act, 
work, but it is his surroundings which occasion the 
thought and action. In other words, it is Environ- 
ment or external agencies which occasion all activities, 
whether in the organic or inorganic realms, but it is Vital Science 
the Force stored within the acting thing that causes 
the activities,—a cause being defined to be “ that by 
the power of which a thing is.” But as we have 
already considered at some length the distinctions 
between occasions and causes (§§ 72, 73, 74), we need 
only remark here that Gravitation, Chemical Affinity, 
and Vital Force are the only natural primal causes in 
the universe for the production of effects; all other 
necessary things being either “ modes of motion” pro- 
duced from these causes, or occasions or conditions for 
the operation of the causes. 
102. The above is evidently the conclusion reached 
by Professor Tyndall, who says, “ The convertibility 
of natural forces consists solely in the transformation 
of dynamic into potential, and of potential into dy- 
namic energywhich means in simpler phrase, ac- 
cording to his own illustrations, the transformation of 
actual motion into possible motion, and of possible 
motion into actual motion, the force which produces 
the motion undergoing no change except change of 
position. For instance, the water which had rushed 
down the mountain-side and done work because of 
the gravity inherent in it, has lost none of its gravity, 
—there has been no tranformation of forces,—but it 
has lost position. So the elements of the gunpowder 
which exploded, have lost none of their chemical 
affinities by the explosion,—there has been no trans- 
formation of forces,—but they too have lost position. 
So Vital Force is never transformed into, nor from 
anything else, because of work done, but it is daily 
losing position. But we cannot say the same of heat, 
light, or electricity. These are Motions, producible in The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
Nature, and therefore destructible or transformable; 
while the Forces are neither producible, destructible, 
nor transformable by any processes known to man. 
And this is an important consideration : Whatever 
man can produce he can destroy; whatever he can 
destroy may, under changed conditions, be produced. 
103. But while forces cannot be produced in Nature, 
they often re produce their positions. It is not the Sun’s 
heat that overcomes gravity and gravity that overcomes 
the Sun’s heat, as our scientists teach (§ 120), but it is 
gravity that reproduces the position it had lost, and is 
so enabled to do the same work over and over again, 
just as the same water is capable of being used over 
and over again. For example, after the water rushes 
down the flume into the water-wheel and so loses the 
elevation that would enable it to do further work, the 
Sun’s heat, falling upon it, becomes absorbed as heat 
(not transformed into mechanical power), and so re- 
duces the specific gravity of the water as to enable 
gravitation, pulling upon the whole atmosphere, to 
crowd the lighter vapor up until it appears as clouds, 
from whence, having been chilled by cold air, gravity 
draws it once more down to mountain and lake, to be 
again used in doing work through the water-wheel. 
(§ 39.) In all these processes there has been no trans- 
formation of forces, but there has been a decided 
change of position. 
104- Undoubtedly the Sun is a great centre of force 
for our planetary system, but we demur to the theory 
that heat is that force. Heat is “ a mode of motion,” 
as everybody admits, and motions cannot produce 
forces, nor be transformed into them, as we shall 
147 Vital Science 
presently see. All the wondrous effects usually as- 
cribed to the Sun’s heat as their cause are due to the 
Chemical Affinity, Gravitation, or Vital Force inherent 
in the things changed, the heat being simply and only 
the occasion or condition which calls into operation the 
force. (§ 101.) Heat is itself just as much an effect as 
is mist or cloud, storm or rain, and the cause which 
produces these, as well as rivulet, river, lake, and sea, 
is Gravitation or Chemical Affinity, as the case may 
be. So grass and herb, and fruit and flower, are the 
result of Vital Force, the heat being no more their 
cause than it is the cause of water, mist, or rain,—than 
it is the cause of the development of chick or bud, the 
flight of the balloon, or the sinking of the ship. 
Heat is an energy or motion due to the operation 
of a force, and a necessary condition or occasion which 
enables Gravitation, first, To lift the mists into clouds ; 
and second, To distribute these clouds over the land. 
Heat is a condition also for the combustion of fuel, 
which yields more heat, but it is Chemical Affinity 
that does the work. So it is the necessary condition 
for the growth and development of all living things, 
but it never has and never can produce a living thing. 
Only Life can produce Life; only Mind can produce 
Mind ; only Force can produce Force; and each after 
its kind. The transformation doctrine is opposed to 
all the facts of Nature, if not of so-called Science. As 
only the forces within Nature could have produced Na- 
ture, so the forces within each department are the cause 
and source of the work of that department. Passive, 
intrinsic force, wherever found, is the source of all its 
motions, energies, and activities. 
148 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
105. Another important argument against the trans- 
formation and equivalence doctrine is the confessed 
ignorance and admitted confusion into which its advo- 
cates have been driven. 
Professor Balfour Stewart, in discussing Forces and 
Energies (“ International Scientific Series,” Vol. VII.), 
prefaces his list of energies with the following: 
“ We must warn our readers that this enumeration has nothing 
absolute or complete about it, representing, as it does, not so much the 
present state of our knowledge as our want of knowledge, or rather 
profound ignorance, of the ultimate constitution of matter.” 
And Mr. Spencer says, with remarkable frankness,— 
“To write a chapter for the purpose of showing that nothing is 
known, or can be known, of the subject which the title of the chapter 
indicates, will be thought strange. It is, however, in this case, need- 
ful.” (“ Principles of Psychology,” g 58.) 
Not at all strange for Mr. Spencer, for he has written 
many such chapters and made many such admissions. 
106. A review of Nature’s imponderable agents by 
reverse processes will emphasize and confirm these 
views, especially the distinction between the forces and 
the motions, or, as otherwise stated, between primary 
and secondary forces. Heat is perhaps the most 
obvious of Nature’s imponderable agents, and we 
properly inquire if heat is a force or a motion,—is it 
primary or secondary, ultimate or proximate? The 
answer is that heat is being continually produced in 
the operations of Nature, which fact, of course, makes 
it to be a secondary imponderable agent,—a motion 
and not a primary force. And now we inquire as to 
149 Vital Science 
what produces heat, in order, if possible, to discover 
the ultimate from which it comes. Observation shows 
that electricity produces heat, and we inquire if elec- 
tricity is a produced or a primal agent ? The answer 
is, electricity is also produced in various ways. Then 
it is not an ultimate or primal force. How is it with 
magnetism, light, radiant energy, etc. ? They are all 
produced; none of them are ultimates; they are mo- 
tions, and not primary forces. 
107. And now we inquire, Does Nature supply any 
agencies which, while they produce varied motions 
and “ modes of motion,” are not producible by any of 
them ? If we can discover such an agency which, while 
it produces, is not producible, we shall be justified in 
conceiving it to be a primary force. Such an agency 
we have in Gravitation, one of Nature’s great original 
forces, from whose operations may be derived heat, 
light, electricity, and other forms of physical motion. 
And until it can be shown that Gravitation is produci- 
ble in Nature, we are warranted in regarding it as one 
of Nature’s primary forces. Chemical Affinity, we 
have already shown, is another of Nature’s primal 
forces, in that it is absolutely necessary to the con- 
tinued existence of material forms. Will reverse pro- 
cesses justify the conclusion ? We believe they will, 
notwithstanding Mr. Spencer’s attempt to show the 
contrary. With surprising thoughtlessness he reports 
the following: “ In the magneto-electric machine we 
see a rotating magnet evolving electricity, and the 
electricity so evolved may immediately after exhibit 
itself as heat, light, or chemical affinity.” 
We dispute the assertion with regard to Chemical 
150 The Cosmos; or, The Constitution of Nature 
Affinity. Every chemical doctrine teaches that the 
affinity which causes the elements to change in form 
of combination resides in the elements whose combi- 
nations are changed, and, therefore, cannot reside in 
the thing which occasions the chemical operations,— 
resides in the changed substances and not in the mag- 
neto-electric machine. A perfect illustration of this 
subject is found in the combustion of coal. If we 
apply heat in a sufficient degree to a lump of coal the 
oxygen of the air will unite with the carbon of the 
coal to produce carbonic oxide and give off heat. But 
no one questions that the affinity which causes the 
combustion resides in the carbon and oxygen and not 
in the applied heat. And yet it is just as proper to 
say that heat was converted into chemical affinity to 
produce the combustion as to say that the electricity 
from the rotating magnet may “ immediately appear 
as chemical affinity.” This is another instance of mis- 
taking the occasion for the cause. Heat is the occasion, 
but chemical affinity is the cause. The cause of a bon- 
fire is the affinity residing in the materials which burn, 
but the occasion is the match which the boy applies. 
In the same way a bolt of lightning often makes the 
oxygen and nitrogen of the air to unite chemically to 
form nitric acid, and a current of electricity through 
water will decompose the water into its elements, but 
no one can doubt that the real cause of the change in 
the compound is the affinity residing in the elements, 
the electricity constituting the occasion for the chemical 
action. 
108. We will, of course, find no difficulty in discov- 
ering abundant examples of the production of energies Vital Science 
or motions by forces. It is the contrary that can 
never occur. As well assert that a child can beget its 
own father as to seek to prove that heat, electricity, 
magnetism, or other motion can produce Gravitation, 
Chemical Affinity, or Vital Force. We might give 
numerous illustrations, but space forbids. 
109. And now, if Chemical Affinity may not be 
transformed from something else or into something 
else, what shall we say of the pretended transformation 
of “ modes of motion,” such as heat, light, or electricity, 
into Vital Force ? Can any one doubt the superiority 
of Vital Force to all other forces ? Who will dispute 
that Mind—the mind of a Newton or Plato—is superior 
to the flame of a burning candle or a kerosene lamp ? 
Mr. Spencer says the development of the chick is 
purely a question of heat; he would correspondingly 
lead us to infer that the development of a man is 
purely a question of bread and beer. This theory is 
simply Alchemy revamped. Instead of transmuting 
the baser metals into gold, it presumes to transform 
the baser forces into Life. It represents Science 
dancing attendance on Nature’s “ bargain counter,”— 
the cross-lots road to knowledge,—the “ now you see 
it and now you don’t” of modern research, and is, as 
we have seen, the product of confusion, not of order, 
of superstition, not of science. 
152 CHAPTER VII. 
VITAL force: ITS NATURE AND SOURCE. 
“ Every fact of Life which we are able to investigate leads us to the 
conclusion that whatever Life may be, it cannot be ordinary energy, or 
any form or mode, or mood of ordinary energy of which physicists 
have as yet any cognizance or conception.”—Beale’s “ Bioplasm.” 
hi. Natural existence, it is universally agreed, is 
divided into two departments,— 
The Inorganic and 
The Organic. 
It is equally agreed that between these there exists 
the most complete harmonies, which it is the business 
of philosophy to indicate and establish. Why not the 
same harmonies for the forces of these departments ? 
The organic, we have seen, is not subsidiary to the 
inorganic. It is a department of the whole but not of 
the part. It is the last, best, and most important half 
of natural existence. Whence did it come ? As all 
other departments have come, through the operation 
of its force. But whence the force ? It were utterly 
incongruous, as we have seen, to derive organic force 
from a source different from that of other fundamental 
forces. If the organic world is a fundamental depart- 
ment of natural existence, its force must be corre- 
spondingly fundamental, or the division of Nature into 
inorganic and organic departments is an improper one. 
153 Vital Science 
112. All things the product of Force is the great doc- 
trine of the great thinkers. But, as already noted, 
Force exists in Nature in two states or conditions, 
called passive and active, also further distinguished as 
Force and Motion. It is further noted that the one 
class is persistent and indestructible, “ the ultimate of 
ultimates” not producible in Nature, but derived from 
what Mr. Spencer calls “the Unconditioned Reality,” 
while the other class is producible in Nature and its 
varied members are transformable into one another. 
The great representative of the one class of force is 
Gravitation, while Heat, Light, Electricity, etc., which 
are well described as “ modes of motion,” represent 
the other class. The former must be admitted to be 
primary, fundamental, intrinsic, which can neither be 
destroyed nor produced in Nature, while the latter are 
readily producible, once we have the force from which 
to produce them, and just as easily destructible, when 
the force is withdrawn. “ Lost motion” is an ex- 
pressive phrase in common use, but “ lost force” would 
be an absurdity. We daily produce Heat and Light 
through combustion, and Electricity from the dynamo, 
but we have not heard of the machine or the process 
that can grind out either Gravitation or Chemical 
Affinity. Employing these facts, especially those of 
production and non-production, whereby to distinguish 
between Force and Motion, we have been enabled to 
discover three great primary forces in Nature, corre- 
sponding to the three great primary laws already indi- 
cated,—viz., Gravitation, Chemical Affinity, and Vital 
Force. Only Vital Force can, we believe, be a further 
subject of dispute. Professor Tyndall agrees with us 
154 Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
in asserting that “ Gravity and Chemical Affinity stand 
on precisely the same footing as regards convertibility 
into heat,” or into anything else, for he has just been 
showing that the statement that “ Gravity is distin- 
guished from all other forces by the fact of its resist- 
ing conversion into other forms of force” is not true. 
And we have conclusively shown, we believe, that 
Chemical Affinity is a primal force, existing in all 
matter, as a necessary constituent of material exist- 
ence, and equally resists conversion into, or from, any 
other force. 
113. But the arguments for Vital Force as a primary 
agent of production may not as yet appear conclusive. 
Indeed, Vital Force, whence it comes and whither it 
goes, may be said to be the great subject of dispute in 
these later days of scientific investigation. That it 
readily returns to the source whence it came no one 
disputes. Mr. Herbert Spencer emphatically teaches 
this doctrine. And we are glad to be able to agree 
with him. To discover the source of Vital Force is to 
disclose its destiny; to disclose its destiny is to dis- 
cover its source. If it comes from Heat, Light, etc., 
it, of course, returns to them, as Mr. Spencer teaches. 
If, on the contrary, it comes from the “ Unconditioned 
Reality,” as he admits of intrinsic force, it returns at 
death to the same Reality,—to the God who gave it. 
In accordance with Mr. Spencer’s doctrines, however, 
Life, like Light, Electricity, etc., is simply a “ mode of 
motion,” produced from and transformable into other 
motions. (§§ 35, 41.) Generated, he says, by Heat and 
Light, it returns at death to the Heat and Light whence 
it came. But as we have fully controverted his posi- Vital Science 
tions, and shown them to be utterly at variance with 
the facts, we shall here pass to a consideration of the 
same subject as presented by other eminent writers. 
Professor Joseph Le Conte, for instance, while agree- 
ing substantially to the views of Herbert Spencer, but 
unable fully to endorse them, introduces into the dis- 
cussion an important saving clause. He says (“ Inter- 
national Scientific Series,” Vol. VII.),— 
114. “Vital is transformed physical and chemical forces; true, but 
the necessary and very peculiar condition of this transformation is the 
previous existence, then and there, of living matter.” 
This is Spencer’s doctrine with a qualification. Un- 
able to accept it in its bare nakedness, the Professor 
seeks through some artistic dressing to hide its de- 
formities. He agrees, however, with us that two 
things are necessary to the production of Vital Force 
(as they are to any production): 
First, Force, as the Cause of the product, and, 
Second, Conditions for the operation of the force. 
The two elements described as necessary to the de- 
velopment of Vital Force are said by Professor Le 
Conte to be 
Physical and Chemical forces, and 
Living Matter. 
One of these is the condition for the operation of 
the other; the other is the cause or force that oper- 
ates. Both of them contain force; the living matter 
contains Vital Force, while the physical and chemical 
forces are contained originally in inorganic matter. 
But the important question is, Which is the cause of 
the vital development, and which is the condition ? 
156 Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
Le Conte teaches that living matter is the condition, 
and physical and chemical forces the cause. This is 
Spencer’s doctrine of involution, an infolding or in- 
wrapping. Spencer admits that Force is inherent in 
all matter, but he asserts that it is not the inherent 
force of living matter that does the work of the living 
organism, but rather a force from without. (§ 35.) Le 
Conte but repeats the error. According to his doc- 
trines, external physical and chemical forces do the 
internal work, being transformed to Vital Force for 
that purpose, while the internal and intrinsic force is 
but a condition for their operation. But the function 
of force is to do work as well as to exist as a condi- 
tion ; what work does the internal force—the force of 
the living matter—do ? If it may not do internal work 
then it must do the external work. And this is really 
the doctrine of these philosophers ; internal force does 
the external work and external force does the internal 
work. (§§ 36, 40.) 
115. Sir John Herschel, in his great work “Dis- 
course on the Study of Natural Philosophy,” § 145, has 
set forth some rules by which we may determine the 
real cause of any effect, and we think they apply here. 
He says,— 
“ Whenever two facts bear to each other the relation of cause and 
effect, there will be found to exist between them,— 
First, Invariable connection; 
Second, Invariable negation of effect with absence of cause; 
Third, Increase or diminution of effect with increased or diminished 
intensity of cause.” 
Applying these rules to the subject of vital function, 
we inquire first, Is there invariable connection be- 
157 Vital Science 
tween the physical and chemical forces and vital de- 
velopment? The answer is, There is no connection 
at all. “ Which of you by taking thought can add 
one cubit to his stature ?” no matter how much heat 
or light or food you may have. 
Next we inquire, Is there invariable negation of 
function with absence of the physical and chemical 
forces of light, heat, food, etc. ? The answer is that 
while these are necessary conditions for the develop- 
ment of the vital organism, this development bears 
no relation to the amount of physical and chemical 
forces. Life may exist for a time in their absence. 
Vegetables, and even animals, live in spite of the cold 
winter, and man can live for weeks without food as 
well as without heat and light. Seeds retain their 
vitality in the lowest temperatures. 
But this brings us to the third rule. Increased or 
diminished intensity of effect with increased or dimin- 
ished intensity of cause. According to Le Conte’s 
theory the amount of Vital Force, and vigor of vital 
function, in a given case depends exactly upon the 
amount of physical and chemical forces that are in- 
gested. In accordance with this theory the gourmand 
should outlive Methuselah and outrival Hercules in 
power. The hog should outlive the man, outrun the 
horse, and outweigh the elephant. Le Conte’s theory 
may explain why physical and chemical forces do not 
originate life de novo, because “ living matter” must 
always be present, but it does not explain why men 
die notwithstanding the superabundance of both 
physical and chemical forces and living matter. If 
Le Conte’s theory be true, men, and many animals, Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
should never die. At least the King should be im- 
mortal, because he has in himself the previous exist- 
ence then and there of living matter, and at his 
command all the physical and chemical forces of his 
realm. Why, then, should he die? He dies as all 
men die because he has exhausted his inheritance, not 
because he has no dinner to eat. He dies because his 
intrinsic Vital Force has lost its earthly position, 
having passed to another state of being, so that bodily 
energy, motion, or function is no longer possible, no 
matter how abundant the physical and chemical forces 
are, and notwithstanding “ the previous existence then 
and there of living matter.” 
Now let us turn to the other alternative and inquire 
if there is invariable connection between living matter 
and vital function. The answer is, The connection is 
invariable. Living matter and vital function cannot 
be separated. Indeed, the evidence of vital function 
is the only way we know that matter is alive. When 
the function ceases life ceases, and can never be re- 
stored by any processes known to man. And now the 
second rule bids us inquire if there is invariable ab- 
sence of function with absence of living matter. The 
answer is, The absence of one is invariable with 
the absence of the other. And last, Do we find an 
increase or diminution of vital function corresponding 
to an increase or diminution of living matter? It is 
impossible for us to cite a fact of observation to prove 
this, but the facts of inference are all on one side; 
the vigor of function corresponds to the vigor of the 
force. 
We can say little further as to the application of Vital Science 
these rules, for the reason that physical and chemical 
forces, as well as living matter, are always present in 
the same living organism, so that we are precluded 
from considering their absence or their intensity. 
But having already shown that physical and chemical 
forces cannot be transformed into anything, they can- 
not, of course, be transformed into Vital Force. 
Gravitation and Chemical Affinity cannot be trans- 
formed into any other forces, as we have seen, for the 
reason that they are necessary as Gravitation and 
Chemical Affinity to the very existence of Matter. 
Matter may undergo varied changes, being often built 
into vital structure, but it always carries its affinity and 
gravity with it,—a fact which proves conclusively that 
these forces are not transformed even if the material 
form is. (§ 95.) 
Ii6. But perhaps it is not intended to be claimed 
that Vital Force is transformed Gravitation or Chemi- 
cal Affinity. Professor Le Conte confesses (§ 89) that 
he meant Energy when he used the word Force, and 
that it is the energies developed from the forces, as 
they fall to lower levels (§ 10), that are transformed to 
Vital Force. The prominent illustrations used by 
Spencer and Le Conte are Heat and Light, which are 
“ transformable,” says Spencer, “ into sensation, emo- 
tion, thought; these in their turn being directly or 
indirectly re-transformable into their original shapes.” 
(§ 35-) this be true we should become very cold 
under excitement, thought, or emotion, and especially 
so after a good dinner. And as the dinner becomes 
more and more completely assimilated we should get 
colder and colder, and when we die, instead of getting Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
cold we should get very hot. For after dinner all the 
heat was being transformed into Vital Force; after 
death the Vital Force was returned to heat. Think 
of a robust, highly vitalized man being suddenly 
killed. If all his Vital Force returned to heat no 
crematory furnace would be necessary to destroy the 
dead body, its own heat would be entirely sufficient. 
117. It is a remarkable fact that as long as man 
lives he maintains a temperature of about 98 degrees, 
no matter what the state of his Vital Force or the 
character of his food; but as soon as he dies he gets 
cold instead of hot, as he should do if the life returned 
to heat. Food yields to the organism heat and not 
Vital Force,—it yields physical vigor and bodily de- 
velopment but not the power of life. 
That term “ physical vigor,” which most people will 
agree is a proper one, as coming from food, is itself a 
good answer to the doctrine that food gives vital 
power. Food yields to a living organism physical 
force for the performance of physical work, but only 
when that force is controlled by Vital Force. For 
instance, no amount of food will enable a dead man to 
move, or an infant to do the work of the adult man, 
or a horse to reason. The food, in addition to yield- 
ing physical force, becomes, therefore, a condition or 
occasion for the operation of the inherent Vital Force, 
and, therefore, makes the work of the organism that 
eats it to correspond, not to the food eaten, but to the 
inherent force of the eater. We may give the same 
food to a man or a monkey, but the monkey will not 
do the work of the man. We may feed the same ma- 
terial to the horse and to the hog, but the hog will not 
ii i6i Vital Science 
perform the duties of the horse. It is the inherent 
life-force that does the work, the food being a condi- 
tion for its operation and a servant to its master. 
118. Still more important evidence that food, drink, 
medicine, or anything outside the living organism, can- 
not yield to it vital power, is the fact that nothing can 
take the place of rest and sleep. If food gives strength 
we may work on indefinitely and never become ex- 
hausted if we only eat enough. But no one is so lost 
to reason as to say that sleep is unneccessary, to ani- 
mal life at least. What does sleep do? It stops the 
expenditure of the vital income. It thereby recuper- 
ates the Vital Force. It does what no food can do, it 
secures real strength to invalid or well man. No mat- 
ter how much the physician may rely on his stimu- 
lants, he knows that sleep is a thousand-fold more 
important. One hour of sleep has turned the scales 
in many a case of sickness. Did the physician pos- 
sess any agency that would take its place, he might 
act independently of it. Sleep shuts up the avenues 
of expenditure and the reservoir fills. Sleep is a 
closing down of the vital activities that real power may 
accumulate. When the philosophers can get along 
without 
we may be compelled to acknowledge that Vital Force 
is transformed physical and chemical forces, but not 
till then. 
“ Nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep,” 
119. But Light is at least transformed into the vital- 
ity of the vegetable. This is one of Professor Le 
Conte’s assertions, and he claims to show the fact by 
illustration of which he says,— 
162 Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
“ It would seem in this case, therefore, that physical force (Light) 
is changed into nascent chemical force, and this nascent chemical 
force, under the peculiar conditions present, forms organic matter and 
reappears as Vital Force.” 
Evidently the Professor is not very sure of the facts; 
he is sadly in the fog for the reason that he had just 
transposed occasions and causes in order to sustain the 
involution doctrine. Light has fallen on the plant, 
and organic matter and Vital Force have both ap- 
peared, and the only question is as to their Source. 
Did the Vital Force in the plant reproduce itself, 
Light and Heat being necessary conditions for that 
reproduction; or were the Light and Heat trans- 
formed into Vital Force, the Vital Force present being 
the necessary condition for the transformation ? An 
excellent illustration of this same problem is found 
in the power of the leaven of yeast. A very small 
quantity of yeast in connection with Heat and moist- 
ure will “ leaven the whole lump.” Is it the heat 
that makes the leaven, or the leaven that reproduces 
itself? So we inquire, Is it the Heat and Light that 
make the vitality of the plant, or does the vitality 
reproduce itself? Either the Reproduction or the 
Transformation theory is the true one, and the Pro- 
fessor’s illustration favors the former quite as much 
as the latter. He begs the question in citing an 
illustration that assumes the very point he is seeking 
to prove. 
120. Professor Le Conte’s illustration of how this 
transformation is effected is the Spencerian fallacy al- 
ready exposed of raising water into clouds. (§ 39.) He 
but repeats Spencer’s thought when he says,— Vital Science 
“ As sun-heat, falling upon water, disappears as heat, to reappear as 
mechanical power, raising the water into the clouds; so sunlight, fall- 
ing upon green leaves, disappears as light, to reappear as Vital Force, 
lifting matter from the mineral into the vegetable kingdom.” 
Every element of the statement is in direct opposi- 
tion to the facts, so easy is it for men to believe what 
they want to believe. Sun-heat falling upon water 
does not disappear as heat; on the contrary, it is ab- 
sorbed by the water as heat, remains in the vapor as 
heat, and it is only as heat that it can be of any ser- 
vice in raising water to the clouds. But it doesn’t 
raise the water at all; it heats the water, and renders it 
lighter than the surrounding air, so that Gravitation, by 
pulling the air down, creates the conditions that cause 
the lighter vapor to ascend. Heat as heat expands the 
water into vapor, and thereby reduces its specific grav- 
ity, but Gravitation alone carries it up, and Gravitation 
alone brings it down, according as the heat is in- 
creased or diminished,—a fact utterly at variance with 
the transformation doctrine, but in full accord with the 
reproduction theory here advocated. “ So sunlight 
falling upon green leaves disappears as light,” etc. 
The only trouble with the statement is that sunlight 
does not disappear as light, any more than the heat 
disappeared as heat. Green leaves reflect most of the 
light, and even if some is absorbed, we have conclu- 
sively shown that it cannot reappear as Vital Force. 
Heat is the condition which enables Gravitation to lift 
the water to the clouds, and light is the condition 
which enables Vital Force to carry on the process of 
nutrition; that is, to appropriate CO2 and give off O; 
but in every case it is Life within the seed or plant 
164 Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
that does the work, heat and light being simply and 
only the conditions necessary for the operation of the 
inherent vital power. It was Vital Force that lifted 
the matter beneath it up to its own level, and not 
physical force that jumped up to that level. To make 
Vital Force, as this theory seeks to do, interchange- 
able with light, heat, electricity, etc., is to put the mind 
of a Newton in the same category with the flame of a 
burning candle, which is an impossible monstrosity of 
thought. 
121. The whole philosophy of evolution circles 
around this point. It is a fact of every-day observa- 
tion that matter, existing as chemical compounds, be- 
comes organized into vegetables, and these vegetables 
by and by become transformed to animal structures, 
from which come forth magnificent powers and capaci- 
ties, and the only dispute is, as to the source of the 
power which accomplishes all this. Scientists are con- 
tinually telling us of the transformation of forces, but 
they never tell us what power it is that transforms 
them. Do they transform themselves, and if they do, 
how do they manage to creep up to such high levels 
as mind and thought? Can the less include the 
greater ? If not, how shall it produce the greater ? 
Is the universe the product of a Great First Cause or of 
a Little First Cause ? If the Great is but a develop- 
ment of the Small; if dirt, by virtue of its own power, 
can become grass, and grass become fruit, and fruit 
become animal and man, then there is no reason why 
God Himself, as well as man, shall not be a develop- 
ment of mud and monkey. If, as Mr. Spencer asserts, 
the “ incontrollable movements of the limbs” from Vital Science 
tickling is nothing more than the transformation of the 
force employed in the tickling (§ 37), and that this prin- 
ciple everywhere obtains in Nature, who can measure 
the infinite smallness of the cause which first started 
the universe in its course of development? (§§ 56, 123.) 
Mr. Spencer unwittingly gives away his whole system 
when he acknowledges the necessity of a Great First 
Cause. (§ 123.) 
That we may the more fully perceive how true all 
this is we shall quote from Professor Le Conte the fol- 
lowing table, which shows that matter exists on four 
distinct planes, thus: 
Animals, 
Vegetables, 
Chemical Compounds, 
Elements, 
and that there is a constant elevation of this matter, 
one step at a time, into higher and higher states. 
The fact is indisputable; the only question is as to the 
cause or power which accomplishes this. Do elements 
lift themselves into compounds, and compounds lift 
themselves into vegetables, and vegetables lift them- 
selves into animals ? Science, whether inductive or 
deductive, insists upon constant reference to the facts 
of observation. Do we observe matter on the lower 
plane lifting itself, that is, climbing or jumping up into 
the higher plane, or do we observe vegetables and ani- 
mals, by virtue of their inherent vital forces, reaching 
down to earth and water, and lifting them up to their 
own structures ? Is the power that accomplishes all Vital Force; Its Nature and Source 
this internal and intrinsic, or is it extrinsic and trans- 
formed? Is the process evolution or involution? 
At one extreme or the other we are entitled to look 
for the origin of things. Shall it be in the mud at the 
bottom of the sea, or in the blue and gold of the 
heavens ? Is the power of development a drawing 
power or a climbing power ? Shall we trace our gene- 
alogy to purple and fine linen, or to mud and monkey ? 
Does mud have the power in itself to become amoeba, 
and amceba to become fish and monkey, and monkey 
to become man ? If so, the transformation of forces 
doctrine is proved, and the universe naturally traces 
its origin to an infinitely Little First Cause. (§ 56.) 
We teach a different doctrine. We assert it as an in- 
controvertible truth that the power of development is 
from above, a drawing power working through Hered- 
ity, “ the first-born of every creature,” and not a climb- 
ing power from beneath or without. (§§ 28, 51.) Chem- 
ical compounds have no power to grow vegetables; it 
is vegetable life-force that draws earth and air and 
water to the higher state, the chemical and physical 
forces in these compounds always remaining in them 
as chemical and physical forces, and therefore incapa- 
ble of being transformed into Vital Force. Vegeta- 
bles have no power to lift themselves into animal 
structures; it is animal vitality that reaches down to 
the vegetable world, and draws it up to its own plane 
of existence. And man is continually developing, 
educating, training animals, vegetables, all things be- 
low him. Does a horse train himself to speed, or a 
dog to intelligence, or an apple-tree to the finest fruit? 
