THE LAW OF CONJUGAL ATTRACTION.

Bush Advocate, Volume VII, Issue 475, 30 May 1891, Page 5

THE LAW OF CONJUGAL ATTRACTION.

LIKE DEAWS TO LIKE Hermann Fol, one of tho most eminent of living erabryologists, while staying at Nice —tho Mecca of honeymooning — had his attention atracted to the resemblance between young married couples. Fol haß already given convincing proof of the phenomenal keenness of his observative faculty. He was the firßt scientist to precisely notice and accurately describe the marvellous processes which take place during the fertilisation of an egg. The popular notion that married people " end by resembling each other" waa shared by Fol, but his trained vision detected amongst crowds of young married couples characteristics that led him to suppose a contrary proposition to be nearer tho truth— they begin by resembling each other. To put tbe matter to scientific test, he engaged in a series of observations and researches on the photographs of young and old married couples, the results of t which he publishes in the llevics Srientifique. Tho following table gives his statistical conclusions: — Non-Itcsem-Pouplcs. Resemblances. blance-*. Total. Per Cent. Per Cent. Young... 132 about Ce-Gt) ... CO about 33*33 ... 198 Old ... 38 „ 71*70 ... lo „ '-S-30 ... 63 The vividly large percentage of physical similarities between young married couples is emphasised by the calculation that in marriages made at random— by chance — the number of resemblances would not amount to more than two in a hundred. Amongst tho non-resemblances were included some very curious cases, where man and wife, though quite dissimihr in evory other respect, yet exhibited in common "certain traits constituting an ugliness more or loss ridiculous.' Fol infers from this an argument in fa you of ths idea that candidates for marriage do not fear the particular form of ugliness to which their mirror accustoms them. After warning against hasty generalisation from results so comparatively meagre, Fol invites other scientists to follow up the Bubject, aud verify or modify the following tentative conclusions he draws : — 1. In the immense majority of marriages of ''inclination," the contracting parties are attracted by similarities and not by dissimilarities, 2. The resemblances between aged married couples is not a fact acquired by conjugal life. "In parts of the w- st and south of North America, to call a man "-vvhrfcj" ia to pay him the highest possible respect. It is applied to a good man's heurt rather Uiau to his skin.

i THE HIGHEE LIEE. A- s a writer on social topics, in a style that was .'evating in thought, as well as elegant in diction, Mrs. Lyon Lynton has achieved a decided '."-nutation. In her article on the "Religion >f Self Eespetft" in the "New Eeview," she ;*iakes abold but justifiable attack on the money-gr. bbing tendency of the times. She seeks to awake to new consciousness of mere gold worship. " After all," she sayß, " money is not the end of life, for when death comes our money is of no avail. This rather is the true end of life : to try to lead a life of happiness, not of pleasure ; to do right because it is ripht, to do right even though it may appear to other people wrong, even though it may be < contrary to all accepted maxims of our commercial world. 1 Do right regardless of what people say, and, if necessary, defy society. We, of to-day, boast of our liberty, but we are the most miserable slavps the world has ever seen. In every little detail we are mercilessly ordered by these two tyrants— Custom and Society." This is, if merciless, to a great extent too true. But it is also true, especially of our own land ; but theße are large numbers, and tbe numbers are constantly increasing, who think for themselves, who will no longer be content to pay slavish obedience to the mandates of Cußtom and Society. They will not believe what their intelligence controverts simply, because "everybody says sd ;" they will not do what does not seem right, because everybody does so." They swing out from the beaten paths of creed and custom to find " greener fields and pastures j new" of thought and action. So come to the I world new inventions to ease the burden^ of | labour, new remedies to cheat the yawning grave of its victims, new and better notions of existence in the life which is to come. If there were no original thinkers the sun would still circle through the heavens, and the world would stand still. There are medical men who still cling to the " bleed and blistor " theory; there are some who pooh-pooh at the idea that Warner's safe cure is a specific for kidney disorders, solely because it is a proprietory remedy —-they are back number editions. The most intelligent of the profession, men like Dr. E. G. Gunn, of the Medical College of New York, do not hesitate to recommend it, and use it in their practice; for as Dr. Gunn says in his published book, " the ingredients of the remedy are among the most valuable of Materia ATedica." He also declares that he knows the medicine is used by leading physicians, but they will not let their patients know they employ it. Mr. Hugh Fraser, director of Fraser s Gold Mining Co., Yilgarm, VV.A., testifies as follows :— Perth, West Australia, 3rd January, 1891.--Two or three years ago, when subjected to the privations of a mining prospector, I was taken ill, pains invaded all parts of my body, and kidney disease, with fever and ague set in. I was also seized with cramps and shivering fits, and my sufferings became so intense that I thought I would sink under my afflictions, and I fully believe I would have done so, but for Warner's safe cure, which promptly relieved tbe most distressing symptoms. I took in all eight bottles of the medicine, and I can vouch that through its agency 1 recovered, and now I feel a new mau, mentally and physically.