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Health Service
Rplho.dn  MrJ 
   DYSPEPSY FORESTALLED & RESISTED:



                          OR                        '







                          ON



DIET,  REGIMEN,  & EMPLOYMENT;



                  DELIVERED  TO THE



      STUDENTS OF AMHERST COLLEGE;



                 SPRING TERM,  1830.
      BY EDWARD HITCHCOCK,
Professor of Chem. and Nat. Hist, in that Institution.
Whatever will cure, will prevent;  as water poured on will ex-
  tinguish fire, so it will prevent its being kindled.—Cheyne.
                    AMHERST:

       PUBLISHED BY i. 8. & C. ADAMS AND CO.

JONATHAN LEAVJTT, NKW YORK.  PIERCE AND WILLIAMS,

                      BOSTON.

                       1830. 
           DISTRICT OF  MASSACHUSETTS,....^ ««.•
                                   District Cleric's Office.
   Be it remembered, that on the eighth day of May,A. n. 1830,
in the fifty fourth year of the independence of the United States
of America, J. S. and C. Adams, and Company of the  said
district, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, the
right whereof they claim as Proprietors in the words following,
to wit;—
  Dyspepsy forestalled and resisted : or Lectures on Diet, Reg-
imen and Employment; delivered to the  Students of Amherst
College; Spring Term, 1830.  By Edward Hitchcock,  Profes-
sor of Chemistry and Natural History in that Institution.  What-
ever will cure,  will prevent; as  water poured on will extin-
guish fire, so it  will prevent its being kindled.—Cheyne.
  In conformity to the act of Congress of the United  States,
entitled " an act for the encouragement of learning, by secur-
ing the copies  of maps, charts and books,  to the authors  and
proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;"
and  also to an  act entitled " an act supplementary to an act,
entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by secur-
ing the copies  of maps,  charts and books to the  authors and
proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned ;
and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, and
etching historical and other prints."     JNO. W. DAVIS
                      Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. 
PREFACE.
  As the following Lectures were prepared and deliv-
ered without solicitation, so they are published upon
the private responsibility of the writer;  who has not
waited to ascertain what reception  they would meet
from his hearers.   If any  explanation is needed for
thus printing them, so  as  to be offered for sale  the
very day after  the last one  was delivered, he would
say to  his  auditors, who have  given him so full and
patient a hearing, that  he hopes a desire to accom-
plish the  most in  the cause of temperance, has been
his leading motive.  He thought  that  the delivery of
these Lectures  would be likely  to produce more effect
than their perusal alone.   Yet he  supposed that no
memory would be sufficiently retentive to preserve a
distinct recollection, even  of all the important rules
and maxims,  connected with the subject.  He wished,
therefore, to give all who are disposed, an opportuni-
ty to  examine, at their leisure, the system of diet,
regimen, and employment, which he  has advanced;
by putting this  volume  within  their reach.   And he
thought it important, that this should be accomplished,
while  the  interest excited on the  subject, was  yet
fresh.   Circumstances  of  a private  and  personal na-
ture, conspired also, to urge on this publication thus
rapidly.  The writer is aware,  that such  a course has
rendered attention to  literary  niceties more  difficult
than would be desirable.  For  the  whole business of 
iv
 writing, delivering,  and printing these Lectures, has
 been crowded into  the space of a few  months ;  and
 this too, in addition to ordinary professional duties in
 College.  He hopes, however, that  trough the style
 may need correction, the meaning will be found clear
 and definite—a point that  has  been  kept steadily in
 view.
   The  author presumes that these considerations will
 afford little, or no apology, for errors, in the view of
 the professed critic.   To such, and to all others, into
 whose hands this  volume may fall, he would say,  in
 the words of a  distinguished  dietetic  writer of early
 times, in his preface  to an Essay on Health and Long
 Life :—" I know not  what may be  the fate and success
 of this performance ;  nor am I solicitous about it, being
 conscious the design was honest, the subject weighty,
 and the  execution the best my time, my abilities, and
 my health would  permit, whichcannot bear the labour
 of much fileing and  finishing.   Being  careful not to
 encroach on the province of the physician, I have con-
cealed nothing my knowledge could suggest,  to direct
 the sufferer, in the best manner I  could,  to preserve
 his health, and lengthen out his life : and I have held
 out no false lights to lead him astray,  or torment him
 unnecessarily."'
  The reader will perceive, that  the  fourth Lecture
is the same,  with  a few slight additions,  as a  Prize
Essay recently published under the  direction of the
American Temperance Society.   Let him not  hence
infer, that that Society are acquainted with  the senti-
ments advanced in the other Lectures, and approve of
 them.  Tor  this is not the  case : no  member of that
 Society  having been consulted, as to any of the  opin- 
V
ions advanced.   The writer is alone  responsible  for
those opinions;  and to him alone belongs the credit, if
they  are correct,  or on  him must fall the blame, if
they are erroneous.
  Amherst College, May 6th, 1830.

  Since the above was in type, the  following communication
has been received from the  students of Amherst  College.
And while I take this opportunity to  thank them for their fa-
vourable reception of the following Lectures, I am happy in be-
ing able thus early to comply with their request.

To  Prof. E. Hitchcock,
  Sir,—The members of the College, through the medium of
the undersigned as their Committee, acknowledge their obli-
gations to you for your interesting and instructive Lecture* on
the subject of Health.  By giving them a permanent form,
your wishes for the welfare of the students, it is believed, will
be best accomplished, and at the same time, important infor-
mation be placed within  the reach of others.  We  are in-
structed, therefore, to request, in the name of  the student*,
that the discourses in question may be printed.
                                  H. B. HACKETT.
                                  PETER PARKER.
                                  LYMAK GIBBONS.
                                  H. D. HUMPHREY.
  Amherst College, May 7th, 1830. 
 
CONTENTS.
                PART FIRST.   DIET.

LECTURE I.  Introductory remarks.  Errors  in respect to
    the Causes and Cure of Nervous Complaints.   Objections
    against living by rule.   Objections against dietetic rules.
    Proper quantity of Food.    .....     9

LECTURE II.  Diet, continued.   Second rule of Dietetics.
    Attempt to evade it.   Great Excesses in  eating, in this
    country.   The rule peculiarly necessary for Invalids. Ex-
    amples for their encouragement.  Abstinence.  Cold or
    Catarrh.  Concluding remarks.  ....    60

LECTURE III.  Diet, Continued.   Third,  Fourth, Fifth,
    Sixth, Seventh, Eighth,  and Ninth rules of Dietetics. Ob-
    jection against their rigor considered.   ...    99

LECTURE IV.  Alcoholic and Narcotic  Substances, as arti-
    cles of common use :  viz. Ardent  Spirit, Wine,  Opium,
    and Tobacco.  A repeal to Students against their use.   I.
    On the ground of Philosophy.—Water recommended.  II.
    On the  ground of Self-Interest and  Prudence.  III. Of
    Patriotism.  IV.  Of Religion.....130

LECTURE  V.  Liquids.  When and in what  quantities ne-
    cesary.   Malt  Liquors,  Cordials, Cider, Coffee,  Tea,
    Toast, Water,  Gruel, &c.  Milk.  Solid  Food;  Eggs,
    Fish, Birds, Mutton,  Beef, Lamb, Veal, Venison, Pork,
    Fat, Grease, Oils, Butter, Cheese, Honey, Roots, Pulse,
    Pickles,  Salads, Cookery, Condiments.  Concluding Re-
    marks.     ........178

            PART SECOND.  REGIMEN.

LECTURE  VI.  Exercise.   Its  comparative  importance.
    Case of Dr. Dwight.  First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth,
    Sixth, Seventh, and  Eighth Rule concerning Exercise.
    Conclusion.     .....••    214

LECTURE  VII.   Air, Clothing,  Cleanliness, Evacuations,
    Sleep:  1. The proper time for sleep; 2. the proper quan-
    tity ; 3.  the means of promoting it. Manners. Influence of
    the Imagination and Passions upon Health.     .    248 
viii
            PART  III.  EMPLOYMENT.

LECTURE VIII.  Influence of different Employments upon
    Health.   Study ; best posture of the body ; best time
    of day  for  its  prosecution :   night  study injurious;
    Means  of  preserving the  Eyes ; Recreation  from study.
    Active benevolent Enterprises, Light Reading, Social In-
    tercourse,  Music.  General Inferences.    .    .    285

              PART IV.   DYSPEPSY.

LECTURE IX.  Nervous  Maladies ; Knowledge concerning
    them important.  Their general character and  designa-
    tions.  Their Effects;  1. Upon the body; 2. Upon the
    intellect;  3. Upon the heart; 4. Upon society.   Extent
    to which these  maladies prevail. Conclusion.   .  321 
liECTURXS  I.
PART I.  DIET.
 Introductory remarks.   Errors in  respect  to the  Causes
   and Cure of Nervous Complaints.  Objections against
   living by rule.   Objections against dietetic rules.' Pro-
   per quantity of Food.

 Gentlemen,
   The premature prostration and early decay of stu-
 dents and professional men in our country, excite a
 deep interest in the mind of every friend to  learning
 and humanity, to  trace out the causes and the remedy.
 Time was, when it was  generally thought, that this
 was but the dismal spectre of melancholly minds : but
 the fact is no  longer  doubted.    Too  many  budding
 hopes have been blasted ;  too many wrecks are strewed
 around us, to suffer the reality to be hidden any longer.
 And now the solicitous enquiries are, what is the cause,
 and what is the remedy ?  To answer these questions is
 my object in addressing the members of  this  Institu-
 tion.  I have  formerly made a slight and feeble ex-
 tempore effort of this kind ; but I wish now to examine
it more systematically, more extensively, and more
leisurely.    I  make no  pretensions  to  professional
knowledge  on this subject, nor do I mean to invade the 
10
province of the physician.  But a conflict of more
than twenty years with the debility and prostration of
which I have now spoken, has compelled  me to  pay
not a little attention to the means of resisting the foe,
and taught me, experimentally, not a few of his insid-
ious and ever varying modes of attack.  Whatever I
have thus learned, I  feel  desirous  of communicating
to the young gentlemen of this College, in  the  hope
that it may tend to prevent their falling into the hands
of the inexorable tyrant, to whose car  I have so long
been fettered :  but from which  I am confident I might
long ago have  escaped, had some kind friend plainly
pointed out to  me my danger and the remedies.   Let
this be my apology for great plainness and earnestness.
  The premature decay  and prostration, of which  I
have spoken, result, most usually, from what is gener-
ally called dyspepsy, or bilious, or  nervous disorders.
And 1 would here state an important principle in rela-
tion to them ;  viz. that essentially the same means
that will cure,  will prevent  these complaints.   The
same general rules  in regard  to diet, exercise,  and
employment, will apply both to  the prevention and
the cure.  In the latter case,  it only requires a more
rigid and unremitting application of these rules.
   This leads me to  premise another most  important
fact on this  subject ;  viz. that  the  prevention of
nervous maladies, is vastly easier than   their  cure.
They are not  so incurable, I believe, as is commonly
thought: Still, where they have  made an impression
on the constitution considerably deep,  it requires so
long and so strict an  attention to rules,  that  few have
the resolution  and  the  perseverance  requisite to
success.  And  besides, when a cure has been effected
a  recurrence to former habits,  or a little extra exer- 
11
tion, is extremely apt to bring the system again under
their power.  The chief hope, therefore, lies in pre-
vention : and on this account I feel particularly solic-
itous, that every young man, while yet he is tolerably
free from dyspeptic habits, should be made acquainted
with his dangers, that he  may guard against them.
  There can be no doubt that  we are to impute  the
alarming  prevalence  of nervous  complaints,  in a
great measure, to the ignorance that has so extensive-
ly prevailed among students, in the early stages of ed-
ucation, as to  their  causes, remedies, and means of
prevention.   This  has  been  a part of  education,
which it has been the custom to neglect, and thus to
leave the health of the young, the very foundation of
all their hopes, to take care of itself.   We  have yet
scarcely got rid of the belief, not long since so pre-
valent,  that  nervous ailments were  the creatures of
imagination, and that it is even unsafe to study into their
nature,  lest we should catch the mysterious  contagion
from the  mere description.   Just  as if knowledge,
which, on every other subject, is the  pole star of hu-
man conduct, should in this case, prove a mere ignis
fatuus to bewilder and blind, while ignorance would be
security and bliss.   But though such  absurdities  are
vanishing, still the means are  not yet  put into  the
hands of the student for guarding himself  against  th«
insidious  approaches of ill health.    He knows only,
in general, that temperance and  exercise  are neces-
sary for him, and that excessive study is  injurious:
But when he comes  to apply these principles to prac-
tice, it is easy to see, that he knows so little of their
details,  that they are really worse than useless.   He
may be a glutton; and his exercise, from the time or
manner in which it is taken, may be an injury instead 
12
of a benefit;  and his studies may be  conducted in a
way most fatal to health, while he supposes himself
rigidly adhering to the principles mentioned above.
  Hence we  see the necessity of attending to  this
subject thoroughly and minutely.   The smallest  cir-
cumstances  must not  be  passed,  over;  since  it is
such circumstances, operating slowly, that more com-
monly undermine the constitution,  than any great and
sudden violation of the rules of regimen.   On this  ac-
count, I shall be under the necessity of devoting sev-
eral lectures to this subject.   If,  however,  any one
should consider them too long and tedious, he can use
the liberty which a general  invitation gives him, of
withdrawing whenever he  pleases :  since, as  these
lectures are wholly gratuitous and unsolicited, no one
is required to be present.
  But merely  to bring the truth on this subject before
the minds of students, is by no means the most difficult
part of the work to be performed.   While men  are in
tolerable health, it is next to impossible  to  convince
them that the minute rules which physicians prescribe
for preserving it, are not puerile, inefficient, and  un-
necessary.  To  convince them that the continuance
of their health depends upon a few ounces  more   or
less of food at their meals; or upon  an hour more   or
less daily, pf exercise; or upon the hour of retiring to
rest and rising in the morning; or upon a little greater
or less application to study; is almost to work  a mira-
cle. A feeble man may  well enough  attend to  such
minutiae ; but  for the healthy to do it, is, in their  es-
timation, to make  the constitution effeminate,  and
bring on the very disorders we are trying to avoid.
  Nor is it the most difficult part of the work to con
vince the understanding of the necessity of attention 
13
to diet, regimen and employment, for preserving the
health.   To persuade a person to adopt the necessary
habits,  for conforming  to  these  rules, is the great
difficulty.  Here we come  directly in contact with ap-
petites and inclinations that have been indulged from
infancy.  Eat vastly less in quantity than you do—eat
of one dish only at a meal—eat little or no animal food
—drink much less—drink water—walk ten miles where
yon now go one—retire early to rest, and rise early
—in short, be regular in all things,  be temperate  in
all things.  Such are the rules which must be  follow-
ed by him who would escape the iron reign  of dis-
pepsy;  and it is easy to see  that  they aim a  separ-
ating blow at many  darling objects to which  animal
nature clings.   The man will not give them up  with-
out a desperate struggle.   They  are his gods ;  the
objects of a much sincerer  worship, than the heathen
pays to his idols.
  And of all men to bring  up to the work of'regulari-
ty and temperance in living, those, who are  already
suffering from the  incipient attacks of dyspepsy, are
the most obstinate.   No other class of men are so lia-
ble as these  to violate  the  rules  of temperance in
their daily habits.   They will traverse the  whole
country to  find  out  and  consult  physicians ;  and will
cheerfully submit to  the operation of the most violent
emetics and cathartics;  but touch  their idols—try to
make them give up their intemperate habits of eating,
drinking and study, and you will find yourself beating
the air.
  The same feeling in  regard  to  the means  of pre-
serving health,  prevails to a great extent among those
who are already in possession of it.  If you  recom-
mend to them to resort at certain seasons to a course
                    2* 
                       14
of powerful medicine, or to some particular  specific,
they will listen to you with attention ;  and it  is  not
difficult to persuade them to adopt such a course. And
why ? Because you do not touch their idols.   You
only put them in pain for a little timeT and when they
have got through their emetic or cathartic, they  can
gormandize with more relish than ever.   Indeed, it
was the custom among the Romans to prepare  them-
selves for a feast, by an emetic; and the practice is
still continued among  gluttonous men  and wine bib-
bers.  But when  you require  of a man the  practice
of daily abstemiousness  in food and driak,  vigorous
exercise and regularity, and moderation in all his- ha-
bits and employments, you oppose his strong appetites,
and he will not believe your prescriptions  to be ne-
cessary, because he wishes them unnecessary.
  On this account, it is, as I very frankly state in the
outset, that I do not expect those who  hear  me will
be verytready to believe many things that I  shall ad-
vance :  much less do I suppose, that they will, in gen-
eral, be persuaded to  adopt the course I  shall mark
out as essential to continued health, and long life.  I
expect that much. 1 shall say will merely afford matter
for witty and  amusing remarks;  which is the  usual
course men adopt  on this subject to avoid the  force
of arguments.  I  do not expect to be disbelieved, be-
cause I  am going  to advance any novel doctrines : for
I shall  only attempt to embody and illustrate  those
general principles,  which the  ablest  physicians and
other distinguished writers of all ages, have advanced;
and I shall take special care to fortify  my main posi-
tions by the testimony of the best living physicians, in
this country and in Europe.   Nor do I anticipate this
failure of conviction, because  I suppose this audience 
15
to be more sceptical and obstinate than other literary
audiences: but simplybecause it is essentially like other
literary audiences.  And hence I have little doubt, that
no small proportion of the young gentlemen, who hear
me, will fall victims to nervous  maladies and premature
debility ; because a large proportion of just such in-
dividuals have fallen : that is to say, I believe many
of these youths, will either go down to an early grave,
or drag out a miserable  existence  as  confirmed dys-
peptics.   There is no  need of  such a result, I say;
for, in general, these individuals might live and enjoy
vigorous health to  extreme  old age.    But I have
scarcely a hope that they will believe and adopt those
simple, yet rigid rules, without which they must sink
prematurely.   And yet,  there may be some one,  or
two,  or three, among them, who will listen,  and   be
persuaded, and  put in practice the essential rules  of
diet,  regimen,  and employment, and  thus  be  saved
from the guVph.  Should this happen,  my  labors will
not be in vain, or unrewarded.
   In respect to the causes of those  chronic complaints
 to which  sedentary persons are peculiarly  exposed,
 there prevail very loose and inadequate  notions, even
 among intelligent men.   Very many mistake by assign-
 ing as their  origin, only  one particular and limited
 cause.   Some  will tell  you,  that  they  proceed from
 the neglect of exercise alone; leaving out of the account
 diet and employment: others impute them to the want
 of attention to diet, and even to the use of particular
 articles, such as tea, coffee, wine, &c.   Others  assign
 the great mental efforts, to which professional men are
 called at this day, as their cause ; forgetful of the pon-
 derous tomes of other  centuries;  which, to say  the
 least, demanded intense, and protracted mental labour- 
16
Others impute them, in the case of literary men, to the
unseasonable hours which they devote to study.
   That  each of these causes, and many others  that
might be named, are sometimes the sole source of ner-
vous maladies, cannot be doubted : but no one of them
is the universal cause.   And in most cases, several of
them are combined in  undermining  the  constitution.
We can only say, therefore, that, in general, they pro-
ceed from a want of proper attention  to diet, regimen,
and employment.
  No less erroneous are the prevalent opinions in re-
gard to the remedies for these complaints.  Some, in-
deed, assert that the way to cure them, is to pay them
no attention ; but to eat, and drink, and study, just as if
all were  well, and all will be  well, since the difficulty
lies in the imagination aloae.  In respect to such opin-
ions, all  that need  be said, is, that the  men who ad-
vance them have no knowledge of the subject, either
from experience,  or reading :  and therefore,  no an-
swer need be given to their crude and premature sug-
gestions,  until they  are  either brought  under the in.
fluence of these maladies,  or will read the works of
able physicians concerning them ; and then they will
no longer need an answer.
  But there is another error on the subject, that  does  '
need some notice. There is a strong disposition, among
those who have some experimental or book knowledge
concerning these maladies, to ascertain and recommend
some particular  specific remedy, which  shall apply,
and cure  universally.  The best of all such remedies
is some preparation of the apothecary ; which, by its
occult qualities, shall perform a cure, on  being taken
into the system, while a person pays little or no attenl
tion to diet, regimen and employment: for  in such a 
17
case, a man  is under no necessity to resist a ravenous
appetite, nor to conquer his bodily indolence, nor give
up  his late  hours of study.   Hence it is, that we are
innundated by infallible pharmaceutical  remedies  for
dyspepsy.   " Have you ever tried the blue pill," says
one?   "Have have you ever tried  white  mustard,"
says another?  " Have you ever tried dandelion, bis-
muth, or a hundred other things," say others ?  " They
have cured us, and such a one, and such a one, and will
probably cure you."  Now I am not contending that
such  medicines are useful, in no case of nervous mal.
adies.   They undoubtedly are indispensible, as auxil-
liaries, in many instances.   But they cannot be substi-
tuted for temperance and regimen.   On  the contrary,
a resort to drastic medicines, by persons of feeble health,
at every recurrence of their unpleasant symptoms, par-
ticularly to medicines not recommended by the regu-
lar physician, is the sure way to aggravate their com-
plaints, and utterly to ruin their constitutions.   One of
the most distinguished living physician in London, " is in
the habit of saying, he knows no medicines for nervous
complaints, but air and exercise.*"  "If the experienc-
ed physician is often  at a loss what  to prescribe," says
another distinguished London physician, t" and frequent-
ly  finds it most prudent to  prescribe nothing at all;
what infinite mischief must be hourly produced by the
patient, and still more ignorant quack, pouring drugs,
of which they know little, into  a body, of which they
lcnow less ?"  If then the medicines of the apothecary
are scarcely to  be  employed in the cure of nervous
maladies, much less are they to be recommended  to
t Dr. Johnson, On the Derangements of the liver «c. p. 
                       18

the healthy for their prevention.  The grand point is,
to bring the system into such a state, by diet,  regi-
men and employment, that medicines are rarely if
ever necessary.  And this has  been done a thousand
times, and can be done a million of times more.  It
is the grand point at which I am aiming in these Lec-
tures.
  But some, who have correct ideas respecting  medi-
cines, as a preventative, or cure, for nervous maladies,
mistake in supposing  that  attention to some branch
only of temperance  and  regimen is sufficient.   One
man is very regular  and persevering in his exercise,
but he has no  power over his  appetite ; and eats and
drinks voraciously.   Another is a pattern of abstemi-
ousness in his  diet; but he  makes this a substitute for
bodily exercise, and soon  destroys  his  constitution.
A third is very particular in the  choice of  articles of
diet, but pays no attention  to quantity; or  rather, al-
ways indulges to excess upon  his favorite dish.  One
year the Gymnasium is the grand Panecea, in spite of
high living  and irregular habits.   Another year the
grass is suffered to grow in the gymnastic grove, and
mechanical employments, with the saw and the ham-
mer, are the infallible  remedy, in  spite of intemper-
ance  in all other respects.   A third year, gardening,
or riding horseback, or visiting  the springs, is  a sub-
stitute for every thing else.  I do not doubt but many
have found  relief, and perhaps  some a perfect cure,
by each of these means :  but, in general, they only
remove or soften  down certain symptoms, while the
disease remains within, as obstinate as ever, ready to
break out ere long, in some new and aggravated form.
But equally rigid attention  to every part  of diet, regi-
 men and employment, agreeable to the most approved 
19
and established rules, is, in general, indispensable, both
for the cure  and prevention of these maladies.  You
cannot make  one a substitute for the others.   God ha3
joined them  together,  as the means of preserving and
restoring health: and  any man puts them asunder at
his peril. However earnestly, therefore, I may urge the
adoption of particular parts of this three fold system, I
hope it may always be  remembered that I consider
them only as parts, and not the whole ; and that I de-
mand, as essential, an equally strict attention  to every
other part.
   The rules for the prevention and'cure of nervous
maladies, I shall  describe  under three  classes; viz.
diet, regimen,  and  employment.  These terms  may
need a moments explanation.
   Under Diet,  I shall include all that is taken into the
system in the form of food and drink; embracing the
quantity and quality, the times  at which they  should
be taken, and the manner of taking them.
   Under Regimen, I shall include Exercise, Air, Cloth-
ing, Cleanliness, Evacuations, Sleep, Manners, and the
Influence of the Imagination and passions.
   Under Employment, 1 shall consider the  influence
exerted upon the health by the  different avocations of
society.  Here, however, on account of the character
of my audience, I shall confine myself chiefly to liter-
 ary pursuits.
   Against the  adoption of precise rules for Diet, Reg-
imen, and Employment, there exist strong prejudices
in the minds of many, especially of the healthy.  "  It
 is treating a person, who is well, as if he were  sick,"
 says one.    No : I answer, it is treating  him as if he
 might be sick:  It is foreseeing the  evil, and taking the
 most judicious method of guarding  against it. 
20
   " It is the way," says another, " to make the consti-
tution tender and delicate, and  incapable of enduring
the changes, exposures and hardships, to which we are
all liable."  It is the  very way,  I answer, to invigorate
the  constitution, and give it the greatest  muscular
strength of which it is capable consistent with our em-
ployment.  At  least, I contend for no rules,  except
such as will do this, and either recover, or make more
comfortable, those of debilitated constitutions.
   " Whatever may be said of the  feeble," says anoth-
er, " those in health, do not need to live by rule. Their
health will take  care  of itself, if it be not spoiled by
constant nursing."  Why then, I ask, in reply, has not
the health of the numerous invalids in the United States,
taken care of itself?  Were they not once in health?
And is there  any evidence that they have  ruined it
by living according  to too rigid rules?   Nursing  is
not'one of the leading features of the rules of regimen
and diet;  but temperance is a leading feature.  A man
in health, you sa}', does not need to live by rule.   But
have you no rule in respect  to eating and  drinking,
exercise and rest, study and sleep ?   Do  you indulge
your appetite without any  restraint, when it  is tempt-
ed by rich food, and alluring drink ?  Do you  exercise,
and study, and sleep, and eat, and drink,  by  chance ?
By no  means : you have some standard for regulating
all these things :  Every man has one ; and could  not
live without one.   Your  only difficulty is, an  appre-
hension that the  standard, which I shall propose, will
not agree with yours : you are  afraid mine  will be
more rigid, and oblige you, if you adopt it, to give up
some]darling habit.
  A striking instance  of a man's living by most exact
and excellent rules, while he  declares himself living
without rule,  is  presented to us  in the  case of Dr. 
21
Jackson, an aged and distinguished physician  in  the
British army.   " I have  wandered  a good deal about
the world" says he, and never followed any  prescrib-
ed rule in any thing;  my health has been tried in all
ways ; and by the aids of temperance and hard work, I
have worn  out  two  armies,  in  two wars, and could
probably wear out another  before  my period of old
age arrives.  I eat no animal food, drink no wine, or malt
liquor, or spirits of any kind ; I wear no flannel, and re-
gard neither wind nor rain, heat nor cold, when busi-
ness is in the way.'j   Here you have a man following
no prescribed rule, yet, adhering most rigidly to all
that is important in presciptions  for temperance  and
exercise.   If any other man will thus live  by rule,
without ru le, I will not quarrel with him about the use
of terms.
  " But this living by rule,"  says  a fourth  objector,
requires too much time.   A man of fortune and leis-
ure may attend to it, but  I have something else to do."
To live by rule, I say, in reply, is the way for any  man
to save time.   For a place is thus found for every ne-
cessary concern, and every thing is kept in its place :
whereas the man  who lives  by chance, loses much
time, and comfort too, by the confusion and  interfer-
ence of his concerns.   How can you accomplish so
much ?   said once a  friend to a Prime Minister.   " I
never  do but  cne thing at a time," was the reply.
Now this is the effect of living by  rule.   True, for a
man of careless and  irregular habits, to come  at once
under  the guidance of fixed principles, in respect to
diet, regimen, and employment, will, for a time, engage
a  considerable share  of his attention.   But such a
course  soon becomes habitual; and then the he fol-
lows on in the  same regular  routine, almost without a
                  3 
thought.  And besides a man who keeps his head clear
by temperance and exercise, will do more in one hour,
than  one,  even  slightly  given to excess, in  three-
   These protracted preliminary remarks seemed ne-
 cessary to introduce the first part of this subject, viz.
DIET.
  And here also, two or three  objections meet us, in
the very outset, which are considered by most men,
as sufficient  to justify them in neglecting, almost en-
tirely, any special attention  to their  food and their
drink.   These must, therefore, first be considered.
  Says one,  " men who pay no attention to diet, nay,
many who are very irregular in their food and drink,
enjoy as good health, and live as long, as those  who
are very particular in this respect."
  In reply, 1 doubt the statement here made. I know such
is the prevalent opinion :  but  where  are the exam-
ples to support it?  That some instances  have occur-
ed  of this description, I do  not  doubt:  And that in
many cases  of great longevity, the individuals were
for a time, or at several  times, guilty of violating the
rules of temperance,  I  admit.  We  know  this was
the fact with the famous Thomas  Parre,  who lived
153  years :  also  with  Henry Francisco, a French-
man, who recently died in New  York, at  the  age
of nearly one  hundred and forty.   But  their  in-
temperance was not habitual: it did not continue long
enough to destroy the stamina of their constitutions ;
although it probably shortened even their lives: indeed,
in  the  case of Parre, there can be no doubt, that a
 change from simple to rich diet, was the cause of his
 death.   If there are any  examples of persons, who 
23
have habitually  violated the rules of temperance and
regimen, and yet have enjoyed good health, and lived
to extreme  old  age, I  am  unacquainted with  them.
All the cases of remarkable longevity, of which I have
read, where the mode of living is mentioned, support
the opposite opinion.—A writer in Rees' Cyclopedia,
after mentioning a  large number of persons of great
age, says—" it would be very difficult, in the histories
of the several persons  above  mentioned, to  find  any
circumstances common  to  them all, except  perhaps
that of  being born of healthy  parents, and of  being
inured to daily labour,  temperance and  simplicity of
diet."   If there are any exceptions  to this statement,
it is only one in  a thousand; and therefore no objec-
tion against  the  general principle, that attention to
diet is important.
  But if any such exceptions can be found, I hesitate
not to say, that  they  will not be found among literary
men ; but rather among the hard labouring classes of
society, whose vigorous exercise has in a great mea?-
ure counteracted the  effects of intemperance in eating
or drinking.  Students,  therefore, have no concern in
such exceptions.
  Another objection  against dietetic rules is, that no
agreement exists on the subject among medical or oth-
er writers ;  and  therefore, a man cannot tell whom or
what to follow.
  If such were,  indeed, the fact, the conclusion would
inevitably result.  But I would ask the individual, who
makes the  objection, have  you ever read the works
of physicians and others upon diet,with sufficient care
to be  satisfied that they advance no principles in com-
mon?   Or,  because you have  ascertained that there
is considerable diversity of opinion upon some points, 
                       24

do you hence infer that every  thing is uncertain and
controverted ? As  to the comparative value, ease of
digestion and nutritive power, of different  kinds of
food, writers  on dietetics, do, indeed, differ not a little :
And the quality of food constitutes, in the opinion of
most  persons, the grand  point to be attended to m
dieting:  hence they conclude that any disagreement
on this  subject is a lis de capite.  Whereas, in fact,
this is one of the least important parts of the subject.
And concerning the quantity  and variety of food, and
the time and  manner of taking it, there is such  a gen-
eral agreement among all able.writers, from  the Gre-
cian Hippocrates and Galen down to  the present day,
that there remains no reasonable ground  for  scepti-
cism to stand upon.  There are certain general rules
on these points, as well established as  almost  any prin-
ciple in  medicine and chemistry.  Mankind, however,
in general, live, either ignorant or regardless ef them;
and therefore, when they are brought  forward, they
are regarded as novel and strange.  Until I have faith-
fully  done this, however, I shall  not feel  my con-
science discharged.
   THE  FIRST AND MOST  IMPORTANT RULE RESPECTING
DIET, IS, THAT THE QUANTITY OF FOOD, TAKEN AT ANY
ONE -MEAL,  SHOULD BE  VERY MODERATE.
   I presume all who hear me will give a general as-
sent  to this  rule, as reasonable  and  important.  But
when I come to explain and illustrate it, I fear it will
not be so acceptable.  What then do I mean by a very
moderate quantity?
   I mean that quantity,  which  physicians, and those
in different situations and ages of the  world, who have
made a fair trial, have found most conducive to vigor
and activity of body and mind,  continued  health and
long life.  I will quote some examples. 
25
  Most of the ancient philosophers might be  named
as patterns of health, temperance, and long life.  Py-
thagoras, in particular, restricted himself to vegetable
food altogether;  his dinner being bread, honey, and
water :  and  he lived upwards of eighty years.   His
followers  adopted the same diet.  It is well known,
also, that  the early Christians were remarkable for
temperance,  and for longevity too, when not removed
by the hand  of persecution.   Matthew, for  example,
according  to Clement,  lived  upon  vegetable  diet:
Mar&atog jia1 tsv 6 anoaroXog y.ai OTrtQuaTwv, xai axqoSqvuiv, xai
kaxavw, aviv y.ot£,i fitrsXa^artv.  The  eastern Christians,
who retired  from  persecution into  the  desarts of
Egypt and  Arabia, allowed  themselves  but  twelve
ounces of bread per day, as their only solid food, and
water alone for drink : yet they lived long and happy.
St.  Anthony lived 105 years ;  James the Hermit, 104;
Jorome, 100; Simon Stylites, 109; Epiphanius, 115;
and Romauldus and Arsenius  each  120.*
 . Galen, one of the most distinguished of the  ancient
physicians, lived  140 years;  and  composed between
700 and 800 essays on medical and  philosophical sub-
jects :  and  he was always,  after the  age of  28, ex-
tremely  sparing  in the quantity  of his  food.  The
Cardinal de  Salis,  Archbishop of Seville, who live 1
110 years, was invariably sparing in  his diet.   One
Lawrence, an Englishman, by temperance and  labour
lived 140 years:  and one  Kentigern, called St. Mon-
gah, who never  tasted spirits or wine,  and slept on
the ground and labored hard, died at the age of 185.|
Henry  Jenkins,  of Yorkshire, who died  at the age
  * Cheyne's Essay on  Health and Long  Life, p.  30. Also
Rees' Cyc. Article Abstinence.                       ,
  f Cheyne On Health, &c. p. 31.
                3* 
                       26

of 169, was a poor fisherman, as long as he could  fol-
low this  pursuit, and  ultimately he became a beggar,
living uniformly on the coarsest and most sparing diet.
Old Parre, already mentioned, who died at the  age of
153, was a farmer of extremely abstemious habits, his
diet  being solely  milk, cheese, coarse bread, small
beer, and whey.   At the age of 120 he married a sec-
ond wife, by whom he had a child.   But  being taken
to court  by the Earl of Arundel, as a great curiosity,
in his  I52d year, he very  soon died,  as the physicians
decidedly testified after dissection, in consequence of
a change from a  parsimonious to  a  plentiful  diet.
 Henry Francisco, already noticed also,  as  living to
about  140  in this county, was, except for a  certain
 period, when  he  became  attached to ardent; spirits,
 " remarkably  abstemious, eating but little, and  par-
 ticularly  abstaining  almost  entirely  from  animal
 food:  his favorite articles being tea, bread and  but-
 ter, and baked apples."*  A Mr.  Ephraim  Pratt, of
 Shutesbury, in this vicinity,  who  died at the  age of
 117 years,  lived very much upon  milk, and that in
 small  quantity ; and his son, Michael Pratt, attained to
 the age of  103 years by similar means.  Indeed, great
 longevity has been attained in no instance with which
 I am acquainted,  where the individual was not a  pat-
 tern of abstinence in diet.  Great eaters never live long:
 A voracious appetite is a  sign of disease,  or of a strong
  tendency  to disease;  and not a sign of health, as  is
  generally supposed.  Ill  health  as  infallibly follows
  the indulgence of such an appetite,  as any other effect
  its legitimate cause.
* Silliman's Tour, p. 172. 
27
  Dr. Cheyne  was a celebrated English physician,
who flourished more than a century ago.   In the early
part of  his life, he was a voluptuary;  and before he
attained  to middle  age, was so corpulent, that it was
necessary to open the whole side of his carriage, that
he might enter ;  and he  saw  death to be inevitable,
without  a  change  of his course.   He  immediately
abandoned all  ardent spirits,  wine, and  fermented
liquors,  and  confined himself  wholly  to vegetables,
milk, and water.  This course, with active exercise,
reduced him from the enormous weight of 448 pounds,
to 140 ;  and restored his health and the vigor of his
mind.  After  a few years he ventured to change his
abstemious diet, for one  more rich and stimulating.
But the effect was a recurrence of his former corpulence
and  ill health.   A return  to milk,  water, and vegeta-
bles, restored him  again; and  he continued  in  unin-
terrupted health to the  age  of 72.   His numerous
works are full of most earnest  exhortations to temper-
ance in all respects.   In respect to eating, his  apho-
rism was—" A constant endeavour  after the lightest
and least of  meat and drink a man can be tolerably
easy under, is the shortest  and most infallible means
to preserve life, health,  and serenity."*  He recom-
mends  the following quantity  of food and drink, as
sufficient for a healthy man, not following a laborious
employment;  viz. eight ounces of meat, twelve of
bread or other  vegetable food, and  about a pint of
 wine or other generous liquor per  day.   Invalids,
those  of sedentary employments,  and  students, he
says, must reduce  this  quantity, if they wish to pre-
 serve their  health and  freedom of spirits long.
* Essay on diet and regimen, p. 59. 
28
  Lewis Cornaro was a Venetian nobleman, who, by
gluttony and  dissipation,  became so reduced, that at
the age of 35, he was given over by his physicians.
Immediately  he abandoned their prescriptions and re-
duced his  diet to twelve ounces of solid food, and four-
teen ounces of wine per day.  The consequence was, •
not merely a restoration to health, but an almost unin-
terrupted  continuance of  it,  with  a  most  delightful
serenity of mind, to one hundred years of age : as he
has beautifully described it, in a little treatise on the
subject, abridged from  the writings of Cornaro, by
Mr. Daggett, principal of the Foreign Mission School
at Cornwall  in  Connecticut.   This gentleman  also
testifies, that at the age of 56, he had found less than
12 ounces per diem, and  none of it animal food, abun-
dantly  sufficient  for himself.   Cornaro was prevailed
upon at a certain time to increase the quantity of his
solid food only two ounces, and  his liquid food about
as much :   and the  consequence was, a  serious fit of
sickness.  As he grew quite old, he reduced  his food
so much, that it is said  he lived several days upon the
yolk of a single egg.
  The opinion of Mr.  Abernethy, one  of  the ablest
English physicians now living, concerning  Cornaro's
system of dieting, is thus expressed.   " When patients
apply  to  me, I offend  them greatly  by  telling  them
they have "their  health in their own keeping.   If a
man were to  do as Cornaro did, he would be rewarded
for it by a long and happy life.   The principal beauty
of Cornaro's  life was the happy state of mind in which
his continued temperance preserved him.  Now what
I propose  as a diet, is Cornaro's diet; and it is no fan-
ciful system.   The diet should always be of  a mode-
rate quantity ; it should not be wholly  vegetable  or
animal, but it ought to be  of a nutritive kind." 
29
  Dr. James Johnson, one of the best medical writers
of modern times, and who conquered the most intense
degree of dyspepsy in his own person, by rigid  atten-
tion to diet and exercise, says of the dinner of one la-
boring under such complaints, when even considerably
restored by a more  spare diet; " I would strongly ad-
vise  that  the quantity  should never exceed half a
pound in weight, even when that  can be borne with-
out a single unpleasant sensation succeeding.   It  is
quite enough, and generallytoo  much.   The invalid
will  acquire a degree rf strength  and  firmness, not
fullness of muscle,  on  this quantity, which will, in
time, surprise hisfriends as well as himself."*
  Another able  medical writer,  in  his  recent work
entitled, " Sure Methods of improving Health and pro-
longing Life,'''' 4-c has drawn out these rules in a still
more particular manner.   He gives the following gen-
eral rule as to the quantity of food, which  he judges
will be  found best for the preservation of health, and
the prolongation of life, in the weakly, the sedentary,
the invalid, and the aged.
  „   . r    $ Bread or biscuit,|and butter Four ounces.
  Breakfast.  J Te^ &c in dilntion.      Eight Do.
              Bread  or other vegetables, Two Do.
              Meat,                    Seven  Do.
              Light wine or Malt liquor, Six Do.
              Water,                  Two Do.
             i Bread or biscuit, and butter, Three Do.
       Tea'  > Tea or other liquid       Eight  Do.
Dinner.
  •Essay on the Morbid sensibility of the stomach and bow-
els, p. 113
  f If I mistake not, the biscuit mentioned by this and other
English writers, is essentially the same as our ship  bread, or
pilot  bread, which is unleavened, and very different from what
goes by the name of biscuit in this country. 
                       30

  In all,  during  the day,  sixteen  ounces  of solid
food,  and twenty four ounces of liquid.  Dyspeptics,
whose digestive  powers  are greatly  weakened, he
says,  must reduce  this quantity.  And  Dr." Johnson
says, that such  " will often derive more nutriment
and strength from four ounces of gruel  every six
hours, than  from half a pound of animal  food  and a
pint of wine."
  In respect to  those who are in perfect  health, and
take much exercise, or labor hard, the author of the
t;Sure Methods, says," that  their "solid  food  maybe
increased to twenty  ounces, and their liquid  to forty:
but hardly beyond that with safety."
  When literary men are under the necessity of mak-
ing great and protracted mental efforts, it is extreme-
ly important that they pay particular attention to diet;
and make not a little reduction in the  quantity: for
intense  application of mind greatly weakens the diges-
tive powers.  Gen.  Elliott, the defender of Gibraltar,
during eight of the most anxious days of the siege, liv-
ed upon four ounces  of rice per day.  Abstinence, also,
quickens the apprehension, gives acuteness to the rea-
soning powers, liveliness to the imagination, and delica-
cy to the  feelings.  A large number, perhaps a major-
ity, of the standard works in  English literature,  were
composed by men whose circumstances compelled them
to adopt a very spare diet, and probably this is one cause
of their superiority.  Dr.  Franklin was celebrated, in
early life particularly, for his abstemiousness ; his meal
consisting frequently of a biscuit and slice of bread,  and
a bunch of raisins only, with a glass of water, or a  ba-
sin of gruel; and he says, that his "progress in study  was
proportionate to that clearness of ideas and  quickness
 of conception,  resulting  from  temperance  in diet." 
31
While  Sir Isaac Newton was composing his celebrated
treatise on  Optics,  he confined himself entirely  to
bread with a little sack and water.   One  Mr. Law, fa-
mous for his skill in different games, lived several years
on half a chicken per day, with about a pound of bread,
and drank nothing but  water, and  by that means it  is
said, he won'great sums  at play.*   In  President Ed-
wards  Diary, we  find  it written,  January 2, 1722—3
" I think I find myself much more sprightly and healthy
both in body  and  mind, for my self denial in eating
drinking and  sleeping"—Again, July 7-1722.  By a
sparingness in diet  and eating  (as much as may be)
what is light and easy  of digestion, I shall doubtless be
able to think clearer and shall gain time, first by length-
ening out my  life.   Secondly shall need less time  for
digestion  after meals.  Thirdly, shall be able  to study
closer, without wrong to my health.  Fourthly, shall
need less  time  to  sleep.  Fifthly, shall seldomer  be
troubled with the  head ache."
  The author of the " Sure  Methods," has  given a
view of what  he considers a proper diet for men when
engaged in composition.   It amounts to twelve ounces
of solid food,  and twenty of liquid, per day.

            ( Stale bread, dry toast or
   Breakfast 1 plain biscuit, no butter.  Three ounces
   at Seven \ Black tea with milk and
            'a little sugar             Six  Do.
            ( An  egg  lightly boiled with a thin
Luncheon at 1 g]ice of bread and butter. Three Do.
 11 o' clock. ^ Toagt and water.5           Do>  Do<
♦■Cheyne's Natural Method of Curing Diseases, &c. p. 82, 
32
            r Of venison, Mutton, Lamb, Chicken, or
             game, (Roasted or Boiled,) Three Do.
 Dinner at   Bread (no vegetables)     One  Do.
    half   <! Toast and water, or Soda
 past two.   | water,                   Four  Do.
             White wine or Genuine Claret
             ^ (one small  glass full,)     One  Do.
            ( Stale bread biscuit or dry toast
 Tea at sev- ) with very little butter,   Two ounces.
en or eight. ) Tea (black)with milk and a
            (little sugar,             Six    Do.