And if the hand and mind of man should cease its 
167 Vital Science 
work for the lower orders of existence, how soon 
would they return to waste and wildness ? So good 
men elevate bad men; we have not observed the ele- 
vating influences of the “ slums.” So Christians send 
forth missionaries; we have not heard that savages 
teach and preach. 
122. And now we inquire as to the power that is 
lifting man to higher altitudes. Is he tugging at the 
straps of his own boots ? Are beauty of character, 
glorious thoughts, poetry, music, sculpture, love, hope, 
faith, the product of bread and beer? If bread and 
beer have made man, why should they not sustain 
and develop him ? If they do sustain and develop 
him, why should they not have created him ? It is 
passing strange that the processes of creation differ 
from those of preservation, and the processes of preser- 
vation from those of creation. The essential fact of 
life is the power of growth, which is, indeed, the real 
process of production or creation. Indeed, we may 
truly assert that creation is a process and not simply 
a product. Nature’s processes are consistent; the 
power that first produced is the power that continues 
to produce; the power that made the organism is the 
power that operates its machinery. It is inconceivable 
that Nature’s primal cause has either changed the 
order of His work or deserted His universe to its own 
devices. 
123. Let us again inquire if this primal cause is a 
Great First Cause or a Little First Cause. Why call 
Him Great First Cause if it is not that He is the equal 
and sufficient cause of all that is, and of all that ever 
will be ? This involves not only the accepted axiom 
168 Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
that “ something cannot come out of nothing,” but an 
equally certain truth that the great cannot come out 
of the small, the high quality out of the low. Every 
cause must be the efficient equal of its effect. (§ 55.) 
Motion is not and cannot be the product of inertia. 
Life is not the product of that which has no life. 
Mind cannot come out of no mind, that is out of 
matter. It is entirely reasonable that the great can 
produce the small,—can include the less. It is con- 
sonant with every fact of observation and every prin- 
ciple of common sense that Life can produce things 
without Life. But the converse will never hold,— 
things without Life cannot produce Life. And no 
amount of living matter that may be present in a given 
case can change this axiomatic truth. No person can 
give to another more than he himself possesses. Food 
and drink cannot produce thought, nor can fish make 
brains, because thought is superior to food and drink, 
and living brains superior to dead fish. Neither can 
brains secrete thought, as some teach, notwithstanding 
they are the media through which thought is ex- 
pressed. We have no sympathy with the philosophy 
which juggles with nothing in order to produce some- 
thing. Behind the thought is the power that produces 
thought; behind the brains is the power that made 
the brains. Whence this power ? What name shall 
we give it ? Can any one doubt that the term Vital 
Force is a legitimate term? And that Life, when 
considered as a principle of existence, is synonymous 
with it ? And that it comes only from previous Life ? 
But whence came the first life ? From Him who is 
Life, the Source of all Life not only, but of all other 
169 Vital Science 
things. Even Agnostic Science is compelled to admit 
His existence; we do not see how it can dispute that 
the Great First Cause is a living cause. He is Life 
because He has produced Life; He is intelligence 
because He has produced intelligence; He is Wisdom 
because He has produced wisdom. (§ 60.) 
124. And now as to the sustaining power of Life? 
If only Life can produce Life, how can anything less 
than Life sustain it ? If the transformation of forces 
is a fallacy; if the less cannot produce the greater; if 
every cause must be the efficient equal of its effect; 
then it follows that nothing less than Life can sustain 
any more than originate Life. Sadly do men miss the 
truth when they seek for the sustaining power of Life 
and health in things beneath them. Bread and beer, 
hog and hominy, food and drink, may be the condi- 
tions for the operation of Life’s forces, but their sus- 
taining power must be acknowledged to be a fiction 
of the imagination. 
125. Repudiating, therefore, with utmost earnest- 
ness the Transformation of Forces doctrine, we are 
called upon to replace it with a theory that will answer 
to the observed facts. The Reproduction doctrine is 
the only consistent and reasonable one. The process 
is evolution, the outworking of internal forces, and 
not involution, the inworking of external forces. As 
Life comes only from Life, so Vital Force comes only 
from Vital Force. It is undeniable that living things 
reproduce themselves, a fact which is accomplished by 
reproducing the cell which contains the primal element 
of all vital existence. The cell is made up of both 
Force and Matter, it is true, with the matter ultimately 
170 Vital Force; Its Nature and Source 
derived from the mineral kingdom. But it is impos- 
sible to agree that force is from the same source, be- 
cause, as we have seen, First, Life cannot come out 
of no life; Second, High quality cannot come out of 
low quality; Third, Motion cannot come out of inertia; 
Fourth, The forces of the matter never desert the matter, 
and so can never be transformed into any other forces. 
If, therefore, animals reproduce themselves, and vege- 
tables reproduce themselves, and all this is done 
through the reproduction of the cell, how shall we 
consistently deny that Vital Force, the primal and all- 
important element of all cells, all vegetables, and all 
animals, equally reproduces itself? If the whole is 
the product of reproduction, why not the part ? If the 
effect is the product of reproduction, why not the 
immediate cause ? 
126. The inquiry now naturally presents itself, 
What is understood by reproduction ? Are we to 
understand that one cell, one vegetable, or one animal, 
can, by virtue of power in itself, make itself into two, 
four, or a score ? This would be something out of 
nothing, the exact parallel of the great out of the 
small. We have repudiated the doctrine, but we still 
adhere to the Reproduction theory. The cell does 
multiply itself, but whence the power of the multipli- 
cation ? The principles of production as set forth in 
§ 68 are applicable here. We there saw that at least 
three things are necessary to any production,—viz., 
wisdom, power, and the necessary materials. Air, 
water, and food supply the materials of organization, 
but, as repeatedly shown, they cannot supply either 
the power or the wisdom. These are from above, not Vital Science 
from beneath. Vital power does double, treble, quad- 
ruple itself, and if not derived from the material which 
enters into the construction of the cell, whence does it 
come ? The answer is, It comes, as does all real Force, 
from the invisible realm of power, or, as Mr. Spencer 
asserts of force in general, from an “ Unconditioned 
Reality” by which it is “ immediately produced.” 
Agnostic Science admits its inability to get along 
without reference to the invisible and so-called Un- 
knowable Realm. In accordance with its theory, all 
intrinsic force is directly from this realm. But it 
denies that Vital Force is intrinsic. It teaches that 
Life and Mind are the product of things below,— 
that the noblest thought is derived from the meanest 
materials. We urge, on the contrary, that Vital Force 
is a primal, persistent, intrinsic force, inherent in the 
nature of living things, and is derived immediately 
from the Absolute Life and Mind,—the Great First 
Cause. (§ 57.) We equally urge that the Force that 
brings into existence a human being is the same force 
that develops his organism, maintains him in exist- 
ence, sustains his powers, repairs all lesions, heals all 
ailments, and does whatever is done. The process is 
growth; and growth is a process of reproduction,— 
the reproduction of the cell. 
The instinct of reproduction would seem to be one 
of the strongest instincts of living existence. Science 
shows that in many cases the individual must die by 
the very act of reproducing itself. Common observa- 
tion shows that every mother puts her life in jeopardy 
by bringing into being a new life. And yet the pro- 
cess of reproduction still goes on. 
172 Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
Now, the reproduction of the individual is based 
upon the reproduction of the cell. Life first appears 
in the cell; it develops by reproducing the cell. The 
cell is itself an individual Life, having all the instincts 
of Life. But whence the power and instinct of re- 
production ? Not from Matter. The instinct of re- 
production is an instinct of Life, just as the instinct 
of self-preservation is. Life comes only from previ- 
ous Life; the Great First Life is the fountain of all 
Life. 
The essential feature of reproduction is De- 
sire. To satisfy this Desire what won’t highly vital- 
ized cells, organs, or organisms do ? Whence the 
answers to the desire ? The Psalmist well says, “ He 
satisfieth the desire of every living thing.” The cell 
is a living thing. It gets its Life from the Source of 
Life; it draws power from the Source of all power. 
It reproduces itself; Like begets Like. Mr. Spencer’s 
Unconditioned Reality is not a myth. Nor is it sim- 
ply physical force. It is Life, Eternal Life, the Source 
of all Life and of all other things. 
This is the only theory that is consistent with the 
teachings of the Christian Scriptures and with the 
facts of every man’s experience. The great Teacher 
not only said, “ Ask, and ye shall receive,” but He 
equally said, “ Every one that asketh, receiveth 
“ every one that seeketh, findeth.” Desire is seeking; 
desire is answered. Modern Science says, “Your 
strength depends upon how much you eat;” the old 
prophet says, “ As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” 
The Apostle says, “ If any man lack wisdom, let him 
ask of God;” Modern Science says, Let him eat more 
173 Vital Science 
fish. And when the strength comes with the day, 
poor, silly invalids imagine that the Doctor’s drug 
gave it. Old King Alcohol has long appropriated 
to himself Divine honors; has long held in abject 
slavery his millions. Idolatry is not confined to the 
jungles of India or the wilds of Africa. Even to-day 
comes the picture of the Red Cross nurse in the atti- 
tude of Faith, looking up with loving confidence to a 
fraudulent patent medicine. How can the victims of 
such delusions still believe in the Sermon on the 
Mount? It is passing comprehension that men can 
with comfort read Spencer’s Biology on the one hand 
and the Great Book on the other. They are not, can- 
not both be true. It was King Asa who, when he 
had the gout, “ sought not to the Lord, but to the 
physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers.” To 
make Life subordinate to matter, as not only does 
Mr. Spencer, but most patients and doctors, is to 
exalt dirt to the Throne of Pre-eminence. To make 
the organic world subsidiary to, or a department of, 
the inorganic is an inexcusable incongruity. If 
Force, passive, independent, and “ immediately pro- 
duced” “ by the Unconditioned Reality,” is necessary 
to the production and preservation of material exist- 
ence, as Mr. Spencer agrees, it were absurd to con- 
ceive that a less important force were sufficient for the 
production, preservation, and repair of living things. 
Why not the same principles apply to the second and 
more important half of existence that apply to the 
first half? They do. But passive, intrinsic force is 
so intangible and invisible that we are unconscious 
of its existence until it becomes actively at work, and 
174 Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
then, because it has been called forth by certain ex- 
ternal appliances, we are misled by appearances, and 
erroneously conclude that the appliance gave the 
force, when, in reality, it only called it forth. As well 
conceive that a match applied to gunpowder supplied 
the force of the explosion, as that a dose of whiskey 
or any other substance supplies the force which the 
man consequently exhibits. (§ 74.) It was the force 
stored in the gunpowder that caused the explosion, 
the match being simply the occasion for its activity; 
so it is the force stored in the living matter carrying 
forward the functions of the organism that constitutes 
the strength of the invalid, the physical and chemical 
forces of the stimulant or tonic, or even food, being 
the occasion or condition for calling it forth. 
The force that made the living organism is always 
in the organism, to preserve and perfect it, just as the 
forces that made the universe are always in the uni- 
verse to preserve and perfect it. And when, under 
changed conditions, work is inaugurated, the force 
that does the work is the power within, inherent in all 
living things, appearing in the active or working state. 
If the universe could not be created by external 
agency, as Mr. Spencer shows, how could the living 
part of it be thus created ? (§ 49.) And if it cannot 
be created by external agency, how can it be organized, 
sustained, repaired by external agency, and the pro- 
cesses of Nature be conceived to be consistent? The 
universal truth is, that Causes are always within and 
Occasions or Conditions without, and the importance 
of maintaining the distinction must be at length evi- 
dent to every reader. 
175 Vital Science 
As, therefore, Life is a reproduction and not a trans- 
formation, so the Life-forces are received as a momen- 
tary income from the Unconditional Realm, and not 
from food, drink, or medicine. We draw upon this 
Unconditioned Realm of Power, as we have seen, 
through Desire. The cell desires power for its own 
reproduction, and it gets it. It is inconsistent even to 
absurdity to teach that each new-born babe is so much 
Life abstracted from parents. It is equally proved 
that its life is not and cannot be derived from that 
which had no life to give. The only other source 
of its power is the Omnipresent Life who “ giveth lib- 
erally to all men and upbraideth not.” 
To what extent may we draw upon this Realm of 
Power is the next question. The answer is, to every 
individual according to his capacity. The Source of 
Life is boundless; we cannot exhaust it. But our 
capacities are limited ; we cannot exceed them. Some 
teach that the limits of our drafts should be the limits 
of the Fountain, which is absurd. We need not hope 
to become omnipotent. We are limited by the terms 
of our inheritance. 
But what is the measure of any individual capacity ? 
Is it not the conceived plan ? Consider the lilies how 
they grow ! But they are only lilies. No desire, no 
prayer, no ambition, can make them a Solomon. 
Every man is born into this world with a definite 
capacity for life and health which he cannot exceed. 
But he is entitled to the enjoyment of the full measure 
of this capacity. It is his inheritance; his right. He 
cannot outlive the conceived plan; but he has no 
business to be sick. We doubt if sickness is ever 
176 Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
a constitutional inheritance. The reproducing and, 
therefore, the healing process is always going forward, 
and healing will surely be effected if the patient will 
“ cease to do evil and learn to do well.” Health is the 
normal condition, and will always prevail, as certainly 
as water runs down-hill, provided the obstructions to 
its normal operation are removed. 
127. But varied objections are raised to this theory. 
Men try everything and fail to get well. Let them 
stop trying for a while, and they will get better results. 
“ Not try but trust” is often as important to health as 
to religion. What most people want is more rest and 
less worry. “ Drowning men catch at straws,” but it 
is the catching at the straw that drowns them. The 
drowning of people is almost invariably due to their 
struggles to save themselves. If they would lie quietly 
on the water, with nose elevated, they could float and 
breathe for hours; instead of which they plunge and 
roll and struggle, until, exhausted, they give up the 
contest and sink to rise no more. In the matter of 
health in our day, it were folly to be wise. Nearly all 
thought, all doctrine, and all practice is opposed to 
good health. About all theories of disease are exactly 
wrong. Men’s confidence in medicines is even more 
disastrous. To poison a patient because he is sick, they 
tell us, is Science. In the place of all the charlatanry, 
superstition, and ignorance, is it wonderful that men 
are sick ? It is more wonderful that any one is alive. 
But the one important fact to be urged against our 
theory is the fact of Death. To urge that the Life- 
forces are persistent, indestructible, eternal, because 
derived from an Eternal Source, will not avail in the Vital Science 
face of the sad facts. Apparently one of the most 
easily destructible things is Life. It comes and goes 
in such silent, mysterious ways that no man may 
understand. It first appears in vegetable protoplasm, 
and just as readily disappears from that protoplasm. 
What became of its Vital Force ? We have conclu- 
sively shown that it did not come from heat, light, 
chemical affinity, etc., and does not return to them. 
We agree with Mr. Spencer that it returns to the 
source whence it came. “ The soul returns to the 
God who gave it.” 
Has the vegetable gained anything by its excursion 
into the realm of earthly activity ? Its Life is inde- 
structible, but in returning to the Source of all Life 
has it gained position ? Has it become individualized, 
hereafter to enjoy individual existence? Whatever 
may be said of Life in its lower manifestations, we 
think no one can doubt that in its human form it 
never loses its individuality by being returned to the 
Source whence it came. 
128. The immortality of Life is proved in the same 
way as the indestructibility of matter. But there are 
two possible conceptions of immortality; the one is 
that Life, in disappearing from Earth, is absorbed again 
into universal being, having lost individual existence, 
and the other is that it returns as an individual, to live 
on and on, in conscious power. Both we believe to 
be true. Vegetable life, cell-life, organic life, is as 
truly immortal as is human life, but not in the same 
way. The human being surely becomes individualized 
once for all, and having learned much from earthly 
experience, he returns to God from whence he came, Vital Force: Its Nature and Source 
to carry with him through all the future whatever he 
may have gained. It is not to be presumed that his 
opportunities for gain will ever cease, but all men ne- 
cessarily carry with them the products of the past. 
While, therefore, Life is perfectly analogous with 
Gravitation and Chemical Affinity as to its Source, it 
differs from them in its higher forms, at least in that it 
is subject to another law,—the law of self-preservation, 
which might also be called the law of progress. Con- 
scious living existence gains by experience as inorganic 
existence never can, and so having started on a career 
of activity, the end is not yet. But while Life, like 
Gravitation and Chemical Affinity, is indestructible 
and so immortal, and can never lose its identity, it 
may, and constantly does, lose position, just as does 
the sister forces. For illustration : A million gallons 
of water stored in a basin on a mountain-side repre- 
sents a definite capacity for work according as the 
conditions are supplied, but when it has done the work, 
while there has been no loss of Gravity there has been 
a decided loss of position,—the water is now in the 
valley, incapable of repeating the work. So when 
chemical force, stored in gunpowder, is exploded, the 
force is not lost, but it has lost its position. Just so 
when a man dies, he has not lost his life, but he has 
lost his position in this world. He has gone forward 
to another state, just as the water rushed down the 
mountain-side or the gunpowder was exploded. But 
as the water possesses the same gravity below the hill 
that it did above, and as the elements of the gunpow- 
der possess the same Chemical Affinity after the ex- 
plosion that they did before it, so life possesses the 
179 Vital Science 
same vital qualities after death, but it occupies a dif- 
ferent and a less or more advantageous position, as 
the case may be. 
129. What is true of death is true of the daily decay 
of which we are subjects all the way along our earthly 
existence. We are not losing Life, but we are daily 
losing position. No man can return to the youth that 
he has left behind, any more than he can return to 
earthly existence once he has departed. The food we 
eat, the fluid we drink, the work we do, the medicine 
we swallow, all things are hastening us to new posi- 
tions, new states, of which death is the consummation. 
The rapidity with wrhich we reach this consummation, 
accidents and violence which destroy the machinery 
of Life being excepted, is measured by the vigor of 
the expenditure. And this is described by the work 
done. All work, whether of muscle or nerve, brain 
or body, stomach or lungs, liver or heart, no matter 
what is done, represents just so much power expended 
in doing it. Every stimulant, tonic, excitement, all 
food as well as all work, calls up and expends the vital 
resources. Most men have the choice of a short life 
and a merry one, or a long life and a prudent one. 
Too many choose to burn the candle at both ends and 
make business for doctor, minister, and undertaker. 
Earthly life, therefore, consists in developing and 
expending an inheritance which is not lost in the ex- 
penditure, but only transformed to the new state. 
“ The soul returns to God who gave it.” CHAPTER VIII. 
THE EGO ; OR, THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN. 
“ Every one truth is connected with every other truth in this great 
universe of God.”—Argyle’s “ Reign of Law.” 
130. The reader will recall that in the beginning 
we postulated the truth, about which there can be no 
dispute, that Nature is made up of Forces, Laws, and 
Phenomena. (§ 6.) Phenomena, composed of both 
Motion and Matter, are the things produced, mani- 
fested, observed, and this evidently involves not only a 
power of production, but an agency to direct that power. 
Power without a directing intelligence or wisdom 
would be valueless. Intelligence without force to sus- 
tain it would be equally so. And without these there 
could be no production, no phenomena, no universe. 
Indeed, it may be truly asserted that power itself in- 
volves the idea of direction, and this directing princi- 
ple is known in Science as Law. (§ 11.) Force, Motion 
under control of Law, and Matter are, therefore, the 
constituent elements of material existence. (§ 68.) 
And now is it possible to conceive of any portion 
of the universe that fails to illustrate this form of 
constitution ? If the universe at large is made up of 
Force, 
Law, and 
The things which manifest them (Motion and 
Matter, called also phenomena), Vital Science 
is it possible that some portion of the universe illus- 
strates other principles ? It is not possible. Man is 
a very important part of the universe, and illustrates in 
his constitution the principles of universal production. 
Force performs, Law directs, and Matter responds. 
To clearly perceive and consistently maintain the 
true distinctions between these is one of the first steps 
towards the establishment of science. 
131. From these considerations it is evident that 
Force is inherent in the nature of things. (§ 91.) 
Mr. Herbert Spencer is authority for the statement 
that Force is an “ ultimate of ultimates,” a necessary 
prerequisite to existence in any form. Matter without 
Force is an impossibility. It is indestructible because 
force is indestructible,—because force is persistent. 
The force which Mr. Spencer employs to illustrate the 
indestructibility of Matter is Gravitation, which is 
never absent from matter. (§ 95.) We have conclu- 
sively shown, we believe, that Chemical Affinity is 
equally inherent and always present in Matter. (§§ 91, 
107.) Each of these forces operates according to its 
own definite law, and consequently produces its own 
well-defined phenomena. 
We have before us another realm of activity in 
which phenomena of another and more important 
character are produced. These phenomena are not, 
and confessedly cannot be, the product of either 
Chemical Affinity or Gravitation. (§§ 115, 116.) If 
these laws and forces are distinct from each other, as 
proved by the results, why shall not phenomena that 
are widely different from those of either be equally 
considered as due to another force under direction and 
182 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
control of another law ? It were absurd to conceive 
that vital phenomena are the product of any other 
force than Vital Force. It were equally absurd to 
conceive that vital phenomena are the product of some 
vague, indefinite processes which no man may com- 
prehend. Living existence is unquestionably a part 
of Nature; why not its operations subject to natural 
principles ? It is the larger and more important half 
of natural existence, why not its phenomena the 
product of forces under control of laws, as are all 
other phenomena ? Only “ overwhelming bias,” to 
use Mr. Spencer’s phrase, can assert that physical 
forces can produce vital phenomena. There is but 
one reasonable conclusion. Life has its own force, 
which operates according to its own law. (§ 96.) Such 
a force is necessarily inherent in all living forms, just 
as Gravitation and Chemical Affinity are inherent in 
all material forms. This truth is further proved by 
the fact that living things cannot be produced except 
through Heredity. Heredity provides inheritance, and 
inheritance is that which inheres. 
132. Now an inherent force is a primal force,—a 
force “ immediately,” not mediately, “ produced” from 
the Source of Being, which is properly called “ The 
Unconditioned Reality.” Vital Force, therefore, 
traces directly to the Source of Life. It is, and can- 
not be, as we have clearly seen, the product of infe- 
rior forces. As Gravitation never produces Chemical 
Affinity, nor vice versa, so they never produce Vital 
Force. And as Heat, Light, Electricity, etc., which 
are secondary forces, or more properly “ modes of mo- 
tion,” cannot produce either Gravitation or Chemical Vital Science 
Affinity, so they cannot produce Vital Force, as we 
have also shown. (§ 108.) 
Nor can Vital Force be the product of forces which 
operate according to other laws than the laws of vital 
phenomena. Being the highest order of phenomena 
known, it is impossible that the forces of the lower 
orders can produce them. It is established, and, we 
believe, everywhere admitted, that the effect cannot 
exceed its cause. If Vital Force produces phenomena 
the superior of all other forces (§ 123), then it must 
be a superior force, and if a superior force, how could 
it be transformed from or produced by an inferior 
one ? As a fact of common observation, verified and 
demonstrated by the most carefully conducted experi- 
ments, Life comes only from Life, a fact which ne- 
cessitates that its ultimate source is Infinite Life, in 
order that it may answer as cause to the requirements 
of all past and present life not only, but to all life that 
an eternal future may exhibit. Vital existence is, there- 
fore, made up of phenomena, forces, and laws, all of 
which are separate and distinct from each other not 
only, but as separate from physical existence as are 
the phenomena observed. 
133- Let us now recall a truth which is universally 
applicable in Nature,—viz., that Force of whatever 
name or nature is invisible and intangible, known only 
by its effects. Stated in other words, all causes are in- 
visible. (§§ 54, 93.) Life is an invisible potency; not an 
observed reality. The real life is the Ego, a power 
and intelligence which remain hidden within the ob- 
served organism as the source and cause of its opera- 
tions. It is neither function, process, nor product, but 
184 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
the cause of all of them. As material existence was 
and is the product of Chemical Affinity, which made 
and makes water, earth, and rock ; as Gravitation now, 
as always, gathers the water together in river, lake, 
and sea, causing the “ dry land” to appear ; so Vital 
Force produces, reproduces, and sustains all living 
things. 
134- And now, is it conceivable that living existence 
is apart and separate from that which is preparatory 
to it ? It is distinct, but not separate. It is superior, 
but not absolute. Gravitation and Chemical Affinity, 
it is admitted, exist in external nature preparatory to 
vital existence; can there be any doubt that they exist 
in the vital organism subordinate to Vital Force? It 
were a wasteful procedure, not at all consonant with 
creative plans, to neglect or abandon foundation prin- 
ciples while building up superstructure. As a matter 
of observation, a large proportion of the functions of 
a living organism is the product of mechanical and 
chemical processes, as witness the mechanics of chew- 
ing and swallowing food, and the chemistry of insali- 
vation and digestion. So, too, hydraulics, combustion, 
and steam are illustrated in circulation and nutrition. 
The lever and pulley have their uses in voluntary mo- 
tion, while in the operations of the nervous system we 
have the most perfect system of telegraphy. The 
forces which carry on these processes may, out of 
courtesy, be called vital forces, but no one can fail to 
note that they are really chemical, mechanical, and 
electrical. But they are evidently under control of a 
superintending power. Vital Force is a superintending 
force. The physical forces are its servants. What a 
185 Vital Science 
magnificent optical instrument is the eye! but how 
much could it see if it were dead,—that is, if there 
were no vital force to superintend its operations? 
How much can the dead hear, no matter how perfect 
the machinery of hearing ? Neither can the dead man 
feel, move, or think. How wonderfully this superin- 
tending force controls the heat of the body, no matter 
whether we appropriate little or much combustible 
material! It is chiefly chemistry that makes the heat 
of the organism, but it is vitality that controls it. It 
is optical mechanics that enables us to see, but the 
Ego must control the mechanism. It is pulley and 
lever that enable us to walk, but Vital Force alone 
operates the pulley and lever. The stomach digests 
all kinds of meat, but it doesn’t digest itself. Nor can 
it digest the living reptile that has found its way 
therein. Why ? Because vitality is superior to chem- 
istry, and no gastric juice can digest a highly organized 
living thing. 
The living organism, therefore, illustrates in its 
operations all the principles of Nature beneath it. 
But this is no proof that they are transformed into 
Vital Force. But what proof, we may be asked, is 
there that there is any force in the living organism but 
physical and chemical forces? The answer is, The 
proof of function,—the only evidence we have of any 
force. How can we know that Gravitation or Chemical 
Affinity exists but by the work it performs ? The force 
which gives weight to matter is gravity. No one 
thinks of giving it another name. Chemical Affinity 
disintegrates matter and combines it into other forms. 
No one dare credit chemical operations to some other 
186 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
force. When, therefore, a series of functions distinct 
from and largely in opposition to the work of the 
other forces is performed, as when we climb the moun- 
tain-side or swim instead of sink, in opposition to 
gravity, why not call the force which does it Vital 
Force ? Only “ overwhelming bias” can account for 
the effort of some to get rid of the most important 
force in Nature. The proofs are overwhelming, also, 
that Chemical Affinity, Gravitation, and Vital Force 
exist side by side in every living organism, and so 
cannot be transformed into each other. Chemical 
Affinity under control of Vital Force works construc- 
tively; but as soon as the Vital Force departs, the 
same Chemical Affinity destroys what it previously 
aided in building up. Vital Force being the highest 
order of force known, employs in its service all 
agencies beneath it; but it neither falls to the level of 
its servants nor lifts them to its own level. 
It has truly been said of Man, “All things are 
yours.” But all things are not us. All things, men 
included, are God’s ; but all things are not God. Life, 
being subjective, not objective, is the possessor, not 
the possessed. Mind is the king, not the subject; the 
master, not the servant. The Ego is behind, above, 
and over all, with the body as a tabernacle in which to 
dwell and a machinery through which to work. The 
work which the man performs is physical as well as 
vital, and while physical forces may do physical work, 
only Vital Force can do vital work. Construction 
and repair are purely vital processes, as are thought, 
feeling, and will, while breathing, circulation, even 
digestion, are physical processes under control of the Vital Science 
vital instincts. In the living organism spirit and body 
meet in a round of function which may well be called 
the soul-life. To carry on its functions there must be 
both vital and physical forces,—the former to control 
and the latter to serve. The human trinity of body, 
soul, and spirit is not, therefore, a fiction of the imagi- 
nation. 
135. While, therefore, physical and chemical forces 
are necessary agents in the functions of life, they are 
never transformed into any other force. Being inherent 
in the constitution of matter, they always remain the 
same forces. Being inferior to Vital Force, they can- 
not be made into Vital Force without transgressing 
one of the most obvious laws of Science. Inherent 
Vitality is the real Ego; is Mind not Matter? It is 
power illustrating a wisdom that seizes upon and em- 
ploys for its purposes all things that may be of service 
to it. It is the healing as well as the producing power. 
The only power that can heal is the power that repairs; 
the only power that can repair is the power that pro- 
duces ; the power that now produces, repairs, heals, is 
the same which originally produced. The machinery 
of a human organism is too delicate and complex to 
admit of repair by any one but its producer. Even a 
piece of human invention is best repaired by its manu- 
facturer. In every living organism the process of re- 
pair is the process of reproduction, the same which 
brought it into existence; while the power of repair 
is the power of life which performs all its functions. 
136. Whence this power ? In accordance with the 
doctrines here urged, every living organism is a reser- 
voir of power,—of physical power for the doing of 
188 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
physical work, and inherent vital power for the pro- 
duction, control, and repair of the vital machinery. 
The physical power is that which is derived from food, 
drink, air, etc., as this is controlled by the inherent 
force, while the vital power is well described under the 
term Inherent Vital Capacity. More than thirty years 
ago our studies and observations compelled us to 
divide the so-called vital forces into two classes, 
denominated by us 
Inherent Vital Capacity and 
Available Vital Power. 
137- This classification was induced by the frequent 
discussions in which we engaged as to whether vitality 
once lost could ever be regained. We readily saw that 
what could be produced could be regained. Available 
vital power is always more or less under the control 
of the individual. It fluctuates from day to day, from 
hour to hour. Now it is nearly exhausted, and again 
it is abundant. The feebleness of infancy is being 
continually lost in the vigor of manhood, which again 
often falls to the incompetence of convalescence, and 
again returns to health and vigor. Being largely sup- 
plied from without, its quality and degree is at least 
partially determined by Environment. We lose it in 
work; we gain it in sleep, but especially is it supplied 
to us by food, drink, air, etc., provided always that the 
inherent capacities warrant the use of the food, air, etc. 
