of nature is not deemed improper, while the public kissing of one's wife, or the contact of the sexes and exposure of the body which is familiar to our best society at the ball or opera would be regarded by them as highly indecorous and immoral. In judging of the customs of other people, we should endeavor to put ourselves in their places, and do them no injustice by assuming the infallibility of our own conventional standards. Dr. Duren J. H. Ward briefly replied to the remarks of the preceding speakers, and thanked the audience and the speakers for their cordial reception of Mrs. Ward's paper. COLLATERAL READINGS SUGGESTED. Darwin's Origin of Species, and Descent of Man, Wallace's Darwinism; Joly's Man before Metals; Lyell's The Antiquity of Man; Lubbock's Prehistoric Man; Tylor's Primitive Culture, and Anthropology; Spencer's "Sources of Architectural Types," in Illustrations of Universal Progress; Le Duc's Story of a House; Eassie's Healthy Homes; Lubke's History of Art; Articles "Anthropology" and "Architecture" in Encyclopædia Britannica; Gerhard's Architecture and Sanitation. SHELTER, AS RELATED TO THE EVOLU TION OF LIFE. BY Z. SIDNEY SAMPSON. In what relation does Shelter stand to the development of life, and how may it further or hinder survival? In the discussion of this topic it is of the first importance that we have a satisfactory definition of life. Many have taken this in hand, with more or less success, but we shall not err if we accept Mr. Spencer's conclusions as being at the same time more comprehensive and scientifically exact than any of those yet presented. Mr. Spencer, in his Biology, after testing various preliminary definitions of life reaches the following as being inclusive of all its processes, viz., “the adjustment of internal relations to external relations." Internal relations are the total of all relations between and among the several organs, which, in their manifold mutual interactions, constitute what we term the vital organism. External relations are the sum of all influences external to the organism, which, in their manifold variations and combinations, impress upon the vital organism changes either simultaneous or successive. These external influences are, themselves, either simultaneous or successive in their occurrence, and in their effects upon the body. Influences like gravitation and atmospheric pressure upon the same level, are instances of simultaneous and permanent influences. Meteorological changes are examples of influences which are successive, while they are also simultaneous with the former. And further, the changes and alterations induced by these external factors produce within the organism affected, alterations and changes which are heterogeneous in their character, and essentially diverse, from the fact that they act upon localized and specialized organs and functions, each of which has its individual and peculiar service in the vital economy |