Fortunately for the human race, marriages are oftener contracted from instinct than from motives of policy; and individuals of opposite temperaments are apt to experience that natural attraction towards each other that results in marriage. But marriages of interest are still occurring sufficiently frequent to fill our lunatic, idiot, and deaf-and-dumb asylums, and we are glad to notice that the subject is attracting attention, and that new laws are proposed to prevent the marriage of blood relatives.
It is also proper to state that there should not be an extreme disproportion in stature between a married pair. A delicate, slightly formed, small woman, whose pelvis is small, should not marry a large robust man. If she does, her offspring will be too large for her to bring into the world without much suffering, and sometimes mutilation, and destruction of health. This is also the fate of many girls of small stature who become mothers at too early an age, and before the hip and other bones, which form the cavity through which the infant comes into the world, is sufficiently developed.
Early marriages (if not too early) are better than late ones, for the natural state of mankind, after puberty, is a rational association of the two sexes. Woman was adorned by Providence with her graces and charms to delight the opposite sex, and she possesses those graces in full perfection only while she is young. At that period she is indued with power to give and to inherit a sort of terrestrial paradise, to multiply her species, and to become matron, queen, and mother. Her early ripeness proves that it was the intention of Providence that mankind, while young, should settle in matrimony, and exercise those gifts which reproduce their equals. In many young people the marriage state, when properly enjoyed, augments the energies of the sanguineous system; the distended arteries carry warmth and animation through the body; the muscles become vigorous; the walk is more free; the voice firmer—in short, both men and women by this means improve their health, strength and beauty, and assist the development of their intellectual faculties.
[1] Softening and distortion of the bones.
ON THE INFLUENCE OF VITAL FORCE.
The base of the brain is the source and foundation of motion, thinking, and feeling in the human body. The breadth of it indicates the vigor, and its depth the tenacity of life. Men generally have the base of the brain more developed than women, and as a consequence exhibit, in both body and mind, more of what is called force of character. A man whose brain is very full at the base, seldom, if ever, suffers from chronic forms of disease, and never dies from consumption, except in old age when the brain is decayed. His ailings will be confined to inflammatory diseases, gout and rheumatism. Men of this class are never drudges. They are usually energetic, either for good or evil, and are more apt to be leaders of their fellow-men than otherwise. Vital force is as necessary to the promotion of health as pure blood. Those who are deficient of it sooner or later become afflicted with some functional form of disease. Intellectual men of this class usually pursue the profession of a minister, a physician or a college professor, though they make very indifferent doctors or teachers. They do not possess sufficient force or energy of character to make their talents and worth appreciated by the multitude. The trustees of schools and colleges employ them without making any inquiries as to their ability to govern youth, and the consequence is frequent difficulties and fruitless disputes with their pupils.
TENACITY OF LIFE AND LONGEVITY.
The depth of the base of the brain is a true index of vital tenacity, or duration of life in any individual. This depth varies in different persons from less than a quarter of an inch up to an inch and a quarter.[2] A full inch in an individual fifty years of age indicates a life of eighty or ninety years. One-half to five-eighths of an inch shows that though the person may live many years, yet he has not the vital power to resist formidable assaults of disease. And those persons whose base of brain presents a depth of less than half an inch, must be exceedingly careful of their health, and may expect to die from the most trivial cause. On the contrary, those with three-fourths of an inch, and above it, will probably survive the most powerful attacks of disease. The base of the brain, being the seat of vitality in all animals, the exact size of it shows the quantum of life possessed by any individual. Hereditary diseases may be excepted, in certain cases.