Of themselves food and air can yield no power, but 
whenever the capacity for their use exists, the inherent 
powers may appropriate and use them to the produc- 
tion of power available to the needs of physical func- 
189 Vital Science 
tion. But such power, called by courtesy vital power, 
being producible, is not, therefore, inherent, and is con- 
sequently not healing power. As it could not produce 
the living organism in the beginning, so it cannot re- 
produce and repair it. It is not vigor or energy that 
saves life, but intrinsic, inherent force, which the infant 
often has more abundantly than the robust man. All 
experience shows that the athlete stands no better 
chance for long life than does the delicate student. 
Indeed, as a rule, the student long outlives gymnast, 
athlete, or pugilist. As only Life can produce Life, 
so only Life can reproduce and repair the living or- 
ganism. The baser forces can no more be trans- 
formed into Vital Force than the baser metals can be 
transmuted into gold. If they could, the length of a 
man’s life would be chiefly in his own keeping. 
Available Vital Power is, therefore, a fluctuating 
power, rising and falling in degree corresponding to 
the quality and character of the man’s labors and sur- 
roundings. But Inherent Vital Capacity is another 
subject. Once lost it can never be regained. But it 
cannot be really lost. It may lose position, but it can 
never lose identity. (§ 98.) Day by day we are losing 
yet gaining. Hour by hour we are moved onward by 
irresistible forces to the grand consummation. 
“ Do we move ourselves or are we moved by a hand unseen, 
That pushes us off the board and ever others succeed?” 
138. Inherent Vital Capacity is but another name for 
Inherent Vital Force. For how can there be capacity 
without force to sustain it ? If an individual is born 
into this world with a capacity to live seventy years, 
190 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
he is necessarily endowed with the capacity to appro- 
priate the forces to sustain these years. 
For we do not inherit all our forces in a lump. The 
wise parent has secured to us the power to draw on 
our inheritance as a daily income. “ As thy days, so 
shall thy strength be” is Science as well as Scripture. 
Men and women are anxious for the morrow, forget- 
ting that the morrow will care for the things of itself. 
“ Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit 
unto his stature ?” Which of you by taking thought 
can add one iota to his vital capacities ? “ And why 
take ye thought for raiment ?” The medical doctrines 
of our day are diametrically opposed to the Sermon 
on the Mount. The one teaches that “ the Life is 
more than the meat and the body than the raiment 
the other asserts that Life and the life-forces depend 
upon what we eat and drink. We believe in the 
Sermon. Food, drink, and raiment, being inferior to 
Life, can never produce Life, Modern Science to the 
contrary notwithstanding. If they could, why is 
not this home of plenty—this “ land that flows with 
milk and honey”—the home of a race of physical 
giants ? 
But the truth is that Inheritance, not Environment, 
determines this question. It is vital capacity, not vital 
energy, that limits the size and power of a man. Just 
what the inheritance may be in a given case no one 
knows beforehand. We know only that Like begets 
Like. Yet the capacity wrapped up in an infant is a 
subject of speculation, not of exact knowledge. Nev- 
ertheless experience has guided us to a limited under- 
standing of the subject. The Life Insurance Com- Vital Science 
panies never base their expectations of life on what or 
how much a man eats. They never make the inquiry. 
But they are always interested to know the age of 
parents and grandparents, even to the third and fourth 
generation. With a good parental inheritance they 
are even willing to overlook minor defects. “ Blood 
will tell.” It is Heredity that determines character, 
longevity, and all other things, a truth which confirms 
the doctrine of the ages, “Ye must be born again.” 
New birth, new character; old birth, old character. 
To be well bred is of greater consequence than to be 
well fed. 
139- In saying this we would not be understood as 
decrying the importance of Environment. Rather 
would we assert that human character, like human 
life, is the product of Heredity, called into action by 
Environment. Heredity supplies the power, but En- 
vironment supplies the occasion or condition for the 
operation of the power. Man is a composite creature, 
having relations to Earth as well as Heaven. He is 
dependent upon a conditioned existence as well as upon 
an Unconditioned Reality. From the former he gets 
all the materials of which his organism is composed, 
while from the latter comes the power to organize 
these materials. They cannot organize themselves, as 
we have seen. (§ 68, 70.) They include certain in- 
herent forces, through whose operations a variety of 
physical energies are developed; but these energies 
are not vital, and cannot do vital work. They are 
physical for the performance of the physical functions 
of the organism. Vital or healing force,—the force 
that organized and controls,—on the contrary, comes 
192 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
directly from the Unconditioned Reality, as is admitted 
of all primal forces. 
Man is a compound of these forces. And the pro- 
portions of the combination are the real measure of 
the man. They determine the certainty of his health, 
and the length of his life upon the Earth, more truly 
than do any other influences. With abundance of in- 
herent vital power he is best protected against disease, 
accident, misfortune, in any respect. But wherever 
the physical forces, no matter how abundant, are 
not well controlled,—whenever they overbalance the 
inherent powers, the man’s life is in danger. This is 
the reason why a fast life means a short life. This is 
the reason why temperance, sobriety, and virtue mean 
length of days. More than once we have felt it a 
duty to warn friends of the dangers into which they 
were being pressed by what is called good living. In 
one case, a business friend, about forty years of age, 
was growing stout and fat, and to many gave the ap- 
pearance of robust health. He weighed over two 
hundred pounds, though he was neither a drinker of 
beer nor of stronger liquors. On Saturday afternoon, 
though still actively engaged in his work, we warned 
him that he was going the wrong way, and ought to 
turn over a new leaf. He confessed that he wasn’t 
feeling good. On Monday morning, thirty-six hours 
afterwards, the telephone brought the message of his 
death. His life had gone out as a candle is blown out. 
The little man, made up of skin and bone, and nerve 
and muscle, took his place, and bids fair to see his four- 
score years. He may not be very strong, but his in- 
herent power is abundantly sufficient to control all the Vital Science 
physical energies that he is likely to possess, and even 
if disease should overtake him, it will be easily con- 
trolled and he will recover. Every pound of material 
forced upon a man beyond his normal capacities to 
use and appropriate it, no matter whether forced upon 
him through the use of beer or whiskey, whether 
through malted milk or malted rye, or only by what 
is called good living, is a magazine of gunpowder, or 
other combustible material, awaiting favorable condi- 
tions for an explosion or conflagration. This is why 
La Grippe is making such a successful tour of our 
country. What is needed for prevention and cure of 
this, and most other diseases, is recuperation of the 
inherent forces through a reduction of the physical 
energies,—more rest and sleep with less food and 
drink. 
140. This classification of the vital resources into 
Inherent Vital Capacity and Available Vital Power is 
perfectly analogous with the classifications of Force 
which are recognized in the material world. Mr. 
Spencer says, “ There are two kinds of force, passive 
and active.” These he also denominates Force and 
Energy; also Force and Motion. The former having 
“ no specific name,” he shows is intrinsic, while the 
latter is extrinsic. The former, he admits, is “ imme- 
diately” produced by the “ Unconditioned Reality,” and 
is therefore inherent, while the latter he improperly 
claims is produced in Nature from “pre-existing exter- 
nal forces.” We have controverted this position, and 
shown that active force is a development from passive 
force, and that he is right when he calls it energy 
or motion. Vital energies are the product of Vital 
194 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
Force as this is called forth by occasions or condi- 
tions to receive and control the physical and chemical 
forces of food, etc. Increase of vital energy involves 
increased expenditure of Vital Force. Physical and 
chemical forces cannot do vital work; they may aid 
the Vital Force, but they always induce further ex- 
penditures of Vital Force. The proof of this is in 
the fact that no amount of food, drink, air, stimulant, 
or tonic can take the place of sleep. Sleep and rest 
reduce expenditure; all other agencies increase it. 
Excessive labor represents great energy, but it ex- 
hausts the force. Sleep and rest reduce the energies 
but save the force. The more energy the less force, 
therefore, as in exhaustive labor. Per contra, the less 
energy the more force, as in sleep and rest. 
141. In this connection we have the elements of 
the greatest delusion the world has ever seen. It is 
an almost universal conception that strength, vigor, 
energy, is identical with Vital Force, and that any in- 
crease of the one means a corresponding increase of 
the other. For this reason patients seek, and physi- 
cians administer, agencies which increase the vital 
energies, all the while ignorant of the fact that they 
are reducing the vital forces and destroying the 
patient’s life. Every stimulant, tonic, nervine, no 
matter of what name or nature, is a draft upon the 
vital constitution, and a source of exhaustion to the 
vital forces. Food is no exception to drink or medi- 
cine, except that whenever the organism is in a con- 
dition to use it, it supplies material for building up the 
organism and physical forces for the performance of 
physical functions. But the food calls forth and ex- 
195 Vital Science 
pends inherent vital power just as any other objective 
agency does. Even Life itself is a coming forth from 
the invisible realm of a vital inheritance, which by 
coming forth is transferred from one state of existence 
to another. Work and worry, food and drink, stimu- 
lant and tonic, whatever increases vital activity, hastens 
the consummation. Whether we are considered 
mariners on Life’s ocean, or laborers in the fields of 
destiny, the more rapid the pace the quicker we reach 
the end. Death is the consummation of earthly life. 
Sleep and rest stay the progress; all other things, 
even food, hasten the end. Work done represents the 
power that has done it; whether performed easily or 
laboriously it involves the transfer of the power from 
the worker to the work. 
142. Another element of delusion which destroys 
its millions is the fact that the only power that man 
is conscious of possessing is the power that he is 
losing,—the power that is going from him into the 
work he is doing. Passive, intrinsic force, Mr. Spen- 
cer well shows, is an unknowable quantity. It is only 
as it becomes actively engaged in doing work that 
we are able to measure it. The gymnast is no more 
conscious of his strength until he uses it than is the 
babe. Nor does either possess half the consciousness 
of power that the man “ half seas over” does. The 
gymnast proves his strength by a trial of it, but in 
making the trial he parts with a consequent measure 
of power. The inebriated man feels strong, rich, and 
unconquerable because his power is going rapidly from 
him. It is said of people whose life had nearly gone out 
from drowning that the intensity of mental effort, and The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
the evidence of mental capacity, were wonderfully in- 
creased. We are conscious of power in action, but 
wholly unconscious of that which is passive. But 
the passive power is real and intrinsic, while the ac- 
tive force is force passing out of one condition into 
another. 
The power in dynamite is passive; how innocent 
is that little gray stick! While the passive con- 
dition remains the dynamite remains indefinitely, but 
once call the passive force into action and the inno- 
cent-looking stick is destroyed in the doing of its 
work. So man is utterly unconscious of the force 
stored passively within. It is only when expenditure 
occurs that he is conscious of the power he expends, 
so that the more rapid the expenditure the greater the 
power he seems to have. What we have we do not 
seem to have ; what we are losing is what we seem to 
possess. If men could but appreciate this truth they 
would be less prompt in making drafts upon their 
vital resources through the use of tonics and stimu- 
lants. The man who drinks whiskey, takes a tonic, 
or compels activity by any means but honest work, 
is quite analogous to the man who draws his check 
upon his bank for no other purpose than to see if it 
will be honored. But he is much less wise. The 
man who draws his check and gets his money has it 
still for use, but the man who draws a useless check 
upon his vital bank by tonic or stimulant has lost all 
that he has drawn in the very act of drawing it. It 
is a homely old aphorism that “ we can’t eat our cake 
and keep it too.” Inductive practitioners who believe 
what they see, have great faith in alcoholic stimulants. 
197 Vital Science 
It is only after knowledge has passed the inductive 
stage that physicians become total abstainers in theory, 
if not in practice. The inebriated man feels rich and 
strong and well, and finds it quite difficult to restrain 
manifestations of his feelings, but all experience has 
proved that he is growing poor and weak and sick 
correspondingly. Excited activity, whether of brain 
or tongue, hands or feet, is the proof of growing 
weakness, while the quiet power of the really strong 
man is that in which we believe long before he mani- 
fests it. Would we possess the real power of the 
strong man or the riches of the rich, let us be willing 
to seem weak and poor. Per contra, would weakness 
and poverty be our lot, we have only to insist upon 
exhibiting what little strength and wealth we have. 
143- Perhaps no better illustration of the facts of 
living organization can be found than certain forms 
of the electric battery. The living organism, like 
the electric battery, is a reservoir of power which 
continues silently inactive while the circuit remains 
open. When the circuit is closed the battery begins 
to do work, such as ringing a bell or operating a 
motor, and if the work continues the battery becomes 
exhausted, even though it possesses the power of re- 
cuperation for a long time. Just so the reservoir of 
vital power continues unused and the reservoir filled 
as long as no connection is made between the vital 
elements and external Nature whereby work is done. 
But as with the electric battery so with the vital or- 
ganism, as soon as the circuit is closed work begins, 
and constitutes a process of exhaustion, requiring rest, 
as the absolutely necessary means of recuperation and 
198 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
vigor. It is rest not food that recuperates. But as ac- 
tive work through battery or organism may cease not- 
withstanding the power of recuperation remains, it is 
evident that death has not taken place, for by opening 
the circuit and giving the battery rest, power once more 
accumulates, pnd the capacity for work is restored. 
So, by giving rest to the vital organism, recuperation 
and health will follow. And as the battery long silent, 
and, therefore, recuperated, may suddenly begin to ring 
the bell, when by some simple contrivance the circuit 
has been completed, so the long time invalid has often 
been restored to activity and usefulness by some sim- 
ple means, provided always that rest has previously 
recuperated the vital energies. Many of the wonder- 
ful results of Mind-Cure, of poisonous drugs, and 
other forms of treatment are thus explained. And 
as with the battery whose elements have become ex- 
hausted so that no further chemical action will gen- 
erate power, and neither opening nor closing the circuit 
will avail to restore action, so the vital organism may 
continue the processes of work and rest, exhaustion 
and recuperation, until finally the elements of its con- 
stitution have all become changed into other form, 
causing at length the work to cease once for all. But 
as with the battery so with the vital organism, death is 
not annihilation. The elements that made up the bat- 
tery or the organism have become changed into other 
conditions of existence, but not destroyed, as we have 
seen. 
144- But we have, we believe, in the Electric Storage 
Battery an even better illustration of the facts of living 
organization. When we first began, twenty years ago, Vital Science 
to advocate the plan of accumulating or storing vital 
power as an important means of recovering health, 
the theory was ridiculed, it being said that one 
might as well undertake to accumulate electricity. 
To-day men do accumulate electricity, and the fact 
offers excellent suggestion as to the accumulation 
of vitality. There is this difference, however. We 
can increase indefinitely the production of electricity 
not only, but completely prevent its expenditure, 
thus placing the sum total absolutely under our 
control. Vitality, on the contrary, is an inheritance 
which comes to us as an income which cannot be 
increased indefinitely, and whose expenditure, though 
it may be restrained, cannot be wholly prevented. 
It is, therefore, not absolutely under our control. 
But we may restrain its expenditure instead of quicken 
it, as is the usual custom, and so wait until the reser- 
voir is once more filled. It is impossible that great 
energy can exist other than by rapid expenditure, and 
unless the inherent capacities are very great indeed, 
early exhaustion must result. Debility, feebleness, 
and many forms of invalidism, on the contrary, pre- 
vent rapid expenditure and promote long life. 
145- The quantity of food digested also determines 
in large degree the length of a man’s life. Great 
eaters are generally short-lived, unless, indeed, dys- 
pepsia intervenes to save them. Lucky is the man 
whose dyspepsia is manifested in the stomach where 
it ought to be, rather than in gout, rheumatism, Bright’s 
disease, diabetes, and a host of other ailments. It is 
rare that these diseases are not entirely curable if the 
digestion is carefully attended to. Louis Cornaro, an 
200 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
Italian nobleman, was apparently beyond human skill 
before he was forty years old, but wrote a book at the 
age of ninety-five, showing how only by the greatest 
abstemiousness he was able to live at all. For sixty 
years he ate but twelve ounces of bread and drank 
fourteen ounces of light Italian wine twice daily. Dr. 
Eliphalet Nott, of Union College, we have been told, 
was feeble almost to death for ten years as a young 
man, but finally died at the age of ninety-six. Great 
gymnasts almost invariably die young. We have had 
in our practice numerous illustrations of the same 
truths. One patient we recall was a broken-down in- 
valid before he was sixty years of age, feeble, palsied, 
and barely able to get about, but after nearly two 
years of recuperative treatment was restored to good 
health, and now at the age of eighty-four bids fair for 
many years of life yet, notwithstanding the violent 
measures of treatment he had previously suffered. 
Most men have the choice before them, of “a short 
life and a merry one,” or a prudent, abstemious life 
and a long one. 
Vigorous development, high living, good digestion, 
increases one’s capacity for work as long as he has the 
power of response in him, but not at all his power of 
continued life, and seldom his power to recuperate 
from disease. As a rule, it is high living and hearty 
feeding that makes diseases so often fatal. 
146. Our postulate, therefore, is that Vital Force is 
vital inheritance,—is Life derived from previous Life, 
while vital energy is a manifestation of Vital Force 
as this is called forth by conditions or occasions,—in a 
word, by Environment. The chief occasions for calling 
201 Vital Science 
forth our vital powers are food, work, tonics, stimulants, 
responsibilities, or any other taxations, and they all 
produce their effects in the same way, by expending 
the vital resources. These resources may be used 
wisely or squandered. But used they must be. 
“ Who noble ends by noble means obtains, 
Or, failing, smiles in exile or in chains,” 
is still a toiler in the Master’s vineyard, and the reward 
is sure. It is he who lives the life of self-indulgence 
that is wasting his inheritance in riotous living. The 
parable of the Prodigal Son is exactly adapted to men 
of our day. Vital power is vital inheritance secured 
to every man as a daily income, which food, drink, 
medicines, work, responsibility, call forth and expend. 
In the process of expenditure there is increasing energy 
with constantly decreasing force, corresponding to the 
reduced energy and increasing force of rest and sleep. 
Force to sustain our energies is the important consid- 
eration ; energy without force to sustain it, if that were 
possible, is not only valueless but destructive. Means 
calculated to recuperate power by reducing energy, as 
does sleep, are both available and valuable, while those 
which increase the energies beyond the patient’s natu- 
ral inheritance, as do tonics and stimulants, is de- 
structive to the last degree. 
And now, having given what we conceive to be 
a consistent exposition of the nature and source of 
Vital Force, and of its relations to the vital energies, 
including a consistent theory of the Constitution of 
Man, we have made a step, but not perhaps the most 
important step, towards the development of an exact 
202 The Ego; or, The Constitution of Man 
science of human health. Force becomes power only 
when consistently directed; natural law is the very 
essence of natural power. A knowledge of the sources 
of vital force is valuable knowledge, but how the force 
works is the important consideration. As the discov- 
ery of the law as well as the force of gravitation solved 
the great problems of the heavenly bodies and gave 
to us a real science of Astronomy; as the discovery 
of the laws as well as the forces of chemistry gave to 
us chemical science; so the solution of the great 
problems of physiology and medicine, and the estab- 
lishment of a true science of human health, is involved 
in the discovery, formulation, and elucidation of the 
great primary law of vital existence, the analogue of 
gravitation, to which the next chapter is devoted. 
203 CHAPTER IX. 
life’s great law. 
The Analogue of Attraction of Gravitation. 
“ This wonderful matter to which I shall have frequently to refer in 
every part of this volume moves and grows. . . . Everything else in 
Nature may be moved . . . but this alone of all matter moves. The 
impulse proceeds from within the matter itself.”—“ Bioplasm,” by 
Lionel S. Beale, M.B.F.R.S., King’s College, London. 
147. The primal consideration of every system, 
human or divine, is stability, but in order to practical 
use this stability must be combined with flexibility; 
and with the utmost flexibility if we would secure the 
utmost usefulness. Governments, financial institutions, 
business enterprises of all kinds, are intended to illus- 
trate these qualities in high degree, but Nature alone 
illustrates them to perfection; and so gives to her pro- 
cesses certainty of operation and variety of production 
even beyond human comprehension. Anything is 
possible, yet everything is certain within the limits of 
that possibility. 
148. Certainty is the product of unchanging law; 
anything done is proof that it will always be done in 
the same manner under the same conditions. Variety 
of production comes secondarily from the same cause. 
Under the same conditions the same result is obtained; 
under change of conditions, it is evident, there must 
be a corresponding change of result. And this is true 
204 Life’s Great Law 
whether in chemistry, mechanics, or physiology; the 
causes of things are dependent upon occasions or con- 
ditions, as these bring into operation the law of pro- 
duction. This is the reason that out of a few elements 
we have an immense number of material compounds. 
Whenever two or more elements are brought together 
under favorable conditions, the law of production being 
unchangeable, a compound is produced which is neces- 
sarily different from any one of the elements, but this 
compound is subject to change with every change of 
condition, as the facts of chemistry are daily proving. 
In the same way, it is evident that mechanical 
motions and products become as numerous as are their 
elements multiplied by their conditions. Is there any 
reason to believe that the living world is an exception ? 
The stabilities and certainties of Nature are due to 
immutable laws sustained by Nature’s forces, as these 
are called forth by conditions or occasions, so that it 
has always been the discovery of these laws in the 
past that has conferred power upon man, and reduced 
the complexities of Nature to the simplicities of Sci- 
ence. Can we doubt that the same results are ob- 
tainable in connection with human life ? Is it con- 
ceivable that life, the crowning feature of existence, is 
less skilfully provided for than an atom of dirt or a 
drop of water ? It is only in and through law that we 
have both flexibility and stability,—the utmost variety 
with the greatest certainty. Everything in accordance 
with law is the testimony of both Science and Revela- 
tion, and man becomes the possessor of Earth’s treas- 
ures as soon as he has discovered the laws of their 
production. The first real step towards exact knowl- 
205 Vital Science 
edge is the discovery of the law; all the investiga- 
tions, speculations, and inductions that man can invent 
or employ are utterly valueless until the work is com- 
pleted by this discovery. (§ 12, 21.) 
149. But it is not sufficient that we become ac- 
quainted simply with the existence of the law; we 
must secure the correct formula of it, so that it shall 
constitute a yardstick for all future measurements. (§ 
13.) Newton’s formula is the great representative 
formula of a great law, the basis of a greater science; 
and is as follows : 
Every particle of matter in the universe is 
attracted to every other particle with a force 
directly proportioned to the mass of the attract- 
ing particles and inversely as the square of the 
distance between them.” 
With this law scientists began at once to measure 
distances, determine weights, predict conjunctions and 
eclipses, describe the revolutions of the planets, while 
many otherwise insolvable problems of science were 
explained and the certainties of astronomy took the 
place of the previous speculations and superstitions. 
The power and value of this law are to-day undis- 
puted, and Newton is regarded as the great represent- 
ative scientist. But as a matter of fact, Newton intro- 
duced just one single thought into that law. It were 
inconceivable that so great a truth as Gravitation had 
escaped the attention of men through all the ages. 
On the contrary, the existence of the law was well 
known long before Newton, and its applicability to 
the affairs of mechanics on the Earth was everywhere 
206 Life’s Great Law 
acknowledged. But Newton conceived, and finally 
demonstrated, its universality. Just as though any of 
God’s laws could be otherwise than universal! In our 
day it seems strange that men could be so stupid. But 
perhaps we may find the same stupidity still. Is Life’s 
Great Law universal ? We have but two claims to 
make for this law beyond what all men in all generations 
have observed and acknowledged : First, Its universal- 
ity, and, Second, Its applicability to a science of human 
health. Human reason can resist neither of these 
claims; only indolence and stupidity can avert the ne- 
cessary conclusions from Life’s Great Law. Its exist- 
ence is proverbial; great systems of thought have been 
based upon it, and have received the somewhat tardy ac- 
knowledgments of mankind; but a consistent working 
formula has never before been placed before the world. 
150. We propound the following: 
Every particle of living matter in the organ- 
ized body is under the dominion of Vital Force, 
endowed with the instinct of self-preservation, 
which is the first and all-controlling law of vital 
expression. 
This formula might be made still more inclusive, 
say to include “ every manifestation of life in the uni- 
verse.” But as we are to discuss life as it appears in 
the living organism, we will content ourselves with 
the statement which includes the laws of such or- 
ganisms. Universality is the leading thought. It is 
the thought which makes possible a science of human 
health. Vital force is neither an invention nor discov- 
ery of modern times; it has rather been the effort of 
207 Vital Science 
Modern Science to get rid of it, without success we 
are sure. And self-preservation as the all-controlling 
instinct of life, has passed into a proverb. “ The sur- 
vival of the fittest” doctrine of Charles Darwin would 
seem to be the best attempt to make practical use of 
it in a scientific discussion, and Darwinism is as far 
superior to Spencerian Evolution, which was supposed 
to be, but is not, a further elaboration of Darwin’s 
idea, as one can think. It is evident, therefore, that 
Life’s Great Law is not a discovery in the sense of its 
being before unknown. The only merit of the author 
is confessed to be the gathering together of the scat- 
tered fragments of a great truth, and combining them 
into a working formula that shall prove explanatory 
of all life’s facts, and so solve all physiological and 
medical problems. 
151. We think the reader will agree with us that 
the analogy between Newton’s formula of Gravitation 
and our own formula of Life’s Great Law is not a 
forced one. The analogy is legitimate and natural, 
and we really do not know how we could have stated 
the law in other words that should be equally clear 
and explicit. The formula in either case is a state- 
ment of fact rather than of ratios. It is a consistent 
expression of the primitive fact of mechanical and 
vital science respectively. As to the value of analogy, 
Professor W. Stanley Jevons, of University College, 
London, says, in his “ Principles of Science,”— 
“ The whole value of science consists in the power which it confers 
upon us of applying to one object knowledge acquired from like ob- 
jects, and it is only so far, therefore, as we can discover and register 
resemblances that we can turn our observations to account.” 
208 Life’s Great Law 
And he further says, p. 631,— 
“ Whoever wishes to acquire a deep acquaintance with Nature must 
observe that there are analogies which connect whole branches of 
science in a parallel manner, and enable us to infer of one class of 
phenomena what we know of another. It has happened on several 
occasions that the discovery of an unsuspected analogy between two 
branches of knowledge has been the starting-point for a rapid course 
of discovery.’' 
152. And now our Telescope of Science may be 
varied to illustrate these truths. Nature, we have 
seen, is a trinity. (§ 83.) More than this, it is full of 
other trinities, all flowing from the same Great First 
Cause, which may be illustrated thus: 
Universal 
Created 
Existence. 
Great First Cause. 
Chemical affinity is the basic principle of natural 
existence. Without it tangible matter were impossi- 
ble. Gravitation gave us a universe of individual 
worlds. But all were preparatory to the grand object 
of Creation, living existence, which we place in the 
superior position as being above all the others. 
153- By the universality of Life’s Great Law we 
understand, of course, that it is universal throughout 
living existence, just as Gravitation is in universal 
control of masses of matter, and Chemical Affinity 
of the atoms of matter. That is, it is, as its name 
implies, the great primal law of vital existence, and Vital Science 
applies to life wherever life is. It began with Him 
who is the Source of all Life, and who has “ created 
all things for His own glory,” and first appears in 
Nature in colorless, structureless matter under the 
name of bioplasm or protoplasm, which the micro- 
scope clearly shows to be dominated by the instincts 
of life, having the power of thought, feeling, and 
will. The capacity for both hope and fear, courage 
and despair, are as truly present in the cell as in the 
organized body. Fear we believe to be the most im- 
portant element of disease. (§ 230.) It is not the 
only element, as some seem to think; for if there is 
fear, there is usually something to be afraid of. And 
it is usually restrained by hope and courage in those 
who recover, but ends in the despair of those who 
die. Vital processes are mental processes. (§ 56.) 
Life begins with thought and ends with it. It begins 
with buoyant hope and ends in physical despair. 
True, there is another life just as there is another 
body (1 Cor. xv. 44), but courage and despair stand 
over against each other as do life and death. 
154- Perhaps we can find no better authority on 
this subject than Professor Lionel Beale, of King’s 
College, London, who has written an important work, 
entitled “ Bioplasm,” in which he sets forth with great 
clearness the results of his observations through the 
microscope. He is excellent authority on the use of 
the microscope, and, as some evidence of the power 
of the object-glasses through which he has studied 
“ Bioplasm,” he says, “ If it were possible to see a 
hair in its entire width it would appear to be nearly 
one foot in diameter, and an object an inch in height Life’s Great Law 
would appear to be two hundred and fifty feet high.” 
With a microscope of such powers he has viewed the 
initial processes of life, and has left on record the re- 
sults of his observations, of which we quote,— 
“The colorless, structureless matter, characteristic of and peculiar 
to all life on earth, ... is capable of moving in every part and in 
every direction. The movements are not such as are communicated 
. . . from matter ... in its neighborhood, but the impulse proceeds 
from the matter itself.” And again he says, “ This wonderful matter, 
to which I shall have frequently to refer in every part of this volume, 
moves and grows. Everything else in Nature may be moved and 
caused to increase by aggregation, . . . but this alone moves towards 
lifeless matter, incorporates it into itself, and communicates to it in 
some way we do not understand, its own transcendently wonderful 
properties. . . . This matter which is found only in living beings . . . 
may be correctly called living or forming matter, for by its agency 
every kind of living matter is made, and without it, as far as is known, 
no living thing ever has been made, or can be made at this time, or 
ever will be made.” 
The important fact to be noted in this connection 
is the fact of reproduction,—the fact that this origi- 
nal living matter, from which all organic matter is 
produced, “ moves and grows,”—“ moves towards life- 
less matter, incorporates it into itself, and communi- 
cates to it” some of its wondrous properties. Thus, 
Professor Beale observes and reports what has been 
so frequently urged in this work, that Life comes only 
from Life, and each after its kind, the process being 
dependent upon power from within and not from 
without. 
155. But “the cause of the movement,” he says, 
“ has not been ascertained.” It never can be ascer- 
tained by observation alone. Motion is a fact of ob- 
servation, but the cause of the motion is a fact of in- 
211 Vital Science 
ference only. No man ever saw a real cause. (§ 54). 
Causes are forces, which, being invisible and intangible, 
are known only by their effects. We observe effects, 
whether these are matter or motion, but we infer 
causes or forces as the absolute necessity to any effect. 
In living matter, as Professor Beale shows, “ the im- 
pulse proceeds from within.” What better term to 
describe the force which produces this impulse than 
the term Vital Force ? When chemical operations are 
carried forward we refer them to chemical forces; 
mechanical operations are usually credited to me- 
chanical forces; why not ascribe vital operations to 
Vital Force? Nothing, we are sure, but “overwhelm- 
ing bias,” to use Mr. Herbert Spencer’s own expres- 
sion, can account for the desire of many to get rid of 
the term “ vital force.” 
Bioplasm or protoplasm, as you choose, therefore, 
moves “ in every part, and in every direction,”—the 
impulse proceeding from within. This is the grand 
distinction between the living and the dead. Any- 
thing may be moved, but only living things move 
themselves,—that is, they act with an object in view. 
