IV Orthobiosis
Human nature must be modified according to an ideal—Comparison with the modification of the constitution of plants and of animals—Schlanstedt rye—Burbank’s plants—The ideal of orthobiosis—The immorality of ignorance—The place of hygiene in the social life—The place of altruism in moral conduct—The freedom of the theory of orthobiosis from metaphysics
As I have shown in The Nature of Man, the human constitution as it exists to-day, being the result of a long evolution and containing a large animal element, cannot furnish the basis of rational morality. The conception which has come down from antiquity to modern times, of a harmonious activity of all the organs, is no longer appropriate to mankind. Organs which are in course of atrophy must not be reawakened, and many natural characters which perhaps were useful in the case of animals must be made to disappear in men.
Human nature, which, like the constitutions of other organisms, is subject to evolution, must be modified according to a definite ideal. Just as a gardener or stock raiser is not content with the existing nature of the plants and animals with which he is occupied, but modifies them to suit his purposes, so also the scientific philosopher must not think of existing human nature as immutable, but must try to modify it for the advantage of mankind.
As bread is the chief article in human food, attempts to improve cereals have been made for a very long time. Rimpau made one of the greatest steps in this direction when he introduced into cultivation a variety of rye known as Schlanstedt rye, now fairly abundant in France and Germany. Rimpau set himself the task of producing a variety with the longest ears and containing many and heavy grains. Having conceived his ideal, he began to seek out what was nearest to it in a very large number of examples of rye. After patient and continued labour, using careful selection and cross-fertilisation, Rimpau succeeded in making the new variety, and so did a great service to mankind.
Burbank,230 an American horticulturist, has recently gained a wide reputation because of his improvements of useful plants. He has produced a new kind of potato which has raised the value of potato crops in the United States by about £3,500,000 per annum. Burbank cultivated great numbers of fruit trees, flowers, and all kinds of plants, with the object of increasing their utility. One of his objects was to produce varieties which could resist dry conditions, which reproduced rapidly and so forth. He has modified the nature of plants to such an extent that he has cactus plants and brambles without thorns. The succulent leaves of the former provide an excellent food for cattle, whilst the absence of thorns in the latter makes their pleasant fruit more suitable for gardens. Burbank has enormously improved the production of stoneless plums, and has very much reduced the price of many bulbs and lilies by increasing their productivity.
To obtain such results much knowledge and a long period of time were necessary. To modify the nature of plants it was necessary to understand them well. To frame the new ideal of the plant it was necessary not only to have an exact conception of what was wanted, but to find out if the qualities of the plants in question furnished any hope of realising it.
The methods which have been successful in the case of plants and animals must be much modified for application to the human race. In the case of human beings the selection and cross-breeding which were imposed upon rye and plum trees are not possible, but, at the same time, the ideal of human nature, towards which mankind ought to press, may be formed. In our opinion this ideal is orthobiosis, that is to say, the development of the human life so that it passes through a long period of old age in active and vigorous health, leading to the final period in which there shall be present a sense of satiety of life, and a wish for death. I do not think that the ideal should be that of Herbert Spencer, a simple prolongation of human life. When the instinct of death comes at a not very late period of life, there would be no inconvenience in shortening the life, if death did not come soon after the appearance of the instinct. Probably this would be the only case where suicide was justified in the conception of orthobiosis.
The foregoing is the case of an action in conformity with the ideal, but quite contrary to human nature as it is at present. A similar contradiction appears in reproduction. Man came from animals amongst which unlimited reproduction was an important factor in the preservation of the species, as it allowed the species to survive under all sorts of bad conditions, such as diseases, combats, attacks of enemies, and changes of climate. Although man, according to the laws of human nature, is capable of reproducing extremely rapidly, the ideal of his happiness makes a restriction of this power necessary. Thus orthobiosis, based upon knowledge of human nature, would set limits to a function which is perhaps the most natural of all. The restriction which is already partially adopted will come more and more into operation as the struggle against diseases, the prolongation of human life, and the suppression of war make progress. It will be one of the chief means of diminishing the most brutal forms of the struggle for existence, and of increasing moral conduct amongst mankind.
