Abstract
THE meeting of the British Medical Association is not for mutual instruction only; it is also for recreation; and, probably, many members of this Association will utilise the opportunity which a meeting at the sea-side, like the present one at Brighton, affords them of indulging in that excellent occupation for an idle man—of watching the waves on the seashore and speculating how far each of them will come. If one have only half an hour to spare, it is difficult to say whether the tide is ebbing or flowing; it is only by watching for a longer time that one can be certain that the water is really moving in one direction or another. Probably a great part of the charm which this occupation possesses is due to the resemblance which one involuntarily traces between the ebb and flow of waters and that of human affairs—individual, national, or racial. The life of a single man is very short in comparison with the history of race; and it is often very difficult to say whether mankind is advancing or retrograding, unless we compare his condition at epochs widely removed from one another.
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On the Connection Between Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action 1 . Nature 34, 375–378 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/034375a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/034375a0