Life is subjective, while things are objective. How 
else should we determine whether a thing is alive or 
dead other than the presence of motive in the living, 
and its absence in the non-living? The essential fact 
of life is thought, and the power to act in response to 
thought. Protoplasm is not Life; it is the medium 
through which Life first exhibits itself. It may be 
dead as well as alive. And when dead it answers to 
very different tests from those exhibited by living pro- 
toplasm. (Beale.) 
212 Life’s Great Law 
156. Another important truth in this connection is 
that all Life first appears in exactly similar proto- 
plasm. Professor Henry Drummond, quoting Pro- 
fessor Thomas H. Huxley, gives a vivid picture of 
this truth in the following from his “ Natural Law in 
the Spiritual World”: 
“ What makes one little speck of protoplasm grow into Newton’s 
dog, Diamond, and another exactly the same into Newton himself? 
It is a mysterious something which has entered into this protoplasm. 
No eye can see it. No science can define it. There is a different 
something for Newton’s dog, and a different something for Newton; 
so that, though both use the same matter, they build it up in these 
widely different ways. Protoplasm being clay, this something is the 
potter. And as there is only one clay, and yet all the curious forms 
are developed out of it, it follows necessarily that the difference lies 
in the potters. To understand unmistakably that it is really the pot- 
ter who does the work, let us follow, for a moment, a description of 
the process by a trained eye-witness. The observer is Mr. Huxley. 
Through the tube of his microscope he is watching the development, 
out of a speck of protoplasm, of one of the commonest animals; 
‘ Strange possibilities,’ he says, ‘ lie dormant in that semi-fluid glob- 
ule. Let a moderate supply of warmth reach its watery cradle, and 
the plastic matter undergoes changes so rapid and yet so steady and 
purpose-like in their succession that one can only compare them to 
those operated by a skilled modeller upon a formless lump of clay. 
As with an invisible trowel the mass is divided and subdivided into 
smaller and smaller portions, until it is reduced to an aggregation of 
granules not too large to build withal the finest fabrics of the nascent 
organism. And, then, it is as if a delicate finger traced out the line to 
be occupied by the spinal column, then moulded the contour of the 
body; pinching up the head at one end, and the tail at the other, 
and fashioning the flank and limb in due proportion in so artistic a 
way, that after watching the process hour by hour, one is almost 
involuntarily possessed of the notion that some more subtle aid to 
vision than an achromatic would show the hidden artist, with his 
plan before him, striving, with skilful manipulation, to perfect his 
work.’ ” 
213 Vital Science 
And Mr. Drummond proceeds to call attention to 
the fact that the artist is working according to law, 
“ with his plan before him.” He has a plan, the 
product of thought, and he works in accordance with 
the thought expressed in the plan. What law shall 
we say ? Drummond calls it “ conformity to type 
“ what Darwin calls the law of unity of type“ con- 
tained to a large extent,” says Drummond, “in the 
law of inheritance.” Mr. Drummond continues: 
“ The artist who operates upon matter in this subtle 
way, and carries out this law, is Life.” And further 
he well says, “ As in the natural, so in the spiritual, 
there is a Principle of Life. We cannot get rid of that 
term.” 
157. Life, therefore, is an invisible principle of ex- 
istence, derived from previous life, an inheritance, 
illustrating the qualities and characteristics of its 
progenitors. Considering it in the terms of physical 
science, we may well describe it as Vital Force. And 
that this force is endowed with the instinct of self- 
preservation, which belongs to life in its initial stages 
just as truly as in its organized forms, may be shown 
from facts gleaned from varied sources. Even the 
materialist testifies to the operations of protoplasm, 
apparently unconscious of the fact that he is describing 
the processes of an invisible principle within it. 
“There is nothing,” says J. H. Kellogg (“Home Hand-Book”), 
“ more interesting in all the realm of science than to watch with the 
microscope the operations of protoplasm. Let us study this wonderful 
phenomenon for a few minutes. . . . Now we are rewarded by seeing 
just what we are in search of, curious little round masses so transparent 
as to be almost invisible. They are not very numerous, but scattered 
here and there about the field. Presently we perceive that some are 
214 Life’s Great Law 
changing their form. A moment ago the first one we inspected was as 
round as a watch crystal; now it has become elliptical in form. A few 
minutes later we look again, and it has stretched itself out in a long fila- 
ment like an angle-worm. Presently it begins to draw itself up into a 
round mass again; and, before we can write it, it has assumed its original 
shape, but has changed its position. That is the way the little creature 
moves about. It makes itself into the shape of a worm, and then 
crawls just as a worm does, by making one end fast and drawing the 
rest of the body up. What does it move about for ? Why may it not 
remain stationary ? ... A few seconds ago it was as round as a full 
moon. Now there is a little pocket in one side. The pocket is grow- 
ing deeper and deeper. What is the object of such a curious pro- 
cedure ? . . . The mystery is solved. There is a little speck of food 
which the little creature wishes to get, and so he has made a pocket to 
put it in. The queerest part is yet to come, so we must watch patiently 
a moment more. Now the mouth of the pocket is closing up. Evi- 
dently the little fellow is afraid he may lose the precious morsel, and 
so he is going to shut the pocket to prevent its escape. Now the open- 
ing is closed, and before we are aware of it the pocket itself has dis- 
appeared, and there is the little particle inside. This seems a miracu- 
lous process, but it is the way these little creatures have of taking 
food. ... As we become better acquainted with protoplasm, it does 
not seem so strange, after all, that it should be capable of making a 
plant, painting a flower, building a tree, or even of forming a man; 
and that is just what it does.” 
In other words, we observe through the microscope 
that those individually minute germs of life, called 
bioplasts or protoplasm, possess the instincts of life, 
and move according to the laws of life, as these are 
illustrated in the cell, then in the organs of the indi- 
vidual, then in the individual himself, and, finally, in 
the family, society, state, church, everywhere in the 
living world. In a word, every particle of living 
structure in the universe, vegetable or animal, animal 
as well as human, and human as well as divine, no 
matter when, where, or how organized, or whether 
215 Vital Science 
organized at all, lives and acts in obedience to this 
first law of life,—self-preservation,—the preservation 
of its interests. 
158. Further illustrations of the truth of these 
statements are readily cited. The remarkable and 
apparently inconsistent conduct of the man who clings 
to life with utmost tenacity after every just reason for 
living has disappeared, and nothing left but sorrow 
and misery, notwithstanding the claim that death 
would open to him joys eternal, is excellent proof. 
Every physician knows that the firmest Christian 
shrinks from death, and often holds on to life with 
desperation long after reason has ceased to justify the 
instinct. It is this first law of vital expression which 
causes the flesh to be so weak and shrinking, and 
shows that intellectual belief has little to do with it. 
The horror with which we contemplate the loss of 
any part of our organism is only explained by this 
law. The pulling of a tooth is a very simple affair, 
and the pain but momentary, but we generally bear 
the pain of its presence a hundred-fold before we are 
willing to submit to its extraction. Again, how many 
have suffered for hours with the aching tooth, until 
forced to seek the dentist’s chair, only to find the 
aching has wholly ceased in the presence of the 
greater danger, amputation ! 
The fear of the contemplated loss of a limb by 
amputation is explained in the same way. Notwith- 
standing reason has taught us that our best interests 
will be served by its removal,—notwithstanding we 
are assured that the operation will be painless,—we 
still shrink in terror before the fact. 
216 Life’s Great Law 
The excitement, trembling, and, perhaps, exhaustion 
of the criminal as he goes to his execution exhibit 
and explain the same law. “ Do it quickly, and do it 
surely,” if it must be done, is the cry of instinct. The 
pain is nothing, but the suspense is terrible. The con- 
scious presence of the dread fact coming daily nearer, 
by the slow march of events, is the real punishment. 
In all these cases it is evident that the instinct does 
not belong to the intellectual life as much as to the 
organic or unconscious existence. 
159. The nature and origin of evil is suggested by 
this law. The struggles of life so intensify this prin- 
ciple of self-interest that it sometimes overwhelms 
every other consideration. After a man has worked 
himself out of pinching poverty by hard toil and 
exacting scrutiny of every expenditure, until he is the 
possessor of millions, we find him still possessed of 
the “ ruling passion strong in death,” consequent 
upon that constant exercise which has developed his 
faculties. 
The instinct of self-preservation, being the cause of 
all human activity, must also exist in systems, and so 
be liable to the same perversions. Lawyers join 
hands with lawyers, and doctors with doctors, to 
protect the interests of their profession, and perhaps 
to oppress the people at large, notwithstanding the 
bickerings and quarrellings among themselves. Dem- 
ocrats close up the ranks against Republicans, and 
Republicans against the common enemy, in spite of 
bitter factions in the party. The money-kings have a 
common sentiment of defence against the masses, and 
the masses against the moneyed aristocracy. Even 
217 Vital Science 
the clergy are animated by an esprit de corps that 
often oversteps the bounds of prudence. In a word, 
the instinct of self-preservation inheres,— 
First, In the minutest cell of the organized body; 
Second, In these cells as aggregated in communities; 
Third, As organized into distinct organs ; and, 
Fourth, As organized into the organism as a whole, 
making the interests of each individual superior to the 
interests of the common brotherhood. But the in- 
dividual soon enlarges his sphere of operations, and 
family is to be protected as against institutions, and 
institutions to which we belong as against the world 
at large. 
160. The operations of this principle in every de- 
partment may also be seen in its general perversions. 
No individual can make a positive movement in any 
direction without disturbing or threatening the inter- 
ests of some system, and even if the system is in 
itself good, it is often disturbed by unreasoning fears 
for its safety whenever new ideas are forced upon its 
attention. The greater the truth, and the greater the 
evil to be remedied, the greater the commotion and 
opposition which it must meet. It is this truth which 
explains the statement of the Saviour that He “ came 
not to bring peace, but a sword.” Though the angels 
sang “ peace on earth,” suggestive of the final triumph 
of truth, disorder, commotion, and crime have always 
led the way. The benefactors of humanity have been 
the world’s martyrs. We build the sepulchres of 
the prophets which our fathers have slain, and make 
heroes of those who were the despised and rejected of 
men. 
218 Life’s Great Law 
Life and Mind. 
161. But the most important element of Life’s Great 
Law is yet to be considered, the mental element. 
Instinct presupposes thought. Self-preservation would 
be a worthless law unless some thought of means 
towards the end were involved in its existence. 
But thought has heretofore been ascribed to the 
operations of the brain only; and self-preservation is 
supposed to be an intellectual process which sadly fails 
in practice in cases of disease. But self-preservation 
is not simply an intellectual work. We have already 
seen that the bioplasts act because they think, and, 
besides, every anatomist knows that brain-substance is 
scattered here and there throughout the organism in 
connection with nerves, and there is no conceivable 
excuse for doubting that this brain-structure thinks, 
no matter where it is located. The human brain is 
the great centre of intellectual and animal life, it is 
true, but that fact only confirms and explains the work 
of the numerous adjuvants scattered all along the 
spinal column. And then there is another nervous 
system called organic or sympathetic, and it has brains, 
as well as nerves, just as surely as anatomy tells the 
truth. And if it has brains, what are they for but to 
think ? The solar plexus of nerves lying behind the 
stomach controls the functions of liver, stomach, 
bowels, etc., to a marked degree, and in connection 
with its subordinate ganglia performs its functions as 
all other brain-substance does,—viz., through thought. 
But behind all these are the individual workers in 
the cells that make up all organs, and it is every- 
219 Vital Science 
where agreed that the individual worker is the cell 
or in the cell. And how shall the work of liver, lungs, 
stomach, bowels, muscles, be performed except as all 
other vital work is performed, by a skill based on 
thought and will ? The day laborer in society thinks, 
even if not as effectively as the college professor, 
lawyer, or doctor, and works only because he thinks 
and wills to work, just as every cell in the body 
works because it thinks and wills to work. And 
the ganglia and brain are only head centres of or- 
ganization which assist and advise the less capable 
laborers. The nerves are telegraph wires, the ganglia 
are telegraph offices in charge of subordinate offi- 
cers, while the brains are the great centres of 
thought, decision, and will. We shall see in its 
proper place that the terms reaction and reflex as ap- 
plied to living structure are misnomers. Sensation 
from the surface is a real transmission of intelligence, 
and the result usually called reflex action is instruction 
telegraphed to the proper muscles. A page from 
Ranney’s “ Applied Antomy” offers important testi- 
mony in this connection. On page 311 he says,— 
“ We have come to learn that each group of cells—perhaps each cell 
—in this gray matter represents a certain kind of intelligence; and that 
these cells are probably in communication with one another by means 
of white fibres. It is the sum-total of these intelligences that imparts 
to the cord its characteristics as an organ. As each one of these cel- 
lular groups and its inherent intelligence is more or less independent 
of all others, so the combined intelligence of the cord’s gray matter 
is independent of the combined intelligence of other collections of 
gray matter; and it is a recognized fact that the spinal cord has a 
function of its own. This has been exemplified by experiments on 
headless frogs and decapitated human beings. Cut off the head of a 
220 Life’s Great Law 
frog, permit it to recover from the shock of the operation, then pinch 
its skin, and it will hop away; or, throw it into the water and it will 
swim. Place a drop of acetic acid upon the belly of such a frog and 
it will endeavor to brush away the irritation with one foot. Now am- 
putate the leg of this foot at the knee. The animal will make several 
futile attempts to reach the irritated spot with the stump, and, failing, 
will, after some hesitation, make use of the uninjured limb for this 
purpose. It is easy to repeat this well-known experiment of Pfluger’s. 
Robin witnessed some instructive phenomena in a criminal whose head 
had been removed an hour previous at the level of the fourth cervical 
vertebraf The skin around the nipple was scratched with the point 
of a scalpel. Immediately there ensued a series of rapid movements 
in the upper extremity, which had been extended upon the table. The 
hand was brought across the chest to the pit of the stomach simul- 
taneously with the semiflexion of the forearm and inward rotation of 
the arm,—a movement of defence, as it were. All this teaches us 
the more clearly to understand that it is intelligence of the cord’s 
gray matter that is called into play in a thousand actions that must 
take place without the aid of that conscious intelligence which we 
call ‘ mind.’ The intelligence of the spinal cells is quite sufficient 
to enable men to walk, to play on musical instruments, to become ex- 
perts in handiwork, to ride on horseback, whether awake or asleep, to 
become acrobats, and to unconsciously acquire such a handwriting that 
its minute peculiarities shall be unerringly recognized by the trained 
eye.”—Professor Ambrose L. Ranney, A.M., M.D., University 
of New York. 
162. In these varied facts we have the perfect ex- 
planation of the failure of drugs or other appliances 
to produce uniform effects on the organism. The 
organism is not an object to be acted upon, but a sub- 
ject which acts because it thinks, and the action does 
not depend solely upon the drug or other treatment 
administered, but upon what the organism thinks 
about it. The physician who fails to take into account 
the patient’s likes and dislikes, his idiosyncrasies and 
peculiarities, is an automaton and not a physician at 
221 Vital Science 
all. It is not the quality or quantity of drug, but what 
the organism thinks of it, that determines results ; and 
explains why it is that scarcely two physicians are to 
be found who agree as to the merits of any drug, or 
as to the size of the appropriate dose. No classifica- 
tion of drugs has ever been effected; of the ten thou- 
sand remedies of the schools, not one is reliable for 
any purpose in some patients, and few of them even 
measurably so for most patients. And this is the 
reason why the Homoeopath with his infinitesimal po- 
tency secures results. If the result depended upon 
the power of the drug, it would decrease as the dose 
is diminished; but experience proves that it does not 
decrease, which is explained only by the fact that it is 
the organism that acts and not the medicine. The 
slightest touch of a whip to a spirited horse will prove 
much more satisfactory to the driver than will a blow 
from the same whip; so the vital instincts will respond 
to a mere suggestion more kindly than to violence. 
163. No better evidence of the universality and 
power of this law can, perhaps, be found than the fact 
that it offers a consistent explanation of the successes 
and failures of all forms of treatment that have ever 
been employed for invalids. Powwowing, the Indian 
Medicine-Man’s incantations, Faith-cure, Mind-cure, 
as well as Regular Medicine, at times cures people,— 
a fact taught by the highest authorities. We report 
a few instances from Dunglison’s “ Materia Medica,” 
page 39; the first from a scientist too eminent to allow 
question of its truth : 
“ The author alludes to a well-known case, narrated by Dr. Paris 
in his life of Sir Humphry Davy, in which Dr. Beddoes and Davy 
222 Life’s Great Law 
were about to try the effects of inhalation of nitrous oxide gas for the 
removal of palsy, but having inserted a thermometer in the man’s 
mouth, the patient believing that the thermometer was the curative 
agent, and saying that he felt something better, it was determined to 
administer no gas, but to repeat the application of the thermometer, 
and to trust it alone; this was accordingly done daily for a fortnight, 
and at the end of the time he was dismissed cured.” 
The sympathetic powder of Sir Kenelm Digby 
attained to great reputation in the same way. Even 
King James I. performed many wonderful cures, but 
Dunglison remarks, “ at length the composition of the 
powder transpired, and the charm soon evaporated.” 
Francis Bacon reports concerning ointments applied 
to the weapon that made the wound as follows: “ It 
is constantly received and avouched that the anointing 
of the weapon that made the wound will heal the 
wound itself.” “ In this experiment upon the relation 
of men of credit,” continues Bacon, “ you shall note 
the following points: First, the ointment with which 
this is done is made of divers ingredients, whereof 
the strangest and hardest to come by are the moss 
upon the skull of a dead man unburied, and the fats 
of a boar and a bear killed in the act of generation,” 
etc. 
164. But we need not pursue this subject; we cite 
these facts as illustrative of the truth that it is not the 
medicine, nor ointment, nor treatment that cures, but 
rather the patient’s vital power directed by his thoughts, 
or rather his faith,—faith being conceived to be a fact 
of organic life just as truly as of the intellectual life. 
Faith is the conviction of propriety, of duty, of right, 
which induces work, and is possessed by all organs 
which do work, and without faith there will be no 
223 Vital Science 
consistent work. “ According unto thy faith be it 
done unto thee,” is Science just as truly as it is Scrip- 
ture, and it is simple, common-sense just as much as 
it is either. “ Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” and 
means failure. Faith is an important adjuvant of cure 
in all cases, and in some cases it is the only thing 
needed, because the only thing lacking to emphasize 
the healing processes already in operation. The faith- 
cure is in use in this country, and always has been in 
the world, but it is too generally imagined that in some 
mysterious way divine power is put forth for the patient 
in answer to the prayer of the faithful ones, when in 
reality their prayers and their faith never changed the 
Unchangeable one iota. Nor is the cause of cure out- 
side the patient; we have seen that all power of life, 
healing, happiness, is in the man, and not outside of 
him. “ For, lo, the kingdom of God is within you,” and 
healing is a process of evolution just as birth, growth, 
and development are. And no matter what the appli- 
ance, when cure is effected, it is done through vital 
power brought into operation by convictions of pro- 
priety or necessity induced by the appliance. 
165. Life’s Great Law, therefore, constitutes the 
true principle of Life, being made up of Vital Force 
directed by Self-preservation, or of Self-preservation 
sustained by Vital Force, as we choose. All thinkers 
have agreed to the existence of both these elements 
of life, but this, we believe, is the first time in the his- 
tory of the world that they have been combined in 
accordance with the teachings of Science, so as to 
make the Vital Principle a great primal fact from 
which we may deduce conclusions and cariy on prac- 
224 Life’s Great Law 
tice. The older authors have been very emphatic as 
to the existence of the Vital Principle. Professor 
Robley Dunglison says (“ Materia Medica”),— 
“ Physiologists have noted in every living body an instinctive action 
—an action of the living principle, whether manifestly directing its 
operations to the health, preservation, or reproduction of the living 
frame or any part of it. This applies to the plant as well as to the 
animal. It is the vis medicatrix naturce, for and against which so 
much has been said, but which, if restricted to the above-mentioned 
acts, can no more be denied than the existence of life itself, of which 
we know nothing except by its results.” 
The philosophy of Herbert Spencer has labored 
hard to confuse this subject, by claiming that Life is 
simply a method by which the physical forces act, 
even though it is admitted to be unexplainable how 
the results are produced. (§ 38, 42.) Others would 
claim vitality to be simply chemical affinity in some 
form. The great Baron Liebig, who is hardly sur- 
passed in literature for attention to this subject, says, 
as quoted by Martin Paine,— 
“ Everything in the organism goes on under the influence of vital 
force, an immaterial agent, which the chemist cannot employ at will. 
... It is a peculiar force, because it exhibits manifestations which are 
formed by no other force.” 
It is not to be conceived, however, that Vital Force is 
the only force operative in a living organism, as w 
have already seen. (§ 134.) Every foundation exists 
for its superstructure, but it does not constitute the 
superstructure. All things are ours by right of in- 
heritance, but all things are not us, nor can they be 
made into us. Neither chemical, mechanical, or elec- 
trical principles can produce Life, but Life can readily Vital Science 
appropriate these to its uses. They cannot be trans* 
formed into Life, but they are employed by Life as 
aids to its purposes. Chemical forces always remain 
chemical, mechanical forces and principles are always 
mechanical, whether observed in operation in living 
organisms or in external nature. So while the food 
one eats and the air he breathes readily supply to us 
physical force for the performance of physical work, 
they never do and never can supply to us vital force,— 
the force that preserves, heals, thinks. Food and drink 
occasion vital development and call forth vital power, 
but they yield only physical and chemical power. They 
may develop what previously existed; call forth and 
expend the man’s inheritance; may give him the ap- 
pearance and feeling of strength, and enable him to 
perform physical duties; but Life, vital power, the 
power that heals and saves life, comes only from 
previous life through parentage, as we have repeatedly 
seen. 
226 CHAPTER X. 
environment; or, the laws of vital relation. 
“ Now the difference between Law in the narrower and Law in the 
larger sense cannot be better illustrated than in the difference between 
the three special laws discovered by Kepler and the one universal law 
discovered by Newton. The three laws of Kepler were simply and 
purely an observed order of facts. . . . The higher law discovered by 
Newton revealed their connection and their cause.”—Argyle’s “ Reign 
of Law.” 
166. That Environment exercises an important in- 
fluence upon human life no one can doubt; but just 
what that influence is, and how it is effected, cannot 
be asserted off-hand. As well undertake to declare 
the distance between two points by simply observing 
the appearance of the road, as to decide by observa- 
tion alone how heat or cold, food or drink, rest or 
labor, tonics or stimulants, affect a living organism. 
Imagine what Mechanics was before weights and 
measures had been invented, or chemistry before its 
laws had been discovered, and we have a good idea of 
physiology and hygiene as they are to-day. Environ- 
ment is a subject for scientific investigation carefully 
conducted in accordance with its laws. We propose 
to establish by logical processes the laws which con- 
trol the relations of the living organism to its environ- 
ment ; that is, the relations between Life and the things 
which influence Life, and from thence proceed to test 
227 Vital Science 
the validity of these laws by applying them to a con- 
sistent and reasonable solution of the great problems 
of medical science, which have heretofore baffled the 
skill of the ages,—viz., The modus operandi of medi- 
cines, The nature of disease, The law of cure, and 
finally to establish a scientific etiology, pathology, 
and therapeutics. The consistency of all the results 
reached will be a demonstration of the truth of all the 
parts; for it is impossible that error can agree with 
error so as to form a coherent whole. Truth always 
agrees with truth, so that the solution of the one prob- 
lem yields a corresponding solution of all the prob- 
lems ; all the storehouses of physiological truth swing 
wide open in answer to the application of the one 
key. 
167. In pursuit of this purpose we note a self-evi- 
dent truth: We must have Life before we can suffer, 
enjoy, or be influenced by Environment. Life is 
not the product of Environment, but of Inheritance, 
as every one must see who has not wilfully put out 
his eyes in order that he shall not see. The great 
problems of Medicine and of Hygiene are all involved 
in a study of how Environment affects human life; 
that is, what are the forces and the processes by which 
its effects are produced. The laws by which the forces 
operate, and which, therefore, control and explain the 
effects, are not less important than the sources of the 
force. These laws are empirical, it is true, deriving 
their power and significance from Life’s Great Law, 
just as Archimedes’s and Kepler’s laws derived theirs 
from Newton’s. But they are laws in that they de- 
scribe the “ invariable sequence of facts.” 
228 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
168. Man has been for ages the victim of delusions, 
of which the astronomical delusion that the Sun re- 
volves around the Earth is the great example. But 
this was a harmless delusion in comparison with those 
which are sending millions to untimely graves every 
year. Men have learned some truths, but the truths 
yet to be discovered and disclosed are as mountains to 
mole-hills, and millions to units. Things are not what 
they seem. They are too generally the exact opposite 
of what they seem. 
169. We proceed to the consideration of the Laws 
of Vital Relation, four in number, which together 
cover the whole ground of vital activity and develop- 
ment, and explain everything. These laws are properly 
denominated 
The Law of Action, 
The Law of Power, 
The Law of Effects, 
The Law of Vital Accommodation. 
170. First, then, 
The Law of Action. What we see. 
Whenever action occurs in the living organism, as the 
result of extraneous influences, the action is to be ascribed 
to the living thing which has the power of action, and not 
to the dead. 
But perhaps we will be told that there is nothing 
dead,—that eternal motion is the great fact of exist- 
ence. True, anything may be moved, but some things 
have the power to move themselves. The inquiry is 
a very proper one as to which moves and which is 
229 Vital Science 
moved, which acts and which is acted upon. The 
Century Dictionary tells us that “an act is an ex- 
ertion of energy or force/' and an action is “ a change 
in which the cause lies within the subject.” No one 
will dispute, we think, that a living organism has the 
power of action, whatever may be said of extraneous 
substances, such as medicine, food, drink, etc. And 
no one will question the character of the action which 
this organism performs. It digests food, absorbs 
drink, moves its stomach, bowels, operates its liver or 
its kidneys, sees, thinks, feels, works; all of which 
indicate that it has a power in itself to move itself; 
that is, to act. Will any one suggest that medicine 
has the power to move itself? Once it is placed on a 
druggist’s shelf, will it ever get off that shelf of its 
own volition ? If, then, it cannot move itself, how 
shall it move other things ? And yet we hear con- 
tinually of medicine acting upon liver, stomach, bowels, 
etc. Medicine is material that cannot act. Inertia is 
its primal characteristic; it is capable of being acted 
upon. And Life is a power that can act upon it. 
Whenever, therefore, medicine is brought in contact 
with a living organism the resulting action is vital ac- 
tion,—the action of the living thing that has the power 
of action in itself. The correctness of this conclusion 
will be suggested by considering that from beginning 
to end the living organism has, beyond all question, 
been the actor. It was a living mind that conceived 
the medicine, that manufactured it, prescribed it, ad- 
ministered it. It was hands that carried it, mouth 
that opened for it, tongue and oesophagus that swal- 
lowed it, stomach that received it, bowels or other 
230 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
organ that ejected it. It was nerves, muscles, vital 
organs, that controlled its operations all the way 
through. It is an absurdity, therefore, to say that the 
action which follows the administration of a drug 
is the action of the drug. There is mechanical con- 
tact, of course, and there may be Chemical Affinity 
between the elements of the drug and the organism, 
but the action which we behold is the action of the 
vital system upon the drug in response to its first law, 
the Law of Self-Preservation. 
The same principles apply to food, drink, clothing 
—to every habit and indulgence. It is the living 
organism that acts in obedience to its first law,—to 
receive or reject. 
Is not vomiting an action of the vital system ? Is 
not purging equally so ? If, then, the so-called action 
of an emetic or purgative is really an action of the 
vital system, why are not the effects of every other 
medicine, food, or drink due to vital action ? The 
physician ascribes the action of the drug to selective 
affinity (he thinks). We admit the selection, but it is 
Life and not death that makes it. 
171. The confounding of the term “cause” with 
“ occasion,” which we have repeatedly seen (§§ 72, 73, 
74, 101, 126) is so common in the philosophies and 
so destructive to exact knowledge, we have here once 
more fully illustrated. We saw very clearly in Chap- 
ter V. that the cause of any operation is always in- 
ternal to the thing which operates, works, or acts, 
while the occasion, defined as the “ indirect cause,” is 
usually, if not always, external. The cause of the 
growth, development, and activity of any organism is 
231 Vital Science 
interior,—an inheritance (§ 131), while the occasion for 
these activities is Environment, or something which 
affects it from without. The cause of vomiting, purg- 
ing, coughing, sleeping, waking, thinking, working, 
eating, drinking, digesting, is in the organism, while 
the medicine, it is true, may be the occasion for some 
of these. For illustration: a whip, dog, or locomo- 
tive may be the occasion of the horse running away, 
but the cause which is defined as “ the power by which 
a thing is” must have been in the horse. So a dose 
of calomel may be the occasion for increased action of 
the liver and bowels, but the cause of the increased 
action is in the organs themselves. The liver alone 
can secrete bile; no amount of calomel can usurp its 
functions. The bowels may move and empty them- 
selves, but it is absurd to suppose that calomel may 
move the bowels. Calomel may be the occasion, but 
the power inherent in the bowels is the cause. The 
bowels may run off just as the horse may run away, 
but the calomel is no more the cause of the bowels 
running off than the whip or dog is the cause of the 
horse running away. Popular phraseology, it is true 
will say that the dog did cause the horse to run away, 
But it also asserts that the sun rises and sets. 
172. But few thinkers will continue to urge that 
medicines really act upon the vital system. They 
rather take refuge in the inquiry, What difference 
which acts, the medicine or the organism, as long as 
we get the action ? Our answer is that no truth can 
be insignificant to the scientist. Rather may we say 
that to be exact in observing, and correct in describing 
what we observe, are the all-important qualities of the 
232 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
scientific mind, who well knows that mighty conse- 
quences often hinge upon apparent trifles. The scien- 
tific fact that the living organism acts upon extraneous 
matter, such as medicine, food, drink, etc., and not the 
medicine, food, drink, that acts upon the organism, is 
exactly analogous to the fact that the Earth revolves 
around the Sun, and not the Sun around the Earth, 
and much more important. The living organism is 
the centre around which Environment revolves, and 
not Environment that is the central fact. Life has to 
do with Environment; Environment has no dealings 
with Life. 
In this connection we note how infinitely varied the 
effects of the same substances on different organisms, 
and upon the same organism at different times or un- 
der different conditions. And this is excellent proof 
that it is the organism that is the real agent in pro- 
ducing the effect and not the medicine. No physician 
can tell with certainty what effect upon a living organ- 
ism a medicine will have at a given time. So he can- 
not tell what the effect of food may be in a given case. 
He knows the rule, but he doesn’t know how soon he 
will observe the exception to the rule. 
Again, no amount of calomel will move a dead 
man’s liver or bowels. No medicine will stimulate 
or strengthen or move the organs of a dead body. 