Just as Rimpau began to study the nature of plants before trying to realise his ideal, so also varied and profound knowledge is the first requisite for the ideal of moral conduct. It is necessary not only to know the structure and function of the human organism, but to have exact ideas on human life as it is in society. Scientific knowledge is so indispensable for moral conduct that ignorance must be placed among the most immoral acts. A mother who rears her child in defiance of good hygiene, from want of knowledge, is acting immorally towards her offspring, notwithstanding her feeling of sympathy. And this also is true of a Government which remains in ignorance of the laws which regulate human life and human society.
It must be well understood that I am not here thinking of written knowledge, set down in treatises and volumes. Rimpau and Burbank went outside manuals of botany to obtain their knowledge. Besides books, wide ideas on the practice of life are required to direct aright the conduct of men. A doctor who has just finished his studies at the hospital, notwithstanding all his knowledge, is not yet sufficiently trained to be a good practitioner. He must acquire the habit of treating patients, and for this years are required. So also is it with regard to the practical applications of the principles of morality. The regulation of conduct requires profound knowledge both theoretical and practical, and men selected to frame or to apply laws of morality must have this double qualification. If the human race come to adopt the principles of orthobiosis, a considerable change in the qualities of men of different ages will follow. Old age will be postponed so much that men of from sixty to seventy years of age will retain their vigour, and will not require to ask assistance in the fashion now necessary. On the other hand, young men of twenty-one years of age will no longer be thought mature or ready to fulfil functions so difficult as taking a share in public affairs. The view which I set forth in The Nature of Man regarding the danger which comes from the present interference of young men in political affairs has since then been confirmed in the most striking fashion.
It is easily intelligible that in the new conditions such modern idols as universal suffrage, public opinion, and the referendum, in which the ignorant masses are called on to decide questions which demand varied and profound knowledge, will last no longer than the old idols. The progress of human knowledge will bring about the replacement of such institutions by others, in which applied morality will be controlled by the really competent persons. I permit myself to suppose that in these times, scientific training will be much more general than it is just now, and that it will occupy the place which it deserves in education and in life.
It is equally clear that if a mother is to act morally with regard to her child, she must teach herself properly. In place of mythology and literature, she must learn hygiene and all that relates to the rational rearing of children. So, also, in the education of men, the study of the exact sciences must occupy by far the most important place. Then only will moral conduct and scientific knowledge begin to unite. An ignorant mother will bring up a child very badly notwithstanding all her good will and her affection. A doctor, however imbued with strong sympathy for his patients, could do them much harm if he had not the appropriate knowledge. Are not politicians open to the reproach from the point of view of morality that very often through ignorance they do the very worst evil in public administration? With the progress of knowledge, moral conduct and useful conduct will become more and more closely identified.
I have been reproached because in my system the health of the body occupies too large a place. It cannot be otherwise, because health certainly plays the chief part in existence. Notwithstanding his pessimism, Schopenhauer was convinced that health was the greatest treasure, a treasure before which everything else yielded. In many religions care of the health is laid down amongst the chief duties. Although many scientific men do not hold the opinion that circumcision was ordained for hygienic reasons, it is certain that hygiene was extremely important in the Jewish religion. It is only in Christianity, which despises the human body, that hygiene is excluded from the religious code, as in the words of Jesus:-
“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matt. vi., 25). As for long ages hygiene was very imperfectly known, it is not surprising that it played a small part in human affairs. Probably the objection to the importance that I assign to it in orthobiosis is a relic from the old order of things. Now, however, the situation is different. Bacteriology has placed hygiene on a scientific foundation, so that the latter is now one of the exact sciences. It has now become necessary to give it the chief place in applied morality as it is the branch of knowledge that teaches how men ought to live.
It has been objected that I have left no place for altruism in my system.231 Certainly I have tried to find an egoistic basis for moral conduct, as I have shown above. I think, however, that the wish to live according to the ideal of orthobiosis and to make others live a normal life would be a powerful agency in improving social life, in preventing mutual damage, and promoting mutual help. Such a motive, within the reach of persons whose altruistic feelings are not specially strong, must largely extend moral conduct amongst human beings, and even although in future such manifestations of high morality as the sacrifice of life and health will become wholly or nearly wholly useless, I think that for the present there is still room for altruism. The practical application of scientific knowledge already gained admits much self-denial and good feeling. Struggle against prejudices of all kinds and the development and diffusion of sound ideas require a conduct very highly altruistic.
