Laws of human development and progress

Dedication

TO THAT LARGE AND RAPIDLY INCREASING CLASS OF MY FELLOW- CITIZENS WHO ARE

EARNESTLY SEARCHING FOR LIGHT,

IN RELATION TO

Preface

'' I ^HE inquisitive public will no doubt raise the

^ question, why add another to the already longlist of books upon the subject of the Laws of Human Development ?

My answer is, that thirty years' experience in the practice of medicine has impelled me to believe that there is no subject of even ordinary interest to the mass of the people, of which there is such lamentable want of correct information, nor one in which ignorance is so destructive to the best interests of all mankind.

Again, nearly all the books on this subject have been written for the professional reader and for the school-room, and the greatest of all the schools, the family circle, has been left unprovided for.

This book is intended especially for the home circle, and no effort has been made to please the professional reader ; but the desire has been to make it instructive to every member of the household old enough to appreciate the importance of living true to nature's laws. In fact, the entire aim of the author has been to direct the minds of the people to the

VI PREFACE.

great truth, that human development is not a matter of mere chance, but that every step in the process is the result of natural law, and that to have normal development, all the necessary conditions of life must be provided in every case.

These necessary conditions I have endeavored to point out and make plain to every reader, and to do so have introduced only such physiological data as the case seemed to require. In the preparation of this part of the work I have drawn from the works of Lambert, Dalton, Draper, Jacobi, Smith, Trail, Bain, LeConte and others, and have aimed to make my book a trustworthy guide to all persons who are desirous of learning how they may reach to higher states of physical, mental, and moral dev-elopment. If it shall find its way into many homes, and throw a ray of light along the pathways of the young, the middle-aged and the old, and enable them to live purer and better lives, my highest ambition will be gratified.

T. W. TAYLOR, M. D.

Columbus, Ohio, 1879.

IN DEX.

Chapter I. Pack

Man's Progress Not Satisfactory — Undue Development (ff the Appetites and Passions — Faulty Development of Physical and Moral Powers — Lack of the Proper Ideas of Physiological Laws — Importance of Infant Training

— Kindergartens Essential — All Training Should be in Harmon}' With Phj^siological Laws 1 — 27

Chapter II

Of the Early Management of Children — Respiration and the Organs Concerned in It — Changes That Take Place in the Air and the Blood During Respiration — The Importance of the Proper Ventilation of Apartments — An Improved Plan of Warming and Ventilating Houses .'. 28—42

Chapter III

On the Circulation of the Blood and of the Organs that bring it about — The Heart the Central Organ — The Arteries, Capillaries and Veins — The Heart a Ceaseless Worker

— The Rapid Movement of the Blood — How Effected —

Poem on the Blood, Etc 43—52

Chapter IV

The Skin — Its Structure and Function — The Great Purifier of the Blood — Importance of Keeping it Clean — Water the Agent — The Various Kinds of Baths — Poem on the Skin .^ 53—63

Chapter V

Muscular Structure — How Muscle is Formed — Muscular Movements and How Brought About — Exercise of the Muscles Necessary to Preserve Their Strength — Rest Equally Necessary to Rebuild Them 61—76

Chapter VI

The Bones of the Body — How Developed — The Change in the Bones by Age — The Teeth a Part of the Bony Skeleton — Two Sets of Teeth— Number of Milk and Permanent Teeth — Rules for the Preservation of the Teeth 77—88

Vlll INDEX.

CHAPTKRVII.