  It will be seen, that the preceeding arangement of
meals is adapted to the system of late dinners, so com-
mon among the higher classes in England ; and unfor-
tunately becoming common among  us.  This is done,
not because this medical writer, or any other of re-
spectability, approves of late dinners :  for all decided-
ly condemn them : but merely to accommodate, as far
as possible, the prejudices and habits of the communi-
ty.   I am  very thankful  that  among  this community
such accommodation is not  necessary ; the  middle of
the  day being still  our  dinner hour.   This writer's
luncheon of bread and butler, with an egg, may there-
fore, be joined with his dinner, or neglected altogether.
  You will perceive, also that in nearly all  the cases
1 have mentioned, a portion of wine is included in the
bill of fare.—In another place, I shall attempt to show,
that water, substituted in  its place, would afford better
nourishment, though probably the  appetite would not
require.so much as is here mentioned  of wine.   But.
the pernicious habit of drinking wine at meals, I am hap-
py  in believing, is becoming obsolete in our country.
Yet I cannot but remark,  upon the  singular  inconsist-
ency of the great majority of English writers on die-
tetics, in recommending,  or allowing wine to literary 
33
men and invalids, while in the same volume, they un-
hesitatingly declare, that of all beverages water is the
best!  The truth seems to be, they think it allowable^
yield this point, to humour the tastes of their readers,
provided their readers will attend to their directions
in other respects; because they suppose that wine, in
moderate quantity, may not be very hurtful.   But if
they pretend to give the best rules for preserving and
restoring health, why should they not  have the inde-
pendence to insist upon those articles of drink which
abundant experience has  proved most beneficial  for
this purpose !  I  have no idea  of compromising the
truth for the sake of pleasing the palate.   If you yield
one point, disordered appetite will cry give, give, un-
til all its desires are gratified.
   Although all respectable medical writers strenuous-
ly urge that only a very moderate quantity  of food
should be  taken at meals, yet  some  of  them  prefer
other  methods of ascertaining what is the proper quan-
tity than by an appeal to  weight and measure.  Dr.
Philip and Dr. Paris recommend that " the dyspeptic
 should carefully attend to the first  feeling of  satiety.
There is a moment when  the relish given by the ap-
petite ceases; a single mouthful taken after this,  op-
presses  a weak stomach.  If he  eats slowly and care-
 fully attends to this feeling he will never overload the
 stomach."*   It is understood,  also, in this case I be-
 lieve, that a  man  should  confine himself to  a single
dish.
    The  grand argument in favour  of this rule,  in pre-
 ference to that by weight and measure, is, that differ-
*Parison Diet p. 136—Philips on Indigestion <^c. p. 69. 
34
 ent  individuals  require  different quantities  of food;
 and, therefore, no definite quantity  can be fixed upon.
 And it is,  indeed, true,  that  the  man  who  is in vig-
 orous health demands more than the feeble invalid-
 he who exercises  vigorously  abroad,  more  than  the
 man confined  to his study,  or his  shop—the middle
 aged man, more  than the infant, or the  aged—the man
 of large athletic stature, more than one of small  and
 delicate frame, and men  more than  women, &c.   But
 leaving out of the account those very young, and those
very old, as well as very  feeble invalids, and including
 only those in youth, or manhood, whose health is good
enough to permit them to attend more or less to sed-
 entary or  literary pursuits, and I cannot conceive how
it is possible that their constitutions  should differ very
 much in respect to the quantity of nourishment neces-
sary to the system.  The organs of  digestion are  the
same in all, and the process by which  food is convert-
 ed into blood and animal matter is the same; and  the
 causes that operate to wear out the system are essential-
 ly the same.   Why then, should one of them require
 very  much  more  nourishment than the rest: except
that those in health, who exercise daily and  vigorous-
 ly in the open  air, will doubtless demand a larger por-
 tion ; and to such, the rule of weight I  have  mention-
 ed, allows one  quarter more  than to the studious  and
 invalids.
  But since it is by all admitted, that there is some dif-
ference ir? the  quantity of food and  drink necessary
for individuals,  similarly  situated, what is the  ob-
jection against this rule of Dr. Philip, viz. that every
 man should eat till he  begins to feel satisfied ? Those
 in vigorous health,  whose natural appetites have  ne-
 ver been depraved  by excess, or the arts of cookery, 
35
may perhaps be tolerably safe in adopting this  rule,
provided they rigidly observe two things ;  first, to eat
only of one dish ; and secondly to occupy at least half an
hour at every meal.   But I am perfectly satisfied that
this rule alone  will not answer for invalids;  for any,
especially, who are in the least dyspeptical, and who
have that unnatural and inordinate appetite which al-
most invariably accompanies  such complaints.   Dr.
Philip remarks, that " there is a moment when  the
relish given by appetite ceases ; a single " mouthful
taken after this oppresses a  weak stomach."  " It
should be observed," says another physician,  " that a
single mouthful taken after a certain quantity has been
swallowed, and much before the relish given by the
appetite ceases, will very often infallibly  oppress a
weak stomach,  although the  individual may not be
sensible of it at the time, or for some hours  after."
This ravenous  appetite of invalids may be reckoned
among the daughters of  the horseleach, mentioned by
Solomon, crying give, give,  and is never satisfied, un-
til it has ruined the  constitution.   A man  afflicted
with it, will  eat, and eat, even of a single dish,  until
he has fully established his  title to the name  of glut-
ton.  Without some other security, therefore,  than
this rule of Dr. Philip,  such  persons, and they are
numerous,  even among  those  who scarcely suspect
themselves of being dyspeptical, will  surely  destroy
themselves.
   Nor ought it to be forgotten  here, how very  rare
it is to find persons, even among the healthy, who re-
tain a natural appetite.   "  Unfortunately," says the
Journal of Health, a work conducted by some of the
ablest physicians in our country, " there are few indi-
viduals whom the luxurious refinements  of civilized 
36
life have not entirely deprived of this simple and un-
erring guide ; and who, by  obeying the irregular and
inordinate cravings which they experience, do not be-
come the subjects of "suffering,  and disease."    The!
long use of high seasoned food and a variety of dishes
have rendered the appetites of  most men artificial
Now I ask the healthy man, who sits down to adinnei
of  a single dish, cooked  in the  simplest  manner.
whether he will not satisfy his appetite  sooner  than
he would, if a second, a third, and a fourth dish, ricli
and deliciously cooked, be brought  forward ?  Whicl
appetite, then, shall he take for his guide, as to the!
quantity  of his food ? that which he has for one sim'
pie  dish, or that which  he has for half a dozen'
Does he reply, I will take  that which I feel for the
single dish as my guide :  then  I have few fears but
he will be a temperate abstemious liver ; and I shall
not contend with him about the soundness of his rule:
But where in  modern society can he  find a  table
spread with this patriarchal simplicity ?   No where ;
unless he spread it for himself alone.   Perhaps  he
will say, that there is no harm in partaking of two  ot
three dishes ;  and he will  make it his rule to confine
himself to these.  But another  man will say, I find
that four or five do not injure  me: and  the glutton,
will say, that half a dozen are necessary for his con-
stitution ; and even if there be  a greater number,  he
never eats more than his natural appetite craves ; for
the glutton regards his appetite as natural as we'll as
 other men.  Now can a rule,  which thus varies with
the temptation ; a rule, which is even so broad as  to
take in the glutton : is such a rule a safe one,  partic-
ularly for students, who ought to be the  most  abste-
 mious of men ? 
37
   If I mistake not, however, there is a rule suggested
 by Dr. Johnson, for ascertaining the quantity of food
 necessary for each individual, that will come  in  as an
 important auxiliary to either of the rules I have men-
 tioned.   He would  have  every one,  particularly the
 nervous  invalid,  judge of the  quantity of food and
 drink necessary for himself, by its effects, rather than
 by satiety of appetite, or by the weight.   " Whene-
 ver our drink induces sensible excitement in the sys-
 tem," says he,  " or our food is followed by an inapti-
 tude for  mental or corporeal exertion, we have  trans-
 gressed the  rules of health  and  are laying the  foun-
 dation for disease."—" Any  discomfort of body, any
 irritability or despondency  of mind, succeeding food
 and drink, at the distance  of an hour, a day,  or even
 two or three days, may be regarded, (other  evident
 causes being absent,) as a presumptive proof that the
 quantity has been too much, or the quality injurious."
 —" If a few hours after his dinner he  feel a sense of
 distention in the  stomach and bowels,  or  any of the
 symptoms of indigestion  which have  been pointed
♦ out;  if he feel a languor  of body, or a cloudiness  of
 the mind; if he  have  a  restless night; if he experi-
 ence a  depression  of spirits, or irritability of tem-
 per next  morning, his repast [dinner] has been  too
 much,  or  improper  in   kind,  and he must reduce
 and simplify till he come to that quantity  and qual-
 ity  of  food   and  drink  for dinner which  will pro-
 duce little  or no  alteration in his feelings wheth-
 er  of exhiliration immediately after dinner,  or  of dis-
 comfort some hours after this meal.   This is the cri-
 terion by which the patient must judge for himself."*
* Morbid Sensibility of the Stomach and Bowels, pp.
                     4* 
38
  To the same effect is the testimony of Cheyne : "If
any  man" says he,  " has  eat or  drank so much as
renders him unfit for the duties  and studies of his
profession, (after an  hour's sitting quiet  to carry  on
the digestion,)  he has overdone."*
  In order fully to understand this rule of Dr. John-
son,  it will be necessary to state, what probably many
have never learned from their own  experience,  that
the natural effect of  eating is to give immediate vigor
to the mind and strength to the body.  Hence any lan-
guor and stupidity after meals, if  not preceded by fa-
tigue, show  that the stomach is  overloaded.  Hear
the testimony of Cornaro on this point ?  " My spirits
are not injured by what I eat; they are only revived
and supported by it.   I can immediately on rising from
table set myself to write or study, and never find that
this application, though so hurtful to hearty feeders,
does me any harm.   And besides I never  find myself
drowsy after dinner as a great  many do:—the reason
is, I feed so temperately as never to load my stomach
or oppress my nerves: so that  I am always as light,
active, and cheerful,  after dinner, as before."!       *
  Here then is  no bad criterion for a man,  whatever
be his  constitution,  or health,  for  determining just
that  quantity  of food and  drink which  he  needs, to
give the  greatest vigor to his  body and mind.   He
must reduce the quantity until his meals are followed
by none of those  effects upon the mind, or  the body,
which  have been mentioned.   When he  has  ascertain-
ed that quantity, he should religiously adhere to it, as
nearly as possible, in all situations.
•Essay on Health and Long Life, p. 38.
t Life of Cornaro, p. 27, 
39
  Of what use, then, is it to weigh out a given quan-
tity  of  food  and drink, according to the first rule ?
The use is very great.  That rule gives us the me-
dium quantity of food and drink, (viz. from twelve to
sixteen  ounces  of the former, and  from fourteen  to
twenty four of the latter,  per day,) which physicians
have deduced  from all the  experiments that have
come to their knowledge, as necessary for the restora-
tion and preservation of health,  and vigor of body
and  mind in the invalid,  and in those of sedentary
and  literary  habits.   Now let every man just weigh
out  this quantity—let  him take  the largest  if  he
please, and in nine cases out of ten, it will show him
that he  is in the daily habit of eating and  drinking at
least twice as much  as is  necessary  for a temperate
man in like circumstances.  He will be  astonished to
find  that he eats so much more than he had supposed,
and  having thus learnt  how to estimate  by  the eye,
what is the proper quantity for him to eat and drink,
he can lay aside the balances and judge by the eye in fu-
ture, with sufficient exactness.   Let him immediately
reduce his diet to  this  quantity, and  make a trial of
it for a month or two.  The immediate effects will be,
in most cases,  an  unexpected freedom and activity of
mind after meals, and a gradual improvement  of the
health ; and the ultimate  effects," if no fatal  disorder
was seated in the  constitution, will be  confirmed
health,  and an increased capacity  for intellectual  ef-
forts, with  a serene and lengthened old age, and finally
a gentle discharge from life.
  Instead  of persuading  you,  my hearers,  to adopt
this course, I fear that some will exclaim, this is star-
vation ! this is the sure way to make me weak and
puny ! I have no idea  of reducing myself to a skele- 
40
ton while  I have  an appetite.   Lewis Cornaro is no
rule for me.  I must eat and drink  for myself,  with-
out his balances or his spectacles.
  If the person who makes such an answer is in vig-
orous  health, I shalFnot stop to argue the subject with
him ;  although perfectly convinced that by taking this
first grand step in  the course of temperance, he would
add from thirty to fifty years to his life, and much  to
his happiness.   But if he is a person of feeble health,
already attacked b}  nervous complaints, I would ear-
nestly entreat him to pause a  moment before he  re-
solves to reject the only  method  by which  he can
hope  to regain his lost vigor, and retain it.   Are you
sure that sixteen ounces of solid food and twenty four
of liquid per day, would be starvation ? How do you
know it?  Have  you tried  it for any considerable
length of  time?   Very many  others have  tried it
through life, and found it sufficient, nay, most of them
found it too much for them :  will you pay no defer-
ence to so man}' fair experiments ? Suppose  that  for
a time you should be compelled to suffer  not a little
from a craving appetite, which having been educated
to receive an enormous load, knows not why  it  may
not be indulged still, to the same extent?  Will a feel-
ing of hunger, when not excessive, compare with the
pains  of disease, or  with the tormenting uneasiness  of
dyspepsy ?  Can the  suffering be compared  with the
immense good that will result to }'ou ?—health,—vig-
or,—long life ?  " If we attentively consider the last
scenes of most people," says  an eminent physician,
" and  how it is that they  die, and  with what  symp-
toms they expire; we shall constantly find it to be of
the too much, the too high,  or too  hot;   and  not  of 
41
the too little, or too cool."*   And yet you fear  star-
vation, if allowed  no more  than  what  has  supported
many scores of men to extreme old age.   How much
food do you suppose is necessary to the support of life?
Let  physicians give  the  answer.  " The quantum
contained  in two  eggs, some  say one,  administered
each day," observes a medical writer, " will  keep a
man alive  and pretty well  for six months."t   " No
person," says  another, "is in danger of starvation,
who  can take a pint,  nay, only half a pint,  of good
gruel in the twenty four hours."];  Is there then pro-
bably much danger of starvation upon a quantity  five
or six times larger than either of these ?1T
  But if not  actual  starvation,  you  reply, that  the
quantity, of which I have spoken, is not sufficient to
give the greatest  muscular vigor to  the body, and ac-
tivity and  energy  to the mind.   A person confined to
so small a  quantity, will become  weak and puny, in-
capable of great bodily or mental  efforts.    And how
  * Cheyne's Natural Method of Curing Diseases, p. 73.

  f Southern Review,  August, 1827, p. 244.
  J Johnson on Morbid Sensibility, &c.  p.  112.
  IT Extract of a idler from a lady inVassalboro"1, Maine, dated
March, 1830.—A lady in this place reduced her diet to a piece
of cracker as large as a cent, and the juica of a piece of b«ef
an' inch in size, and half a tea cup of milk and water.   This
was a meal; and she was allowed four such a  day,  and not
a particle of any thing between her meals.  That  little di-
gested, and yielded a little  strength.    Persevering a  few
months in this way, she was raised from an almost hopeless
state, to very good health ;  but it was tedious, and she  suf-
fered exceedingly from hunger and thirst. 
42
do you know this?  Have  you ever  fairly  tried  the
experiment? I suppose, indeed, that  when  a person
first reduces the  quantity of his food  so much as most
persons must do, to  come down to rigid temperance,
he will, for a time, feel a considerable degree offaint-
ness, accompanied with a sense of weakness.  And it
is for precisely the  same  reason that the  drunkard,
who abandons his cups, feels  a  depressing sense  of
faintness and weakness.  For too  much, or  too hearty
food, stimulates the digestive organs, and  the whole
system, indeed, as  well as  ardent spirits.    And the
withdrawing of this stimulus, in  either case, produces
similar effects.   But a perseverance in such a diet for
a few weeks or months, will, I am persuaded, satisfy
him that his strength of body and mind have gradual-
ly and greatly increased.   Indeed, it is only because I
believe that the  amount of food I  have  mentioned,
will give to sedentary men the  greatest amount of
strength of  which  their  bodies are capable, while
their habits are sedentary, that  I urge such to con-
fine themselves to it.   The proofs on which I rest this
belief are the testimony of  able physicians and of
others who have faithfully tried the  experiment.
   " There is ^nothing more ridiculous," says Cheyne^
" than to see tender, hysterical, and vaporish  people,
perpetually complaining, and  yet perpetually cram-
ming ; crying out,  they  are ready to sink  into the
ground,  and faint away,  and yet gobbling down  the
richest and the  strongest food, and  highest  cordials,
to  oppress  and  overlay them  quite."*
" Essay on Health and Long Life, p. 115, 
43
  Says another physician," They who love to eat, will
use ingenious arguments to convince themselves that
they require more food than is thus allowed them.
They will declaim against starvation and their friends
will join them ;  they  will complain that it produces
faintness, and weakness and renders them unfit for the
active duties of life.   This is  all delusion, all wilful
self deception.   More nourishment and strength  are
imparted by six ounces of well digested food, than by
sixteen imperfectly concocted."*
 -." There  is a great  error committed  every day,"
says Dr.  Johnson,  " in  flying  to  medicine  at  once
when the functions of the stomach and  liver are  dis-
ordered,  the secretions unnatural, and the food imper-
fectly  digested.   Instead of  exhibiting purgatives
day after day  to  carry  off diseased  secretions,  we
should lessen and simplify the  food, in order to pre-
vent the formation of these bad secretions.   In doing
this we have great  prejudices  to  overcome.   The
patient feels himself getting weaker and thinner ; and
he looks to nourishing food and tonics for a  cure.
But he will generally  be disappointed in the end by
this plan.  From four ounces of gruel every six hours,
he will under many states of indigestion, derive more
nutriment and strength than from half a pound of an-
imal food and a pint of wine."-"I have known dyspep-
tic patients  gain flesh  and strength on  half a pint  of
good gruel thrice in the twenty four hours."—" The
invalid will acquire a degree of strength and firmness
not fullness,  of muscle on  this  quantity,  (half  a
* Southern Review, August, 1829, p. 224. 
44
pound of food at dinner,) which  will in time surprise
his friends as well as himself."*
  Says  another  physician, " a small quantity of food
does not only ward off  disease and  prolong life, it
likewise preserves  the  bodily  strength ;  and it will,
therefore, be found universally,  that,  {ceteris paribus)
those aged  persons who consume the least«food in
moderation, are the strongest."   "
  The practice of training men for pugilistic combats,
though  most reprehensible  in a moral point of view,
has thrown  much light on the subject under considera-
tion.    The rules  these  trainers  adopt to bring the
pugilist  " to the top of his condition," as it is called,
that is,  to give him the greatest possible strength, are
essentially the same in respect to  diet, as those which
I have laid down ; although a rather larger quantity of
food is  allowed than is necessary for literary men, be-
cause these  pugilists constantly exercise in the open
air.   The "effect of  this  training is usually, to reduce
the weight, especially if the individual at all inclines
to  corpulency,  but  wonderfully  to  improve  the
strength, symmetry, and beauty,  of the corporeal
frame.   The trained boxer is no  longer liable to diz-
ziness from the heaviest blows : his lungs are surpri-
singly strengthed, so that he can  hold his breath lon-
ger, and recover it sooner, after it is in a  measure
lost; his appetite becomes keen,  so that not the least
uneasines  results  from  food:  his  bones become so
strong that they are  with difficulty broken ; and his
serves are so remarkably invigorated, that it is said,
no trained person was ever known to become paralyt-
tic, or suffer long from nervous depression.
* Morbid Sensibility, &c. 
45
  Dr.  Jackson,  the physician already  referred to,
who by living on a spare diet, of vegetable food only,
without ardent spirits or wine, " wore out two armies
in two campaigns," asserts that soldiers " endure la-
bor and hardship  better on a simple and spare diet,
with tea for drink," than  by full feeding, with ardent
spirits.*
  To all  these  authorities, I could add that of the
individuals  already mentioned, who  through  a long
course  of years  found a very  small  amount of food
abundantly sufficient for  preserving body and mind in
the utmost vigor.  And is all this testimony  to  be set
aside as of no weight, while he who sets it  aside, has
nothing but his own feelings to oppose to it ?  If you
say that you have  made the trial and it  has failed ;  I
wish  to enquire, in the first place,  did you  reduce
the quantity  of food until every  unpleasant  feeling,
that follows excessive eating,  disappeared ? Did you
reduce  it as low as Cornaro's standard, viz.  twelve
ounces of solid food per day ? Did you persevere in
this course for months ?  Did you at the same time ex-
ercise as much as before in  the open air 1 Were your
habits in every other respect abstemious and regular?
If you cannot answer all these  questions in the affirm-
ative, then  your experiment was  not a fair one, and
will ,weigh  nothing against  the  decided  testimony
which I  have exhibited on the other side.
  "But   perhaps  some one  will say,  that  he  cannot
believe any very bad effects will  result  from eating  a
i'ew ounces  more than is necessary for perfect health
and vigor, and, therefore, all this parade about eating
* American Almanac for 1830, p. 129.
o 
46
and drinking is  unnecessary nicety.  He  cannot be-
lieve that men would suffer any more from eating and
drinking, until their natural  appetite is satisfied, than
the brute creation does, whose  hunger is their only
standard as to quantity.  In short,  he  conceives the
evil against which I am contending, is rather imaginary
than real, and that a general adoption of the rules for
which I plead, would have but little effect in improv-
ing health, or lengthening life.
   As to the effect of eating too much, even in very small
quantity, we  have a very instructive instance  in Cor-
naro.   Hi5 friends,  and physicians too, persuaded him
at the age of 75, against his judgment, to increase the
quantity of his solid food, two  ounces, and his liquid
food as much.   " This increase," says  he " had, in
eight days'  time, such an effect upon me, that from
being remarkably cheerful and  brisk, I  began to  be
peevish and melancholy, and was constantly so  strange-
ly disposed,  that I  neither knew  what to say to oth-
ers, nor what to do with myself.   On the twelfth day,
I was attacked with a violent pain in my side, which
held me twenty  two hours, and was followed by a vio-
lent fever  which continued thirty five days, without
giving me a  moment's  respite."  This was the  only
sickness with which he  was visited, from the time  he
entered upon his temperate course, till his death  ; a
period between sixty  and seventy years.
   Old Parre, as already mentioned, lost  his life  by
 increasing the  quantity, and  changing the quality of
 his food ;  and Cheyne was visited anew  with his for-
 mer complaints, as soon as he relaxed a little in  his
 abstemious diet.
   The following instance is taken from  an old medi-
 cal writer, in his own words. 
47
  -Mr. John Bill related too, that Richard Lloyd, born
two miles from  Montgomery, was aged one hundred
and thirty  three years  within two  months ; a strong,
straight,  and upright man ; wanted  no teeth, had  no
grey  hair, it all being  of a darkish brown colour;
could hear well, and read without spectacles;  fleshy
and full cheeked, and the calves of his legs not wast-
ed and shrunk ;  he could talk well.   He was of a tall
stature ;  his food was bread, cheese, and butter, for the
most part; and his drink, whe}r, buttermilk, or water,
and nothing else;  but being by a neighbour gentlewo-
man persuaded  to eat flesh  meat, and drink malt li-
quors, soon fell off and  died.   He was a poor labour-
ing man  in husbandry."
  I cannot withhold the very judicious remarks of the
Editors of the Journal of Health upon this case :
  " The good lady above mentioned, no doubt thought
that this  old  man ought  to have more  nourishing and
strengthening food than what had so long preserved
him in excellent health. It is thus with the world gen-
erally. In the very face of the plainest experience, peo-
ple force their nostrums, and their good dishes,  and
nice cordials, on a complaining friend, who, becoming
worse under this kindness, is after a while transfered
to the hands of the doctor, as if it were in the power
of any man, however learned and  skilful, to remove
by the aid  of a few drugs, the effects of years of sen-
sual indulgences."
   Nor can I neglect to give the concluding remarks
of the original relator  of the facts—addressed to  his
cotemporarier,.
  "A hundred examples," says  he  " of this kind, may
be found to confirm the doctrine of temperance and cool
diet,as necessary to the prolongation of life ; but if an 
48
angel from heaven should come down and preach if, one
bottle of Burgundy  would be of more weight with this
claret-stewed generation than ten tuns of arguments to
the contrary, though never so demonstrable and divine."
   Such facts  weigh more than a thousand suggestions
about the improbabilities of injuring the health by. a
slight excess in the use of food.  But men do not per-
ceive the  bad effects of over feeding, because in gener-
al, they are ignorant of their nature, and confine their at-
tention to the more immediate effects instead of looking
at those which are  remote.  They generally suppose,
that if the stomach,  or any internal organ, be oppress-
ed, or disordered,  pain  will be produced  in the or-
gan itself: whereas, the uneasines  and  pain are  most
commonly in  some other part,  not  unfrequently a re-
mote part, of the body.   And oftentimes food, which
ultimately does the  man a great deal of injury,  gives
to the stomach a transient relief, just as piling a  large
quantity of wood upon a fire, seems for  a time to  have
almost extinguished it.  Thus, the dyspeptic is  often
exceedingly oppressed  with a sense of gnawing, and
faintness at the stomach, previous  to his meals.  The
immediate consequence of eating to  satiety, is, to re-
move this uncomfortable  sensation, and to  produce a
glow in the system, which, at first,  is not disagreeable.
Hence such a man concludes that his hearty meal has
done him  good.   True  he  feels an indisposition  to
bodily or  mental effort,  and perhaps drowsiness and
sleep come over him,  for two or three hours- but
this he considers as  no bad omen : indeed, his nap re-
freshes him for the time,  and although  the thought
may enter his mind, that perhaps he  has eaten  rather
too  much, should headach or heartburn come on, yet bV
a little exercise, he  gets rid of these, and fancies that 
49
when he has forced the food from the stomach, no far-
ther bad effects will result from a little excess in quan-
tity.   Should  he  have disturbed sleep, and restless-
ness, or the nightmare, or unpleasant  dreams, the fol-
lowing night, he scarcely thinks of referring the mis-
chief to the dietetic excesses of the preceeding day.
His appetite  is good the next day, and  he  takes the
same  course,  viz. to  eat as much  as  his  stomach
craves; and although  overloaded nature raises those
signals of distress which I have  mentioned, he is ig-
norant of their meaning, until after a few weeks, or
months, when gloom and jealousy enshroud the mind,
as forerunners of the storm that is about  to burst.  Yet
the man never thinks of imputing these feelings to his
excess in  eating, although, in fact, they are the direct
consequence;  and, indeed, I am more and more con-
vinced, that most of the depression of spirits, that accom-
panies nervous complaints, might be prevented by ri-
gid abstinence in diet.    Another remote consequence
 of eating too much, is unevenness  and irritability  of
 temper,  especially in the morning, which  most men
never regard as having such an origin.
   " The  greatest gluttons we ever  beheld^ (except
one,)" says a  medical reviewer,* " were meagre men,
whose tempers became so crabbed,  that even  their
children  have wished them dead.   That  these are
real dyspeptics  is proved by their cure being practi-
cable, if  they  are subjected  to the same  reg imen
 which dyspeptics require."
    Dr. Johnson mentions a curious case illustrative  ot
 this effect of  excessive feeding upon the  mind.  He
'Southern Review, August, 1829, p. 218.
                5* 
50
had a hypochondriacal patient who  " was every se-
cond day  affected  with such an  exasperation of his
melancholy  forebodings, that he did nothing but walk
about his room, wringing his hands, and  assuring hia
servants that  the  hand of death was  upon him, and
that he could not  possibly survive more  than a few
hours.   Under these gloomy  impressions he would
refuse food and drink,  and,  in  fact, give himself up
for lost.  The succeeding sun, however,  would find
him quite  an altered  man.   The cloud had broken
away ;  hope was rekindled ; and the appetite for food
and drink  was indulged ad   libitum.   Next  morning
all would  again be  despair, and nothing but  death
could be thought of.   So he went on,  as regular  as
light and darkness.  But if on the good  day, he could
be kept on a very small portion of food, and  the bot-
tle unopened, the next would be good   also.   This,
however, could seldom be done , for as soon as he felt a
respite from his miseries, procured by one day's absti-
nence, he  returned to his  usual indigencies and again
irritated his stomach and bowels, and through  them
reproduced the blue devils in the mind."*
   After nature has thus  sent out for some  time  the
groans which a too heavy load extorts from her, and
the man heeds them not, but continues to pile on more
and more, she  refuses to proceed ; and deluges him
with all the  pains of  a severe dyspeptic attack.  He
flies to the physician  for  help.    The  emetic or ca-
thartic usually  relieves the  burdened and clogged
powers of digestion ; the appetite gradually returns;
it is again indulged to excess, and  the  same scene  is
•Morbid Sensibility, &c. p. 105. 
51
acted over again, and the morbid secretions are again
formed and  removed by medicine.  But each succes-
sive time, the stomach  and bowels  become  weaker
and  disease  gets  more and more firmly hold of the
constitution. If the man discovers soon enough that the
root of his whole difficulty is his intemperance in eat-
ing, he may, if he will, save himself from morbid secre-
tions and the physician's hands, by rigid  abstemious-
ness.  But  if  otherwise, organic disease  gradually
supervenes  and closes his days.
  When food is taken into the  stomach it is convert-
ed into a pulpy mass, called chyme.   If the  quantity
be too great, of course, this process is but imperfectly
performed ;  as the gastric juice is not sufficient for the
whole  work.   The consequence is, that imperfect
chyme will  make imperfect chyle,  the  second state
into which  food passes;  and  imperfect chyle  will
produce  imperfect blood ;  and imperfect  blood  will
produce  morbid secretions ;—the blood  will be too
much  in quantity, and poor  in quality ; and  hence
the  system  will   be  but   imperfectly  nourished.
Hence, too,  we  see why a small quantity  of  food
affords more nourishment than a quantity  too large,
viz.  because the former  is perfectly, and  the latter
imperfectly,  converted into  flesh and  blood.   Na-
ture must make a  great  effort  to get rid  of the su-
perabundance with which she is deluged.   Hence she
will force through the pores of  the skin, fetid sweats,
and load the alimentary canal and every part of the
system, with every kind of morbid  secretions.   We
see hence, why the men, who gormandize most, are
generally  pale and emaciated : though sometimes the
excess of nourishment is converted into  fat, which
seems generally to be a morbid  secretion. 
52
  As to men's following the example of the brutes, by
eating as much as the appetite craves, it will not help
the argument much to take the domesticated animals
for  a  standard : for their imitation of man, or some
thing else, has given them an appetite  somewhat too
voracious;  as every farmer knows,  whose cornfield,
or granary, has been broken open by his horse or ox.
And as to the wild animals, they cannot properly  be
considered examples,  until  man shall  get rid of his
factitious appetite,  and  will  consent  to  live in the
open air like them, and  abjure all mental  efforts ; in
short, to become a  brute in every thing  but shape,
which, according to Cicero, is a genuine transformation:
Quid enim interest, utrum  ex hornine se quis   conferat in
belluarn, an hominis jigura immanitatem gerat belluae ?*
And were  this  done, I think  that even  the vora-
cious dyspeptic would not judge it safe for a being, who
was once a student, to imitate the musquito, that quiet-
ly resigns lift; for  the pleasure  of sucking its fill: nor
even the Siberian  Glutton, which,  though  not much
larger than a dog, was not satisfied with thirty pounds
of flesh at a meal.j
  But the evil against which I contend, is   thought to
be imaginary.  Let us hear some testimony on  this
point.
  It is a prevailent opinion, that persons of rather  fee-
ble  health,  especially such as are on  the gaining hand,
should take food in generous quantity,  and of nour-
ishing quality, in order to gain strength;  and hence
their kind friends will tempt their craving  appetites,
•Cic.de. off. L. 3—20.
t Smellie's Philos. Nat. Hist. p. 150. 
DO
as much as possible, by  food  nicely cooked, and  by
persuasion, and  very commonly they yield to the  so-
licitation, but rarely without reaping the bitter results.
To this course, the amiable  and pious Clement,  an
English clergyman, whose name is pr.ibably familiar
to you, to this course, he  fell a sacrifice.  At  the
age  of eighteen,  his  health  declined  rapidly, with
symptoms of a consumption.   But by rigid adherence
to a milk  and vegetable diet, without spirits, or  wine,
he, in  a short time, regained his  health.  But return-
ing to  his former liberal diet, his disorder  returned
also, with giant power, and soon laid him in the grave,
—the  real victim  of  intemperance ; though nothing
was farther from his thoughts, or those of his friends
than that  he  was intemperate.*
   It is well known  that a voracious appetite generally
accompanies a recovery  from  fevers ; and  who  has
not known instances of fatal relapses by indulging it !
It was  the misfortune  of Mr.  Vinall, one of the first
missionaries  to the Osages, to be cast on the care  and
kindness of a Christian lady, after a severe  sickness.
With the  best  intentions, she plied him  with rich
and  tempting food.  He partook of  it immoderately,
and  thus  brought on an attack of apoplexy, which ter-
minated his life.f
   As it respects invalids, then, the  evils of  excessive
eating are not imaginary.  How is it with mankind in
general?  " There are few,''''  says the author of Ser-
mons to the  rich and studious, " who do not eat  one
third  or a fourth  more than is necessary to support
them."||  "  In general," says Dr.  Franklin, " man-
•Dagget's Life&c. of Cornaro, p. 59.
tDaggefs life of Cornaro, p. 61.
|| Do. p~ 48. 
54
kind since the improvements  of cookery, eat about
twice as much as nature requires."*   "We may safe-
ly take  it for  granted after,  \c.ng observation,"  says
an American medical reviewer,  " tlsat almost every
ma., woman, and child in this  country, habitually eats
and drinks twice as much every  day, on a  moderate
estimate, as is neccessary."f
  Such 1 believe is the almost unanimous opinion of
all  who are  at all  qualified  to judge of this  subject-
Now  what is the effect of such  enormor.s  gluttony 1
Let the answer be well considered by those  who  im-
agine I am fighting with shadows.
   " Most of all the chronical  diseases,  the infirmities
of old age, and the short periods of the  lives  of En-
glishmen,"  said Dr. Cheyne, more than a hundred
years ago, " are owing to repletion."||
   "I tell you honestly,"  says  Mr. Aberaethy,  "what
I think is the cause of the complicated  maladies of
the human race : it is their gormandizing, and stuffing,
and stimulating their digestive organs  to an  excess,
thereby  producing nervous disorders and  irritation.
The state of their minds is another grand cause; the
fidgeting and  discontenting yourself about that which
cannot be helped ;  passions of all kinds—malignant pas-
ions, and worldly cares pressing upon  the mind, disturb
the cerebral action and do  a great deal of harm,'"TI
   "It is the opinion of the majority of the  most dis-
tinguished physicians," says  another medical writer,
" that intemperance in  diet, destroys the bulk of man-
kind : in other words, that what is eaten and drank,
and thus taken into the habit, is the  orignal cause  of
*Life of Cornaro, p. 42. f Southern Rev. Aug. 1829, p. 221.
  || Essay on H-.alth and Long Life, p. 35.
  H.  Southern Rev. Aug. 1829. p. 215. 
55
by far the greater number of diseases which afflict the
human race."*
  Is such decided unbiassed  testimony as  this to  go
for nothing ?  Will any one  still contend that attention
to diet is unnecessary?  that the monster who is cut-
ting down "the bulk of mankind" h a chimera of the
brain?  The tfuth is, God has so constituted  the hu-
man frame, that if properly treated, it will endure to
old age, and rarely, if ever, be subject to the attacks of
disease.   Disease, in. most cases, is the consequsnce of
intemperance in diet.  A man dies of a fever, or of ap.
oplexy, or other violent disorder, and  men generally
consider it as his unavoidable  fate : whereas,  in  the
majority  of  instances,  it is  the consequence  of long
continued excess in diet.  Had the man  followed  the
rigid rules on this subject, which experience has point-
ed out, probably he would have escaped the acute  dis-
ease that ended his days, and in extreme old age, have
sunk  by  mere  decay.   But most  people regard  a
full habit,  a florid countenance, and strength of muscle
assure marks of health.  Whereas,  in nine cases  out
often, such a person cannot endure half as much hard-
ships as a  lean  and  seemingly  feeble man : And  the
reason is, that the full habit  of the former, is common-
ly the effect of excess,  either in  eating or drinking,
and the powers of life have been urged on so fast,  that
they give  way to comparatively slight shocks. This
 vigour, indeed holds  out  for a  time; but it is by
drawing upon the powers of life, through the stimulus of
 rich and strong food, or  drink; and thus the constitution
is preparing to give way to the  first attack of a violent
 disorder-   " Look" say those  who decry  abstemious-
* Sure Methods &c. p. 78. 
56
 ness, "look at Mr.-------: he does not live like an asce-
 tic : What do you think,  Doctor, of his robust frame
 and florid face."  No answer !  After the  lapse  of a
 few years, perhaps months, from the date of this ques-
 tion, the doctor is solicited to visit this model of health,
 whom he finds deprived of the use of one  side of his
 body,—jokes no  longer come trippingly on his tongue ;
 it feebly and tremblingbly articulates  the  commonest
 replies."*
   I would  not be understood assaying,  that every per-
 son who at all exceeds 12 or 16 ounces of solid, and  14
 or 24 of liquid  food per day, is an intemperate  liver.
 But I do say, that he who eats or  drinks more than is
 necesary to  give to the body and mind the greatest degree of
health and vigor, is intemperate.]  This is essentially the
 rule given by  Cicero—"tantum  cibi  et potionis ad-
 hibendum,  ut  reficianlur vires,  non  opprimantur."
 And I do firmly believe, on  the  best  testimony, that
scarcely any sedentary or literary man, who will make
a fair trial,  will find  that  he can much exceed the
quantity mentioned above, and keep within  the bounds
 of temperance.
   Need any  literary youth, therefore, think it strange,
that I press this subject  with  great earnestness  upon
the attention of this audience.  If T cannot persuade ■•
you, my hearers, to adopt some constant rule, as to the
quantity of your food and drink, all my efforts, in respect
to other parts of diet and regimen will be  almost  in
            "Journal of Health vol. 1. p. 18.
  t " Intemperance is excess of any kind, and is applied to ev-
H^aUh vol°.nL p 2aot°n °f ^ ^  *** mind-"-J°«™l of
  " Temperance, is moderation in things not hurtful  and ah
stinence from those which are."—Pierson's Address, 'p. 4. 
57
vain.   The corner stone will be wanting,  and the  su-
perstructure can never stand.  I appeal, therefore, to
the friends of temperance, and entreat them to extend
the principles, which they have so nobly adopted  and
defended, in regard to ardent spirits, to food  also.  If
you admit that man to be  intemperate, who  uses  ar-
dent spirits when they are unnecessary for health and
vigor of body and  mind, how can you  consider him in
any other light, who eats more than is necessary  for
the same purpose ?  You very reasonably suspect, that
the man, who will not even  make  the trial  of living
for a time without spirits, to prove  whether they are
necessary, you justly suspect that he fears  he shall be
convinced that they  are unnecessary ; and  that he is
inordinately attached to them ?   Am  I  unreasonable,
then, in entertaining a similar suspicion in regard to
you, if you will not take the  pains to ascertain wheth-
er you are not  intemperate  eaters?  And is  intem-
perance in drinking  any more criminal in the sight of
God, than intemperate eating ?  or is  it less injurious
in its ultimate effects upon the individual ?  Who shall
decide between the guilt and the misery of the drunk-
ard and the glutton ?  Extend, I say,  your principles
of temperance to  your  whole  diet, or else  abandon
them altogether.
  As literary men—as those  who intend to rise high
in the learned professions—I call on you to make trial
of the principles I  have advocated.  If you are intem-
perate eaters, you will as certainly blunt  the powers
of your intellect, and fail of accomplishing any thing
noble in literature and science, as if you were intem-
perate drinkers.   How  do you know  but  you are  al-
ready ignorantly intemperate in  food ?  Why shrink
from ascertaining the fact?   Of all  men in the world
                      6 
58
you ought to be the last to become slaves to appetite.
You have food  to eat of which the ignorant multitude
know nothing.  Let them riot, if they will, in luxuri-
ous living: but you have chosen a noble lot, and pro-
vided you have food enough to repair the wastes of na-
ture, and sustain the health and  vigour, you ought to
despise the low  ambition  of those who live only to
eat; and you should preserve a philosophical indiffer-
ence as to the luxuries of the table.  While ambrosia
and nectar  are within your  reach, do not, I beseech
you, descend to root with swine in the dunghill.
  I call on you as Christians, also, to reduce the quan-
tity of your food to the standard of temperance.  I see
not a  few here, who have, as I believe, sincerely de-
voted themselves to  the service of God; and  who
desire to do as  much as they are capable of doing, for
his cause.   And  it ought not to  be  concealed, that
such young  men have  oftener failed in their  health,
than almost any  other  class,  as the  records  of the
American Education Society will show.   Most of them,
having been accustomed to active habits before com-
mencing study, and beginning rather late, they make
great efforts to advance  rapidly :  But the change is
too great for the  constitution.   Dyspepsy creeps on,
with its unnatural appetite, and not knowing but they
may indulge it, they not  unfrequently are compelled
to abandon their object.   But in nine cases out often,
rigid temperance and exercise would have saved them.
Let not,  then, such a young man talk  of his desire to
do all the good he can in the  world, if he is not wil-
ling to abandon his intemperate habits  at  the table
Let  him not talk of the Christian ministry, until he
can  learn to  live as  abstemiously as a philosopher
For the bible testifies ;  Every man that *triv*thfor the 
59
mastery,' is temperate in all things.  I  do not contend
for excessive and hurtful abstinence :   this is quite as
injurious as repletion : but I do plead for a reduction
to the standard of health, which in most cases, as we
have  seen, will be  a reduction of nearly one half.  I
say that every Christian is accountable to God for ex-
ceeding this standard :  and  I tremble for him who per-
sists in following his voracious appetite, instead of the
rules  of temperance.
   In conclusion, let me say, that I have little hope
of the thorough and effectual  reformation of any one,
in this respect,  who  does   not  look to a  higher
source of strength  and resolution  than can  be found
in himself.  But  let him  take the course that  Cor-
naro did, and he  may  hope  to  be triumphant.—" I
must  confess," says he, " that it was not without great
reluctance that I abandoned my luxurious way of liv-
ing.  I began with praying  to  God  that he would
grant me the gift of temperance;  well knowing  that
he always hears  our prayers with delight.   Then
considering,  that when a  man is about to  undertake
any thing of importance, he  may greatly strengthen
himself in it by  often looking forward to the great
pleasures and advantages that he is to  derive from it:
just as the husbandman takes  comfort under his toils,
by reflecting on the sweets of abundance ;  and as the
good  Christian gladdens in the service of God, when
he thinks on the glory of that service, and the  eter-
nal joys that await him; so I, in like  manner, by re-
flecting on the innumerable pleasures  and blessings of
health, and beseeching God to strengthen  me in my
good resolution,  immediately entered on a course of
temperance and regularity." 
E.ECTUHE  XS<
Diet, continued.   Second Rule of Dietetics.   Attempt
  to evade it.  Great Excesses in eating, in this country.
  The rule peculiarly necessa, y for Invalids.   Examples
  for their encouragement. Abstinence.   Cold or Catarrh.
  Concluding Remarks.

  At the last  Lecture, Gentlemen, I confined myself
solely to preliminary remarks, and to the illustration,
defence and application of the first rule of dietetics,
which requires that the quantity of food, taken at any
one meal, should be very moderate.   If any  apology
was due for dwelling upon this point so long, and urg-
ing it so strenuously, it exists in the vast importance
of that rule; lying, as it  does, at the very foundation
of the whole subject.   Yet the second rule, to which
I proceed  without preface,  approximates in impor-
tance to the first;  especially  when we view  the two
in connexion.  It may be thus briefly expressed :
  The less variety of  food and  drink at  any one
mfal, the better.
  This rule is as old as  Hippocrates, the cotempora-
ry of Socrates, and the  father  of medicine.    tu  yty
aroftota araotatti  says he :  and the very  sound  of this
verb, aTaoiaCa,  represents not inaptly, the commotion
produced in the stomach by the introduction of a vari-
ety  of incongruous substances  together.    This is  in-
deed, one of the principal reasons for the rule under
consideration.   The gastric juice has not the  power 
61
 of dissolving a mixture of various substances, so per-
 fectly as a single one :  indeed, this  is  the case  with
 all  solvents, even the  most powerful:  though we
 ought not probably to  consider the action of the gas-
 tric juice upon  food,  as  a mere chemical  solution.
 The principle of life  is so intimately  concerned  in
 the process, and so modifies it, that the  term solution
 does not  fully describe it.   The  process of digestion
 seems to be partly  chemical, partly mechanical, and
 partly mysterious.   Hence Dr. Hunter facetiously re-
 marks, in his Lectures; " Some will have it, that the
 stomach is a mill;  others that it is a fermenting  vat;
 others again that it is a stew pan ; but in my view of
 the matter, it is neither a mill, a  fermenting vat, nor
 a stew pan—but a stomach, gentlemen, is a stomach."
 Shakspeare has abetter description of it.
     " It is the storehouse, and the shop
     Of the whole body.  True it is,
     That it receives the general food at first:
     But all the cranks and offices of man,
     The  strongest nerves and small inferior veins,
    From it receive that natural competence
    Whereby they live."
  But though we may  not perfectly understand the
 whole rationale of digestion, we do know, because ex-
 perience  teaches us, that the more simple the food is,
 which the stomach  receives—that  is, the fewer the
 kinds  are,  that  are  mixed together in  it, the more
 easily does digestion  go on, and the less is the system
 affected by the  operation.   No principle in medicine
is more clearly established than this; nor have dietet-
ic writers failed, in any age, to proclaim and apply it,
however little it  has been heeded by men.
  A curious argument, however, has  of late been
brought forward, by  the lovers of variety in diet, to
             6* 
62
prove that it is as easy for the stomach to digest the
most compound mixture of substances, as a single one.
Chemists  have shown that  all vegetable substances
consist essentially of  carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen ;
and the same elements enter into the composition of
all animal substances,  with the addition only of nitro-
gen.  Hence, then, all vegetable and animal food con-
sists of these four simple substances, oxygen, hydrogen,
carbon and nitrogen.  Whether a man, therefore, takes
one, or twenty kinds of  food, these  four, and  only
these, will be present; and why,  then, will it be hard-
er for the stomach to  digest twenty varieties of food,
than one variety ?
  If all the compound vegetable and animal substances,
taken as diet,  were  decomposed into their elements
before eating,  this argument would  be a  sound one :
for then,  there would be uniformly  four substances
on which the gastric juice would  operate.  But in or-
der that this argument should hold in  the present case,
it must be shown, that all compound substances, made
up of the same elements in  different proportions, are
dissolved and decomposed with equal ease; since solu-
tion, or decomposition, appears to be  the result of the
operation of the digestive  powers.  Now every chem
ist knows, that there is an immense difference in the
ease with which solution and decomposition are effect-
ed ; even in those cases where substances differ only
in the proportion in which the same elements are com-
bined.   The more variety, therefore, that is introduc-
ed into the  stomach,  the more  burdened  will be the
powers of digestion.    Hence this specious argument
amounts to nothing.
  What would you think  of  the  man, who should in.
vite you to partake of a collation  of fruit and wine and 
63
then present you only with charcoal and water, giving
as a reason that these latter substances were compos-
ed of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, and that the same
elements, and no more,  enter into the composition  of
fruit and wine ;  and,  that therefore, the difference be-
tween them is merely imaginary.  You would hardly
thank him for his  chemistry.
   But this case does not require the aid of chemistry,
to show the fallacy of the argument adduced.   The
uniform experience  of  physicians,  and indeed, of al-
most all other men, agrees in the statement, that one
article of food, taken at a meal, digests more easily and
much quicker, than a mixture of several.  This, then,
is a sufficient ground for establishing the rule of diet,
which recommends,  as best of all, to confine ourselves
at each meal, to a single dish.
   A second, and even more important reason for this
rule, is  the  strong temptation that is presented by va-
riety in food, to exceed the  bounds of temperance  in
quantity.   This is, indeed, the original source of nine
tenths of the gluttony in the world.   The state of the
case is just  this.  A  man usually eats  of the  first sort
of food presented to him at the table, until he begins to
feel as if he  had eaten enough, and, indeed, he has eaten
enough ; and then is the time for him to leave the table.
But a second sort solicits  his appetite, and such is the
wonderful influence of the temptation over the stomach,
as to produce a desire for the second kind of food, full as
etron°- as for the first.  The second sort is eaten, until a
sense of satiety begins to be felt, which, however, does
not usually happen till nearly enough of the second dish
has been taken to suffice for a meal.   The third variety
attracts the  appetite with nearly as great power, if cook-
ed temptingly ;  and  even a fourth, or a fifth, or more, 
64
will not be set before  the gourmand in vain.  And it
happens in this case, that the more indigestibly these
sorts are prepared, the more filled up with graviesi
and sweets, the more powerful is their influence over
the appetite.   The truth  is, the quantity of food that
men eat, is nearly in a  direct ratio to the number of
sorts that are set before them: that is, two sorts will
double the  quantity ; three sorts, treble it, and  so on.
Or, if towards the close of the repast, the pastry, and
cake, and fruit, are not taken in so large quantity, their
more indigestible nature makes up for the  deficiency.
  But what do I mean, when I  speak of one sort,  or
one dish?   Is it meat alone, or bread alone, or  butter,
or salt, or pepper alone.   By no means.  I understand
by the term, one  of the more substantial  articles, in-
cluded in every meal, as bread, or meat, with the usu-
al condiments  and accompaniments ;  such as  butter,
salt, sugar, patatoes, &c :  that is, such of these articles,
as a person chooses to  eat along with the bread, or the
meat, his principal article.  But if any of these,  or
other articles, such as  pudding, cake, &c. are  intro-
duced, after the removal  of the principal  articles  of
the first dish, it constitutes what I call  a  second sort,
or a second dish.  Hence it appears, that what  I un-
derstand by one  dish, or sort, may include several va-
rities of food ; for example—milk  and bread—bread
and butter—meat, bread, potatoes, and salt, &c.   It is
presenting another dish in a new form, after  finishing
one of these, that I have mentioned, which tempts the
appetite and does the mischief.  If a man  would mix
his-five or ten  sorts together at  the  table, just as  they
are mixed in the stomach,after  eating, it is not  proba-
ble that he could eat much more of the whole, than of
any one of them taken separately.  I should not object 
65
indeed, to having every thing considered as a single
dish, which was mixed together before it was eaten  :
though certainly the less compound such a dish is, the
less oppressive  will it prove to the stomach.  But  a
man wiil not eat as much  of such a mixture, by  any
•means, as he would, if the same articles were present-
ed  to  him,  one  after another; especially if a little
modified by cookery.
  If the preceding view of this subject be just,  how
immense is the  intemperance in food and the gluttony
of our  land ! In other countries, you will undoubtedly
find examples of greater excess of this kind among the
higher classes  of  society:  but  probably in  no other
part of the world, have the great mass of the people, the
means  of furnishing their tables with so great a variety
as among us.  Even the poor are  usually able to have
their second and third dishes.  So that probably there
is no nation where excess in eating is  so universal as
among  us : nor can   we regard  the opinion, already
quoted, as an exageralioh ;  " that  almost every man,
woman and child in this country,  habitually eats  an<P
drinks  twice as much  every day on a  moderate esti-
mate as is necessary."   Who among us thinks of mak-
ing out a  meal  from  a  single dish, unless  under the
care of a physician !   What traveller would  not  con-
sider that a most wretched public house, where his ta-
ble was furnished  with  only one sort of food, howev-
er wholesome and well  prepared!  How  soon would
that boarding house be deserted, which should rigidly
adhere to the rule I have laid down, as most conducive
to health, even were its prices greatly reduced !  Now
were this excess indulged in only by the labouring classes
of society, its  effects, so far as health  is concerned,
would be comparatively harmless : But it exists,  per- 
66
 haps in an equal degree, among the sedentary classes
 of society—yes, even among literary men, and relig-
 ious men.   Let us select an example of this latter de-
 scription, from those who  are  considered temperate
 and respectable.  Let us sum up the ordinary fare of
 such a family for one day.
   Probably a majority of sedentary and literary men
 among us, make use of meat for breakfast; and general-
 ly of two kinds.   Accompanying  this,  there  must be
 bread and potatoes, salt, pepper, pickles, and sometimes
 eggs, &c ;  In addition to these, there must be toast or
 warm cakes,  or  biscuit and butter, and  cheese.  At
 dinner, there are usually two sorts of meat; accompani.
 ed by bread, potatoes, gravies, pickles,  and various
 other vegetables  and condiments.  After  this comes a
 pudding ; then bread, cheese, and butter, at least: or if
 not a pudding, bread, cheese, butter and a  pie; and
 not unfrequentljf  some kind of  fruit closes the repast.
 At  supper there  must be bread, or biscuit, cheese, and
 butter,  and generally preserves, with  the addition  of
••some kind  of cake, or pie,  and sometimes both.
    When the same family invite their friends to dine,
  or sup with them, there must be an addition to the din-
  ner, of at least a third kind of meat, and one or two oth-
  er pies, custards, &c.  To the supper  there must be
  added dried beef, or beefs tongue, pastry,  preserves,
  custards, and two or three kinds of cake.,—the loaf cake
  —the pound cake—the sponge cake,&c.—of all things
  the most unfit to put into a sedentary  person's mouth.
  Not long after tea—which must also be so  unreasona-
  bly  strong^as to produce wakefulness through the best
  part of the night, there come other temptations in the
  form of fruits, nuts, jellies, trifles, &c.  And we must re-
  collect, also, that it is the general custom of the guests, 
61
on such occasions, to partake of a portion at least, of near-
ly every variety  of food and drink that is here presented
to them.   Oh, when we remember that one ofthe sim-
plest of these dishes would have been the mostcondu-
cive to health, what shall we think of cramming down
such a heterogeneous indigestible mass into a stomach
disposed  by occupation to weakness!   Ask the indi-
viduals next day what they think of it.  And yet, such
are the  common and  approved entertainments that
are met  with every day,  in our  land, in intelligent
and religious  families—among  the  most worthy  and *
most pious part ofthe community.   I say nothing here
of those extensive  and ridiculous  fashionable parties
among the gay and worldly minded, where the chief
object seems to be to exclude common sense  and pru-
dence, and to do all that is possible,  by food, drink and
folly, to ruin the health and the morals: but I  speaj^
ofthe manner in which many temperate men of pub.
lie education—many professors of religion, many min-
isters ofthe gospel, live nearly every day—and  of the
manner in which  they are wont  to  entertain their
friends, when they invite them to a common social en-
tertainment.
  But what shall  1  say of that chef d?  ozuvre  of li-
censed gluttony, a  New  England Thanksgiving?  I
would not be thought  to  condemn an institution, so
hallowed by religious, patriotic, and domestic associa-
tions ; and really so happy in its influence  upon  the
community.  But I condemn its monstrous abuses by
stuffing and gormandizing, and even sanctioning glut-
tony by religious acts.   Even the  poorest in society,
feel themselves  perfectly justified in devoting a large
part of their earnings to the preparation of numerous
varieties of rich and stimulating dishes, for one or two
meals.   And as to the middling and  richer classes. 
                         68

 there is no calculating the  expense and profusion of a
 thanksgiving dinner ; whose almost only effect,is, to un-
 fit them entirely for the religious duties of such an occa-
 sion.   Just compare  this  enormous waste,  with  the
 scanty and comparatively contemptible contributions to
 benevolent objects, which are made on these occasions;
 and enquire, whether such a perversion of heaven's
 gifts,  must not be highly criminal in the sight of God.
 If this were a necessary evil connected with thanks-
 giving, I would submit to it in silence, rather than lose
•the benefits of so valuable an observance: But it is only
 a gangerous excresence, that demands  the application
 of the knife, which religion and temperance are at this
 day using so. effectually.
    I am aware, indeed, that very much of the  sin  of
 this   extravagance  and  gluttony,  on  all  the  occa-
 sions  above  pointed out,'* must rest upon the  ladies,
 who  are  at the  heads of families,  and  who  have
 it in   their  power, in  a great measure, to regulate
 the bill of fare at their  own  tables.   And  were this
 the proper  place, I  would most  seriously  remon-
 strate with this class of the commuuity, who are ever
 ready to follow in  the path of duty, when it is clear-
 ly marked out to them.  It is  not merely irreligious
 and worldly  minded  females, who take  the course
 I have described;  but many of the most pious, many
 who  feel it to  be a duty to  make  sacrifices to pro-
 mote  objects of benevolence,  and who carry round
 the subscription paper to collect the widow's and the
 orphan's mite, for sending the Gospel  to the ends  of
 the earth.  Such, especially, 1 would  ask, how  they
 can reconcile this worse than unnecessary expense in
 living, with their professed principles of benevolence;
 with  their duty to  the poor, the  distressed, the hea- 
                        69