The fears of my opponents are still less justified when we reflect that the feelings of sympathy and of cohesion must play a large part in the business of helping the evolution of man towards the goal of normal life.
Although our actual knowledge already provides a basis of rational morality, it may be admitted that in the future, if science continues its forward march, the rules of moral conduct will become still more improved. There will be no ground for reproaching me for a blind faith in the all-powerfulness of science. Much more trust can be given to one who has faithfully carried out his promises, than to one who has promised much and fulfilled nothing. Science has already justified the hopes which have been placed in it. It has saved people from the most terrible diseases, and has made life much easier. On the other hand, religions, which demand an uncritical faith as the means of curing the ills which afflict humanity, have not fulfilled their promises.
The reproach that I preach blind faith in the progress of science, destined to replace religious faith, is unjust, because my faith depends on a confidence that science has already deserved. Equally unjust is the reproach that I have built my system on a partly metaphysical principle. According to M. Parodi,232 the hypothesis of physiological old age and of natural death seem to “involve the idea of a natural duration of human life, which, however, from accidental reasons man does not complete at present. M. Metchnikoff repeatedly uses the expression ‘normal cycle.’ Now do we not see here the surreptitious repetition of the old teleological conception of nature, although at first he so energetically disavowed it? It is the belief that the species is a necessary reality, corresponding to a definite type of its own, in fact a special design of nature; that nature, to guide herself, had an ideal which circumstances could mistake or degrade, but which had to be restored to its perfect form? Otherwise, why does he insist that there must be a condition of perfect and stable equilibrium between individual and environment? that there is a normal cycle and that it must be possible to harmonise the disharmonies?”
I can show easily that all these objections rest upon a simple misunderstanding. I have never conceived of the existence of any ideal of nature or of the inevitable necessity of transforming disharmonies to harmonies. I have no knowledge of the “designs” and “motives” of nature; I have never taken my stand on metaphysical ground. I have not the remotest idea if nature has any ideal and if the appearance of man on the earth were a part of such an ideal. What I have spoken of is the ideal of man corresponding to the need to ward off the great evils of old age as it is now, and of death as we see it around us. I have said, moreover, that human nature, that collection of complex features of multiple origin, contains certain elements which may be used to modify it according to our human ideal. I have done nothing but what the horticulturist does when he finds in the nature of plants elements which suggest to him to try and make new and improved races. Just as the constitution of some plum trees contains elements which make it possible to produce plums without stones which are pleasanter to eat, so also in our own nature there exist characters which make it possible to transform our disharmonious nature into a harmonious one, in accordance with our ideal, and able to bring us happiness. I have not the smallest idea what ideal nature may have on the subject of plums, but I know very well that man has such designs and such an ideal as form a point of departure for the transformation of the nature of plums. Substitute man for the plum tree and you are at my point of view. When I have spoken of the normal cycle of life or of physiological old age, I have used the words normal and physiological only in relation to our ideal of the human constitution. I might just as well have said that a cactus without thorns is the normal cactus in the conditions where it was desired to obtain a succulent plant useful as food for cattle. The words “normal” and “physiological” seemed to me more convenient than such a phrase as “in correspondence with human ideals.”
I am so little convinced of the existence of any disposition of nature to transform our ills into goods, and our disharmonies into harmonies, that it would not surprise me if such an ideal were never reached. Even in unmetaphysical circles it is said that nature has the intention of preserving the species at the expense of the individual. The ground of this is that the species survives the individual. On the other hand, very many species have completely disappeared. Amongst these species were animals very highly organised, such as some anthropoid apes (Dryopithecus, etc.). As nature has not spared these, how can we be certain that she is not ready to deal with the human race in the same way. It is impossible for us to know the unknown, its plans and motives. We must leave nature on one side and concern ourselves with what is more congruous with our intelligence.
