The physiological laws of human increase / by Nathan Allen.

  • Nathan Allen
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiological laws of human increase / by Nathan Allen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    harvest which awaits the physiological laborer. Says one: Certainly a well-arranged and most comprehensive science has already been reared, but it is destined to attain proportions much more gigantic than it now presents. If the theory of human increase about to be proposed is found to have a sure basis in the great laws of Physiology, it will be difficult to find language adequate to express the value of the principles involved, or the extent of their application. It approaches the subject from a point of view which has not hitherto been taken, and which opens a field of inquiry so new, so vast, and so complicated, that one almost shrinks from the undertaking. The most that any single individual can do in such a field, is to throw a mere pebble into the great ocean of truth. In entering, therefore, upon an examination of this question, it becomes the inquirer to suspend his opinion till he can obtain a sufficient accumulation of facts and knowledge on the subject, so that he can form some rational and correct judgment as to their relative bearing, and the support they give to this or that theory. No prejudice or pre-conceived opinions should be allowed to stand in the way of coming to a fair and intelligent decision. But, in order to do this properly, some general knowledge—and tlie more profound the better—of the facts and laws of physi- ology is indispensable. Guided by the true Baconian spirit of philosophy, and after a thorough investigation of the whole sub- ject, it may be expected we shall then arrive at some enlightened and satisfiictory results in the extensive field of investigation. The main reason why this most important subject—the law of human increase or of population—has not created more general interest, or found- a more exact and uniform support is, that the true basis upon which the Creator placed it, has in a great measure been overlooked. It is a singular fact, that among all the writers on this subject there is scarcely one who has been thoroughly educated in the science of physiology, or in the practical appli- cation of medicine to the laws of life. The strictly inductive method by which the great principles of science are established has been but little employed. The attention of those who have made investigations and written most extensively upon this sub- ject, has been turned in almost every other direction in quest of some cause, agency, or influence to explain changes in population, rather than of any primary fundamental law in human organiza- tion itself. But it stands to reason and common sense, that the
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