PA-GE

The Organs of Digestion and their Action — Different Organs for Digestion of Different Classes of Foods — Mastication Necessary to Perfect Digestion —Stomach Digestion— Intestinal Digestion — Experiments on Dogs in Relation to Digestion — Prof. Dalton on Digestion — Tracing the Digested Substances Through the Sj'stem... 89 — 100

Chapter VIII

Foods and Their Uses in the Human Economy — Definition of Food — Organized Substances Only Can Be Ur;ed as Foo(js — These of Vegetable Origin — How Vegetables Convert Mineral Substances Into Organic Compounds — AH Foods Divided Into Two Classes — The Wheat Grain a Perfect Food — The Composition of the Whole Wheat Grain and the Fine Flour Compared — Composition of the Human Body — Importance of the Proximate Principles Used as Food Containing Mineral Substances — Waste Matter Discharged From the Bodv — Foods for Children— Inheritance. , f 101 — 126

Chapter IX

Foods Continued — Plain Foods to Sustain Normal Conditions—Imperfect Foods Lead to Vice and Intemperance The Use of Artificial Stimulants Injurious to the Moral Nature as Well as the Physical — Bread the Staff" of Life — White Flour Bread Imperfect — Dr. Trail's Prize Bread — Light Bread and How Made — Yeast — What is Lost by Light Bread — The Cereal Grains— These With Vegetables and Fruits the Natural Food of Man — Appeal to Mothers — Reform Cociving Clubs — Coffee and Tea — Regular Meals — The Proximate Principles Required in the Food— Examples of Different Dietaries.. 127 — 155

Chapter X

Development of the Brain and Nervous System — The Brain Made Up of Two Sorts of Material — The Gray Substance Necessary to Mental Force — The White Substance Makes Up the Nervous Trunks — Impurities in the Blood Affecting the Brain — Unstable Condition of the Brain Substance — Bain on the Properties of Matter and Mind — LeConte on the Derivation of Vital Force — Changes in the Chemical, Physical and Vital Forces — All Matter Exists in Four Planes — Changes of Force From a Lower to a Higher Plane — Ph3siology of the Mental and Moral Powers — Physical Condition Necessary to Mental Action — Exercise of the Mental Powers Indispensable to Mental Development — Necessity of Pure Environment — Proper Cultivation and Training 156—176

INDEX. IX

Chapter XI

Mental and Moral Development Continued— Public School Traininj: — Its Defects — It Must be Based Upon the Ph3'sioloi:ical Laws of Development — Wendell Phillips on the Public School Sj-stem — The Objects to be Soujiht in a Public School System— The Cultivation of the Observino; Powers— The Kindergarten — The Primar}- School — Intermediate — Dr. Goodell's Views — High School Training — The Elevation of the Masses — Advice to Parents— The Moral Powers Should Be More Thoroughly Developed — The Moral Training by Parents '. 177—204

CHAPTEE XII.

The Phj'siological Laws Relating to the Clothing — These Disregarded — Dr. Willis on the Clothing of Children — The Dictates of Fashion the Law — Rules That Should Govern Mothers in the Preparation of Dress for Their Children— A Model Style for Little Girls— Fabhion Entails Lasting Burdens Upon Society— The Necessit}' of Sunlight in Living Rooms — Alice Carey 205 — 220

Chapter XIII

Counsel to'.Young Ladies — The Power of Woman in Society — Woman Naturally a Teacher— Her Proper Training to Fit Her For Her Mission — Mrs. Sigourney on Woman's Mission— Self-Examination Necessary to Woman — Fashion Must Not Gain the Ascendency — The Development of the Mental and Moral Natures Should be Woman's Great Concern — Physical Development Must Not be Neglected 221—233

CHAPTER XIY.

Counsel to Young Ladies Continued — Proper Course of Reading For Young Ladies — Light Literature Should Not Engross Too Much Time — The Physical Sciences Should Form Part of the Coarse— Biography and History Not to Be Neglected — Household Science an Important Study — Businsss Avocations Open to Women — Examples of Women Who Were Successful in Business Pursuits — The Cultivation of the Christian Graces. 234—249

CHAPTER XY.

Counsel to Young Men — The Importance of Observing the Physiological Laws in vStarting Out in Life — Character, of Commanding Importance— Preparation for the Business Life — The Mental and Moral Powers Should Control the Life — Their Growth Dependent Upon the Observance of Physiological Laws — The Blood Must be Kept Pure — Tobacco a Great Source of Impurit}^ 250—262

X INDEX.