Our intelligence informs us that man is capable of much, and for this reason we hope that he may be able to modify his own nature and transform his disharmonies into harmonies. It is only human will that can attain this ideal.
Footnotes
1 Westergaard, Mortalitaet u. Morbilitaet, 2nd. Edit., 1901, pp. 653-655.
2 The volume of the urine excreted in 24 hours (in January 1905) was 500 c.c., with a density of 1019. There was no albumen or sugar. The quantity, per litre, of urea was 11·50 gr., of chlorides 9 gr., of phosphates 1·15 gr. The sediment contained crystals of uric acid, some pavement epithelium cells, a very few cells from the tubules, some hyaline platelets and isolated white corpuscles.
3 Extinct Animals, London, 1905, pp. 28, 29.
4 Rendiconti d. Accad. d. Lincei, 1906, vol. xiv. pp. 351, 390.
5 Ueb. d. physiologische Degeneration bei Actinosphærium eichhornii. Jena, 1904.
6 “Senescence and Rejuvenation,” Journal of Physiology, 1891, t. xii.
7 Biologisches Centralblatt, 1904, pp. 65, 81, 113.
8 Comptes rendus de l’Académie des sciences, 23 April, 1900.
9 Revue générale des sciences, 30 Dec., 1904, p. 1116.
10 Le Bulletin médical, 1906, p. 721; Le Cerveau sénile, Lille, 1906, pp. 64-69.
11 Mémoires couronnés publiés par l’Académie royale de Belgique, Bruxelles, 1906.
12 Revue de Médecine, Nov., 1906, p. 870.
13 Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, Oct. 1906, p. 859.
14 Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1900, vol. xiv. p. 113.
15 Eléments d’histologie humaine, French translation, 1856, p. 222.
16 Leçons sur la physiologie du système nerveux, 1866.
17 De la dégenérescence graisseuse des muscles chez des vieillards. Paris, 1867.
18 Demange, Étude sur la vieillesse, 1886, p. 118.
19 C. R. de la Société de Biologie, 14 November, 1903.
20 Clinica medica, 1905, n. 6.
21 Bulletins de la Société royale des sciences-medicales de Bruxelles, 1905, n. 4, p. 105.
22 Sarbach, Mittheilungen a. d. Grenzgeb. d. Med. u. Chir., vol. xv. 1906.
23 Verhandlungen d. Kongr. f. innere Medicin. Wiesbaden, 1906, pp. 59, 98.
24 Archives de Neurologie, 1886.
25 Die Function d. Schilddrüse, Virchow’s Festschrift, vol. i. 1891, p. 369.
26 Fuss, Der Greisenbogen, in Virchow’s Archiv, 1905, vol. clxxxii. p. 407; S. Toufesco, Sur le cristallin, Paris, 1906.
27 Edmond Fournier, Stigmates dystrophiques de l’hérédosyphilis, Paris, 1898, p. 4.
28 Histoire naturelle générale et particulière, vol. ii. Paris, 1749.
29 De la longévité humaine et de la quantité de vie sur le globe, Paris, 1855.
30 Ueber die Dauer des Lebens, Jena, 1882, p. 4.
31 Brehm, La vie des animaux, Mammifères, vol. ii. p. 623.
32 Leçons sur la physiologie et l’anatomie comparée, vol. ix. 1870, p. 446.
33 Archiv f. die gesammte Physiologie, Bonn, 1903, vol. xcv. p. 606.
34 La Nature, May 12, 1900, p. 378.
35 Ashworth and Annandale, Proceedings of the R. Society of Edinburgh, vol. xxv. part iv. 1904.
36 Bronn’s Klassen u. Ordnungen des Thierreichs, vol. iii. p. 466.
37 Weismann, The Duration of Life, in “Essays on Heredity” (English translation), Oxford, 1889.
38 Oustalet, “La Longévité chez les Animaux vertébrés,” La Nature, May 12, 1900, p. 378.
39 “On the Comparative Ages to which Birds live,” The Ibis, Jan., 1899, vol. v. p. 19.
40 J. Maumus, “Les cæcums des oiseaux,” Annales des sciences naturelles, 902. See also P. Chalmers Mitchell, “On the Intestinal Tract of Birds,” Trans. Linnæan Soc. of London, vol. viii. part 7, 1901.