If it is the purgative that acts upon the bowels, then 
the dead should be moved by it just as well as the 
living bowels are. But inasmuch as life is always the 
prerequisite to the so-called action of medicine, the 
proof is complete that it is the life that acts and not 
the drug. (§ 115.) 
233 Vital Science 
And now, how shall we explain the many and pecu- 
liar effects of the varied drugs upon the living organ- 
ism ? 
173. The essential fact of Life, as we have already 
seen, is thought. The organism acts because it thinks, 
so that how it thinks is the determining factor in every 
action. If it wants the food, it will receive it, and it 
is often particular as to the kind it wants. If it does 
not choose to receive the food, it may vomit, purge,— 
produce the pains of colic or indigestion,—just as the 
drug seems to do. This is why “ He that doubteth is 
condemned if he eat,”—why “ it is evil to eat with 
offence.” This is why faith, imagination, infinitesimal 
potency, produce great results. This is how medicine, 
baths, electricity, change conditions ; they change con- 
ditions by changing the vital thoughts. This is what 
the physician does when he prescribes; and why 
bread pills are often more potent for good than opium 
or calomel, as the experience of Dr. Isaac Jennings so 
clearly proved. (§ 234.) 
174- The nature of disease is explained in the same 
way as the modus operandi of medicine. The imme- 
diate effect of a poison is a morbid vital action, and 
medicine is a poison, therefore the action of the or- 
ganism upon the medicine is disease. So the action 
of the organism against any other agency which is 
morbific or repugnant to the vital instincts is disease, 
and illustrates the efforts of the organism to dispose 
of the offending material. Purging by a drug is a 
perfect illustration of diarrhoea and dysentery. Vom- 
iting from the emetic is carried on in the same way 
that vomiting from other causes is. The excitement 
234 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
occasioned by alcohol is precisely similar to the ex- 
citement occasioned by danger, by the cry of fire at 
midnight, or the discovery of the burglar. 
This Law of Action, and The Law of Power as well, 
to which we shall shortly direct our attention, are, as 
we have seen, logical deductions from Life’s Great Law. 
In this way: Life’s Great Law declares an organism 
under the dominion of a power called Vital Force 
(Chapter VII.), which force operates according to a 
law,—the Law of Self-Preservation. (Chapter IX.) 
This organism, therefore, possesses as a primal fact of 
its existence the power to act, and the capacity to 
determine how it will act. Whenever action occurs, 
therefore, because of contact with material things, the 
action is necessarily vital action and not medicinal, 
chemical, electrical, or mechanical. 
175- And this brings us to a consideration of the 
Second Law; The Law of Power—What we 
Feel. 
The power employed and consequently expended in 
any vital action is vital power,—is power from within 
and not from without. 
This law it will be seen is a necessary corollary to 
that which has preceded it. If it is the organism that 
acts, then it is the organism that furnishes the power 
of action, and consequently the power expended in the 
action. And this is the reason why dead men, and 
sometimes half-dead men, fail to respond to a medicine. 
They fail to respond because they do not have the 
power of response. Herschel’s rules already employed 
by us for determining the real cause of the effect is 
peculiarly applicable here. These rules are: 
235 Vital Science 
“ First, Invariable connection between cause 
and effect; 
“ Second, Invariable absence of effect with 
absence of cause; 
“ Third, Increased or diminished intensity of 
effect with increased or diminished intensity 
of cause.” (§ 115.) 
If, therefore, medicines act, or are the cause of vital 
action, they will always produce the exact effect. And 
if they are withdrawn all effect will cease. Or if the 
dose is increased or diminished the effect is corre- 
spondingly increased or diminished. Every physician 
knows how none of these rules apply to medicine. He 
ought to know also that the rules prove conclusively 
that it is the living organism that acts, with invariable 
effect when there is life, with invariable absence of 
effect when there is no life, with increased or dimin- 
ished intensity of effect when there is increased or 
diminished life. Life is the cause, the living organism 
the actor, which supplies the power of action, while 
the medicine is an object to be acted upon. Being a 
poison, it induces vital resistance just as the presence 
of the burglar or highwayman does, and correspond- 
ingly compels expenditure of vital power. 
The modus operandi of a medicine, so called, is, there- 
fore, the modus operandi of the vital organism, as its 
powers are called forth by the drug. The action 
which results is disease, and the power expended is 
vital. 
176. Medicines, therefore, are supposed to cure dis- 
eases by producing diseases (§ 224), and the actions of 
both the medicine and the disease, being actions of the 
236 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
vital system, often become exhaustive, because they 
produce their effects by expending vital power. This 
is the reason why disease is so depleting. It is an ob- 
structed, abnormal vital action, and wastes vital power 
by excessive friction and sometimes by excessive 
action. This is the reason also why that which causes 
disease—viz., drugs—is so exhaustive. Purging or vom- 
iting by medicine is just as depleting as the same dis- 
eases from other causes. The excitement caused by 
alcohol, tonics, tobacco, is not less exhausting than a 
corresponding excitement from other causes, say the 
bite of a rattlesnake or the demands of the highway- 
man. And they all make the subject feel stronger 
and forget his pains for the same reason. It is the vital 
system that acts and supplies the power of action in 
all these cases. And this reservoir of power is not 
exhaustless, as the records of the cemetery prove. 
Stimulation by a caustic irritant like alcohol, or by an 
intensely exciting bath, or by the yell of fire at mid- 
night when you are occupying a room in the tenth 
story of a hotel, is never recuperative no matter on 
what pretence they are employed or how invigorating 
they seem to be. When the long roll of the slain by 
the use of tonics and stimulants shall finally be called, 
there will be included, we opine, in the dreadful list 
very nearly the whole human family. 
And now we pass to the consideration of a third 
law of Environment, which shall be here known as 
177* The Law of Effects.—The secondary effect 
of any act, habit, indidgence, or agency upon the human 
organism is the exactly contrary or opposite of the primary 
effect. 
237 Vital Science 
This law would seem to be analogous to that well- 
known law of physical science that action and re- 
action are equal and opposite, in which respect the 
laws of the macrocosm illustrate those of the micro- 
cosm. Their influence in their department is found to 
be universal; their power is all-controlling ; they prove 
that the apparent is the opposite of the real. As the 
Sun does not revolve around the Earth, so the imme- 
diate and apparent effect of any act, habit, indulgence, 
food, medicine, drug, clothing, is not the real and 
permanent effect. 
178. The illustrations of the truth of this law may 
be drawn from sources both scientific and popular. 
Perhaps no better illustration can be found than the 
effects of anaesthetics, a description of which we con- 
dense from the “ International Encyclopaedia of Sur- 
gery,” as follows: 
“ Phenomena of Anaesthesia.—A description of the symptoms oc- 
casioned by the inhalation of the vapor of ether or of chloroform will 
convey sufficiently accurate idea of the manner in which artificial 
ansesthesia ordinarily supervenes. The first effect ... is a local ex- 
citement of the nervous apparatus of the respiratory passages. The 
senses of taste and smell . . . are powerfully excited. The activity 
of the salivary glands is aroused, and acts of deglutition are stimu- 
lated. . . . The initial effect is disturbance of function; the subsequent 
effect is paralysis of function. Disturbance usually assumes the form 
of exaltation. . . . There is a humming sound in the ears and sub- 
jective impressions of light flash in varied forms across the visual 
field. The pulsations of the heart can be felt, and the vermicular 
movements of the intestines can sometimes be perceived. The arteries 
throb, the brain seethes, waves of heat flush the surface of the body, 
perspiration appears on the face, and may become general, the pulse 
rises, respiration is accelerated, the pupils contract, the eyes close, 
reflex irritability is exalted, and in its general appearance the patient 
resembles a person in the early stages of alcoholic intoxication. 
238 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
To this period of excitement succeeds the stage of diminishing func- 
tion ; cutaneous sensibility grows less, the temperature falls, the pulse 
recedes, the blood-pressure diminishes, the respiratory movements be- 
come deep and full, voluntary movements cease, consciousness gradu- 
ally fails, reflex movements are abolished, and the patient becomes 
utterly insensible.”—Vol. I. p. 406. 
It is worthy of remark that these effects belong to 
both ether and chloroform, and so may be regarded as 
the law of ancesthesia. 
Alcohol furnishes a more popular illustration of 
this law. Its use is so general, and its effects, both 
primary and secondary, so universally observable, that 
we may properly call attention to its delusive nature. 
For ages it was accepted as the good spirit of God, a 
panacea for all human woe, until its use had become 
well-nigh universal. The important corroborative fact 
is that every claim for it has been disproved, and 
larger experience has shown that its ultimate effects 
are the exact opposite of those so generally ascribed 
to it. It was so found to warm a man when he is 
cold, and cool him when he is hot; to strengthen him 
when he is weak, and weaken when he is strong; con- 
tributing to the brilliancy of the orator, or the stupid- 
ity of the maudlin roisterer, that it has had ascribed to 
it every virtue on the one hand, and been denounced 
as the source of every woe on the other. Popular 
opinion has long varied, and continues still in dispute 
with regard to it. Our law explains the contradic- 
tions. As a first effect, alcohol does indeed exalt the 
powers of mind and body, giving hope, comfort, bril- 
liancy, to secure in the reaction the very opposite 
condition of things. Its real effect is, of course, the 
239 Vital Science 
secondary. The primal effect passes with the indul- 
gence, but the secondary effects continue, and are 
repeated for days or weeks, until, with a continued 
succession of secondary effects, the most abject help- 
lessness and stupidity are experienced. 
The use of opium has also become sufficiently gen- 
eral to make its effects well known. The heightened 
sensibilities, pleasurable sensations, joyous emotions, 
awakened by its use soon pass away, and leave the ter- 
rors of hell behind them. The brilliancy of thought 
and intellect, and ecstasy of enjoyment, give way to 
languor, stupidity, horror unutterable. 
Cocaine is a more modern illustration of the same 
principles. It dupes and enslaves its victims as alco- 
hol and opium long have done, only to bring upon 
them the horrors of the damned. Chloral and bro- 
mide, so latterly discovered, but so generally used as 
anodynes and soporifics, have already alarmed physi- 
cians because of their dangerous character. Tobacco, 
tea, coffee, cocoa, all necessitate repetition of use for 
the same reason. 
lyg. This law explains the power of habit in the use 
of destructive agencies of any kind. When for any 
reason an individual indulges, he gets a temporary relief 
with a real increase of the difficulty, so that if there 
was justification for the first dose there is added justi- 
fication for repetition of doses, and the longer he con- 
tinues to indulge the greater the necessity for continu- 
ance. If he drinks his tea, coffee, alcohol, or smokes 
tobacco, because he is weak or nervous, he gets an 
added impulse of power to be followed by a corre- 
sponding depression of power. This necessitates a 
240 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
repetition of doses, and so, growing weaker and more 
nervous, he requires continued increase of doses, until 
life becomes intolerable without his drug. 
The same is true of all medicines. As alcohol per- 
manently weakens because it temporarily strengthens, 
so opium permanently produces sleeplessness, ner- 
vousness, and pain, by temporarily relieving these ail- 
ments. Tobacco steadies the nerves only to produce 
unsteadiness of them, tonics call up the vitality of the 
nerves and muscular systems only to exhaust and 
weaken them. A cup of coffee will cure a headache, 
but invariably fastens the tendency to headache upon 
the patient. Or if it is taken to relieve depression 
of spirits, the depression becomes doubled when the 
habitual user of it is deprived of his indulgence. Try 
it. Let the habitual user of any drug—a drug used 
for months or years—cease its use for a few days, 
and he will experience in their fulness its secondary 
effects, only to be surprised and delighted to find how 
perfectly these secondary effects are neutralized by a 
return to its use. Coffee cures the headache which 
it has produced; whiskey restores the (feeling of) 
strength it has wasted; tobacco, the steadiness of 
nerve it has destroyed. 
180. The same principle holds good in the use of 
tonics for the stomach, cholagogues for the liver, 
diuretics for the kidneys, purges for the bowels. Who 
does not know that purging produces constipation ?— 
and, as the highest authorities tell us, the best way to 
avoid constipation is to avoid purging. So the best 
way to avoid inactivity of the kidneys is to refrain from 
the use of diuretics, and torpidity of liver to refrain Vital Science 
from cholagogues. The way to have steady nerves is 
to use no nervines. The way to sleep soundly is to 
avoid all anodynes. The way to avoid excitement and 
irritation is to avoid all sedatives and narcotics. 
But shall we not employ these agencies as temporary 
expedients to enable Nature to bridge over and recover 
her balance, lost through accident or emergency ? No 
doubt emergencies do sometimes occur in which stimu- 
lation (and narcotization), and especially local stimula- 
tion, is serviceable, even though a future corresponding 
depression must be endured. But this does not justify 
the use of stimulants or other medicines in the belief 
that they will give strength or secure real relief. Nor 
does it follow that stimulation by poisons is at all 
necessary. Nature supplies a great variety of expe- 
dients to awaken increased activity, such as heat, cold, 
electricity, etc., which leave no ill effects save the 
depletion, and may be employed with a certainty and 
ease fully equal to those of drugs. 
181. This great law of effects is a deduction from 
Life’s Great Law, and a further development of the 
law of action and law of power just discussed. The 
living organism, being endowed with the instinct of 
self-preservation, must act in response to conditions 
imposed upon it, and expend its power in the action. 
It is ever alert to its own protection, ever on the de- 
fensive against threatened injury, and easily aroused 
to activity or power in the process of protection. This 
is true physiologically as well as physically, socially, 
or politically. Life, in whatever phase we view it, is 
like a buoy which floats right side up as long as the 
depressing influences do not overpower its buoyancy. 
242 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
It responds to stimulants, tonics, and all poisons in a 
manner analogous to the response of the animal 
brought to bay by its pursuers. It faces with the 
energy of desperation the point of attack, and often 
surprises its enemies by its activity, power, and ability 
to defend itself. 
The energy of medication by poisons is the energy 
of defence. The first effect of any injurious, exciting, 
or exhausting agency is increased activity and apparent 
vigor, representing increased expenditure of power and 
real depletion. No one can doubt the truth of this 
position as long as the threatened injury is intel- 
lectually discerned, as in case of attack from highway- 
man or burglar. Why should it not be true of organic 
life, if it operates subject to the same law of self- 
preservation ? The presence of the burglar will take 
from a man any feeling of lassitude or weakness he 
may have quite as effectively as will a dose of alcohol, 
quinine, or other drug. And for the same reason. 
And here we have the only legitimate explanation 
of the fact that all medicines are more or less poison- 
ous. No medicine can be promptly effective which is 
not positively morbific. Strychnine, arsenic, calomel, 
belladonna, will arouse the vital instincts in a way that 
rhubarb, bread pills, or colored water cannot, unless, 
indeed, these instincts can be cheated into the belief 
that the rhubarb, pills, or water are equally dangerous. 
This is sometimes done by the mesmerist with mar- 
vellous results. Being certain and immediate in their 
effects only because the self-preservative organism is 
aroused to resistance by their introduction, the med- 
icine must be something that will arouse resistance. 
243 Vital Science 
Proper food and drink at proper times are welcomed 
as friends, producing no decided effects, and are, 
therefore, not considered as medicines. It is only that 
which arouses the energies to desperation that brings 
about prompt action. 
182. We have also the explanation why one med- 
icine affects one set of organs and another medicine 
another, and so on through the whole list. All med- 
ical action is due to the recognition and resistance of 
the medicine by an organ or set of organs. It is the 
duty of the liver to recognize and purge out the calo- 
mel, of the stomach to eject the emetic, of the kidneys 
to expel the diuretic. Each organ, having its own 
instincts, deals with its own class of medicines, and 
explains the innumerable facts of Materia Medica. 
183. But this law, let it be noted, applies not simply 
to the use of medicines, but to every act, habit, indul- 
gence, or form of environment of the individual. It 
is as applicable to the preservation of health as to its 
recovery. It applies to the well man just as truly as 
to the invalid. In a word, it is a universal law with- 
out an exception in the universe. For illustration we 
proceed to consider it in its relations to exercise or 
labor, the secondary effect of which should, if the law 
be true, be the opposite of the primary effect. What 
are the facts ? Does not labor or exercise arouse vital 
activity and give the appearance of increased vigor? 
How often do we hear that invalids must keep up, 
because if they give up and go to bed they will lose 
their strength! This is true as a first effect, but if in- 
valids would go to bed, rest, and be willing to be weak, 
they would sooner get strong and well. Who does 
244 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
not know how exhilarating and apparently strengthen- 
ing a journey in carriage or cars is, until after rest and 
reaction the patient finds himself very weak and tired ? 
He becomes weak and tired after resting, but can there 
be any doubt that rest is the true means of recupera- 
tion and health ? The first effect, therefore, of work, 
excitement, travel, is to make the invalid feel stronger, 
but if continued will exhaust him. The first effect of 
rest, on the contrary, is to make the invalid feel weak 
and languid, but there can be no doubt of its recupera- 
tive value. 
In the care and management of horses these princi- 
ples are as aptly illustrated as in human beings. A 
horse grows tough, hardy, and capable of work or 
speed by vigorous exercise,—by training for speed, by 
working for strength, just as does the pugilist, gym- 
nast, or champion athlete. But the training process 
cannot be continued indefinitely without producing 
exhaustion. The horse must be turned out to grass, 
it may be, and the athlete must have rest in order 
that recuperation and vigor shall be secured. But 
what is the first effect of the rest ? Horse and man 
become soft, weak, worthless for great exertion. In 
other words, by training, which is really hard work, 
both man and horse are toughened and strengthened 
to endure great hardships, but exhaustion follows and 
rest must be secured. This rest invariably weakens 
as a first effect, but just as certainly strengthens pre- 
paratory to the ability to resume training and hard 
work. 
184. But these truths are even more clearly ex- 
emplified in the consideration of Sleep. Why do 
245 Vital Science 
people sleep ? For rest, recuperation, and invigora- 
tion, of course. All men agree to the fact that sleep 
is Nature’s great restorer. But is this the first effect 
of sleep or its secondary effect? Work makes men 
bright, active, wide awake, but sleep makes them dull, 
stupid, unconscious, as the first effect. But as the 
secondary effect of work tires, stupefies, exhausts, and 
so must be relinquished, so sleep as a secondary effect 
refreshes and rejuvenates. And these facts are even 
more clearly emphasized by considering the effects of 
ball-room excitement in comparison with the languor 
and weakness of the next morning. Dancing must 
be wonderfully recuperative if we may judge by the 
feelings of the young woman at midnight, and sleep 
correspondingly exhausting if her feelings next morn- 
ing are to be the criterion. (§ 203.) 
The same law is illustrated in eating and drinking, 
in bathing and clothing. The food that is stimulating, 
such as tea, coffee, cocoa, spices, invariably weaken as 
a secondary effect corresponding to the apparent 
strength derived from them. But a more pointed 
illustration is in bathing. The bath that temporarily 
strengthens, as does the cold bath or the very hot 
bath, always weakens in the reaction. The lukewarm 
bath that temporarily relaxes, as does sleep, is as truly 
recuperative in character if not in degree as is sleep. 
Tyros in the water-cure have slain their thousands. 
The aged empiricist has slain his millions with drugs. 
The result in every case has been due to want of a 
knowledge of the law that explains the effect. It is 
written “the just shall live by faith.” There is no 
other way to live and be right. Who trusts to appear- 
246 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
ances is lost. Beware of the drink, the medicine, or 
the bath that makes you feel stronger and better. On 
the contrary, if it quiets, soothes, relaxes, thank God 
and take courage. Sad and weary invalid, it is rest 
and quiet that you need. Excitement, activity, and 
the taxation of violent methods, no matter who pre- 
scribes or on what pretence they are employed, will 
exhaust you. 
185. And now we pause to inquire if it is possible 
that these great truths had escaped the attention of 
all men through all the ages. The answer is, By no 
means. As with Life’s Great Law so with the Law 
of Effects, it is the child of the ages. Though never 
before formulated as a scientific truth, it has received 
acknowledgment, and been urged as a great principle, 
by the world’s great teachers, even though mankind at 
large has regarded it as paradoxical and unexplainable, 
except in some mysterious or miraculous sense. He 
who “ spake as never man spake” promulgated this 
great truth nearly nineteen hundred years ago, while 
for one hundred years it has been recognized in Medi- 
cine and adopted in medical practice, and has con- 
tinued by force of its inherent power to gain adherents 
daily. 
186. Hear what the Great Teacher says : 
“ With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured 
to you again : with what judgment ye judge, ye shall 
be judged,”—Matt. vii. 2; and Luke says, in the same 
connection, “ Give, and it shall be given unto you; 
good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and 
running over, shall men give into your bosom.” And 
Matthew closes this part of the discourse with the 
247 Vital Science 
enunciation of the Golden Rule, that has so long ap- 
pealed to men as the perfection of good sense, and yet 
who have only partially understood its application. 
It is generally supposed to be the rule of right, when 
in reality it is the Golden Rule of success. The same 
rule is set forth by Paul in the words, “ Whatsoever a 
man soweth that shall he also reap.” Give and it 
shall be given you in kind. Sow and ye shall reap as 
ye sow. Do to men and they will do the same to you. 
Whosoever, therefore, appreciates these truths may de- 
cide deliberately what sort of harvest he will reap, 
what sort of riches he shall possess. Men must first 
sow the seed, and the primary effect is loss, but by 
and by they reap as they have sown, they gain as they 
had lost. In other words, first effect, loss ; secondary 
effect, gain ; for it is effects that we are considering, not 
acts simply. 
But this is not by any means the limit of this truth 
to social, moral, or business life. “ Whosoever will 
save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose 
his life for my sake shall save it.” Whoso would be 
rich shall be poor, but whosoever hath left houses and 
lands for my sake and the gospel’s “ shall receive 
manifold more in this present time!' The millions 
of deaths which any one can see are untimely, if our 
laws are true, are due to vain attempts to save life, and 
is perfectly illustrated in the drowning of people from 
accident. It is a remarkable truth in this connection 
that every man who is drowned, drowns himself by 
his useless struggles to save himself. If one falls into 
water, let him lie on his back, elevate his nose to the 
highest point, and with a slight motion of the hands 
248 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
he may float for hours in still water. But if he be- 
gins to struggle, he soon exhausts himself and sinks. 
So it is the struggles of the patient, and the efforts 
of physician and friends to save him, that kill most 
people. In the same way, the insane desire to get 
rich produces more poverty in this world than any 
other cause. If I would have my son end his days in 
a poor-house or penitentiary I would say to him, “ My 
son, get money; honestly if you can, but get money.” 
If I would have him rich and honored I would say, 
“Be a man, money or no money;” truth and honor 
are everything, money is nothing. No power or in- 
fluence since the world began has contributed so 
bountifully to the wealth of people and of nations as 
has Christianity when unadulterated by superstition. 
And Christian nations are now, as heretofore, the 
wealthy ones. And they are Christian in precise ratio 
to the extent that they live in accordance with princi- 
ples instead of appearances. 
“ He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and 
he that exalteth himself shall be abasedand we 
have already shown that he who would be strong shall 
soon be weak, while he who is willing to be weak shall 
get strong. Rest and sleep are Nature’s true restora- 
tives, but they produce their effects by relaxation and 
weakness as a first result. Their effects are the op- 
posite of those of tonics and stimulants, which weaken 
in the reaction corresponding to the apparent strength 
they give. Just so, turning a horse out to grass is a 
grand restorative, even though it makes him so soft as 
to be practically worthless until he has become hard- 
ened again by exercise. 
249 Vital Science 
And by the way, If a horse is to be recovered to 
health and vigor by the relaxation of rest and low 
diet, which is secured by cessation of grain and turn- 
ing out to pasture, what shall be said of stuffing and 
stimulating the invalid human instead of fasting and 
resting him ? And if, as every one agrees, men gain 
strength and vigor by relaxation and sleep, how can 
the giving of tonics be justified for the same purpose? 
A tonic is the exact opposite of a relaxant. If the 
physician recommends relaxation and rest to his pa- 
tient, where is the sense of giving him a tonic at the 
same time ? The thoughtlessness of such practice is 
passing comprehension. The patient needs, it may 
be, a tonic or perhaps a relaxant, but it is absurd to 
say that he needs both at once. 
But we have to note the fact that another despised 
teacher conceived, rather dimly it is true, this great 
law, but with sufficient clearness to have given to the 
world a system of Medicine whose influence has per- 
vaded all medical practice, and whose reputation is 
constantly increasing, notwithstanding its paradoxical 
and, to many people, absurd claims. We refer to 
Homoeopathy and to Samuel Hahnemann, its great 
founder. One hundred years ago Hahnemann pro- 
mulgated the “ Law of Similars,” so called, and made 
such wondrous changes in the methods of administer- 
ing medicines to sick people that no power on Earth 
will ever succeed in expunging his name from the 
records of human progress. Hahnemann, however, 
while he discovered and applied the law to Medicine, 
failed to formulate it, and has not, therefore, accom- 
plished all that could be hoped. But he has proved 
250 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
to every man who has chosen honestly to investigate 
the subject that a medicine diluted to an inconceivable 
degree will produce effects when administered in ac- 
cordance with his law far superior to a million times 
larger dose when given indifferently or in opposition 
to the law. (§ 227.) 
187. Fourth Law; The Law of Vital Accommoda- 
tion.—Nature’s Balance-Wheel. 
The power of adaptability is one of the ever-pres- 
ent facts of living existence. Men live in every cli- 
mate, are subject to all kinds of influences, and in- 
dulge in every sort of habit. They are omnivorous, 
bibulous, heedless, indulging daily in mineral, vegeta- 
ble, and animal poisons on the supposition that they 
are food. It has, indeed, become proverbial that “ habit 
is second nature,” and “ What’s one man’s meat is 
another man’s poison.” Indeed, the proof is hourly 
before us that one may become accustomed to almost 
anything short of hanging. No matter how repugnant 
or destructive a thing naturally is, 
“ We first endure, then pity, then embrace,” 
provided time is given to secure the efficient opera- 
tion of Nature’s Balance-Wheel, whereby a violent 
swaying of vital activities from one extreme to the 
other is prevented. 
Only sudden and violent changes become immedi- 
ately destructive to life, even sometimes when it is a 
change from evil to good habits. But because a 
habit does not seem to be immediately destructive is 
no proof that it is either beneficial or uninjurious. It 
is the secondary effects that are the real effects. No 
251 Vital Science 
man can decide from personal experience whether an 
indulgence is good or bad. To be a man of principle 
is the only way to be right. Society surely furnishes 
examples numerous enough of the effects of indul- 
gences to render both personal experiments and plau- 
sible expedients as unwise in Medicine as in politics 
or business. 
The bearing of this law of accommodation on sev- 
eral important questions is evident. Any discussion 
of the subjects of food, drink, the sexual relations, as 
also the medical treatment of the opium-eater, liquor- 
drinker, tobacco-user, involves this law. It is the 
want of knowledge in this respect which has prevented 
the success of many reforms which have in them the 
elements of great value if they can be carried to a 
successful issue. All changes in human habits should 
be made with a distinct recognition of the fact that 
vital accommodation will succeed provided time and 
opportunity are accorded. To quickly transfer the 
Hottentot to Greenland, or the Greenlander to South 
Africa; to force upon one totally unused to drugs 
the opium, tobacco, arsenic, or whiskey which seem 
normal to those who indulge in them; or even to 
suddenly deprive these victims of their indulgences, 
causes suffering, disaster, or death. Every habit, as 
we have already shown, makes for itself a place in the 
vital economy, and to suddenly cease the habit will 
leave a void that is dangerously uncomfortable at 
least. The inferences from this law of accommoda- 
tion are in favor of reformation but opposed to revo- 
lution, and, being admitted, will greatly add to the 
popularity and consequent success of reform projects. 
252 Environment; or, The Laws of Vital Relation 
Every fact of life, as well as this law of accommo- 
dation, goes to prove that man is a product of evolu- 
tion, not in the sense that one species is developed 
from another. Nor in the sense that animals are 
grown out of vegetables, or man from animals, except 
on the plan which is going on under our daily obser- 
vation. The transformation of vegetable and animal 
material into the human organism through the pro- 
cesses of eating, digestion, and assimilation, is a fact 
of observation, but we have conclusively proved that 
the life or force of these is never transformed. The 
eating of pork does not make us hogs, even if the food 
is the poorest in quality. Nor will eating of berries 
make us birds. Nor eating of fish give us brains. 
It is not disputed that this law modifies vital develop- 
ment. It is believed to be a fact that the habits of 
parents become constitutional tendencies in children ; 
but how far this process of development may be car- 
ried we are not prepared to say. It is the thought of 
this work that heredity chiefly determines character, 
and while Environment may modify for the time, we 
are not sure that the modification can ever be perma- 
nently fixed. 
253 CHAPTER XI. 
THE MODUS OF MEDICINES; OR, DO THEY STRENGTHEN 
YOU? 
“ All those who have acquainted themselves, in recent times, with 
what is known of the structure and chemical composition of the tis- 
sues, the laws of nutrition, and the pathological changes which occur 
in organs during disease, must feel astonished at the unfounded as- 
sumptions, want of evidence, and even unreasonableness which char- 
acterize writings on the action of medicines.”—“ Practice of Medicine,” 
p. 332, by Professor John Hughes Bennett, University of Edin- 
burgh. 
188. We use the term medicine in the larger sense 
to include every substance or agency that is, or may 
be, employed to improve health or cure disease. San- 
atory treatment, such as baths, massage, electricity, 
not less than exercise, rest, sleep, etc., are subject to 
the same principles as are drugs, and the effects are to 
be determined by their proper law,—the Law of Ef- 
fects. (§ 177.) Not less than one hundred thousand 
physicians in this country are daily, and even hourly, 
watching the effects of their medicines upon the human 
organism, as men have been doing for centuries ; but 
as no law has been formulated, even though a few have 
recognized its existence, there is unlimited conflict of 
opinion as to what these effects are. Patients recover 
or die under their influence, and no one seems to be 
able to say why some die and others recover. How 
can they as long as there is no rule for determining re- 
254 The Modus of Medicines 
suits, no yard-stick with which to measure, no formula 
from which to calculate, no postulate from which to 
reason ? One man’s speculations are as good as 
another’s as long as there is no rule to correct obser- 
vations or to determine who is right. 
189* More than two centuries have passed since the 
great Newton demonstrated, in one respect at least, 
that the thing we see is not the thing that really is. 
