The Nature of Man

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION—SUMMARY OF OPINIONS ON THE NATURE OF MAN 3

Importance of the study of the nature of man—The nature of man as the foundation of morality—Greek worship of human nature—Matriopathy of ancient philosophers—Rationalism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—Degradation of human nature by religious doctrines—Influence of these conceptions on actual life and on art—Reaction of the Reformation against the degradation of human nature—Mutilation of the human body by primitive races

CHAPTER II

HARMONIES AND DISHARMONIES AMONGST BEINGS INFERIOR TO MAN 17

The organised world before the appearance of man on the earth—Absence of a law of universal progress—Fertilisation of vanilla—The part played by insects in the fertilisation of orchids—Mechanism by which insects carry the pollen of orchids—Habits of fossorial wasps—Harmonies in nature—Useless organs—Rudiments of the pollinia of orchids—Disharmonies in nature—Unadapted insects—Aberration of instincts—Perversion of sexual instinct—Attraction of insects by light—Luminous insects—Law of natural selection—Happiness and unhappiness in the organised world

CHAPTER III

SIMIAN ORIGIN OF MAN 40

Relationship of the human species with anthropoid apes—Analogies in the dentition, in the organisation of the limbs and of the brain—Resemblance of the vermiform appendage of man and anthropoids—Analogy between the placenta and fœtus of man and anthropoid apes—Blood relationship of man and monkeys shown by serums and precipitates—Transmutation of species—Sudden transition from monkey to man—J. Inaudi, the calculator, as an example of the sudden appearance of characters in the human species—Rudimentary organs in man—Proportion of progressive and retrogressive organs in the organisation of man

CHAPTER IV

DISHARMONIES IN THE ORGANISATION OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM OF MAN 61

Perfection of the human form—The covering of hair—The dentition in general, and the wisdom teeth—The vermiform appendage—Appendicitis and its gravity—Uselessness of the cæcum and of the large intestine—Instance of a woman without a large intestine—Ancestral history of this portion of the digestive tract—Injurious effect of the microbes of the large intestine—Frequency of cancer of the large intestine and of the stomach—Limited usefulness of the stomach—The instinct of choice of food—Futility of this instinct in man

CHAPTER V. Disharmonies in the Organisation and Activities of the

DISHARMONIES IN THE ORGANISATION AND ACTIVITIES OF THE REPRODUCTIVE APPARATUS—DISHARMONIES IN THE FAMILY AND SOCIAL INSTINCTS 78

Remarks on the disharmonies in the human organs of sense and perception—Rudimentary parts of the reproductive apparatus—Origin and function of the hymen

Evolution and significance of the menstrual flow in women—Precocious marriage amongst primitive and uncivilised races—Disharmony between age of puberty and age of nubility—Age of marriage—Examples of disharmony in the development of the reproductive function

III

Disharmonies in the family instincts—Artificial abortion—Desertion and infanticide—Disharmonies in the social instincts

CHAPTER VI

DISHARMONIES IN THE INSTINCT OF SELF-PRESERVATION 113

The instinct of self-preservation in animals—Man’s instinctive love of life—Indifference to life during childhood—Buddhist legend on instinctive self-preservation and the fear of death—Fear of death treated in literature—Confessions of Tolstoi regarding the fear of death—Other opinions on the subject—The fear of death an instinctive phenomenon—Development in man of a love of life—Treatment of the aged—Murder of old people—Suicide of old men—Absence of harmony between the love of life and the conditions of human existence—The part played by the fear of death in religions and systems of philosophy

PART II

ATTEMPTS TO DIMINISH THE ILLS ARISING FROM THE DISHARMONIES OF THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION (RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS)

CHAPTER VII

RELIGIOUS ATTEMPTS TO COMBAT THE ILLS ARISING FROM THE DISHARMONIES OF THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION 137

Animism as the foundation of primitive religions—The Jewish religion in relation to the doctrine of immortality of the soul—The religions of China—Ancestor-worship in Confucianism—The conception of immortality in Taoism—The persistence of the soul in the Buddhist religion—The paradise of the Chinese Buddhists—Ancestors worshipped as gods—Influence of religious faith on the fear of death—Pessimism of the doctrine of Buddha—The meaning of Nirvâna—Resignation as preached by Buddha—Objections to immortality of the soul—Irritability of the tissues and cells of the body—Religious hygiene—Religious means of controlling the reproductive functions and of preventing diseases—Failure of religions in their attempts to combat the ills arising from the disharmonies of the human constitution

CHAPTER VIII. Attempts in Systems of Philosophy to Remedy the Ills Arising

ATTEMPTS IN SYSTEMS OF PHILOSOPHY TO REMEDY THE ILLS ARISING FROM THE DISHARMONIES OF THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION 166

Some philosophical systems are in intimate union with religions—Ideas of ancient philosophers on the immortality of the soul—The teaching of Plato—The scepticism of Aristotle—The Stoics—Cicero, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius—Modern philosophical systems—Pessimism and its origin—Lord Byron—Theories of Schopenhauer and Hartmann—Mailaender’s philosophy of deliverance—Criticisms of pessimism—Max Nordau—Ideas of modern thinkers on death

