The evening times., 1899-03-30
Artificial Members.

A CINCINNATI nuSDanQ iaJely dppiisu ioi d
divorce on the ground that his wife had
! glass eye. That is, that was the plain Eng
lish of his plea; what he actually said was
that his wife had used devices and attach
ments to improve the work of nature.
| His idea seemed to be that he had been
| cheated in his bargain, although he had
been married to his wife for year before
! he discovered that one of the eyes which
had charmed him came from the store.
| The court decided that he had no grounds,
and that il was not necessary for woman,
during eourtshp, to inform her husband of
the devices and attachments she might
use to improve upon the work of nature.
In spite of the obvious justice of this de-
cision, one cannot help feeling little sor-
ry for the lady, to whom is delegated the
difficult task of living with her baffled
spouse, after he had tried to get rid of her,
and had proclaimed to all the world the
fact that there was u flaw in the object of
his affections. 1t seems as if bear
mourning for its cubs would be quite as
tolerable a house companion as such a
man.
But there will always be in the world
certain number of couples who made mis-
take in marrying each other, or in marry
ing at all, so let that particular case pass.
There would have been rather a peculiar
condition of things if the Cine matt court
had decided differently. Fancy being re-
quired to hand TO ones intended husband
or wife, on the eve of the wedding day, an
itemized account of all false testh, false
hair, cosmetics, glass eyes wooden legs or
other devices" intended 10 improve the
work of nature!" 1t seems as if this
phrase in the case of the glass eye were i'll
chosen, since the loss of an eye can hardly
be considered in any sense the work of
nature, and in supplying one OF g ass,
therefore, the unfortunate owner is only
doing what nature would undoubtedly do
without assistance if human beings re-
newed their mutilated frames after the
manner of some of the lower orders of cre-
alton. 1t is hot according TO the plan of
nature that man or woman should go
about with only one eye or one ear or mi
nus the usual number of limbs or insuffi-
cently provided with teeth. Civilization.
in supplying such deficiencies, merely COM
pletes a foreordained plan. Perhaps some
day We shall reach point of scientific cul-
tivation at which artificial aids TO beauty
will no longer be necessary; perhaps there
will come a time when it is as much a
matter of course for civilized being to be
strong and beautiful as il is now for him
TO know how to read. Perhaps one of these
days it viii be crime punishable with
death for manufacturer TO sell adu,ter-
ated -four and baking powder, which de-
stroy the teeth and cause dentists to grow
rich. Perhaps fashions will one day be re-
formed so that women will never need cos
metics to enhance the beauty of COM
plexion made dazzling by good food, good
air, and plenty of heaIthful exercise Per-
haps we shall in time stop thinking so
much about patching up the wrecks of
human bodies which now lie along the
track of progress. and think more about
preventing such wrecks from ever coming
into existence. When that time comes We
shall be on the road TO the millennium