On the contrary, the apparent is proved to be the exact 
opposite of the real. The Sun does not revolve around 
the Earth, but the Earth around the Sun. That a 
corresponding fact is universally true in the living 
world is not generally known. The priesthood of 
1632 which brought Galileo to his knees, was not more 
superstitious regarding astronomical phenomena than 
are the wise men of to-day with regard to the effects 
of drugs, or of anything else upon the human organ- 
ism. Life’s Great Law is the analogue of Gravitation, 
and does for the living world just what Gravitation 
does for the physical world. The realities of life are 
by it proved to be the opposite of the apparent. The 
Law of Action (§ 170), we found, shows that it is the 
living organism that acts upon the medicine, and 
not the medicine that acts upon the organism, as is 
generally believed. And we learn through the Law 
of Power (§ 175) that it is the organism, not the medi- 
cine, that supplies all the power that is exhibited in the 
action; the medicine, baths, or other agencies being 
simply the occasions or conditions that call forth the 
power. These agencies, therefore, take away what 
they seem to give (power) and give what they seem 
to take away (disease). No matter what the agency, 
255 Vital Science 
the law is invariable; what seems to give strength 
exhausts it, and what seems to make one weak recu- 
perates strength. Sleep is, perhaps, the best illustra- 
tion. No one doubts that it is Nature’s great recuper- 
ative process. But in order to this recuperation the 
patient becomes helpless even to unconsciousness. 
Work, and especially such work as involves the 
greatest possible activity of body and mind, is the 
great process of exhaustion. And no one can doubt 
that it exhausts because of the activity and vigor it 
induces. Lazy, indifferent activity and work exhaust 
slowly. The exhaustion corresponds to the activity. 
“ It is the pace that kills,” as the horsemen say. Why, 
then, does not every agency which correspondingly 
quickens vital processes tend also to exhaustion ? 
And why do not such processes as induce inactivity, 
rest, relaxation, and sleep recuperate living beings ? By 
what process of reasoning may it be asserted that a 
stimulant or tonic strengthens any man ? No matter 
whether the stimulant be a cold morning plunge or a 
hot evening sweat, whether it be whiskey, brandy, 
quinine or calomel, strychnine or arsenic, how can it 
give what it does not possess ? But whoever thought 
of asking such a question ? 
From these and a multitude of similar illustrations 
and proofs (§§ 178, 179, 183, 184) we have been enabled 
to establish a formula of 
The Law of Effects.—The secondary (and real) 
effect of any agency, habit, or indulgence upon the 
human organism is the exactly contrary or opposite 
of the primary and apparent effect. 
We have shown also that this is a universal law, 
256 The Modus of Medicines 
without an exception in any department of life. In- 
deed, we think it is, at least, closely analogous to the 
well-known law of physical science that “ action and 
reaction are equal and opposite.” We have also cited 
the paradoxes of the Christian Scriptures as proof not 
only of the truth of the law but of its wide range of 
applicability. (§§ 185, 186.) 
190. The facts of medical practice further confirm 
this law. Sixty years ago the almost invariable pro- 
cess of treating invalids consisted of bleeding and 
purging. No one disputes that the great Washington 
fell a victim to this treatment. But the results were 
more general than particular. Blood and bowel dis- 
eases increased to an alarming degree. Dysenteries, 
fluxes, choleras, were only more prevalent than blood- 
purifiers which never purified. Alarmed by the results, 
thoughtful physicians began to distrust the practice, 
and soon other theories were advocated. The theory 
which has survived many others which have lived and 
died is that diseases are to be cured and life saved by 
sustaining the patient’s strength. Disease is generally 
looked upon as a conflict between the patient’s vitality 
and something destructive from without. If the vitality 
can be sustained so that the patient does not become 
exhausted by the conflict, his powers will likely win 
the battle and health will follow. 
The theory, in a sense, is right. To sustain the 
patient’s strength through the trying ordeal is the 
central thought of all successful practice. But how 
is this sought to be achieved ? By the administration 
of agencies known to be destructive to Life. “ Our 
most violent poisons are our best remedies,” say the Vital Science 
authorities. They arouse the vital energies as nothing 
else can, and the physician is deluded into the belief 
that they are giving the patient strength, when, as we 
have seen, they are rapidly exhausting his strength. 
191. Let us drop the theories here and proceed to 
an investigation of the facts. Was there ever a time 
in the world’s history when debilities, nervousness, in- 
firmities, were so common among men, and especially 
women, as now ? If blood and bowel diseases in- 
creased with blood and bowel treatment; if the Law 
of Effects is really a true law, why should not weak- 
ness increase with strengthening treatment, nervous dis- 
eases with the use of nervines, and debilities with the 
use of tonics ? For example : The patient is feeble in 
mind and body, as the pulse clearly shows, and friends 
and even physicians are perhaps alarmed at the pros- 
pects. Or the patient is undergoing a serious surgical 
operation, or he is very low because of the operation, or 
from an exhausting fever. The doctor orders brandy 
every two hours. The pulse becomes fuller, stronger, 
steadier, the mind recovers tone, the patient feels 
better, can eat more, talk more, think more. Who 
will say that the brandy didn’t give him strength ? 
The laborer or business man as he wends his way 
homeward from the day’s toil, tired, wearied, exhausted, 
is invited from many a window and door to take 
something to relieve his weariness and give him com- 
fort. No one disputes that the brandy, whiskey, ale, 
or beer will do it. Then why should he not take it ? 
Or he can go into the drug shop and get relief in a 
similar way, only the expense is a little greater. Why 
not go to the druggist ? 
258 The Modus of Medicines 
If there is anything that man wants in this world, it 
is the ability to work—with his brains. Comparatively 
speaking, gold is nothing, silver worthless, bonds a 
nuisance; but brains everything. We would direct 
our pen, our pencil; we would make our bargains, 
write our legal papers, direct our business with brains. 
And if we had enough of them the wealth of the 
world would soon lie at our feet. 
By brains we mean not quantity, but quality; and 
especially the power of thought which is supposed to 
reside in brains. We want brain-power. So we want 
more power in muscles, nerves, stomach, liver, bowels, 
lungs, heart, everywhere. We are like all the others, 
anxiously longing for more power to conquer the 
worlds rather than for more worlds to conquer. 
But the saloon-keeper offers us power in all depart- 
ments of our being at five cents a glass; while the 
druggist offers it at fifty cents a bottle, or twenty-five 
cents a box. Why not accept the offers of one or the 
other ? 
192. The only Reasonable Question is, Will they 
strengthen us ? A few cents is nothing if the nickel, 
silver, or gold can bring us what we so much need. 
No one disputes a truth incontrovertible,—viz., that 
wine, beer, whiskey, brandy, arsenic, strychnine, qui- 
nine, tea, coffee, or any other tonic or stimulant, local 
or general, does, for a time, increase the power of 
work in brain or muscle, in heart or lungs, stomach or 
bowels, as the case may be. It is equally an incontro- 
vertible principle of science that work is performed 
only by the use and expenditure of power. Increased 
brain-work means the use of increased brain-power; 
259 Vital Science 
muscle-work, use of muscle-power; lung-work, lung- 
power ; and so of every organ in the body, increased 
work means increased use of power. 
The brandy, whiskey, arsenic, quinine,—the tonic, 
stimulant, purgative, diuretic, all increase the amount 
of work done, and correspondingly the amount of 
power expended. Something cannot come from noth- 
ing. The question before us is, Whence came the 
increased power to do the increased work ? Did it 
come from the tonic or stimulant, or from the living 
organism ? If it came from the drug,—if we can buy 
brain-power, breathing-power, heart-power, nerve- or 
muscle-power, at five cents a glass or one dollar a 
bottle, we are incontinent fools if we fail to do it. But 
if we supply from our own Life the increased power 
which we may sorely need in the future in order to 
keep us alive, then it were well for us to stop and con- 
sider if we want the drug. Won’t it be wiser to refrain 
from using the power, and by saving it, live longer, 
rather than yield it up unnecessarily and die ? 
193. Whence comes the Increased Power? Sci- 
ence yields an absolutely certain means of determin- 
ing the immediate source whence any power comes,— 
viz., the gain exhibited in the work done corresponds 
precisely to power lost at its source. We may add to 
this loss by friction, but gain beyond the source of 
gain is impossible. Our question, therefore, resolves 
itself into another question, Which was it that lost the 
power exhibited in the increased work, the drug or the 
organism ? Science shows conclusively that when any 
material yields power to do work the material is cor- 
respondingly reduced in quantity, deteriorated in The Modus of Medicines 
quality, or changed to other form or condition. The 
coal that yields heat to warm or produce steam to do 
work, is deteriorated or destroyed in precise ratio to 
the heat given or work done, and is a perfect illus- 
tration of a great principle of Science, that when 
power is used it comes from the total or partial de- 
struction or change of the substance that yields the 
power. To answer the question as to whether it was 
the organism or the drug that yielded the power to 
do the increased work is simply to inquire as to which 
suffered deterioration by the operation. 
194. The deterioration of the drunkard’s organism 
is evident to every observer, and many people can de- 
tect it even in the moderate drinker, but we are not 
able to observe that there is deterioration and conse- 
quent loss of power from the use of a single dose or 
from a score of them. In these cases we can rely 
only upon inference. The use of the stimulant has 
occasioned increased work, involving correspondingly 
increased expenditure, necessitating deterioration of 
the substance that yielded the power. Now, as all 
observation shows that the organism is always deteri- 
orated by the free use of all drugs that apparently 
supply power, and in close ratio to the quantity of the 
drug used, as witness the arsenic- or opium-eater, 
whiskey-drinker, cocaine, or chloral user, we are war- 
ranted in inferring that it is the organism, and only the 
organism, that supplies the power for the increased 
work, and consequently suffers the deterioration, even 
when the drug is used in doses too small to produce 
obvious effects. This is the inference from the fact 
that every machine or organism performs its functions Vital Science 
by the use of its own instead of alien forces, as steam 
through the steam-engine, electricity through the elec- 
tric motor, etc. It is the necessary inference, also, 
from any true doctrine of Evolution which shows that 
work, development, product, is the outworking of in- 
ternal forces, and not the inworking of those which 
are external. (§§ 50, 74.) It is the same conclusion 
from a study of Vital Force; its Nature and Source. 
(§§ 114, 115, 124.) It is equally the just inference from 
the observation of the effects of drugs when used with 
sufficient freedom to make them observable. Why 
not accept all these facts as complete proof that it 
is the organism that supplies the power for the in- 
creased function, and that the drug only excites or irri- 
tates the organism to increased activity? (§§ 214, 215.) 
Against this conclusion no argument is offered except 
the apparent increase of function and consequent ex- 
penditure of power, which is impulsively credited to 
the drug without any investigation as to how the 
drug yields the power. We have here another ex- 
cellent illustration of confounding the occasion with 
the cause. No one can doubt that alcohol, arsenic, 
quinine, occasions increased vital activity and conse- 
quent expenditure of power, but every argument, as 
we have seen, goes to prove that the organism is the 
cause or source of the power. (§§ 72, 73, 74.) No one 
will surely claim that a fraction of a grain of mor- 
phine, strychnine, arsenic, let alone a drop of hydro- 
cyanic acid, incloses the power to produce the won- 
drous effects observable. It is admitted that they are 
not food, but produce their effects in some mysteri- 
ous way not susceptible of explanation. 
262 The Modus of Medicines 
195. Herschel’s rules already noticed,—viz., “Inva- 
riable connection “ Invariable negation of effect with 
absence of cause;” “Increase or diminution of effect 
with increased or diminished intensity of cause 
apply here with remarkable force. If drugs are the 
real cause,—that is, if they communicate the power 
which performs vital functions and produces vital 
vigor,—there will be “ invariable connection” between 
the drug and the function. There will be no function 
without the drug; and there will be an increase or 
diminution of function corresponding to any increase 
or diminution of the drug. The absurdity of such a 
claim is evident; it rests only on superstition sustained 
by indifference. But now let us apply these rules to 
Life or Vital Force, and inquire if these are always 
connected with vital function. All observation shows 
that there is “ invariable connection” between Vital 
Force and vital function ; that there is “ invariable ne- 
gation of effect with absence of cause;” and that there 
is “ increase or diminution of effect with increased or 
diminished intensity of cause.” In other words, the 
connection between Vital Force and vital function in 
every stage or phase of operation answers to the re- 
quirements of Science as cause and effect; while there 
is proved to be no relation as cause and effect between 
drugs and vital function. 
196. A further important test of the real effect of 
any drug, alcohol included, is to use it continuously 
in the recommended dose for months or weeks and 
then to suddenly and permanently discontinue its use. 
This is, we believe, the most important test of the 
effect of any drug. No one believes that the drug is 
263 Vital Science 
digested or assimilated so as to yield from its own 
substance power to the organism, or power to do work 
of any kind. Nevertheless, it increases the amount 
of work done, and, consequently, power expended; 
which power, coming only from the vital system, if it 
does not come from the drug, reduces the amount that 
is left therein. Thus the organism is not only weak- 
ened by the drug, but when the drug is suddenly with- 
drawn, experiences its weakness most keenly. Tea, 
coffee, or any other stimulant or tonic comes under 
the same rules, and its true effects are to be learned, 
not by their use simply, but by their sudden disuse after 
an indulgence continued long enough to have become 
a habit. 
The marvellous power of the drink and drug habit 
is thus explained. Once resort to the use of alcohol, 
opium, or other drug for strength, relief, or comfort, 
and the necessity for repetition constantly increases. 
Because it produces or aggravates the conditions that 
it temporarily relieves, the indulgence never satisfies. 
It produces the disease it seems to cure, and depletes 
the strength it seems to give, so that the longer one 
uses it the more he needs it. And all this because it 
is the organism that supplies the power of action and 
work, the drug only calling forth and expending the 
power which it seems to yield. 
197- Once more we arrive at the conclusion so 
clearly demonstrated in Chapter VIII., that whatever 
increases vital energy correspondingly reduces Vital 
Force. Whether it be labor, business, danger, respon- 
sibility, tonic, stimulant, ball-room excitement, no 
matter what the agency that causes vital action, it 
264 The Modus of Medicines 
thereby expends the vital power. The vital organism, 
not less than external nature, is a reservoir of force 
(§§ 140, 141), which constitutes the only basis of supply 
for every form of vital activity. Science demonstrates, 
that Energy is force in motion, doing work and, there- 
fore, expending power. (§§ 99, 100.) Mr. Spencer is 
right in using the words Motion and Energy inter- 
changeably (§ 93), and scientists are wrong when they 
confound Force with Energy. (§§ 88, 89.) Alcohol in- 
creases, beyond a doubt, the vital energies and reduces 
the Vital Force. Calomel increases the energies and 
reduces the force of the liver and bowels. Strychnine 
does the same for the motor system, and digitalis for 
the heart. But so does danger, as in the burning 
building. So does the highwayman, the ball-room, 
the cold bath, or any other agencies which give the 
appearance of strength. In a word, whatever expends 
Vital Force increases vital energy, because Energy is 
Force in process of expenditure. (§§ 100, 146.) 
198. But it is asserted that the tonic or stimulant 
increases the consumption of food, and, therefore, the 
development of strength. Of course it does. But so 
does labor, excitement, responsibility. Whatever adds 
to a man’s taxations will ordinarily increase the con- 
sumption of food and the production of energy. But 
what advantage has been gained by adding to a man’s 
taxations in order to make him eat more? We have 
conclusively shown that Vital Force is not transformed 
from food any more than from stimulants. (§ 117.) 
Food and stimulants develop vital energies; but Vital 
Force is a fact of inheritance which food, drink, medi- 
cines, call forth and expend in the form of vital energy. 
265 Vital Science 
(§ 141.) The digestion and assimilation of food is 
itself a taxation, imposing increased burdens upon 
stomach, liver, lungs, heart, kidneys, which are already 
in most cases of invalidism overworked. How will 
increasing their burdens relieve the patient? What 
he needs is not increased work, but more rest; not 
added taxations, but reduced labor. 
199- Who can doubt that the length of a man’s 
life, other things being equal, depends upon the power 
which he really possesses,—upon what Science calls 
Intrinsic Force, and not upon what is manifested 
through the excitement of drugs or the doing of 
work ? Who can doubt that a man’s possessions de- 
pend upon what he saves, and not upon what he 
spends,—upon the power or wealth which he still has 
for the performance of work, and not upon the power 
or wealth which has been called forth by any means 
or for any purpose? (§ 142.) “The mill cannot grind 
with the water that has passed,” nor can life be main- 
tained on the power that has already been used. It is 
seldom that a man is so sick or weak that he cannot live 
now, and perhaps for days or weeks. The physician 
is called not for present need, but to secure life and 
health for the days to come. The patient can gener- 
ally bear the present. What he wants is power for 
to-morrow or later. The physician’s work should be 
not present increase of power at the expense of future 
weakness, but rather future increase of power through 
rest and saving of power. He should not give tonics 
and stimulants to get temporary activity and vigor, 
because the patient can live without these, but he 
should manfully withhold the stimulant and secure 
266 The Modus of Medicines 
inactivity, quiet, sleep, and rest, no matter how im- 
patient the sick one or his friends may be to see ap- 
parent improvement. We should, in a word, treat 
the sick man on the same plan that we would treat 
the debauchee,—urge him to restrain his craving for 
his indulgence, whether this be business or pleasure, 
food, drink, or medicine, whereby apparent strength 
and health is secured, and instead, wait patiently for 
results. The patient won’t die to-day, let us try to 
save his strength and vigor for to-morrow. Children 
and fools live by appearances, which means always to 
be wrong. The just or righteous one lives by faith, 
the only way that men can live and be right. 
200. Here, then, we have the same delusion which 
we have reached in other chapters through other 
forms of argument. (§141.) In a matter concerning 
one’s own continued life, we discover that the real 
facts are the exact opposite of the apparent and gen- 
erally trusted ones. We are not now controverting 
the theory that the sun revolves around the Earth, 
but an exactly parallel one that stimulants and tonics, 
no matter what kind, give strength to the living organ- 
ism. We assert and prove by incontrovertible facts 
and logic that all those substances, agencies, medi- 
cines, that are so generally relied upon to save life 
and restore health, do, on the contrary, destroy health 
and hasten death. We uncover the parent stem from 
which the alcoholic delusion is but an offshoot, and 
not the chief one. We are not inveighing against 
either drugs or doctors, hotel- or saloon-keepers, but 
we are seeking to disclose a principle of universal ap- 
plication. That we have succeeded may be gleaned 
267 Vital Science 
from the fact that we have been compelled to reach 
the same conclusion through several different forms 
of presentation and argument. If alcohol makes a 
man seem and feel stronger by inducing increased 
vigor of his functions while it yields no force to sus- 
tain these functions, it is of necessity exhausting him. 
If quinine, arsenic, or other drug does the same thing, 
we must chronicle the same result. If digitalis in- 
creases the vigor of the heart’s beats without yielding 
power to the heart from its own substance, as we are 
sure no intelligent physician believes, it is exhausting 
the heart, and has more to do with the numerous 
deaths from heart-failure than is generally believed. 
In a word, it being proved that the vital energies are 
but an active development of the Vital Force, it follows 
that whatever increases those energies correspondingly 
reduces the force on which they depend. (§ ioo.) 
201. Stimulants and tonics are not the only agents 
employed to increase vital energies. The essential 
discovery of the old German peasant, Preissnitz, con- 
sisted in the use of baths to produce the same effects 
upon the human organism that physicians had long 
been engaged in securing by the use of deadly poisons. 
Preissnitz had his stimulant, tonic, sedative, diapho- 
retic, diuretic, derivative baths, which enabled him 
to rival the schools. There is but one respect in 
which he perfectly agreed with them,—viz., in the 
violence of his methods. It would require a pretty 
large dose of brandy, whiskey, quinine, or arsenic to 
produce more exciting effects upon the sensitive human 
organism than to call a man out of a warm bed in the 
early morning and make him stand under a stream of 
268 The Modus of Medicines 
the coldest water, falling upon his spinal column, with 
a pressure of thirty pounds to the square inch, or to 
be wrapped in a cold wet sheet for an hour, or even 
to walk barefoot in the morning dew, and to repeat 
such processes daily or several times a day when pos- 
sible. If these things do not wake up the sleeping 
powers, we do not know what would. “ React or 
die” is the authoritative command to the vital in- 
stincts, and where the love of life is strong, reaction 
does often take place, and apparently good results are 
obtained. But what of the feeble ones who have little 
power of reaction ? They die, of course, but no one 
suspects that a Water-Cure doctor could have done 
them any harm. Or they live, and become ever-re- 
curring patrons of the wonderful Water-Cure, making 
yearly pilgrimages to their chosen Mecca. 
202. The violence of the Water-Cure has largely 
subsided, but baths and bathing continue to be an 
important and valuable appliance of sanatory treat- 
ment. How shall they be, and how are they, admin- 
istered? In accordance with the judgment of the 
physician, of course. But how does the physician 
form his judgment? In accordance with the apparent 
effects. If the bath seems to make the patient feel 
better, seem stronger, both physician and patient are 
likely to think it is suited to the case. The patient is 
weak, and it is imagined that he needs a tonic. His 
liver, bowels, brain, are inactive, dull; give him a bath 
to wake up his energies, and it is supposed that he is 
being cured. And so the toning and stimulating 
processes continue for weeks or months, the patient 
always getting well, but never gets well. 
269 Vital Science 
The illustrations of these truths are so prevalent 
that it would be a waste of time and space to under- 
take any enumeration. But there is a thought in this 
connection worthy of consideration,—viz., that the 
exhaustion of Vital Force through its development 
into vital energy by the use of tonic and stimulating 
appliances, of whatever character, is the legitimate 
cause of most, if not all, of the relapses to which pa- 
tients under treatment are liable. What are called, in 
medicine, seqiiela it is believed are equally the product 
of erroneous measures; for experience shows that 
they do not occur under rational methods. 
Vital Force is the foundation of all health, while 
vital energy, as we have seen, is this same force in 
process of doing work, and, therefore, in process of 
being transferred to the work, and consequently in 
process of expenditure; so that it follows that what- 
ever increases the energies reduces the force and 
tends to undermine the constitution. The admistra- 
tion of tonics and stimulants, whether to special 
organs of invalids or to the general system, is per- 
fectly analogous to building up the superstructure by 
the use of material dug from the foundation. To 
restore health by undermining health is nineteenth 
century medical science; let the twentieth century 
develop new measures. What is wanted is not so 
much new processes as new principles, not new men 
but new thoughts. 
Sleep is the great representative process of recupera- 
tion ; and all successful medical treatment must act as 
sleep does. Activity and excitement, on the contrary, 
are the great representatives of exhaustion and final 
270 The Modus of Medicines 
death, and all treatment which excites, stimulates, 
tones, and apparently strengthens, is destructive and 
delusive to the last degree. Let us illustrate: 
203. A young lady with not overmuch strength 
attends the village ball. Listening to the inspiring 
music, she dances and dances into the small hours 
of the morning. It is all so delightful she wishes it 
would never end. Her eyes grow bright, her com- 
plexion brilliant; and she feels so well that, if we 
knew no better, we would be constrained to own that 
midnight revelry is wonderfully recuperative. But the 
music finally ceases, and she returns to her home, and 
to bed and sleep. Next morning she is so tired and 
listless, with pale face, eyes dull, temper irritable, and 
head aching. Surely sleep is the thing to be avoided 
and revelry the thing to be courted. And has not all 
human experience justified the hoary-headed father 
and mother in urging the recuperative atmosphere of 
the ball-room, and warning sons and daughters against 
the baleful influences of sleep ? And yet in spite of 
these facts of experience, corroborated by the testi- 
mony of millions, we dare assert that sleep is recupera- 
tive and revelry exhausting, and that any process that 
will truly and permanently restore invalids to health 
must produce the results of sleep and avoid the results 
of revelry. 
Further examples of the truth of this thought 
ought not to be necessary. We proceed to inquire, 
What are the immediate results of sleep, and how does 
it produce recuperation ? The first effect is relaxation, 
which is another name for apparent weakness, and is 
the very opposite of the effect of the tonic. Yet 
271 Vital Science 
who is it that says to the tired business man, “ Quit 
business; get away for a season of relaxation, and I 
will give you a tonic” ? Shall we call it superlative 
thoughtlessness, transcendent ignorance, or arrant 
quackery ? Sleep represents the greatest possible in- 
activity and the most perfect rest, and simulates death 
as no other condition of human life does, but in the 
very fact of simulating death it is the great preserver 
of life. Eyes refuse to see, ears to hear, touch, taste, 
and smell have departed, muscles and nerves relax, 
and brain rests. Can there be any doubt that the sea- 
son of recuperation is the season of inactivity ? And 
how better can we describe the folly of tonic or stimu- 
lant than by comparing its use to the mother who 
pinches her sleeping babe to find out if it is alive. 
How far along in the process of human development, 
we wonder, was it when this brilliant plan of keeping 
babies alive was abandoned ? 
Sleep, therefore, is the bedridden condition, the 
condition of weakness which represents the saving of 
power,—the state of complete inactivity of all the 
functions that it is possible to relinquish, and the re- 
duced activity of all such functions as must continue. 
Why all this cessation of function, this reduced action 
of heart, lungs, brain, nerves, muscles, if it is not that 
they may rest and recuperate their energies, and get 
ready for future work ? In the administration of treat- 
ment, therefore, in which health, strength, and vigor 
shall be permanently restored, shall we employ meas- 
ures to bring about conditions similar to those that 
belong to sleep or the opposite ? Shall we secure in- 
activity or produce excitement ? Shall we relax or 
272 The Modus of Medicines 
tone ? Quiet or stimulate ? If we would, in a word, 
indicate the ideal condition of the patient who is un- 
dergoing recuperation, we would say, Let us have 
him, sans eyes, sans ears, sans mouth, sans nose, sans 
nerves, sans muscles, sans everything except the breath 
of life,—let us have him asleep. 
273 CHAPTER XII. 
THE NATURE OF DISEASE. 
“ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”—Hosea. 
204. How may one deal successfully with a thing 
whose nature he does not understand ? More disas- 
trous still would be the result if we mistook the wolf 
for a lamb, our friend for a burglar, a stick of dyna- 
mite for a block of wood. There is every reason to 
fear that just such mistakes are being made every day 
on the subjects of health and disease. We would 
carefully learn to distinguish between them and their 
causes that we may avoid the one and cultivate the 
other. More particularly we would discover the exact 
nature of disease in order that we may successfully 
treat it. 
205. It cannot be doubted, we are sure, that disease 
is a process as well as a product of Nature; and what 
the process is, in order that we may control (§ 2) or, 
at least, predict the result, must ever be a subject of 
great importance. Without further preliminary we 
proceed to describe the processes of disease as we 
trace them in the analogies of Nature, and shall hope 
to indicate a consistent solution of its great problems. 
Nature as a whole, we have seen (§ 6), is made up 
of phenomena, forces, and laws. The human constitu- 
tion, we have also seen (§ 130), is perfectly analogous 
274 The Nature of Disease 
to Nature in this respect. We naturally conclude 
that disease, which is so important a part of both, is 
equally constituted of phenomena, forces, and laws. 
The phenomena, usually called symptoms, are the 
things produced, while Force is the power that does 
the work, and Law is the directing agency,—a trinity 
which cannot be separated. We cannot have the 
symptoms of disease without the forces that produce 
them, and force could do nothing unless directed. 
We proceed to the inquiry, What are the forces of 
disease ? And what are its laws ? 
206. It is a truth which we have already established 
(§§ 84, 92) that Nature, the unit, proceeds to the many 
through three branches or fundamental departments, 
the chemical, the mechanical, and the vital, as declared 
by Sir John Herschel and corroborated by the Genesis. 
Each of these departments is presided over by its own 
great force, under direction of the one invariable law, 
which law, sustained by its force, produces all the 
effects or phenomena of its department. It is, indeed, 
a remarkable fact that the very opposite results may, 
and often do, follow the operations of the same law, 
sustained by the same force, in answer to opposite 
conditions. Gravitation makes a man to float in water 
or drown, and whether he sinks or swims depends 
upon himself. So Gravity floats the balloon or brings 
it to the earth, but man decides which he will have. 
And he always gets what he wants if he supplies the 
conditions. Chemical Affinity makes dynamite or 
explodes it, just as man provides. Just so the Vital 
Principle, made up of Vital Force under control of 
Life’s Great Law, produces pleasure or pain, health or 
275 Vital Science 
disease, just as the conditions warrant. If one would 
be healthy, let him live healthfully. If he prefers to 
be sick, he can be accommodated. In each department 
of natural existence all its processes are under control 
of its one primal law, sustained by its own individual 
force, the results corresponding to the infinite variety 
of conditions existing. The force which performs all 
vital functions, whether in health or disease, is called 
Vital Force. The Law which directs and controls this 
Vital Force is Self-Preservation. (§ 150.) And whether 
the result shall be disease or health depends upon 
whether the conditions are healthful or unhealthful, 
subject, however, to the controlling influence of Na- 
ture’s Balance-Wheel,—the Law of Vital Accommoda- 
tion. (§ 187.) There is no power that can do the work 
of the vital organism but the power of the organism. 
The power that made it is the power that maintains it 
in operation, replaces its wastes, restores its lesions,— 
does whatever is done. Disease, being internal to the 
organism, and occurring only in living things, proves 
that it is the product of the vital forces. The fact that 
vital power works with certainty to the production of 
any form of operation, just as wre supply the conditions 
for it, is further proof. A man can have anything he 
wants in this connection up to the full limit of his in- 
heritance, provided he is able to secure or supply the 
conditions. He can, in general terms, be sick or well 
as he chooses; and we affirm it as a sober, scientific 
fact that it is much easier to be well than sick. All 
Nature is pledged to the recovery and maintenance of 
health; disease represents Nature weeping over the 
sins and follies of her erring children. 
276 The Nature of Disease 
207. The connection between health and disease is 
incidentally set forth by the late Professor George B. 
Wood, of the University of Pennsylvania, at the same 
time that he admits entire ignorance of the nature of 
disease. He says, “ Practice of Medicine,”— 
“ We have not yet learned the essential nature of the healthy 
actions, and cannot, therefore, understand their derangements.” 
A knowledge of the nature of disease undoubtedly 
presupposes a knowledge of the healthy actions. The 
law of life is the law of health and the law of disease; 
the forces of the one are the forces of the other. Great 
progress has been made in our knowledge of the initial 
processes of life since Dr. Wood wrote, and we are in 
much better shape to discover the nature and deduce 
the proper treatment for disease than he could be. 
Life, we have learned, is an invisible principle of ex- 
istence, which coming only from preceding life, and 
endowed with the instinct of self-preservation, proceeds 
to build for itself a house in which to dwell and a 
machinery through which to work. In accordance 
with these objects it seizes upon and appropriates to 
its use such material as is suitable. In its early stages, 
while its powers are only slightly developed, the ma- 
terial for its use must be plastic, easily assimilable, and 
exactly suited to its wants. Such material is usually 
enclosed within a shell, in which it may be easily pre- 
served, and from which it may be withdrawn as neces- 
sity requires. This organic matter is not thus plastic, 
sensitive, and easily changed in order that heat, light, 
electricity, etc., may generate in it the living principle, 
as some teach, but in order that the living principle, 
277 Vital Science 
which has been communicated from preceding life, 
may be able to easily organize it into an organism. 
