, which have
proved most effectual in the extensive practice at the Invalids' Hotel
and Surgical Institute.

The temperaments may be compared to a magnet, _the like poles of which
repel, and the unlike poles of which attract each other._ Thus
similarity of temperament results in barrenness while dissimilarity
makes the vital magnetism all the more powerful. Marriageable persons
moved by some unknown influence, have been drawn instinctively toward
each other, have taken upon themselves the vows and obligations of
wedlock, and have been fruitful and happy in this relation. Alliances
founded upon position, money, or purely arbitrary considerations, mere
contracts of convenience, are very apt to prove unhappy and
unproductive.

Men may unconsciously obey strong instinctive impulses without being
conscious of their existence, and by doing so, avoid those ills, which
otherwise might destroy their connubial happiness. The _philosophy_ of
marriage receives no consideration, because the mind is pre-occupied
with newly awakened thoughts and feelings. Lovers are charmed by certain
harmonies, feel interior persuasions, respond to a new magnetic
influence and are lost in an excess of rapture.

If the parties to a marriage are evenly balanced in organic elements,
although both of them are vigorous, yet it is physiologically more
suitable for them to form a nuptial alliance with an unlike combination.
The cause of the wretchedness attending many marriages may be traced to
a too great similarity of organization, ideas, taste, education,
pursuits, and association, which similarity almost invariably terminates
in domestic unhappiness. The husband and wife should be as different as
the positive and negative poles of a magnet. When life is begotten under
these circumstances we may expect a development bright with
intelligence.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVI

MARRIAGE.

LOVE.

"Love is the root of creation; God's essence; worlds without number
Lie in his bosom like children; he made them for this purpose only.
Only to love and to be loved again, he breathed forth his spirit
Into the slumbering dust, and upright standing, it laid its
Hand on its heart, and felt it was warm with a flame out of heaven."

--LONGFELLOW.

Love, that tender, inexplicable feeling which is the germinal essence of
the human spirit, is the rudimental element of the human soul. It is,
therefore,