 then of our own, and of other lands!  You cannot de-
 ny that the expense of living, so far as food is con-:
 cerned, increases almost in direct  proportion  to the
 number of dishes you introduce.   You cannot  deny
 that the expense  of  an occasional entertainment of
 your friends, in your  way, does  involve  no small
 amount of cost.   Your  pies  and  cakes, your  sweat
 meats,  and various condiments,  are all made up of
 the most costly materials:  And are they not also, for
 the most part, excessively indigestible ?  Do  you re-
 ally believe that they are as  well adapted to promote
 the  health of your families and  friends, as  a more
 simple fare ?  Which person do you  suppose  would
 rise next morning most vigorous and refreshed, and best
 fitted for  intellectual labor; he who had made his sup-
 per from a cup of weak tea, or coffee, and a little dry
 toast and  butter, or he, who followed your recommen-
 dation,  and drank your  concentrated  extract  of tea,
 or coffee, and ate the whole round of your hot biscuit,
 and pastry, and cakes, and sweatmeats, and fruits ? Oh
 how can a lady, who has any knowledge on this sub-
ject, even  after  she has  prepared such a farrago  of
 indigestibles, urge them, as an act of kindness, upon
 her guests, if they are literary persons ? To them such
 trash is rank poison—poison  to the body, and poison
 to the soul; and they ought  to touch not,  taste not,
 handle not.  No stomach can endure  them  without
injury, except it be that of the sailor, the Soulier,  the
drayman, and the hard working farmer.  From other
circles,  especially from  among literary men,  and all
ladies, and those in easy circumstances, these tl  igs
ought to be banished as  real and dangerous  enemies.
Instead, therefore, of saying to a  literary  friend,  as
if it  were an act of kindness, do let me help you to a
                     7 
70
piece of this pie, or this cake, or  these  sweatmeats,
or these fruits; it would be a fair statement for a lady
to say; "this tea, Sir, will  probably give you a  sleep-
less night, and a headache to-morrow.   This biscuit is
just  baked, so as to be exactly adapted to lie  heavy
on your stomach, and give disturbed and unrefreshing
sleep.   This cheese, if you will  take a  little  of it,
along with the biscuit, will load your imagination with
unpleasant dreams.   Add  a few of these  sweatmeats,
and you may be sure of the nightmare.  This kind of
cake, with a little wine, is well adapted to bring on a
fit of the gout; this kind, to make it sure  that a per-
son will be a fashionable and confirmed dyspeptic ; and
this  kind   to  prepare  the constitution for a  fever.
These walnuts, Rev. Sir,  will be sure to  give  you a
dull  audience next Sabbath.   These  almonds,  Sir,
will  make  your client lose his cause in court to-mor-
row.   These raisins, Sir, will  be sure to sink  below
its competitors, the prize essay, you are  preparing.
And the digestion of this  pine apple, Sir, will prevent
your digesting the  mathematical problem that  labors
in your mind."
   This is  no  caricature.   These very results have
followed such causes hundreds  and hundreds of times.
How can a woman of principle, of religious principle,
therefore, be  willing to present so  many fatal tempta-
tions before those whom she respects and loves.  Does
she expect they will resist  the temptation ?  Alas,she ex-
pects more from human nature than it hasever yet exhib-
ited.  There  is certainly no sure way of preventing
men from becoming gluttons, but by keeping the tempt-
ations out  of sight.   Do females plead that tyrant cus-
tom and fashion will not permit them to do otherwise
than they  do ? and  that if they reduce their bills of 
7i
fare, they shall only be called niggardly, and  no one
will second their efforts?  But have they ever fairly
made  the experiment ?  How do they know but there
are many, who have not made a god of their belly, and
who will rally round them?  How long is it since these
same tyrants,Custom and Fashion, imperiously demand-
ed the circulation of wine, as an essential part of an
entertainment ?  But now their decree seems likely
scon to go forth for its  total  exclusion.
  But ladies plead  that  their  husbands,  and  their
guests are gratified with  this variety and richness of
food and drink ;  and that, therefore, they are under a
sort of necessity of complying with their tastes.   And
with  the gentlemen,  I am  inclined  to believe, the
great burden ofthe sin does rest:  though I am aware,
that the fear of being  thought out of fashion, and the
desire of being at least equal to others,  in the variety
and richness of  an entertainment, are nearly omnipo-
tent in a female bosom, even in  the  bosom of piety.
But  if their husbands, if the majority of influential
gentlemen,  were to raise their voices  against  these
extravagant  and ruinous  habits, I  have no fears but
intelligent and pious females would  bring their food
and drink  within the  bounds of temperance.   But
the truth is,  the great mass of men,  even of literary
and professional  men,  are pleased with the variety of
dishes and  dainties that they meet in a modern visit-
ing party.   Now for men of intellectual habits, I main-
tain ;  that this is scandalous.   It is an entire perversion
ofthe proper object of social entertainments, which is.
to improve intellectually, morally, and religiously : for
by thus gormandizing and stuffing himself, with twenty
indigegtibles,a man is much better prepared for the glut-
ton's  couch, than to give or receive intellectual, moral. 
n
or religious improvement.   It is high time, therefore,
for every student, to  prepare himself to set his face
against the monstrous extravagancies and perversions
that exist on this subject.   If men of no mental cul-
ture will continue  to  make social and friendly meet-
ings an occasion for  gluttony, let them do it.  But
no student should  venture  near  such meetings, unless
he can successfully resist  every  temptatation  to  ex-
cess.  How contemptible  is that  man  who suffers a
cultivated intellect, in this way, to  be manacled and
brutalized.  And a man may accomplish the degrada-
tion without resorting  to  entertainments, simply by
permitting himself to indulge his  appetite  daily, in a
great variety of food and drink.  Hence the  lawyer
returns  from  the  county  court, the  legislator  front
the capitol of  the  state or  the nation, where  he has
yielded too  much  to  the temptations of high living,
hence he returns,  stupified and incapable  of mental
effort.  Hence  too,  the   clergyman often  gets the
name of a great eater, because  he is so often tempted,
by the variety and richness of food, which  his kind
hearted parishioners set before him, to indulge to ex-
cess : and hence, too, he is so incapable of  attending
to composition,  after  returning from the presbytery,
association,  or religious anniversary.    For on these
public occasions, it seems  to be the general impres-
sion, that in  proportion as a man  excels in  intellect,
or holiness, so he ought to  excel in the  capacity and
power of his stomach.   At  least, this is the most char-
itable explanation  you  can give, of the extravagant
dinners, which  religious men prepare on such  occa-
sions, for  ministers of the gospel.
  On this subject I cannot  avoid appealing  with ear-
nestness,   to those men, especially,  who °act  on the 
73
principle of entire abstinence from ardent spirits.  I
maintain that the same reasons, that led them to adopt
this course, apply with no less power, in favor of tak-
ing for their guide, the rule which excludes a variety
of dishes from the same meal.  Do they abstain from
the  use of ardent  spirits  because  their use,  even
in the smallest quantity, exposes them to intemperance
in drinking?  So does the second and third dish ex-
pose  them  as  certainly to intemperance  in eating.
 Do they abstain because  spirits would do them no
good ? Nor does the second and third dish, but injury,
in  almost every case.  Are ardent spirits destructive
to  property, health, and life?  I hesitate  not to say,
that the intemperate eating in our land is scarcely
less  injurious in these respects.   Suppose, that upon
an average, the people of this country, of all classes,
consume twice as much food as is necessary ; and sup-
pose that the average annual support of each individ-
ual, of our twelve millions, is twenty dollars, and that
by reducing the  quantity of their food one half, they
 should  save  one third of the expense.   This  would
 produce an annual saving of eighty millions of dollars.
 But in  the  words of an able medical writer, whom I
 have already quoted, " it is the opinion  of the majori-
 ty of the most  distinguished physicians,  that intem-
 perance in  diet destroys  the bulk  of mankind;  in
 other words, that which is  eaten and  drank, and thus
 taken into the habit, is the original cause of by  far the
 greater number of  diseases which  afflict the  human
 race."'   Suppose three  quarters of the diseases and
 deaths occurring under seventy years of age, are im-
 putable to this cause.   In this country, it is reasonable
 to impute one sixth of the deaths, (40, 000 annually,)
 to intemperate drinking.   Deduct also one tenth for
                     7* 
74
those individuals who live to the age of seventy; this
being the medium length of human life, according to
the Bible, when not shortened by  accident, exposure,
or intemperance ;  so that all who attain to that peri-
od, may be regarded as uninjured by excess.  This
calculation will leave us one half of the diseases and
deaths that occur, under the age of seventy, to be laid
to the  charge of intemperance in eating.  Now the
bills of mortality, in the healthy part of the civilized
world, show,  that one half of mankind  die  under
twenty years of age ; two thirds of them are  gone at
forty; five ; and three quarters of them at fifty, or a little
beyond.   It is a moderate estimate, therefore, to say
that one half of the people in this country, lose from
twenty to thirty years of life, inconsequence of intem-
perance  in eating : that is, they fall short of  seventy
years by that amount.  This premature departure of
so many citizens, is an immense pecuniary loss, to say
nothing of the expense they incur  by sickness, and the
comparative feebleness and inefficiency of their efforts
while they live.  For it is the saying of  a wise  and
observing man, confirmed by experience, as a  general
truth, that " he who eats but of one dish, never needs
a physician."
   Excess  in  eating  produces  similar, though to the
eye of common observation, not  equally striking ef-
fects,  upon  the   intellectual,  moral  and  religious
character, as  excess  in  drinking.  It is a very rare
case, that  an  habitually great cater,  possesses much
acuteness of intellect.  Gormandizers, who never stop
eating, till they have tried all the dishes before them,
who eat, according to the proverb, " ab ovo usque ad
mala,"  usually discover great obtuseness  of percep-
tion and clumsiness in their mental operation.   They 
75
never make any  great and striking literary, or scien-
tific efforts : nor rise to much eminence in life.  And
even those, who in early life, have been abstemious,
and have made great attainments in learning, if they
begin to indulge their appetites to  excess, soon destroy
the energy of their minds, impair their  memories
and are early taken away by some  acute disease. Nor
can a man make himself a beast in intellect, without
exhibiting bestiality in his moral conduct,—without los-
ing sensibility of conscience and benevolence of heart.
How much there is to choose, in a  moral point of view,
between the  swinish  insensibility  of the  glutton, and
the  frantic ravings ofthe drunkard, I will not xfnder-
take to say: but as evils affecting property, health,
life and intellect, can  any reasonable man doubt that
 the excessive eating of our land, is at least as great as
the  excessive" drinking :   I mean  in the aggregate ;
for when we come to individual cases, there can be no
doubt that drunkenness is by  far  the most prolific  in
waste  and misery.
   Now if I have shown this, or any thing like it, how
can the honest disciple of total abstinence from ardent
spirits avoid  the conclusion, that he is bound to apply
his principles to intemperance in food, and to do, what
can be  done, to check the evil  and the sin?  The only
course, by which he can hope to accomplish much, is
to adopt, and adhere rigidly  to the rule under consid-
eration ;  viz. to make out his  meal uniformly from a
single dish—and  to endeavour to   persuade  others to
 do the same.  If this rule be not  adopted, you might
 as easily confine water in a mill dam, after opening the
sluices, as to prevent excessive eating.  But if it were
 to become fashionable, it would be nearly as effectual,
 in respect to food, as total abstinence is in  respect to
 strong drink. 
76
   I know that the calculations, which I have made on
 the subject, will be regarded as of a Bobadil charac-
 ter, by many.  But if they are so, alike Bobadil, are
 the  calculations  that have been so  repeatedly made,
 in respect to intemperate drinking.  I maintain that
 the basis of the calculations  is  as good in one case as
 the other :  and  I can only say,  let their hollowness
 and falsity be shown, if they can be^ in some  other way
 than by ridicule.   I would not be thought to underrate
 the evils of drunkenness ; nor  to be indifferent to the
 efforts that have  been made for its extinction.  In the
 proper place, 1 think I shall  convince you, that I am
 no friend to ardent spirits, as an article of  luxury or
 diet.   But I plead that the  same general principles,
 which have been applied so successfully to excess in
 drinking,  should  be brought to bear  upon  excess in
 eating.  I maintain that  we need sermons, and ad-
 dresses, and agents, for the supression ofthe latter, as
 well as the  former.  I maintain,  that a man cannot
 consistently put forth  his zeal  in  vindication of total
 abstinence from the one, without a correspondent zeal
 for temperance in the other.   Yet how many zealous
 and able advocates for putting away ardent spirits, are
 to be found, who, if tried themselves by the rules  of
 temperate eating, would be found transgressors of no
 common stamp !  Nay, some  well meaning  friends of
 abstinence from spirits, have recommended the substitu-
 tion of food for drink, when the  stated seasons for indul-
gence  had arrived; thus,  converting men from drunk-
 enness to gluttony, instead of subduing their inordinate
 appetites, by withholding  all  substitutes—and leaving
 them constantly exposed to revert to their first  love.
 Others who abstain from  alcohol, are  as much disap-
 pointed and as fretful, if the usual variety and richness 
                        11

 of food are not upon their tables, as is the drunkard, if
 deprived of his  dram at the accustomed hour.  And
 probably one ofthe effects of abstinence  from spirits.
 where the habit  of drinking had acquired considera-
 ble strength,  has been to make men inordinate eaters
 —that is, in avoiding  Scylla, they have  rushed into
 Charybdis : and they have done it too, under  the im-
 pression that in Charybdis there was no danger.  But
 I am confident that most of the men, who have aban-
 doned  the  use  of spirits, have  so much piety and
 strength of character, that when they once see their
 inconsistency, in not applying  the  like  principles  to
 every part of their diet, they  will suffer no cravings of
 disordered appetite to prevent their practice of tem-
 perance in all its branches.  Conscience will torment
 them, just as it does the pious  advocate for moderate
 drinking, until they can  no longer endure its reproof.
   Some may think that  I have not sufficiently shown
 the existence of a very great excess among us, in re-
 pect to  a variety  of dishes.  Let me therefore,  allude
 to one or two other indices of the public taste in this
 respect.  The keepers of public houses will certain-
 ly be apt to find  out what that taste is, and to adapt
 their bills of fare to it.    Certainly, they  will be un-
 der no  temptation to be  more  profuse or various in
 the meals which they provide for travellers, than the
 general  appetite requires;  since variety and profu-
 sion  only diminish their  profits.   But who  that has
 travelled much, does not know, that even the humblest
 country tavern, loads its table with  enough varieties
 of food to satisfy a city  glutton, though not perhaps so
delicately cooked, as he  might wish :  and who has
 not seen the ill humor and indignation of gentlemen,
 even literary gentlemen, if any of these six  or eight 
73
dishes—meats, butter, cheese, bread, potatoes, sauces,
gravies,  pickles,—the castor of spices, catchup, cay-
enne and oil—pie, cake,  crackers,  &c. are wanting?
Who has not seen the voracity with which  one dish
after another was dispatched, as if the traveller thought
it right and necessary that he  should cram himself, in
order to get the full value of his bill.   Nay, so uni-
versal  is this demand for  variety and richness of food,
that if a temperate man  call only for  one  dish—for a
breakfast of bread and milk, or milk porridge   r dry
to*ast;  or for a  dinner of nothing but a slice of steak,
and a piece of bread ; or for a supper, of a cup of tea,
and a slice of bread only;  the landlord supposes he
does it, not because he  prefers this  fare,  but in  the
hope of lessening his bill.   And here  let me remark,
that it is,  indeed,  unreasonable,  that  the  price  of
meals  at our  public  houses should  be  regulated
by  the amount that is  required  to  satisfy a  glut-
ton ;  and  that  a temperate  man  must pay  for this
amount, though  he call for  only  the  quarter part
of it.   In some  of our  cities, indeed, provision  is
made,  as in all the large  places in Europe, for get-
ting only those articles which you want, and at prices
corresponding to their value.   But in the country, the
man whose comfort and  whose conscience  forbids him
to gormandize, must pay the same bill, whether his
meal consists of one, or a dozen sorts of food; and he
has only  the poor  consolation of reflecting, that it
would have cost him nothing but his health and con-
science to  have partaken of twelve.   When  will the
time come, that abstemious travellers enough shall be
found  upon our public routs, to make a demand for a
table to be spread in the  genuine temperance style !
    Boarding houses are another good index  of the pub- 
79
li'c appetite for food.   And what, in common language,
constitutes the  essence of the best boarding  house ?
Simply the greatest variety and richness of food, cook-
ed in the best manner : though surely, if things were
called by  their right names, that would be  regarded
as the worst eating house, where a man was most like-
ly to ruin his health.   And the fault that  men  find
with boarding houses, in nine cases out often, is found-
ed upon what they consider a deficiency in the varie-
ty or richness of the  food.   You rarely hear a  man
complaining  that the food  offered him is too  rich, or
too various.   Even  in those cases where the remark
is made,  that  there  is greater  richness and variety
than is necessary, it is generally obvious that the  man
likes it well  enough himself, although he may fear for
others.  The keepers of boarding houses, are, there-
fore, compelled to  supply the fare that a gluttonous
appetite demands, or lose their  custom.   And it  is in
such boarding houses, that literary young men partic-
ularly, acquire the habits of intemperate eating. They
do not  know their danger, until so strong an attach-
ment has been acquired for high living, that their eyes
 are blinded, and they will not. see it;  and  then  they
are confirmed in intemperance, probably for life.
   It gives me great pleasure to allude in this place to
an experiment, which I understand has been made, du-
ring the last year, by several ofthe  members of this
 Institution, to regulate their board, essentially accord-
 ing to the principle, which lam advocating,in respect
 to°variety in food :  that is, to have only one substan-
 tial dish at a meal.  Such individuals have  taken one
 most important and fundamental step towards obtaining
 and preserving vigorous  health, long  life  and happi-
 ness ; and thus furnishing themselves with  ten  times 
80
  greater means of usefulness,  than he possesses,  who
  eats every dish that is set before him, and thus brings
  on premature debility of body, and imbecility of mind.
  If they are equally resolute in adopting and adhering
  to the other established rules for the health of litera-
  ry men, and in the cultivation of knowledge, I fear not
  to predict, that in future years, they will far outstrip
  in usefulness and respectability, every companion who
 •lingers over his second, and third, and fourth dish, and
  that that they will bear away the prize, while  the lat-
  ter are toiling and panting in the middle ofthe race.
  Could  such a custom,  as I  have here alluded  to,  be-
 come universal in this College, it would do  more  for
 its prosperity and usefulness than wealth could give.
 Nay, it would be a substitute, in a degree, for wealth:
 for it would certainly reduce the price  of board one
 third :  and this  would be a most important help to those
 meritorious young men, who are not  daunted by pov-
 erty, from pressing forward in a course  of public edu-
 cation.
   If the  arguments, which I have adduced in favor of
 confining the  diet to a single dish at a  meaJ,  are of
 sufficient weight to  render it  desireable and impor-
 tant, even for those in good health to adopt the rule,
 surely they will  apply  with ten  fold power, to those
 who are, even in a slight degree,  affected by dyspep-
 sy.  So insiduous  is this class  of  complaints, that ve-
 ry  many  students,  in the early part  of their literary
 course,  suffer their constitutions to be deeply affected
 by  them, ere they have any suspicion of the  real en-
 emy that is within the citadel.  They  are occasional-
 ly  subject, indeed, to a  depression  of spirits   to
which they were formerly strangers ; and now and'then
headache, heartburn, or a foul stomach, oppress them, 
81
along with listlessness and drowsiness.  But in gener-
al, their appetite is unusually good; nay, it is not easy
to satisfy their hunger.  Hence they  conclude,  that
their occasional bad feelings cannot be any thing seri-
ous, and  a resort  to an emetic or cathartic  relieves
them. Now such individuals are the  men, above all
others, who ought to adhere most rigidly to  the  rule
under consideration, in connection with that consider-
 ed in my last lecture as to quantity.   They  are  dys-
peptics, most decidedly so : their ravenous appetites,
accompanied by emaciation,  rather  than corpulency,
is abundant proof of this ; and the  adoption of these
two rules, with vigorous exercise, would be an almost
certain cure, while yet they are only  in the  first sta-
ges of the malady.  And, indeed, it  is most painful to
see such  persons, evidently ignorant of their situation,
load and  overload their stomachs, with pudding upon
meat,  and bread and butter, or pies and  cakes, upon
both; and then  cram down fruit upon the whole.  But
of all men to convince that they eat too much, dyspep-
tics are the most  difficult.   " Of all  mankind," says
Dr.  Trotter,  " they are the   most liable to surfeits."
And this  on two accounts: first, they  generally have
a ravenous inordinate appetite, which is almost irresist-
ible ; secondly, their powers of digestion cannot  make
way with as much  food as those of a man in  vigorous
'.iealth, because they are weakened.   If any  present
belong to this class, and I fear  there  are  many, I  ear-
nestly entreat them to deliberate well upon the consid-
erations, which, in the faithfulness  and plainness  of
friendship, I have  suggested.   If you  were not per-
suaded by the  last  lecture to  apply the balances  to
your food, you have no idea probably of the enor-
mous quantity  which you daily consume.   Are  you
                       8 
82
 willing to learn the amount ?  Then I have one other
 plan to suggest, without using the balances.  For one
 day, place in a  dish set by your side, just  as much of
 each article as  you  eat  and drink,  and at night look
 at the incogruous mixture, and  if it does  not startle
 you, I shall think it strange.  After this, go on if your
 conscience will  let you,—you who have devoted your
 life  to learning,—you,  who are  willing to make any
 sacrifice  to  attain  clearness and vigor of thought,—
 you, who have  perhaps devoted yours days to the ser-
 vice of mankind, and your God and Redeemer,—go on,
 I  say, to fill up  the reservoir daily, with the same dis-
 gusting mass, until your stomach, and your literature,
 and your hopes of distinction and usefulness, all  sink
 into a common  grave.
   But if there be any desponding invalid, whose resolu-
 tion is half formed to engageat once in this self denying
 effort,of temperance perhaps it may cheer him forward,
 to listen to a few more decided testimonies to the effica-
 cy of this system in bringing back the sinking constitu-
 tion to  health and  vigor.   The first is from Dr. James
 Johnson, who, as one of  the ablest London physicians,
 is now reaping its precious fruits.
   "By  adherence to the foregoing plan,"  says  he,
 "  varying the  quantity (of food) according to the feel-
 ings subsequently experienced, the  surest foundation
 is   laid, not  only  for health, but  for  happiness.
 Under a regimen of this kind, the body will be brought
 to the greatest degree of muscular strength, of which
 the individual  constitution is susceptible ; and the in-
 tellectual powers will be raised in proportion.  Equa-
 nimity of  mind  will be attained,  if attainable at all.
 and where moral causes of irritation or affliction can
not be avoided, they will be greatly neutralized.  Un7 
83
der such a system of diet, the corporeal frame will
be rendered more capable of undergoing fatigue ;  and
the mind more able to resist misfortune, than  by  the
richest dishes, and most luxurious wines."
  " The rigid  system which  I have proposed, is not
the creature of speculation, engendered in the closet.
It is that which many, to my knowledge, have adopted
with the most perfect success  ; it is that by which I
have conquered the  most intense  degree of dyspepsy
in my own person.   Those who  have courage  and
perseverence  to reap the fruits of such a system, will
hardly be induced to change it, however strongly they
may be tempted by the luxuries of the table, and the
seductions of convivial society.  It would be well for
those in  the  enjoyment  of present health, if they
employed it as a preservative  of that invaluable bles-
sing !  But this 1 do not expect.  I am addressing those
who have tasted the bitter cup of sickness ;  and espe-
cially those who have experienced the horrors of dys-
pepsy.  The latter alone can appreciate the luxury  of
immunity from the terrible feelings of mind and body,
engendered  by  that worst of human afflictions."*
  One of the  most distinguished  scholars now  living
in this country, who  declares  that he  has  " been an
invalid, and one standing pretty high on this list, for
some  thirty years,"  testifies,  that he   " should have
been in his grave before he was 45 years of age, had
he pursued the tonic system."   His diet consists of a
"gill of coffee in the  morning, and half that quantity
of tea at night:"—" Simple nutritive  food in  moder-
ate  quantities ; nature's beverage ; milk and farinace-
ous diet;  meat with great moderation, and never more
than once a day; avoiding the  whole tribe of desserts

  * Morbid Sensibility of the Stomach,  &c. p. 115. 
84
pies, cakes,  sweetmeats, and all the various  articles
of mere luxury, which the love of gratifying appetite
has invented."  " Since I have practised in this way,"
says he, (though his constitution was too  completely
undermined  in early life,  ever to be restored to  an
entire state,) " I  have more  than doubled my ability
to labor in my vocation, and more than half diminished
my sufferings."*
  The next case is that of Howard, the  distinguished
philanthropist,  whose name is familiar to  all.   His
story shall be given in his own words.
  " A more  ' puny whipster' than myself,  in the days
of my youth, was never seen.   I could not walk out
in the evening  without being wrapped  up :  I could
not put on my  linen without its being aired ; I was po-
litely speaking,enfeebled enough to have delicate nerves;
and was, occasionally  troubled  with a  very genteel
hectic.  To be serious, I am convinced, that whatever
enfeebles the body debilitates the  mind, and renders
both unfit for those exertions which  are  of such  use
to us all as social beings.  I therefore entered  upon a
reform of my constitution, and have succeeded in such
a degree, that 1 have neither had a cough, cold,  the
vapors, nor  any more  alarming disorder,  since I  sur-
mounted the seasoning.   Prior to this, I used  to be a
miserable dependant on wind and weather:  a  little
too  much of the one, or a slight  inclemency of the
other,  would  postpone, and frequently prevent, not
only my amusements,  but my duties:  or, if  pressed
by  my affections, or by the necessity of affairs, I did
venture forth  in despite of the elements,  the conse-
* Journal of Humanity, Dec 2, 1829. 
85
 quences were equally absurd and incommodious, not
 seldom afflictive.   1 muffled  up  even to my  nos-
 trils; a crack in the glass of my chaise was sufficient
 to distress me; a sudden  slope of  the  wheels to the
 right or left, set me a trembling; a jolt seemed like
 a dislocation, and the sight of a bank or a  precipice.
 near which my horse was to pass, would disorder me
 so much,  that I would order the driver to stop, that  I
 might get out and walk by the  difficult places.   Mul-
 led wines, spiritous cordials, and large fires, were to
 comfort me, and  to keep  out the cold,  as it is called,
 at every stage, and  if I felt the  least damp in my feet
 or other parts of my bodyj  dry stockings,  linen, &c!
 were instantly put on : the  perils of the day were to
 be baffled by something taken hot on going to bed  , and
 before  I  pursued my journey, the next morning,  a
 dram  was  to be swallowed, in order  to fortify the
 stomach.  In a word, I  lived, moved,  and had my be.
 ing so much by rule, that the  slightest deviation was
 a disease.
  " Every man must, in these cases, be his own phy-
 sician,  He must  prescribe for, and practise  on, him-
 self.   I did this by a very  simple, but as you  will
 think, a very severe regimen, namely, by  denying
 mj'self almost every thing in which  I had long indulg-
 ed. But as it is always harder to get rk] of a bad habit,
 than to contract it, I entered on my  reform gradually;
 that is to say, I began to diminish  my  usual  indulges
ces by degrees. I found that a heavy meal, or a hearty
 one,  as it is termed, and  a cheerful glass, that is, one
more than does you good, made me incapable,  or at
least, disinclined to any useful exertions for some time
 after dinner hours;  and if the dilutive powers of tea
assisted the work  of a disturbed digestion, so far as to
             8* 
86
restore my faculties, a luxurious  supper came in so
close upon it, that I was fit for nothing but dissipation,
till I went to a luxurious bed, where I finished the en-
ervating practices, by sleeping eight, ten,  and some-
times a dozen  hours on  the  stretch.  You will not
wonder that I rose the next morning with the solids
relaxed,  the juices  thickened,  and  the  constitution
weakened.
  " To remedy all this, I ate a little less at every meal,
and reduced my drink in proportion.  It is really won-
derful to consider, how  imperceptibly a single  morsel
of animal food, and a tea-spoonful of liquor  deducted
from the usual quantity daily, will restore the  mental
functions, without any injury to  the  corporeal—nay,
with increase of vigour to both.   I brought myself, in
the first instance, from dining on many dishes,  to din-
ing on a few, and then to being satisfied with one;  in
like manner, instead of drinking a variety  of wines, I
made my  election of a single sort,  and  adhered  to it
alone.
  " My next business was to eat  and drink  sparingly
of that adopted dish and  bottle.  My  ease,  vivacity,
health, and spirits augmented.   My clothing &c. un-
derwent a similar reform ; the effect  of all which  is,
and has been for many 3'ears, that 1 am neither affected
by seeing my carriage dragged up  a mountain, or driv-
en down a valley.   If an  accident happens, I am pre-
pared  for it, so  far as respects unnecessary terrors;
and I am proof against all changes in the atmosphere,
wet clothes, damp feet,  night air, transitions from heat
to cold, and the long train of hypochondria  affections."
  "In his 63d year, Mr. Howard was in the full posses.
sion of his mental and physical powers.  He,  howev-
er, accidentally contracted  a  malignant fever whilst 
87
 visiting the sick in an infected district, which termin-
 ated his life in a few days,*
   In my remarks upon the use of a variety of dishes at
 the same meal, I would not be understood as condemn-
 ing a  variety in the  diet.   I care not, if a man find a
 new dish for every meal through the year;  provided
 he use them all in moderation, and they be not of such
 a nature, or so compound, as to be by common consent,
 indigestible.   Yet,  as there is not a great variety of
 simple food, that is easily digested, it is a better course
 to select a few  articles,  for the  principal  part of the
 diet, and continue usually and regularly to use them,
 so long as they  are relished ; because  new varieties,
 even when only one kind is employed, are apt to prove
 a strong temptation to excess.   But let no one contin-
 ue to eat any particular article  after his relish for it
 is gone: since even  less  digestible  food  will be  bet-
 ter than the best, without such a  relish : for the relish
 quickens the power of the stomach.
   Nor would I  be understood as asserting, that more
 than one kind of food cannot, in  any  case, be taken at
 a meal, without a transgression of the rules of temper-
 ance.  If due attention be paid to the quantity, accord-
 ing to  the  rules which I have  already illustrated, ex-
 cess need  not  be the result.   But whenever a man
 once begins upon the second and the third dish, he is
 constantly exposed to eat too much.   He is exactly in
 the condition ofthe moderate drinker of ardent spirits
—not indeed actually intemperate, buf drawn towards
the vortex, by an almost irresistible power.   In either
case, the only  safety  lies in living within the rules
 which  temperance prescribes.   For it is much eaiser
to be abstinent than abstemious.   And for the individ-
ual especially, who is endeavouring to put in practice
Journal of Health, Vol. I. p. 59. 
88
the rules of temperance in diet, for him to continue to
take a little ofthe second dish, and a little ofthe third,
&c. a little of the pudding, or pie after the  meat; a
little of the pastry, or cake, or sweatmeats, after  the
toast, Sic.  this will prevent his ever effectually over-
coming his old hankerings after an enormous quantity.
Appetite will be perpetually tormenting him, with its
demands, and he will be almost constantly trespassing
and repenting ;  resolving and reresolving ; and it is a
wonder if  he do  not die the same.    Whereas, by a
resolute restriction to one dish, he would  soon forget
the second and the thirdj and temperance  would  be-
come so habitual as to be natural.
  But I fear that I am labouring  almost in vain, both
with the invalid and the healthy, in urging a rigid ad-
herence to the rules, as to quantity and variety in food,
which have been explained.  It is not because the po-
sitions I have taken, are wanting in argument, or med-
ical authority, to support them, that  they will not be
admitted.   For  they are established  as fundamental
principles  in  dietetics: and physicians and philoso-
phers, have been urging them for thousands  of years,
But  still to the  great mass of men,  they sound new
and strange, and  probably absurd and extravagant.   I
come forward, therefore, in defence  of them, in  the
face  of public opinion.  It is yet too early, I fear, for
such  opinions to be  received;  I had  almost  said, by
half a century.   " This system is too rigid, too asce-
tic for me," will be the general exclamation.  It is
not necessary to  be  so  particular and abstemious.   1
have been in the  habit of eating  such things as were
set  before  me, and as much of them as my appetite
seemed to crave, and I am not aware of having receiv-
ed any injury.   My  health is as good as that  of most 
89
 others : and I have no idea of ruining it by the adoption
 of any new fangled rules of eating and drinking,  until
 I find the need of it.
   By some  such  answer as  this,  will most persons
 evade the force of all my arguments, or else they will
 call in the aid of ridicule to complete the triumph, and
 justify their own gluttony.  Even the invalid, will not
 feel the need of these rules, until he is very far gone ;
 and then he will be ready to go to London and Paris,  to
 consult those physicians of distinction, whose  advice,
 gratuitously sent to him, before it is too late, he rejects
 because it is too rigid and ascetic.  " Nothing is more
 common" says the Journal of Health,  "than to see  a
 miserable objecLwith a constitution broken down by
 his own imprudence, and a prey to disease, bathing
 walking, riding, and in  a word, doing  every  thing to
 solicit a return of health—yet, had  his friends recom-
 mended these very things by way  of preventing, the
 advice would in all probability, have been treated with
 contempt, or at least with neglect.   Such is the weak-
 ness and follyof mankind, and such the want of foresight,
 even in those who ought to be wiser than others."
   The man in health feels no need of dietetic rules,
because his constitution has hitherto been able to resist
 all the effects of excessive eating: and he  infers  that
it has suffered no injury.   But such men ought to know,
that God has given to the human system the power  of
withstanding, even for years,  inordinate indulgencies,
when they are not very excessive.   Still, they gradu-
ally undermine the constitution, and, if continued, will
sooner or later break it entirely down.  Some students,
who eat immoderately, will hold out in tolerable health
till they get through College :  others do not fail till
their professional education is  nearly  completed; and 
90
some endure for years longer, and then sink.  Present
health, therefore, furnishes no  reason  for  neglecting
those  precautionary measures  which I have urged:
and the later in life a man's health fails him, in conse-
quence of disregarding them, the  more  guilty is he;
because with so much stamina of constitution, he might
more easily have saved himself.
  But some will say, that rather than submit to such un-
merciful rigor ofdiet, and thus forego  all the pleasures
of good living, they had rather risque  the danger of
poor  health and   premature   death.  Such  persons,
however, certainly know little  of the wretchedness of
constant  feeble health ;  nor can  they  have thought
much of the solemnities of dissolution.  "But I," says
old Dr. Cheyne, " who give little  credit to such boun-
ces, know self preservation to be the great law in na-
ture, never met one but the true practical and habit-
ual Christian among my many patients, and even scarce
these, who was truly willing and pleased to strip and lie
down ; and only him who was  always resigned to the
order of providence either in life or death; and not
even him at all times and in the dark moments of trial;
or any but the  extremely miserable in life.   But  here
the case is not mere dying but living a dying life, per-
haps for many years.—In short, not to take up with a
low regimen here, is a plain  rebellion against the or-
ders and designs of providence, manifested by  nature,
the relations of things, philosophy and experience, for
the mere gratification  of vitious morbid appetites : In
a word, it is deliberate suicide, the greatest of all rebel-
lion and sin."
   This may seem a severe judgment: but it is never-
theless true, that the grand  cause why men are so
averse to  dietetic  rules, is, that they prefer  a  little 
91
present indulgence to a future good.  It i9 precisely
the same reason that makes one man persist in using a
variety of dishes, at the same meal, and another un-
willing to abandon hisbottle.  Both of them suppose some
thingelse to be  the gfound of their unwillingness: But
he  who has himself gone through the process of break-
ing off from these intemperate habits, knows well that
the solicitations of an inordinate  appetite are the  se-
cret source of all  the repugnance  to abstemiousness.
Experience, reason, physicians, conscience, all tell a
man that he only, who is strictly  temperate,  is truly
happy : but how can he forego the exquisite pleasures
ofthe palate, for future philosophical composure and
peace.
   When I  think ofthe omnipotence of bad habits, and
the long and deep slumber ofthe public mind and con-
science on the subject of eating, I confess I feel  as if I
were merely beating the air.  But when  I think of
the powerful movement of Jhe day, in regard to drink-
ing, I take courage; and begin to  hope that the sun of
temperance will disipate all the the fogs  that  cover
his face, sooner than I  had even  hoped.  This tem-
perance movement is certainly preparing  the public
mind to look seriously at the subject I  am  urging in
these lectures : and already there are pleasing indica-
tions that  some of the totally  abstinent  in  respect to
ardent spirits, are  beginning to feel the necessity of
extending their principles  to solid  as well as  liquid
food.   The establishment, as well as character  ofthe
Journal of Health ; a work rich in learning and expe-
rience ; free from empiricism ;  attractive  in its 6tyle
and arrangement, and so decided and thorough in re-
spect to dietetics ;—should  be  hailed  as   auspicious
harbingers of light and reformation.   Nor does  the 
92
 weekly herald of the American  Temperance  Society
 belie its name, by passing over this subject in silence.
 I should rejoice to see a fire opening forthwith, from
 every temperance battery  in the  land.  But let me
 say to any, who unsheath the sword in this cause, that
 the battle will be more fierce and  obstinate than  that
 which is now raging with ardent spirits ; because  the
 enemy will then feel, that he is  attacked almost in his
 last  entrenchments;  and that  if  driven from these,
 temperance, health and happiness, peace, morality and
 religion, will reign once more in those dominions which
 he has usurped.  What! will the gormandizing world
 say—is it not  enough to have wrested from us, by the
 force of public opinion, our right to use ardent spirits :
 will you also attempt to starve us ;  or at least, to shut
 us up in prison  and confine us  to  bread and  water,
 weighed in your own light balances?   Leviathan, you
 will  find is not thus easily tamed.  De aris etfocis cer-
 tandum.
   To those literary men who are determined in spite
 of arguments and physicians, to live as they have  liv-
 ed, in  the indulgence of their appetites, there is one
 direction, which  may serve to obviate  the  effects of
 their excesses.  It is the observance of occasional sea-
 sons  of abstinence from food.  This is the sovereign
 remedy the brutes employ, for nearly all their diseas-
 es ;  and, indeed, in chronic complaints, it has a won-
 derful  power  over the  human constitution.  John
 Home, the author of  Douglass, and  otherwise distin-
guished in literature, bore without inconvenience, the
luxuries of London, by eating on  the Sabbath, nothing
 more than a single poached egg*  This course was
•Sure Methods, &c, p. 8€. 
93
not only wise, but Sunday was the best day of the sev-
en, for observing such a fast.
   A French  writer, in a work  entitled " An apology
for Fasting," has made a comparison between the lon-
gevity of 152 bishops, or clergymen, who not only led
strictly temperate lives but frequently fasted, and  the
same number of men devoted to literature and science ;
who were also temperate, but not abstinent; and he
finds that the  lives of the bishops were seven years
longer, upon an average, than those of the  Academi-
cians : which he imputes to the effects  of fasting.
   Howard, the philanthropist, also  fasted one day in
the week ;  as did also, Franklin, for a time :  And Bo-
naparte, when  he  felt his system  unstrung, gave up
his usual repasts, and took exercise on horseback.*
   The ablest physicians declare that abstinence is one
of the most effectual means of preventing violent and
inflammatory disorders, such as  fevers  and sore
throats.   Socrates lived in Athens during the whole
of the  celebrated plague, that made such desolation in
that city in his time :  yet he escaped unhurt: and
this is  unanimously  ascribed, by  the writers of  those
times,  to his  uninterrupted temperance.!
  I do not mean by abstinence in this case, that which
is excessive : not  such  as monkish austerity has  so
often practised, and  which has been the source of so
much  religious  superstition, self-righteousness, and
cruelly.   Seasons of entire abstinence, unless directed
by a physician, are  rarely extended with advantage,
beyond a day or two.  But  the danger  on  this side is
"Journal of Health, vol. 1. p. 13.
f Spectator, No. 195, also Rees' Cyc. Art. Abstinence.
                     9 
94
so small, that a caution seems at this day scarcely ne-
cessary.
   An amusing and instructive example of the good ef-
fects  of  abstinence, occurs in  the case of Pomponius
Atticus, the friend of Cicero.   The melancholy ac-
companing a disbrdered stomach, brought him to the
resolution of destroying himself;  and he called together
his friends, to consult as to the  best means of accom-
plishing  his design.   His  son-in-law, Agrippa, with
great sagacity, advised and  persuaded  him to starve
himself;  recommending, however, that he should oc-
casionally swallow a little water, to alleviate the pains
of abstinence.  To this he consented, supposing,  as
people generally do at this  day, that water affords no
nourishment, although, in  fact, it is almost the only
fluid that does nourish.  In this case it sustained Atti-
cus, day  after day, beyond the time he had calculated
upon  dying by starvation :  and  not only so, but this
water, and the abstinence, removed the complaints of
his stomach, and his dejection of spirits ;  and he was
then easily persuaded by his son, that it was his duty
to live.   He did live to an advanced age.
   There is one  subject connected with abstinence,
which I shall take occasion here to notice, although
it  may seem to  require rather  the  prescription of a
professed physician.   And  1 wish to be  distinctly un-
derstood, as disclaiming  all pretensions to a  knowl-
edge  of the practice of medicine, technically so called.
—My object is not  to prescribe as a physician, and
thus invade his province; but to  point out that diet and
regimen which will keep men out ofthe physician's
hands;  and which every intelligent man ought there-
fore to  understand.  Yet let me here also remark, that
I am  by  no means disposed to declaim against regular 
95
 scientific physicians, as useless.  On the other hand,
 I thank God, that so many of this character are found
 at this day, to bless society.   And when a man is at-
 tacked by any acute disease, he cannot apply  to one
 of these-too soon.   Life  is often  sacrificed by a few
 hours delay.  And when any man is in such a state of
 health,  as to render it advisable for him to be under
 the  physician's care, let him adhere rigidly to the pre-
 scriptions of the physician : for in sickness, it is some-
 times necessary to direct to a course, which is entire-
 ly opposite to those rules of diet and regimen, that are
 so salutary in health and in mere functional disorders.
   But  to  return: the  subject  to  which I alluded,
 is that of  a common  cold,  or catarrh.   And con-
 cerning its  cure,  there  is  a most false  and perni-
 cious saying: viz.  " glut a cold, and  starve a fever."
 But  what is a cold, if not an incipient fever?  certain-
 ly a  fever is always present.  And if a man wishes to
 aggravate all its symptoms, and to hinder nature in re-
etoring the system, let him follow this rule, and eaj
 and  drink  even  more  voraciously than ever—as his
appetite will tempt him to  do.   But if he wish to as-
sist nature, and break up a cold in its very  commence-
ment, let him at once enter upon  a course of rigid tem-
perance, or even abstinence, avoiding all unnecessary
exposures. In this way, it is said, indeed, that a man may
come at length into the habit of ridding himself of every
incipient catarrh, before it has fastened upon the head,
or the lungs ; and thus avoid one ofthe most common
germs of fatal disease.   A man  has  only  to  try this
course faithfully once or twice, to be satisfied  that the
general practice of mankind,  in such cases, is altogeth-
er erroneous ; and that abstinence is  the sovereign
remedy.  What monstrous absurdities have been palm" 
96
 ed upon human belief in regard to the treatment of
 diseases!  and how much more prone are the majority
 to receive the nostrums of quackery, than  the results
 of knowledge and experience t
   One or two more remarks on the general subject of
 this lecture, and I shall close.  If any one  who hears
 me, should be induced to adopt in practice  the rules of
 diet for which I have contended, I entreat  him not to
 doit by halves.  Let him make thorough  work, both
 as to quantity and simplicity in food : or else  let him
 not  complain of these rules, if  he do not  experience
 the beneficial effects, which  have been declared  to
 flow from them.  Many profess to  be dieting, who in
 fact violate the rules of diet every day.   Thus do they
 torment themselves to no purpose.   They lose  both
 the good effects, which rigid  temperance  would  pro-
 duce, and the pleasures of indulging the palate ad lib-
 itum.  In a word, to be half  way temperate, is to live
 and die a starving glutton.
   Again, if a man enter upon the abstemious  course.
 that has been pointed out, let him  make a persevering
 trial of it.  Invalids, in particular, are apt  to get dis-
 couraged, if they do not experience from such a course
 a very rapid  improvement, and even a  speedy rees-
 tablishment of health.  They expect that the ravages
 of years of indulgence, will be repaired by a few weeks
 or months of temperance : whereas, Revocare gradum,
 superasque evadere ad auras,  hoc  opus hie labor est.  As
 Cheyne says, "in a low regimen, even when upon ne-
 cessity and prudent counsel  and advice a person has
entered upon it, and has continued in it for a longtime,
they may  have  many plunges,  discouragements  and
exacerbations—This interruption will only retard the 
97
 cure a short time, and  will give strength to perfect it
 at last as far as the nature of  things  will  permit."*
 Others fail in this matter, because they do not pay as
 strict attention to their exercise and  other means of
 health, as to their diet.  Some give over  the contest,
 because their companions in health ridicule their pecu-
 liarities. And some become alarmed when their friends
 expostulate with them upon their danger of starvation.
    But  more fail  because  they  still   exceed the
 rules of temperance in the  quantity of their food.
 Appetite grows  clamorous,  and fancying themselves
 to be growing weaker, they begin to relax in their
 struggles, and like the  ancient Israelites, when fed on
 manna,they exclaim, Who shall give us flesh to eat ?  We
 remember the fish which  we did eat in Egypt freely !  the
 cucumbers and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions,
 and the garlic.  But  now our soul is dried away : there
 is nothing at  all besides  this manna  before our eyes.
 Wherefore have ye brought us up out Egypt to  die in the
 wilderness?  Let the invalid, who thus suffers his  ap.
 petite to bring him back  again,  like  the  dog  to  his
 vomit, read his subsequent history in that ofthe Israel-
 ites.  So they did eat and were filled : for he gave them
 their own desire ;  they were not estranged from their lust:
 but while  their  meat   was yet  in  their  mouths,  the
 wrath of God came  upon them, and  slew the  fattest  of
 them and smote down the chosen men of Israel.  From all
that I have seen and  experienced, fully convinced I am,
that only two things will give a man resolution to en-
ter upon,  and persevere, in this  strait and narrow
course of temperance, that leads  to health and long
* Diet and Regimen, p. 56.
                9* 
98
life : one is, a deep and abiding impres9ion,that a man
must either do this, orsoon die;  and the other is, such
a strength of Christian principle, as will make a  man
feel it to be his imperious duty.  Alas, that the latter
is so often weaker than appetite ! and alas, too,  that
the former is not usually felt, until the constitution i*
irretrievably ruined! 
LECTURE  III.
Diet,  continued.    Third---Fourth—-Fifth—Sixth—
  Seventh—Eighth—and  Ninth  Rules of  Dietetics.
  Objection against their rigor considered.

Gentlemen,
  The remaining rules in respect to diet, will not re-
quire so  protracted an illustration and application, as
the two  that have been  already considered.   The
third may be thus announced:
  Sedentary persons should  not use animal  food
more than once a day.
  That persons in  feeble health, may, under  certain
circumstances, require the constant and almost exclu-
sive use ol animal food, I admit;  but these are except-
ed cases, requiring the  directions of a skillful  physi-
cian.   In ordinary  cases,  the  general conclusion, that
is now considered established  by all respetcable writ-
ers on  diet, is, that men generally, but  particularly the
sedentary and the literary, should indulge in the  use
of animal food only at dinner.
  The enquiry, however,  has been extensively agita-
ted, whether animal food  is requisite at all  for  the
health and vigor of the animal system. In discussing
this subject, an appeal is made both to the principles
and discoveries  of chemistry, and  to the  practice of
different nations and individuals.
  Vegetable and animal substances  are composed of
the same simple principles, or elements,  except  that 
100
 the  latter usually  contain  nitrogen in  considerable
 proportion; in which, most of the former  are want-
 ing.  Hence the inquiry has  arisen, how  vegetable
 food alone can supply the nitrogen which the animal sys-
 tem demands?   Some have  thought that the nitrogen
 of the atmosphere was taken into the blood,  in the act
 of respiration : but the most modern and satisfactory
 experiments do not show that any of this substance  is
 absorbed in this  process.   The conversion of the su-
 perabundant  carbon of the  blood into  carbonic  acid,
 seems to constitute the whole chemical result of res-
 piration.  Chemistry, therefore, does  lead us to the
 conclusion, that  some animal food is necessary to the
 support of life,  unless the  vegetables eaten should
 happen to contain it; as  some of them do.
  Majendie thinks that he has established  the same
 conclusion by experiments upon animals.   He fed
 dogs exclusively upon  the most nutricious substances,
 that are destitute of nitrogen,  such as sugar, gum,
 olive oil, and butter; and in a few days they began to
 pine away, and died in  every case, in less than forty
 days.  He infers that it was the want of nitrogen that
 destroyed  them.   But Dr. Paris says, it was  owing to
 their having  received  their food in too concentrated
 a state ; and that men and animals universally suffer  if
 their rich  food be  not sufficiently mixed with  that
 which is less nutritive.    The  inhabitants of Kamts-
 chatka, for instance, are  frequently compelled to live
 on fish oil alone ;  and they have  learned that  it is
 even better to mingle it with saw dust, than to receive
it in an unmixed  state.
  Throughout nearly the whole animal kingdom, we
find that the structure of  the frame points out the na-
ture of the food destined for  their support.  Thus the 
101
graminivorous tribes have uniformly a double row of
grinding teeth,  and  larger  stomachs and  intestines,
than those that live solely  on animal  food,  and  are
hence  called carnivorous.   The latter are furnished
with cutting  and canine teeth  to seize and  devour
their prey.   Now man is furnished with both the kinds
of teeth found  in these animals.   Hence  it is  very
probably inferred, that he was intended to  feed  both
upon vegetables and  animals: or to speak technically,
he is neither graminivorous  nor  carnivorous, entirely,
but omnivorous.  Some  writers  have even gone so
far as to infer, from the relative number of teeth in
the human species, adapted to  animal  and vegetable
food, that men ought to use  20 parts of the latter, and
12 parts of the former.   But the premises  are proba-
bly too narrow for the conclusion.
  As to the effects of these too kinds of food upon the
system,itis agreed on all  hands, that animal food is more
nutritive and stimulating : that is, the same quantity of
the former, will form more blood, and sustain life long-
er, than the latter.   Hence, for men exposed to con*
stant and hard labour, animal food is more important;
though 1 cannot believe, that  this is a sufficient rea-
son for justifying the so common practice,  among the
labouring classes in our country,  of useing  meat, in
large  quantities, three times a day.   Certainly it does
not render necessary their hearty suppers, when the
toils of the day are over, and the stomach, as well as
other parts ofthe system, need rest.   But my concern
now is with sedentary men :  and as to these, the effect
of much animal  food, is to produce too much  excite-
ment in the system, and to urge  on the  powers of life
too fast.   Hence, in hot climates,  men instinctively
prefer  a vegetable diet; and thus they escape many 
102
 of those violent disorders, to which, those living very
 much on animal food, are subject; such as the scurvy,
 malignant ulcers, inflamatory fevers, &c.   Animal food
 is also much more unfavourable to the free operations
 ofthe mind, than vegetable : hence one ofthe reasons
 why men are  usually so unfit for study immediately
 after dinner; though it is to be feared, that this is more
 frequently imputable  to excess in quantity. The  expe-
 rience of Newton and Franklin, as  to the favourable
 influence of vegetable food upon mental operations, I
 have already mentioned in a former lecture.  To these
 examples I  might add many more,  were it necessary.
 "Vegetable aliments," says Dr. Cullen, a name highly
 revered in  medicine, " as never over-distending the
 vessels, or  loading the  system,  never interrupts the
 stronger motions ofthe  mind; while the heat, fullness
 and weight  of animal  food, is an enemy to its vigorous
 efforts."  Another writer says, that vegetable food
 "tends  to preserve a  delicacy  of feeling, a liveliness
 of imagination, and acuteness of judgment, seldom en-

