Part 50

To what are we to attribute this apparent regularity in the scale of births, deaths, and the commission of crimes? Are we ruled by _certain_ laws that are only changed in the manifestations of Providence, by peculiar visitations, such as war, famine, and pestilential maladies? What a vast and curious field of research and reflection! what an argument for the fatalist! Man no doubt possesses a moral power that to a certain extent subjugates the creation to his influence and his will. Plants and animals seem to obey certain natural laws, that are only disturbed by perturbative agents; and it is difficult to point out what are the human actions that arise from natural impulses, or from accidental circumstances, although experience would tend to show that they bear a singular proportion in the similarity of their results; and one must come although reluctantly to the conclusion, that this perturbative power exercises but a slender influence on the laws of nature, which seem to set at defiance the destructive efforts of man. Thus have we seen of late years, that the most fearful and long-protracted wars, which one might have imagined would have devastated the fairest parts of Europe, have not checked a surprising increase in its population, and the destructive effects of the most fatal pestilence have vanished with a promptness that seemed to keep pace with the preceding havoc. Bigotry and fanaticism are the only scourges which appear to dare the benevolent views of Providence, and when we traverse the desolate fields of most Roman Catholic countries, one would imagine that Heaven has abandoned their inhabitants to their own blind wills and evil ways. Spain at this period and at many epochs of her bloody history, seems to corroborate the fable of the Titans who sought refuge in that ill-fated land from the anger of the gods.[48]

To return: we find in the preceding _resumés_ of longevity that poets are the shortest-lived; next to them, authors on natural religion, dramatists, and novelists. May not this circumstance be attributed to the fervour of their imagination and to their unequal mode of living? A species of madness is the attribute of genius. Many authors on natural religion may come under the denomination of monomaniacs. The jealous irritability of poets and dramatists,--and next to them in the scale of vanity we find musicians,--may also contribute to wear them out, and bring on various chronic diseases, by digestive derangements; more especially as their habits of living are seldom regular, fits of sobriety alternating with bouts of merry-making. Moral philosophers, painters, and sculptors, whose average life appears the longest, follow more sedentary pursuits; and, although artists in general cannot boast of remarkable discretion in their mode of living, the nature of their profession requires much steadiness. It is moreover to be observed that, in the preceding calculation, historical painters have chiefly been noticed. Would the same calculation apply to the lighter branches of the art? It has been remarked that actors generally attain old age, notwithstanding the fatiguing and harassing nature of their profession. This may be attributed to the constant excitement of a similar nature to which they are subject, as well as to their continued exposure to the sudden transitions from heat to cold, which renders them less susceptible of the variations of temperature that affect those who can avoid these vicissitudes. Any person who would expose himself to the constant checked perspirations to which dancers are liable, would infallibly pay dear for the experiment; and those who have had occasion to witness the fatigues of their exercises, marvel at their not being constantly attacked with pulmonary inflammation, and the many maladies that result from similar exposures. On the very same principle, troops when engaged upon active service do not suffer from the inclemency of the weather, although saturated with wet by day, and sleeping under torrents of rain by night. So long as they are marching with an object in view, this excitement supports them, even against hunger; but the moment this excitement ceases, let them halt, in tranquil cantonments, or commence a retreat under unfavourable circumstances, that moment the invasion of disease is observed. The chief source of health and long life is an equilibrious state of the circulation. This condition a moderate mental excitement tends to maintain. Depression, on the contrary, will produce a languid flow of the vital stream, congestion, and chronic diseases.

On the same principle, good temper and hilarity are also necessary to prolong life. Violent passions must tend to occasion dangerous determinations, while the inward gnawings of offended vanity and pride corrode every viscus, and lay the seeds of future mental and bodily sufferings. Apathy and insensibility are, unfortunately, the best sources of peace of mind, and as Fontenelle observed, a good stomach and a bad heart are essential to happiness. Perhaps the best maxim to prolong our days, and render them as tolerable as possible, is the "_Bene vivere et lætari_."