The visible protoplasm, made up of albumen, etc., 
is the material (§ 156), but Life, the invisible principle, 
is the workman which organizes for itself an organism 
to suit the conceived plan. (§ 154.) All work, natural, 
human, or divine, begins in conception,—the concep- 
tion of a plan,—proceeds by evolution, and illustrates 
the use and expenditure of power in the performance 
of the work. The human organism is first conceived, 
then grows, and is finally born and developed in ac- 
cordance with the conceived plan. The worker, the 
material used, and the work done are distinct from 
each other, as we have seen. (§ 68.) The power, the 
process, and the result will never be confounded in 
any true system. Vitality or Vital Force is the power, 
disease or health is the process, and recovery or death 
is the result. A knowledge of disease, therefore, in- 
volves a knowledge of the vital processes. 
208. Quain’s “ Dictionary of Medicine” (page 382) 
is right in teaching that disease begins where health 
begins,—where life begins,—in protoplasm, which 
constitutes the active agent of production, growth, and 
repair. It says,— 
“ We are, therefore, not hoping and believing too much when we 
express our conviction that the time is not remote when we shall be 
able to trace those early and minute changes which constitute disease, 
and the causes which give them origin, and that we shall be able to 
define in a more philosophical form what disease really is.” 
We are of the opinion that the processes of disease 
are to be traced logically, not visibly. The microscope 
has yielded to us valuable information of the processes 
278 The Nature of Disease 
of life and growth, but disease is not equally observ- 
able. On the contrary, its processes can be reached 
only through reason, as are the corresponding pro- 
cesses of Astronomy and Chemistry. Our knowledge 
of the composition of an acid, alkali, or other sub- 
stance does not depend upon the microscope. The 
facts from which to reason on the subject of disease 
are already sufficiently abundant, and so we proceed 
to deduce the nature of disease from the facts of phys- 
iology. 
The first important fact to be noted is that all vital 
operations, of which disease is one, begin where life 
begins, in protoplasm, as the result of an invisible 
potency within it. The individual worker who builds, 
regulates, and repairs the organism was first declared 
to be the cell (the Cellular Theory); but soon it was 
discovered that the cell itself is filled with matter 
called protoplasm or bioplasm. But inasmuch as this 
matter may be alive or dead, having been killed, and 
if dead performs no functions, it becomes evident that 
the work of building, organizing, or repairing is not 
performed by protoplasmic material, but by a living 
principle which, though invisible (all causes are invis- 
ible, § 54), evidently resides in the protoplasm, and 
performs its work. It is Life, an invisible principle of 
existence, which, appearing first in protoplasm, pro- 
ceeds to build, with marvellous skill, nerve, muscle, 
and bone; and, operating with an intelligence pecu- 
liarly its own (§ 157), it carries forward all vital func- 
tions and regulates all vital processes, adjusting with 
utmost skill the organism to its environment. It is 
Life which adjusts itself to the Environment, whenever 
279 Vital Science 
it does not change the Environment. It is Life which 
acts, and Environment which is acted upon. Life is 
the subject, and Environment is the object. 
209. Another important fact which leads up to a 
consideration of the true nature of disease is that the 
use of any tools, machinery, or organs wears them, 
and in order to continued use repairs are frequently 
necessary. The living organism is hourly in process 
of repair as well as wear. Waste and repair are facts 
of Life which are always being carried forward in 
the animal economy, at least. And this is a fact of 
physiology,—a process of health. But extraordinary 
processes of repair may also be necessary at times, 
and these are often painful, laborious, and exhaustive. 
They cannot be called healthful. They are patho- 
logical processes, and, therefore, diseases. They are 
abnormal in answer to abnormal conditions, but they 
are curative all the same. In the emergencies of Life, 
if a wound is suffered, Nature at once begins a process 
of repair. At first it is naturally a process of resist- 
ance to further injury. It is called irritation, and soon 
becomes inflammation, which is the immediate process 
of healing. Then follows, in many cases, a process of 
purification. The parts are liquefied in order to ex- 
pulsion ; and this is called suppuration. By and by 
granulation appears; and this is the ultimate process 
of healing. The process is a diseased process, every 
step in it having an object in view. The symptoms 
are the symptoms of disease. The heat is increased 
because of increased activity in the nutritive processes. 
There is abnormal redness for the same reason that 
there is increase of heat. And there is swelling, due The Nature of Disease 
to the increase of nutritive material in the parts. Pain 
also is usually present because of pressure on sensitive 
nerves or from excessive labor. But the process is a 
process of healing, which is properly called inflamma- 
tion, a real disease. 
We are of opinion that no person acquainted with 
these facts, who will stop to consider their bearing, 
will dispute the curative efforts, if not curative effects, 
of disease in such cases. Why not in all other cases ? 
Because the other cases do not always get well. But 
neither do all wounds get well. Just as Gravitation 
may, while attracting matter to the Earth, fly a kite or 
float a balloon; may carry a railroad train over the 
bridge, or, under changed conditions, dump it into the 
river; so Life’s Great Law may cure or kill, according 
as the conditions are for recovery or death. But the 
attempt is always to cure. Self-preservation is the 
first law of Life. And cure will be effected in every 
case if the power is sufficient and the conditions are 
favorable. 
210. One important condition for cure in these 
cases is cleanliness, which is often secured by the use 
of salves and plasters. In severe cases rest is also 
important, and especially rest of the organs of excre- 
tion, in order that they may be prepared for the extra 
labors soon to be imposed upon them. Suppuration, 
we have said, is a cleansing process. It seldom occurs 
except where contact with the external world has in- 
troduced foul matters which must be eliminated. A 
broken bone, for instance, if there is no external 
wound, seldom suppurates. Never does so unless the 
blood is very foul and itself introduces impurities into 
281 Vital Science 
the wound. Nor does fever, any more than inflamma- 
tion, ever proceed to destructive processes except be- 
cause of exceeding foulness within. Disease-germs 
are among the later discoveries of modern medicine. 
And no one can dispute the reality of their existence, 
or that they are very serious affairs because of their 
ability to reproduce themselves. They are living 
things, which multiply indefinitely as long as food, 
moisture, and heat are abundant. But they cannot 
live on pure blood, as has been frequently proved. 
They are natural scavengers, whose business it is to 
eat up foulness. The man who breathes foul air, 
drinks impure drinks, eats excessively, perhaps, of im- 
pure foods, or works to exhaustion, so that the natural 
processes of purification cannot be carried out, is bar- 
gaining for a visitation of germs to clean house for 
him. If they come, whether in the form of diphtheria, 
typhoid, la grippe, small-pox, or any other disease, 
give him abundance of pure air, and see that he 
breathes it; give him abundance of pure water, of 
comfortable temperature, and see that he uses it inside 
and out. Stop feeding him, so that liver, lungs, kid- 
neys, bowels, skin, will be free to purify the blood al- 
ready made (this is much better than bleeding), and 
let him rest. Inherent vitality, we have seen (§ 134), 
alone heals, repairs, cures; and no amount of feeding 
can add to this curative power. Food is the condition 
for its expression, and should be supplied whenever 
there is a natural demand for it; but to force it upon a 
helpless stomach is a piece of inexcusable charlatanry. 
211. The sources of impurity of blood in any or- 
ganism are always more or less numerous. Besides 
282 The Nature of Disease 
the liability which is upon all men to take in poi- 
sonous matters from without, there is even greater 
liability to generate poisons within. It is the chief 
work of five of the most important organs of the 
body to carry on cleansing processes. The lungs 
exhale carbon dioxide, the liver secretes bile, the kid- 
neys excrete urea, etc., and these organs may easily 
become overworked and fail to perform their functions 
vigorously, thereby causing accumulations which poi- 
son the centres of life and afford a delightful repast 
for disease-germs. 
But it is believed that the bowels in most people 
are the chief sources of impure blood. Not only- 
may these organs fail to carry out the foul matters 
lodged in them, but they frequently reabsorb them. 
How frequently this occurs few people imagine! A 
daily movement of the bowels is no certain evidence 
that the bowels are doing their duty. A few years 
ago we treated a patient suffering from ulceration of 
the soft palate extending to the roof of the mouth, 
which had defied all medical treatment for months, 
and though he had a regular daily movement we de- 
cided that his bowels needed attention. By a sys- 
tematic course of kneadings, rubbings, and percussions 
the bowels were rendered very active, and his ulcer- 
ation ceased at once, and never gave him trouble 
afterwards. A man’ bowels are sufficiently constipated 
to cause him great trouble if the fecal matters require 
three days or a week to pass through, even though he 
has a movement daily. Obstruction of these great 
sewers of human life is the rule and not the exception, 
and men wonder why they have typhoid fever, diph- 
283 Vital Science 
theria, or “ malaria” (as they call it). The wonder is 
that they have avoided the consequences of their own 
carelessness so long. If they are at length overtaken 
in their folly, the true treatment consists in a process 
of purification. In all cases the bowels should be 
thoroughly and repeatedly emptied by large warm 
water enemas. This is especially important in all 
cases of typhoid. 
Rest in bed is next in importance. But even more 
important than either is as complete rest of all the 
vital organs as is possible to secure. This is obtained 
by ceasing to eat for days, or until appetite urges new 
supplies. The work of liver, lungs, kidneys, heart, 
etc., is measured precisely by the amount of food one 
eats. To cease the use of food for a time affords the 
most complete rest to the vital organs, or permits 
them to carry forward their work very perfectly, so 
that purity of blood soon takes the place of the pre- 
vious impurity, and disease-germs are thus starved 
out. Will the patient starve ? By no means. Food, 
we have seen (§ 135), does not supply one iota of heal- 
ing power. It supplies an element of physical power 
for the doing of physical work, but we send the patient 
to bed to avoid physical work, and many patients 
will thrive for days or weeks on the material already 
stored within. No amount or kind of food possesses 
any healing virtue. Neither do drugs, baths, or any- 
thing in Nature but the patient’s inherent Vital Force. 
Disease is Nature’s process of cure, and will always 
be effective whenever the conditions for cure are sup- 
plied, and the Vital Force is sufficient. If the power 
is not sufficient, no external applications can make it 
284 The Nature of Disease 
so. It may be accumulated, in many cases, by rest; 
it can never be supplied from without. 
212. Unfortunately for the world, these are not the 
popular doctrines. Only because, as we believe, the 
subject of disease in its broad, general aspects, is sel- 
dom considered. Medical books by the thousands 
have been written advising treatment of diseases, but 
it is very rare that any consistent thought is given to 
the subject of diseases in general. We are glad to be 
able to note an exception. Among all medical writers, 
Professor John Hughes Bennett, Senior Professor, etc., 
University of Edinburgh, is the most philosophic and 
reasonable whom we have met. He discusses diseases 
in their general aspect and gives a theory of disease 
which is not only suggestive but exceedingly practical. 
He says, “ Practice of Medicine,” p. 346,— 
“ The notion that disease is a something which, having got in, re- 
quires to be driven out of the system,—is an enemy that we must attack, 
lay siege to, and conquer,—is one that largely prevails in the works of 
therapeutists. * The intestinal canal is, in the great majority of cases, 
the battle-field where the issue of the most important disorders is 
decided.’ (Hufeland.) ‘We must introduce the only medicine of 
which we are thoroughly convinced that it possesses the power of 
efficiently striving with the enemy who, by subtle means, has now 
effected an entrance within our stronghold.’ (Headland.) ‘ The 
whole of life is a perpetual struggle with an enemy to whom we must 
at last succumb.’ (Stille.) These expressions, however metaphori- 
cal, indicate the kind of operation sought to be carried out in treating 
disease. The active practitioner, like the victorious general, is more 
intent on driving out the enemy than in securing the safety of the 
fortress, which during the operations of both is too often greatly 
damaged, and not unfrequently levelled to the ground. But the truth 
is, in many cases what we call disease, instead of being an enemy, is 
our best friend. It should be regarded as the natural and necessary 
result of those injuries to which the animal economy is necessarily ex- 
285 Vital Science 
posed. It is the effort made by nature to eliminate from, or reconcile 
the frame with, those noxious causes which have influenced it. If it 
cannot do this the vital force is exhausted. Our great object, there- 
fore, should be, not to suppress, but to favor the natural operations of 
diseases, and conduct them to a favorable termination. If a sword is 
thrust into the flesh, should we suppress the pain, heat, redness, and 
swelling which result? No; for they are the evidence of those 
healthful changes, which, properly managed, will heal the wound. If 
the lung be inflamed, should we seek to check the dyspnoea, arrest the 
fever, and weaken the pulse ? Again I say no. They are the proofs 
that the constitution is actively at work in repairing the injury and 
preparing the way for recovery. Neither can it be correctly supposed 
that life is a constant struggle with death. On the contrary, death is 
the natural termination of life; and so far from being an evil, can 
only be so considered when it is induced by violent or unnatural 
means.” 
213. Professor Bennett’s remarks are certainly very 
suggestive, and, we are pleased to note, are true as far 
as they go. “ In many cases,” he says, “ disease is 
not an enemy, but our best friend.” This doctrine is 
so revolutionary that, no doubt, he hesitated to an- 
nounce its full import. He might well have said, “ In 
all cases” where a clear distinction is maintained be- 
tween the disease, its causes, its occasions, and its re- 
sults, “ disease is our best friend.” Unfortunately, these 
distinctions are never observed in medicine. It is 
one of the noteworthy facts of all speculative systems 
that definiteness cannot be obtained. The occasions 
of disease should always be avoided. These exist in 
any environment that is unfavorable to health. The 
causes of disease, like the causes of health, on the con- 
trary, are the patient’s vital power. The disease itself 
is the process by which this vital power removes the ob- 
structions or heals the lesions that have been suffered. 
286 The Nature of Disease 
Bennett well says, “ It is the effort made by Nature to 
eliminate from, or reconcile the frame with, those 
noxious causes which have influenced it.” Disease, 
therefore, illustrates self-preservation on the one hand, 
and the law of vital accommodation on the other. If 
elimination, due to self-preservative efforts, is impos- 
sible, accommodation is generally feasible; if both 
continue to fail, death becomes inevitable, “ the vital 
force is exhausted.” 
Around this thought circles all vital existence. 
Vital Force is Life, an invisible principle of existence, 
appearing first in protoplasm, and, working through 
it, organizes, repairs, preserves, the vital organism. 
Health is Vital Force normally working because of 
reasonably favorable conditions ; disease is the same 
Vital Force working abnormally because of abnormal 
or unhealthful conditions ; while death is the absence 
of all function. Vital Force is a limited supply in 
every case, and death is the exhaustion of the supply. 
Even when death results from accident or violence it 
would seem that exhaustion is the real cause. For 
in all such cases the expenditure becomes rapid and 
violent beyond the capacities of the organism to replen- 
ish, as proved in most cases by intensity of function 
in some direction. Disease rapidly exhausts vital 
power and so often ends in death ; that which produces 
disease—viz., prevailing medical treatment, based 
upon the theory that disease is an enemy to be de- 
stroyed, or an action to be counteracted or suppressed 
—occasions expenditure and even exhaustion of vital 
power even more rapidly than the disease does; and 
when the patient dies from the exhaustion of treat- 
287 Vital Science 
ment added to the exhaustion of the disease, the un- 
dertaker unites with popular superstition to bury him 
out of sight. 
214. Disease, therefore, is vital action, abnormal 
because of abnormal conditions, and is occasioned by 
anything which the organism dislikes sufficiently to 
war against. The first process is recognition of 
danger, injury or offence. But this being purely men- 
tal, is not generally recognized in Medicine. The 
first observable process of disease is well named irri- 
tation. This fact is everywhere admitted, and is itself 
proof that vital operations are mental in character. 
The organism in every case of disease becomes irri- 
tated either from threatened or actual injury or offence. 
Pleasant, agreeable, normal vital action is health; dis- 
ease, which is abnormal vital action, follows unpleas- 
ant, disagreeable, or injurious occasions or conditions. 
215. Here, again, we observe the elements of the 
great delusion to which we have more than once 
called attention in this volume. Irritation, it is 
everywhere admitted, represents increased as well as 
disturbed vital action; so that it often happens that 
the patient feels decidedly stronger and often better as 
the result of an oncoming disease. How often do we 
hear that the patient was feeling unusually well just 
before he was taken sick. He was feeling well be- 
cause he was stimulated by the irritation of the in- 
cipient disease. The secondary effect—weakness— 
connected with the secondary processes of the disease 
not yet having taken place, the patient is wholly un- 
conscious of his real condition. 
In saying all this we are only calling attention to 
288 The Nature of Disease 
the facts of disease which all intelligent physicians 
recognize. The following quotation from an erstwhile 
standard work (“ Practice of Medicine”) by the late 
Professor George B. Wood, of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, confirms the views advanced. In describing 
the initial processes of disease, he says of irritation, 
“ The first observable phenomenon ... is an exalta- 
tion of the function in the part affected. If the excite- 
ment be moderate, there is merely an exaltation of the 
natural sensibility.” “ Sight, hearing, taste, smell, 
touch, become more acute.” “ When the muscular 
tissue is affected . . . the muscle will act more vig- 
orously.” “ Digestion is also apparently invigorated 
under a moderate irritation. Hence increase of ap- 
petite.” And that the secondary result is the exact 
opposite and altogether disastrous may be gleaned 
from the following: “ To complete our general view 
of irritation it remains only to call attention to the 
secondary effects. These may be exhibited in the 
part immediately affected or in other parts of the 
body. In the former situation, after the subsidence 
of the irritation, a state of depression usually occurs, 
in which the functions are performed more feebly or 
are for a time suspended. The over-fatigued organ 
requires a period of rest before it can return to its 
ordinary duties.” 
How suggestive and yet how delusive are these 
facts ! While the patient is getting sick his functions 
are more active and vigorous than usual. But when 
he is getting well they are suspended or are feebly 
performed. Disease, as Professor Wood well says, 
begins with irritation, which causes exaltation of func- Vital Science 
tion, whereby the individual is deluded into the be- 
lief that he is growing strong and well at the very 
time and by the very means that his health is being 
destroyed. The condition is one of stimulation. All 
stimulants and tonics cause increased function because 
they are irritating or exciting in their nature, and tend 
to destroy health instead of recuperate it. Recovery, 
on the contrary, is being effected by rest and conse- 
quent reduced function of the organ or the organism 
as a whole. Thus the real is the exact opposite of 
the apparent. The man is being diseased when he 
imagines he is unusually well; he is often getting well 
when he imagines that he is getting worse. In these 
facts we have perhaps a more pertinent illustration of 
the truth of our Law of Effects than any that we have 
given illustrative of it. (§§ 177, 178.) Rest, like sleep, 
reduces function and restores health, for the reason 
that strength and vigor are the product of inheritance 
and come only through accumulation of power, which 
is secured by saving our vital income instead of 
spending it. If Vital Force were the product of food, 
drink, medicine, etc., rest and sleep would be un- 
necessary ; more food would be the proper thing. The 
very fact that sleep is a primal requisite of life is 
proof that the power of life cannot be produced from 
without. Rest and recuperation, therefore, means 
reduced function, while work which may even end in 
exhaustion represents increased function. Whenever, 
therefore, a man, in the plenitude of his powers, be- 
comes unusually ambitious and vigorous, look out for 
a crash. On the contrary, when he is dull, stupid, 
and inactive he is resting and recuperating. Three 
290 The Nature of Disease 
times in our life the writer has been deluded in this 
way ; three times we have passed from unusual energy 
to almost helpless invalidism, and three times we 
have recovered health by processes which are usually 
conceived to be at least valueless, if not health- 
destroying. Inaction, weakness, and reduced func- 
tion have proved to be processes of recovery be- 
cause they are the evidence of rest. Disease, on 
the contrary, whether local or general, represents in- 
creased activity and vigor preparatory to exhaustion,— 
all of which confirms the conclusions already arrived 
at in Chapter II. and again in Chapter X., that we 
dare not trust to observation or experience, because 
the elements of delusion are always in us. Things 
are not what they seem ; they are generally the exact 
opposite of the apparent. “The just—or righteous 
one—shall live by faith;” there is no other way to 
live and be right. Whoever would be successful in 
any department of human effort must rely confidently 
upon the great principles of truth and righteousness. 
“ God and one are a majority.” “ If thine eye be 
single thy whole body shall be full of light.” 
216. We pass to the second stage of diseased action, 
Congestion. Wood says, “ A phenomenon always 
present in local capillary irritation, whatever may be 
its seat, is an increased flow of blood to the part, and 
a consequent arterial congestion.” Congestion means 
“ excessive accumulation,” a thing which can only 
occur because there is obstruction to the outward 
flow of blood. For if the blood could move forward 
as rapidly as it arrives there would be quickened cir- 
culation and not excessive accumulation. And this is 
291 Vital Science 
the rule in case of general irritation, as from alcoholic 
stimulants, which being rapidly absorbed cause irri- 
tation in all structures. As long as all parts respond 
equally to the irritant there is general increase of 
function because of generally increased circulation, 
which begins to be reduced, however, as soon as the 
weaker or more sensitive parts fail to carry forward 
the increased flow. The blood now accumulates at 
some points beyond the power of the parts to appro- 
priate or send it forward, causing deficiency of blood 
at other points, and consequently increasing loss of 
power in muscle, brain, and nerve, both from the con- 
gestion and the anaemia, constituting the inebriated 
state. For it is a remarkable fact that excess of blood 
in a part paralyzes its functions just as does deficiency 
of blood. And it is often a matter of importance to 
decide in case of sudden loss of function whether it is 
from congestion or anaemia, as, for instance, whether 
it is an apoplexy or a fainting fit, or possibly epilepsy, 
or the drunken state. A man faints and loses con- 
sciousness from loss of blood, but he has apoplexy 
with the same result from excess of blood in the 
brain. The much more frequent cause of loss of 
function in any organ, however, is congestion; and 
we proceed to investigate the nature of the obstruc- 
tion which causes congestion. 
217. For some good reason more blood is carried 
to a part than can be sent forward, causing that “ ex- 
cessive accumulation” which we saw is denominated 
Congestion. Why is the blood not carried forward? 
In the great majority of cases because the part or or- 
gan through which it must pass is unable to make the 
292 The Nature of Disease 
proper changes in it. Circulation accomplishes two 
important and complementary objects, nutrition and 
purification, either of which would be useless without 
the other. Together these constitute the all-important 
functions of Life. The prime object of circulation is 
nutrition, which consists in supplying to the cells, or 
rather bioplasts of the cells, the prepared materials for 
their growth and development. This work involves 
the collateral function of purification, which is effected 
through the operations of the organs of excretion. 
Nutrition occurs whenever arterial blood passes 
through the capillary or hair-like blood-vessels of a 
part, and becomes venous. The tissues through which 
it passes gain what the blood loses. During one mo- 
ment we have rich, red, arterial blood passing through 
blood-vessels so minute as to reach every cell of the 
part, while the next moment this blood has become dark 
and impure, and appears now in the minute veins on 
its way back to the heart. The blood falls from a 
high to a lower level of life, while the structures 
through which it passes, rise correspondingly. This 
process of appropriation by the tissues, of the vital 
elements of the blood, so making it to become dark 
and impure, is the essential process of nutrition, all 
other processes being preparatory to this great object 
of feeding the bioplasm of the cell in order that it 
may build up the varied structures. The real process 
of nutrition, therefore, renders the blood impure, and 
so necessitates the collateral process of purification, 
in order to maintain vital function and development. 
This purification and revitalization of blood is effected 
by passing it through corresponding capillaries of 
293 Vital Science 
liver, lungs, kidneys, skin, bowels. In the lungs it 
gains oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide ; in the liver 
it yields up certain biliary impurities that are to be 
poured into the bowels; the kidneys excrete urea and 
other elements ; the skin exhales perspirable matters ; 
while the bowels receive from the blood a great deal 
of semisolid materials, constituted largely of the debris 
of worn-out structures. 
As with the process of nutrition, so with purifica- 
tion, the work is done in the minute blood-vessels of 
the purifying organs by the bioplasm or protoplasm 
of the cell, rather than by the organ as a whole. The 
real workers in any organism, whether it be Church 
or State, are the individuals who make up the organ- 
ism, and these in the physical organism are the cells, 
or rather the bioplasm of the cells. The all-important 
fact to be noted is that, unless the proper change, in 
greater or less perfection, can be effected in the blood 
while it is passing through the capillaries of the general 
system, constituting the process of nutrition, and through 
the capillaries of the excretory organs, causing purifica- 
tion and revitalisation, obstruction of circulation and 
consequent congestion and paralysis of function must 
follow. The blood cannot pass through the lungs 
without being aerated, nor through the liver without 
losing its biliary impurities in some measure at least, 
nor through the kidneys without change. And still 
more certainly can it not be circulated through the 
capillaries of the general structures without yielding 
to them its vital elements, and so becoming venous. 
Thus the arteries and veins with capillaries between 
them make up the circulating vessels. In the latter, or 
294 The Nature of Disease 
in immediate connection with them, all changes must 
and do take place by which the blood becomes first ve- 
nous, and then arterial, each system of vessels existing 
for the other, and all together keeping up a continuous 
round of vital activity, illustrative of vital existence. 
218. It is an accepted physiological fact, therefore, 
that all nutrition takes place in the capillary circula- 
tion. It is equally true that all purification and vital- 
ization of blood takes place in the capillary vessels 
of the purifying organs. Unless these changes can 
take place in the blood as it is presented to the 
parts, it cannot pass through them either for nutrition 
or purification. And this is the true explanation of 
the obstruction and congestion taking place in any 
part or organ of the body. The condition is,—Too 
much blood for the limited nutritive or purifying 
power of the part. The liver can secrete only so 
much bile in a given case. If more blood is carried 
to it than it can change, congestion and loss of func- 
tion necessarily follow. The liver is apt to be the first 
organ which suffers from surfeit, but as soon as it fails 
to pass the blood onward all the other organs, but 
especially the heart, become overburdened, and were 
it not for the wonderful resources of the living human 
organism death would come sooner than it does. 
The liver being congested, the portal circulation be- 
comes loaded, the bowels obstructed, the kidneys 
overtaxed and congested (they try to do the work of 
the liver), and the labor of the heart is immeasurably 
increased. This is especially the case whenever the 
lungs fail to aerate the blood. The lungs may be too 
small for the work required, their membranes may be 
295 Vital Science 
thickened as in bronchitis, or their air-cells solidified 
as in pneumonia; no matter what the condition, if the 
blood is not changed there necessarily follow con- 
gestion, stagnation, and further decrease of function, 
until the labor of the circulating organs, of which the 
heart is the principal, is doubled, trebled, or quad- 
rupled. In such cases is there any wonder that the 
heart should begin to fail ? Have we not here ample 
explanation of the heart-failures of pneumonia and 
Bright’s disease? Under such circumstances shall 
we stimulate the heart? We have seen (§§ 176, 180) 
that all tonics and stimulants reduce as a permanent 
result the power of the part stimulated, so that the 
repeated use of heart tonics provide with great certainty 
for its surely coming failure and death. 
219- But if we may not use heart tonics, what shall 
be said of administering fluid or predigested foods, 
peptonoids, plain or malted milk, every hour or two, 
that will be rapidly absorbed, and so load still further 
the already overburdened circulation ? The heart fails 
from excessive work, due to the presence of more 
blood than it can circulate. And it fails to circulate 
it because lungs, liver, kidneys, fail to change it. 
Shall we then increase or reduce the quantity of 
blood ? Or perhaps the general nutritive processes 
have been reduced to a low state of activity, so that 
nutritive changes do not take place, as shown by loss 
of appetite. The blood not being used, there soon 
becomes a great excess of it, and Nature wisely seeks 
to protect herself by cutting off the desire for food. 
Shall we compel the ingestion of the food, whether it 
can be aerated, changed and used, or not ? Is Nature 
296 The Nature of Disease 
a fool that we should force and abuse her ? Or shall 
we, on the contrary, give stomach, liver, kidneys, 
bowels, an opportunity to relieve the blood of its 
impurities and so facilitate the circulation, and thus 
relieve heart and all other organs of their excessive 
labors. We agree that blood is the important pre- 
requisite to life and vigor, but this is so only when 
it can be properly purified and circulated. A portal 
circulation loaded with nutritive material that cannot 
be changed in the purifying organs, nor appropriated 
from the general capillaries, is a dangerous condition; 
and every ounce of blood added to the sum total 
increases the danger. The loss of appetite, weakness, 
etc., of which the patient complains, is due to the 
presence of more blood than the organs can purify 
or the general system use. No matter if the quantity 
of blood is very little, the power of the nutritive and 
purifying organs is still less. Shall we increase the 
quantity of blood or reduce it ? Shall it be rich, con- 
centrated, and highly stimulating food and drink, 
thereby increasing the obstructions, or shall it be mas- 
sage, bathing, rubbing, and other simple yet effective 
appliances to restore balance to the circulating fluids ? 
We are not advocating a return to the bleeding and 
purging processes of the schools, but we do assert 
that the increasingly numerous deaths from heart 
failure are chiefly due to heart tonics in connection 
with stimulating and stuffing processes. We would 
give the heart rest by giving liver, kidneys, bowels, 
lungs, stomach, corresponding rest, and so by saving 
the patient’s inherent forces also save his life. 
220. But how shall we give these organs rest ? Not, 
297 Vital Science 
as we have seen, by bleeding and purging. For the 
relief by these means is only partial and temporary, 
the reaction bringing increase of labor instead of rest. 
Bleeding, while immediately reducing the quantity of 
blood, causes increased activity of the blood-making 
organs,—viz., stomach, liver, bowels, lungs,—and so 
increases the amount of blood in the reaction not only, 
but increases the labor of the organs. Purging does 
the same directly as well as indirectly. 
There is but one effective and scientific way to se- 
cure rest to the vital organs, and, therefore, to the or- 
ganism as a whole, and that is to stop working them. 
What is the work of the stomach? To digest food. 
What is the work of lungs and liver? To make 
changes in this food after it has been absorbed into 
the circulation. What the work of kidneys ? To se- 
crete from the blood and carry out from the organism 
certain elements derived from this food. And what is 
the work of the heart but to pump the blood made from 
this food. What insanity, then, to compel all these or- 
gans to make the blood only that a vein may be cut 
open and the blood wasted ! If there is too much 
blood, why not stop making it ? If bleeding and purg- 
ing proved to be such wonderfully effective agents of 
relief, why not equal relief be secured by simply ceasing 
to eat, and so rendering unnecessary the plan of purging 
out the humors? It were enough to make a horse 
laugh to see how medical theories pander to popular 
appetites. Bleed, purge, and poison the patient,—do 
anything and everything, but don’t tell him the truth; 
don’t tell him to “ cease to do evil and learn to do 
welldon’t correct his habits. 