joyed by those who live  principally on meat."* Hence
 there is greater danger  that the student will take too
 much, than too little, of animal food.  In most cases,
 6ix or seven ounces per day, taken at dinner, is abun-
 dantly sufficient;  and the corpulent, and persons ad-
 vanced  in life, should reduce this quantity.    Indeed,
 they would  probably  do best, in general, to  confine
 themselves to  vegetables alone.
   In any case, as Dr.  Paris remarks, " it must be al-
 lowed that an adherence to  vegetable diet, is usually
 productive of far less  evil than that  which follows the
• Sure Methods &c. p. 13. 
103
use of an  exclusively animal  regimen."*   Cheyne
says, that at fifty years of age, a  man ought to lessen
his animal food;  and at sixty, entirely  give it up;
" descending out of life,  as one  ascends into it, viz.
by milk-porridge, water-gruel, panada, and the like."
Most  physicians also advise, that  little if any animal
food,  except milk, should be allowed to children; and
indeed nature seems to instruct us in the same lesson:
nor can it be doubted  at  all,  that the prevalent sys-
tem of stuffing and cramming  children with all sorts
of indigestibles, is the direct cause ofthe death of one
third  of those  that  are  born,  before they reach the
age of three years.
   The practice of mankind, respecting the use of ani-
mal and vegetable food, supports  essentially the views
that have been given :  though it must be confessed,
that it almost leads  one to conclude, that a diet wholly
vegetable, would, upon the whole, be more favoura-
ble to human health and happiness ; though probably
not so favorable  to the  developement of the sterner
features of our nature.  The  truth is, a large majori-
ty of  men, do live, almost exclusively, on vegetables.
Millions in Asia, are sustained  by  rice alone, with per-
haps a little seasoning of vegetable oil:  And although
these Asiatics with their feebleness  and effeminacy,
may  be regarded  as  no very flattering  examples of
the value of a vegetable diet; yet when we compare
them  with  the timid and stupid Laplanders, Esquimaux,
and Samoideans, who subsist almost entirely on animal
food,  the. other side ofthe picture does not seem more
inviting.   The Bramins of Indostan, even in their
exhausting  climate, are  noted  for longevity.   And
• On Diet, p. 67. 
104
when we recolleet that the Neapolitan Lazzaroni, with
their active and well proportioned forms, are sustain-
ed by  bread, oil, and sallad ;  and that millions of the
Irish peasantry, proverbial  for  vivacity of mind, and
robustness of body, and  capability  of enduring fa-
tigue,  scarcely ever eat meat; and that the Scotch and
Swiss peasantry  also—as fine examples as the world
can afford of health and bodily strength—live chiefly on
bread, milk, and cheese ; surely, we shall not be dis-
posed  to insist upon it, that animal food, even in high
latitudes, is essential to the full  developement of the
powers of man.*
  According to this view of the subject, what opinion
shall we form  of those students, who think they cannot
make out even  a tolerable  breakfast  without a good
supply of meat ? and who  will eat meat even three
times a day, if it be set before them ?  Surely we must
concude that  they are  slaves to their  palates ; and
consequently will never exhibit any  great  vigour  of
mind, or proficiency in  literary  pursuits.   They will
probably tell  you, that  they find nourishing food ne-
cessary to give them strength ;  and if they neglect  to
take this, they shall be so debilitated,  as to be unfitted
for  study.   This is just the  plea the  intemperate
drinker  uses,  to  vindicate his poisonous  draughts.
True,  if he neglects these, debility follows; because
it is  an abstraction of the usual stimulus, and his sys-
tem is so much injured, as not easily to move on with-
out it: and this is precisely the cause of the debility
  •For a  fuller discussion of this subject, see Paris on Diet,
p. 63.  Sure Methods, &c. p.  11.  Smellie's Philosophy of
Nat.  History, Ware's first Edition, p. 148, and Edinburgh En-
cyclopedia, Art. Jllimtn!. 
105
the intemperate eater experiences, by giving up his
animal food in the morning.  Now  the opinion of most
men is, that debility is a real disorder, and if by some
stimulus they can remove it,  they have removed the
disease : Hence the great fondness they exhibit for ton-
ic and bracing food and  drink.  Whereas  debility is
merely a symptom of some  oppression, irritation, or in-
flammation in some part of the system : and this whole
system  of bracing and  strengthening the invalid by
nourishing food  and drink,  is, in most cases, the effect-
ual way to aggravate the disease ;  although it  affords
a temporay relief to the debility : For too much  food
irritating the stomach and  bowels, in a majority of in-
stances is the sole cause of the debility.  The contrary
course,that is a  spare and simple diet, is generally  the
method of removing the cause, and ultimately the debil-
ity. But quacks will tell men otherwise ! and here is the
strong hold of empiricism.  Their nostrums, elixirs and
balsams, are all directed to the alleviation of symptoms,
and not to the cure of diseases : Now it is not a difficult
mater to soften down the symptoms  ; and when this is
once done, the cure is proclaimed; whereas, the embers
are raging within, struggling to get vent, and will ere
long break out in tenfold  fury.  But until men shall
learn in some measure to distinguish between symp-
toms and diseases, they will continue to be the dupes
of newspaper quackery and unprincipled ignorance.
  According to his own account, " says  the Journal of
Health, " the invalid is in a state of debility.   This to
a certain extent, is true ; but it is a debility that can
be removed only by restoring to health the organ pri-
marily affected : a task  for  which the  experienced
physician  is alone competent.  But the sufferer is of
a different opinion :  he is debilitated ;  all he  requires
                     10 
106
is something to restore strength to his system gener-
ally ;  additional and more stimulating food; some cor-
dial or elixir—some potent tonic !   These are  soon
obtained ; a momentary excitement  is the  result,  to
sustain which requires their frequent  repetition : but
so far from any permanant  advantage  resulting  from
their use, the symptoms  advance with increasing ra-
pidity ;  the individual becomes more and more exhaust-
ed ;  and if he fall not a speedy victim to the disease
itself, he too often does to the effects  of intemperate
habits induced by the remedies to which he has had
recourse/'
  The fourth rule of dietetics,  which I consider as es-
tablished, is,  that  LITERARY MEN SHOULD TAKE   ONLY
THREE MEALS PER  DAY AND NO LUNCHEONS.
  After the rest and the  fast ofthe  night, it is natural
that the stomach should  demand food in  the morning.
But as it comes immediately before the most active la-
bors ofthe day, it should be moderate in quantity, and
simple  in quality ;  consisting  usually, in this country,
of a little tea, or coffee, or milk, or milk porridge, or
water and milk, with  bread and butter, or dry  toast.
It should be taken  about an hour after rising; and,
therefore, should usually be ready from six to  seven
o'clock ;—say six in the summer, and seven in the win-
ter.   This will leave five or six hours before noon  for
study and exercise—which are emphatically the gold-
en hours of the day ; and the  studeut should calculate
to get through with the  most  laborious part of his dai-
ly duties, during this period.
   By twelve  or one  o'clock, the stomach will  have
thoroughly digested the  light  breakfast taken at six or
seven,  and have rested  besides one or  two hours, so
as to be prepared for dinner, the principal meal ofthe
day. 
107
  Five or six hours after dinner, a cup of tea,  or milk
and water, cold or hot, according to  the  season,  may
advantageously be taken, with a smaller quantity than
in the morning, of vegetable  food.  The less of  this,
however, the better; and perhaps the invalid will best
consult his comfort, by omitting it altogether, unless
perhaps  to the amount of one or two crackers.
   I can hardly move a step on this subject, without com-
ing into collision with the habits and practices of society.
You will perceive that the course  which I have here
marked out,  is directly  opposed  to that pursued by
multitudes.
   Many, in the first place, violate this rule, by irregu-
larity in the times of taking their food.   If their  din-
ner be delayed an hour or two beyond the the proper
time, they seem indifferent  about it, as their appetite
will be better, and they  shall enjoy  the repast better.
But they will be  sure to  overeat.  Exactness  and uni-
formity in respect to the hours of meals, is considered
by physicians as of the first  importance to those  who
are in feeble health.  One of them remarks,  that he
has often said to  his patient; " I will wave all my ob-
jections to the quantity and quality of your food, if I
am sure  that  such a sacrifice of opinion would insure
regularity in the periods  of your meals."   I am happy,
however, in knowing, that the regular routine of col-
lege exercises, prevents almost entirely the occurrence
of this difficulty among us.   May all learn so thorough-
ly the value of regularity in this respect, as never  in
after life to be induced to swerve from it.
   In  the second  place, others violate  the rule under
consideration, as above detailed, by indulgence in more
than one hearty meal per day.   Some, even some stu-
dents, are i*  the  habit of taking three hearty meals
in a day;  that  is, they devour at  each meal, quite 
108
as much as the most lax rules would allow for din-
ner.   Yes, not a few young men do this;  men who
are  full  of expectation  that  they are going to rise
high  in  the  world in learning  and usefulness.   But
without an alteration of their habits, they will always
remain mere  scavengers in literature and  religion.
For if, as a wise man has  said, " the second meal (that
is, the second  full  meal,) makes  the glutton"—what
can the third make, but a beast?   Among the ancient
philosophers,the eating of more than one hearty meal in
the 24 hours, was  considered monstrous.  What have
you seen, said a friend to Plato on his return from Sic-
ily 1  Vidi monstrum in natura ; hominem bis saluratum
in die.  Literally,  " I have seen a monster in nature ;
a man twice  stuffed in a day ?"   What would  Plato
think, could he be revived from the dead, and were to
spend one week only in  the boarding houses connect-
ed with the literary institutions of our land ! Oh, let
every Christian  youth, on whom this satire falls, be
ashamed to be thus reproved by a heathen!
  In the third place, this rule is violated by many, in
taking dinner at a late hour;  or, as it is called, the
fashionable hour;  and a  consequent delay in the oth-
er  meals.   I rejoice, indeed, that in this Institution,
we are free from this most pernicious practice : and
I rejoice also in the fact that, the great mass ofthe yeo-
manry of our country have their dinner  upon the ta-
ble at twelve o'clock—the hour which nature and rea-
son point out as the  proper one for the  principal re-
past. But the habit of late dinners, which originated in
the unnatural and luxurious habits ofthe higher classes
in cities, is certainly gaining ground among the  same
classes, even in the country : so that the temperate
student is  liable  to be  annoyed  by  it wherever he
goes.  Every literary man, therefore, should make up 
109
 his mind on the subject of its utility;  and if convinc-
 ed of its bad influence,  be prepared to raise his voice
 and example against it.
   The objections to late dinners are  these :  first,
 the  bodily powers  are  not as  well able  to  bear the
 digestion of a hearty meal near evening, as in the mid-
 dle  of the day.   The pulse is  then quickened and the
 secretions lessened, and the  system begins to feel the
 need of repose :   Secondly, this practice furnishes an
 almost irresistible temptation to excess in eating: the
 appetite having been so long denied gratification, that
 in a healthy man, it must become ravenous before five
 or six o'clock, or even before  three or four.  Third-
 ly, to  prevent this  suffering from hunger,  men  are
 tempted,  either to eat excessively  at breakfast,  or to
 fall  into the unhealthy practice of taking luncheons:
 Fourthly, the practice almost infallibly results in late
 suppers, late retiring  to rest,  and late  rising in the
 morning, and consequently late breakfasts.   And the
 infallible result of thus  inverting the order of nature,
 and turning night into day, and day into night, is debilita-
 ted constitutions, nervous  maladies, and  imbecility of
 mind.   Wherever you  find late  dinners, you  always
 find  more  or less of these effects.   But if dinner be
 taken at twelve, tea will  not be delayed longer than
 six or  seven; and consequently men will be prepared
 to retire to rest  at  nine or ten ;  and in  the morning,
they will rise at five or six :  thus employing the night
for repose,  and  the day for  action, as God intended.
Late dinners among the great mass of the community,
would, therefore, be one  of the greatest  evils that
could come upon  them.   It is hence the duty of every
well wisher to his country, to  resist the  ruinous cus-
tom by his example and influence.  It is  true, that the
                   10* 
110
inhabitants of our cities plead in behalf of this custom/
that it is more convenient  to  finish  their  daily  rou-
tine of business before dinner; and  that they cannot
find time for dinner at twelve or one  : nor do they feel
as well qualified for business after dinner as before it.
But were they to commence business  at six or seven in
the morning, instead of nine or ten, there would be no
want of time ;   and were they to  dine as temperately
as they ought, they would be refreshed instead of stu-
pified by the repast,  and ere long might resume busi-
ness with  as much alacrity  as ever.   I  have been as-
tonished to see how easily young  men of excellent
habits from the country, who go to reside in the cities,
fall into the practice I am here condemning ; and how
soon they are  ready  to approve  of them.   How any
christian parent can consent to educate a family of chil-
dren,  in this system of late hours, with all its hurtful
accompaniments,  and thus take  an  almost infallible
method of debilitating their bodies and their minds, I
confess I do not see.   Nor  do I wonder  at a fact stated
by Dr. Johnson, in regard to the inhabitants of London,
that " we  shall not find one in ten whose digestive or-
gans are in a natural and healthy condition :"* nor at
another fact, stated by a different  writer, that while in
the country the annual mortality  is only one in  about
sixty, in  London it is one in twenty!   Hence is seen
the truth ofthe remark, that " large towns are the graves
of the human race  :"  hence too the ground of the ex-
clamation ofthe Roman poet,
          ---------------pericula mille
          Saevae urbis!
* Influence of Civic Life &c. p. 21.
f Sure methods &c. p. 107. 
Ill
But if  those who  live in the  cities  will  persist, (as
doubtless they will in spite of my expostulations,)  in
their late dinners and late  hours,  let them do it:  let
also  the  glutton do it, and thus the sooner relieve the
society which he burdens ;  and we will join the poet
in saying,
  " Lusisti satis, edisti satis, atque bibisti;"
  " Tempus abire tibi est."*
But  I protest against the encouragement and introduc-
tion  of these habits in the  country,  as some, who are
aping  city manners, are attempting to  do.  Happily it
is not, as I believe,  too  late to sound an alarm on this
subject among  the sober and religious citizens of our
interior.  In most cities such a cry would be met only
by hisses and scorn.  Even physicians there, seem  to
be yielding up  the point, or rather striving for a com-
promise.  " No dinner," says  one, " should be taken
later than four o'clock, and in fixing this hour I go to
the  utmost  limit allowed by the  principles of health
and  longevity"t—" With regard to the proper period
at which invalids should dine," says another,  " physi-
cians entertain  but one  opinion;  it  should be in the
middle ofthe day, or at about two or three o'clock."^
" Early  breakfast"—says a  third—"dinner as near the
middle  of the  day as fashion, or folly, or pride will
permit &c."1F   These receipts were  written for the
latitude  and longitude of London :  and it seems that
there, these physicians  consider it altogether useless
to tell men that they ought to dine at  twelve o'clock:
and so  they say, if you will  not  delay  till  seven or
* Hor. L. 2. Epist. 2. Lin. 212-
t Sure Methods p. 72.    J Paris On Diet, p. 134
H Johnson on the Liver p. 189. 
112
eight, we  will meet you  half way,  and consent to let
you have till three, or even four, to  prepare to gor-
mandize.   Is  there no reason  to fear,  that the very
distinguished physicians of some of our own cities, are
yielding to the same difficulty, in  the same way ?
  In the fourth place, the  rule under consideration,
requires that luncheons be  dispensed  with :  that is,
food should not be taken in the  intervals between
meals.  If a person, indeed, be  so weak, that he can-
not bear  enough to sustain him  at three meals,  he
must increase  their number.  But in this case he  will
need to be under the  physician's care; and  therefore
he is not in a condition in which  I  shall undertake to
prescribe  for him.  Others  will tell us, that without
their  luncheon,  they find  themselves so  faint,  that
they cannot attend  to business.    And so  does the
drunkard,  who is deprived of his  cups at  the regular
hour, and  for the same reason; viz. that his stomach
has been  accustomed  to  the  stimulus  at  that time.
But let him, and let the luncheon eater, resolutely per-
sist for some  ume in denying the calls of appetite, and
they will soon find their faintness vanish, and the pal-
ate will crave no more than at any other hour.  We
are in  these things the creatures  of habit ; and  we
can learn the  stomach to crave, or not to crave, food
and drink, at  particular  seasons, very much  as  we
please—provided we furnish it  with enough-to sustain
the health and strength.  The faintness and weakness,
which a person feels, by neglecting his luncheons, are
of the same character as that debility which the exces-
sive eater feels for a  time, when he reduces his food
to a healthy standard; resulting more from a change
of habits, than from real weakness.
   Of all luncheons, the worst are those taken a 6hort 
113
 time previous to the hour of  rest at  night.  It is the
 sure way to produce restlessness and sleeplessness at
 night, and dullness and headache in the morning.  It is,
 indeed, the very worst time in the twenty  four hours,
 for taking food.   It  is the original cause of those late
 suppers, which are indulged in by so many of the rich
 and luxurious, and which are preeminent in the list of
 indulgencies that  shorten life.   " Cardan observes,
 that he  had conversed with  many persons, who had
 lived to be a hundred years of age, and they all de-
 clared to  him, that they  had made  it a  rule to  eat
 little at night."   It  is like loading your horse with a
 heavy additional burden,  after he has been toiling all
 day and  is weakened by fatigue: or like filling up the
 mill hopper when the water is  nearly run out.  Peo-
 ple may tell me, that they cannot sleep without this
 luncheon, or supper, just  before bed time :  but they
 may rest assured, that a persevering indulgence in it,
 will ere  long bring on a sleep,that will be broken only
 by the archangel's final shout.
   But some  will enquire, when, according to these
 principles, they are to be allowed to  partake of those
 delicious fruits and  sweetmeats, which, to  many,  con-
 stitute so large a part of an evening entertainment, er
 even of a family circle? If you are an invalid, I reply,
 you had better not take them at all ;  and if in health,
 the more abstemious you  are, in respect  to  most of
 them, the better;  though I would not be  understood
 as condemning the use of ripe fruit, at the proper sea-
 son.   Indeed, a moderate  quantity of it, is  undoubted-
 ly salutary in health, and even in many cases of debil-
ity.  But it should be eaten at the  regular meals,—
particularly at breakfast,—and as a part of the meal;
the other food being proportionably lessened in quan- 
114
tity.   There is an old saying, founded in truth, " fruit
is  gold  in  the  morning, silver  at  noon,  and lead at
night."   It is lead at any time of the day, when taken
between meals;  but  late in  the evening—the usual
time of passing it to company—it is dross :  Especially
when apples, almonds, walnuts, raisins, &c. are cram-
med down, one upon  another,  as they often are, into
the stomach of a  dyspeptic student, or delicate nerv-
ous lady.   To  crown all,  some two or three sweet-
meats, as compound and  indigestible as  cookery can
make them, are loaded into the stomach, and then a
glass of wine, or cordial, is  added,  to drown the
groans of laboring nature.   And this is done, too, by
professing  Christians;  who are commanded to be tem-
perate in all things, and who are told that their bodies
are  the temples of the Holj' Ghost!
   Scarcely  less  censurable,  or fatal,  is  a practice
indulged in by students, probably more than any other
class in society ;  1 mean the repeated use of apples,
nuts, raisins, and  other fruits,  between  their meals.
In this  way, many accustom their stomachs to be in-
cessantly craving some such pernicious article, which
constantly  disturbs the process of digestion, and ends
in gluttony and dyspepsy.  Indeed, some cannot cease
their champing, during the short  hour of lecture or
recitation  ;  and  they make it a rule, just as some ani-
 mals do, to strew every room  where they are admit-
 ted, with the husks, the shells, and the cores.   Per-
 sons of such habits will not find it so easy a matter to
 get rid of them,  when, at a  future time, they  shall
 find that such slovenly practices would turn them out
 of a lady's drawing room, or a gentleman's parlor.
   By indulging in the use of luncheons surreptitiously,
 as it were,  many invalids defeat  all their pretended 
115
efforts in  dieting.   However  particular  they may be
as to what, and how  much  they eat, it is all useless,
until they will resolutely govern their appetites dur-
ing the intervening periods : unless, indeed, this peri-
od, at any particular time, should  be unusually long,
and  extra exertions  should be requisite, when some
simple food, as a piece of bread, or a cracker, may be
taken with impunity.
   The  fifth rule  of  dietetics is, to  eat and  drink
slowly.
   A physician of distinction, whom  I once consulted,
said to me, " have you ever thought for what purpose
Providence gave you teeth ?"   It  was a fact that I
had never deliberately done this ;  and  from the hurried
manner in which most people swallow their meals, 1
fear few persons  ever do it.   The fact  is, imperfect
mastication operates very  unfavorably in two  ways.
It prevents the food from being properly comminuted
for the action of the gastric juice ; and does not  af-
ford the saliva an opportunity to  be properly mingled
with it.   To expect that the stomach will produce
healthy chyme, from food thus driven  pell mell into
it, is almost as unreasonable, as for  the Egyptian task
masters to require brick  without straw.   Here then
we perceive one important  reason for the rule above
announced.
  Another reason for its  adoption is, that it tends to
prevent excess in eating.  Physicians  may not  agree
in assigning the reason, why the same quantity of food
introduced slowly into the stomach, satisfies the appe-
tite much more effectually, than when eaten rapidly :
But as to the fact, there can be no doubt.  Every person
must have observed, how a  short interruption  in  the
midst of eating, has diminished,  if  not  entirely  de- 
116
stroyed, his appetite, and produced the feeling of sa-
tiety.  The same thing happens in  a less degree in
eating slowly.   But he who  forces his food half mas-
ticated down his throat, as a farmer would load a cart,
just before a thunder storm, will have exceeded in quan-
tity, ere the feeling of satiety gives him any warning.
  This rule  is  recommended too, by the  superior
pleasure to be derived from eating slowly. Dr. Faust,
in his excellent  Catechism of Health, a  work which
Dr. Rush recommends for parents to teach to their
children, inquires;  "What gives the most  delicious re-
lish to food?  Answer:  Hunger,  and the thorough
chewing of the food." (p. 53.)   The man who spends
half an hour in masticating six  ounces of food, expe-
riences vastly  more pleasure from it, than he,  who
eats two pounds in half that time.   It is  difficult per-
haps, to fix upon any precise number of minutes, that
ought to be assigned to our meals.   Some physicians
say, that dinner  ought to occupy not less than an hour.
Perhaps this  is too  much, for those who  dine on one
dish ; but certainly  it is desirable to devote half that
time to each meal.
  Students,  I  believe, are  proverbially  violators of
this rule.  From what 1 have seen,  I  do not believe
that the average length of time, given to their meals,
by the members of our  colleges, exceeds ten  min-
utes.   Not improbably it would be found, that it does
not exceed five.
  To conquer this habit is no easy task.   A great help
in overcoming it, is to adhere to the  rules, as to quan-
tity and variety, that  have been discussed.   When a
person first sits down to the  table, let him collect be-
fore him,  every particle of food which he intends to
eat at that meal.  Knowing that he shall  have a good 
117
appetite when he  finishes this, he will be induced to
enjoy  it as long as possible.   Another help is to di-
vide his food into as many portions as he conveniently
can, and then admit only one  piece into his mouth at
a time.  If in addition to this, he make  it  a rule  to
lay down his eating apparatus after every  mouthful,
he will find it a good rein upon his appetite.
   Some may think it unnecessary nicety  to be thus
particular in a public lecture.  But 1 regard nothing
unnecessary, on such a subject, that will help you to
conquer a bad habit.  Nor am I very fastidious  about
literary niceties, when they come in competition with
a plain and forcible developement of important truths.
   But after all, the most important precaution  in this
case, is, always  to sit down to the table, with the
mind free from care,  intense thousht,  or passion,
and disposee to be cheerful and sociable.   So im-
portant is this  direction,  that I  shall give it as  the
sixth rule in  dietetics.  So intimate is the  connection
of the  mental with the coporeal  powers and  opera-
tions, that-any strong excitement of the mind, will most
effectually check, if not entirely stop, the process of
digestion.  A violent fit of  anger, coming on when a
person is eating with a good  relish, or the  reception
of distressing news, will as assuredly  destroy the appe-
tite, as a fit  of apoplexy :  while,  on the  contrary,
agreeable and easy conversation, kindness and hospi-
tality,  or pleasant inteligence, will create an appetite.
So we all know, that heavy cares, or  afflictions, will
indispose for taking food.  Severe thought will do the
same.   Sir Isaac Newton retired one day to his study
and gave orders  to his  servant   that  he  must  not
be disturbed   A friend called to see him; and learn-
ing  his  directions, waited  for  him  at  the hour of
                   11 
118
dinner.  But Sir Isaac not appearing,  the  friend  took
his place and devoured the chicken.  Newton coming
in soon  after, and  seeing the picked bones upon the
table, exclaimed, " I thought I had not dined, but I now
find  that I have."*
  According to these views, we learn that when a man
is in an  agitated  state  of mind, he is not in a condition
to sit down at the table; he had  better wait till he is
cool and composed, and if possible, till he  is cheerful.
For the same reason, he  should not engage in  eating,
while poring  intently over  some  mathematical  or
metaphysical problem.   And  no gentleman, who un-
derstands good manners, will introduce at table, any
subject of discussion, that is likely to call forth  strong
feeling, or vigorously to exercise the  powers of the
mind.   For the same reason,  reading should not be in-
dulged in while eating, unless it be of a  character to
amuse  rather than task the mind ; nor should any
details be given that are calculated to harrow up the
feelings and  produce strong emotion.   In  all  cases
where  these rules  are not regarded,  you will find men
eating and drinking in a hurried manner, forcing down
their food almost without chewing,  and  plying their
knives and forks with gluttonous rapidity.
  This  principle shows us, also, that the mutual atten-
tion to one another's  wants, which good breeding de-
mands, at the table, contributes no less to health  than
to good manners.  By striving to help your neighbour
first, and to the best, you put him, as well as yourself,
in good humor;  and pave the way for pleasant conver-
sation and for a return of favours.  The man who takes
care of himself only at table, appropriating to his plate,
* Library of UsefulRnowUdge, No. 50, p. 18. 
119
whatever his appetite craves, and then gormandizes in
silent moroseness, will be amply punished by the clog
he thus puts upon his digestion.  When the poet would
describe a total  unhinging of society,  and the oblit-
eration of every fellow feeling, he says,'
         —" And each sal silently apart,
         Gorging himself in gloom."  (Byron.)
  In  view of the rule  under consideration,  I  more
than doubt the expediency ofthe practice at some of
our seminaries of learning, of introducing some  regu-
lar theme of discussion at table, the principal presiding.
It has a show of great economy in point of time.  But
it is cheating the stomach out of the hour that properly
belongs to it; and depend upon it, that organ will be re-
venged upon the intruder.  There will be too much of
formality and constraint at such a table; and pupils when
questioned, cannot but feel such an excitement, as to be
injurious.
  A  seventh rule of dietetics, in which physicians
agree, is not to indulge in a full meal  while much
fatigued.
  The generality of mankind, " says Dr. Wallis, in his
art  of Preserving Health, " are accustomed after they
have suffered fatigue, and that perhaps severe, from
hunting, shooting, cricket playing, walking, or any oth-
er species ofundue exercise, to indulge their appetites,
by eating copiously of solid food, and think it one  ofthe
advantages  thence arising,  that  they are enabled to
throw down such a load of gross materials ; nay not con-
tent with this, they make it float in porter, ale, or some
other viscid liquor, and afterwards indulge themselves
with a jolly bottle.   This practice they think support-
ed by reason ; for when the machine is exhausted, they
argue, it is most natural to conclude that it requires 
120
 much refreshment.  If we examine however, the ef-
 fects of such indiscreet conduct, we cannot hesitate to
 pronounce it erroneous, and to condemn the  practice.
 For after eating  and drinking copiously under such
 circumstances, the system grows  dull and heavy,  and
 general lassitude comes on ; the pulse grows quick, the
 face flushes, a temporay fever  ensues; the skin is dry
 —the mouth clammy—thirst attends—and in the place
 of that  recruited  strength, alacrity and  cheerfulness
 they expected to obtain from their  healthy  meal  and
 night's repose, they arise  in the morning after a few
 hours of disturbed sleep,  weary and depressed  with
 pain, or stiffness in the joints, an aching  head, and  a
 stomach loathing its accustomed food.  Nor can it be
 otherwise;  for the digestive powers of the  stomach,
 in that state of exhaustion induced by fatigue, are inca-
 pable of performing the task to which they are excited;
 and the load of food which is taken, in place of recruit-
 ing the strength and activity  of the  system, is a cause
 of suffering  and  disease, extending  from the  stomach
 itself to the residue of the system."*
   These remarks  must not be understood as implying
 that exercise before meals is not important: for that is,
 indeed, the best  season during the day :  But when that
 exercise has been carried so far as to induce considera-
 ble fatigue, the diet should be confined  to liquid food
 chiefly, or that easily  digested, such as plain  broth,
 milk, light bread, or  pudding: or else  a man should
 take time  for nature to recruit her exhausted  energies
 before  partaking of his repast.
   There is a prevalent opinion, that a man may eat
in proportion to his  exercise :  and it is undoubtedly
 true, that vigorous exercise will, in a measure, coun-
* Journal of Health, p.  HO- 
121
teract the bad effects of excessive eating.  But in  the
case under consideration, that is, when the exercise be-
comes fatiguing and exhausting, we  see that the rule
will not apply.  Hence there is  no small  danger in
taking it for our guide ; although it is  supported  by
the authority of Lord  Bacon.   The  better  rule is to
adhere always to nearly the same quantity from a sin-
gle dish, and to suffer ourselves to exceed it but very
moderately, even when journeying, or otherwise spend.
ing our  whole time in active exercise abroad :  For ex-
perience  assures us,  that  even in  such cases, nature
does not require any very  great  addition.  We  shall
then always be  safe from excess without the danger
of starvation.
   The rule under consideration shows how very inju-
rious is  the habit of some speakers,  particularly  cler-
gymen,  of eating very heartily soon after a fatiguing
effort in public.  The anxiety which  they feel previ-
ous to the effort, usually moderates their appetite : but
when the work is finished, they give  up the  reins  of
self control  and indulge  in  the most hearty food and
the strongest tea or coffee, even to satiety—not aware
that the stomach, like every other part ofthe system,
then needs  rest.  The  consequence  is,  an uneasy
watchful state ofthe system, which  physkians call the
digestive fever.  Hence  results  most of  the clergy-
man's sleeplessness and  nervous  excitement  sabbath
night;  and hence too  many of what  he calls his  Mon-
dayish feelings.   Let his supper be<unusualiy l'g!■: r.id
sparing on the  sabbath, and 'et him  contrive to git
some active bodily  exerci■■■■<?  in  the  cven-mg,  and
he would find sleep no stranger to his couch, nor Mon-
day a day of yawning and I Messness.
  An eight rule rc>pectir    et mr.y  bo y.-;     >!*.!< »i
                  11* 
122
directs that our food  and drink  should vary some-
what WITH  THE SEASONS  OF THE YEAR.
  Animal food, for example, is better fitted  for  the
winter than for the spring, or summer; because then
the system needs to be more braced to resist the cold^
and to endure  the more  vigorous exercise which is
requisite to health.  But in spring, a change of no small
magnitude takes place in the  system.   The sluggish
movements and  torpid action of winter are  succeeded
by greater mental susceptibility, more acuteness of feel-
ing, increased circulation ofthe blood,and a greater flow
of perspiration and sensibility ofthe digestive  organs*
This change brings along with it a susceptibility to new
forms of disease and demands peculiar attention to that
fruitful source of disorder as well as of health—the di-
gestive process.  The food generally, but animal food
in particular, should be diminished in quantity,  and its
quality be nourishing but not irritating.  Ardent spirit,
wine, and every species of stimulating drink, should be
most carefully avoided : even tea and coffee are often
injurious at this season, and should in such case be aban-
doned.   People are apt to imagine, that  in the spring
their blood has become impure, and needs the  apothe-
cary's compounds to correct it.  But, says the Journal of
Health,  " Increase of thirst, feverish heat, pains ofthe
head; or palpitation, with a sensation  of languor or
uneasiness, are  best obviated  by  a reduction of the
usual quantity  of food—and a  substitution, almost en.
tire, of vegetable  for  animal substances—Copious po-
tations of water, at this season  will be  found the very
best purifier ofthe blood  and  remover of all   peccant
matter;  while milk, as an article of diet,  with good
light bread, baked on the  preceeding day,  or vegeta-
bles, may be regarded as  the  grand cordial and  true 
123
tonic.  This is in many countries, the food ofthe ro-
bust ploughman and hardy mountaineer,  whose  spir-
its are strung in a very different key to what the sip-
per of wine and cordial, the bibber of beer and porter,
or the tippler of ardent spirits can boast of."
   During the relaxing heats of summer, essentially the
same course, as to diet, should be followed, as  in the
spring, by  all  who would  secure an immunity from dis-
ease.  The cool,  the light, and  the little should  be
sought, and the gross, the stimulating and the indigest-
ible, should  be shunned.  How many would  in this
way avoid the prevalent  fevers, dysenteries, and"othei
violent disorders, that cut down so many in early au-
tumn !   But when one and another falls before  these
complaints, no one thinks of looking  for their causes
to the dietetic excesses ofthe preceeding months.
   The ninth  and last general principle in respect to
diet, must be  expressed in a rather general manner, to
embrace those  points on which  there is a general
agreement among  dietetic  writers.   It is this :  Some
ARTICLES OF  DIET ARE  MORE  NUTRITIVE  AND  MORE
EASY OF DIGESTION THAN OTHERS ;  AND SOME  ARE EN-
TIRELY  DESTITUTE OF NOURISHMENT.
   I now come to a part of the subject which men gen-
erally regard as the essence of dietetics viz. the com-
parative value of  the  different kinds of food:  But I
have already  expressed the opinion that this is of much
less importance than is supposed.  Still it is a wide field
and must  not be left altogether  unexplored.   In re-
spect to a few articles of the Materia Alimentaria, as
Dr. Paris calls it,  I shall enter into a  minute  ex-
 amination; because they have a most important bearing
 upon man's temporal and eternal  interests: while  in
 respect  to the others, I  can only briefly notice their
 leading  properties, and effects. 
124
   All our alimentary substances are  naturally divided
into Liquid and Solid.  1 shall first consider those that
are liquid.  And  before  such an audience as this,  it
seems peculiarly  desireable, that we should  examine
philosophically, as  well  as politically, morally, and
religiously, the nature and effects of those alcoholic
and narcotic substances that are in such general use
among all classes of society ; particularly ardent spi-
rits, wine, opium, and  tobacco.   These are  not, in-
deed, all liquid : but coming  into  the same  class  of
substances, and having many  properties and relations
in common, they are most  conveniently examined to-
gether.   And in  this  examination, I am  determined
to  follow the  course  which  philosophy,  prudence,
patriotism, and religion point out as the path  of tem-
perance.  I am aware that it may lead me close  along
in front  of the  heavy batteries of  public  opinion,
prejudice, and evil habit.  But I am determined not
to turn to the right hand or to the left, however warm
may be  the fire that may open  upon me;  for  though
it may be easy to cut me down, it is  of little conse-
quence, provided the truth remain : and I feel strong
confidence that this will not be so easily overthrown ;
for magna est Veritas, et prevalebit.
   I am  aware  that many will consider me as taking
an injudicious course,  in attempting, as I  have  done,
and purpose  still  to do, to draw out and apply the
principles of temperance so closely, so rigidly, and so
universally.   They will  regard it as the sure way to
defeat my object: because men cannot be persuaded
to go  to such extremes.  They will not give up eve-
ry luxury, and every unecessary indulgence of the pal-
ate : and therefore, we  ought to direct  our efforts
against  those only that are most hurtful ;   leaving to 
125
them, the smaller and  comparatively harmless indul-
gences, if they will abandon the more pernicious.  To
grasp at so much, is to lose all.   Instead of attempting
to adopt such ascetic rules, men will reject the whole
as entirely Utopian and impracticable.
   That but few persons will be  induced to incorporate
the principles of universal temperance into their prac-
tice, is what I expect.   But that this furnishes a suffi-
cient reason for modifying and softening down these
rules, so  as to suit the caprices and  morbid appetites
of men, I do  not believe, for the following reasons.
   I. The moral philosopher knows  full well, that no
man will  ever perfectly put in practice the rules of
ethics:  yet he does not  regard  this as a reason  for
softening down and  modifying these  rules  to suit  the
humours of men.  But he presses them in all their un-
yielding strictness,  as  demanding perfect obedience.
And does the perfection of moral precepts render them
nugatory, or  furnish any excuse for  rejecting them ?
   2. The law of God, requiring supreme love  to him,
and sinless perfection  in every man,  was  never yet
obeyed completely  in its spirit by any. human being :
nor will it ever  be thus obeyed  in  this world.   But
God did not,  therefore, lower  its demands ;  and en-
deavour  to accommodate it to  man's deficiences  and
likings.  This would have converted it into a mass of
wax, which must be  moulded into different shapes in dif-
ferent states of society.  He has given a perfect and inva-
riable standard, and the nearer men come to it, in their
conduct, the better : but heaven  and earth must first
pass away, before he will lower down, or alter, any of
its requirements.   Now the  rules of temperance are
only  one  of  the branches of morality and religion.
Why then should we not urge them upon men exact- 
126
 ly in the form in  which philosophy,  experience, and
 religion, declare  them most perfect, and best calcula-
 ted to promote human happiness ?  This is what I have
 endeavoured to do.  If I have not stated them correct-
 ly, that is another thing : and I shall  most cheerfully
 see them corrected.  But I maintain that because men
 will not adopt them, it is no reason for giving them a
 modified accommodating form.   I have not taken my
 own experience as the infallible guide, expecting that
 every man must come up precisely to my  standard in
 diet, exercise and employment.  Indeed, I do not pre-
 tend that my own practice, is perfectly conformed to
 these rules, any more than it is to  the rules of morali-
 ty and religion.   But  because I have  not  the resolu-
 tion and the government of my appetites, sufficient to
 observe these  rules in perfection,  shall  I  there-
 fore,  bring  them  down to  my defective practice?
 Derived as  they are, from  the  principles of phi-
 losophy and medicine, and the  testimony  of general
 experience, I  have not dared to give them  any other
 form, even  when they  seemed at variance,  (as in a
 few minor  cases  they did,) with my own  particular
 limited experience.   And satisfied as I  am,  that he
 who comes nearest to their  perfect  observance, will
 be most benefited, I would not present them in an oth-
 er form, any more than I would modify the  principles
 of ethics or religion.  I wish it to be distinctly remem-
 bered, that my object is not to give merely good rules,
but the best rules ; not to point out  a standard that will
 be of some service; but a standard  which is the best
that can be  ascertained.   And I am confident that with
such a  standard before him, every man, who attends at
all to diet and regimen, will be more successful in his
 efforts, and  rise higher, than if that standard were loose 
127
and accommodated to the tastes and prejudices of so-
ciety.  And as to those, who are repulsed by its strict-
ness, they would probably be repulsed  by any rules
rigid enough to do them any good.
  3. But  in one branch of temperance, the experi-
ment of acting according  to what  would be called  a
more liberal and accommodating principle,  has been
tried;  and has utterly failed.  A few years since, nu-
merous associations  were" formed in the land, whose
object was to discourage the intemperate use  of ar-
dent spirits, by lending the power of example in fa-
vor of a moderate  use : but since men's views differ-
ed as to  what constituted a  moderate use, the result
was, that every one used just as much as  he  chose ;
while the  drunkard ridiculed  the whole plan as  a
mere farce.  But just so soon as the fundamental prin-
ciple of total abstinence  was taken as a guide, which
multitudes still consider as too rigid and self-denying
for their adoption, intemperance received a prodigious
shock ; and temperance commenced  its  march, from
conquest to conquest, and from victory to victory.
   Now this history is  a most instructive lesson, as  to
other branches of the same subject.  I never yet  saw
a  drunkard, or a glutton,  who  would not join  me,  in
condemning luxurious  eating and drinking :  But where
does all this lake place ?  Oh, I am not guilty of it—
but in some cities or  towns far hence, the rich and
the indolent are very intemperate.  And just so will
all men look somewhere  else  than to their own prac-
tice for the evil;  until the rules of diet are  applied
so  clearly  and  particularly,  as  to  bring  home the
faithful warning, Thou art the man.   Merely to tell
men that they ought  to be very temperate in their
diet, while you  do not mark  out the limits of temper- 
128
ance, nor apply its rules, is one ofthe most useless of
all kinds of instruction.
  4. Finally;   the character  of my  audience, as it
seems to me,  renders  it peculiarly  proper,  that I
should urge a very high standard of temperance  for
their adoption.   They are young  men, who cannot
plead the power of bad habits, indulged till they have
become a second nature, as the more advanced in life
often do.   Nor, can many of them tell us of long con-
tinued infirmities, and debilitated constitutions, which
might receive too severe a shock from great and sud-
den changes in  living.   In short, they have that youth-
ful  vigour, and that pliability  of constitution, which
will enable them with comparative ease, to adopt the
most thorough  system of training, that philosophy and
experience approve.   To them, therefore, may the
inspired principle be addressed in its strictest mean-
ing: Every man that strivethfor the mastery, is temper-
ate in all things.  And the peculiar reason for addres-
sing it to them, may be  given in the words of another
inspired writer :  / have written unto you, young men,
because ye  are  strong.   Moreover,  these  young men
are students ; who ought, therefore, to sacrifice every
sensual indulgence, and  be willing  to endure any self
denial, whereby they may attain vigour and clearness
of thought, and  the  power  of close application  to
study: for they are the  young Samsons, who are here-
after  to  help  sustain the pillars  of our intellectual
greatness.   They  are  to  furnish  a  quota  of our
future legislators,  and  civilians,  and  ministers, and
missionaries.   Add  to  all this, they are  coming for-
ward at an age, when the energies of the human mind
are  waking up  to mighty efforts;  and  when they will
need every aid, which mental and bodily discipline can 
129
furnish, to sustain them in the  high places of conflict
And shall I talk to  such  men, in such  circumstances,
of making a compromise  between temperance and ap-
petite ? Shall I fear that  they will be repelled by any
rules,  however strict upon  animal  nature,  if their
effect be to fit them  for the high  and  holy achieve-
ments  on which they have set their hearts ?  And es-
pecially when I recollect, that these young men  are
most peculiarly exposed  to be assaulted and overcome
by  dyspepsy ;  and  that every year we see no small
draft  made upon their  number, by this  unmerciful
scourge; shall I fear that the only weapons by which
they can be defended, and  which I am endeavouring
to  put into their  hands, will be  too  bright and
keen ?  Were 1 addressing  an assembly of farmers,
or  hardy mountaineers,  of soldiers, or of sailors,  I
should hardly need  to remind them that they had stom-
achs ; so securely defended are they against this ene-
my, by the plaited,  seven fold armour  in which their
occupations encase them:  But not so with  literary
men ; or any others of sedentary habits.  They must
be taught, that such a subtle and desperate foe, cannot
be  repulsed, or kept at bay, by parleying ;  or by any
armour half buckled on, or by any telum imbelle Pri-
ami.  He must be met in the " panoply complete" of
temperance : And if I can persuade the young men of"
this, or  any other  literary institution, resolutely to
buckle it on, and to stand always  braced for the con-
flict, I shall not fear to begin the shout of victory.
12 
IIICTURS  IV.
 Alcoholic  and Narcotic Substances, as Articles of com-
   mon Use:  viz.  Ardent Spirits,  Wine, Opium, and
   Tobacco.   Appeal to Students against their  use.   I.
   On the ground  of Philosophy.— Water recommended.
   II.  On the ground of Self Interest and Prudence.  III.
   Of Patriotism.  IV. Of Religion.

 Gentlemen,
   The substances in common  use, wdiich contain the
 largest quantity of alcohol, are ardent spirit and wine.
 The proportion of this principle, in 100 parts, of the
 most usual varieties of these articles, is as follows :
        Rum                       54
        Brandy,(French)            53
        Gin                        52
        Scotch Whiskey             54
        Port Wine     from   19  to   26
        Madeira       "    19  "   24
        Current Wine                21
        Sherry, Lisbon and Malaga, from 18 to 20
        Claret       from   13  to   17
        Tokay                     1Q
  Nearly all the wines used  in this country contain a
much larger proportion of alcohol than the above ta-
  •Thi.; Lecture has been recently  published, as a Prize Es-
say, by the American Temperance Society ;  and it is inserted
here by  their permission. 
131
ble indicates :  as it is well known to be the practice
of many dealers in wine, to add brandy  and other ar-
ticles, to give them more life  and a richer color.  In-
deed, it  is stated by  a most respectable medical au-
thority, that " for ever}' gallon of pure wine which  is
sold, there is perhaps a pipe, or fifty times the quan-
tity, of that  which is adulterated, and in various  man-
ners sophisticated—the whole, without exception, the
source of a thousand disorders, and in many instances
an active poison imperfectly disguised."!
  Of the narcotic substances  commonly used, opium
and tobacco contain much the  largest quantity of the
narcotic principle.  I would, therefore, solicit the at-
tention of every  student and  other intelligent young
man, to an examination of the nature, relations, and
effects of spirit,  wine, opium, and  tobacco ;  in the
hope of persuading them all,  totally  to  abstain  from
their use.
  I group these articles together, as alike to be rejec-
ted,  because  they  agree in being poisonous in  their
natures;  unnecessary to the  healthy;  incapable  of
affording nourishment to the body ; fascinating to dis-
eased  appetite, and destructive to property, health,
and life.
  Of these articles,  however,  ardent spirit is  pre-
eminent in the work  of destruction : and, therefore,
abstinence from  this,  is  of preeminent importance.
But wine, opium, and tobacco, in all the Protean forms
they are made  to assume,  number not a few among
their victims.  They ought, therefore,  to be all pro-
scribed together.
"Journal of Health, Vol. I. p. 136. 
132
   Moreover, abstinence from one or more of these"
articles, while  we  retain the habit  of using any of
them, most effectually neutralizes the influence of our
example in favor of temperance.  " I should prefer
to use  wine, instead of rum, or whisky,"  says an in-
temperate man ; " but wine is too expensive.  Give
me your wine,  and  I  will  abandon  spirit."   "I am
ready to abstain from alcohol," says  another,  " when
you do  from tobacco."   This appeal must effectually
shut the mouth, and destroy the influence, of any one,
who will persist in the use of wine or tobacco.
   By total abstinence from the alcoholic and  narcotic
substances above mentioned, I mean an entire disuse
of them, except when they are prescribed  for bodily
disease, by a regular physician, who is  not  himself
addicted to their use.  Like most other poisons, they
may sometimes be employed advantageously, as medi-
cines ;  though several medical men of  the  first stand-
ing in our country, have pronounced all of them, ex-
cept opium, to be unnecessary, even  to the  physician;
since in all cases, as good, or better  substitutes, may
be employed.
   The appeal,  which I now proceed to make, to eve-
ry scholar and  intelligent young man,  urging him to
abstain entirely from ardent  spirit, wine, opium, and
tobacco, is based
   I. Upon the  principles of philosophy.
   These articles, it is well known, have all a vegeta-
ble origin.   Alcohol  is the principle  that gives to ar-
dent spirit  and wine their intoxicating  power ; while
the narcotic principle gives  to opium and tobacco si-
milar properties.   In popular  language,  alcohol  is
classed among the stimulants ; and opium and tobacco
among  the narcotics;  which are substances,  whose ul- 
133
  timate effect upon the  animal system, is,  to produce
  torpor and insensibility ; but taken in small quantities,
  they at first exhilirate.   And  since alcohol does  the
  same,  most medical writers, at the present day, class
  it among the narcotics.
    All  vegetable substances consist essentially of three
  simple principles;  oxygen,  carbon,  and  hydrogen.
  These, and these only, compose  the sweetest as well
  as the  most acid parts of plants :  the mildest, as well
  as the  most powerful;  the most salutary, as well as
  the most poisonous.   Nor can chemistry discover any
  difference in their composition, except that the ele-
  ments  above mentioned, usually exist  in them in dif-
  ferent  proportions.  A  knowledge of  the chemical
  constitution of the narcotics  under consideration,  af-
  fords no assistance, therefore, in determining whether
  they are salutary or injurious.  Their physical effects
 upon animals, however, prove them to be active poi-
 sons.
   But what are we to understand  by a poison?   Any
 thing, which being introduced into the animal system,
 proves  detrimental, or fatal, may properly be denom-
 inated poisonous : so that the same substance may be
 a poison, or not,  according to the  quantity and cir-
 cumstances  in which it is taken.  Thus, a very small
 quantity of  arsenic, and  a moderate amount  of animal
 food, may be taken with equal impunity, and  some-
 times with equal benefit.  But  a large quantity of the
 food proves sometimes as fatal  to health and life, as a
 large dose of the arsenic ; and the effects of the two
 are not  much dissimilar.   Smallness of quantity and a
certain  obscurity in  the  mode of operation, seem in-
cluded in Dr.  Johnson's  definition of the word.   But
these are relative circumstances merely, and therefore
                12* 
134
not essential.   If  the  effect be rapid and powerful
from small quantities, the poison is  said to be active.
In order to determine, therefore,  whether the  sub-
stances  under  consideration belong to  this class, we
have  only to compare  their effects  upon the animal
system, with that of articles universally acknowledged
to be  actively poisonous.
   As  to Morphia and Nicotin, which are the  quintes-
sence of opium and tobacco, there will be no  dispute.
" A grain  and  a  half of morphia,"  says  Dr. Ure,
" taken at three different times, produced such violent
symptoms upon three young men of seventeen years
of age, that Serturner was  alarmed, lest  the conse-
quences should have proved fatal."  " A drop or two
of the chemical oil of tobacco," says a medical writ-
er, " being  put upon the  tongue of a cat, produces
violent convulsions and death itself in the space ef a
minute."*
   In the various modes in which opium is used, whe-
ther in pills, tinctures,  confections, electuaries,  or
anodynes,  such  as  laudanum, paregoric, &c; or whe*
ther tobacco be chewed, or smoked, or taken as snuff,
the virulent  poisons above  mentioned, which give
them  their power, are greatly weakened by  mixture
with other substances.  Still, the paw of the lion can
not be entirely  hid.  A few grains of common opium,
indeed, will destroy a person unaccustomed to it: and
a large  quantity of  tobacco  has produced  the same
effect.  The habitual use of opium  brings on weak-
ness of the digestive organs  and imbecility of mind ;
a remarkable sottishness  in the appearance, and  pre-
* Ree's Cyclopedia,  Article Tobacco. 
135
mature dissolution.   In those not accustomed to it, to-
bacco excites nausea, vomiting, dizziness, indigestion,
mental dejection, and in short, the whole train of ner-
vous complaints.  No wonder that James  the first, on
seeing such effects from this " Nicotian Drug," should
have sent forth his  " Counterblast to Tobacco," and
edicts still more powerful, to prevent its introduction
into England: that the  Pope excommuuicated those
who used it in the churches: and that the civil power
was arrayed against it in Russia,  Turkey, and Persia.
But tobacco has triumphed ;  and  the only hope  of its
extirpation  from our land, is by  rousing against it a
mightier power than any Eastern despot wields;  and
that is, enlightened public opinion.
   Most of the other powerful vegetable poisons, such
as henbane, hemlock, thorn  apple, prussic acid, dead-
ly nightshade,  foxglove and poison sumach,  have an
effect on the animal system scarcely to be distiuguish-
ed from that of morphia and nicotin, or opium and to-
bacco.   The operation of alcohol is also very similar.
These  poisons produce nausea, vertigo, vomiting, ex-
hiliration  of spirits for a time,  and subsequent  stu-
por, and even total  insensibility ;  and so  does  al-
cohol.   They impair the organs  of digestion, and may
bring  on fatuity, palsy, delirium, or apoplexy;  and
so may alcohol.   These  effects, indeed, usually fol-
low only in a  slight degree from spirit, as  it is com-
monly drank;  because the  alcohol is so much  dilu-
ted.  Even spirit of the first proof, contains, as we have
seen, only about 50 parts of alcohol in 100: yet seven
 drams introduced into the stomach of a rabbit, produc-
 death in an hour and a quarter :* and six drams prov-
 ed fatal to a robust  dog in  three  and  a half hours, j
         * Rees' Cyclop. Article, Poison.
         f NancredPs Abridgment of Orfila on Poison. 
136
  Nor are the cases rare, in which alcohol, thus diluted
  has  proved  almost immediately fatal to men.   Were
  the alcohol perfectly pure,  or undiluted, these effects
  would be doubly powerful.  Now all the powerful poi-
  sons, if mixed with other substances, so as to be less con-
  centrated, mgjjr be used for a very long time, even ha-
  bitually, without seeming to produce  any very injurious
  effects.   A horse may take a dram of arsenic daily and
 continue to thrive : and a very small quantity seems
 not to affect a man .   In short, there is so close a re-
  semblance between the  operation of alcohol and most
  ofthe powerful vegetable poisons, that to regard the
 latter as poisonous and not the former, would be highly
 unphilosophical.   Accordingly the best medical  writers
 ofthe present day, do class alcohol among the poisons,
 as well as opium and tobacco.
   It  is  surely reasonable to infer from  hence, that
 these  substances must be very  dangerous,  when em-
 ployed as artk-les of luxury or diet;  or when adminis-
 tered as medicines, except under the  direction ofthe
 regular physician.  He may use them (especially opium)
 in many  cases,  perhaps, with advantage.   For the
 same substance, that is deadly  poison to the constitu-
 tion in health, may be eminently salutary  in sickness.
 And a similar difference exists in different constitu-
 tions ;  which is  the reason that some men  are worn
 out much sooner than others  by the use of stimulants
 and narcotics.  But the  physician is the only proper
 person to judge ofthe cases in which these substances
 ought to be used;  and ofthe quantity  in which they
should be used.   For every man to take the business
into his own hands, without  any knowledge of medi-
cine, and  to undertake to determine  when, and how
much, of ardent spirits, wine, opium  and tobacco, are 
137
necessary for him, is just as absurd, and as dangerous, as
if he were to prescribe  and deal out arsenic, or cor-
rosive sublimate,  or calomel.   Nor can the man in
health do it to gratify his appetite, without certain
injury to his constitution.    He  may not perceive
injurious  effects for years, on account of the imme-
diate exhiliration;  but  complicated   chronic  com-
plaints will, after a time, creep upon him, making life
a burden, and ending in premature dissolution ; though
he may impute his sufferings to other causes, and even
die, folded with unsuspicious confidence, in the arms of
his murderer.
  There  can be no doubt that opium,  in the hands of
a judicious physician, is a most valuable medicine ; nor
any  more doubt, that  when  used habitually, or even
occasionally,  without  medical advice, it is almost uni-
formly and highly injurious.   We have, indeed, few
genuine opium eaters among us; but  the  laudanum
and paregoric phial are considered almost indispensa-
ble in every  family.    Nor  does the mother hesitate,
night after night, to quell the  cries of her infant child,
by administering increasing doses of these poisons, and
thus almost infallibly ruining its constitution.  The ner-
vous invalid  also, resorts to this  remedy for allaying
the irritation of his system and procuring repose.  And
more especially  does  the delicate votary of fashiona-
ble life, make this her nightly resort,  on returning at
midnight from the assembly, the dance,  or the tea par-
ty,  " all  soul within and all  nerve without."   And
nearly all these persons, numerous as  they have  be-
come among us, are  probably ignorant that they are
thus  destroying themselves and their children.   But if
they will not listen to  the following awakening  warn-
ing, coming from high medical authority, they are ir-
retrievably ruined. 
133
  " However repugnant to our feelings as rational be-
ings may be the  vice  of drunkeness, it  is not  more
hurtful in its effects than the  practice of taking  laud-
anum "—" This is not the language of exageration or
speculative fear.  We speak from a full knowledge of
the facts.   We repeat it—the person who gives into
the habit  for weeks, (he  may not reach to months,
or if he pass these,  his years  will be but few and mis-
erable,) of daily measuring out to himse|f his drops of
laudanum, or his pills of opium, or the deleterious sub-
stance, call it tincture, solution, mixture, potion, what
you will, is destroying himself as surely as if he  were
swallowing arsenic, or had the pistol  applied  to his
head.  The fire of disease may for a  while  be con-
cealed—he may smile incredulous at  our prediction ;
but the  hour of retribution will come, and the conse-
quences will be terrible."*
  Not less  decided is  the  testimony  of physicians
against the use of tobacco in  every form.  " Did the
least benefit result to  the system  from  its  habitual
use," says the same authority, " there  would then  be
some reason  why,  with  all its  loathsomeness of
taste and smell,  it should  have become so general a
favorite. • But we know, on the contrary, that all who
habituate themselves to its use, sooner or later expe-
rience its noxious power.  Tobacco is in fact an abso-
lute poison.  A very moderate quantity introduced in-
to the  system—even  applying the moistened leaves
over the stomach—has  been  known very suddenly to
extinguish  life."  In whatever form it  may be em-
ployed,  a portion of the active principles of the tobac-
co, mixed with the saliva, invariably finds its way to
'Journal of Health vol. 1 p. 162—163 
139
the stomach, and disturbs or impairs the functions of
that organ.  Hence most, if not all, of  those who are
accustomed to the use of tobacco,  labor under dyspep-
tic symptoms.   They experience, at intervals, a want
of  appetite---nausea—inordinate thirst—vertigo—
pains and  distentions of the  stomach—disagreeable
sleep, and are more or less emaciated."
  How very pernicious, then,  must be that filthy prac-
tice, to  which some are given, of swallowing down
purposely, a quantity of tobacco spittle after meals, to
assist digestion! Or the  still more degrading habit, of
chewing snuff; to which, it.is  said, not a few  delicate
ladies are addicted !  Alas, to what  depths of degra-
dation  will brutal appetite bow  down the immortal
mind !
  The common opinion, that  tobacco, in  some of its
forms, is serviceable for headaches, weak eyes,  the
preservation of the teeth, sweetening the breath,  cold
and watery stomachs, &c. is mere delusion.  " At first
had recourse to, by some, for the relief of headache, or
disordered eyes,—snuff, when long continued," says a
medical writer, " brings on  those very evils it  was in-
tended to remove."   And here I am  happy in  having
permission to give  the opinion of one of the ablest
physicians in Massachusetts, as to the use of tobacco
in another form.  " The chewing of tobacco," says he,
" is not necessary or useful in any case that I know of:
and I have abundant  evidence to satisfy me  that its
use may  be  discontinued without pernicious conse-
quences.  The common belief, that  it is beneficial to
the teeth,  is,  I apprehend, entirely  erroneous.  On
the contrary, by poisoning  and relaxing the vessels of
the gums, it may  impair the healthy  condition of the
vessels  belonging to the membranes  of the  socket, 
140
 with the condition of which, the slate of the  tooth is
 closly connected."*
   The practice of smoking is alike deleterious.  If it
 were ever useful  as a medicine, the habit, by  deaden-
 ing the nervous  sensibility, must prevent every good
 effect, and then it becomes  injurious only :   Indeed,
 " even in persons  much  accustomed to it, it  may be
 carried so far as to prove a mortal poison."!
   The counsel  given by the Journal of Health, is,
 therefore, in perfect accordance with  the  principles
 of medical philosophy.  "Our advice is, to desist, im-
 mediately and entirely, from  the use of tobacco in ev-
 ery form, and in any quantity,  however small."—" A
 reform of this, like of all evil habits, whether of smok-
 ing,  chewing,  drinking,  and  other  vicious indulgen-r
 cies, to be efficacious, must be  entire, and complete,
 from the  very moment when  the person is convinced,
 either by his fears  or his reason, of its pernicious  ten-
 dency and operation."
   Ardent  spirit and wine are  considered  very  ser-
 viceable, by  multitudes, in several circumstances.  Let
 us see whether this opinion is correct.
   Is it  necessary for  the   farmer,  to  sustain  him
 under protracted labour and fatigue ?  The experiment
 has been fairly and  repeatedly tried, by many of the
 most hard  working  men  in  the country;  and their
 testimony  is, that   spirit is  decidedly injurious, by
increasing  the very evils it  is  supposed  to remove;
notwithstanding  the temporary  exhiliration  which
it produces.
   Is it  necessary  for the soldier?   Says Dr.  Jack-
• Letter from Dr. John C. Warren of Boston, March, 1830.
t Rees' Cyc. Article Tobacco.                  ' 
141
on,  a distingushed  surgeon  in  the  British army;
as  quoted in  a  former  Lecture,  " my health has
been tried  in all ways;  and by the aids of tem-
perance  and  hard  work, I  have worn out two  ar*
niies, in two wars, and probably could wear out anoth-
er before my period  of old age arrives.   I eat no ani-
mal food, drink no wine or malt  liquor,  or  spirits  of
any kind ; 1 wear no flannel;  and neither regard wind
nor rain heat nor cold  when business is in the way."*
A general officer  in the British service thus testified
also more, than thirty years ago.   "But above all, let
ever one who values his  health, avoid drinking spirits
when heated ; that is adding fuel  to the fire, and is apt
to produce   the  most  dangerous  inflammatory  com-
plaints."  " Not a more dangerous error exists, than
the notion that the habitual  use  of spirituous liquors
prevents  the  effects of  cold.  On the contrary, the
truth is', that those who drink most frequently ofthcm
are soonest  affected  by  severe weather.  The daily
use of these liquors tends  greatly  to emaciate  and
waste the strength of the body.'*j
  The Roman soldiers, who conquered the world, and
bore a weight of armour that would almost crush a
modern warrior, drank nothing stronger than vinegar
and  water.
  Are alcoholic  mixtures necessary for sailors?  In
1619, the crew of a Danish ship,  of sixty  men, well
supplied with provisions  and  ardent spirit, attempted
to pass the winter in Hudson's Bay: but fifty eight  of
them died before spring.   An English  crew of twenty
two  men, however, destitute of  ardent  spirit, and
obliged to be almost constantly exposed to the cold,