I have just observed that conformation materially affects our existence; and this circumstance may in a great measure be referred to temper, and the wear and tear that it occasions in ill-conditioned individuals. Little people seldom attain the longevity of stronger individuals; and it is also a well-known fact that diminutive persons are generally spiteful and malicious. As Providence has bestowed destructive venoms on reptiles, so has it gifted these insignificant members of society with obnoxious qualities, to make amends for their want of physical power in the strategies of attack and defence. The same observation holds good with the deformed; but here we have a moral cause for this sourness of disposition. They too frequently are objects of ridicule, contempt, or pity, sentiments the most humiliating to mankind. In childhood they are not able to partake of the boisterous and active sports of their companions; they have not the power to resent an injury, and the more powerless we are, the greater is our thirst of revenge. Hence does tyranny degrade, and renders its victims cruel and vindictive. The deformed, moreover, find it necessary to improve their intellectual faculties, which in aftertimes fill their quivers with keen shafts of retaliation. In this study they also have more leisure, and they apply to their books while their comrades are at play. This very study adds to their sense of inferiority; they can never hope to share the warrior's laurels, or, what is perhaps still more painful, the myrtle of successful love. Their only chance of success in either of these careers is by kindling wars by their intrigues, or winning a woman's heart by intellectual superiority,--two very improbable events. Thus they gradually envy men who are looked upon by the world as their superiors, and hate women for the preference they show to those privileged individuals. In general we find these ill-shaped beings bitterly sarcastic whenever woman's name is mentioned. Pope, perhaps from these very reasons, was inexhaustible in his abuse of the sex: and Boileau abhorred them, since he had been emasculated by a turkey-cock.

The intellectual superiority of hunchbacks has also been attributed to their physical condition; and it is generally believed that with them the circulation of blood in the brain is more rapid than in well-conformed subjects, and this increased action is supposed to contribute materially to the vivacity of the imagination, and the quickness of apprehension. Another circumstance is said to increase their mental powers, and that is, their continence, considered both by the ancients and the moderns as a source of intellectual energies. Minerva and the Muses were virgins; and in this and other fabulous traditions, we find the ancients illustrating in their mythologic allegories many physical facts and observations. Our Bacon had made the same remark; and Newton, and many other great men, considered the passion of love beneath the dignity of science. Continence and abstinence were deemed by Horace as indispensable privations in the cultivation of genius. In the deformed both are to a certain degree natural, or at least cannot be lost sight of without endangering life. The digestive powers of the deformed are generally weak; and this debility has ever been looked upon as a concomitant of superior intellects. Thus in Celsus, "_Imbecilli stomacho penè omnes cupidi litterarum sunt_;" while on the contrary, "_Obesus venter non parit subtilem intellectum_."

The common expression of a child being too clever to live, is unfortunately founded on observation. Scrofulous and sickly children are in general remarkable for the quickness of their intellects; and Rousseau maintained that a man who could meditate was a depraved animal. It is a fact that the perfection of one faculty can seldom be attained but at the expense of others. The more our faculties are generally called into action, the less perfect will they be individually;--"_Pluribus intentus, minor est ad singula_." Thus, the singing of birds is improved by depriving them of sight.

The influence of the mind upon our health is as evident as the influence of our health in the duration of existence. This corollary explains the shortness of life of the diminutive and the deformed, unconnected with such physical defects of organization as might impede the due exercise of their organs.

The fable of Prometheus is a strong illustration of the pernicious effects of intemperance; and by Darwin, and other physiologists, has been considered as comparing the celestial fire that he purloined, to the artificial inspirations of excitement that ultimately preys upon the liver and the other viscera like a voracious vulture. A much deeper philosophy is concealed in this theogenic allegory. Prometheus was the son of Japetus; brother to Atlas, Menoetius, and Epimetheus, who all surpassed mankind in fraud and in guilt. Prometheus himself scoffed the gods, and violated their shrine. Heaven and Earth had formed his father, who had united his destinies with Clymene, one of the Oceanides. Thus Prometheus and Epimetheus arose from the very cradle of the universe; and their very names, [Greek: Promandanein] and [Greek: Epimandanein], signify foresight and improvidence,--_prædiscere et postea discere_,--the prevalent characteristics of all mortals, that either tend to promote or retard the progress of human reason and human happiness. Prometheus strove impiously to possess himself of Divine knowledge, and created man with a base amalgam of earth and the bones of animals, vivified by the celestial fire he had obtained. Jupiter, indignant at his audacity, commanded Vulcan to create a beauteous tempter in the form of woman, on whom every attractive gift might be conferred; and Pandora was sent upon earth with the fatal present of the father of the gods, the box that contained all the evils and distempers that were destined for mankind. The foresight of Prometheus resisted her charms; his improvident brother opened the dreaded casket. Have we not here an illustration of the vanity of science, that aims even at Divine attributes, and whose votaries, like Prometheus, would endeavour, if possible, to deprive wisdom of her power, and break down the boundaries of human intellects? His punishment describes in energetic language the endless and consuming studies of the learned, whose very viscera are corroded in lucubrations too often fruitless, and not unfrequently injurious to themselves and others. Hercules alone could relieve him from his torments:--and does not Hercules in this allegory typify the power of reason, that enables us to release the mind from the trammels both of ignorance and vanity, separated from each other by a gossamer partition? Prometheus, who could resist the most powerful of temptations,--beauty and talent combined,--dared Olympus to seek for that wisdom which would have doomed him to everlasting sufferings, had not strength of mind and the powers of reflection destroyed his merciless tormentor. Can we be surprised that the ancients consecrated games to this beautiful allegory?--games that are still carried on in our days; but, alas! where every vain competitor pretends that he has reached the goal with an unextinguished torch!