41 Weidersheim, Elements of the Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates, translated by W. Newton Parker, p. 236, 1886.
42 Elements of Comparative Anatomy, English translation by F. Jeffrey Bell, B.A., London, 1878, p. 562.
43 Virchow’s Archiv, 1869, vol. xlviii. p. 151.
44 P. Chalmers Mitchell, “On the Intestinal Tract of Mammals,” Trans. Zool. Soc. of London, vol. xvii. part 5, 1905.
45 Travaux de la Société des médecins russes à Saint-Pétersbourg. September-October, 1905, p. 18 (in Russian).
46 Virchow’s Archiv, 1874, vol. lix, p. 161.
47 Zeitschrift f. klinische. Medicin, 1887, vol. xii.
48 Mittheilungen a. d. Grenzgebieten d. Medicin u. Chirurgie, 1905, vol. xiv.
49 Aldor, Centralblatt f. innere Medicin, 1898, p. 161.
50 L’année biologique, 7th year, 1902. Paris, 1903, p. 590.
51 Gazette des Hôpitaux, 1904, p. 715.
52 Accidents dus à la Constipation pendant la Grossesse, l’Accouchement et les Suites des Couches. Thèse, Paris, 1902, p. 32.
53 Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, Paris, 1905, 10 July, p. 136.
54 Archiv. f. klinische Chirurgie, 1901, vol. lxiii, p. 773.
55 Kolle u. Wassermann, Handb. d. pathogenen Mikro-organismen, vol. ii, 1903, p. 678.
56 Ficker, in the Archiv. für Hygiene, vol. lii, p. 179, has recently published the results of an investigation into this.
57 Quoted by Frédericq et Nuel, Eléments de physiologie humaine, 4th edition, 1899, p. 256.
58 Quoted by Frédericq et Nuel, op. cit.
59 L’aviculture (a fortnightly Russian journal), Oct. 1st, 1904, No. 19, p. 3.
60 Country Life, 1905.
61 Quoted by Ebstein, Die Kunst d. mensch. Leben zu verlängern, 1891.
62 Op. cit., p. 12.
63 Annuaire statistique de la ville de Paris, 23rd year, 1904, p. 164-171.
64 Ornstein, Virchow’s Archiv., 1891, vol. cxxv, p. 408.
65 Ebstein, op. cit., p. 70.
66 Lejoncourt, Galerie des centenaires, Paris, 1842, p. 96-98.
67 Lejoncourt, op. cit., p. 101.
68 Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, 1836, vol. i, p. 1157.
69 I owe to the kindness of M. Chemin a memoir in which he has brought together the ancient and new records on the centenarians of all countries up to the end of the nineteenth century. M. Chemin was unable to find a publisher, but has given me his manuscript, extending to 182 pages.
70 Ueber die Kunst d. Verlängerung d. mensch. Lebens, Bonn, 1890, p. 23.
71 Physiologie générale, 1900, p. 381.
72 Tableaux de la nature (French translation), 1808, vol. ii, p. 109.
73 Webb and Berthelot, Histoire naturelle des îles Canaries, 1839, vol. i, part 2, pp. 97-98.
74 Bibliothèque universelle de Genève, 1839, vol. xlvi, p. 387.
75 Ibid., p. 392.
76 Bibliothèque universelle de Genève, vol. xlvii, p. 49.
77 Entstehung u. Begriff d. naturhistorischen Art, 2nd edit., Munich, 1865, p. 37.
78 Griesebach, Die Vegetation der Erde.
79 Batalin, Acta Horti Petropolitani, vol. xi, no. 6, 1890, p. 289.
80 I am indebted to Prof. Hugo de Vries for this and other instances of the prolongation of life in plants.
81 Engler’s Botanische Jahrbücher, Leipzig, 1882, vol. ii, p. 51.
82 Organographie der Pflanzen, Iéna, 1898-1901.
83 Bulletin du jardin botanique de Bruxelles, vol. i, no. 6, 1905.
84 Hugo de Vries, Jahrbücher für wissensch. Botanik, 1890, vol. xxii, p. 52.
85 Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1902, p. 71.