  * Sure Methods of Improving Health Sic. p. 79.
  V  Military Mentor, vol.  1.  p.24—25.
                      13 
142
wintered in the same Bay, and only two of them died.
Eight Englishmen did the same,  in like circumstances,
and all returned to England :  and four Russians, left
without  spirit  or provisions in  Spitzbergen,  lived
there six years and afterwards returned home.  In ac-
cordance with these facts, it is found,  that when sai-
lors are exposed in high latitudes to cold and wet, those
endure best, and live longest, who drink no spirit.*
  Is spirit  necessary for slaves, who are exposed to
a Summers's sun in warm climates?   " On three con-
tiguous estates," in the island of Cuba, says Dr. Abbot,
"of more than  four .hundred slaves, has  been  made
with fine success,  the experiment of a strict exclusion
of ardent spirits, at all  seasons ofthe year.  The suc-
cess has far exceeded his (the proprietors) most san-
guine hopes.  Peace and quietness,  and contentment,
reign among the negroes ;  Creoles are reared in  much
greater numbers than formerly ;  the estates are in the
neatest and highest state of cultivation,  and order and
discipline are maintained with  very little correction,
and the mildest means."!
  The n en in Europe, who are trained  to  become
pugilists; and to  whom it is the object to give the
greatest strength and most perfect health,  are not al-
  * Extract from the New Yoj.k Mercury  of March 31*/ 1830.
On Thursday night a very fair experiment was made on the
effect of spirilous liquors to  sustain men under fatigue.  The
vessel was on Barnegat Shoals when the storm came on, and
through the night was in  great peril.  All hands  drank spirit
except one man sixty years of age.  He  stood at the helm
from five o'clock in the evening of Thursday, until ten o'clock
on Friday, the  sea b%rtakine»upbn him constantly,  when he
came off in good condition—All the men who drank spirits had
given  out several hours before."—Set also, Rees"1 Cyclop. Ar-
ticle Cold.
             f Abbot's Letters  from Cuba. 
143
lowed ardent spirit at all;  and the best trainers  pro-
hibit wine.
  Now if spirit and wine are not only unnecessary, but
decidedly injurious, in  the  extreme  cases  that have
been pointed out, surely they cannot be  beneficial to
the student, who is subject to none of these exposures.
Some, however, will say, that their  moderate  use by
such persons greatly assists digestion.
  " It is  a common enough belief," says an-European
medical writer, " that a dram after meals promotes di-
gestion.   But there cannot be a more erroneous opin-
ion. Those, indeed, who have acquired this pernicious
habit, may  find, that without their usual stimulus, di-
gestion  goes tardily on.  But  this only bespeaks the
infirm and diseased state to which  the  stomach  has
been reduced.   For the digestion of  the healthy  and
unaccustomed, is sure to be interrupted  and retarded
by a dram.   Common  observation  might satisfy us of
this.  But the question has  been submitted  to direct
experiment by Dr. Beddoes  ; and he found that  the
animals  to  whom  spirits had  been  given along with
their food, had digested nearly one half less, than  oth-
er similar animals'from whom this stimulus had been
withheld."*
  Physicians were, indeed, formerly in the habit of
recommending a little brandy and water, or wine, to
those affected with the  dyspepsy.  But the  opinion of
the ablest  of them now,  at least  in this country, is,
that such tonics, in most cases of this sort, give only a
transient and deceitful relief; and in fact tend to ex-
haust the invalids scanty strength.   Indeed, they main-
* Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Article Aliment, vol. 1. p. 498. 
144
tain that "permanent strength is never given by stim-
ulating medicines."!  A  distinguished scholar  of  our
country, who has been a  dyspeptic for " some thirty
years,"  says, "that the worst of all tonics is ardent spir-
its.   For a dyspeptic, however, wines of all kinds are a
deadly poison ;  even worse than brandy, but for differ-
ent reasons."
  Many suppose that spirit,, wine, and tobacco,  possess
a wonderful efficacy in resisting contagion :   and hence
they are freely used by those in attendance upon the
sick.  But their  only value in this  respect, appears
to consist, in inspiring confidence in those who employ
them ; and this is a state of mind, more favourable than
that of fear, for repelling contagion.   But on the other
hand, the insensibility produced by these  substances,
is a far more prolific source of danger ; so that  the
man under their influence, is peculiarly exposed to con-
tract disease.  A single phial ofthe chloride of lime,
or soda, (substances  now easily  obtained in our coun-
try,) applied occasionally to the nose  in the rooms of
the sick, affords more security against contagion, than
all the alcohol, and all the wine, and  all the tobacco,
and all the aromatics in the  land.  'Let  a man  furnish
himself  with this safeguard,  let him see that the rooms
ofthe sick are well ventilated, and if he please, fumi-
gated with the  chlorides, and let him not go to fasting
to visit them, and he has taken the best methods known,
for avoiding the contagion of dangerous maladies.
  It would be passing by a most important part ofthe
philosophy of this subject, not to endeavour to give a
true account ofthe operation of alcohol upon the ani-
  tSee Dr. Hales' able Essay in the Journal of Humanity for
Nov. 18th, 1829, &o. 
145
tnal system.  Water, milk, and  solid food, strengthen
that system, by being actually converted into its sub-
stance.   In the stomach they are changed into a pulp-
ly mass, called chyme ; thence they pass into the bowels,
where  their nutricious portions become chyle ; and
this, being taken up by the lacteals,  passes  into the
blood;  which, in  its circulation,  conveys the chyle
to every  part of the system  that needs to have its
wastes repaired.   Does alcohol operate  in  the  same
manner  to invigorate the bodily  powers?  In other
words, does it impart any nourishment to the system?
  That the water, with which alcohol, when drunk, is
diluted,  might be nutricious, if it were to pass into
the blood, cannot  be  doubted.    Usually,  however, it
does not go into the  blood; but is thrown off by those
organs, " which are set as  waste gates to the system,"
because,  the  system is already  supplied  with  fluid
enough.   This excess of liquid must weaken the di-
gestive power ofthe  stomach over nutricious substan-
ces, by too much  diluting the gastric juice ;  while the
alcohol  will  have a similar debilitating  effect,  by
exhausting the stomach's excitability.   Moreover, it is
now ascertained, that alcohol,frequently, at least, passes
unchanged into the  blood ;*  so that if you distil a
  * M. Majendie tied up the passage from the stomach to the
intestines in a dog, and then injected alcohol into the stomach.
In half an hour afterwards the chyle was examined and con-
tained no alcohol; but its odour was very sensible in the blood,
•which yielded it on distillation.  Hence, alcohol may pass in
some mysterious manner, and through somehitheito undiscov-
ered passage, directly from the stomach into the blood—per-
haps through the agency of galvanism.   May it not pass into
any other part of the system in the same manner, and corrupt
the various secretions ;  and when a man is thus filled with al-
cohol, will  he not be liable to take fire : and will  not this ex-
plain the spontaneous combustion of drunkards, which in sev-
eral  instances has undoubtedly taken place.  Paris on Diet,
p. 46.
                   13* 
146
drunkard's blood, you will obtain pure alcohol: fndeetf,
it has been found in the ventricles ofthe brain.*  Now
alcohol in the blood cannot nourish  any part of  the
animal system,  because no part of that system is com-
posed of alcohol:  and  there is  no reason to suppose
that this substance is decomposed after getting into the
circulation. All the organs, as an ingenious medical wri-
ter remarks, 'decline' this alcohol, as the blood conveys
it  round  to them,   " The head says, 'my nerves are
calmer, my tboirghts are clearer, without it,—I beg to
be excused :  the heart says, 'my motions are more reg-
ular, my  affections are  purer, without  it,—I have no
occasion for  it:' the limbs say,  ' our strength is fir   -
er , our vigor is more durable without it,—we need it
not:' all  say, ' it cannot nourish us, it cannot sustain
us,—we will none  of it:' and at length rejected by all,
except by those  organs whose  peculiar office it is  to
convey out of the blood, its refuse and worthless parts,
it is taken up by them and thrown out  of  the body-"!
   No nourishment in alcohol!  How can this be, when
it is extracted from molasses, grain, and  other substan-
ces confessedly nutricious, and seems  to constitute
their essence?  And how is it,  that intemperate  men
not only  live, but grow corpulent, upon less  solid  food
 than the temperate ?
    How  can it  be expected,  I  reply, that a stomach
 so  debilitated as the  drunkard's, so worn  out by
 constant  excitement,  should   be  able  to  digest  as
 much food as that of the  temperate man ?  And  who
 can  mistake the  bloatedness  of  a diseased body,
for firm  and robust muscle ?   As to the origin of alco-
hol, it is a  mistaken  opinion, that it exists  naturally
   * Journal of Humanity, Nov. 18th 1829. See also Musser's
 Address, p. 5.
  ■fc Journal of Humanity, Dec. 9th  1829, 
147
and  originally in any kind of fruit, or grain.   For it
always results from the fermentation, or incipient de-
composition,  of  those substances that contain, or will
produce, sugar.   Before any part of fruit or grain can
become alcohol, its nature must be as entirely chang-
ed, as that of manure, before it can become the stalk,
or flower, or fruit, of a  plant.
   Since spirit is obtained from grain and other  nutri-
cious substances, some have inferred, that God intend-
ed it  for  drink, as much as  he intended  flour for
food.  But the alcohol  does not exist naturally in the
grain, as  flour does: nor could  it be  obtained from
the  grain, in much  quantity, without  the artificial
processes  of fermentation and  distillation.   True,
the  laws of  chemical affinity,  which God has  estab-
lished, operate in the production of alcohol, by these
processes.  And so they operate in  the production of
the  most hateful and dangerous gases, resulting from
the  decomposition of vegetable and animal substances:
and if this fact proves  that alcohol is to  be  used  for
drink, it proves equally,  that these gases are to  be
used in respiration.
   Some too,  cannot conceive  how alcohol should be
 poisonous, since the substances from which it is pro-
 duced, are so eminently  salutary.   But if alcohol be
 an entirely new substance, formed out of the ruins of
 the grain, cider, &c. why should  it be  thought any
 more strange, that it  should be  a poison, than  that
 poisonous gases should result from the decomposition
 of  the  sweetest and  most  nutricious vegetable  and
 animal substances.
   But if alcohol afford no  nourishment, how can it
 suddenly inspire a man with such surprising vigor ? 1
 answer, by its action on the nervous system, whereby
 the latent energies of the constitution are roused  into 
148
 action.   God  has given to the  animal  constitution, a
 capacity to exert an amount  of  physical power, much
 superior to what is necessary for ordinary occasions.
 The key to this store house  of strength, is the excita-
 bility of the system ;  and this  is put into requisition
 by the action of  alcohol.   Alcohol does  not create
 any new physical power ; it  merely rouses into action
 that which already  exists in  the constitution.
   If such be a true account  of the operation of alco-
 hol, and I might appeal to the highest medical autho-
 rities for its correctness, it is  very obvious that this sub-
 stance must prematurely exhaust the system.  That se-
 cret energ}', which nature has in reserve  for seasons
 of great bodily and  mental effort, for extremes of heat
 and cold, hunger, thirst, and disease, is thus prodigally
 and irretrievably wasted.  It is, as if a powerful prince
 should unlock  the magazines collected by  his prede-
 cessors, against a time of need,  and wantonly expend
 them upon his lusts;  while  powerful enemies were
 hovering along his frontiers.
   The  friends of  temperance  are  very  frequently
 urged to point out any bad effects, resulting to a man's
 constitution, from a very moderate and prudent use of
 ardent spirit, or wine.  In the  statement  just made,
 we have the  answer.   The premature  exhaustion
 which is thus infallibly produced, in a greater or lesa
 degree, renders the individual peculiarly liable to  the
 attacks  of violent  and  dangerous  disorders.  He is
 seized with fever, or dropsy,  or  apoplexy; but never
 suspects that his prudent  use of spirit or wine, is  the
cause.    But his  physician  understands  the  matter;
 though prudence  may prevent his even hinting  his
suspicions.
  Nor is this all.   This  premature exhaustion ren- 
149
ders the system far less  able to resist disease, than if
it  had been subjected to no  unnatural  excitement.
Hence the most moderate drinker, is far  more apt to
sink under his disorder, than  he, who is  rigidly tem-
perate.   Listen to the  opinion of one of the most re-
spectable  medical societies in our land, on this point-
" Beyond comparison," say they, " greater is the risk
of life undergone in nearly all  diseases of whatever
description, when  they  occur  in those  unfortunate
men, who have been previously disordered by these
poisons."*
  Philosophy  urges  total abstinence  upon literary
men, on the ground also, that spirit, wine, opium, and
tobacco, exert a pernicious influence upon theintel-
lect.  They tend directly to  debilitate  the digestive
organs ; and we cannot take a more effectual course to
cloud the  understanding, weaken the memory, unfix
the attention, and confuse all the mental operations,
than by thus entailing  upon ourselves the  whole hate-
ful  train of nervous  maladies.   These can bow down
to the earth an intellect of giant strength, and make
it grind in bondage, year after year, like Samson shorn
of his locks, and deprived of his vision.   Would  to
God, there were  not so many melancholy  illustrations
of this position,  in  the history  of drunkenness in our
land.  Alas, intemperance seems to select the bright-
est  intellects as her victims,  that  she may show  her
omnipotence by crushing them in her iron embrace.
  But to pass by  the sot  and the drunkard ;  I main-
tain that the unnatural excitement,  which a moderate
and  occasional use of alcoholic and narcotic substances
  * Report of the  Committee  of  the Philadelphia  Medical
Society, Jan. 24, 1829. 
150
produces, is unfavorable to clearness and vigor in
mental operations.   The dizziness  of the brain, and
exhilaration accompanying their use, especially that
of  alcohol,  what  are  they, but  incipient delirium,
and the premonitions of apoplexy.   The mental ope-
rations may, indeed,  seem to be  quickened;  but  to
what purpose is it, that the machine is furiously run-
ning and buzzing, after the balance wheel is taken off!
   From  sizch a severe denunciation as this, however,
must not the mild and healthful exhilaration of an oc~
casional glass of wine be exempted ?  Have not liter-
ary men, and even some physicians of early times, de-
clared that  " wine inspires a genius favourable to the
poet?"
   True, I answer, there has been a deep delusion on
this, as well as other important subjects:  Armstrong,in
his generally excellent poem, on the Art of Preserving
Health, even advises men to  " to learn to  revel."  But
a more modern poet, of no mean name, could say,
    " We never drew our inspiration from the flask."*
 And  more  modern, and not  less able physicians  too,
 have testified as follows :  " My whole experience as-
 sures me that wine is no friend to vigor or activity of
 mind.   It whirls  the fancy  beyond the judgment and
 leaves the  body and soul in a state of listless indolence
 and sloth.   The   man that on arduous occasions is to
 trust to  his own judgment must preserve an equilibri-
 um of mind, alike proof against contingences as inter-
 nal passions.   He must be  prompt in his decisions;
 bold in  enterprise ;   fruitful  in  resources;  patient
 under expectation;  not elated with  success;  or de-
 pressed with disappointment.  But if his spirits are of
* Cumberland's Retrospection. 
151
that standard as to need a fillip from wine, he will nev*r
conceive or execnte any thing magnanimous or grand.
In a survey  of my whole  acquaintance and friends, I
find that  water drinkers possess the most  equal tem-
pers and  cheerful dispositions.*
   " The depths of philosophy, and the elevations of
poetr}r," says  the Journal of Health,  "are most feli-
citously explored by those whose minds are allowed
to exert  their powerful faculties, unclouded by  the
muddy vapors  of wine or spirits."
  Finally ;  Philosophy makes her appeal on this sub-
ject, on  the ground that alcoholic and  narcotic  sub-
stances, blunt,  and ^ultimately  almost obliterate,  the
natural affections, and moral sensibilities.   Philosophy
well knows, because  she has  seen  the experiment
tried, and that too, by her own  mistaken votaries, that
even to weaken these affections and sensibilities, is to
undermine  the pillars, on which society rests ;  and to
destroy them, is  to knock out the keystone of the
arch, that sustains all which is  beautiful and valuable
among men.   Experience,.too, the handmaid of Phi-
losophy,  points us to the victims of Intemperance, that
meet us at  every corner; and bids  us see, with  our
own eyes, the  desolating influence of alcohol.  These
men and women were once the ornament and hope of
society.  Once, they were the joy and the pride of par-
ents and friends ; but now, are they their shame and an-
guish.  Once,  their bosoms swelled with  honourable
feeling,  and virtuous  enterprise ; but now, they are
past shame, past hope, past effort, except to complete
the work of  self-immolation.   Once,  some of them
were  husbands and wives;  in  whose  bosoms  there
glowed a tender, pure, and unchanging conjugal affec-
    * Trotter's  Essay on Intemperance, p. 170. 
152
 tion ; and they had children clustering  around them,
 affectionate and beloved,  whose ears never  heard a
 sweeter  sound, than the name of father or mother;
 and their home, O, how sweet aparadise it  was, for
 such a world as this !  but now, their bloodshot  eyes
 look with stupid unconcern, or savage glare, upon the
 partners, whose bosoms they have  made desolate, and
 upon the children, whom they have covered with rags
 and infamy ;  and their  voices now  sound like  the yel-
 ling of fiends, in that home, once so sweet, now almost
 converted  into an  abode of fiends.  Once, they  had
 consciences, quick to discern, abhor, and shun, every
 thing immoral and base;  but their conscience now,
 O it is dead and buried, never to awake till the judg-
 ment day.
   Would the  temperate and educated  youth of our
 land,  escape  this  horrible  desolation?  Total absti-
 nence is  the only sure wall of defence, which they can
 build up  around them.   Every other rampart has been
 demolished by the  insidious  sappings  of the  foe.
 Trust in  no other, then, if y.ou would escape the moral
 ruin, which, sooner or later, follows in the track, even
 of moderate indulgence.
   But what substitute has  Philosophy to offer, when
 she thus  demands the abandonment of stimulants and
 narcotics ?  God has provided one :  a most safe, most
 salutary,  and  most abundant substitute.  Most merciful-
ly is it scattered in purity and profusion, all around us :
gushing forth, clear as crystal, from the base of every
hillock in  our favoured  land.   Its name is  Pure
 Water:  though it  sometimes assumes  the  name  of
milk and  water, vinegar and water, sweetened water,
or small beer, without losing its essential and  charac-
teristic excellencies.   I know that so simple  a beve- 
153
rage is loathed by a stomach that has lost its natural
tone, and  has become  educated to  the  use of stimu-
lants and narcotics.  But such a stomach may be again
learnt  to relish it: and it is now too late to maintain
that water needs the  admixture  of any other  sub-
stance, to render it, of all drinks, the most promotive
of health, strength, longevity, and serenity of mind.
Let us  hear a few testimonies on  this subject, from
medical men.
   Cheyne, a distinguished physician, who wrote more
than a century ago, and who had himself experienced
incalculable benefits from the use of water, describes
its value with great enthusiasm. "The  benefits," says
he, " a person   who  desires  nothing but  a clear
head, and strong intellectual faculties, would  reap by
drinking nothing but water (tepid or cold  as  the sea-
son is,) while he  is yet young and tolerably healthy,
well  educated and of a sober  honest disposition are
innumerable : As first, that he would live probably till
towards an hundred years of age, &c.   Secondly, that
he would constantly enjoy a  clear head, calm, at  least
governable  passions; a facility in  intellectual appli-
cations, and the acquisition of virtue, &c.  Thirdly, he
would thereby be secured against  all the great  atro-
cious  and frightful distempers;  as melancholy, lowness
of spirits, wrong-headedness, madness, apoplexies, suf-
focations,  fevers  of all kinds, pestilences and pleuri-
sies, &c."*
   " If there is in nature a remedy, which deserves the
name of universal," says Hoffman,  a  celebrated  Ger-
man physician, who lived  nearly two  centuries ago,
"it is, in my opinion, pure  water."

    *  Essay on Regimen and Diet, p. 26.
                   14 
154
  " Water," says the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, " is the
natural drink of man, and indeed, of all animals.  It is
not only the safest and best drink, but however it may
be disguised, water is perhaps  the  only fluid which
can answer all the purposes for which drink is requir-
ed."
  " There can be  no question," says Dr. James John-
son of London, " that water is the  best and the only
drink which nature has  designed for man ;  and there
is as little doubt but that every person  might  gradual-
ly, or even pretty quickly,  accustom  himself to this
aqueous   beverage."—" The  water  drinker  glides
tranquilly through life,  without much  exhilaration or
depression, and escapes  many  diseases to  which  he
would otherwise  be subject.   The wine drinker ex-
periences short, but vivid periods of rapture, and long
intervals of gloom ; he is also more  subject to disease.
The balance of enjoyment then turns decidedly in fa-
vour of the water drinker, leaving out his temporal
prosperity and  future anticipations ; and  the nearer
we keep to his regimen, the happier we shall be."'*
  "I have known," says Dr.  Rush, " many instances
of persons who have followed the most laborious em-
ployments for  many years in  the open  air, and in
warm and  cold weather,  who  never drank any thing
but water, and enjoyed  uninterrupted good health."!
  Capt. Head also, a celebrated pedestrian traveller,
states, that when he commenced his travels in South
America, he was quite unable to undergo the necessa-
ry exertion, till he adopted the plan of living on plain
  * Influence of Civic Life, Sedentary Habits and Intellectu-
al Refinement on Human Health, Sic. p. 37 and 39.
  ■jr Medical Enquiries, vol. I. p. 161. 
155
animal food and water only :  he could then, in a short
time, tire out horses in his pedestrian marches.
  " I aver," says Dr. Moseley, as quoted by Dr. Rush,
" from my own knowledge and custom, as well as the
custom and  observation  of many  other  people,  that
those who drink nothing but water, or make it their
principal drink, are but little  affected by  the climate
(of the West Indies,) and can undergo the  greatest fa-
tigue without  inconvenience, and are never subject to
troublesome or  dangerous diseases.
  Those sudden deaths, which are not unfrequenl from
drinking cold water, in very hot weather,rarely if ever
take place, except in persons of intemperate  habits.
  The following animated,  but not exagerated  de-
scription o^  f/e value of water, is from the Journal of
Health; and: expresses the  views  of the most able
physicians of our own country at the present  time.
  " In physical strength, in the capability of  enduring
labour and fatigue,  in the vigor and clearness of the
intellectual powers, the  individuals whose drink is con-
fined entirely  to water, far exceed those who substi-
tute  for the  pure element, distilled  or fermented li-
quors."
  " Would the strong man preserve  his strength, and
the fair woman her beauty,'water will be their beve-
rage, their cordial, their restorative.  Is the  constitu-
tion, broken down in drunken bouts, and gluttonous
feasting, to  be  renovated ; water—water alone, un-
mixed, unspoiled,  must be  the grand anti-dyspeptic
draught.  If cramps and pain torment, or wakefulness
cheat the wearied  spirit of its repose, not all the es-
sences of peppermint or mustard for  the former, or all
the sedatives of laudanum, or black drops, or hops for
the latter, will be so composing for  the time, and un- 
156
attended by after suffering, as a tumbler full or two of
hot water.   Let not the trembling drunkard be deter-
red from repose by the fear that no substitute can be
found for the midnight cup.—He will experience from
hot water, taken in sufficient quantity, a feeling of in-
ternal warmth and stimulation, and a slight fullness of
the head, which will  safely simulate the fit of drunk-
enness : but unlike  the latter, it will not terminate in
the insensibility of apoplexy, but of tranquil slumber.
The nervous lady who refuses to take adequate  exer-
cise during the day, and drinks her strong green tea in
the evening, may consult her physician, if she be par-
tial to having a listener to her  tale of wo ;  but if she
desire to rest well and keep out ofthe hands of quacks,
and spare the nerves  of her regular medical adviser,
who  really wishes her well, she must dilute her tea,
take longer  walks,  and  in  place  of recourse  to the
laudanum vial, try a tumbler full  of hot water  at bed
time.  The poor hypocondriac must not hope for eas-
ier digestion and a greater flow of spirits by a little
wine  or other bitters before dinner, and a little  wine
or brandy and water at and after this meal.   He may
as well hope to breathe freer by having his throat a lit-
tle compressed by a tight  band just  before  he  takes
a walk, and again a little  squeezed immediately after
his return.   His draughts from the fountain of Hygeia
must be in  the shape of pure water from the nearest
spring or cistern."
  I might add to this evidence, the  testimony of almost
every valuable medical writer since the days of Hip-
pocrates ; all agreeing in the opinion, that water is the
natural and the best drink for man: and that consequent-
ly, " water—water  unmixed,  unspoiled," is the  best
substitute for stimulants and narcotics that can be found. 
167
And if the best, why should the young  man, the  tem-
perate man, the scholar, enquire for any other ?   Malt
liquors, cider, coffee, tea, and the like, have, indeed,
been proposed as substitutes. True, he does well, who
uses tea or coffee for brandy, and  cider for wine : but
he does far better, who in early life brings himself at
once to nature's beverage alone :  For ale, cider, coffee,
and tea, owe their exhilarating properties  to the same
alcoholic and narcotic principles which exist more abun.
dantly in spirit, wine, opium and  tobacco :  Hence the
former  will tend to keep alive an  appetite for the lat-
ter; and whenever an occasion offers,  it will be much
easier to  make the transition to drunkenness, than it
would be for the water drinker,  who  has  learned to
live without any unnatural stimulus ; and  whose stom-
ach, therefore, cravest none.  Hence,  then,  though I
should consider it extremely injudicious, and even quix-
otic, for any Temperance Society to require total ab-
stinence from  these milder stimulants,  1 should regard
it as highly expedient and desirable, for every young
man, for every scholar especially, to refrain from them
entirely.  Then will he  probably be  able, fifty years
hence, to say :—
      " Though I look old, yet am I strong and lusty :
      For in my youth I never did apply
      Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood:
      Nor did not, with nnbashful forehead, woo
      The means of weakness and debility  ;
      Therefore my age is as a lusty winter,
      Frosty but kindly."
  I make my  appeal,
  II. ON THE GROUND OF SELF-INTEREST AND PRUDENCE.
  I have already  shown, that a regard to bodily and
mental  health, demands  the  entire abandonment  of
alcoholic and narcotic substances.   But there are oth-
                  14* 
158
er considerations,  that  urge a man, from  mere  self
love, to total abstinence.
  In the first place, the use of these  articles, is ex-
pensive.   Those can best appreciate this  argument,
who, as heads of families, have been called  for several
years to settle their alcoholic and narcotic  bills, with
the merchant.  It is not that the price of  a gallon of
rum, or brandy, or wine; or of a pound of snuff, or tobac-
co, is a heavy drawback  upon a man's income; but
the endless repetition of these purchases, which cus-
tom has heretofore  demanded, changes the arithme-
tical series in the calculation, into a geometrical one.
And I hesitate not  to assert, that the educated men of
the last  generation, (I might perhaps say it of the
generation now  in their  mid course,) ahave  expend
ed more  money  for  these articles, than in the cause
of public benevolence.   They did it, it is true, ignor.
antly and in unbelief: but this  excuse can  never be
pleaded by the educated generation  that is advancing
upon the stage. By a very moderate calculation, each
one of these can save   one  thousand dollars,  in forty
/ears, by total abstinence.
  In the second place, this course will secure him more
respect and influence in society, than he could attain,
while using these substances in the  greatest modera-
tion.   Even  habitual drinkers will respect  him  more,
although his  example may exasperate them, for taking
the course  which  their consciences approve.   And
surely the temperate and  respectable part  of society,
cannot but have a  higher regard for him,  who  aban-
 dons every idol  of appetite, than for him, who, giving
 up perhaps his ardent spirit, still clings to  wine or to-
 bacco.   For they well know, that it is no difficult mat-
 ter to leave one idol,  if several  others of the  same 
159
general nature are left to us,  on which to concentrate
our affections and worship.
  Such a blaze of light now  illuminates every man's
path on this subject, and so powerfully  do a thousand
motives urge to total abstinence, at least from alcohol,
that the  intelligent and virtuous  part  of society are
suspicious,  that  the  man, who refuses, has a secret
attachment to the poison.  Hence they dare  not trust
important interests  in his hands ; but will commit them
rather to the decidedly temperate.   Such a suspicion
may seem most  uncharitable to those who fall under
it: Still, so long, as in nine cases out often, the final
result shows it to have been well founded, you cannot
prevent men from indulging it.
   In the third place, to use alcoholic mixtures, at  the
present day,  even in small quantities, occasions more
inconvenience and  suffering  to a respectable man, in
many  parts  of the  country,  than  total  abstinence.
In order to do it, he must breast the current of public
opinion, which sets so strongly in favour of temperance.
Even to replenish from lime to time his.stores of rum,
brandy, and wines, is no easy task.   To go  openly to
the retailers for this purpose, is to  expose himself to
the mortification of meeting  the eye, or the  reproof,
of some respectable friend of abstinence.   To go  pri-
vately, is to  be  haunted continually with the fear of
being  discovered.  Still more  difficult  is it to  find a
time and place to drink.  To do it publicly, is  to be
reckoned among the intemperate.   To do it at home,
is to excite the constant fear, lest some visitor shonld
 perceive the alcoholic odour ofthe breath.  To take
 peppermint essence, or cinnamon,  or  sweet flag, a«
 some  do, affords, indeed, a little security.  But what
 if the effluvia ofthe spirit should at any time predora- 
160
 inate over the aromatics !  Worse than all  this,  the
 man finds, that so long as he refuses to practice total
 abstinence, the whole clan  of drunkards  around him,
 appeal triumphantly to his example;  seem to feel and
 treat him as if he were a brother, engaged in a com-
 mon cause with  them,  and lean on him as a support
 against the reproaches of conscience and the contempt
 of the world. Now  he detests drunkards: and it is
 most mortifying to  be thus dragged into their commu-
 nion ; to be saluted by them as a leader and protector ;
 and then to find among  the temperate and respectable,
 a half expressed suspicion, that he may not, in fact,be
 so far removed from these drunkards as he  supposes
 But the sure way to avoid all this mortification,insult,
 and anxiety, is, while young, to come  up  to  the  altar
 of temperance, and  swear eternal enmity to alcohol.
   In the fourth place, literary  men, by indulging in a
 moderate and occasional use of alcohol, expose  them-
 selves, even peculiarly, to personal intemperance.
   Look at  the men, who  for  the  last thirty or forty
years, have successively gone from our seats of learn-
ing, to mingle with  the  community ; and  enquire into
their characters.  Some of them occupy the high and
important stations of  trust and  honor  in our national
and state governments; some sit in our courts of justice,
as judges and expounders ofthe law: some are advo-
cates in those same  courts, to plead the cause of the
injured and oppressed :  some have devoted their lives
to general literature, or the oversight of extensive  mer-
cantile, manufacturing, or agricultural establishments :
some have become  physicians, and some  ministers of
the Gospel:  and among all these descriptions  of char-
acter, some, alas, not a few, are intemperate.
  Now does any student feel as if he were in no  dan- 
161
ger, surrounded  as  he is,  by so  many wrecks ?   If
splendid abilities, or correct morality, or hopeful pie-
ty, or faithful warnings, or strong resolutions, or fer-
vent prayers, could  have saved them,  these  had not
fallen: for it was not merely the stupid, the  idle, and
the vicious, that were ruined.   But they were taught
that they  might safely linger about the dragon's den,
and  admire his sparkling  eyes, and  party-coloured
scales, and listen to  his  siren  voice.  And.ere they
were aware of it, his coils were twisted around them,
crushing  the powers of  life ;  and the poison of his
fangs was rankling in their veins.  As certain as like
causes produce like effects,  the youth of our literary
institutions, who are coming  forward  to  occupy sta-
tions of authority and influence, will fall, in equal num-
bers, into  the folds of the same  monster,  unless they
use some  weapon of defence which their predecessors
never employed.  That weapon, of heavenly temper,
is total abstinence.   Oh, it  is  madness to  rush on, un-
protected by this weapon, to that deadly  spot, where
the mightiest lie slain by thousands.
  Let the student recollect, that scarcely any  other
man in society  is so  peculiarly exposed  to intemper-
ance as himself.  In the first place, it is very natural
to seek relief, in the stimulus of wine, or ardent spirit,
from the  debility consequent  upon vigorous mental
efforts; although the  constitution  is then in a very
bad state to resist their influence. In the second place,
literary men are peculiarly subject to nervous  mala-
dies ; and the depression of spirits accompanying them,
receives a temporary  relief,  though an ultimate ag-
gravation, from stimulants; and the result  of using
them, most commonly,  is confirmed  intemperance.   In
the third  place, the delicacy of constitution possessed 
162
by  literary men,  is sooner  overcome by  alcoholic
poisons, than  the  coarser and more  robust stamina of
the active  and labouring classes.   In the fourth place,
men ofthe learned professions, the physician, the law-
yer, and the clergyman, are more exposed than others,
to those special occasions when it is  customary  to  use
alcohol.   Civil courts  of every grade, furnish one of
these occasions ; and rarely are the temptations strong-
er, or the defences weaker.  Among the sick, alcohol
is thought to  be essential; and there the physician is
tempted  to make up by stimulants, for the fatigue and
sleeplessness of the preceding night;  and  there the
clergyman guards himself,  as  he  supposes, against
contagion, by the same means:  and thus in spite of
the  loud  warnings, uttered by the science of the one,
and the religion of the  other, they both become drunk-
ards.   Finally, if I ;™"„tn^e not, literary men—perhaps
I  Ought  to say all persons of sedentary habits—are
more addicted than others, to smoking and chewing
tobacco: and it is well known that tobacco, by rend-
ering  the taste of  water insipid,  inclines a  person
strongly to resort  to ardent spirit.   This is illustrated
in the " Confessions of a  Drunkard,"  who  undertook
to substitute  tobacco for alcohol.   " The devil," says
he," could not have devised a more subtle  trap to re-
take  a backsliding  penitent.   The  transition  from
gulphing down draughts of liquid fire, to puffing out
innocuous  blasts of dry smoke, was so  like cheating
him.  But he is too hard  for us;  when  we think to
set off a new failing against  an old infirmity, 'tis odds
but he puts the trick  upon us, of two for one.   That
(comparatively,) white devil of tobacco, brought with
him in the end seven worse than himself."
   " It were impertinent to  carry the  reader through 
163
all the processes by  which, from smoking at first with
malt liquor, I  took  my degrees through thin wines,
through  stronger wine and water, through small punch,
to those  juggling compositions, which,  under the name
of mixed liquors, slur a great deal of brandy or other
poison under  less and less water continually, until they
come next to none, and none  at all.  But it is hateful
to disclose the secrets of my Tartarns."*
  Oh, let the student turn his eye backward,  and look
at the almost countless wrecks  of talent  and genius,
that are  strewed over the  ocean of intemperance. Se-
lect a single example, if you will—say that of Burns,
—and ask yourself, whether you would desire  even his
glory for your name, if it must also be loaded with his
infamy!  Let   his  epitaph, written  by himself, sink
deep into the memory of every youthful votary of sci-
ence.
        The poor inhabitant  below
        Was quick to learn and wise to  know,
        And keenly felt the friendly glow
                          And softer flame ;
        But thoughtless follies laid him low
                      And slain'd his name.
        Reader attend !  Whether thy soul
        Soar fancy's heights,  beyond the pole,
        Or darkling grubs this earthly hole,
                          In low pursuit;
       Know, prudent, cautious, self control
                       Is wisdoni's root.
  * An almost infallible attendant upon brandy, wine and to-
bacco, is gambling ; and most cordially do I join  in the earn-
est wish  of  an  able  friend  to  temperance :  " O  !  that
every society for the suppression of intemperance,  would  shut
out also the vice of gambliug—would banish it entirely !  Little
gambling is like little drinking;  one degree leads  on to  anoth-
er. All great vices have little beginnings, and these little be-
ginnings are what we are most cautiously to avoid.  As these
two vices then are so intimately  connected while living,  sep-
arate  them not in death,  but bury  them both in the same
grave.  And bury them deep too—pile high the earth upon
them, that their noisome presence may never cloud the pure
light of virtue." Sweetsei^s Address  before  the young men of
Burlington, March 24th 1830. p. 8. 
164
   I make my appeal,
   III.  ON THE  GROUND OF PATRIOTISM.
   Patriotism requires that the man,  who  loves  his
 country, should shrink from  no personal sacrifice, if
 he can thereby arrest some great national evil.  How
 great an evil in this country, is the use of alcoholic and
 narcotic substances, will appear from a few facts.
    The  amount  of ardent  spirit and wine  annually
 consumed, by the 13,000,000 inhabitants  of the  Unit-
 ed States, cannot be less than 50 or 60 millions of gal-
 lons.   This, at half a dollar per gallon, would cost 25
 or 30 millions of dollars.   It is impossible to  estimate
 exactly the  amount of opium and tobacco unnecessari-
 ly  used  among  us: yet  their  value  can hardly  be
 thought less than 5,000,000 dollars.  Let us look at
 some ofthe injurious consequences resulting from such
 an immense expenditure, and from the consumption of
 these deleterious substances.
   1. From 300,000 to 500,000 persons  are thereby
 made  habitual  or occasional  drunkards.  If each  of
 these earns  less per annum, by  $100, than if he  were
 temperate, the  whole loss  to the country  is from 30 to
 50 millions.
   Some will say, that the  country  is not impoverished
in this way, to such an extent;  because the distillation,
transportation, and vending of these  articles,  amounts
even to a greater sum.  This reasoning would be sound,
if the  persons who distil, transport, and  vend them.
 could  find  no  other  employment:  but other  em-
ployments might be found; probably no less lucrative.
Suppose  this to be done, and that  each of the intem-
perate were to  earn $100  more per annum,  than  he
now does.   The wealth of the country would  certain-
ly be increased by 30 to 50 millions of dollars.  This,
then, is the  amount of its loss. 
165
   2. But  a dead loss is not  all.   The drunkard does
not merely die to society : he cleaves to it, like a gan-
grenous excrescence, poisoning and eating away the life
ofthe community.  Three fourths of the pauperism in
the United  States result from intemperance; and to
support this number ofthe poor,  it requires not  less
than 8,000,000 of dollars.  Three fourths ofthe crime
in the country, originate,  also, from the same source.
Alcohol lets loose upon  the community, an army of.90
to 100 thousand who live by crime ; and their deprada-
tions, apprehension,  imprisonment, and  punishment,
must  cost several millions.
   3. From 30 to 50 thousand individuals, above the age
of twenty, die prematurely, every year, in the United
States, in  consequence of  the use of these substances.
The profits of their labour, for the additional period
they would  have lived,  if temperate, is a  loss to the
country, without compensation.   Suppose they would
have lived only ten years longer, and earned  only $100
per annum above  their support:  this shows us anoth-
er loss of 30,000,000 to 5 J,000,000 of dollars.
   4. There are  other  items  in this  account, which,
though we cannot calculate their amount, must be large;
such as the losses sustained by the fraud and  careless-
ness of intemperate agents and seamen, the  casualties
and accidents thence  resulting; the indolent  habits ac-
quired by the children of  the intemperate, &c.  The
sum total  of loss to  the country, cannot  be less than
$100,000,000;  and probably  it is twice that amount.
Yet this sum is four times greater than the revenue of
the United States : it would construct 8000 miles of ca-
nal, annually ;  or more than 10,000 miles of railway :
nay, it would probably connect the gulph of Mexico
and thePacific Ocean: it would support all the Colleges, 
                                                        i