CRETINISM.

This singular disorder was first discovered and noticed by Plater, about the middle of the seventeenth century, among the poor inhabitants of Carinthia and the Valais, where, as in the valleys of the Lower Alps and the Pyrenees, it is also found to be an endemic affection. According to Sir George Staunton, it is also observed in Chinese Tartary. It has been erroneously confounded by some writers with bronchocele and rachitis, from both of which it is totally distinct.

Cretinism presents various modifications in kind, and every intermediate grade between that extreme degree of physical and mental debasement which is characterized by the utmost deformity, and entire absence of mental manifestation, the organic and vegetative functions only being performed. There are certain circumstances that distinguish cretins from idiots; and their infirmities appear to depend upon endemic or local causes, regarding which much diversity of opinion has prevailed both amongst medical men and travellers.

The cretins were also called _Cagots_ and _Capots_. In Navarre these unfortunates go by the name of _Gaffos_ and _Ganets_; and in various valleys of the Pyrenees they are called _Gézits_ or _Gezitains_. Near La Rochelle, some of them are also found, and there they are known by the appellation of _Coliberts_; and in Britanny _Cacons_ and _Cagneux_. The derivation of these names shows the contempt and disgust that they excited,--_Cagot_, according to Scaliger, being derived from _Canis Gottus_, or _Dog of a Goth_; _Colibert_ is traced to _quasi libertus_, or slave. The Spaniards call them _Gavachos_, a term of reproach, which they also applied to the French during the Peninsular struggle.

The body of these poor creatures is stunted, their height not exceeding four feet. There is a total want of due proportion between it and the other parts, the height of the head with reference to the body being from one-fourth to one-fifth, instead of one-eighth, the natural proportion; the neck is strong, and bent downwards; the upper limbs reach below the knees, and the arm is shorter than the fore-arm; the chest narrow, the abdomen hemispherical, and of a length not exceeding the height of the head; the thighs, with the haunches, of greater width than the shoulders, and shorter than the legs, the calves of which are wanting; the feet and toes distorted. In the head, the masticating organs, the lower jaw, and the nose, preponderate considerably over the organs of sense and intelligence; the skull is depressed, and forms a lengthened and angular ellipsis; the receding forehead presents internally large frontal sinuses, to which the brain has yielded part of its place; the top of the head is flattened, instead of being vaulted; the occiput projects but slightly, and runs almost even with the nape of the neck, as in ruminating animals. The face is neither oval nor round, but spread out in width; the eyes are far apart, slightly diverging, small, and deep-seated in their orbits; the pupil contracted, and not very sensitive to light; the eyelids, except when morbidly swollen, are flaccid and pendent. Their look is an unmeaning stare, and turns with indifference from every thing that is not eatable. The elongated form of the lower jaw, the thick and puffed lips, give them a greater resemblance to ruminating creatures than to man. The tongue is rather cylindrical than flat, and the saliva is constantly running from the angles of their mouth. Enlargement of the thyroid glands generally prevails, sometimes to an enormous extent. Indeed, this appearance is commonly considered as a distinguishing sign of cretinism. The other glands of the throat are also obstructed. Many of these poor wretches are both deaf and dumb; yet do they appear unconscious of their miserable existence. Stretched out or gathered up under the solar rays, their head drooping in idiotic apathy, they are only roused from their torpor when food is presented to them.

This endemic malady is supposed to arise from the use of snow-water, or of water impregnated with calcareous earth. Both of these opinions are without foundation. All the inhabitants of districts near the glaciers, drink snow and ice waters without being subject to the disorder; and the common waters of Switzerland, strongly impregnated with calcareous substances, are most salubrious. At Berne, the waters are extremely pure, yet Haller observed that swellings of the throat are not uncommon. De Saussure has assigned another cause, and refers the disorder to the physical features of the mountainous districts in which it prevails. The valleys, he tells us, are surrounded with very high mountains, sheltered from currents of fresh air, and exposed to the direct, and what is worse, the reflected rays of the sun. They are marshy, and hence the atmosphere is humid, close, and oppressive. When to these chorographical causes, he further says, we add the domestic ones, which are also well known to prevail among the poor of these regions,--such as innutritious food, indolence, and uncleanliness, with a predisposition to the disease from an hereditary taint of many generations,--we can sufficiently account for the prevalence of cretinism in such places, and for the most humiliating characters it is ever found to assume.