• , PACK.

CHAPTER XVI.

ronnsel to Youno; Men Continued— The Formation of Bad Habits and Their Correction — Labor and Rest — The Social Principle — The Society of Woman Necessar}- to Man — Marriaji^e the Normal Condition — Sj'-stem Allfmportant — Livino" for a Purpose — Want of This a (Common Cause of Failure — Necessity of Building T'^p a Pure Physical Organism — The Mental and Moral Faculties to be the Controling Influence in the World.. 20:'. — 279

CHAPTER XVII.

The Vices and Corruptions of Society — Their Increase Along With the Growth of Civilization — The Causes that Produce Them — Agencies to Be Evoked for Their Cure— The Church — The Medical Profession — The Public Press— The Public School— The Family 280—300

CHAPTER XVIII.

Changes in the Organism in Old Age — All the Powers of Life Become More Sluggish — Three Periods in Life — The Knowledge of Physiological Law Imperfect — The Reserve Force in the Human Constitution — This Should be Used for Useful Purposes — Changes in the Living of the Individual Should Conform to the Changes in the Organism — The Mental and Moral Powers Should be Kept Moderately Active — Obedience to Physiological Law the Only Waj^ to Reach a Full and Complete Life —William Cnllen' Brj^ant— Peter Cooper SOI— 316

ERRATA.

Chapter I., pau;e 18, 6th hue from top, between '"the" and "human," read " laws of. "

Chapter II., page 30, 18th line from top, between ' extendino;" and "it" read " into."

Chapter VI., page 79, 9th line from bottom, between "bones'" and " from," read "and increasing."

Chapter VII., page 95, 13th line from top, for "starch" read " stomach."

Chapter X., page 173, 8th line from top, for "prevent" read " produce."

Chapter XVII., page 294, 1st line, between ''and" and " this" read "if."

Chapter XVIII. , page 303, first line, for " now " read " never."

Chapter I

Mini's Progress not Satisf'actorj^ — Undue Development of the Appetites and Passions — Faulty Development of Phj-sical and Moral Powers — Lack of the Proper Ideas of Physiological Laws — Importance of Infant Training — Kindergartens Essential — All Training should be in Harmony with Physiological Laws.

\ T 7HEN we look at the possibilities of man, en- V V dowed as he is with the faculty of reason and a moral sense, and then contemplate the paucity of results as exhibited by the nations even farthest advanced in civilization, the inquiry naturally suggests itself, why this failure of man to reach the high position so beautifully foreshadowed in his marvelous gifts.

If we will examine into the doings of man in the most favored nations of the earth, we see him everywhere grasping after the most evanescent and worthless of the world's baubles, wearing out his existence in the pursuit of "trifles light as air," and that the least exercise of his reasoning powers would have convinced him could have given no satisfactory results. Claiming, as he does, to be the sole possessor of the wonderful faculty of reason, the cultivation and exercise of which opens up visions of beauty and grandeur and power almost transcending the highest flights of the imagination, yet with all these advantages, we find man everywhere, spending his life's energies in the pursuit of some selfish gratifica-

2 IIiiDian Development and Ihognss.

cation, which so often proves unsatisfying and worthless in the end.

And while every one is ready to sound the praises of the noble hero who dispenses only blessings in his track, so all are equally unanimous in condemnation of him whose sole ambwtion is the gratification of his own selfish desires and appetites ; but with all this unanimity of sentiment on the part of the people in praise of the higher principles in man, and in condemnation of the low and the vile, yet, if we faithfully scrutinize the actions of mankind, we find the vast majority instigated and governed by the lower and baser faculties of their nature. All classes and conditions of people seem to recognize this fact, and endeavor to account for it, on the theory of the natural depravity of man. It is claimed that while man came from the hand of his maker pure and unsullied, his first act of disobedience "brought sin and death into the world with all our woe ;" and thus by the fall of our first parents, all men are as ''prone to do evil as the sparks are to fly upward."