                       166

Academies, and schools of every description, and all the
clergymen in the United States: nay, it would send a
missionary, to every 2000  or 3000 souls on the whole
globe : and it is fifty times more than the annual income
of all the  benevolent societies  of the age—But pecu-
niary loss is not after all, the most  alarming evil that
follows  in the train of intemperance.
  5. It is  undermining the physical and  intellectual
character  of our country.  As  a general fact,  the two
stand or fall together: at least, we cannot expect,that
the intellect should long maintain itself erect, vigorous,
and well proportioned, when the body is half in ruins-
The giant minds of other days, whose names and works
will m;;ke the deepest impression on future  times,
were lodged in vigorous bodies: and if some  of these
have been found in periods of effeminacy, it shows on-
ly, that they  withstood its deteriorating influence.  In-
tellect is not necessarily cultivated and strong, where
there is vigorous muscular strength : but where bodily
debility  and effeminacy extensively  pervade a  nation,
we never look  for great intellectual  achievements'
Knowing  what were the habits and physical energy of
the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, we are
not disappointed to find the display of a correspondent
mental  power, such  as their  history exhibits.   But
modern Egypt and  Italy are the last places to which
we look for intellectual prowess.   Poetry may, indeed
kindle up  her fitful lamp  at the funeral pile  of the
body : but it is not the poetry of Homer, or of Milton.
   We have seen that the  use  of alcohol  and  tobacco
tends powerfully to debilitate the constitution ; and the
complaints, which they generate, descend hereditarily
to posterity.  Nor are these  effects  confined  to the
offspring ofthe habitually  intemperate.  These  pois- 
167
ons, still regarded by multitudes as the elixir vilae, are
working a slow, but fatal deterioration, in the constitu-
tions of thousands, who would resent the charge of in-
temperance with indignation : so that the influence has
become truly national: nor is it among the  feeblest of
those causes, that are  hurrying us  fast away from the
simplicity,  purity, and the physical and intellectual en-
ergy, of our Pilgrim Fathers.
  8. The use of these substances is injurious to our so-
cial condition.   When writers wish to  exhibit the cli-
max of human misery, they introduce us to a drunkard's
family.   And truly, if there be any  suffering absolute-
ly without  alleviation, from any human power; any
degradation below the brutes; we are  presented  with
it in the drunkard's wife and children.  Yet probably
more than  fifty thousand families in. our country, are in
a condition approximating to this.
  But the  use of these substances, even in a moderate
degree, has a most unfavourable bearing upon domes-
tic  and social happiness.  The powerful excitement,
which they produce, destroys a relish  for  the simple
and noisless pleasures of home, and virtuous, temperate
society;  and  a love is created for places of public re-
sort, such as the grog shop and the tavern.   Here also
men can indulge in that grossness of manners, which is
the natural consequence of stimulants and narcotics, and
which  induces the dram  drinker, the wine bibber, the
smoker, the chewer, and snuff taker, to avoid the soci-
ety of refined and virtuous females.
   Such men  know very well, that no  lady wishes her
parlour fumigated with the smoke of tobacco, or the ex-
halations" of alcohol;  nor her eyes disgusted  with a vest,
or cravat,  soiled by snuff, or-the drivellings of tobacco ;
 nor her ears saluted by  a voice, stifled with  snuff, or 
168
garrulous  with the silly talk and indelicate innuendos
produced by alcohol.   These men,  therefore, will be
tempted to avoid the society of refined and intelligent
females, and to resort to that of their own sex, where
slovenly appearance and indelicate manners will meet
with no reproof.  Snch a separation between the sex-
es, will exert a most pernicious influence upon the con-
dition of any people.   It will create a relish  for those
grosser public amusements, such  as theatrical exhibi-
tions, circus-sports, horse-racing  cock-fighting, bull-
baiting-, boxing matches,  and  gladiatorial  contests,
whose prevalence  always indicates a diseased and sink-
ing state of society.  He  must be  a blind man,  who
has not seen for some time past, a rapid  progress  in
this country, towards such a condition.
  7. The use  of these substances is making havoc with
the moral and religious principle ofthe country.   You
can see, in the nj,an of settled religious principle, how
even a moderate use of alcohol especially, blunts  his
moral sensibilities, and lowers the standard of his ef-
forts.  And in the  confirmed  drunkard,  you see the
work  of  desolation  made  perfect.   Who are the
men that trample the  most furiously upon the sabbath?
whose  mouths are open the  widest in blasphemy ?
whose brazen fronts are foremost in the the  legions of
infidelity and atheism ? whose  word is it  that no man
dare trust? whose bosoms are steeled alike against nat"
ural affection and moral emotion ?   Who are the men
that fill our prisons and penitentiaries ? the men  who
prowl through the  land, for theft, fraud, and  murder ?
Oh, these are  the men, who exhibit the genuine effects
of alcohol. And who are the  youth, that  are  begin-
ning to learn the dialect of profaneness? beginning to
scoff at the faithful  reproofs of parents and friends, and 
169
 ftt the institutions and principles of religion ;  and are be.
 coming familiar with the g-aming table and the brothel ?
 Oh, they are the young men, who are also addicted to
 the use of wine, brandy, and the cigar.  And wherever
 you go, you will find that just in the  degree in which
 wine and brandy are admitted, will religion be driven
 out, and conscience stupified.  This  desolating meta-
 morphosis has  already  made  fearful progress in  our
 land ; and if learning,  morality, patriotism, and  re-
 ligion, do not unite to stop these destroyers, their his-
 tory may be given in the. prophetic language  of inspi-
 ration : A fire devoureth before the/g, and behind, aflame
 burneth : the land is as the garden of Eden before  them,
 and behind them, a desolate wilderness : yea, and nothing
 shall escape them.
   Finally, the  use of these  substances  threatens our
 liberties  with  ruin.  We  might as reasonably expect
 to see  the palm  tree flourishing amid  the  ice-bergs
 ofthe arctic regions, as liberty, either civil or relig-
 ious,  existing, where the great mass ofthe people are
 ignorant and depraved.  Now I have shown that alco
 holic and narcotic substances, are weakening the phys-
 ical and mental energies of this  nation, depraving our
 manners, and  destroying  the  public conscience.   Al-
 ready a fearful  breach  is  made  upon us at  all these
 points.   And if the enemy continue to be  resisted  by
 forbearance, and proposals of peace  and union,  as  he
 has been, the time is not distant, when not  one stone,
 in the beautiful edifice of our independance,  will  be
left upon another.  Let the time come, when  the elec-
tors, who are under the influence of alcohol, in  con-
junction with those, who are ignorant and unprincipled,
 shall constitute a majority, and  our   liberties will  be
 bartered for a dram.  For what do Ihe men care for
                15* 
170
national liberty, who have sold all their faculties into the
most vile and oppressive bondage, and who have noth-
ing to loose ? These are just the tools, which unprinci-
pled leaders have always used for  the  destruction of
free institutions: and they are already employed to an
alarming extent, in our land.  It ought  to startle  us
to learn, that in  our popular elections, he who can
deal out the most whiskey, is not unfrequently, on that
account, the successful candidate ; and that  in a ma-
jority of cases, even temperate men take the tavern in
their way to the ballot box, and thus  unfit themselves
as much for voting  as for praying.
   Every  true   patriot,  who looks  steadily  at  this
portentous cloud, that hangs  with fearful aspect over
our beloved country, and  has  already rained so  many
plagues upon us, cannot but feel, that  all  which  we
hold dear, as freemen  and Christians,  is  in danger;
and with solicitude  will he enquire, what efforts, what
sacrifices can save us ?  The answer is easy—the effort
is easy—the sacrifice is easy.  Let  all the intelligent
and educated youth in our country, abstain,  henceforth
and forever, from alcoholic and  narcotic poisons, and
try to persuade  the community  to  do the  same, and
whatever  other evils may destroy us, intemperance ne-
ver will. So long as our free institutions exist, the men
of education will  control public opinion ; and  when
public opinion is turned into the channel of temperance,
the work  is done.   In a free country  like ours, ignor-
ance cannot extensively, nor  permanently, influence
the public mind, until corruption has pervaded the ma-
jority.   Give me, therefore,  the united opinion, and
the united example, and the united efforts, of one gen-
eration  of educated  men, and  I will go forth with con.
fidence  to encounter the giant-monster Intemperance : 
171
and though his height reach unto heaven, and he be-
stride the land at a step, yet will I cut him down, and
hew him in pieces, and the next  generation shall see
only his bones bleaching in the sun.
  Oh, young men, it is a moral Themopylae in which
you are placed;  and the evils that threaten your coun-
try, are more dreadful than the invasion of a Xerxes
with his millions.   It was a less urgent cause, in which
the Bruti and the Gracchi offered up their lives.  Nay,
that was  less urgent, which roused our fathers in the
revolutionary contest;  for what foreign yoke,  what
civil oppression, can compare with the bondage of in-
temperance ?  And yet,  the efforts  and sacrifices you
are called upon to make, are not worthy to be named
in comparison with theirs.  They shed their  blood in
torrents to  purchase your  liberties and rights:  Will
you not deny yourselves the gratification of an unnatu-
ral appetite, to save the precious patrimony from de-
struction 1
  In the contest with intemperance, it is incumbent
upon educated men to take their stand in the fore front
ofthe battle ; not merely on account of their stations
in society, but especially because in times past, such
men have done more than  other classes to bring this
6courge upon the nations.  The distinguished poets of
ancient and  modern  times  have devoted  their  most
captivating numbers to the praise of Bacchus.  They
have furnished the drunkard with his song, and the oc-
casional drinker with his inspiring and elegant apology.
Nor is it merely the poets of looser strain, who  have
done this ; such as Horace, Anacreon,and Shakespeare:
but even the grave  and religious  Milton,  devoted  a
beautiful ode to celebrate the virtues of wine : And the
sentiment advanced  by Armstrong, was but an echo of
the opinion of most physicians, before the present day: 
172
      " We curse not wine, the vile excess we blame."
 This sentiment has been the secret root, that has nour-
 ished nearly all the intemperance in the world:  for
 scarcely an immoderate drinker  of  wine, or  ardent
 spirit can be found, who will admit that he indulges in
 the use of them to excess.   True, he uses a  greater
 quantity than  he once did : but  this he supposes  ne-
 cessary on account of some change in  his employment,
 or growing infirmities.  To give a license, then,  for
 moderate drinking, is in fact to license intemperance;
 since no man is  intemperate  in his own estimation.
 Literary men, both by  their writings and  example,
 have generally given such a license ;  At least, it  has
 been  only here and there a retired  philosopher, or
 physician,  who has pleaded  for total  abstinence : and
 he has been regarded as an ascetic, or a dreaming vis-
 ionary.   Educated men  are under peculiar obligation,
 therefore,  to come forward in  one  unbroken phalanx,
 and endeavour to drive back the vandal hordes of inr
 temperance.
   I ground my appeal,
   IV. Upon the  principles of christianitv.
   But here I meet at the outset, an  argument drawn
 from the Bible, in favour of  using wine, and even  ar-
 dent spirit.  Our Saviour, it is said, has sanctioned the
use of wine, by his miracle at the marriage in Galilee,
 and by employing it at the institution of the cucharist:
 and Paul has done  the  same, by recommending  it to
 Timothy.  Indeed, nowhere in the bible is wine  pro-
hibited to men generally ; but only its excess.   Nay,
in one instance at least, we find an express permission
 to the Jews, to use,  not only wine, but strong drink.
 One ofthe tithes, which they paid  every second year,
 those living remote from  Jerusalem, had  liberty  to 
173
Convert into money, and having brought it to that city,
the command was ;  thou shall bestow that money for what
thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine,
or strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth :  and
thou shall eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt
rejoice, thou and thine household.   Now it is  difficult to
assign any reason why God should prohibit that  to  a
Gentile, which he permitted to a Jew:  hence we may
conclude, that  wine and ardent  spirit,  in moderate
quantity, may be lawfully employed in any part ofthe
world.
   Concerning wine, I remark, in reply to  this argu-
ment, that a permission to use it  in Judea,  is a  very
different thing  from allowing its use  in the  United
States.  For  in the first place,  the  wine  sold  in  this
country, is, as I have already shown,  a very different
substance from that used in  Judea, or any other coun-
try where the grape is cultivated.  Forty nine fiftieths
of our wines are a mixture of wine, cider, brandy, and
sometimes  the  juice  of berries,  sumach,  logwood,
spices aromatics, sulphur, and the leaves of plants, more
or less poisonous.  In short, they are generally ardent
spirit in  a diluted form, disguised by substances hard-
ly less injurious.  To  be  permitted to drink the  pure
juice ofthe grape, which is the common  wine of Ju-
dea, is surely a very different thing from a grant to use
such  deleterious compounds.   Indeed,  let any  one
point out to me, if he can, the difference  between us-
ing brandy and water, and brandy mixed with wine ?
  In the second  place, I remark, that in those countries
where the grape is cultivated, the use of wine is equiv-
alent to the use of cider in those  countries where ap-
ples are abundant; but where the grape does not grow-
For  they both serve  as very common drinks in  the re- 
174
spective countries, where they are produced ;  and their
intoxicating power does not differ very much, although
wine,from being more grateful to the palate, is probably
drunk oftener to excess.   The example  of Christ and
Paul, therefore, if it authorizes the use of wine in wine
countries, merely authorizes  the use of cider in cider
countries;  and cannot,  by any  sound logic,  give a li-
cense to employ wine in cider countries; especially
since most  of the  wine, there  used, is an entirely differ-
ent and most objectionable substance.  Now  if  Christ
had converted  water  into  cider at  the  marriage,
or if Paul had directed Timothy to drink a little cider,
who would have thought this to be a license for the use
of wine!  Yet certainly the miracle and  the advice
amount to no  more  than  this,  when applied to  this
country.   And it is worthy ofthe serious consideration
of the  Christian Church, whether they would not be
conforming more exactly to the spirit of their Master's
injunctions, were they to substitute cider  for wine at
the holy supper:  or at least, see to it,  that the wine
they use, be  not ardent spirit in disguise.
   As to any permission given in the  bible to use  ar-
dent spirit, I  remark,  that   the  whole bible contains
not a syllable concerning ardent  spirit:  and for this
reason, that it was not known to exist till  about  nine
hundred years after Christ,  when it was  brought to
light by  an Arabian chemist in the  process of distilla-
tion.  The strong drink several times mentioned in the
bible,  was  merely a particular sort of wine, made from
dates and various seeds and   roots;* nor is there  any
evidence that its intoxicating power was greater  than
that ofthe wine produced from the grape.
"Jahn's Biblical Archaeology § 144. 
175
  Let us now enquire, whether the principles ofthe
bible demand total abstinence from  the  alcoholic  and
narcotic substances under consideration.
  These principles require us to  avoid temptation.
Now  from 30,000 to 50,000 individuals in  our  land
become sots every year, by moderate indulgence in
these articles; 'for this is the number annually requir-
ed, to fill up the vacancies occasioned by death in the
ranks of intemperance.   And I have shown that liter-
ary men are  peculiarly  exposed to this  temptation.
He, therefore, who neglects to secure himself against
it, forfeits the promise of a divine protection ; and de-
pends only on his  weak and treacherous heart, where
he  needs an angel's holiness and an angel's strength.
   The great law of Christian  benevolence  requires
us to love our neighbor as  ourselves.   Now we  do
not probably influence our neighbor's welfare and hap-
piness so much  in  any  other  way, as  by  example.
Hence,  to continue ourselves to use even moderately,
stimulants and narcotics, contributes to strengthen our
neighbor in the same  practice  : and he falls a sacrifice
to intemperance.  It needed, perhaps, only our exam-
ple of total abstinence, to have saved him from ruin :
but that  example was on the other side, and it helped
to smother the  cries  of reason, and  to repress  the
throes  of conscience.  No  wonder  the bible  pro-
nounces  a  woe  upon him who gives  his  neighbor
strong drink, and puts his bottle to him, and makes him
drunken also.    Let it be remembered, that  this may
be done by example,  as well as in any other way.
  I know that the selfish heart will exclaim  against
self denial, merely for our neighbor's good.  But very
different is  the spirit of Christian benevolence.   If
meat make my brother  to offend, says Paul, / will eat no 
176
 flesh while the world standeth ; lest I make my brother to
 offend.  Indeed, according to this law of love, every
 man is guilty, who suffers any evil  to come  upon his
 neighbor, which he could have prevented, consistently with
 other duties.
    That great branch of  the law  of  love, which re-
 quires that whatsoever we would that men should do to
 us, we must do even so to them, leads us to the same con-
 clusion.  What,  then, is that man doing to others, who
 refuses to abstain entirely from the alcoholic and nar-
 cotic substances we have mentioned?
   By his example, he contributes to uphold a practice,
 which .brings an annual expense  upon his fellow coun-
 trymen, of more than 100,000,000 of dollars ;  and thus
 to reduce to extreme poverty and wretchedness, from
 50,000 to  100,000 families;  and not less than 150,000
 individuals to pauperism.
   And to shut up 50,000 men annually in the  debtor's
 prison:
   And to send out 90,000  murderers,  robbers,  incen-
 diaries, theives, and the like, to make havoc in society :
   And to render from 800 to 500 thousand citizens ha-
 bitual drunkards:
   And annually to make  a draft  upon the  temperate
 part ofthe community, for thirty or fifty  thousand re-
 cruits, to fill up  the wasting ranks of drunkenness:
   And to pour out upon the land, such a  flood of cor-
 ruption and profligacy,  as  seriously to degrade, and
 threaten with utter ruin,  her social, intellectual, polit-
 ical, and  moral character.
  Now is there  any  thing in all this list, which a man
 would wish to have his neighbour do  unto  him? any
 thing that does not directly  violate the law of  Chris-
tian love?  But  this  is not all, nor the  worst:  for the 
177
snan who abstains not entirely from stimulants and nar-
cotics, is giving the weight of his example  in support
of  an   evil,  that  sends prematurely  into  eternity
from thirty to fifty thousand of his  countrymen  every
year:  that is, from 500 to a 1000 every week, or from
seventy  to one hundred and forty every day.
   Ah my friends, this  part of the subject possesses a
momentous interest, and takes hold upon the  retribu-
tions of eternity.  For what is it to go into  eternity, a
drunkard ?  Be not deceived ; neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor  adulterers, nor effeminate, nor  abusers of
themselves zvith mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,  nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
kingdom of God. Oh, it is fearful responsibility to ex-
ert even a  feeble and remote influence, in thus precip-
itating such a multitude of souls, " uncancelled, unan-
annointed,  unannealed," upon the uncovenanted mercy
of God !  Let no one forget, that human laws inflict an
equal punishment on the  accessary and the  principal;
and that the sanctions of the Divine Law are the same.
How  can he,  then, who has been accessary  to the
drunkard's ruin  on earth, hope to  escape  the  drunk-
ard's doom in  eternity  !
16 
KESCTUEliS  V.
Liquids ;  when and in what quantities necessary.   Malt
  Liquors — Cordials---Cider---Coffee---Tea---1 oast
  Water—Gruel, eye.  Milk.  Solid Food; Eggs—Fish
  __Birds—Mutton—Bcrf—Lamb—Veal—Venison---
  Pork—Fat—Grease—Oils—Butter—Cheese---Honey
  —Bread—Pics—Cakes— Puddings—Fruit—Esculent
  Roots—Pulse—Pickles---Salads—Cookery—Condi-
  ments.   Concluding Remarks.

Gentlemen,
  The liquid parts of the human body far exceed  the
solid in weight; and they are, to say the least, no less
subject to waste and decay ;  and therefore, need to be
daily repaired.  Hence the need of liquid food :  and
it is generally considered, that this should  exceed the
solid in quantity,  as  much  as the  liquids in the sys-
tem outweigh the soii.is.  To supply this desideratum,
is the object of that feeling called thirst, which is es-
sentially distinct  from the sensation  of hunger.   In-
deed, the two  rarely coexist naturally, in the same
animal.  But the  habits  of society are  continually
changing and perverting the course of nature.   Hence
men usually mix a large quantity  of liquid, with their
solid   food.  Where  the latter is very  dry and hard,
indeed, it  requires the dilution of a certain amount of
the former, in order  that the gastric juice may have
free access to every part of the mass in the stomach.
But when  the quantity of fluid is great, this solvent is
too much diffused to act  with energy on the contents 
179
of the stomach.   In weak  stomachs, therefore, a  fit
of indigestion usually follows the introduction of much
liquid, along  with solid food.   And in general, the er-
ror lies on the side  of taking  too much fluid.   After
the digestion  has proceeded  to a certain stage, there
can be no  doubt, that a repast, mostly fluid, such as
water,  milk  and water, or tea, assists  the process of
chylification.   Hence there  is a propriety in  the
common practice of taking tea a few hours  after  din-
ner.  And hence too, those act the wisest part,  who
take little or  no drink  with their dinner.   But if a
person confine  himself almost  entirely to water, ne-
ver mixing any  thing with it, unless it be milk, or su-
gar, or molasses, or vinegar, and take a proper degree
of exercise,  so as to produce only natural thirst, there
is little  danger that he will drink too  much.   One
great objection  against the various narcotic and  stim*
ulant drinks, that are so much in  vogue, is, that  they
excite an unnatural thirst, and destroy a natural  one.
" Many"  says Dr. Faust's Catechism,  " from not tak-
ing sufficient exercise in the open air, and from drink-
ing frequently large quantities of warm drink, lose all
real thirst; and  from  not drinking a sufficient quantity
of cold water, their blood remains viscid, acrid,  and
impure."  (p. 61.)
   The proper  quantity of liquid food is about three
or four pints  per day : though  the feeble  should not
take more than two or three.   The quantity  will ne-
cessarily be  greater in summer than in winter, and
the  laborious will  need  more than  the  sedentary.
These are essentially the rules adopted by the train-
ing gentry in Great Britain;  and  we need not fear
that they will be intentionally out of  the way.*
* Sure Methods, &c. p. 67. 
180
  As to the temperature at which our drink and sof-
id food should be taken, the general rule is, that it
should  be very little above, or below, the heat of the
blood;  thatis about 98° of Fahrenheit's thermometer.
In winter, perhaps, water may  be  raised somewhat
above  this point, without injury ; and in summer, sunk
somewhat below it.  But the habit of drinking tea or
coffee, every day, at as high a temperature as can be
borne,  whether in summer or winter, is certainly very
pernicious.  True, the  stimulus of such a  potation
produces a present relief, and a pleasurable state  of
feeling; and it is by the  immediate effects, that men
in general  judge  of  the value of food and  medi-
cine : hence you cannot persuade the nervous lady or
gentleman, that  their scalding hot tea does them any
injury: But the  physician, who is obliged to listen  to
their woful  tale  of suffering,  knows  full well  how
their trials  are  aggravated by  such  a debilitating
course ; although  he may not perhaps distinctly  de-
clare it to them, because he knows  that that they will
not believe him.
  Towards the zero end of the scale,  is another dan-
gerous practice :  I refer to the use of ice, to  cool  the
liquids which are drunk in very hot weather.    The
numerous deaths  that annually  occur  from  the  rash
and abundant use of common spring water,  when the
body is heated, show how  powerful  are the  effects  of
suddenly lowering the temperature  of the stomach
only a few degrees ! How must the danger be increas-
ed, by introducing a fluid nearly at the freezing point!
 If immediate prostration of the  powers  of life do not
follow, yet a benumbing shock is given to the system
from which it maj' never rise.
  Several articles of drink, mentioned incidentally at 
181
the last lecture, such as strong  beer, porter,  cider,
tea, coffee, &c. deserve a few  moments more  of at-
tention.  Malt liquors are more used in Great Britain
than in any other country ;  and by  some  are  called
vinum Briltanicum;  and  by others,  who extol their
virtues, liquid bread.  Their effects upon the British
Boldiety are thus described by a poetical encomiast:

   " Your wine-tippling, dram-sipping fellows retreat,
   " But your beer-drinking Britons can never be beat."

Strong beer, ale, porter, small  beer,  and spruce beer.
are included in  the term, malt liquors.   As to small
beer, and spruce beer, there can be  little objection to
their use, except it be that they may occasion a disrel-
ish for pure water, which has been shown to be the best
of all beverages.    Nor can it be denied, that strong
beer,  ale, and porter, possess  some nutritious quali-
ties, besides the water that enters into their composi-
tion.   But they do also contain so much alcohol  as to
produce  intoxication:  and  in Great Britain,  where
420,000,000 gallons of beer are  annually  drunk, or
more than 20 gallons to each inhabitant,* these effect?
are painfully  manifest.   Dr. Johnson says, also, that
the use of malt liquors, is prolific in disease ; produc-
ing corpulency, obesity, hebetude, vertigo, apoplexy,
hydrothorax, and other diseases of  the heart  and the
head.  He, therefore, is hostile  to  their use, and de-
clares that "the beer bibber has probably little reason
to exult over the dram drinker."   Other physicians,
of eminence, however, commend  them;  not because
they doubt that these effects do  follow,  but because
some good accompanies the evil; and they fancy that
 the  use of ardent  spirit is thereby  prevented.  In
   * Journal of Health, Vol. I. p. 27.
                 16* 
182
other words, they prefer the  least evil.   But with
young men of literary  habits, such an argument  can
have  no force : for they ought to desire  to  use those
articles of food and drink, that are best adapted to pro-
mote  their health,  long  life, clearness  and vigor of
mind, and ability  to be useful ; and to accomplish all
this, physicians agree  that  pure  water alone  is the
best beverage.
  To this point, it seems to me, students must ere long
come: especially  those  who have consciences, and
have  adopted the  principles  of total abstinence  from
ardent spirit.  There  is  no  other stopping place, that
will not leave them, with a  narrow and slippery foot
hoi 1,  upon the side of a  precipice.  They  must give
up  cider, and perry, and porter, and metheglin, as well
as strong beer, and all  those flavored and  most mis-
chievous cordials, known by the name of liqueurs,  for
similar reasons.   To come at once to  this natural and
safe resting place of temperance, can  require no ve-
ry  painful self denial  in the young,  while they yet
have  vigor  of constitution,   resolution,  and freedom
from  enslaving habits.  Those more advanced in life,
will struggle long with reason and conscience, before
they will come to  it.  If they  give up ardent spirit, they
feel as if they had made a wonderful sacrifice ;  and
they cannot believe but that  their constitution? require
some of those bracing  and cheering beverages.  Well,
Icl  hem have them,if they will: but let not our young
men neglect to set a noble  example  on this subject.
Oh, what a  host ofthe genuine disciples of Bacon, and
Newton,and Franklin, and Howard, and Edwards,would
Rich  a resolution, made  by  all in  our seminaries of
learning, raise up to bles3 the church and the world !
  The other articles to which 1 referred, as common 
183
drinks, are tea and  coffee.   Whatever  we may think
of their quality, the quantity of them consumed among
men, is  enormous.  In all the world, not less, certain-
ly, and  probably  very much more, than 150 millions
of pounds of coffee, are used annually.*  In Turkey,
France, and  Great  Britain, about  two  thirds  of a
pound, to  each inhabitant, are  consumed.  The con-
sumption  of  tea in Great  Britain, amounts  to nearly
23  millions of pounds per annum ;  or one  pound,
two  ounces, to each inhabitant.  In the United States,
as an English writer computes, we use  about as many
pounds of tea as we have inhabitants;  viz. 12 or 13
millions:  and two pounds of coffee for each inhabi-
tant.?
  As to the influence of these  articles  upon  health,
there has been a great diversity of opinion, among the
ablest physicians.   In  such  a case, we are  certainly
safe  in concluding, that they are by no means necessa-
ry to health  or  happiness.  Indeed, the history of
their introduction, goes to prove  the  same  point.
Coffee  cannot have been in use, even  in  the EasJ,
more than 400 or  500 years;  as  no mention is made
of it by  the crusaders: and tea cannot claim an antiqui-
ty, out of China, of more than half that period.   The
greater  part of the world, therefore, have  lived  and
died  without using  tea or coffee ;  nor were  their in-
troduction  succeeded by any  remarkable  change in
human  life ;  either lengthening it out,  or cutting it
short.  Nor can it be denied,  that the  use of these
articles  affords a great deal of happiness ; and perhaps
it tends  to prevent some worse habits  being formed.

     * Rees' Cyc.  Art. Coffee.
  f See Journal of Health, vol. 1. p. 27. and New York Mer-
cury for January, 1830. 
184
After all, it must be confessed, that the bewitching in-
fluence of these substances, lies in their narcotic prop-
eties—the same principle that gives opium and tobac-
co their attractions.  They exhilarate the system, pro-
ducing a pleasurable glow, and  lessening nervous ir-
ritability.   They  do this in  a less degree, than ar-
dent spirit and  wine :  still, the  exciting principle
is essentially the same ; that  is, it is a narcotic.  As
to the  nutrition  imparted by  these  substances, apart
from the water, milk, and sugar, with which they are
prepared, although coffee may impart some, there ia
no more  in  tea, than in  tobacco,  opium, or  ardent
spirit—that is, none at all.
  From these facts, it might reasonably be inferred,
that these beverages, if drunk in considerable quanti-
ties, and strong, must be injurious to every dyspeptic,
and to all of delicate nervous  temperament, particu-
larly females, who are  chiefly confined to  the house.
And to the correctness  of this conclusion, the  most
distinguished physicians bear abundant testimony.
  " From the experience which I  have  had,"  saya
Dr. Trotter, " in some thousands of these cases, (ner-
vous maladies,) under all  the variety in  which  they
usually appear, I  freely give  it  as  my  opinion, that
the only means of cure, lie in a total abstinence  from
every species of fermented liquor;  from every thing
that bears any  analogy to  them, such as tea, coffee,
opium, and all other narcotics."*
  Q,.  u Why are people,  particularly  women," asks
Dr. Faust in his Catechism, " so fond of tea and cof-
fee ?"
  A. u Because for want  of exercise, they have no
* Nervous Temperament, p. 218. 
185
natural or real thirst;  and  because they have  baen
used to them from their  infancy."
  Q,.  " What ought  to be the only beverage of chil-
dren ?"
  A.  " Pure, good, cold  water, ought  to be the only
drink of children and  young folks ;  who ought to be
prohibited from  drinking beer, coffee, tea,' or other
warm liquors."
  As  to  tea,  Dr. Johnson, (not he  of tea-drinking
memory,) says, that " we may  fairly  set it down as
contributing in  no  mean degree, to those derange-
ments  of the  digestive  organs and  nervous system,
which now meet our eye at every step."*
  " Coffee," says an able writer in the Southern Re-
view, " painfully increases the arterial action, produ
cing palpitation  of the heart, &.c. and  in  spite of all
that has been said and  written  in its favour, is, we
think, nearly as  injurious to the  dyspeptic as so much
brandy.  Tea acts on  the nervous system, as  is well
proved,  by  its almost universal  effect in  producing
wakefulness.  They are  both absolutely unnecessary
to any one ;  for if something warm must be taken, the
distressed stomach will find a harmless succedaneum
in milk and  water sweetened, or  gruel."t
  " As guardians of health," say  the  editors  of the
Journal of Health, " we are  bound to warn the feeble,
the nervous, the dyspeptic, the hypochondriacal, the
gouty, those whose  hearts beat as if they would burst
from their case on  the slightest noise, or unexpected
remark", the fretful and the  capricious in temper, the
delicate student, or  man of letters—that strong tea and
coffee are injurious and cannot be tolerated by them
* Hygiene, p. 193.
fFor August, 1829, p. 227, 
186
with any regard to their bodily comfort and mental
tranquility."
  In these  extracts, young  gentlemen, you have  the
opinion  of several  of the  most distinguished  living
physicians, respecting tea and coffee-.  Those of  you
who are in health, can now make up your minds as to
using them.  If at once you come to the resolution to
abandon them altogether, depend upon it,  you  will
not only avoid  the danger to the health that attends
them, but you will be rid of a most troublesome habit,
and  in  the  course of life,  you  will  save  a great
expense :  Nor, should feeble health be your portion
hereafter, will you be compelled to abandon the habit
of tea and coffee drinking, when it will belike cutting
off a right hand, or plucking  out a right eye—a work
few invalids have the courage to  accomplish ; and so
they go on, counteracting by  strong tea and coffee, the
good effects of medicine, abstemiousness and exercise.
If any of you are in feeble health, can you hesitate, be-
fore it is too late, to listen to this most decided  advice
of distinguished medical men ; and by abstaining from
these articles, rid yourselves of an insidious hinderance
to your restoration and happiness?
   I am  aware that I shall be  rebutted here, by the ex-
perience of nine tenths of the nervous  ladies  and  gen-
tlemen  in the land.  With one voice, they will exclaim,
that their evening cup of tea is as necessary to prevent,
or cure, their headach, as food is to the nourishment  of
their bodies.  1 do not doubt  this statement at all: but
I say, if tea be a cure for their headach, it is also,  most
commonly, the cause of it.  The truth is, their nervous
system  is out of order ; and when not under  the influ-
ence of unnatural stimulus, debility and headach come
on, as a natural consequence.  Now by strong tea  or 
187
 coffee, their nerves are stimulated, so as temporarily to
 remove the debility and the  headach: but as  soon as
 the excitement is over, the system begins to sink again,
 and the headach  returns;  and  resort must  be had
 anew  to the exhilarating narcotic.  But the repetition
 of this process gradually exhausts the  powers of life,
 and it is necessary  that the stimulus, that  is, the tea,
 should be stronger  and stronger,  and  be  taken  more
 frequently,  in order to produce the excitement requis-
 ite to  carry off the  headach.   I  believe  this is in ex-
 act accordance with the history ofevery confirmed tea
 drinker.  He, or she, requires it  stronger and  oftener,
 as long as  the constitution holds out.  How  exactly
 does this course resemble that of the drunkard !   And
 what  is the  difference between  the two, except that
 tea does not so brutify the individual, nor so soon  de-
 stroy life !   If the  intemperate man abandon his cups
 for a time, he will be beset with that terrific set of feel-
 ings, called  the horrors: but at length they pass away,
 and nature moves on regularly and calmly ; and peace,
 and health,  and happiness return.  Just so, if  the  tea
 drinker gives up his beverage ; he will find for a time,
 that dullness, debility and headach  are the conse-
 quence.  Many, in  such circumstances, conclude  that
 this is  certain evidence that tea is necessary for them,
 or very salutary ; and  they therefore, return to its use.
 But were they to persevere in their abstinence  for a
few weeks,  or months, their morbid feelings would dis-
 appear ; and probably  their  headach  would   be  per-
 manently cured.  Although but little  attached to  tea
 myself, I may be permitted here  to say,  that having
drank it in early life in the morning, I found dull  ner-
 vous headach no uncommon companion.  About twelve
 or fourteen years ago, I  ceased to drink it in the morning; 
188
and the consequence was, that for one or two months,
all the early part of the day, I was afflicted with an al-
most constant  headach and heaviness; which howev-
er, gradually disappeared ; and since that time, head-
ach has  been one of my rarest trials.
   But if I cannot persuade any that it  is the part of
wisdom wholly to abandon the  use of  tea and coffee,
while young—except perhaps in cases of exposure to
wet and cold, or fatigue—let  me at  least persuade
them  to use the black tea ; and to avoid green tea as a
poison.   In  this advice, all medical men, I  believe,
however they  may differ as to the  general utility of
tea, coincide ;  representing " all  green tea as exceed-
ingly pernicious, having a strong tendency to injure
the stomach and bowels, and the whole  nervous sys-
tem,"*   As  to the cause of this so  marked difference
between the effects of souchong, pochong and bohea,
which are the black teas; and  hyson, young-hyson,
gunpowder,  imperial, &c, which are the green teas ;
it is difficult to explain it; though  it is said,  that the
prussic acid, one ofthe most deadly of all poisons, has
been  detected in  the  latter.  But whatever be the
cause, the effect is certain ;  and the  literary man, and
the nervous invalid, and delicate lady,  cannot use the
latter class, without experiencing the most decided in-
jury.   Even where the  black tea is used, the water of
the infusion should be of good quality, a good propor-
tion of milk and sugar  should be  employed, and the
quantity taken  should  be very moderate,  and less
should be taken in the  morning than in the evening.
   In  view of  these principles, it is  greatly to  be la-
mented, that by far the greatest proportion of the tea
used  in this country, is green tea.   Even the poorest
* Sure Methods, &c. p. 43. 
189
 families,—and tea is used in almost every hovel in the
 land where  a human being resides—are  satisfied with
 nothing short ofthe high priced green tea; souchong be-
 ing thought too poor for them,and bohea absolutely vile.
 But it is not among the poor and labouring  classes of
 the community that green tea is most hurtful.  It is in
 the every day coteries of delicate,  thin-dressed,  and
 tight-laced  females, where  it  is served up in giant
 strength,  that its ravages are most dreadful.   The tea
 that is offered  at  most ofthe visiting parties in our
 land, is really more injurious than a moderate quantity
 of wine or brandy : And yet, the  advocates of total ab-
 stinence from spirit, who would feel exceedingly guilty
 to offer alcohol  to their friends, are often found most
 devotedly attached to two or three cups  ofthe strong-
 est infusion  of Imperial, or Gunpowder, or Young Hy-
 son.   Nay,  if my observation  does  not  deceive me,
 strong beer, and strong tea,  are taking  the place of
 ardent spirit with not a few.   This might, indeed, be,
 upon the whole, a desirable change : but  after all, it is
 substituting  one  species of unnecessary indulgence for
 another; and the man is still a slave, and may become
 a victim.  The  pernicious custom is  gaining ground
 among us, of having tea or coffee served  up  with din-
 ner, as well as with breakfast and supper: and if I mis-
 take not, this practice is not uncommon,  among minis-
 ters ofthe gospel, upon the sabbath.   Their nerves
 must be stimulated,  thus unnaturally, for the morning
service;  and then again for the afternoon ; and in the
 evening, to   save themselves from  utter prostration
To say the least, this is a sure  way  to wear out  the
system prematurely :  and  for dyspeptics  to  take this
course, is absolute suicide : and I could wish such men
 seriously to  enquire, how much there is to choose, be-
                     17 
190
tweenthe excitement produced by the narcotic power
of young hyson, and the stimulant power of wine or bran-
dy?  This is one of the temptations, against which,  I
would most solicitously caution the young man, who is
aiming at the holy ministry.   Oh, be temperate in all
things, be holy, be heavenly minded, be men of prayer,
and you will need no such artificial stimulants.
  As to several other kinds of beverage, not in so com-
mon use, in the place of tea  and coffee, 1 have  but  a
word to offer.  The best substitute for coffee, scarcely
to be distinguished from it, indeed, in taste, though  des-
titute ofthe narcotic qualities of coffee, is  well burnt
rye.  It is recommended, also, in an economical point
of view.  Chocolate contains more  nourishment than
coffee, and  is perhaps more wholeseme.  Cocoa is on-
ly a weak chocolate, and therefore, better for the  sed-
entary and  the studious. Balm and sage  tea are admi-
rable substitutes  for common Chinese tea;  as  is  also
the partridge berry ;  particularly  for persons of weak
nerves. " John Hussey, of S}denham in Kent, who liv-
ed one hundred and sixteen years, took nothing for his
breakfast, for fifty years, but balm tea, sweetened with
honey."  But these articles  are  neither dear-bought,
nor far-fetched ;  and therefore, but few will use them.
• Toast water, made by  soaking toasted bread  in hot
water; Barley water, or  a  decoction of barley ; and
Gruel, w hich is a decoction of oatmeal, though in this
country, the meal of Indian corn is  often used instead
of oats ;—all these, are mild, nutritive, and  unobjec-
tionable drinks;  and after the stomach has learnt  to
relish  simple, unstimulatingdiet, they  are  extremely
agreeable to  the palate.  To these we  may add warm,
or rather hot water, with a little milk and sugar,  as  a
harmless and salutary beverage, particularly in the win- 
191
ter: and with such a list of substitutes for tea and cof-
fee—all destitute of narcotic qualities—the temperate
man, who gives up these articles, surely need  not  ap-
prehend much of privation and suffering; and he will
certainly gain much in comfort and happiness.
   Broths, soups, and beef tea,  with  a due  proportion
of solid animal and vegetable food, are highly nutritious
and  wholesome.  Persons  of weak digestive  powers,
however, most commonly find that liquid  food  is  dis-
posed of by the stomach less easily than solid  food:
hence these articles should be taken by such, if taken
at all, with abundance of bread.
   Of all liquid aliments, milk  is the most valuable ;
constituting the sole  nourishment, for a  long time, of
all the mammiferous animals.   It consists of a*  liquid
portion and a solid portion ; the latter being les3 than
the former, probably in the ratio in which the animal
system requires solid and  liquid nourishment.   The
gastric juice has the power pf immediately separating
the solid from the liquid portion, that is, the curd from
the whey, by coagulation.   Hence milk is scarcely ob-
jectionable for weak stomachs on account of its liquid-
ity ; unless  it  be in some Yery peculiar instances.
Yet not a few  invalids, and some even in  vigorous
health, have so educated their stomachs  to something
more stimulating, that this simple food oppresses them,
and produces acidity, heartburn, and the like : and such
persons forthwith conclude that miik does not agree
with them:  Whereas, would they persevere in its use,
either in its unchanged  state, with plenty of bread, or
converted into porridge, the stomach would in most cas-
es be gradually restored to a more healthy state, and its
morbid secretions, which were so hostile to milk, hav-
ing disa^>eared, they would find this diet, particularly 
\m
for breakfast, ofthe most delicious and salutary kind;
as multitudes have testified, who for years  have  sub-
stituted it for tea, coffee and meat.  True,  for a time
there will be  produced a sensation  of faintness and
weakness: and even if it should  continue, such de-
bility is by no means as dangerous to the dyspeptic, as
the forced muscular energy, and the sense of satiety
and fullness, that  result from  more  stimulating diet.
But in this gormandizing age, I fear I shall plead in
vain, for a return to this simple breakfast—the delight
of our robust fathers, and even now, the diet  of some
of the most  vigorous  and healthy inhabitants of our
globe.  But the sedentary and the  literary men of our
days, cannot, as they imagine, be  sustained without
something more invigorating and nourishing.  " It is
amusing," says the Journal of Health, "to hear a  ner-
vous female, whose daily exercise  consists in going,up
and down stairs two or three times a day and shopping
once a week, complain that she  cannot  preserve  her
strength  unless she  eats  freely of some kind of meat,
and takes her twice daily potations of strong coffee,to say
nothing of porter, or wine sangaree."—"For  the in-
formation of all such misguided persons, we would beg
leave to. state that the large  majority of mankind do
not eat any animal food, or so  sparingly, and at such
long intervals that it cannot be said to form their nour-
ishment "  Milk, however, is an animal  product; al-
though it  differs from meat, in  containing no nitrogen ;
and seems to hold a middle place  between vegetable
and animal food.
  A  late  medical writer, in his  Manual for Invalids,
recommends milk, as better calculated than any other
kind of food, for those who  are predisposed to con-
sumption.  " Milk," says he, " has been fo^nd to be 
193
an animal fluid, affording the  most tonic  sustenance,
with the least stimulating quality, of any thing that
can be named,"  The influence of a milk diet upon
the mind is extremely salutary.   Even as  early as the
days of Homer, we find  him designating the milk eat-
ers, not only as long lived,  but as the most upright  of ,
men :
      rXaxroipaywv y jLfiiaiv Tf,  Sixaiorurmv avfiovmiar.
Whatever  foundation there may be  for this opinion,
certain it is, that a diet chiefly of milk, does produce
a most happy serenity, vigor and cheerfulness of mind;
very different from the  gloomy,  crabbed, and  irrita-
ble temper, and foggy intellect, of tiio man, who de-
vours flesh,  fish, and fowl, with ravenous  appetite ;
and adds puddings, pies,  and cake, to the load.
   Some persons, convinced in their consciences, that
milk diet at  one  of  their  daily meals would be ser-
viceable, yet too much wedded to their meat, or their
coffee, to give them up,  have  undertaken  to unite the
two, in a manner highly  agreeable to  a glutton's taste.
After devouring their usual rations of meat, they take
a bowl of bread and  milk,  to neutralize all the bad
effects of their hearty  meal.   This is  like  loading
down a cart  with gravel, and then adding  a  few bush-
els of apples  to make the  draught easier; or rather,
it is like the intemperate, man, who very manfuf.y spur-
red  his  horse  past the public house, where he was
wont to stop for his.dram,  and then immediately  rein-
ed him about, to go  in and treat resolution.
   In speaking of  solid  toed,  i  shall  be  as  brief  as
possible;  only presenting  tie  result  of  general ex-
perience,  particularly of  weak  stomachs,  as  to the
digestibility  and nutritive powers of  the different va-
rieties.  On this subject,  however, there is no  such
                 17* 
194
thing as a universal rule.  For a man's stomach does
sometimes digest an article of food, which in another
condition, it could not master.  Early habits, also, are
to be taken into the account.  Thus, a medical writer
says, that " a dyspeptic  Irishman can  digest a potato
which  would kill  a Scotchman.  So  bacon and long
collards  might lie  easy in  the bag  of a Virginian,
when they would raise a tempest in that of a New-
Englander, whose  stomach would rejoice in a sop of
molasses that would turn the  Virginian's insides into a
vinegar cask."*
   These remarks show  us that  the grand  point in a
system of dieting, is not to select  certain articles of
food, as indigestible, and others as digestible, and then,
ever afterwards, to reject  the one class as poisons, and
adhere to the  others as if they were sure to save life,
and restore health, paying little or no attention to the
quantit}'.   Yet this is  the  whole amount of  the diet-
ing, of which many make so much noise. They would
as soon commit sacrilege, as to taste of the proscribed
articles—perhaps  pickles, cheese,  or fruit—while at
the same time, they will cram down, pork,  beef, gra-
vies, puddings, pies, &c. enough to  load a horse ;  and
all the while imagine, that they are wonderfully strict
in their diet.   But  the  truth is, there is scarcely any
article of food that may not be digested with comfort,
 even by a weak stomach, provided  the quantity be not
too large.  Hence, when a man is so situated, as to be
under  the  necessity of making a meal, from a  dish
which is very indigestible in his  stomach, his only
safety  lies in taking special care that he does not eat
too much of it.
   In respect to most articles of food, however, there
   * Southern Review, Aug. 1829. p. 225. 
195
is a general agreement among those best qualified to
Judge ; I mean  among persons of weak digestive pow-
ers ;  as to their agreement or disagreement with the
stomach.
   In respect to digestion, we may place  eggs next to
milk, when they are lightly boiled,  or for two minutes
and an half. But boiled hard, or fried in the fat of pork,
or bacon, we may place them next to pebbles.  Fish
hold a middle rank as to nutrition, between ^vegetables
and warm blooded animals : and in  a proper state, and
properly cooked, several species are  not difficult  of
digestion.  Salmon, however, when  salted, though very
nutritive,  is extremely indigestible.  The same may
be said of eels.  They are too oily, and  are said, like
all other  oily  species, to produce eruptions  on the
skin,  which, in warm climates, are  very , troublesome.
Hence the reason  why  all fish without fins, were pro-
hibited to the Jews, in the Levitical law.    Ofthe shell
fish, oysters are the safest: lobsters, muscles, crabs,&c.
need  the strongest powers of digestion to manage them.
Upon the whole, every invalid should be very cautious
and sparing in  his  use  of fish.   " It is," says  an able
physician, "a very precarious if not dangerous  species
of food in  weak stomachs.  Without butter, or other
sauces, it is insipid ; and with these additions, it.is poi-
son."*
   Ofthe class of birds, the flesh ofthe common hen is,
upon  the  whole,   the  best and easiest  of digestion.
The  guinea hen, quail, common pigeon, and lark, are
nearly as good.  But to digest goose, requires  a stom-
ach of Herculean  power.  Ducks and all  wild- water
fowl, are nearly as bad—and the  turkey, especially
* Morbid Sensibility, p. 113. 
196
 with its attendant stuffings  and gravies, is not much
 better.
   The meat of quadrupeds mostly in use, is beef, mut-
 ton, lamb, veal, venison, and pork.   These contain a
 great  deal of nourishment in a small space : and if  we
 consider merely the comparative ease with which  an-
 imal substances are decomposed, the flesh of quadrup-
 eds would be thought very easy of digestion. But expe-
 rience shows that it produces greater heat and irritation
 in the system—called b}' Dr.  Paris " the digestive  fe-
 ver"—than  vegetables; and  hence it urges on  the
 powers of the invalid too fast, and though it may give
 him temporary vigor, it weakens the digestive organs,
 and ultimately aggravates his complaints.   Hence  the
 necessity of mixing bread and other farinaceous food
 with meat:  and hence too, the nervous and the feeble,
 except in peculiar cases, should be very spacing in an-
 imal diet.  Fresh  meat, which has been kept as long
 as may be, without  putrefact;on,  is  undoubtedly  far
 more digestible than pickled, salted, or smoked.  Mut-
 ton is said to be the best of all these meats, so  far  as
 digestion is concerned:  lamb is iess  valuable; and  in
 general, "the ilesh of young animals is less nutritious
 and  less  easy of  digestion, than that of full grown."*
 Hence it is, probably, that veal is found to be so very
 unfriendly to weak stomachs.  For  tender  beef, next
 to mutton, is perhaps best adaptod to such; and in point
of nourishment, it stands,! believe, at the  head ofthe
list.  The flesh of the deer, the hare, and the  rabbit,
little known in this quarter of the world, is said to be
very digestible  and nutritious.  Pork also yields per-
haps to no food in  point of nourishment;  and is hence
*Sure Methods, p.  18. 
197
well suited to persons who lead an active laborious life;
but can hardly be considered wholesome for  the  sed-
entary and  the  literary,  even  when  their health is
good;  for it produces obesity, disorders of the skin,
and foulness ofthe digestive organs.   Salt pork is more
unfriendly to health than fresh :  and as to bacon, it is
so extremely indigestible and  heavy, that it  ought if
possible to be avoided, except by the healthy and la-
boring classes.  The  same may be said of beef  that
has been thoroughly salted; though that which is mere-
ly corned, is more  agreeable and salutary.
   In all those cases, however, in  which the invalid
cannot  conveniently avoid partaking of such kinds of
meat as salt pork, beef, bacon, and veal, there is one
very safe rule for him to follow; and that is, as already
mentioned, to partake of it in so  small a  quantity, as to
be sure of not overloading the stomach.   Every  man
of feeble digestive powers, ought,  therefore, to know,
in general, how different articles agree  with his stom-
ach ; that he may judge how  much of each he can
bear.  He ought to know, for instance, that a man can
bear about four times as much of milk  and vegetable
diet, as of meat*—and that one pound of roasted meat
contains as much nourishment as two of boiled meat :t
—and that "an ounce of fat meat affords nutriment equal
to four ounces of lean."J
   It is of great importance also for  every man to know
that fat  and grease of all  kinds, and  the  different
oils, are among the most indigestible and dangerous of
all articles of food.   Hence all those preparations of
flour, potatoes, bread, eggs, kc,  that are baked or  fri-
* Cheyne on Diet and Regimen, p, 30.
t Paris on Diet,  p. 76
i Paris on Diet, p. 72. 
198
 ed in grease, or lard, are to be shunned by the invalid
 and the sedentary, and indulged in only by the athlet-
 ic hind, who does not know  that  he has a  stomach.       \
 Probably grease or fat,  when burnt, stands at the head
 of all indigestibles.  Yet 1 believe it is no unfrequent in-
 gredient ofthe diet  ofthe  sedentary.  It comes upon
 the table if 1 mistake not, in  the form  of  burnt
 pork, burnt spare-rib,  burnt goose, and  turkey,  &c.
 and  some dyspeptic  stomachs  are  in  so morbid  a
 state as even to crave the poison.
   From these remarks, in regard  to the generally in-
 jurious effect of oils, fat, grease,  &c. we must except
 fresh, unmelted butter; which, used in small quanti-
 ties, upon cold bread, is generally, though not always,
 wholesome.    When melted, however, it clogs and
 spoils  digestion : and hence the  wisdom of avoiding
 dipped toast.  Solid butter, also, if used, as not  a few
 do use it, in quantities almost equal to the bread which
 it covers, must be injurious: it ought to be regarded
 only as a condiment, to be spread as thinly as possible
 over the bread ; or else it should be abjured.
   Cheese is by far  more hurtful  than butter.   It is
 very hard of digestion, produces  constipation, and af-
 fords but little" nourishment:  and  the most  vigorous
 powers of digestion  can alone grapple with it.   If
 toasted, it is still worse.  For the invalid to mix it with
 bread and butter, pye and cake, is suicidal.
  The most important articles of nourishment, derived
 from the vegetable  kingdom, are those  called farina-
ceous ;'out of which bread is prepared—a substance not
unaptly denominated the staff of life.  This is usually
 made from some sort of grain;  as  wheat, rye,  barley,
 oats, buck wheat, Indian corn, rice, &c;  and it may be
 prepared  from the potato, and several other roots, and 
199
even from chesnuts.  In all these substances, there is
more or less, I believe, of a mucilaginous, saccharine
matter, starch, and what is called gluten ;  all of which
are highly nutritious.  Wheat is the most so; and in
general the best adapted for bread.   That made from
the finest  wheat  flour, called  whiten in  England, is,
however,  constipating, and the nutriment rather too
much concentrated.   If a part,  or  the whole of the
bran be left in the flour, the bread, called in England
wheaten and  household,  is, for most constitutions, far
preferable.   The same is  true of other kinds of bread:
the coarser sorts being much the best.  Brown bread,
made of a mixture of wheat and rye, is said to be ex-
cellent : and  for those in health,  that  prepared  from
rye and indian corn,.is salutary. That from rye alone,
is  more laxative  than if made from wheat.  Barley
and oats are scarcely used in  this  country  for bread,
though very commonly employed  for  this purpose in
Europe : but such bread is less valuable than that from
wheat  or  rye.   Rice  and potatoes require  the  addi-
tion of some flour, to render the bread made from them
easily digestible.
  Leavened  or  raised  bread, agrees best with most
stomachs.   Of unleavened bread, the  sea biscuit, cal-
led also sea bread, pilot bread, &,c.  and made of flour
and water only,  is the best;  and is often extremely
salutary to the invalid.   The  bread  known  by  the
name of crackers, in this country, is unleavened;  but
contains butter, to render it light and tender ; and is,
therefore, more  objectionable; though certainly  not
unhealthy.  The common biscuit use'd among us, con-
tains the same ingredient,  and is also leavened.
  There is one rule in respect to  bread, in which  I
believe all  physicians  agree;  and which  nearly all 
200
men violate, but which is nevertheless of great conse-
quence to the invalid  and literary man :  viz. not  to
use bread that is newly baked.  Eaten  just from the
oven, and hot  enough to- melt the  butter that is put
upon it, it is  lead in the stomach.  Yet so  depraved
are most appetites, so educated to relish unwholesome
articles, that the great mass of mankind eat their bread
in this very state ; and loathe it, when it  has  become
stale.   The student and the invalid, who habitually
take their bread thus smoking from the oven, may be
certain, that they are  most  effectually  clogging both
mind  and body. If they must eat it new, let them take
the precaution to  have it thoroughly  toasted.   Indeed,
this is an important precaution in almost every case.
   Cookery has invented  numerous other compounds,
whose basis is some kind of flour.  I am glad to  say,
that I am not enough acquainted with Dr. Kitchener's
vocabulary,  to enumerate  the rarer varieties.  But
those most in use, are the  various cakes, filled with
lard and butter, and then immersed in the same, while
cooking over the  fire : such as pancakes,  slapjacks,
nutcakes, &c. which  are to be  eaten while  warm :
next come the different kinds of pies, or  pastry ; and
last, and worst of all,  the pound  cake, sponge cake,
loaf cake, bride  cake, &c*   All these are  so com-
pounded as to tempt the palate, after the  stomach has
taken enough of  other food ;  and, without exception,
they are extremely hostile to health and  comfort.  In

   * The cakes, or muslacea, of the Romans, so common after
a rich  entertainment^ were composed  of meat,  aniseed, cum-
min, and several other aromatics ; and their object was to  re-
move, or prevent, the indigestion so frequent after a hearty
meal; whereas most  of the  cakes of modern  times, are, as
Dr. Paris remarks, " an excellent invention for producing t  in-
stead of  curing indigestion." 
201
this opinion physicians all agree. Dr. Paris, who as a
writer on diet, is more favorable to the full liver, than
almost any other, arid who even seems disposed to yield
not a little to the gluttonous habits of the  Londoners,
loses all patience on this  subject.  " All pastry," says
he, " is an  abomination.  I verily  believe, that one
half, at least, of the cases of indigestion  which oc-
cur after dinner parties may be traced to this cause."*
   "Is it good," inquires  the Catechism of Health, "to
give children dainties, cakes  or sweetmeats ?   Ans.
No.  Children are thereby rendered too fond  of their
bellies, become gluttons,  and degenerate from the
dignity of their nature.""[
   In direct opposition to such advice, it  is the prac-
tice of very many parents at this day, to  suffer their
children  to cram  themselves, particularly  at  meals,
with all the indigestible varieties  of pastry,   cakes,
hot and cold, and sweetmeats,  which, they use  them-
selves: and when the child is carried abroad to visit
a friend, it must be loaded with cakes and confection
by the kind relative:    And in this way, it is, that
we all learn very early  to crave rich and stimulating
food;  and find it so hard to  come back again  to the
plain and  simple  fare,  which nature  provides, and
health demands.
   Puddings are among the articles  of very  doubtful
utility for literary men.  Those made from bread and
rice, are the best;  those containing suet, the  worst.
In addition to their indigestible nature, they are com-
monly eaten quite hot;  swimming in butter and sugar,
or some other seasoning, and taken  after people have
eaten as much of one dish as temperance will justify.