86 Duclaux, Microbiologie, vol. iii, 1900, p. 460.
87 Archiv. für Anatomie und Physiologie, 1864.
88 Archives de Zoologie expérimentale, 1901, vol. ix, p. 81.
89 Observations of Dr. Speyer, quoted by Weismann.
90 See The Nature of Man.
91 Étude clinique sur la vieillesse, Paris, 1886, p. 145.
92 Revue scientifique, 1877, p. 1173.
93 Revue scientifique, 1887, 2nd part, p. 105.
94 Gabriel Bertrand, Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1904, p. 672.
95 Therapeutische Monatshefte, 1904, p. 193.
96 Münchener medicinische Wochenschrift, 1904, No. 1; Verhandlungen der physiologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin, Dec. 5th, 1904.
97 Archives des sciences physiques et naturelles, Geneva, March, 1905, vol. xvii; Archives de physiologie, vol. iv, p. 245.
98 Laveran and Mesnil, Trypanosomes et Trypanosomiases, Paris, 1904, p. 328.
99 Paris, 1834, 4th edition, vol. ii, p. 118.
100 Revue de métaphysique et de morale, March, 1904.
101 Année biologique, vol. vii, p. 595.
102 Revue occidentale, July 1st, 1904, vol. xxx, p. 87.
103 Egger, “Le moi des mourants,” Revue philosophique, 1896, i, p. 27.
104 Ibid., pp. 303-307; v. also Bulletin de l’Institut général phycholog., 1903, p. 29.
105 Cicero, Tusculanes, chap, xxviii.
106 Rapport de M. Bienvenu-Martin à la Chambre des députés, Paris, 1903.
107 L’Art de prolonger la vie humaine (French translation), Lausanne, 1809, p. 5.
108 A. Réville, Histoire des religions, vol. iii, Paris, 1889, p. 428.
109 A. Réville, loc. cit., p. 455.
110 Comptes rendus de la Societé de Biologie, 1899, p. 415.
111 Deutsche medicin. Wochenschrift, 1891, p. 1027.
112 Die physiologisch-chemisch. Grundlagen d. Spermintheorie, Berlin, 1898.
113 British Medical Journal, 1904; Deutsche Mediz. Wochenschr., 1904, Nos. 18-21.
114 Die Lehre von d. Mortalitaet u. Morbilitaet, 2nd edition, Jena, 1901.
115 Medizinische Klinik, 1905, No. 22.
116 Die experimentelle Syphilisforschung, Berlin, 1906, p. 82.
117 Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1900, pp. 369-413.
118 Les sérums hemolytiques, Lyon, 1903.
119 According to a recent publication of M. Ellenberger (Archiv. f. Anatomie u. Physiologie, Physiologische Abtheilung, 1906, p. 139), the cæca of the horse, pig and rabbit, play an active part in the digestion of vegetable matter, which is rich in cellulose. At the end of his treatise, Ellenberger insists that the vermiform appendix of the cæcum is not a rudimentary organ. The reason why the appendix can be removed in the case of man without disturbance to the functions of the body, is that this work can be performed by the Peyer’s patches of the intestine. The existence of the appendix is not necessary to the normal processes of the body, and is a real danger to health and sometimes to life. Comparative study of the cæca in birds shows that these organs are in process of degeneration.
120 Archiv. für experimentelle Pathologie, vol. xxviii, p. 311.
121 Sixième Congrès de Chirurgie, Paris, 1903, p. 86.
122 Leçons sur les auto-intoxications, Paris, 1886.
123 Zeitschrift für Hygiene, 1892, vol. xii, p. 88.
124 Zeitschrift für klinische Medicin, 1903, vol. xlviii, p. 491.
125 There is a summary of this question in Gerhardt’s work on intestinal putrefaction, in Ergebnisse der Physiologie, 3rd year, section 1, Wiesbaden, 1904, pp. 107-154.