This specious reasoning, however, is overthrown by observation. In the first instance, this character of the country does not affect its other inhabitants; and secondly, the _goître_ is found in warm latitudes, and Mungo Park observed it amongst the Africans of Bambara, on the banks of the Niger. Marsden has also seen it at Sumatra. Moreover, this affection is scarcely ever seen in the mountains, but principally prevails in the valleys.

It is more than probable that these ill-favoured creatures belong to a particular race; for we must take care not to confound goître with cretinism, since goître is common where cretinism is prevalent. It has been remarked that the offspring of the natives of the Valais who intermarry with persons from the Italian side of the Alps, are more subject to goîtres than those born of native parents; and that females who have husbands from the higher Alps, seldom have children affected with this infirmity. It is pretty clear that in these observations, goître and cretinism are confounded.

That these miserable cagots belong to a particular race of men, most probably accidentally degraded in their transmission from our primitive stock, appears most likely. We have sought the derivation of the several terms of contempt and disgust attached to them in different countries, to which migration may have led their parents. Some writers have traced their descent to the Goths and Vandals, thus chastised for their devastations. Gébelin, Belleforêt, and Ramont consider them as descendants of the Visigoths; while Marca, bishop of Cousérans, denounces them at once as Jews and Saracens; and other clerical writers have maintained that they are the miserable relicts of the heretic Albigenses who had escaped the holy massacres of 1215; although there did exist cagots in the year 1000, in the abbey of St. Luc, as they are described in a _for_ of Navarre, bearing date 1074, and issued by Ramirez.

These helpless beings have also been considered as the offspring of Bohemians and gipsies. Bishop, or rather Senator Gregoire, maintained that they sprung from the hordes of northern barbarians who overran the south of Europe in the third and fourth centuries. Whatever might have been the origin of these poor creatures, they seem to share that ignominious destiny that has marked various races in different countries. The _Agotos_ of Navarre, the _Maragotos_ of Leon, the _Batuecos_ of Castile, the _Wendes_ of Silesia, are all held in as much contempt as the _Parias_ and the _Vaddahs_ of India. Even in Otaheite a degraded caste was found, from which victims were selected to appease Divine wrath, or propitiate their gods.

The traditional contempt in which certain races are held, a contempt that seems to have affected their physical appearance, may perhaps be traced to the degradation of slavery, that seems to deprive man of all his proud attributes, both in a moral and physical point of view. The effects of tyranny, and the distinctions that oppression has created in the several castes and ranks of mankind, are every where evident. What a difference exists in Scotland between the chieftains and the humbler individuals of their clans!--between the naïres of India and their vassals! In France, said Buffon, you may distinguish by their aspect, not only the nobility from the peasantry, but the superior order of nobility from the inferior, these from the citizens, and citizens from the peasants. "The field-slaves in America," observes the enlightened Dr. Smith, "are badly clothed, fed, and lodged, live in small huts in the plantations, remote from the example and society of their superiors. Living by themselves they retain many of the customs and the manners of their ancestors. The domestic servants, on the other hand, who are kept near the persons or employed in the families of their masters, are treated with great lenity, their service is light, they are well fed and clothed. The field-slaves, in consequence of their condition, are slow in changing the aspect and figure of Africa; while the domestic servants have advanced far before them in acquiring the agreeable and regular features, and the expressive countenance, of civilized society. The former are frequently ill-shaped; they preserve in a great degree the African lips, and nose, and hair; their genius is dull, and their countenances sleepy and stupid. The latter are straight and well proportioned; their hair extends to three or four, sometimes even to six or eight inches; the size of their mouth is handsome, their features regular, their capacity good, and their looks animated." Dr. Prichard has also stated that similar changes become visible in the third and fourth generations in the West India islands; and I have seen several negresses in those colonies perfectly beautiful. In the Bahama islands I knew a female slave of the name of Leah, belonging to my late friend Mr. Commissary Brookes, as black as jet, and descended in the third generation from African parents, whose features would have vied in symmetry with the fairest specimen of the Caucasian race.

Let us not, therefore, seek in snow-water or calcareous impregnations for the causes of deformity and degradation in any unfortunate castes of mankind. Their misery may more probably be traced to the iron rod of despotism, or the oppression of bigotry,--influences that mark out races as abject slaves, or objects of Divine wrath, that ought to be scorned by the wealthy and the powerful, and spurned and persecuted by the faithful and the elect; although, when it has served its purposes, priestcraft has held up the cagot, and the leper, and the idiot, as objects of veneration. When the tourist, in his Alpine and Pyrenean excursions, meets a wretched cagot, let him pause and contemplate the offspring of slavery, and reflect on what man is, and on what man might be,--nay, on what man _will_ be.

TEMPERAMENTS.