This idea of the natural depravity of man, has been handed down through untold generations, and has directed the minds of men away from the various causes and influences that are constantly operating upon him, and leading him away from the paths of virtue and moral rectitude. Hence, but little progress has been made toward a rational exposition of man's conduct and actions. Never until science laid bare the workings of the inner temple of man, and traced every motive and influence that operates upon the human will back to its source, was any 7'cal progress made toward a satisfactory and rational exposition of man's conduct. It is true, philoso-

Hit)) I an Dcvclop))ic)it a)id Pivgirss. 3

phers and metaphysicians had kept up a ceaseless turmoil in the world of thought upon this subject, but nothing but the strictest scientific methods and demonstrations can ever lead to a full and trustworthy analysis of the laws that bring about the physical, mental and moral development of man.

Science has successfully demonstrated the fact, that law is stamped upon every thing in nature, and that all events are the result of the workings of the laws that God has impressed upon all material substances. Then every advance looking toward the normal development of man's faculties, can only be successful, when made in conformity to the phyisological laws of development. A stepping outside of these laws in any direction, will always, sooner or later, produce an abnormal condition of man, that will inevitably lead to abnormal and faulty development.

And as the mental and moral faculties of man are now known to have a physical basis in portions of the great center of the nervous system, the brain, it would seem but rational to conclude, that the growth and development of these mental and moral faculties cannot take place without there is growth and development of their physical basis, and this growth and development is also brought about by the constant observance of all the laws of life. In fact science is rapidly leading the minds of men away from the idea of chance, and is instilling into all thoughtful persons, the leading fact that nature's methods are all orderly, and in strict conformity with law.

The more we learn of the organic world, as well as of dead matter, the more we must be convinced that nothing takes place in all the domain of nature, but is

4 Hmnaii DevelopDicnt and Progress.

brought about by the operations of definite laws arid forces; that no effect takes place in any department of nature without having a sufficient and pre-existing cause, and that like causes operating upon similar conditions will always produce like results.

These leading principles applied to the investigation of man's conduct and actions, opens up a new field of thought and inquiry, and places the science of life upon a firm and solid basis, that must eventually lead to grand results. So soon as man recognizes the fact that his will is constantly subject to a multitude of unseen forces and influences,, and that the strongest influence operating upon the will at the time, will always claim the victory, then will he seek to know the nature afid extent of these forces and influences, and strive to find out how far the control of them is placed within himself.

A very slight self examination cannot fail to convince any rational human being, that there are times when his will is under the control of the animal appetites and desires of his nature ; at other times it is guided by his reason ; at others by his conscience; and at other times again by some force outside of himself, and connected with his environment, but that the strongest force operating at the time, will always determine the action. This statement must certainly coincide with the convictions of every person who has honestly looked into the workings of his own nature. In fact, it is but another form of expressing the idea so earnestly enforced by Solomon, that children should be trained up in the way they should go, and when they get old they will not depart from it. In other words, unfold and develop and strengthen the mental and moral faculties of children more highly than the appetites and passions, and all

I hi 111 an Development eoid 7V(\(^ress. 5

through Hfe the mental and moral powers will control the will, and lead to beautiful and s}'mmetrical lives. But leave these higher faculties undeveloped and uncared for, and the appetites and passions will rule and reign supreme, and will transform into ravenous wolves, what under proper cultivation and training would have become ornaments to society, and blessings to the world.

This is the teachings of the laws of human development, and if it were not so, then what would be gained by training up a child in the way it should go. If, when the mental and moral faculties are more highly developed than the appetites and passions, and they do not direct the will and shape the actions of the individual, then these faculties had better be left uncultured and undeveloped. Utter mental and moral darkness is preferable to that enlightenment that leads to depravity and moral death.

But an appeal to the self-consciousness of every intelligent human being must be convincing evidence that the principle is true — that if the mental and moral powers are more highly developed than the lower appetites and passions, they will certainly control and shape the actions of the individual. And if this is the law of human development, then no vain boasting of the freedom of the will can change the fact or its consequences ; but an intelligent recognition of the law will teach man that the only way to bring the will under subjection to the principles of right, is to cultivate and develop the principles of right until they are strong enough to control the will and thus govern and direct the actions.

