Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 70.djvu/336

332, even absolutely essential though they are, will never decide certain vital questions. Note the fantastical deduction of Metchnikoff, who asserts that the large intestine is really a lusus naturæ, a dangerous and disease-breeding portion of the economy which had better be dispensed with, at least to the extent of a few feet. The idea does not seem to have dawned upon him that the colon might not be dangerous were it not overloaded with the unused products of an excessive alimentation. Nor can experiments upon animals, nor investigations in the professor's laboratory, ever determine this question, while there are already enough isolated instances on record to render it at least extremely probable that an extended investigation of a sufficient number of human beings would prove that the dangerous element in the life of the modern man is not the anatomical mistake of superabundant intestine, but the overindulgence of a pampered appetite. Nor can a priori reasoning be depended upon to settle some very simple controversies, as, for instance, that between the vegetarians and the flesh eaters. So far as the writer knows, no reliable statistics have ever been compiled in regard to the longevity and efficiency of either of these classes as compared with the other. The means for settling this important question lie ready to our hands, viz., a careful collection and analysis of the statistics.

The question of the harmfulness or the innocuousness of tobacco is so far from settlement that certain good authorities declare that its use may be a cause of arterio-sclerosis, while others say that, used in moderation, it is harmless. There is every probability that a properly conducted questionairequestionnaire [sic] would settle this moot point, and so we might undoubtedly settle the question of the real influence of coffee and tea upon the health, and of various articles of diet, as well as meat and fish. Jonathan Hutchinson's contention that fish eating is the cause of leprosy and the commonly accepted belief that beri beri is due to eating musty rice, or even rice in good condition in undue proportion, have an exceedingly important bearing upon the question question of dietetics.

The United States can no longer afford to neglect the experimental study of tropical diseases, since we are building the Panama Canal and have vast tropical possessions in the Philippines, not to mention Porto Rico. There is every encouragement to prosecute such researches when we reflect upon the splendid achievements of our army surgeons, Reed, Gorgas, Ashford, Sternberg and others. Life has been rendered happier and more secure by the devoted scientific labors of these men. Col. Giles has said, speaking of tropical diseases, in regard to the adaptability of the English to life in India, that Clive, being a genius, "naturally possessed the originality to modify his habits to his new surroundings and so survived to become an empire-builder and a