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has proved that the human being, like an animal, is evolved from a small cell
—the female reproductive ovum—after fertilisation by the male some period
before birth, being about nine months for a full-time child.
In order to obtain improved stocks and herds, the best kinds are used for
breeding, so also to obtain more healthy children, men and women must do all
they can to keep themselves healthy, especially as the sins of the parents
are generally visited upon their children.
The human body can in many ways be compared with a very
complicated automatic machine. It is one which every one of us has to drive
every day and night until the end of life's journey. One of the simplest
comparisons has been with a steam engine. In order to obtain the most
efficient working, the engine must be regularly fed with the proper amount
and kind of fuel, the refuse must be regularly cleared away, it must have a
sufficiency of water and air, the machinery must be kept clean and well oiled,
it must not be kept out of use, or it will rust and will need overhauling and
repair before it, can be efficiently used again.
One of the most interesting popular descriptions of the human body in
lucid language is a recent publication by Professor Arthur Keith, M.D,, F.R.S.,
etc., "The Engines of the Human Body," giving the substance of his Christmas
Lectures at the Royal Institution. He went to the workshop of the
engineer and selected examples of his inventive ability to illustrate the
creative'genius displayed by Nature in the construction of the human body.
For instance the heart is a pump, one which in the ingenuity of its construction,
the delicacy of its regulation, and the effectiveness of its work, far
surpasses any model of man's invention. The master contrivance, the organisation
of the brain, spinal cord and nerves, is compared with an extensive
telephone system with automatic telephone exchanges.
The animal kingdom abounds with Nature's wonderful methods of defence,
not only against their larger enemies, but also against their unseen foes, the
germs of disease. Man's ingenuity has also devised many artificial methods
of defence against foes of both kinds, which methods have reached their climax
during the past terrible war.
Medical men have studied the battles which are fought between the
invading legions of germs and the defensive forces of the body, and have
discovered some of Nature's methods, so that they can assist recovery from
disease by acting as Nature's assistants.
Therefore, when ill, at once call in a well trained doctor, as Nature can be
assisted most efficaciously at the beginning of the disease before much
damage has been caused. Much money is worse than wasted, because of
the harm that is so frequently done by the indiscriminate use of drugs and
specious quack medicines. Prevention is much better than cure, and everyone
can act as Nature's assistant, especially in the prevention of disease by Self-