126 The A B C of our Nutrition, New York, 1903; Dr. Regnault, Nov. 1, “L’art de manger,” La Revue, 1906, p. 92.
127 Zeitschr. f. diatetische u. physikal. Therapie, t. viii, 1904, 1905.
128 Du Cap au lac Nyassa, Paris, 1897, pp. 291-294.
129 Gaffky and Paak, in Arbeiten d. k. Gesundheitsamtes, vol. vi, 1890.
130 Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1903.
131 Cormouls-Houlès, Vingt-sept années d’agriculture pratique, Paris, 1899, pp. 57-58.
132 British Medical Journal, 1897, Dec. 25th, p. 1898.
133 Comptes rendus de la Soc. de Biologie, 1906, March 17th.
134 Dr. Combe, L’auto intoxication intestinale, Paris, 1906. This valuable work contains much useful information on the subject.
135 Grundzach, Zeitschrift für klinische Medezin, 1893, p. 70; Schmitz, Zeitschrift für physiologische Chemie, 1894, vol. xix, p. 401; Singer, Therapeutische Monatshefte, 1901, p. 441.
136 Journal für praktische Chemie, 1882, vol. xxvi, p. 43.
137 Archiv. für experimentelle Pathologie, 1883, vol. xvii, p. 442.
138 In the English authorised version as in the translation of Osterwald the word “butter” is used in place of “soured milk.” Professor Metchnikoff follows the translation given by Ebstein in his work on the Medicine of the Old Testament.
139 Presse médicale, 1904, p. 619.
140 “An authentic narrative of the loss of the American brig Commerce wrecked on the western coast of Africa in the month of August, 1815, with an account of the sufferings of the surviving officers and crew, who were enslaved by the wandering Arabs on the African desert or Zaharah; and observations historical, geographical, etc.” by James Riley. Hartford, S. Andrus and Son, 1854.
141 Arbeiten a. d. k. Gesundheitsamte, 1889, vol. v, pp. 297-304.
142 See Grasberger and Schattenfroh, Archiv. für Hygiene, 1902, vol. xlii, p. 246.
143 Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1902, p. 65.
144 Revue médicale de la Suisse romande, 1905, p. 716.
145 Comptes rendus de la Soc. Biologique, March 17th, 1906.
146 Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1906, p. 977.
147 Soured milk can be taken at any time of the day, with or in between meals.
148 Jahrbuch für Kinderheilkunde, N. F. 12 Ergænsungsheft, 1900.
149 Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1905, p. 295; Tribune médicale, Feb. 24th, 1906.
150 La nature humaine et la philosophie optimiste, Paris, 1904.
151 Archiv. f. Anat. u. Physiol., Anatom. Abtheil, 1903, p. 205.
152 L’univers et la vie, p. 592.
153 Huxley, Man’s Place in Nature. Collected Essays, vol. vii, p. 54.
154 Ibid., p. 60.
155 Ibid., p. 62.
156 Ibid., p. 67.
157 Ménégaux, Les Mammifères, p. 24.
158 Darwin, Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 1873, p. 67.
159 Biologisches Centralblatt, 1904, p. 475.
160 J. de Fontenelle, Nouveau manuel complet des nageurs, Paris, 1837, p. 2.
161 La natation et les bains, Paris, 1887.
162 Quoted by M. Pitres in Leçons cliniques sur l’hystérie, 1891, vol. i.
163 Bourneville et Regnard, Iconographie photographique de la Salpétrière, 1879-1880, vol. iii, p. 50.
164 Stéphanie Feinkind, Du somnambulisme dit naturel, Paris, 1893, p. 55.
165 Dictionnaire des sciences médicales, 1821, vol. lii, p. 119.
166 Du Sommeil non naturel, Paris, 1886.
167 Conférence faite à la Société de l’Internat, June 28th, 1906.
168 The Crowd: a Study of the Popular Mind. English translation, London, 1896.
169 Souvenirs d’enfance de S. Kowalevsky, 1895, pp. 301-311.
170 W. Herzberg, Sozialdemokratie und Anarchismus, 1906, p. 17.
171 Le problème agraire, 1905, p. 147.
172 “The Coming Slavery” in Man versus the State, 1888, p. 18.