298 The Nature of Disease 
But is it true that bleeding and purging ever proved 
effective to the patient’s relief? Can we conceive that 
our fathers were too ignorant to observe the simplest 
facts? How did we, their children, become so wise? 
Bleeding and purging gave relief to our fathers just 
as toning and stimulating gives relief to our brothers,— 
viz., by permanently producing the very ailments they 
temporarily relieve. Then the result was blood and 
bowel diseases; to-day it is nervousness, neuras- 
thenia, insanity. Our wise doctors sow the seed and 
we reap the harvest, and each after its kind. 
Disease, therefore, consists of obstructed vital ac- 
tion, plus the efforts of the vital system to avoid and 
remove the obstructions and heal the lesions. To 
say that disease is abnormal vital action is to give a 
definition that cannot be successfully controverted. 
We may carry the definition a step farther and say 
that it is Remedial Vital Action,—a vital action in 
which the effort to remedy existing conditions is a 
leading thought. Even further than this we may 
carry the thought to the assertion that Disease is 
Nature’s process of cure. Inflammation is the most 
frequent and general of diseases, the great represent- 
ative of all diseased action, and every surgeon knows 
that inflammation is Nature’s healing process. And 
the inflammation of Surgery is not essentially different 
from any other inflammation. 
The true object of medical, or more properly health, 
treatment, therefore, is to cure the patient by conducting 
the disease to a “ favorable termination,” and this is 
best effected by supplying the conditions for good 
health. Nature does the rest. 
299 CHAPTER XIII. 
THE LAW OF CURE. 
“ Looking, therefore, at the discrepancy which exists between sys- 
tematic teachings and writings on the one hand, and the actual practice 
in our hospital wards and in private on the other, as to the employ- 
ment of the materia medica in disease,—regarding also the differences 
of opinion which exist among practitioners of the highest respect- 
ability and experience, it will be admitted to be a difficult task to 
determine what positive knowledge we have of the value of drugs.”— 
“ Practice of Medicine,” by Professor John Hughes Bennett, 
of the University of Edinburgh. 
221. Is there such a law? The thought has grown 
into a conviction not easily eradicated from the human 
mind. Medicinal operation has long been supposed 
to be a special provision of Nature to meet a special 
requirement of Nature. As Nature produces diseases 
to afflict humanity, so it is imagined she has provided 
remedies for the cure of these diseases, and has thus 
given scope for the development of genius in dis- 
covering and applying the remedies. For ages man 
has continued to believe in the curative powers of 
morbific agents,—of deadly poisons,—of anything and 
everything that experience has proved to be destruc- 
tive to life and health. It seems strange that imagi- 
nation has never clothed healthful agencies with this 
mysterious virtue. Only that which destroys health 
is supposed to be capable of producing health by 
curing disease. If we inquire for the explanation of The Law of Cure 
this paradoxical thought, the only reply is, “ It is a 
fact of observation, which though unexplainable, is 
nevertheless as certain as any other fact of science.” 
(§ 18.) We believe our principles have already ex- 
plained many otherwise insolvable problems, and 
unless they are equally successful with this one we 
shall not feel that we have fully succeeded. 
222. The solution of this problem necessitates once 
more the consideration of what we have repeatedly 
shown to be a great fact, that every result in Nature 
involves the existence of two necessary elements,— 
the cause and the occasion. The cause is correctly 
defined as “ the power by which a thing is,” while the 
occasion constitutes the condition which calls forth the 
power,—the incentive which “ leads to” or “ induces” 
the operation of the cause. These together, existing 
at opposite extremes, the one internal and the other 
external, combine to produce all results, the very 
opposite results (§ 85) often flowing from the same 
cause in answer to changed conditions. We need not 
repeat illustrations which are found in great numbers 
in §§ 72, 73, 74, 101, 126, but will simply say that the 
power which performs any function, or produces any 
result in any living organism, is the power within the 
organism, while the occasion for the action is derived 
from without. The power of disease like the power of 
health is inherent and intrinsic, while the occasion for 
its exhibition—the condition for its expression—is ex- 
trinsic, making Life and all the processes of Life to be 
evolutionary, the outworking of internal forces, and not 
involutionary, the inworking of external forces. (§ 36.) 
223. In the living world these constituent elements, 
301 Vital Science 
as we have seen, are summed up in two exceedingly 
expressive terms, Heredity and Environment. (§ 33.) 
Heredity is the source of the power,—of all power,— 
while Environment, or external agency, constitutes the 
occasion which determines the form and manner of its 
expression. (§ 101.) Power, therefore, being heredi- 
tary, is inherent in the nature of living things just as 
truly as it is inherent in material things. Who is de- 
clared to be “ before all things and by whom all things 
consist” is equally asserted to be “ the first-born of 
every creature.” From which we infer that even the 
worlds are the product of Heredity. The power being 
unchangeable and its laws invariable, in the living as 
well as in the non-living, illustrates the Source whence 
they come. The Environment, on the contrary, under- 
going constant change, necessitates a corresponding 
change in result, subject, however, in the living world 
to a Law of Vital Accommodation. For example, 
Chemical Affinity is the power of gunpowder, stored 
in its elements, but whether we shall continue to have 
gunpowder or an explosion depends upon conditions, 
occasions, external appliances. If the explosion oc- 
curs, its power did not reside in the spark that occa- 
sioned it, but in the gunpowder itself. Just so the 
power of health is the power of disease, and both are 
the power of life, but whether we shall have health or 
disease depends upon the conditions,—the Environ- 
ment. If pain, vomiting, purging, or any other symp- 
toms follow the administration of a dose of medicine, 
the power is not supplied by the medicine. It was 
already inherent in the organism. So if medicine 
seems to produce any other effect, it is only the occa- 
302 The Law of Cure 
sion or condition for the effect, the vital power being 
itself the cause. The power of vital action is vital 
power, the law of vital action is Self-Preservation, 
while the peculiar form of the action is determined by 
the occasion or condition which induces it. With 
healthful environment we shall continue to have 
health; with an unhealthy environment we begin to 
prepare for disease, which is sometimes precipitated in 
precisely the same way that a chemical explosion is 
precipitated,—viz., the power being inherent and the 
general conditions being already present, the explosion 
or the disease may occur under the application of the 
slightest incentive, such as a draft of air, exposure, a 
fall, a purgative, emetic, or other swallowed drug. 
224. As, therefore, there are at least two necessary- 
elements in the production of disease as well as of 
any other result, which elements are directly opposed 
to each other, so there are two opposing methods of 
curing or stopping diseases. The one method deals 
directly with the power and only indirectly and inci- 
dentally with the Environment; the other deals directly 
and primarily with the Environment and only indirectly 
and secondarily with the power. In other words, the 
one plan seeks to change or remove the cause of the 
disease, that is, the power on which it depends. But 
as this cause or power is the patient’s vital power, any 
one can see a grave element of danger in the practice. 
He can also see why poisons or “ positive morbific 
agents” are the most effective, if not the only, agencies 
for this purpose. This may well be called the positive 
plan of dealing with and destroying what eminent 
authority has characterized as “ our best friend.” Vital Science 
The other plan is the negative plan. Its leading 
thought is, “ Cease to do evil.” It removes the con- 
ditions of the disease and supplies the conditions for 
health, and leaves the patient’s vital forces to the per- 
formance of their legitimate duties. It is a plan which 
is both intelligent and effective. If we supply the con- 
ditions for health we will have health; if we remove 
the occasions for the disease the disease will cease. 
The former plan is admitted to be based on igno- 
rance of the nature of disease. No one of its prac- 
titioners pretends to understand its nature. (§§ 204, 
205, 209.) It is agreed on all hands that the sub- 
ject is too abstruse to admit of intelligent consider- 
ation. But it is the easy plan especially for the phy- 
sician. Ignorance being bliss, it is folly to be wise. 
It seems at first also to be easy for the patient. It 
requires no self-denial, which is itself a great element 
of popularity. Its votaries do not need to worry them- 
selves about their health any more than about their 
salvation. All they need to do is to hire some one to 
attend to that matter for them, while they “ eat, drink, 
and are merry.” Poisons and penances take the place 
of truth and righteousness. “Our most violent poisons 
are our best remedies,” says Professor Martyn Paine. 
Every disease that ever afflicted a human being is 
curable by their use provided they are used in suffi- 
cient dose. The power of disease being the patient’s 
vital power, it is evident that the violence of the dis- 
ease may be reduced by whatever will reduce or de- 
stroy the patient’s life. And when the patient dies it 
is not known that the result is the legitimate effect of 
thus curing the disease. We are not the only phy- 
.304 The Law of Cure 
sicians who have observed that antipyrine, for instance, 
has too often stopped a fever by stopping the patient’s 
heart-beats. 
225. It is entirely possible, therefore, for the cure 
to be worse than the disease. “ We do but substitute 
one morbid action for another; Nature does the rest,” 
says Professor Martyn Paine. And this is the reason 
why “ Our most violent poisons are our best remedies.” 
The original disease is stopped, because the vital ener- 
gies are diverted to other work, or are so reduced by 
the poison that they cannot continue the peculiar 
operations. But is the patient cured ? He may be 
encouraged by the cessation of the symptoms which 
have alarmed him, and when a new set of symptoms 
appear, a new disease is diagnosed. Whence did it 
come? No one seems to know, but the physician 
nevertheless proceeds to employ other remedies. The 
original disease was cured by the substitution of 
another disease. But who will say that this substi- 
tution has cured the patient or even improved his 
conditions ? Will a substituted disease of less vio- 
lence silence, cover up, or cure a greater one ? Can 
the less include the greater ? As a matter of fact, it is 
common enough for the symptoms of an ailment to be 
masked or swallowed up in a more serious affliction. 
We easily forget our petty troubles in the presence of 
some great calamity. If prevailing medical treatment, 
based upon the theory that disease is an enemy at war 
with our vital organism, consists in thwarting its oper- 
ations, it can readily be seen, if our principles are true, 
that the result will be chronic or prolonged instead of 
acute ailment. If disease is a condition caused by Vital Science 
vital power operating against injurious agents or con- 
ditions, and so is a process of cure, and the Doctor 
steps in to stop the process, it is evident that a sub- 
dued, prolonged, chronic condition of ill health re- 
mains, provided always that the patient has survived 
the treatment. The facts justify the theory. This 
United States of America has a world-wide reputation 
for two things: First, an immense army of chronic 
invalids, and, second, a corresponding army of phy- 
sicians. Which is cause and which effect? Statistics 
show that America has five times as many physicians 
according to population as has Continental Europe, 
and three times as many as Great Britain, while the 
chronic invalids are correspondingly numerous. 
But it is an even more suggestive fact that the pre- 
vailing diseases always correspond to the prevailing 
treatment. While purging and bleeding were the ac- 
cepted methods, blood and bowel diseases were alarm- 
ingly frequent, but when the methods underwent a revo- 
lution, and nerve stimulation took their place, blood 
and bowel diseases began to subside and nervous dis- 
eases have become equally prevalent. Again we in- 
quire, which is cause and which effect ? It would seem 
that the old German’s bill rendered to the sorrowing 
husband for services to his deceased wife, couched in 
the words, “To curing your wife till she died, icxs1.,” 
was a truer statement of fact than he suspected. 
226. But it will be claimed that this description is 
greatly overdrawn, because no wise physician would 
administer medicines in dose large enough to destroy 
the patient’s life. Of course not. No one doubts that 
it is the physician’s duty, while administering to the The Law of Cure 
patient deadly agencies, to be careful that the dose is 
so diminished that the vital powers react, and become 
more instead of less vigorous. Medicine in the proper 
dose increases instead of diminishes the vital energies, 
and should therefore cure the disease by invigorating 
the patient. If the medicine were the cause instead of 
being only the occasion for the increased action; if it 
gave to the patient increased power instead of only 
called out the power, we could readily agree that its 
use is both curative and life-sustaining. But when we 
reflect that increased energy always means reduced 
force, the subject soon comes to have another aspect. 
All violent applications arouse vital activity and ex- 
hibit vital power, whether it be the cry of fire at 
midnight or the dose of whiskey at mid-day, the 
highwayman’s command or the burglar’s blundering 
presence; whether it be arsenic or strychnine, quinine 
or calomel, no matter what it is that threatens injury 
or death, it arouses vital activity and expends vital 
power, and cures the disease, if it cures at all, by 
destroying or diverting the power on which it depends. 
22y. How large shall the dose be ? is a question of 
surpassing interest, more especially in that it involves 
a consideration of the principles of the opposing 
schools, the Regular and the Homoeopathic. Do they 
have any principles ? We believe the regular school 
makes no claim in this direction, but bases its practice 
wholly upon the results of experience. With three 
thousand years of history to draw upon, it cannot be 
doubted that it is well-equipped in this respect. But 
when we reflect that in all this time each generation 
has been engaged in overthrowing the practice of its Vital Science 
predecessors, it becomes itself the best evidence of 
the untrustworthiness of experience. The Homoeopath 
also urges “ actual experience as the only infallible 
oracle,” but nevertheless claims to administer medi- 
cines in accordance with the “ Law of Similars,” the 
discovery of which is properly credited to a noted 
physician and chemist of the last century named 
Samuel Hahnemann. In accordance with this theory 
diseases are to be cured by the use of such positive 
morbific agents as are calculated to produce an exactly 
similar set of symptoms in a well man. 
228. The chief manifest difference, however, between 
these schools is the size of the dose. The Regular 
physician administers doses from one to ten or even 
ten or a thousand million times larger than the Homoe- 
opath does. Indeed, we believe the difference to-day 
between these opposing schools of medicine resides 
chiefly in this matter of dose. But the size of the 
dose seems to grow unconsciously out of the theory 
of administration. The Homoeopaths have a theory 
which they announce and defend. The Regulars have 
no theory that they are prepared to stand by, but con- 
tinue simply to administer drugs to whomsoever wants 
them because it is a habit long acquired and not easily 
relinquished. In accordance with the homoeopathic 
theory diseases are to be cured by the use of such 
positive morbific agents as are calculated to produce 
a similar condition in a well man. But let it be noted 
that the disease is to be similar, not the same. How 
similar ? The authorities say, “ As similar as possible.” 
The Regulars also administer positive morbific agents 
in accordance with the teachings of the Alma Mater, The Law of Cure 
and these are supposed to be based upon experience. 
Whose experience we are not told. Undoubtedly the 
experience of nobody in particular but of everybody in 
general. But as new remedies are being hourly in- 
vented and promulgated, and immense sums of money 
are being expended in advertising them to the pro- 
fession, we are warranted in conceiving that great 
numbers of experiments are being made upon credu- 
lous people who are ever willing to offer themselves 
as subjects. That many of these experiments prove 
fatal is neither doubted nor denied, but of course it is 
always “the other fellow who did it.” 
229. Whether in homoeopathy or allopathy, there is 
evidently large latitude for the display of the genius 
of empiricism in the administration of medicines. 
Homoeopathy like allopathy is based upon the sup- 
posed curative power of drugs,—some mysterious 
virtue which no man can explain,—so that it contents 
itself with pointing to the fact of cure as evidence of 
the curative power. But this is really no evidence at 
all. Professor Samuel J. Armor, of Long Island College 
Hospital, was right in saying, “ Drugs are administered 
and patients recover, but whether because of our medi- 
cines or in spite of them it is impossible to say.” 
There is and must be some true explanation of all 
the facts of medicine. Hahnemann’s law has an exist- 
ence and a value. But our principles show that it is not 
a law of medicine at all. It is a law of life, operative 
wherever life is. It is more. It is the law of success 
in every department of Life. We discover this law in 
the Golden Rule, which teaches that we are to get 
what we give. The paradoxes of Scripture are based Vital Science 
upon it, especially, “ Give and it shall be given unto 
you.” He that would save his life shall lose it.” 
“ He that exalteth himself shall be abased.” “ He 
that deserts houses and lands for my sake shall receive 
manifold more in this present time.” So Hahnemann 
conceived that morbid conditions could be cured by 
morbid substances. But he had no correct notion of 
the process by which the result is secured. He gave 
the medicine, and experience showed a mitigation of 
symptoms and often complete cure. Unfortunately, 
the result is far from invariable. But when the prac- 
tice is contrasted with that of the opposing school the 
results are so much in favor of Homoeopathy that, in 
spite of the paradoxical nature of its teachings, it is 
rapidly supplanting previous methods. Hahnemann 
very clearly perceived that all vital manifestations, 
whether in health or disease, are the result of Vital 
Force, and he had some indistinct notion that Vital 
Force is somehow connected with self-preservation 
(Organon, § io), and he proceeded to expose the fallacy 
of the dominant theory that disease is “ a material 
thing hidden within” (Organon, § 13), and to establish 
in its place the great truth that it is the product of an 
invisible, intangible force, the very force that animates, 
produces, repairs, and maintains in existence the living 
organism. “ Diseases are produced only by the mor- 
bidly disturbed vital force,” he truly says. But he 
very improperly asserts, “ Neither can the physician 
free the vital force from any of these morbid disturb- 
ances—i.e., diseases—except likewise by spirit-like, al- 
terative powers of the appropriate remedies acting 
upon our spirit-like Vital Force,” etc. 
310 The Law of Cure 
230. We are very sure that Hahnemann, great as 
his discovery was, missed the true theory of cure. 
Medicine has no spirit-like power. It has not even 
natural vital power. It is a material agency that may 
arouse vital activity and call forth vital power, but it 
never healed a broken bone nor cured an irritated 
nerve. The only power that can cure is the power 
that preserves. The power that preserves is the power 
that produced. Vital power alone performs vital 
work, whether the work be production, preservation, 
or repair. 
Disease is vital work under direction of the instinct 
of self-preservation, and is laborious and often painful, 
but it is, or may be, curative all the same. Medicines 
which are destructive to the vital forces, and especially 
if they are positively so, can and do divert the vital 
energies from this work and so stop the disease. In 
popular parlance the disease has obtained a firm grip 
on the patient, which grip it may be made to let go by 
some positively destructive agency from without. The 
patient is relieved by the diversion, and if it be not 
too complete and radical, he may be benefited. But 
to divert the energies so as to stop the process of cure, 
it can readily be seen, is destructive, leaving a chronic 
in place of the acute disease. But if a very mild or 
moderate diversion is secured, complete recovery may 
be effected. This is due to the fact that there are usually 
two elements in every case of diseased or curative ac- 
tion: First, injury; second, fear. The fear is always 
present, and often produces disease even when the in- 
jury is only threatened. It is this fear that is chiefly at 
the bottom of most abnormal vital action, making the 
311 Vital Science 
action to be unduly painful and arduous. This truth 
is based on the fundamental law of this work, that 
“ every particle of living matter is endowed with the 
instinct of self-preservation,” and is consequently 
capable of fear as well as of suffering. Fear is per- 
haps the most important element in every disease ; and 
sometimes the only element, as medical literature well 
shows. Curative attempts by the vital forces are, 
therefore, often made when there is nothing to cure, 
and even when injury has been suffered, the attempts 
at cure are liable to be excessive, and to prevent suc- 
cess by their own violence. To mildly divert the 
vital instincts will in all such cases not only prove 
comforting but beneficial. Let us take as an illustra- 
tion a wound, bruise, or sprain. In all these cases 
there is, and should be, increased vital activity in order 
to cure, but this activity being aggravated by fear (and 
every injury causes fear) becomes excessive, causing 
accumulation of nutritive material in the injured parts 
greatly beyond their power to use it. The result is 
abnormal heat, swelling, pain, etc., which every one 
should know will be greatly relieved and the cure 
quickened by stimulating the circulation and pro- 
moting absorption, and this is greatly facilitated by 
diverting the vital energies. If the appliances used 
for this purpose are soothing to the parts, as, for in- 
stance, water, hot to relax, followed by cold to stimu- 
late, the circulation and nutrition, the results will be 
curative. If, on the contrary, irritating appliances are 
used, such as blistering, leeches, etc., the cure is made 
to be worse than the disease. Rubbing and manipu- 
lating the parts so as to divert blood from the wound is 
312 The Law of Cure 
also very beneficial. Narcotic appliances which deaden 
the sensibilities are improperly used. But whatever 
the appliances, the object should be to quiet the ex- 
citement, allay the fears, stimulate the nutrition, and 
divert the energies, so as to allow the curative process 
to proceed as quickly and with as little suffering as 
possible. 
What is true in this respect of local diseases is true 
of those which are general. In every case the injury, 
commotion, suffering, is aggravated by fear when not 
produced by it, making treatment to quiet and soothe 
to be always in order. What treatment will best do 
this ? That which most nearly reaches the suffering 
parts, provided it be mild enough. How do we know 
which are the suffering parts ? And having discovered 
them, how do we know what medicine will most 
nearly reach them. The suffering parts are known by 
the symptoms, and the medicine which will reach 
these parts is medicine that will produce similar 
symptoms. The medicine which produces a set of 
symptoms most nearly like those from which the 
patient suffers is the medicine indicated, and the re- 
sults have for a hundred years justified the theory, 
and a materia medica based upon this principle is in 
constant use by large numbers of practitioners. We 
are not to use a medicine that will produce the same 
symptoms, for this would aggravate the disease. Nor 
must the dose be too large, for the same reason. In- 
deed, a large dose would be liable to produce aggrava- 
tion even if its symptoms were similar. But a mild 
dose to produce similar, but not the same, symptoms 
will often prove a great comfort and relief, perfectly 
313 Vital Science 
analogous to the gentle rubbings that so often give 
comfort to inflamed and suffering parts. 
231. But suppose we give a dose that has no relation 
to the disease, produces no symptoms like those of 
the disease, but, on the contrary, produces symptoms 
entirely different, or perhaps opposite to those which 
afflict the patient. How large will such a dose need 
to be in order to relieve the suffering parts ? Evi- 
dently a dose large enough to arouse the whole 
organism, and so affect the suffering parts by affecting 
all parts. Such a dose must be destructive to a high 
degree, not only because of its disturbance of the 
whole vital system, but because of its size and qual- 
ity. A comforting and curative dose must be so 
small that it will mildly divert but not stop the vital 
operations, and must be capable of producing symp- 
toms so nearly like the symptoms of the disease that 
the healthy tissues will not need to be aroused. For 
illustration : an excellent treatment for a boil or wound 
consists of gentle manipulation of the parts contiguous 
to the sore, and only as vigorously as experience shows 
will give relief. If the manipulations are violent, the 
suffering will be increased, and healing prevented. If 
the parts manipulated are far distant from the diseased 
structure, there will be no appreciable effect, unless the 
process is an extremely vigorous one, and even then 
injury is quite as liable to occur as benefit. It is evi- 
dent from all these considerations that the size of dose 
sufficient to give relief and aid the processes of cure 
depends upon how nearly it answers to the symptoms 
of the disease. Allopathic doses suggest the law of 
contraria, and because they are contrary, the dose The Law of Cure 
must be large enough to arouse all the vital energies, 
no matter what their relation to the disease. The 
infinitesimal dose, on the contrary, is clearly adapted 
to diseases whose symptoms are similar to those which 
the disease would produce. 
232. We turn now to a consideration of the nega- 
tive but natural and successful plan of curing diseases. 
The plans we have been discussing are well considered 
to be positive, necessitating the use of positive mor- 
bific agents. These plans are based upon the theory 
that deadly poisons have curative virtues; but this 
theory involves a confessed ignorance of the nature 
of disease. Notwithstanding this confessed ignorance, 
however, they agree in considering disease to be “ an 
enemy which we must lay siege to and conquer.” 
What could better conquer disease than deadly poi- 
sons, provided the disease is chiefly made up of the 
patient’s vitality. It is because we have proved disease 
to be Nature’s process of cure, which “ should be con- 
ducted to a safe termination,” that we advocate the 
negative plan of curing patients. “ Cease to do evil 
and learn to do well” is the all-including prescription. 
If one would avoid or cure disease he must stop doing 
those things which must be remedied. Disease is a 
curative process; such a process will never be needed 
if no occasion for it exists. Disease is often an extra 
process of house-cleaning,—la grippe; if the clean- 
ing is carried forward daily and hourly the extra 
process will not be needed. It is only in cases of 
emergency or exigency that disease should occur, and 
then it should never be thwarted or destroyed. Dis- 
ease is laborious and often painful work; let the vital Vital Science 
powers be conserved and the treatment be soothing 
instead of irritating. Disease is “often our best friend;” 
we should not compel it to let go its work by counter- 
irritating appliances. 
233. Health by living healthfully is the true idea. 
“ Cease to do evil and learn to do well” is science, 
philosophy, and religion all at the same time. The 
provisions of Nature for physical redemption are just 
as complete as are those of grace for spiritual re- 
demption. Indeed, an important part of Christ’s work 
was to “ heal the sick.” The power that produced is 
the power that cures, and the process in every case is 
a process of reproduction. How absurd to concede 
that an invisible something, usually called a vital 
principle, has the power to build an organism, and yet 
has not the power to preserve that organism ! If the 
organism has suffered injury from accident or incident, 
is it not equally absurd to conceive that the power 
that first produced it cannot repair it ? Is it not an 
even greater absurdity to conceive that an agency 
which is utterly destructive to the life-forces is neces- 
sary in order to preserve these life-forces? If a living 
principle within were necessary to produce the ma- 
chinery of life, how should inert materials from with- 
out repair the machinery? The fact is, nobody who 
has any knowledge of the subject pretends to any 
such nonsense; medicines are supposed to cure dis- 
eases in some mysterious way which physicians do 
not attempt to explain, a fact which makes the system 
to be a confessed superstition; not a science at all. 
The power, therefore, that produced the living or- 
ganism preserves that organism, repairs its lesions, 
316 The Law of Cure 
does whatever is done. Health is the process of 
normal growth; disease is a process of abnormal 
growth. Health is healthful action in response to 
healthful conditions; disease is unhealthful action due 
to unhealthful conditions. But the action is always 
self-preservative, due to the one force under control of 
the one law. 
234. As already noted, these are not pure theories, 
but have been applied in a practice extending over a 
period of thirty years with a success which no ob- 
server can dispute. Of our own practice we need say 
nothing, but will call attention to one man who in his 
day enjoyed a remarkable experience with no-medicine 
methods. And though we cannot agree with him 
that nothing but nursing is to be done for sick people, 
we nevertheless fully endorse his thought that between 
the no-treatment system and the prevailing methods, 
the choice must ever be in favor of the former. We 
condense from “ The Philosophy of Human Life,” by 
Dr. Isaac Jennings, the following: 
“ My d6but in Medicine was made under the flag of Cullen. . . . 
Wrong action and wrong condition were the things to be righted. . . . 
With the early part of my practice I was well satisfied. Diseases 
seemed to quail before the power of medicine as by magic. . . . 
If was not long, however, before I began to suspect that something 
was wrong. A number of causes conspired to shake my confidence. 
In the fall of 1822 my confidence in medicine for the cure of disease 
in any shape, ... if not destroyed, was, at least, suspended until I 
could get more light on the subject. The two following cases were 
mainly instrumental in inducing this attitude. 
“ Mr. Isaac. Treat, aged thirty-five, good constitution, farmer, sick- 
ened with typhus fever. . . . Among the urgent symptoms were great 
prostration of strength, uneasiness, pain and soreness in chest, difficult 
breathing, which, having failed to relieve, Mr. Treat inquired of us Vital Science 
whether he might take brandy. He felt it would do him good. We 
objected from the conviction that alcohol was contraindicated, but 
failing to relieve him, we yielded to his importunities. The first 
drink of brandy seemed to be ‘just the thing; it went right to the 
spot,’ as he expressed it. It acted like a charm in making him appear 
and feel like a new man. For eight or ten days the brandy held 
sway, and all other medicines were laid aside. It was found neces- 
sary, however, to increase very considerably the quantity of brandy 
to obtain the same relief, and in the course of three or four days he 
was taking at the rate of two quarts of old and very strong brandy in 
twenty-four hours. At length this potent remedy lost its influence, its 
very name was loathed by the patient, and it was discontinued. 
“ We had nothing now by which we could rally the vital forces. Our 
patient soon fell into a death-like coma or stupor, entirely insensible 
to all that was passing around him; the extremities grew cold, pulse 
failed at the wrist, the bowels became tympanitic, the power of swal- 
lowing was suspended, and hope departed. These symptoms con- 
tinued with slight temporary improvements for three days, when, to 
the great joy of friends, reanimation commenced and went very grad- 
ually but steadily forward to recovery. In the convalescence no medi- 
cine of importance was used. We depended upon good nursing. 
“ The second case was that of Mrs. William J. French, which occurred 
at the same time at the opposite end of the town. The most distress- 
ing and alarming symptoms were great prostration of strength, extreme 
irritability of stomach, with constant inclination to vomit. In spite of 
all remedies the patient grew worse. Calling one morning about the 
fourth day, I was greatly alarmed at her distressed and dejected appear- 
ance. I inquired of the nurse what best seemed to agree with her 
stomach. The answer was, nothing but water, which stays on the 
stomach, and nothing else would. My mind was soon made up to a 
prescription for that day. I took a promenade in the field where 
there was a fine spring of pure, soft water, took a vial from my pocket, 
washed it clean and filled it from the spring, and returning to the 
house, I gave a strict charge that nothing but four drops, in a teaspoon- 
ful of water directly from the well, should be given her once in four 
hours. She might drink water at pleasure, but nothing else must be 
given her. 
“ That evening on calling at the house I was informed that the drops 
were just the thing. The patient slept, had no more nausea, and had 
passed a comfortable day. 
318 The Law of Cure 
“ This case gave me no further trouble. The drops, with a little 
other placebo medicine, finished the cure, as far as medicine was con- 
cerned.” 
But we will not weary the reader with further de- 
tails. Suffice it to say that after twenty years’ practice 
with the usual remedies, Dr. Jennings began a system 
of bread pills and colored water, which he continued 
another twenty years, and enjoyed a great success as 
a physician who cured his patients. Thereafter as an 
old man he came out boldly and announced his views 
and gave no medicine, and continued in the confidence 
of the community (Oberlin, Ohio) for twenty years 
longer. “ Nature cures and the Doctor takes the 
fees.” 
The Law of Cure is the Law of Effects, and this 
is the Law of Success in every department of vital 
existence. It is the delusive nature of effects that has 
bewildered and duped humanity for ages. 
This subject will be continued in a succeeding vol- 
ume, in which the processes of Healthful Living will 
be explained, and rational and successful measures 
indicated for the treatment and cure of all diseases. 
Organic and heretofore incurable ailments have been 
proved to be entirely amenable to measures based 
upon the principles here set forth, while the ordinary, 
functional diseases of people, such as typhoid, pneu- 
monia, la grippe, diphtheria, and the like, are proved 
to be very simple affairs and rarely fatal. 
THE END. 
3I9