Like so many other theories that have come down to

6 Hiivian Development and Progress.

us from the misty past, the idea of man's free will has stamped its impress upon the world of mankind for centuries past ; but its effects upon the actions of man have certainly been evil rather than good.

Once let man feel that his own "sweet will," unfettered and untrammeled, is to be the sole rule and guide of his actions, and that he can change and shift it at his pleasure, and he will not care to look at the various forces and influences that are constantl}^ operating upon it, and shaping and moulding his life and actions.

With all the refinement and polish that distinguishes this age and nation, man remains lamentably ignorant of himself. In the great struggle for wealth and show and glitter, he has found no time to investigate the laws and forces that are constantly operating upon and within himself; and while boasting of the freedom of the will, and his ability to shape his own actions and destiny, he has become the veriest slave to the baser appetites and desires of his nature. And while spending his energies and his life's forces in the pursuit of that knowledge that will enable him to more fully minister to his own selfish desires and pleasures, he is entirely neglecting the acquisition of that knowledge that is of most worth : the knowledge of the laws and forces that shapes his ends and determines his destiny.

To direct the minds of my fellow-men to these laws and forces, and to point out the transcendent importance to all classes of people, of the knowledge of their workings in the human constitution, is the object I have attempted in these pages. If we will but look at the lowest of known organic forms, we find them to be developed by the operation of definite laws and forces that always produces the same forms, unless interrupted by

IIiniUDi Dcvclopuuiit and Progress. 7

some extraneous circumstance. And all the way up the scale of organic life, the same obedience to the behests of law is manifest everywhere, and in all living things.

Long years of patient study of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, has enabled man to recognize and comprehend the laws and forces that bring about the growth and development of these lower orders of organic life ; but man being endowed with reasoning powers and a moral sense, the same laws and forces were supposed not to apply to him.

But scientific investigation has demonstrated the fact that all the higher faculties of man have a physical basis in portions of the great nervous centre, the brain, and that growth and development of these higher faculties cannot take place without the growth and development of their physical basis, and this is just as much the result of definite law^s and forces as is the simplest form of life known to the organic world. Then certainly there is no knowledge of so much worth to man as that which relates to the laws and forces that secures the full development of all the higher faculties and powers of his nature. It is true there are great difficulties attending the investigation of the mental and moral powers of man, but these difficulties are not insurmountable to him who is wiUing to divest himself of all preconceived ideas and notions, and who enters upon the study with an ardent desire to find the truth and to be guided by it.

But no investigation of the mental and moral powers can be of any avail when directed to the mind and moral sense apart from the physical body. These powers entirely elude our grasp when separate from their physical basis, the brain, and defy all our efforts to investigate their properties and source. But so soon as scientists

S I fuiiiaii Dcvclopiiiciit and Progress.

directed their inquiries to the physical side of maii's nature, they found there was a definite equivalence between mental manifestations and physical forces ; in other words, that the mental force in man is always in proportion to the destructive metamorphosis that takes place in the brain.

In order to comprehend the nature and extent of this destructive metamorphosis, it will be necessary for the reader to have some knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the brain and nervous structures, which will be explained further on in this work. And as the nervous system, the centre of which is located in the brain, is the great presiding genius that guides and directs all the operations of man's organism, without some knowledge of the workings of this most wonderful system, no correct idea of human life can be formed. In the chapters devoted to the development of the mental and moral powers, I have endeavored to give the reader a plain description of the physical changes that takes place in the brain of a man as the result of the action of the mental and moral powers ; and to show that there can be no mental and moral action in man, so far as we know, without these physical changes taking place. Of the exact nature of the mind of man, science does not attempt to determine ; it only claims to define the connection of the mind with its physical basis, and to observe what takes place in its physical basis during the operation of the mental and moral powers, and to show that this action is always regulated by certain definite physiological laws. The result of the investigation of the mental and moral powers of man has demonstrated the fact that all mental and moral action is brought about at the expense of a portion of the brain substance.

and that this destructive metamorphosis of brain is effected by the action of the oxygen the blood took from the air inhaled into the lungs during respiration upon the substance of the brain itself. The oxygen of the blood that circulates through the brain structure enters into chemical combination with the elements of a portion of the brain structure, and new compounds are formed that must now be taken up by the absorbents, and carried out of the system.

