The nature of man : studies in human optimism / by Élie Metchnikoff ; the English translation edited by Sir P. Chalmers Mitchell ; revised and brought up to date by C.M. Beadnell.

Élie Metchnikoff

Date:: 1938

Credit: The nature of man : studies in human optimism / by Élie Metchnikoff ; the English translation edited by Sir P. Chalmers Mitchell ; revised and brought up to date by C.M. Beadnell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Cover
Title Page
Table of Contents
Cover

30/244 page 8

the stained-glass windows or the images in the cathedrals, or the rude paintings, it appears as if the human race had become degenerate and its blood had been im¬ poverished; pale saints, distorted martyrs, virgins with flat chests, feet too long, and bony hands, hermits withered and unsubstantial, Christs that look like crushed and bleeding earthworms, processions of figures that are wan, and stiffened, and sad, upon whom are stamped all the deformities of misery and all the shrinking timidity of the oppressed.” The art of the Middle Ages fell lower and lower until the Renaissance, with its return to the Greek ideal, brought new vigour. The great masters of the Renaissance were also scientific men who had studied mathematics and who employed the technique of mensuration ; such were Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci, Michel Angelo, and others. The return to the Greek ideals and to nature brought with it the taste for beauty. When the ancient spirit was born again, its influence reached science and even religion, and the Reformation was a defence of human nature. The Lutheran doctrines resumed the principle of a “ development as complete as possible, of all the natural powers ” of man, and saw in that ideal a guide for humanity. Compulsory celibacy was abolished, and free play was given to all the tendencies in conformity with the laws of nature. Besides those whose religion led them to despise the human body, there have been many savage races and tribes who have practised mutilations of the body. Treatises on Ethnography and the volumes of travellers contain a multitude of details of this sort. The hair, the teeth, and the lips have been subjected to treatment with the object of making them as unlike the natural condition as is possible. Many of the lower races discolour their teeth, or remove some of them, or file them to points.

The nature of man : studies in human optimism / by Élie Metchnikoff ; the English translation edited by Sir P. Chalmers Mitchell ; revised and brought up to date by C.M. Beadnell.

Licence and re-use

Contents