ollowed by penalties. If a person violates the laws of health,
he is just as certain to suffer as though he tells a falsehood, steals,
murders, or commits any other crime. Perfect obedience to all of
nature's laws, including of course all moral laws, is necessary to
perfect health and perfect nobleness of character. The nature of these
laws and the results of transgression will be understood after we have
taken a hasty glance at

The Marvelous Human Machine which we call the body. All the inventions
and devices ever constructed by the human hand or conceived by the human
mind, no matter how delicate, how intricate and complicated, are simple,
childish toys compared with that most marvelously wrought mechanism,
the human body. Let us proceed to take this wonderful machine in pieces
and study its various parts and the manner in which they are put
together.

The Two Objects of Human Existence.--The objects of this wonderfully
formed mechanism are two: 1. The maintenance of an individual life;
2. The production of similar individuals which shall also have the power
of maintaining individual lives. The same may be said of every plant
that grows, and every animal. Each tree, plant, and shrub has some
useful service to perform while it lives, in addition to the production
of seed from which other plants may grow. For example, the object of
the majestic oak which towers high and broadly spreads its leafy
branches is not to produce acorns merely, but to give place for birds
to build their nests, to present an inviting shade for cattle, and to
afford protection in a variety of ways to numerous living creatures
which need such aid. The same may be said of all vegetable growths,
each particular plant having its peculiar purposes to fulfill, and all
together acting as purifiers of the air for the benefit of man and lower
animals.

The principle is equally true as applied to lower animals, as is
evidenced by the numerous ways in which domestic animals are utilized.
Indeed, it seems that the prime purpose of life, not only with all lowly
living creatures, as plants and animals, but with man as well, is to
live and act as individuals. But the important function of reproduction,
or producing other similar individuals, though incidental, is
necessary to the perpetuation of the race or species.

In order that an individual human being may live and develop, it is
necessary that he should eat, drink, digest, and assimilate, and that
he