173 Human, too Human. French translation, 1899, pp. 405-407. A German critic has reproached me for my ignorance of Nietzsche’s works. I have read several of them, but the mixture of genius and madness in them makes them difficult to use. In this connection Moebius’ volume, Ueber das Pathologische bei Nietzsche (Wiesbaden, 1902), is of interest.
174 Quoted by Oldenberg, Le Bouddha, French translation, Paris, 1894, p. 214.
175 P. Régnaud, “Le pessimisme brahmanique,” in Annales du Musée Guimet, 1880, vol. i, pp. 110-111.
176 Guyau, La Morale d’Epicure, 4th edition, 1904, p. 116.
177 Ad Marciam, chap. x.
178 Poésies et œuvres morales, by Leopardi. Translated into French 1880, p. 49.
179 These facts are taken from Westergaard, 2nd edit., 1901, p. 649.
180 Dieudonné, Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, 1903, vol. i, p. 357.
181 Kowalevsky, Studien zur Psychologie des Pessimismus, Wiesbaden, 1904.
182 Medicinische Klinik, 1906, n. 25 and 26.
183 Der Werth des Lebens.
184 Ueber Schopenhauer, Leipzig, 1899.
185 Moebius, Goethe, vol. i, Leipzig, 1903.
186 V. Kunz, “Zur Blindenphysiologie,” Wiener medicin. Wochenschrift, 1902, No. 21.
187 Physiologie de la Lecture et de l’Écriture, Paris, 1905.
188 Entre aveugles, Paris, 1903.
189 Der Blindenfreund, Feb. 15th, 1906.
190 Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, vol. i, pp. 164-5, in the Essay on Goethe.
191 Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter. Letter of Dec. 3, 1812.
192 Quoted in Moebius’ Goethe, vol. ii, p. 80.
193 The Fifth Roman Elegy, Blaze’s French translation, 1873 p. 186. Some of Goethe’s biographers, and amongst them G. H. Lewes, maintain that these lines relate to Christine, Goethe’s wife. This is erroneous; they refer to Faustine (see Bielschowsky, i, p. 517).
194 Moebius’ Goethe, vol. ii, pp. 84-87.
195 Moebius’ Goethe, vol. ii, pp. 84-87.
196 Quoted by Bode in Goethe’s Lebenskunst, Berlin, 1905, p. 59.
197 Ueber die Wirkungen d. Castration, Halle, 1903, p. 82.
198 Comptes rendus de la Société de Biologie, 1889, p. 420.
199 The word Samen of the original is the expression of the alchemists for the “principle of life.”
200 Erich Schmidt, Goethe’s Faust in ursprünglicher Gestalt, 6th edit., Weimar, 1905, p. 1.
201 Faust, Bayard Taylor’s translation. London: Warne & Co., pp. 20-21.
202 Op. cit., p. 32.
203 Op. cit., pp. 33, 34.
204 Details of this will be found in Kuno Fischer’s Goethe’s Faust, pp. 328-330.
205 Op. cit., pg. 36.
206 Op. cit., pg. 45.
207 Op. cit., p. 46.
208 Op. cit., p. 46.
209 Op. cit., p. 71.
210 Op. cit., p. 51.
211 Op. cit., p. 151.
212 Op. cit., p. 203.
213 Op. cit., p. 205.
214 Op. cit., p. 230.
215 Op. cit., p. 231.
216 Op. cit., p. 284.
217 Op. cit., p. 287.
218 Op. cit., p 298.
219 Op. cit., p. 305.
220 Op. cit., p. 309.
221 Op. cit., p. 313.
222 Op. cit., p. 351.
223 Op. cit., pp. 354-355.
224 Op. cit., p. 365.
225 Op. cit., p. 370.
226 V. Tribune médicale, 1906, p. 449.
227 La Revue, Nov. 15th and Dec. 1st.
228 Essais de Philosophie critique, Paris, 1864.
229 System der Ethik, 7th and 8th editions, vol. i, p. 199. Berlin 1906.
230 De Vries, in Biologisches Centralblatt, 1906, Sept. 1st, p. 609.
231 Dr. Grasset, “La fin de la vie” in the Revue de philosophie, Aug. 1st, 1903.
232 “Morale et biologie,” Revue philosophique, 1904, vol. lviii, p. 125.