PART III

WHAT SCIENCE IS ABLE TO DO TO ALLEVIATE THE DISHARMONIES OF THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION

CHAPTER IX

WHAT SCIENCE CAN DO AGAINST DISEASE 203

Formation of the experimental method—The intervention of religion in disease—Disease as a basis of pessimistic systems of philosophy—Advance of medical science in the war against disease—The revolution in medicine and surgery due to the discoveries of Pasteur—The beneficial results of Serum Therapy in the war against infectious diseases—Failure of science to cure tuberculosis and malignant tumours—Protests against the advance of science—Opposition of Rousseau, Tolstoi and Brunetière—Proclamation of the fallibility of science—Return to religion and mysticism

CHAPTER X

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF OLD AGE 228

General account of old age—Theory of senile degeneration amongst unicellular organisms—Conjugation amongst infusoria—Old age in birds and in anthropoid apes—General characters of senile degeneration—Sclerosis of the organs—Phagocyte theory of senile degeneration—Destruction of higher elements by macrophags—Mechanism of whitening of the hair—Serums acting on cells (cytotoxins)—Sclerosis of the arteries and its causation—Harm done by the microbes of the alimentary canal—Intestinal putrefaction and the modes of preventing it—Attempts to prolong human life—Longevity in biblical times

CHAPTER XI

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF DEATH 262

Theory of the immortality of lower organisms—Immortality of the sexual cells in higher organisms—Immortality of the cellular soul—Occurrence of natural death in the case of certain animals—Natural death in the Ephemeridæ—Loss of the instinct of preservation in adult Ephemerids—Instinct of life in the aged—Instinct of natural death in man—Death of old men in biblical times—Changes in the instincts of man and lower animals

CHAPTER XII

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 285

Disharmonies in the human constitution as the chief source of our sorrows—Scientific data as to the origin and destiny of man—The goal of human existence—Difficulties in the way of scientific investigation of the problem, What is progress?—Difficulty of including the whole human rate in a scheme of progress and morality—The instincts of life and of natural death—Application to real life of the doctrines set forth in this book

ILLUSTRATIONS

Photograph of Élie Metchnikoff Frontispiece Figs. Page 1. Catasetum saccatum 24 2. Herminium monorchis 26 3. Cerceris 28 4. Listera ovata 32 5. Pelopæus 34 6. Cæcum and vermiform appendage of man 44 7. Cæcum and vermiform appendage of chimpanzee 45 8. Fœtus of gibbon 46 9. Human fœtus 47 10. Fœtus of gorilla 50 11. Human fœtus 51 12. Paramecium about to divide 230 13. Conjugation of Paramecia 231 14. Section of a renal tubule invaded by Macrophags 241 15. Brain cells devoured by Macrophags 241 16. Hair becoming grey 243 17. Chætogaster about to divide 265 18. Ephemerids 271 19. Swarms of Palingenia virgo 273 20. Larva of an Ephemerid 276

THE NATURE OF MAN

PART I. Disharmonies in the Nature of Man

DISHARMONIES IN THE NATURE OF MAN

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION SUMMARY OF OPINIONS ON THE NATURE OF MAN

Importance of the study of the nature of man—The nature of man as the foundation of morality—Greek worship of human nature—Matriopathy of ancient philosophers—Rationalism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—Degradation of human nature by religious doctrines—Influence of these conceptions on actual life and on art—Reaction of the Reformation against the degradation of human nature—Mutilation of the human body by primitive races

Notwithstanding the real advance made by science, expressions of discontentment with it are familiar. Science, it is said, no doubt has ameliorated the material conditions of human life, but is powerless to solve those moral and philosophical questions that interest cultured people so deeply. In this region science has done no more than to destroy the foundations of religion. It has robbed mankind of the consolations of religion without being able to replace them with anything more exact or more enduring.

It cannot be disputed that a general uneasiness disturbs the world of to-day. Although his environment is most favourable to the fulfilment of many of his capacities, man finds himself without orientation when he has to determine the course of his life, or to explain to himself his true relation to such categories of humanity as family, nation, race and human race. This uneasiness reveals itself as discontentment, and it leads to pessimism or to mysticism. Most of the philosophical systems of the nineteenth century were steeped in melancholy, and led straight to a denial of the possibility of happiness and even to an advocacy of extinction. The frequency of suicide has increased greatly among all the civilised peoples. There is no need to tabulate proofs of a notorious fact.

A remedy for this malady of the age has been sought in the attempt to restore religious and mystical faith. On all sides have sprung up efforts to found new religions or to amend the old. Many defenders of science have gone the length of admitting its incapacity to solve the problem of the existence of man; they have held that that problem was insoluble for the human mind. Such a depressing conclusion has been formulated in spite of many attempts to reach a rational conception of the universe and of man.

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