Now all these physical changes that take place in the brain as the result of mental and moral action, are known to be brought about by the operation of the physiological laws ; and that these laws may effect the desired end, requires that certain definite conditions be always present. These conditions are, that there shall be a normal brain structure, and that pure oxygenated blood shall circulate through it. Unless these conditions be present in the human organism, we have no evidence of any mental or moral manifestations whatever. The oxydation of no other substance than that of the cerebral hemispheres of man's brain, ever produced mental operations ; and as far as science has been able to determine, no mental operations are produced in any other way. These phenomena always taking place in connection with mental action, scientists have recognized it as a physiological law of life, and have drawn their conclusions from it.

It would be but rational to suppose, then, that these physiological laws should form the basis of all educational systems, and would be a matter of the greatest concern by -all the people. But when we come to look at the educational institutions of the country, and sound the minds of the people, we find the utmost indifference in H lO I liiuiaii Dcvclopmciit and Progress.

relation to all physiological laws, existing everywhere and among all classes of the people. The fact is not yet recognized that all the phenomena of life are brought about in obedience to inexorable law ; and therefore but little interest is manifested to know the laws that are ever operating within and upon man's organization. And if told how mental operations are produced, the majority of the people will insist that such great results cannot flow from so simple a process as the union of a little oxygen with the elements of the little cells that make up the gray substance of the brain. And yet we find similar processes take place everywhere in nature, and producing marvelous results. It is the union of oxygen with the fuel in the engine that sets free the force that draws the train ; it is the union of oxygen with the elements of the powder in the cannon that liberates the force that propels the ball with such, terrific velocity and power ; and wherever we look, we find this restless agent, oxygen, at work tearing down chemical compounds, and releasing the force stored up in them.

But the reader is no doubt ready to inquire if the operations of the human mind are nothing more than the union of oxygen with the elements of the cells of the gray matter of the brain? Is it possible the grandest achievements of the human intellect are all brought about by the action of the oxygen in the capillary vessels of the brain upon the Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Phosphoric Acid, Sulphur, and other elements that make up the cells of the gray substance of the brain ?

These questions are constantly being raised in the minds of thoughtful persons, and the only answer that

HuDUDi Dcvclopuhiit and Progress. 1 1

science can give is, that we know nothing of mind when separated from its physical basis, the brain, but we do know, these physical phenomena take place in the brain in connection with all mental operation, and no nervous force of any kind is evolved without these phenomena taking place. Why these things are so arranged it is not the province of science to inquire ; and such an inquiry is probing into the doings of the Divine Mind that is certainly not saying much for man's humility.

The great concern of man should be, not why Providence has arranged the order of nature as we find it, but what is the order of nature and how may man's life be brought into harmony with it. This is the most momentous inquiry that can engage the attention of man, and should enlist all his capabilities and powers. Man's health and happiness, and all enduring good, rests upon his being in harmony with the order of nature as manifested in his own physical body, and its environment, and to secure this knowledge, and live in accordance with its teachings, should be the strongest desire of his life.

Accepting, then, the teachings of science, that there can be no growth and development of man's mental and moral faculties, without there is corresponding growth and development of the portions of the brain in which these faculties reside, the inquiry may be raised — what are the necessary conditions that will secure this brain development? and are these conditions within the control of man ? Upon the solution of this question seems to rest the extent of man's accountability for his conduct and actions; for certainly no sane man can doubt that if the conditions that will secure the growth and development