 ,  * On Diet, p. 121.
   f Faust, p. 57.
                   18           ' 
202
   As to fruit, there are a few sorts that are salutary,
 if fully ripe, and  if eaten at breakfast, or dinner, as a
 part ofthe meal; the other food-being proportionally
 diminished in quantity.  The best fruits ate  apples,
 pears, peaches, apricots, strawberries, raspberries, or-
 anges, and currants.   Cherries, plums, olives,  melons,
 cucumbers, and all kinds of nuts, are very  difficult of
 digestion : And to eat them, as some do,  in addition to
 a full meal, or between meals, is'ruinous to the  healthy
 and poisonous to the invalid.  Chesnuts, walnuts, but-
 ternuts, filberts, and almonds, are particularly injurious,
 taken  at such  times.   Not much  better  are  raisins,
 prunes, figs, &c.
  Ofthe  esculent roots, turnips, potatoes, and  onions,
 are the best.  Dry mealy potatoes,  especially,  are ca-
 pable  of sustaining  life,  health, and vigor, alone, or
 simply with salt.*   The sweet potato, though  abound-
 ing in nourishment, is less digestible.
  From the potato is prepared  most ofthe arrow root
 of commerce.   This is essentially starch,  as  is  also
 tapioca,  sago, and salep.   All these are very nourish-
 ing and digestible, if eaten with bread: and they are
 used advantageously, by people recovering  from sick-
 ness.
  Pickles are mere  vegetable receptacles for  vine-
 gar.  All the sedentary and literary will do well to let
t hem alone ; unless directed to their use by the physi-
 cian.
  All vegetables of the pulse kind, of which peas and
beans are the most common, are among the most un-
 wholesome articles  of diet,  for  sedentary  and  lit-
  *The introduction and use of the potato into Europe, was
resisted for two centuries, by the most violent prejudices. But
after Louis XV had worn a bunch of  potato flowers  in his
coat, on a day of festivity, the people enthusiastically began to
cultivate and use this root. 
203
erary men : being not only indigestible, but deficient in
nourishment.
   Salads, lettuce, radishes, and  most pot herbs, may
be occasionally serviceable, in small quantities, to those
in health: but nervous  invalids will  almost always
suffer from their use.  Radishes in particular, will an-
swer only for the strongest  stomachs.   Carrots, pars-
nips, beets, and cabbage, should be sparingly  used, if
used at all by such.
   By the art of cookery,  the different alimentary sub-
stances undergo very important changes.   These  are
accomplished by the application of heat and water, or
by the admixture of different articles.   Aliments that
are  roasted, retain more of their nutritive qualities
than if cooked  in any other way.   By baking and stew-
ing,  thej' do not lose their nutritive powers,  but  are
rendered much less digestible.   Boiling extracts not a
little of the soluble nutriment; and it is said that arti-
cles  are thus rendered less proper for weak stomachs,
than by roasting, or baking.  Broiling is probably not
inferior to roasting in rendering food salutary and nu-
tritious ; and  this is the mode  of preparing meat for
the athletic,  while under the training process.  Fry-
ing is the worst of all the simple  modes of cookery;
because it requires  the use of oil,  or fat, made boiling
hot; and thus rendered empyreumatic.   Fryed meat
is, however, less injurious than fried potatoes, or pud-
di«g, for weak stomachs.  Of all  common articles of
food, those that are saturated with butter, or fat, while
at a  boiling heat, are the  most pernicious.
   These simple processes of cookery are all  that  are
essential to health and happiness.   But  these do  not
satisfy  the craving appetite of gluttony.  Food thus
prepared, was soon found, by men in a luxurious state 
                       204

of society, to be  too  mild,  too void  of stimulation.
The first resort was to the various kinds of seasoning,
called  condiments.  These are of five  sorts : 1 The
oily condiments, as oil, butter, cream, and fat:   2 The
saccharine condiments; sugar and honey:  3 the acid
condiments ;  vinegar, and lime juice :  4 the saline con-
diments ; common salt and nitre :  5 the  acrid condi-
ments,  or aromatics ; including pepper, spice, cloves,
nutmegs, cinnamon, &c:  Of the first class, I have  al-
ready  spoken—Of the second, I would say, that sugar
and honey are undoubtedly among the  most nutritious
of all substances.  The nourishment,   however, is  in
too concentrated a state,to be used without a due admix-
ture of bread, or other farinaceous aliment. Hence the
nausea and .uneasiness that result from  eating these ar-
ticles  in any considerable quantity.  The  acid condi-
ments, of which vinegar is the principal, are  undoubt-
edly serviceable, with some kinds of food ; and to the
healthy stomach; but few invalids  can employ them
 with advantage.  Among all these condiments, no one
 deserves so much to be recommended as common salt.
 This seems to be universally  adapted  to promote the
 nutrition of plants and animals; and the want  of it, is
 attended with most  disastrous consequences.   One of
 the severest penalties annexed to the  ancient  laws of
 Holland, was, that criminals should " be kept on bread
 alone, unmixed with salt."  " The effect was horrible:
 these wretched criminals are said to have been devour-
 ed by worms engendered in their   own stomachs."
 Salt may, indeed, be used in too  large quantities : but
 there does not appear to belong to it,  any  of those be-
 witching properties, that tempt so many to  excess  in
  other articles of food and  drink.
    If such be the effect of salt, how happens it that salt" 
205
 ed provisions are so indigestible ;  and when used'ex-
 clusively, produce the scurvy, and other painful disor-
 ders ?  In the case of salted meat and fish, it  may be
 replied, there seems to be a chemical change  produc-
 ed in the meat and the fish, by their union with the salt,
 and thus their  character,  as food, is  essentially alter-
 ed;  whereas,  salt used as  a condiment, produces no
 such change.   And although our senses are not aware
 of such slight differences, yet the stomach is affected
 by them, more than the  most delicate  chemical test.
 On the same principle, although the stomach immedi-
 ately separates milk into butter and cheese, yet in such
 cases, it digests'these with far more facility, than when
 these substances, artificially prepared, are eaten.
   The aromatic condiments operate as stimulants up-
 on the digestive powers, and, therefore, furnish a tem-
 porary assistance to digestion ; just as brandy and wine
 do.   But I cannot see why these aromatics do not pre-
 maturely wear  out  the stomach, just as alcohol does-
 Let every man, who is fond of stimulating food or drink
 of any kind, remember,  that the momentary strength
 and  comfort which they give,  is to be  succeeded by
 early prostration and disease.  According  to this prin-
 ciple, that literary and sedentary man conducts wisest,
 who uses least ofthe aromatic condiments.  He, to be
 sure, will not experience the temporary glow and ex-
 citement of one whose system is braced up by a  tonic
 diet: but he will enjoy comfort and serenity of mind,
long after the other is in the grave.   He  must, how-
ever, carry out this system, into every part of his diet,
to experience such effects.   For example, all the com-
pound gravies, and sauces, made up, usually, of a  mix-
ture of different condiments, in which melted butter
predominates—must  be discarded by him  altogether.
                        18* 
206
Not that it would be particularly injurious for him to
partake of such articles in small quantities, occasion-
ally :  but if he partake sometimes, he will never know
where to stop.   In all cases, therefore, where an ar-
ticle of diet is not necessary for health, or strength,
the literary and sedentary should make it a principle
to discard it, even from their occasional bill of fare.
   I crave the patience of this audience, while I close
the extended view that has been given  ofthe subject
of diet, by a few remarks, suggested by all that  has
been advanced.
   In  the first place, let me conjure you not to reject
the great, fundamental, leading principles, which I have
advocated,unless you can find authorities and arguments
against  them, stronger than I have  adduced  in their
defence.   I may have mingled minor peculiarities of
my own  with these principles;  and  these, 1 would
have you adopt, or reject, according to the evidence.
But for the leading principles advanced, I have made
my appeal to the highest medical authorities of past
and present times, and to the  known laws  of the hu-
man constitution.  Now  what I  request is, that  you
would not reject these principles until you can find at
least as many, and  as  good authorities and  arguments
against them, as I have given in their favour.   In  oth-
er words, do not reject them because they are contra-
ry to your own practice  and feelings.   Go  to work as
diligently as you please, to study dietetic writers, who
have collected together the results  of experience on
these  subjects ;  and find,  if you can,  that my views are
wrong, according to  the testimony of a  majority ofthe
ablest of them;  and 1 shall very cheerfully acknowl-
1 ! :i my errors :  But until you can do  this, let not a
:■> : of high living, or the sneer of ridicule, persuade 
207
you to reject principles which may be your only secu-
rity against sickness, imbecility, and an early grave.
   Secondly ; if the  principles which I have  advanced
be correct, we learn that Intemperance is a Monster
far more hideous and gigantic in his  members,  than
has been supposed.   So frightful are the ravages of in-
temperate  drinking,  that men have been led to sup-
pose that  the  whole power ofthe monster was there
concentrated :  But  in fact, this is only one of his paws,
which he  reaches out from the place of his conceal-
ment, in order to seize upon his  victims.   This* sub-
ject throws  new light into  his den ;  and discovers to
our view his other  gigantic iimbs, and terrible mouth,
and mammoth  bulk.  1 bid God speed to the resolute
soldiers, who have  gathered around his lurking place,
sword in hand, and  are attempting- to cut off this paw;
which is so  busily and powerfully engaged in the work
of destruction: Already several  ofthe muscles  and
sinews have been severed, and the monster begins to
feel  the loss of blood.  The  entire amputation  will
weaken and cripple him still  more.  But  let no man
think that the battle will then be  over.   He  will wake
up with the power  that desperation  gives;  and must
be met and overcome by the powerthat religion gives.
   Thirdly ;  the discussion of this  subject shows us how
groundless  are most of the complaints made  in our
country, about hard times,  the impossibility  of paying
debts, supporting families,  and contributing to benev-
olent objects.   Most of men, who thus complain, are
the very persons,  who are  expending nearly double
every year what is necessary, for unnecessary and high-
ly injurious articles of  diet.   They can hardly make
 out a meal, unless three or four varieties of food, and
 a quantum  of the strongest tea,  or coffee, are before 
208
 them.   Clogged as they are by this worse than need-
 less extra expense, and incapacitated as they are for
 the vigorous prosecution of business, by excess  in eat-
 ing, it  is no wonder  that they find it difficult to keep
 their expenditures within their income.   But let them
 only adopt those rules of diet, for themselves and fam-
 ilies, which  experience and the best plrysicians point
 out, as most calculated to promote health and  happi-
 ness, and  they  would find their temporal  concerns
 most astonishingly blessed.   Instead of complaining of
 the hard times, and the difficulty  of supporting  their
 families, they would  be continually praising God  for
 casting their lot in a part of the  world,  where  their
 facilities for  obtaining the comforts, and  even luxuries
 of life, are unexampled ;  and where by  honest  indus-
 try and economy alone, they can not onby do  this, but
 obtain a surplus  for meeting in a liberal manner, the
 various calls,  which learning,  benevolence, and reli-
 gion make upon their charity : and besides this, have
 something left  as a reserve  for future exigences.
   I am aware, indeed, that it requires the spirit of a
 martyr, for any individual at the present -tiny, to adopt,
 and carry through, such a  system.   Public opinion will
 ridicule his fanaticism on  this subject, if he be not re-
 garded as deranged ;  and  his conscientious simplicity
 of living, will be branded  as  narrow minded parsimo-
 ny:  and he will  be in danger of being cast out, with
 his family, from respectable and even religious socie-
ty.   His best friends will  affectionately urge  him not
to starve himself and his family, and try  to make him
 believe, that  his children  will be despised for the pe-
culiarities of their father;  and as soon   as they are
out ofthe reach of his excessive restrictions, will give
a loose to all their desires, and become dissolute.   Un- 
209
less a man, therefore, is prepared to meet all these dif-
ficulties, (and  nothing but strong religious  principle,
and daily prayer, can prepare him,) he had better not
make the attempt.   Alas, how few  there are, who as-
pire to the honour of this martyrdom !  But it will not
be always thus.
  Fourthly ; the  discussion  of this subject shows  us
from whence the means are  to  be derived,  for civ-
ilizing and Christianizing the world.
  They are to result from the prevalence  of temper-
ance.   In the first place, this will furnish men  for the
work.   When children shall  be brought  up  according
to strict temperance, and shall persevere in the same
course through life,  there will be little more complaint
about debilitated constitutions and feeble health :  nor
will acute  diseases but seldom cut down  suddenly  the
most vigorous and useful of men :  But they  will  live
until natural decay shall remove  them;  that is,  at a
medium, until seventy years  old.  Certainly this will
add  twenty or thirty years-to the present term of life :
and it will  add more  than this, to the period of useful-
ness : because we need not make so much  allowance,
as we  now do, for sickness  and  premature debility.
The same  number of men, therefore, under the reign
of temperance, will do much more in the mighty work
of renovating the world, than they can do,  under the
influence ofthe present habits of society.
  Is this all imagination ?  Or does the language of
prophecy teach us the same ?  Speaking of the latter
days, Isaiah says : there shall be no  more thence an in-
fant of days, nor an  old man that hath not filled his days:
for the child shall die a hundred years old: but the sinner,
being a hundred years old, shall be accursed.   And  they
shall build  houses and inhabit them ;  and  they shall plant 
210
»
vineyards and cat the fruit of them.   They shall not build
and another inhabit; they shall not plant  and another
eat: for as the days of a tree are (he days of my people,
and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Certainly  this passage describes   an  important  addi-
tion to the term of life in latter times : in this world
too, because sinners are here spoken  of.  And if we
seek for natural causes to account for such a result,
how exactly  does temperance answer the  requisite
conditions.
  But the progress of temperance, in respect both  to
drink and  food,  paves the way for the progress of true
piety.  Hence temperance will be the means of quali-
fying many  more young men to  be ministers and
missionaries.   And  since   its  general  prevalence
will render unnecessary   many   branches of  bus-
iness,  now  extensively  pursued, more  and  more
youth can be spared for the  benevolent work of carry-
ing civilization and science to their ignorant and be-
nighted fellow men.
  Temperance will also furnish the pecuniary  means
for  this work.  Our benevolent societies now find  it
extremely difficult to procure money enoug-h to carry
forward their operations on a very  limited scale.  But
were only their  present contributors to adopt the
principles  of temperance, they might enable these
societies to enlarge the sphere of their labours in an as-
tonishing  ratio.   Admitting  that the  800,000 profes-
sing Christians  in the  United  States,  constitute  these
contributors, or are equivalent to them as  to number,
and the following estimate must be  regarded as very
moderate.
  The pecuniary expense of ardent spirit in this coun-
try, cannot be  put less than  one  hundred millions of 
211
 dollars annually.  Divided  equally upon  our thirteen
 millions  of  inhabitants, it will  give eight  dollars
 to   each  individual.    Suppose  that  professors  of
 religion expend only one third as much as the average
 sum for this  article;  and the 800,000  would, by  total
 abstinence, save $2,136,000.
   Suppose each of these individuals, by reducing the
 quantity of his solid food one half, could save ten dol-
 lars per annum.  The whole amount saved would be
 $8,000,000.   To  this ought  to  be  added at  least
 $4,000,000  more,  for  the  unnecessary  dishes, and
 sweetmeats,  cakes, fruits, &c, with which  friends and
 and parties are regaled.
   Tobacco,  cigars,  and  snuff,  at  one pound for  each
 individual, (about the  quantity  consumed ■ in  England)
 and at twenty  cents  per pound, amounts  to 160,000
 dollars.*
   Tea, at one pound for each  person,  at  one  dollar
 per pound, $800,000.  Coffee, at two pounds each, and
 thirty  cents per pound, $480,000.
  The whole amount is  not far from  fifteen millions ;
 or thirty times  more than the income of the charitable
 and benevolent societies  in the  United  States in 1829.
 To this might be added,  could it be estimated, a large
 sum, saved by the  influence of temperance,  from the
 ordinary  expenses of sickness.  Another large amount
 also, for the addition to life, resulting  from the same
cause ; and the consequent ability to enlarge the  pe-
cuniary stock above the present standard.  Nor should
it be forgotten, that a speedy and natural consequence
of rigid temperance, would be, to lead to an immense
reduction  of  those  extravagances in dress, furniture,
* See Journal of Health, p. 27. 
212
;
and equipage, which even exceed the the excesses of
Christians in eating and drinking.   All  these  items
must more than double the amount mentioned above;
which the thorough practice of temperance would set
at liberty, for the service of the Lord.
  This,  then, is the  enormous  annual  tax,  which
Christians in this country pay, for feeding the maw of
intemperance.  Let this monster  be  starved,  and all
this might go to hasten forward the conversion,  civil-
ization, and salvation ofthe world.  Oh, it is a matter
of joy, that such vast resources can be poured so  easily
into the  streams  of benevolence—making healthier,
and happier, and richer, those who give; and imparting
peace, and joy,  and  eternal blessedness, to those who
receive ! And if the present comparatively small num-
ber of professing christians in  our land,  could  do  so
much, what  might  the  great  mass of the inhabitants
accomplish,  were they too, to become temperate and
devotedly pious!  One hundred millions annually, they
could have at their  command, by total abstinence from
ardent spirit: another hundred by temperance in eat-
ing ; twenty or  thirty, by  abandoning hurtful narcot-
ics ;  and more than  double the whole of  these items,
by a reasonable reduction of extravagancies, in  dress,
furniture, and equipage ? Carry your  thoughts farther;
and suppose  these principles of temperance to prevail
among all Christian nations ; and surely you have the
means in your hands for the complete  renovation  of
this  wretched world.   Yet  all this, may  Christians
hope to see, in millenial times.  And  who knows, but
the temperance movement in our  land, is the  grand
instrument, which God means to employ, to bring about
such mighty and glorious results!
  If there be any approximation to truth in these prin- 
213
ciples and inferences, Oh what  constraining motives
are here presented to the educated youth of our coun-
try, to adopt the  principles  of temperance, in their
widest applications!  What a mighty influence  upon
the destinies of our world, might the youth, even in the
literary seminaries in this place,  exert, if they could
be  persuaded, early and effectually,  to incorporate
these principles with all their habits, and be seen mov-
ing on, in an unbroken phalanx, in the holy war against
intemperance.   Oh,  the  light and  influence, which
they might thus send out into the world, and down to
posterity, would not, like other emanations proceeding
from a centre, spread and increase in the slow ratio of
the square ofthe distance and the time ; but in a ratio
so high, that the  quadratics of the  millenium  could
alone express and  resolve it
19 
EjECTEIHE  VI.
              PART II. REGIMEN.

Exercise :  its comparative importance.   Case of Dr.
  Dwight.   First—Second— Third---Fourth---Fifth-
  Sixth—Seventh—and Eighth Rule concerning Exercise
  —Conclusion.

  In commencing this lecture, Gentlemen, I enter up-
on the second principal branch of my subject, that  is,
Regimen.   I have  already stated what I shall consider
as included in this term: viz. Exercise, Air, Clothing,
Cleanliness, Evacuations, Sleep, Manners, and the Influ-
ence of the Imagination and Passions upon health.  I am
aware that some of these points cannot be arranged un-
der regimen with logical precision : and that the term is
often used by good writers to include attention to diet.
But there is a convenience in grouping together these
subjects under this head;  nor am I without good au-
thority in so doing.   Indeed, this term, signifying in
general, a rule,  may be  applied with a good deal of
 latitude.
   The most important branch of regimen is Exercise.
 And because I  have urged  the subject  of diet with
 great  earnestness  and  minuteness, let no one conclude
 that I am about to represent the other means  of pre-
 serving health,  and  curing nervous  maladies, as com-
 paratively unimportant.   I have already stated, and I
 wish to reiterate  the declaration, that attention to diet
 alone, however rigid, will not avail as a  substitute for 
215
exercise, or the other rules of regimen; either to pre-
serve health, or restore it.  In many protracted cases
of dyspeptic complaints,especially, persevering system-
atic exercise, takes  the  lead  of all  other means for
recovery ;  and will succeed when dieting utterly fails.
Hence Mr. Abernethy says,  " he knows of no rem-
edies for  these complaints, but air and exercise."
   To evince the necessity  of attention to exercise,
as well as diet, even for the most vigorous constitutions,
we have   an instructive  example in Dr.  Dwight of
Yale  College, while he was a tutor  in that institution.
He reduced the quantity of food, first to twelve mouth-
fuls of meat at dinner, and then to the same of veget-
able  food ; his  other meals being proportionally light;
neglecting at the  same time,  nearly all active  exer-
cise.   Within a year, his  constitution was almost ru-
ined.  But by  removing to Northampton, and  there,
in the course of another  year, taking upwards  2000
miles of pedestrian  exercise, and 3000 of equestrian,
his vigor was restored and held out  for forty years.*
  The inquiry  will here  probably be started, how is it,
that  many of the German scholars  are able to sustain
such long  continued application to study, with so little
exercise ?  I reply, that their vigorous constitutions,
their early training to coarse  and temperate diet, their
perfect  regularity,  and  perhaps   more than all,
their climate, do, indeed, enable  some  of them al-
 most to  mock the rules  of  regimen :  yet probably
 their application and  neglect of exercise  have been
 much exaggerated.   At any rate, if Germans can live
 without exercise, Americans cannot:  and he who at-
 tempts it, will only add  another victim to  the long cat-

   * See Dwights Life, prefixed to his Theology, p. 13. 
216
alogue of those in our country, who have ignorantly
or presumptuously tried the experiment, and found, as         ,
the consequence, an early grave.   True, they  may
hold out for a few years: but the seeds of disease are
germinating in their constitutions, and will ultimately
flourish with fearful luxuriance.   The discerning eye
reads in  the pale and  dull countenances of all  such
individuals, the secret workings of internal decay.
   At this day, however, there is scarcely any individ-
ual among the  sedentary and the  literary,  who does
not acknowledge, in general  terms, the  necessity of
exercise.   Now  and then you will find  one, indeed,
who has the  vanity and presumption  to believe that
he shall not fail, in repeating  the experiment of Dr.
Dwight:  and  that his genius is of so extraordinary a
character, that it is his  duty to devote all his time to
study, lest the world should be cheated of some of the
fruits of his mighty intellect.   Very  few, also,  have
any accurate or just notions of the quantity of  exer-
cise they need, or ofthe time and manner in which it
should be taken.   Hence half enough  is not taken ;
and much ofthe other half, is productive of injury in-
stead of benefit.  We need not wonder,  therefore, at
the multitude  of  pale cadaverous countenances, that
are seen at our colleges and preparatory  schools.
   My object at this time, is, to collect and define those
general  rules  on the subject  of  exercise,  which  the
experience of physicians and others have established;
or in which  the great majority are agreed.   There is
even less of disagreement on this subject, among those
best qualified to judge, than upon dietetics: and since
I need not stop to  prove the necessity of exercise, 1
trust I shall  be able  to dispense  with much of that
prolixity, which seemed  indispensable  in treating of
diet. 
217
   The first established rule in respect to exercise, is,
THAT IT SHOULD BE REGULAR.
  Some students think it sufficient, if once a week, or so,
they break away from their books, and spend half a day,
or a whole  day, in laying in a stock of  exercise  for
the week.   But this will answer scarcely better, than
to eat enough every seventh day  for the intervening
six.   Just as the food  would oppress the stomach, so
will such  exercise exhaust,  rather  than strengthen,
all the powers of  life.   Nature attempts to conform
her operations to our habits:  and  if we  make sudden
transitions  from long repose to protracted  muscular
effort, she has not become habituated to it, and suffers
violence; because she ha« been endeavouring for some
time to accommodate her movements to a state of rest.
The processes of digestion, assimilation, and  secre-
tion, must daily  go forward, in order to keep the sys-
tem sustained.   Now the great object of exercise, is
to assist in  carrying  on these operations :  and,  there-
fore, exercise will be needed  every day, as much  as
food.
  Some may enquire, whether it be proper to exercise
on the sabbath ?  In itself considered, there is surely no
violation of the divine command to keep  the  sabbath
holy, in taking so much exercise, of some kind, as will
render a  person most fit  for a due observance of the
day.   But if one man is in the habit of riding, or walk-
ing abroad  on that day, however pure his motives,  his
example may have a bad effect upon those who  do not
understand how it is, that  he needs exercise,  when
rest is their surest method of collecting their thoughts
and directing their minds to religious objects.  Hence
the student, and even the dyspeptic, had better make
it a rule to avoid, as much as possible, exercise in pub.
                              19* 
218
 lie on the Lord's day; unless medical prescription re-
 quires it.  As a substitute, they can make some mus-
 cular  efforts within doors,  that will answer the  pur-
 pose in a measure :  These in-door exercises, however,
 should be of such a nature, as to  show that  nothing
 but necessity, or  a sense of duty,  induces  a man
 to perform them.  If a man saw wood, or work at some
 mechanical art, it gives too secular  an aspect to his ef-
 forts, and they will have a bad influence upon  his fam-
 ily  or friends.   But if he walk  briskly  through an
 open  hall, for an hour, or swing  a chair, or  other
 weight, a hundred  times, every one will see that he
 does not exercise for the sake of pleasure or profit.
   Another expedient will  help the conscientious man
 very much in this matter.   Let him take a great deal
 more exercise abroad on Saturday, than on any other
 day :  for although  this method will not  furnish him
 with a supply of exercise  for the  week,  yet, if the
 constitution be accustomed  to regular, daily exercise,
 an increase  in the quantity  on the  sixth day, will
 strengthen the system for resting on the seventh.  In-
 deed, the rule, which the  Israelites were  directed to
 observe in regard to collecting manna, may be a good
 one for the Christian, in respect to out door exercise.
 They were obliged to  collect a quantity  of it every
 morning,  only sufficient  for that day ;  except on Sat-
 urday, when they gathered double the usual amount;
 and this sufficed them for  the Sabbath,  although, in
 any other case, it was good for nothing but a single
 day.
  There is another  circumstance of great importance
in respect to this point.   Let the man who would pass
his Sabbaths pleasantly and  profitably  with little ex-
ercise, remember that he should be peculiarly abste-
mious in hi3 diet on that day, eating much  less in 
219
quantity, and less of stimulating kinds of food.  Nay,
some  recommend  actual fasting as a  most valuable
means, not only  of avoiding  the evils  I have spoken
of, but likewise as purifying the  system from  the ef-
fects of any excesses of the past week, and strength-
ening it against  any that may be  committed  during
the one which the Sabbath commences.  At any rate,
they certainly do not observe this rule, who eat more
on the Sabbath than on any other day ; which I  fear
is the case with very many : nor those who live on
vegetable food  the early part of the day, but devour
animal food enough at night, to gorge  a Polyphemus.
  In urging the necessity of regularity in  exercise, I
would by no means be understood as discouraging the
student from the salutary habit of occasionally taking
a  larger amount of it, than is usual;  breaking away,
for example, for  a  day or two,  from  his books, and
climbing the distant mountain, or in some  other way,
escaping beyond his daily  circle  of occupation and
thought.   This exerts a most salutary  influence upon
the system and upon the mind, ifnot carried too far, and
indulged in too  frequently, until the control over the
mind is  lost, and  a roving, discontented, indolent dis-
position is  acquired.  But a certain amount  of daily
exercise  must not be dispensed with,  however fre-
quently  these occasional  efforts can   be made.  And
ordinarily, it is best, as  far as convenient, to devote a
certain portion of each day to this  object; not suffer-
in^ any thing else to interfere with, or  encroach upon,
a period, which  is  probably of more importance to
the scholar than  any other  part of the  twenty-four
hours.  Indeed, as  old Cheyne has  justly remarked, a
man should " make exercise a part of his religion." At
least,  every student ought to  make  it  a point, to fail 
                        220

 no oftener in this daily exercise, than he does in his
 regular meals ; since his digestion requires the exer-
 cise, as much as his stomach does the food.    Could I
 persuade you  rigidly to  adhere  to  this direction, I
 should not fear many failures.  For in general, I be-
 lieve,  students need no  monitor's bill to make them
 punctual at their  boarding houses.
   The  second rule  respecting  exercise, is, that  it
 SHOULD NOT BE VIOLENT, OR EXCESSIVE.
   This rule is particularly important for the invalid
 of delicate habits.  Very many such, having heard, in
 general, that  exercise is  the grand panacea  for the
 feeble, conclude  that  the more they take of it, the            <
 better.   Hence they rouse up from a state of inaction,
 and exert all their  energies at  once,  until the frame
 becomes  exhausted; and instead of  the  recovered
 health and strength  which  they  had  expected, they
 find themselves prostrated by actual disease.   Where-
 as, had they commenced very moderately at first, and
 every day added a little to the quantity of their efforts,
 their system would gradually have gained  strength
 and firmness;  and ere long, they might have perform-
 ed wonders in their corporeal exertions.  The grand
 point,  then,  seems  to be, to begin moderately, and
not to carry exercise so far as to produce extreme fa-
 tigue and exhaustion.   And yet  do  not cease your ef-
 forts, until you feel fatigue  in a  moderate degree.
   This  same caution is necessary  for  the healthv,
who have not been  accustomed to  much  active exer-
cise.  Particularly  dangerous is this sudden violence            ^
of effort  in the spring, when the motion of the blood
is  accelerated by the  genial warmth of  the  season ;
and when, therefore, too great exertion may produce
effects suddenly fatal, or lay the foundation for distress- 
221
ing and incurable diseases.   On  this ground, it was,
that  Galen, one  of the most celebrated physicians of
antiquity, inveighs  against the  Gymnasium :  And if
caution  was requisite in  this  species  of exercise,
among the athletic Greeks and Romans, it is certain-
ly not out of  place, for the debilitated constitutions
and  sedentary habits of modern times.   I  do not con-
demn this species of  exercise, so much celebrated in
our day; but I say, that caution should be used in its
early stages ; and  that a student should begin  with its
most simple and least violent movements, and proceed
slowly through  the prescribed course.    In this way,
the constitution may be gradually brought to endure
with impunity, the most severe and protracted labours.
This is  shown  by the great  hardiness,  acquired by
those classes in society, who are brought up from their
earliest years, in habits ofthe most laborious industry.
The student  may sigh, because the  vigor, which he
sees them exhibit, cannot  be his : but  let  him never
attempt to compete with it, until he  has gone through
a similar preparatory discipline.
   Let not these  remarks be misapplied to  the justifi-
cation ofthe indolent voluptuary, who begins to com-
plain of debility and exhaustion, ere his exercise is well
begun;  and who would consider it intolerably cruel, to
prolong his walk,or ride,lill real fatigue came over him.
I am only urging caution at the  beginning of a  new
course of exercise : for when the system begins to feel
its bracing influence, it is all important that the quan-
tum be increased,  until the healthy medium, between
laziness and excess, be attained.  In particular, let no
one, who has the direction of children, endeavour to
curb their natural inclination for active and almost con-
stant motion.  Until the  age  of  ten or  twelve,  they 
222
should be permitted to pursue  their little sports as
much as possible in the open air, scarcely interrupted
by tasks of any kind;  unless their  books,  and other
means of improvement can be made a  part  of their
amusements.   The .ambition manifested  by  many par-
ents, to exhibit their young  children as  prodigies of
learning, and their consequent efforts to  confine them
to their books for  an unreasonable length of  time, is
generally repaid by a sickly  boyhood, and bodily  and
mental imbecility in manhood.   But let the  child be
allowed in its early years to  follow the promptings
of nature, as  far as possible, in respect to exercise,
and  vigor of constitution, bodily and menial, will be
the rich  reward.   I dwell  on this subject,  because
here  is   the  fruitful  beginning  of a  large part of
the  feeble health, that now meets us  at every cor-
ner.   Very  few  mothers have  any just  ideas con-
cerning the physical education of their children.   So
fearful are they, lest they should be exposed to  the open
air, or should lose their delicate complexions  under a
meridian sun, or become rude in their  appearance by
running abroad, or soil their nice clothes in the  dirt;
that they must be  sedulously kept within doors, most
of their time ; and even there be restrained from every
active movement:  and thus, erelong, they  become as
delicate and white as the porcelain  ornaments around
them: and almost as frail and void of mind.    Alas, this
is no caricature :  the original is seen on every  side :
it is  seen in the  nervous lady of eighteen, and in  the
pale faced pedant  of the literary institution.
  But my business at this time, is with those, who  are
acting for themselves,  in respect to regimen.   And in
regard to the extent to which their  exercise, while
in tolerable health, should be carried, there  is rather 
223
a quaint rule given by writers, which is not anuseless
one, viz :  " that the lean should exercise ad ruborem,
that is, till the body  and spirits are gently heated;  for
that will help to fatten them: and the fat, ad sudorem,
that is, till they perspire ; for that will help to reduce
them ; and consequently extenuate the body."*
  The third rule  on  this subject, requires, that litera-
ry  AND SF.DENTARY MEN SHOULD DEVOTE SEVERAL HOURS
EACH DAY, TO F.XF.RCISE IN THE OPEN AIR.
  The quantity of exercise  which it is  proper for a
man to take, is  the  most important point relating to
the subject; and  }et, it is not possible to  be very defi-
nite in pointing out the quantity.  However, we know
that there is  danger of erring by  taking too  little,
rather than too much.  And  the shortest time, which
will answer- for  the  preservation  of health, is  two
hours per day in the open air.  It is far  better to de-
vote three hours to this  object ;  observing the last
rule, not to exercise violently or excessively.  Indeed,
those individuals, who have derived the  greatest ad-
vantages  from exercise, have more commonly extend-
 ed their out-door eflorts, their walks, or their rides,
 or  their gardening, or their herborizing, to four hours.
 This has enabled them to walk from 6 to 10 miles;
 or  to ride from  10 to  12 :  but it is better to limit our
 exercise by time, rather than by the space gone over;
 because, by the  latter rule,  we shall be  very  apt to
 compress  into one  hour, in  order to save time, those
 efforts, which should employ two or three.
    These three or four hours  for exercise, should not
 be taken  at once;  but rather  at two or three  times
 during the  day; though it is better to have  these
*Sure Methods, p. 160. 
224
times fixed, in  order to  avoid a  temptation to  omit
them.
  I do not doubt  that many who hear me, will be
amazed that I make so large a  demand  upon their
time for exercise ; and will be conscious, that in times
past,  they have given only  a  small  moiety of four
hours daily, to this object.  Nay, it is my  belief, that
if they were to make an  honest confession on this
subject, not a few would say, that a hasty  movement,
three times a day, from their studies to their boarding
houses, has constituted the principal part of their ex-
ercise, since they commenced study. And they proba-
bly fancy,  that in  this  way, they  have gained a great
deal of time for  study, which others have lost in un-
necessary  exertion abroad :  whereas, in  fact,  they
have most unquestionably lost time abundantly.  For
if there be any fact clearly established, in relation to
this matter, it is, that a man, who devotes four hours
daily  to exercise,  will make more progress in study
in one hour, than he could do in three, with only one
hour's exercise.  Without  sufficient exercise,  the
movements ofthe  animal  machine are heavy and la-
boured, and the  mind is clogged in the  same propor-
tion :  and ere long, both become feeble and inefficient
in their operations.  The difference, indeed, between
the movements of the mind with, and without exercise,
is as great, as  between  the movements  of a clock,
clogged and groaning with friction and dirt; and one
newly oiled and cleaned ;  with every pivot, wheel, and
pin, in place.   The true way, therefore, for a student
to gain time for literary pursuits, is to devote, without
grudging,  these  three or four hours per day, to giv-
ing strength, and freedom, and lightness of play, to the
numberless wheels, and delicate cords, and levers and 
                       225

springs, that make up his corporeal system.   Aerugo
vnimi—rubigo ingenii,  says  Seneca:  and Plato calls
him a  cripple, who, by neglecting this  bodily disci-
pline, cultivates his mind alone ;  suffering the delicate
machinery  of his system to rust and sink into decay,
through sloth and inaction.  He  may seem to be rear-
ing up a luxurious crop of the  flowers and  fruits of
learning: but he may rest assured, that like the pro-
ductions of  the greenhouse, they  will be wanting In
vigor, in delicate colouring, in just proportions, and in
ripeness.
  Again would I repeat, to  those who hear me, that
to give these three or four hours  per day to bodily
exercise in  the open air , is a point ofthe last impor-
tance to  their health of body and mind.   Consult the
history of the most distinguished literary men that
have lived;  except, perhaps, that of some anomalous
German literati; and you will find that such was their
practice  ; and that they impute  to it, their chief abil-
ity to accomplish so much as they have done.   In vain
is it to adhere rigidly to an abstemiousdiet, and to eve-
ry other rule of regimen,  if this be neglected: for the
student has  no security against disease and premature
debility.   Nor, indeed, ought he  to expect any sym-
pathy in  his  fallen state, if he will not listen to the
voice of experience on this point.   For  however va-
rious may be the opinions of distinguished physicians
and other writers, on other parts of this subject, here,
so far as I know, they are unanimous, from Galen and
Pythagoras  downwards.   To disregard their testimo-
ny, therefore, is a  mark of most disgusting self conceit
and presumption.   For any one to do this,"who pro-
fesses to be  devoting himself to literary pursuits, for
the sake of promoting the Divine Glory, is worse than
folly ;  it is criminal.
                               20 
226
   But I doubt not, that the members of this college,,
and of most other literary institutions in the land, will
enquire, how is it possible for us, consistently with an at-
tention to the required routine of study, and other in-
dispensable  requirements, to find three or four  hours
each  day, to devote to exercise ?  I confess I must  an-
swer, that Ihardly know. In the words ofthe Secretary
ofthe American Education Society, in his able address
on the union of study with  useful labour—" the truth
is, that the founders and governors  of most seminaries
of learning have made no positive provision whatever
for taking exercise.   Their laws and regulations are
silent in  regard to it"—I fully agree with  him also,
in saying, "there must be  a change in this respect.
Instructors and overseers  of literary and professional
schools, must give to exercise a prominent place : they
must  make room for it in the regular employments of
each  day; and throw  the whole  weight  of their in-
fluence into the scale  in favour of if."*
  Does any one enquire, how college duties could be
so arranged, as to accomplish this  important object?
I  reply,  though  diffident of my opinion, in either  of
the following modes.
  Retaining the  present number of exercises per dav,
I would have morning prayers at 5 o'clock in the sum-
mer, and at 6 o'clock  in the winter; and breakfast an
hour afterwards—the  intervening period being allow-
ed for exercise.   Immediately after breakfast, or from
7 to 8 in  the summer,  and from 8 to 9 in the winter,
I would have the first recitation : then an hour for exer-
cise ;  then study hours, from  9 to 11 in the summer, and
from 10 to 12 in the winter : then a second recitation,

      •Quarterly Register, &c. No. X. p. 60. 
227
from 11 to 12 in the summer, and from 12 to one in
the winter: next the  dinner hour from 12 to one in
the summer, and from one to two, in the winter.  Fronl
2 to 5 in the afternoon, should be study hours, in the
summer;  and from 2 to 4 in the winter:  the  hour
from 4 to 5 in the winter, and from 5 to 6 in the summer,
should be  devoted to exercise :  evening prayers at 6 in
the summer, and at 5 in the winter:  tea immediately
following: then  recitation commencing at half past 7 in
the summer, and at half past 6 in the winter.  From 8 to
9 in the winter, a study hour.   This plan provides for
three periods of exercise,  during the day,  of an hour
long ;  and at the most favourable seasons in the day.
    The  other plan proceeds on the supposition that
only two  recitations be required per  day—prayers
and meals being at  the same times as mentioned in the
first plan.   The first  recitation should come  in after
breakfast, as in  the first plan, only allowing an  hour
and a  half  for its  duration ; the second recitation im-
mediately  before  evening prayers ;  occupying, also,
an hour and an  half.   Dinner at 12 through the year:
 hours of exercise, before breakfast, immediately  after
 the forenoon recitation, and after tea in the evening.
 Study hours to  commence in  the afternoon  at 2, and
 continue  till recitation ; from 8 to 9 in the  summer,
 in the evening, and from  half past 7 to  9 in the win-
 ter, might be study hours.
    I am aware that neither of these plans is free from
 difficulties and inconveniences.  But it  seems to me
 to be a  settled  point,  that • some  change must  be
 effected  in our colleges,  in  respect  to the time  al-
 lotted to exercise.  I cannot  believe that  the  guar-
 dians of these institutions will rest satisfied with the
 present system much longer.   A correct public opin- 
i


                        228

 ion is beginning to form on the  subject, which  must
 be regarded.   And  who, in the community, are  more
 likely to adopt any  regulations, which reason and ex-
 perience call  for,  than the high minded and  liberal
 men, who make laws for our literary institutions 1  I
 have no  prejudice in favour of the plans I have sug-
 gested: I only say,  let  us have something,.which will
 give to every  student  the most favourable opportuni-
 ties for deriving the greatest possible advantages from
 exercise, so that he can blame no one but himself, if
 he  neglect them.   Almost  any system  that can  be
 proposed, has fewer difficulties, and  objections  than
 that which prevails, I believe, in at least all the New-
 England  Colleges: and,  therefore,  my conscience
 would not rest easy until I had borne testimony against
 it. But until it shall be altered by the proper authority,
 we are all bound, I say, to submit to it. We may reason
 and petition against it; but let no man lift a finger of re-
 bellion, to throw it off violently.   Even while it is in
 operation, students  can so manage their time,  as to
 find three or four hours daily for exercise ; though not
 I confess, at the most favourable period.  But let  them
 make strenuous efforts for doing this,  and they will
 find their reward most  ample.
  The fourth rule respecting exercise, is, that it should
 PRECEDE,  RATHER THAN  FOLLOW, MEALS.
   This rule is as old at least as Hippocrates;  for we
 find him saying, 6 novog  anov tyetobw—let exercise pre.
 cede food.  The other ancient philosophers,  whose
 views in general, were  much more correct, concerning
 diet and regimen,than on most other subjects,understood
 this principle.   At least, an extract   from  Cicero will
 show that the practice of Socrates was conformed to it
 —Socratem ferunt,  cum  usque  ad  vesperem contejitius 
229
ambularet, qaesitumque esyt ab eo,  quare id faceret, res
pondissc, se, quo melius coenaret, opsonare ambulandofit-
men*
   The practice of nearly all animal, nature bears tes-
timony in favour of this rule : for most animals indulge
in rest, if not in sleep, immediately after eating. And
such rest greatly assists  the work of digestion.   The
experiment was  tried upon two dogs, that  were fed
with equal quantities of food.   One  of them was im-
mediately taken  to the chase,  and  the other suffered
to lie down in his kennel. After a little more than two
 hours,  both were killed;  and  while digestion had
hardly commenced in the stoniach of the dog, that had
been violently running ; in the  other, it  was  almost
 completed, so far as  the stomach is concerned.  Every
 man, also, must  have noticed,  that when called to ex-
 ercise violently, immediately after a full meal,  partic-
 ularly after  dinner,  the digestive  process  has been
 greatly impeded.  The same effect likewise follows
 upon vigorous mental efforts, soon after hearty meals.
 Moderate exercise,  however, at  that  period, is not
 much injurious  to the  healthy: and  the  experiment
 with the dogs, only shows, that  violent exercise is  in-
 jurious.   On the other hand,  the constant practice of
 the active classes in society, who return to their tasks
 soon after the heartiest meals, proves,  that  moderate
 systematic exercise, is not to them, particularly injuri-
 ous ;  though sedentary, and  particularly  feeble  per-
 sons, should be  cautious in  drawing inferences as to
 what they can do, in respect to eating and drinking,
 from the habits  of those,whose'whole employments are
 calculated to invigorate their digestive and assimilat-

    * Tusc. Dis. L. 5.
                           20* 
230
ing powers ; and concerning ^vhom the dyspeptic can-
not but often exclaim with Horace ;
         O dura messorum
         Ilia!
  Upon the whole, we may conclude, that every lite-
rary man should endeavour to gain a few moments at
least, immediately after eating,  for rest of body  and
mind: to the invalid this is  indispensable.  It is more
important after dinner, than other meals, because the
others are, or  ought  to be,  comparatively  light.   Yet
if we have not overloaded the stomach, we  need not
greatly fear, if called forthwith  to moderate exertion ;
though all violent efforts are then undoubtedly injuri-
ous.  But habit, in respect to moderate exercise after
eating, will do wonders: and in most cases, that indis-
position to exertion, and  drowsiness,  which are felt
after meals, result from excess in quantity, or quality :
Indeed,  where we cannot account for this state of feel-
ing from previous fatigue, we may be sure this is the
cause.
  A few hours after  eating, however,  when the food
has passed from the stomach and  small intestines  into
the blood, an instinctive desire  for exercise succeeds ;
and that is the fittest period, both for bodily and mental
effort.   Hence the reason ofthe rule under considera-
tion.  In the morning, before breakfast, in  the"  fore-
noon, before dinner, and previous to tea, are, therefore"
the very best times which we can devote to  exercise :
and we ought not to suffer the fact, that these are also
the best periods for study, to induce us to  monopolize
for the  mind,  the whole of that  time, which Provi-
dence intended should be  divided between  the  mind
and the  body.  If we do, we may rely upon it, that the
body will ere  long claim its dues  with  compound in-
terest. 
231
   Persons of very feeble health, however, ought here
 to be cautioned against too  protracted efforts in  the
 morning.  An hour previous to breakfast is  abundant-
 ly sufficient for such, to be spent in the open air: And
 indeed, in some cases,  the  physician will advise that
 exercise  at this period,  be  wholly  omitted.  The
 healthy, and even the  invalid, who is  well  enough to
 be comfortable, however, need not fear  the morning
 air, even at the  earliest dawn ; nor need they fear, oc-
 casionally, to protract  their  morning walk beyond an
 hour.   The bracing influence of morning air,  has al-
 ways been celebrated: but not overrated. It  is nature's
 grand restorative tonic ; and ordinarily the  only one,
 that should be used by the nervous invalid.
   Immediately after breakfast, is  no very unseasona-
 ble time for  exercise, where, as in our colleges, the
 hour previous is devoted to other duties.  Indeed, in
 summer, this is  a far better  time  than the  hour just
 before dinner.   For the  oppressive heats ofthe mid-
 dle of a summer's day, should, if convenient, be avoid-
 ed.  At this season too, a  walk after tea, is preferable
 to mid-day exercises,  if it be not prolonged into the
 the damps and chills ofthe evening—which are even
 worse for the health, than the burning heats  of noon.
  From this view  ofthe subject, we see that the old
poetical rule, as to exercise and rest, has some founda-
tion in truth":
          After dinner, sit awhile1,
          After supper, walk a mile.
  It  ought to be remarked, before proceeding to the
next rule, that  exercise before meals, particularly if
it have been fatiguing, ought not to be protracted to
the moment of sitting down to our food:  because all
exhaustion of the system,  renders  the  stomach inca-' 
232
pable of grappling with food.  It is well,  therefore,
to rest for a short time previous to eating, if one be
fatigued:  though  it  is  the  invalid,  who  is chiefly
concerned in this remark.  -
  The fifth rule recommends that Some interesting
OBJECT OF PURSUIT., OR AT LEAST, HARMLESS DIVERSION,
BE ASSOCIATED WITH OUR  EXERCISE.
   The man, who goes abroad to his exercise, as to an
unpleasant task ;  who does it merely because he thinks
he cannot live without it, might about as  well cleave
to his study, till he became  fixed to the spot, like  a
zoophyte.   " Task exercises," says  a lively medical
writer, " under  which denomination may be included
all those which  are resorted  to merely for the sake of
muscular exertion, bear  pretty much  the same rela-
tion  to health, as  the castigations of the penitent do
to piety or virtue."*   The  fact is, the mind must be
turned off from  its ordinary routine of thought, at the
same time that  the body is put "n motion, or the lat-
ter will receive very  little benefit.   The mathemati-
cal or metaphysical chain of reasoning must be thrown
aside, when a man leaves his study, as  much  as his
books on these subjects ;  and amusing, and altogether
different ideas,  must succeed—ideas  that neither pall
by their dullness,  nor fatigue  by their abstruseness.
Hence the great advantage of an agreeable friend, to
attend us  in  our exercise ;  one, who will  divert by
the versatility of his mind, not one, who will harass us,
by starting  and  following out some difficult discussion.
Hence too, the  advantage of so arranging our walks,
or rides, as to present before us  the greatest possible
 variety of objects, that will  be likely to produce the

      * See Journal  of Health, p. 151. 
233
 quickest succession of heterogeneous ideas.  Hence a
 great advantage in riding over walking.    Hence too,
 the solitary wood is one of the most unfavorable plac-
 es for exercise; though it may be the most favorable
 for serious and profound  thought.   If,  however,  a
 man have  a taste for natural history, no solitude, no
 desert, no  mountain, can he traverse, where he will
 not find variety enough to excite a continually renew-
 ed interest; and that too, of the most lively, though
 not agitating kind.  And here, in my opinion, is  one
 of the greatest advantages, resulting from a taste  for
 this pursuit, among literary  men.   So numerous and
 varied are the  minerals, plants, and animals, that meet
 us, even in our daily walks, that it will require many
 years, before they will  all become so familiar as to
 cease to amuse and instruct.   And that interest, when
 it is awakened in the bosom, is of the most absorbing
 kind;  so that even the sluggish invalid will entirely
 forget his maladies, as he is hurried on by the spur of
 curiosity, through the deepest glens and morasses, and
 up the most craggy mountains.   The dyspeptic here
 forgets his  stomach and his forebodings; and not a few
 of such have I known, brought back to  life and useful-
 ness, by these pursuits,  after years of prostration and
 misery.  I  hope, therefore, it  will not be  imputed to
 undue  partiality for my own department in this Insti-
 tution, if I  urge  the cultivation of a  taste  for natural
 history, as  one  of the most effectual means of render-
ing exercise salutary ; and thus preparing  the man for
 more vigorous  mental efforts.   I might urge it on the
ground ofthe pleasure it affords, were I to permit my
 own experience to be judge :  For I can truly say, that
during many years of feeble health, no pursuit  of a
merely worldly character, has  afforded me such real 
234
unmixed enjoyment, and none appears upon the re-
trospect, so innocent and delightful, as the many hun-
dred rambles I have taken, through every  variety  of
soil and location, in the  prosecution of these  studies-
And often in the warmth of my enthusiasm and delight,
have I expostulated in the language of  Beattie, with
those, who could see no beauty, and derive  no pleas-
ure, where I was continually feasting:

    " Oh how canst thou renounce the boundless store
    Of charms, which Nature to her votary yields !
    The warbling woodlands, the resounding shore,
    The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields ;
    All that the genial ray of morning gilds,
     And all that echoes to the song of even,—
     All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields,
    And all the dread magnificence of heaven ;
     Oh, how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven I11

   For those, who have little relish for these pursuits,
 however, no mean substitute  is  the  cultivation, of a
 garden;  in whose neatness and  beauty they can take
 an interest.   The operation of  digging is said to be
 peculiarly  favourable to health.  And who is there,
 that cannot find a spot large enough to exhibit his  in-
 genuity and  taste, in planting,  dressing, and pruning,
 those vegetables that are useful, and those that  are
 ornamental? In other countries, particularly England,
 the poorer classes fill  every nook  with flowers, that
 spread an air  of freshness and contentment  around
 their  cottages, which is rarely seen  in our country ;
 where, in fact, very many more comforts are within
 the reach of poverty. By not improving this innocent
 source of  happiness, our poorer classes are very  apt
 to be inferior, in  point  of correct  taste, to the Euro-
 pean peasants.  For even literary men would find  the 
235
cultivation of a garden, no contemptible means of im.
proving this faculty.
  So- thoroughly convinced have physicians always
been, of the necessity  of having  some object  to  di-
vert the mind, during exercise, that they have resort-
ed to various methods  to accomplish it.  Hippocrates
used to require of his invalid  patients, that they
should go from Athens to Megara, for no  other pur-
pose than to touch  the walls of the latter place; and
this  was doubtless better than to  send them abroad
with nothing in view, but the recovery of health ;
an   object  seldom attained, until  the person's  atten-
tion  can  be  diverted from  it.   Dr. Johnson  re-
commends,  from  his  own  experience, a  long jour-
 ney, through  an interesting  country, without having
the  particular route, or direction, previously marked
out: He would have the traveller direct his course,
by  convenience and inclination ;  and remain in no
place a moment after its objects cease to interest him.
By such a journey,  with two  other invalids, of 2500
 miles, he succeeded in raising himself from the low-
 est  depths of  dyspepsy, and  cured  his companions.
 And if the  rule we are considering be correct, his ad-
 vice to invalids in this respect, is most judicious. The
 good effects of most journies are  lost, by hurry, anxi-
 ety to reach the end of  them, and the want of some-
 thing to eliven the attention, and  divert the mind, by
 the way.   And thus it happens, that  journeying, one
 ofthe most effectual of all  means for the recovery of
 health, and for giving fresh vigor to the  healthy, so
 often merely exhausts the vigorous, and wears out the
 invalid.
   An amusing story is told of Sydenham, a celebrated
 English physician of  early  times, illustrative  of the 
236
principle under consideration.  He told a wealthy pa.
tient, long under  his care, that he could do no more
for him : but that a certain Dr.  Robinson, at Inver-
ness, several hundred  miles distant, was remarkably
successful in  such complaints.  Away went the inva-
lid,  flushed  with  the  hope of seeing Dr. Robinson.
But to his utter dismay, no one at Inverness had ever
seen, or heard, of such a physician. Full ofindignation
the gentleman returned to vent his wrath against Syden.
ham; which was expressed in no very measured terms.
" Well,"  replies  Sj'denham,  " are   you  in  better
health?"  " Yes, I am perfectly  well: but  no  thanks
to you."  " No ?"  says Sydenham,  " but you  may
thank Dr. Robinson for curing you—I wished to send
you a journey with some object of interest in view;
I knew it would be of service to  you: In going, you
had Dr. Robinson and his wonderful cures in contem-
plation ; and in returning, you were equally engaged in
thinking of scolding me."*
  It may be thought that the rule under consideration,
opposes the practice  in  some literary institutions, of
requiring the pupils to take a certaiu amount of exer-
cise  each day, under the direction of an instructor:
and this is a  correct inference, if  those task exercises
cannot be made interesting.  If the youth is stimula-
ted to engage in them, simply through fear of censure,
or punishment, the grand object certainly, is  nearly
defeated :  And I presume that the  better way would
be, fo subject such a one daily, to a specified  number of
stripes upon his naked  back—not by  way  of pnnish-
ment, but as a substitute for the  gymnasium, or the
ride; because the  whipping would undoubtedly do him
* Paris on Diet, p. 194. 
237
the most good,  by exciting a strong interest in his
mind to know how he should be revenged: and  prob-
ably too, such a castigation, for a youth of such a dis-
position, would not be underserved, about as often as
once a day.
   But I believe that the difficulty under consideration,
is scarcely found to exist in those flourishishing  Gym-
nastic Institutions, that are springing up on every side.
The instructors find it not difficult, by introducing va-
riety and innocent amusement into their exercises, to
awaken a lively interest in the breast of every youth,
who has mind and curiosity enough to be worth educat-
ing.  Whether task exercises can be profitably introduc-
ed into  our Colleges, and Theological, Medical,  and
Law schools, admits, I think, of serious doubt.
   These remarks suggest a  sixth  rule  of exercise •
that SEDENTARY PERSONS SHOULD INTRODUCE INTO  IT AS
MUCH  VARIETY AS POSSIBLE.
   " To render exercise appropriate during health,"
says a dietetic writer, " it is necessary that motion be
communicated to every part susceptible of it; that the
breast be dilated beyond the usual bounds of rest; that
all the muscles attain the utmost  degree  of their ex-
tension  and contraction ; that strength of course be ex-
erted, and  enjoy all its developements." Now there is
probably no one kind of exercise that will accomplish all
this; unless it be, perhaps, the whole  series of move-
ments,  usually denominated gymnastic.    Hence we
should seek such a variety as  will  embrace the  ne-
cessary conditions.  Such variety will also tend v<- ■ .
much to excite fresh interest,  and more effectuiUv
turn the current  of thought  into new channels;
thus assist  in an  observance of the last rule.   Corwi.j,
erable variety will likewise be necessary, to emitij a
                  21 
238
person to  exercise  in all kinds of weather.   On  all
these accounts, every student should contrive to have
within his reach, a number of kinds of exercise ;  so
that  he may be sure of being able to use some one of
them,in any situation in which he can be placed. There
is, indeed,  as a general fact, a decided advantage in
some varieties of muscular effort over others.   But
the very poorest of them is better than none; or as
Seneca says :—Praestat aliud  agere quam  nihil*   1
have only to time to glance at some of the principal
modes of exercise within the reach  of literary men,
with their most important  characteristics.
   Exercise is  of two kinds,  in respect to the mode of
taking it;  viz. passive and active.  In passive exercise,
the person is put in  motion by  other powers than his
own ;  and it embraces  the  different  modes  of  riding,
sailing, swinging, &x.   In  active exercise, a  person
depends upon his own  muscles to put him  in  motion.
The best ofthe first class, is riding horseback; for this
combines many of the advantages of active and passive
exercise.   Indeed, where it can be borne, it is proba-
bly  of all  exercise, the best for invalids.  By perse-
vering in it for a long  time, several distinguished phy-
sicians are of opinion, that a fixed pulmonary consump-
tion has been cured.  The feeble person, however,
must  commence this  exercise with  much caution ;
gradually  increasing in  quantity  and  speed,   as  his
strength will bear: though probably very violent horse
 riding, is never as serviceable to sedentary men, as  a
 more moderate pace, long continued.
   Riding in a pleasure carriage, particularly one  that
 is closed, is one of those methods, which modern luxu-
* The Manual for Invalids, p. 34. 
239
ry has  invented, for preventing the good effects of
journies.  The very persons, who are  able to ride in
this manner, are such as need, above all others, to use
their limbs ad sudorem.   In bad weather,  especially,
when every shutter is closed, the air within soon  be-
comes absolutely unfit for respiration.   Yet riding in
this manner, is what people of wealth and and fashion,
particularly  in cities,  call taking the air.  It is, in-
deed, taking such air, as will soon kill a man:  and to
pleasure carriages of this kind, physicians impute  not
a little of the bad health of cities.  Lord  Monboddo,
author of the Ancient Metaphysics, would  never en-
ter a carriage, even in  the severest weather; though
he  annually rode on  horseback  from  Edinburgh to
London, and took other long journies.   He died at the
age  of ninety ; and long after seventy,  found himself
as vigorous as ever.
  The small one-horse  waggons, used so much in New
England, are not liable  to the objections above men-
tioned :  and next to riding horseback, they doubtless
furnish the  healthiest mode of carriage  exercise.  Rid-
ing  in  a sleigh, can hardly  be called exercise :  and
hence those who practice it, are usually as much chill-
ed, as they  would be, by the northwest wind of a New
England winter, if silting still the  same length of time,
fairly exposed to it.
  As to swinging, sailing, &,c, they are often servicea-*
ble for the invalid ; but the want ofthe muscular effort
attending them, is a great objection  to their use by
the healthy, except for the sake of variety.
 Of all active exercises, fortunately the very best can be
taken by those in health  the most easily. This is walk-
ing.  Comparing it with riding horseback,the rule is this:
riding is the best for regaining  health, walking for re- 
240
taining it.  The pace in walking should be steady and
regular,  but not quick and  violent; and ground that
is hilly, is better than a plain, to  pass  over.  In the
summer, morning and evening are the proper seasons ;
but the middle of the day should not be taken for this
purpose.
  Students usually lose a very important advantage,
which they might derive  from journies on  foot,  by
throwing themselves into a  stage coach,  at the close of
each term, and riding day  and night,  until  home  be
reached.   Whereas, could they  control their  home
sick feelings enough, to set out moderately on foot, and
take the proper amount of rest and nourishment on the
route, they would find their self denial most amply  re-
warded by invigorated health and spirits.  But so sel-
dom do literary men take journies on foot, in our coun-
try, that it is the general impression, that all who  do
it, are obliged to take this course on account of  their
poverty : and  hence, at the public houses, they will
not receive as good attention. A respectable English
traveller recently  mentioned to  me  his surprise and
mortification at finding such a feeling among us; where-
by  he was deprived of much  ofthe pleasure and  prof-
it of his  tour.
  I have already spoken of gardening,  as an excellent
species of active  exercise during the summer.    In
winter, cutting, sawing, and splitting wood, are  a tol-
erable substitute.
  Gymnastic exercises I have already noticed.  With
the precautions that have been mentioned, the system
is certainly extremely  valuable.    True, some in  an-
cient, as well as modern times, heedless of these pre-
cautions, or ignorant of them, have ruined their consti-
tutions :  but  ten times more have saved themselves 
241
from miserable health and premature decay, by a resort
to these exercises.  They were the princpal means of
saving Cicero from the grave, when reduced by a
stomach complaint, to a slate of great debility.   He
went to Athens,  and there in the gymnasiam, became
firm and robust,  and acquired a sweetness and firmness
of voice, to which he had before been a stranger.   By
military gymnastics, that is, long marches, coarse diet,
and long exposures in the open air, Julius  Caesar threw
off the epilepsy,  headach, and an effeminate delicacy of
habit.  In a similar way, might most ofthe pale faced,
nervous, unhappy delicates of modern days, be invigo-
rated and made  healthful.   Calisthenics (the classical
name for female gymnastics,) would be the most effec-
tual means ladies could employ, for giving freshness
and fairness, and a rosy glow to their countenances,
and  permanent  vigor to their constitutions.  But so
long as they will persist in tight lacing, sipping  strong
green tea, late hours,  and neglect of vigorous exercise,
they must  expect  that  the  rose will* leave  their
cheeks, firmness of muscle and strength, their  limbs,
and that squalid, or haggard, or pimpled  faces,  irrita-
ble tempers, and melancholy hours, will  be their in-
heritance.   Domestic cares and labours ought also to
be included in Calisthenics: and should  the  articles
and  employments  described by  Solomon, in the 31st
Chapter of Proverbs,be substituted in the place of stays,
corsets, and easy chairs; we should hear little more of
dyspepsy, twisted spines, or  any other part of the vo-
cabulary of modern,  fashionable, female complaints.
But until some change of this  kind  does take place,
Spartan mothers will be rare,  and Spartan children
rarer.
  Of all the exercises taken within doors, active, me-
                             21* 
242
chanical labour, is probably the best.   During a con-
siderable portion  of  the year, the workshop may be
so ventilated, that in fact the labor will be performed in
the open air.  When this cannot be done, the labours of
the workshop should by no means be substituted for all
exercise abroad.  This kind of muscular effort, however
valuable as an auxiliary, must never be considered as
precluding the necessity of other exercise. Other exer-
cise may, indeed, be necessarily associated with it; eith-
er by removing  the  workshop to a considerable  dis-
tance from the study, or by making its labours inter-
change with agricultural pursuits.   Such  a  plan is
now, as you  know, adopted  at several seminaries in
the land;  and with the most flattering success.  The
few mechanic shops, fitted up in this College, several
years ago,  have  not been  multiplied, from  a  want
of means,  and  not from a  conviction  of  their  inu-
tility.  I  am satisfied that  it is important, such a
plan  should  be  adopted  in  nearly  every literary
institution;  and  not  only this,  but  the  means  for
 every variety  of exercise   should  be  accumulated
around them, that  every student may consult  his
own taste, as to  the  kind;   and thus be  induced to
save himself from debility  and  ennui.  I  would not
even exclude military exercise;  such as marching, the
use ofthe broadsword, and perhaps fencing, the erec-
tion  of small  fortifications, &c.   The  different games
too,  which are not linked,  as several of them are in-
separably, with  immorality, should not be excluded.
In short, I would endeavour  to make  every literary
seminary, a University, as to exercise : so that no stu-
 dent should have  any excuse for neglecting to strength
 en his physical, as well as mental energies.  Even in
 the most inclement weather, there should not be want 
243
ing the means of exercise : for if a man can not exer-
cise, neither ought he to study.
  Friction with the flesh brush, is another indoor ex-
ercise of great utility.   It has often done wonders—
Cicero found it among the best means he used for the
restoration of his health :   and the ancients generally
valued it so highly, that  they would not pass a  day
without it.   And among  the moderns, its reputation
stands equally high.  It should be practiced about half
an hour, morning and evening.
  Literary  men should by no means neglect training
the voice,  and strengthening  the lungs,  by reading
aloud, for an hour or two daily.  This practice gives
strength also, to the stomach, and wonderfully invig-
orates all the organs ofthe chest.  The great men of
antiquity  understood  this, and adopted the practice.
31 ox orationem Graecam Latinamve,  says  Pliny,  dare
et intente non tarn vocis causa, quam stomachi lego, pari-
ter  tamcn et ilia firmatur.
  A seventh rule I have to mention on this subject, is,
that CARE  SHOULD BE TAKEN, ON A CESSATION FROM EX-
ERCISE, TO PREVENT  A  SUDDEN SUPPRESSION OF THE PER-
SPIRATION.
  Some will throw themselves upon the damp ground,
or take  a station at a window, in a current of air, with-
out any additional clothing, immediately  after  the
most violent efforts.   Such persons need not wonder,
if stiff limbs, rheumatic pains, and severe catarrhs, fol
low :  they may, indeed, think it strange,  if they es-
cape without something  more  serious.   They may
suppose themselves, iu this way, to be hardening their
constitution; but in fact, they are breaking it down.
Nature  will not bear  these violent  efforts.  Even if
if they could bring  themselves to endure with impu- 
244
nity, such exposures;  yet it could be effected only by
a long course of training : even then, it would be haz-
ardous.   The better way is to throw on an additional
garment for a short time, after violent or long contin-
ued exertion ; or to continue to exercise less  and less
violently, until the system is reduced to its natural con-
dition.
  Finally, we should consider it an important rule, not
TO ATTEMPT TO MAKE  EXERCISE A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR AT-
TENTION TO DIET.
  It is true, that vigorous exercise will, in a measure,
counteract the bad effects of excessive eating.  But in
order to accomplish this object, a student must give up
study.  If he does not join  temperance to exercise,  as
Cheyne says, "the evil will be as broad one way, as it is
long the other.  For since exercise will create a greater
appetite, if it is indulged to   the full, the  concoctive
powers  will be as unequal to  the  load as  they were
before."*  A single  ounce of food too much, taken into
a weak  stomach, will require  a half day's vigorous ex-
ercise,  above  what would otherwise be  necessary.
The student, therefore, who Cannot confine himself to
a temperate diet,  had better make  up bis  mind  to
abandon study altogether; and become a farmer, a car-
penter,  a sailor, a soldier, or any thing else,  that will
require  him to exercise severely from twelve to six-
teen hours per day ; and then he can,  with  compara-
tive impunity, enjoy the luxuries of a glutton.  If  all
the  use he  makes of the vigor and good  appetite
produced  by exercise, is,   to  furnish  an  excuse
for eating  to excess,  he never  will accomplish any
thing in literature or science ;  and the  sooner he ex-
*Essay of Health and Long Life, p. 100. 
245
changes the toga lileraria for the  frock, or the apron,
the better.
  Such are the principal rules  of exercise, by which
the most distinguished philosophers and literati of an-
cient and  modern times, have  been able  to  sustain
their health and vigor, under the most severe and long
protracted mental efforts.  Had they neglected these
rules, their names would never have come down to us,
encircled  with such halos of glory ; but one line would
have told  their  whole  history—premature  decay—an
early tomb.  And it  is painful to look around upon the
rising ranks of our literary youth, and to be compelled
to believe, that this line, will be all that  will be writ-
ten on the monumental  stone of very many,  who are
disregarding these  same rules.   It would not be so
painful a  thought,  did  we  not know,  that many of
these, have higher  aims than to wind the  wreaths of
knowledge around  their brows : aims,  which look on-
ly to the  glory of God, and the welfare of their fellow
 men.  For this purpose they have left other pursuits,
 and are toiling day and  night over their books : but
 alas, they know not the terrible, disappointment that
 awaits them, unless they wake  up  from their bodily
 inactivity, and vigorously cultivate their physical,  as
 well as intellectual faculties.  O, that I had the power
 to break  the delusion, that  surrounds them ; and could
 thus be the  means  of saving some powerful minds, and
 honest, holy hearts, from being buried under the rub-
 bish of a ruined frame  ! In the language of the ablest
 medical men, I would  say to  them: "Throughout  all
 nature, want of motion indicates weakness, corruption,
 inanimation and death.  Trenck in his  damp prison,
 leaped about like a lion, in his fetters of seventy pounds
 weight, in order to preserve his health: and an illus-
 trious physician observes, " I know not which is  most 
246
necessary to the support ofthe human frame, food or
motion.''''   Were the exercise of the body attended to
in a corresponding degree with that of the mind, men
of great learning would be more healthy and vigorous
—of more general  talents—of ampler practical knowl-
edge—more happy in their domestic lives—more en-
terprising, and more attached to their duties  as  men.
In fine, it may with much propriety be  said, that the
highest refinement ofthe mind, without improvement
ofthe body, can never present any thing more  than
half a human being/'*
  "A man" says Sir William Temple, " has but these
four things to choose out of—to exer.cise daily, to  be
very temperate, to  take physic, or to be sick."
  Finally, if the student cannot be  persuaded to use
proper exercise in any other way,  1  could  wish  him
to be made the subject of a deception,  amusingly de-
scribed by Voltaire—" Ogul," says he,  " a voluptuary
who could be managed with  difficulty by his physcian,
on finding himself extremely ill from  indolence and
intemperance,  requested  advice:  "Eat a  Basilisk
stewed in rose water," replied the physician.   In vain
did  the slaves search for a  Basilisk, until they  met
Zadig, who  approaching  Ogul, exclaimed, " behold
that thou desirest;"  -'but my  Lord,"  continued he,
" it  is not  to be  eaten;  all  its  virtues must enter
through thy pores: I have therefore enclosed it in a
little ball blown up, and covered with skin :  thou  must
strike this ball with all thy might, and I must strike it
back  again,  for  a considerable  time;  and  by ob-
serving this regimen, and  taking no other drink  than
rose water,  for a few days, thou wilt see and acknowl-
edge the effect of my  art."  The first  day  Ogul was
        ♦Journal of Health, vol. 1. p.  58. 
247
out of breath, and thought he should have died from
fatigue ; the  second he was less fatigued, and slept bet-
ter: in eight days he recovered all his strength.  Zadig
then said to him," there is no such thing in nature as a
Basilisk ; btit thou hast taken exercise and been temperate,
and hast therefore recovered thy health.'1'' 
LECTURE  VII.
Air—Clothing---Cleanliness---Evacuations---Sleep :  1.
  The proper time for sleep ; 2. the proper quantity ;  3.
  the means of promoting it—31anners—Influence  of
  the Imagination and Passions upon Health.

Gentlemen,
  Intimately connected with  the  subject of exercise,
is that of
                       AIR.
Indeed, when urging the importance  of spending at
least two hours each day in the open air, l.have antic-
ipated the  most important part  of this subject.    A
few things more, however, ought to be added.
  The clear  dry  air of  the country, such  as we
breathe in  this  land, when a mild  westorly breeze
prevails, is the natufal state  of the atmosphere, and
most conducive  to health.  Indeed, who does not im-
mediately  feel  its invigorating  influence ?   It  then
consists of about 79 parts of  nitrogen,  and  21 of  oxy-
gen.
  The agents that contaminate this air, are an excess
of moisture, carbonic acid, and the various vegetable
and animal miasms arising from putrefaction.
   During  clear  days,  the  sun dissipates the  ex-
cess of moisture,  which rises  by  evaporation  from
the land and the water.   But at night,  it accumulates ;
and hence the proverbial unhealthiness of the night
air.  To avoid this, should be a grand point with the 
249
invalid; or if exposed to it necessarily, it  is folly not
to protect himself  by an additional garment.   The
healthy too,  should always be on their guard against
the damps ofthe evening;  as no  constitution  can
harden itself against their morbific influence.   In hot
climates, such exposure is the height of presumption;
and in our  climate, those  mild and  balmy evenings,
which most  tempt the student abroad, and induce him
to saunter by the way, or to  sit down under the  open
sky, are usually the most dangerous.   A notion  pre-
vails  with some, that  fearless and unprotected expo-
sure to evening air, is the  way to become  hardened
against its influence :  whereas, he is  best prepared to
resist it, who by temperance  and vigorous  exercise
during  the  day,  has imparted a  healthy  tone to his
constitution.
   On the same principles, exercise abroad, in the day
time, in damp foggy weather, or on low plains, is not
as good as that  taken under a clear sky, and  on  mod-
erately elevated ground.  The damps of the morning,
however, are not injurious to those in tolerable health:
on the contrary, exposures then, are less often follow-
ed by colds, than at any other time  ofthe day: and
indeed, there is very  little  weather during the day, so
unfavorable, as  to justify  the omission of the stated
out door exercise.
   These  same  principles show us the importance of
having our   studies, our dwellings,  and our sleeping
apartments, in airy  and dry situations, where they can
be frequently ventilated.  And if Providence should
make it our duty to spend  our  lives in a  low and
marshy region, our only security lies in most vigorously
 adopting  those rules, which serve as a security against
 the  damps and putrid miasms that surround us.
                     22 
250
   By breathing, each  individual renders a gallon of
 air unfit  for  respiration again, in about a minute :—
 that is, he consumes  its  oxygen, or  vital principle.
 Hence  the reason why close rooms,  filled with peo-
 ple for some time, are so injurious.   A hall, 30 feet
 long, 25 broad, and 30 high,  containing 22,500 cubic
 feet, would not permit a hundred people to remain in
 it more than four and  a half hours ; twice that num-
 ber could remain in it only half the time.  Hence  we
 see the reason, why theatres, ball rooms, and, indeed,
 any public places of meetings, which continue several
 hours, are so injurious to the  health.  And the danger
 here is greatly increased,  by  being so much  hidden :
 for the person perceives little more than slight debili-
 ty, or headach, even  when serious mischief has been
 done to his health.   The same is true of air rendered
 irrespirabie by the burning of charcoal in close rooms
 —a cause that yearly sends not a few out ofthe world,
 and debilitates many more.
   It is the opinion  of respectable medical  writers,
 that the reception  of other deleterious gases  into the
 lungs,  such as sulphuretted and carburetted hydrogen,
 exert more influence upon the health than is general-
 ly imagined, by actually poisoning the blood.*
   These various circumstances are the cause why cit-
ies and large towns are so much more unhealthy than
 the open country:   For they  are all operating more
 or less,  in  such places;  though other causes must
 doubtless be taken  into the account:  In England,  the
 annual proportion  of deaths in the large towns,  is  not
 far from one in twenty ; in moderate towns, about  one
 in twenty-seven; and in small villages and the open

  * See the Manual of the Invalid, Chap. IX.   Also Paris on
 Diet, p. 141. 
251
country, about one in forty eight.*  In this country,
the difference is not so great.
  For destroying the putrid and contagious effluvia of
the rooms  of the sick,  and indeed,  of every other
place, the chloride of lime, a substance lately  discov-
ered, and mentioned in a former lecture, is by far the
most effectual; and as it can be most easily and safely
applied, no educated man ought to be ignorant of its
uses.   It can now easily be  obtained at the shops of
our apothecaries, with directions how to employ it.
                     CLOTHING.
  Clothing is another point in a system of regimen,
that deserves attention; especially as there are erro-
neous notions prevailing on the subject.   Some  se-
dentary men are engaged  in the Quixotic scheme of
hardening their systems, by  reducing  themselves al-
most to nudity in the winter.  But even if they could
succeed, it is doubtful  whether it would not be at the
expense of life: that is, they would probably shorten
life. For it is  certainly plain, both from the nature ofthe
case, and from the bible, that men were intended to use
clothing.   They are the only species of animal,  that
is not naturally  provided  with  clothing.   The  only
question is, how much  they shall employ.   And my
answer is, enough to  keep them warm.  For this is
the chief object of clothing.   And of what service is
it, except merely for decency's sake, to wear clothes
at all, if this be not accomplished.   To effect it,  will
of course  require a  great variety in  the articles of
dress, according to the age, constitution, state of the
weather,  the  health, and the season  of  the  year.
But the man, whose clothing is so thin that he is shiv-
* Sure Methods, &c. p. 107. 
252
ering with the cold most of the time, may be  sure
that he is injuring his constitution, instead  of harden-
ing it.  True, he may envelope himself with as many
folds of dress as an Egyptian mummy, every time he
goes abroad,  and thus bring  on an  oppressive  heat
and debilitating perspiration ; but this is not likely to
prove so injurious, as  the too common practice of ex-
posure to the cold and dampness of the evening, with-
out an additional garment.   Many consumptions take
th§ir rise from this imprudence.  When a person has
thrown himself into profuse perspiration by exercise,
he ought also to put on an additional garment, instead of
endeavoring  to cool  himself by natural  or artificial
currents of  air.    When he goes abroad to exercise,
he should be thinly dressed ; but when exposed with-
out much exercise, to cold and damp air, he  should
put on clothes enough to secure to himself the natural
warmth of the body.  The feet, in  particular, should
always be kept warm and dry.  This part of  the
frame is peculiarly sensible to the  effects of cold and
moisture : and a person ought never to sit down after
they have been wet, until his stockings be changed.
Indeed, this should be a general rule  in regard to eve-
ry part of the body.   The absurd notion that it is bet-
ter to let wet clothes  dry upon  one's back, has sent
many to a premature  grave ; and the escape  of any
who follow such a rule, is rather to be imputed to the
strength of  their constitution,  than to the harmless-
ness of the practice.
  Great injury is often  sustained by sedentary men,.
in the Spring and Autumn, by  attempting to harden
themselves,  so as to live in damp cold rooms  without
any fire.  If, indeed,  they were  vigorously to  exer-
cise in such rooms, there would be no danger; but to; 
253
sit still there, until they are chilled, and this day after
day, is a sure method to lay the  foundation for rheu-
matism, consumption, and dyspepsy.  True, there is
some danger of making our studies too hot, so that de-
bility shall be the consequence : but small fires, rath-
er late in the spring, and rather early in autumn, are
important to counteract the moisture.
  When,  however,  the  system  has become  chilled
more or less thoroughly, it is an' important rule, but
little regarded, however, to restore the natural warmth,
not by  sitting down before a large fire, but by vigorous
exercise.   Such a practice would prevent nearly half
ofthe colds, or catarrhs, that afflict men.
   In cold  and changeful  climates, garments made
of woolen  are decidedly the best—to  be worn next
the skin ;  and for invalids, such a dress is indispensa-
ble  Cotton is next in value ;  and for warm climates,
is generally superior, on account of its lightness. Lin-
en is an article of luxury that  should be indulged  in
with caution by  the invalid; and  it is not to be much
recommended to the healthy.   Silk, worn next to the
skin, is  still more objectionable.  Persons  of  feeble
health, have not unfrequently found benefit from wear-
ing in winter a waistcot  and drawers of chamois, or
deer's leather.
  Not  a little mischief is done by  leaving off the win-
ter clothes too early in the spring, and  delaying to re-
sume them till late in the autumn.  Some  physicians
have recommended that the winter dress be laid aside
the day before midsummer, and put on  again the day
after.  To be serious, however ;  June, July, August,
and perhaps a part of September,  are the only months
when summer clothes should be used.
   It would seem hardly necessary to caution gentle-
                        22* 
254
men against tightness of dress.  Yet according to the1
experiments of Dr. Herbst, a young  man  of twenty
one, when dressed, took in, every time  he drew his
breath, only 50 cubic inches of air: but when his
clothes were loosened, he inhaled 96 cubic inches each
time.  This shows us, that much as we  may  declaim
against the corsets and tight lacing of females, we are
not entirely out of danger; especially if we are ambi-
tious of being  brought into that wasp-like form, that
meets  us in the drawings of the latest London fashions,
hung up in almost every tailor's  shop.  But  had Dr.
Herbst performed his experiment upon  some of the
ladies, it is to  be apprehended the  result would  have
been truly appalling; for, as a medical writer remarks,
" we often meet  ladies so  cruelly dressed, that we
wonder where their lungs and livers  are gone to."*

                   CLEANLINESS.
  Another branch  ofthe subject of regimen is cleanli-
ness.  It does  not strictly  belong  to  this subject, in
connexion with health, to speak of the effects of  care-
less, slovenly,  and filthy habits upon the  success of a
literary or professional man in the world :  and yet, I
can hardly refrain from saying, that the success of such
men depends nearly as much upon a proper attention
to neatness and cleanliness, as upon  their  talents  or
acquirements.   The world like to have  their  tastes
gratified, as well  as their  intellects r and the avenue
to  the  affections,  is  through  the taste.   Suppose
then, you  are introduced into good society,  as  a man
of talents,  and  you  appear there with  a long beard,  a
dirty cravat, unbrushed boots,  or hair  uncombed. Not
the  strongest mind, or the finest wit, or  the  deepest
        ♦Journal of Health, p. 117. vol. 1. 
255
lore, can prevent you from being a disgusting object
in such a community.  And if your debut be  of  this
character, depend upon it, that a prejudice will be ex-
cited against you, which you will find it no easy  mat-
ter to conquer.
   Now the  fact is, that the secluded life of the schol-
ar, and the constant pressure of his studies, expose
him, in a peculiar manner, to the acquisition of slov-
enly and filthy habits.  Hence it is, that his room, if
left to  his own oversight, sometimes does not corres-
pond with our ideas of the domicil of a young Cicero,
or Masillon.  Hence too, you will see him abroad with
slip-shod shoes, or with a cravat in which he has slept
for two or three nights ;  or with a beard, that is troub-
led with a razor only once a week.  When  a  man  is
pressed with  a  multitude of cares and duties, he  is
sometimes compelled to neglect, more than  he could
wish, some  of these  minor points: but such an excuse,
no student in a literary institution can plead.  And just
so certain as you find any one indulging  such habits,
while there, you may expect, if you meet him in af-
ter life, to find them  still  cleaving to him,  and injuring
his usefulness.   I am not, indeed, pleading for a  fop-
ish attention to appearance ; nor would I have the stu-
dent indulge in costly articles of dress, or be very so-
licitous to have  his coat in the latest London  fashion.
But I would have him show cleanliness  and neatness  ^
in every part of his person; especially  when he ap-
pears in public.  If engaged in  any employment, where
dust will necessarily cleave to him, he ought, indeed,
to adapt his dress to  the situation, nor feel any more
ashamed of it, than ofthe newest and richest garment
in the  proper place.   But I would not have him  con-
sider  it  a  matter  of  no importance,  what be his 
256
appearance in public.  If he chooses, in respect to his
beard, to become a Jew ;  I have no  objection : but I
do object to his wearing a beard, which belongs neith-
er to Jew nor Gentile : for it will make him alike dis-
gusting to both.
  Nor is  attention even to such  small  things as the
cravat and the beard,  of no importance to health.  I
have known a fit of dyspepsy and nervous  depression
removed, by a clean cravat and  a clearing away ofthe
beard:  and, indeed, cleanliness throughout, produces
such a sense of comfort,  that this single feeling, like
all other pleasurable emotions,  contributes  not a little
to continue the wheels of life in motion.   Hence, to
keep  the  skin clean,  is a most important object; for
thereby the pores  are kept open, and insensible per-
spiration—whose operation is essential to life—is great-
ly promoted.  This is accomplished  by bathing.
   Bathing,  among the ancients, was practiced almost
universally :  and  in  warm climates, and  in Russia,
and Hungary,  much attention is paid to it at the  pres-
ent day: and it is  the opinion  of physicians,  that its
neglect by other nations, is to be regretted.  Certain-
ly it is among the  means  of health,  that ought not to
be neglected, either by the healthy,  or invalids.
  In taking the common cold bath, a running stream,
with  a bed of pebbles, or sand,  should be selected :
and the common opinion, that if a person be in a state
of slight perspiration, he  should wait upon the shore
till he becomes cool, is erroneous.   He  ought not in-
deed,  to plunge into the water if greatly fatigued ;
lest the proper reaction should not ensue.   But if mod-
erately warm by  exercise, his system is in the very
best state  for sustaining  the shock,  produced by the
cold water.  And the same remarks  will  apply to the 
257
shower bath; which, in many respects, is preferable
to the running stream.   In either case, a general glow
and warmth of  the whole body ought  to succeed the
chill first felt:  and if that chill remain for a consider-
able time, and  is succeeded at last  by a dry skin and
feverish  heat,  dullness,  headach, or  tightness across
the chest, it indicates that  the requisite  reaction has
not taken place ;  and  that such bathing does not agree
with the constitution.   At any rate, vigorous exercise
ought to succeed  the act, until a considerable degree
of perspiration  is excited.  In using the shower bath,
only a single  effusion of water should  be taken at
once;  and  no  one  ought to iemain  immersed  in  a
stream,  more  than  a  minute  or two ;  unless vigo-
rously employed  in swimming;   when a little more
time  may  be  allowed:  though  in  general, there
is great danger of lingering too .long in the  delicious
sport.   Immediately  on coming  out of the water,
the  body should  be vigorously rubbed, with  a coarse
cloth, as a  means of  exciting the  vessels to action.
The early part of the day, particularly between break-
fast  and  dinner,  is the  best  time  for this business:
and in our climate, the cold bath  can hardly*be con-
tinued with safety very late in the autumn, except by
the most vigorous constitutions.   Tepid baths, how-
ever, in which  water is heated from 70 to 85 of Fah-
renheit, may be substituted for the cold season.  Or
during the  winter, invalids  would do  well to sponge
themselves every morning on rising, with water some-
what warmed, or with vinegar and water.  And some
persons  are in  the  habit on rising, of plunging their
feet, for a moment, into cold water :  and physicians
speak well ofthe practice, where the constitution will
bear it. 
258
  Vapour baths are intended for the application of
steam to the whole, or a part of the body ;  and usual-
ly require  the direction of a physician.   But warm
baths may be used by almost every description of per-
sons, as  a preservative  of health,  a restorative to
health,  and a luxury ;  and that  too, at all  seasons of
the year; provided  a  few precautions  be observed.
The water in the  bath should never be used, until it
has risen to a temperature of 96  or 98 ;  and a person
ought to remain in it, from  10 to 20 minutes.   The
best time of day for using it, is two hours after break-
fast ; and the conduct to be pursued on coming out of
the water, is similar to that already pointed out in re-
spect to  cold bathing.   Once  a day in our  climate,
is often enough,  and probably  too often, for bathing,
of any kind.
   I have been  thus  particular  on this subject,  from
a  wish to render the bathing  establishment,  some
of you  have seen fit  to connect  with this Institu-
tion, as useful as possible;  and to prevent any abuse
of it.  Believing, as I  do, in its great  importance, I
could wish to see it so  enlarged, that every student
might  avail himself  of its benefits.
                   EVACUATIONS.
   So important is the  due and  timely evacuation of
the faeces; so injurious their retention in the bowels,
after their nourishment is withdrawn;  and  so liable
are the sedentary to  costive habits, that no motive of
delicacy, would justify the  construction of a code of
health, which should omit to notice this subject.  But
all needful directions concerning it, may be given in a
very few words.  The grand  object is, to  secure a
movement ofthe bowels, in most cases, once a day—
in some  cases, it  does not seem  necessary  more than
once in two days.  Let there be, however,  a stated 
259
 time,  and immediately after  breakfast is the  best
 time, for attending to this business.  Even if no desire
 for the exoneration ofthe bowels be felt, let the prop-
 er place be  regularly visited at  the stated time, and
 habit will help nature.   Attention to diet and exercise
 will usually ensure a discharge at the  proper hour.—
 In particular, let unbolted wheat, or rye flour, be used
 for bread :  and let no one, if possible, contract the verv
 injurious habit of resorting to medicine, even if  it be
 merely the occasional chewing of rhubarb, to accom-
 plish this elimination.   He will find the remedy worse
 than the disease.
                       SLEEP.
  Sleep is the grand restorer of nature's exhausted
 energies;  nor can the animal system be prevented
 for any great length of time, from falling under its in-
 fluence.   Couriers, and coachmen, and travellers too,
 are well known often to fall asleep in  their carriages,
 and on  horseback.  During the retreat of Sir John
 Moore, in  Spain, many  soldiers were found  to be
 asleep, while yet they  were marching on;  and some
 boys, completely exhausted, fell asleep in the  midst
 ofthe battle  ofthe Nile.*
  But the most important points  that now require at-
 tention on this subject, are, first, what  is the best time
 for sleep : secondly, what is the needful quantity : and
 thirdly, what are the best means for promoting sleep ?
  As to the first  point,  nature, throughout  all her do-
 minions, speaks an unequivocal language ;  proclaim-
ing night to   be  the season best  adapted  to  repose.
All  animals,   accordingly,  obey the  instinct  which
prompts them to  rest at that season, except beasts of
prey and some of the insect tribes.  Man, in his un-
* Rees1 Cyc. Art. Sleep. 
260
 sophisticated state, is not an exception : but man per-
 verted by custom, joins the carnivorous tribes in con-
 verting night  into day, and day into night.   Philoso-
 phers, physicians, and ministers of  the Gospel, have
 long and loudly remonstrated against this debilitating,
 demoralizing transformation :  but still the current of
 fashion and  pleasure  bears along its votaries, a.s nu-
 merous and  infatuated as ever, to the  midnight feast,
 or dance, or route.  And especially in  large cities, at
 that hour, all is life  and motion ; while the beautiful
 rising  sun sees only here  and  there  some  solitary
 watchman, or  stranger,  to  welcome  his first beams,
 and  to  drink in the balmy breezes of the  morning.
 Oh,  this is  a  monstrous perversion of the course  of
 nature : and no  wonder God visits it in  wrath, by
 withholding refreshing slumber  from those  who are
 guilty of it;  and  bringing upon them hundred  headed
 diseases, that make  existence a  curse.  O, let  every
 student make  up  his  mind, while yet he is on safe
 ground, that  he will never yield to such a practice ;
 and let him adhere to  his resolution to the end of his
 days.
   To quell the reproofs  of  conscience,  an opinion  is
maintained, that it is of little consequence what part of
the twenty four hours is appropriated to sleep, provid-
ed the proper quantity be taken.  But  this  sentiment
deserves reprobation.  The fact is, one hour's sleep
before midnight, gives more  refreshment to the system,
than two hours afterwards.  Hence it is agreed on  all
hands, that ten o'clock is  the latest hour, at which a
literary man  should retire to rest. And really ,if I had
the power, I  should not be wanting in the disposition,
to establish  military law  in our Colleges as to this
point, and absolutely to prohibit any one, except  in 
261
tases of sickness, or other Providence, from burning
his lamp after that hour. I would not annex as severe
a penalty, as did Frederick the great, who executed
one of his officers, for continuing, contrary  to  orders,
to burn a lamp in his tent, a few  moments after ten
o'clock, in order to finish a letter  to his  wife,  as  he
expected the  next  morning to go  into battle:  But
though I should regard this as rather too severe ; yet
I would have a penalty  follow, that should be neither
light nor tardy.  For in fact, such a  rule would be  of
immense advantage to every literary youth.  And ev-
ery such one would gain still more, if he should make
it a rule to be in bed at nine o'clock.   This would be
restoring the good old habits  of our ancestors; and
would, I doubt not, bring back some  of their virtues.
   The second  enquiry relates to the quantity of sleep
that is necessary.  And this, we all know, depends upon
the age ofthe individual, and the state of the health.
Females, it is said, also, require rather more sleep than
men ;  and different constitutions demand some latitude
in this respect.   But leaving  children,  invalids, and
aged people, out  of the account, the young and the
middle aged require from six to eight hours of rest.  It
has been said by  some one, that six hours were enough
for a student, seven for a gentleman of leisure, e ght
for a farmer, and nine for a hog. But I am satis! eJ ,hat
the student requires quite as  many hours tt  r  rdt
 his system  as  the hard laboring man;  beca  . e   he
 latter usually sleeps much sounder.  Probably  everr
young man, engaged in study, ought to calcu:. ! ?> i:r .,
getting from seven to eight hours of rest:  L    ?
great importance that a sufficiency of sleep be c'  :r  e
 and every real student, from the character
 ployment, is liable to be cheated out of a  i     "
                   23 
262
ofthe rest which nature  demands.  Mental  exertion,
without a correspondent exercise ofthe body, tends to
wakefulness; or rather,  when the mind  is put  into
powerful action, it is not the the work of a moment to
stay the  fervid wheels: whereas, bodily efforts direct-
ly dispose to sleep, unless they be  excessive.  It is
true, indeed, that not  every young man may need as
many as  seven or eight hours of repose : to some six
is abundantly sufficient: But considering the tempta-
tions to curtail  the  amount of sleep,  that  beset  the
student,  in the  wide  and alluring  fields  of  science
before him, he  had  better  perhaps  calculate  upon
this quantity, rather than upon less.  In middle age, he
will probably not require as much as he  now  does.
Bishop Taylor thought that even three hours  in  the
four and twenty were enough:  Baxter supposes  that
four hours will  suffice for any man.*   The celebrated
Dr. John Hunter, and Frederick the  Great, as he is
called, devoted  only four or five hours  to  rest.j   Su-
warrow, the renowned Russian  General,  accustomed
himself  to  still  less; and Charles  the  Twelfth,  of
Sweden, uniformly slept but four hours. J   John Wes-
ley, the  celebrated itinerant preacher, found six hours,
necessary for him, and probably this is nearer the  com-
 mon standard for the middled aged, than the other ex-
 amples.  The man inclined to be corpulent, however,
 must not fear to rival  even Suvvarrow and John  Hun-
 ter in this respect: for as old Parr used to say, such a
 one must "keep bis eyes open and his mouth shut."
    It is desirable that each individual should be  able to
 ascertain the precise amount of sleep, which his con-

       * Duty and advajilare of Early Rising, p. 44.
       fRees' Cycle. A>ticie Sleep.
       I Military Mentor vol. 1. p. 11 and 13. 
263
stitution demands.   And  according  to  John Wesley,
who printed a sermon on the subject, he may do this.
" If any one desires,'' says he, " to know exactly what
quantity of sleep his own. situation requires, he may
very easily make the experiment which I made, about
sixty  years ago.   1 then  waked  every night  about
twelve, or one, and lay awake for some time. I read-
ily  concluded that  this arose from my lying in bed lon-
ger than nature required.   To be satisfied, I procured
an  alarum, which  waked me  the next morning at sev-
en, near an hour earlier than I rose before ;  yet I lay
awake again at night.  The second morning I rose at
six ; but notwithstanding this, I lay awake the second
night.   The third  morning I rose at five ; but, never-
the less, I lay awake the  third night.   The  fourth
morning I rose at four, (as by the grace of God I have
done ever since,)  and -I lay awake no more.  And I do
not lie awake, taking the year round, a quarter of an
hour together in a month.   By the same  experiment,
(rising earlier and earlier every morning,)  may  any
one find how much sleep he really wants."
   The third enquiry is, what are the best means for
promoting sleep ;  or foe securing the proper amount 1
   To accomplish  this, the student should not rest sat-
isfied until he is confirmed in the habit mentioned by
Wesley, of taking the whole of his sleep, for twenty four
hours, in  unbroken succession,  without any wakeful in-
tervals.   This requires an attention to several  partic-
 ulars.
    In the  first  place,'uniformity as to the  period of re-
 pose :  say from ten at night to  five or six in the morn-
 ing.   Nothing but necessity should induce any  one  to
 to deviate from the hours  he has fixed upon. 
                       264

  Secondly: The habit of retiring to rest early. Upon
this point I have already insisted.
  Thirdly: Early rising.  Of so much consequence is
this habit justly  regarded,  that volumes  have been
written to  enforce  it.  Philosophy, physic, poetry,
and religion, unite their testimony and their appeals in
favour of  the  practice.  They paint  to us the natu-
ral beauties of the morning;  the clearness of mind,
the  exhilaration  of  spirits,  and  the  invigorated
strength, which are then possessed, and the  consequent
facilities for study, for meditation, for devotion,  and
for   enjoyment,   that  are  presented.    Nor  have
these advantages been overrated.   Nevertheless,  im-
mense multitudes—whose only  pursuit in  this world
is happiness—disregard them all, and suffer the sun to
shine, one, two, three, or four hours, upon the world,
before their eyes behold it: and thus do they deprive
themselves of the possibility of real enjoyment;  and
as for usefulness, with such persons, it is  out  of the
question.   For as Dr. Trotter justly says; "Can any
human being be in pursuit of noble and elevated honors,
who is found In bed at eight or nine in the morning ?
Such a man never yet in the world acquired the  title
of  either good or great."*   On  the  the  other hand
those men, who have done most for literature and sci-
ence, or in the cause  of benevolence,  have,  almost
without exception, illustrated the good old rule:
      Early to bed and early to rise,
      Is the way to be healthy, and wealthy, and wise.
   To give a few instances : most of the ancient  phi-
 losophers and  poets, as Homer, Horace,  and  Virgil,
were of this description.  In modern times, Dr. Park-
*View of the Nervous Temperament, p. 283. 
265
 hurst, the  philologist, rose at five in the summer, and
 six in the  winter :  Sir Mathew Hale, who studied dai-
 ly sixteen  hours, rose early.   Bishops Jewel, Burnet
 and Home, have left us their testimony and examples,
 in favour of early rising.   Sir Thomas  More, the au-
 thor of Utopia, found time to  compose that  work by
 means of rising uniformly  at four ; and he represents
 the Utopians as being in the  habit every  morning of
 attending public lectures before day break.  Old Parre,
 to whom I have frequently referred,  sums up the rules
 of diet and regimen in the following  weighty sentence
 —" Keep  your body cool  by  temperance—your feet
 warm by exercise.  Rise early—go to bed soon.  Nev-
 er eat till you are hungry—never drink bat  when na-
 ture requires it." Dr. Doddridge informs us, that most
 of his works were composed by means of rising at five,
 instead of seven o'clock.   And it is said that  Sir  Wal-
 ter Scott sends forth his semiannual and even monthly
 volumes, by means  of rising at four o'clock and devot-
 ing only five hours  to study :  so that  after nine in the
 morning, he is free to engage  in other  pursuits.  But
 one ofthe  most instructive examples  on record, is that
 of Dr. Paley.  " I spent," says he, the  first two years
 of my undergraduateship happily, but unprofitably.   I
 was constantly in society,  where we were not immor-
 al, but idle and expensive.  At the commencement  of
 the third year, after having  left the  usual party at  a
 late hour, I was  awakened at five in  the morning by
 one of my companions, who  stood at  my bedside and
said,  " Paley, I have been thinking what a  fool you
 are. I could do nothing, probably, if 1 were to try, and
can afford  to lead the life you lead.  You could do
every thing, and cannot afford it.  I have had no sleep
during the  whole night on account of  these reflections;
                           23* 
266
and am now come solemnly to inform you, that if you
persist in your indolence, I  must renounce your socie-
ty." " 1 was so struck," says the Doctor, "with the visit
and the visitor, that I lay in bed  a  great part of the
day, and formed my plan.  I ordered my bed maker
to lay my fire every morning, in order that it might be
lighted  by myself.  I arose at five—read during the
whole day—took supper  at  nine—went to bed—con-
tinued the practice up to this hour."
   From four to six o'clock seems to be the time for
rising, if we  follow  the best examples: the precise
hour being fixed by the season  ofthe year, the  age,
the hour of going to bed, and the'state of the health.
He who rises thus early, and is not indolent, (and ear-
ly rising and indolence, 1 believe,  never go together,)
will be  sufficiently fatigued by  nine or ten o'clock at
night, to fall into a sound sleep,  which, in ordinary
cases, will not be broken till Ihe regular hour of ris-
ing.  At any rate, no  student should permit himself
to indulge  in the second,  or  morning nap,  after  a
wakeful interval.   On  this  point  physicians  ur-
gently insist.*   Nor should any  one indulge himself
in lying in bed after first awaking in  the morning : for
nothing debilitates more.   If he feels a strong pro-
pensity to fall asleep  again, at the  early dawn, let him
spring instantly from his couch,  and the shock of a re-
freshing air bath, will  dissipate his  drowsiness : and
even if he has not had his usual allowance of sleep,  it
is far preferable to make up the  deficiency at some
other time,  even after dinner, than to do it in the
morning.    For morning slumbers, are, of all others

       * See Journal of Health Vol.  1. p. 75. 
267
the most unrefreshing ; especially if the early part of
the night has been spent in wakefulness.   Yet by in-
dulging in  them, even  in such cases,  the  pernicious
habit of lying long in bed in-the  morning  will be ac-
quired insensibly.   But by  resisting the inclination,
and determining that  only certain hours ofthe night
shall  be  devoted  to  slumber, the constitution soon
yields  to the habit, and an immense advantage is gain-
ed in  respect to health.
  But why do I press the point of early rising,  in a
place  where, nolens volelis, it must  be practiced ?   I
answer, because Tl fear that this requirement is too apt
to be  regarded by  students, as an unwelcome task,
which greatly  interferes with their comfort.   And  I
draw this inference from  the fact, that so many, the
day they leave college walls, revert to their old  hab-
its of  going to bed and rising late ; and  continue  in
them through life : Whereas, in fact,  to have acquir-
ed permanently, habits of a contrary character, would
be an ample compensation for all the  confinement and
expense of a College course.   And if young gentle-
men would look at the law on this subject in  a ration-
al light, and not as an unnecessary and unpleasant pen-
ance,  their own experience would show  them its im-
 mense importance to their future usefulness and happi-
ness.  I ought to add in this place, that persons remark-
 able  for  longevity, all  agree  in having  been early
 risers.
   But in the  fourth place, early rising is not all that is
 requisite  to secure unbroken and refreshing slumbers
 at night.   A proper amount of exercise during the day,
 is  of immense importance;   as  is  shown by the
 fact, that labouring  men rarely find any difficulty  in
 securing a due proportion of sleep, unless their exer- 
268
cise has been excessive.  The want of this exercise, is
the principal cause of the sleeplessness and restlessness
ofthe nervous and the^ bilious.  Hence, if it have not
been taken during the day, measures should be adopt-
ed for securing it before  retiring to  rest.   To walk
up and down an open passage  for an hour, or more,
before bedtime, is recommended for-this purpose—
agreeable to the practice of Cato,  of Utica.   Other
kinds of exercise, however, afford good substitutes.
  Fifthly ; temperance in diet, is  indispensable to qui-
et and refreshing slumber at  night.    This thought is
well expressed in  Ecclesiasticus :  (Chap.  31—20)
"sound sleep cometh of moderate eating :  he riseth
early,  and his  wits  are  with him :  but the pains  of
watching, and choler and  pangs of the belly, are with
an unsatiable man."  Almost every one has found this
sentiment true  by his own experience.  After indulg-
ing a little too much of some favourite dish, rich food,
or unseasonable luncheon, or dessert, especially late
in the  evening, what man has not been  tossed to and
fro on  his couch, harrassed by unpleasant dreams, and
disposed to protract his stay in bed  in the morning, to
make up for the fatigue and restlessness ofthe night;
and  when he arose, found himself dull, unrefreshed,
irritable, and melancholy ?  But though all allow such
to be the effect of great excess in eating, " it is wor-
thy of observation, also"  says a physician,  " that the
stomach will sometimes be  much irritated by a small
quantity of indigestible food taken at night, and thus
may sleep be  prevented  as certainly as if the organ
were overloaded with food."*  Even a  too hearty din-
ner, taken at  twelve o'clock, will very often produce
* Sure Methods Sec. p. 177. 
269
such an irritation of the digestive organs, as to disturb,
or destroy, the rest  of the subsequent night: much
more, then, might we expect this result from a hear-
ty supper ;  and  still more, from a ten o'clock lunch-
eon of meat.  This irritation ofthe intestinal nerves,
is the grand cause of those unpleasant dreams, so troub-
lesome and exhausting to nervous invalids: and even
the night mare, which is only the climax pf dreaming,
is usually occasioned in the same manner.   It produ-
ces, also, in some constitutions, the idea of spectres,
visions, and revelations.   You  probably  have a case
of this kind in the experience of Cowper.  " To what-
ever cause it is owing," says he "(whether to consti-
tution or God's express appointment,)  I am hunted by
spiritual hounds in the night season."   A single hear-
ty dinner was undoubtedly the source  ofthe  delusions
of Swedenborgianism ;  as is evident from Swedenborg's
own account of his first vision. " I dined very late" says
he, " at my lodgings at London, and ate with great ap-
petite, till  at  the close of my  repast, I  perceived a
kind of mist about my eyes, and the floor of my cham-
ber was covered with  hideous reptiles.   They soon
disappeared, and the darkness was dissipated, and I saw
clearly in the midst of a brilliant  light, a man seated
in the corner ofthe chamber, who said to me  in a ter-
rible  voice,  " eat not  so much.'1''  At those  words my
sight became obscured ;  afterwards it became clear by
degrees, and I found myself alone.   The night follow-
ing, the same man, radiant with light, appeared to me
and said, " 1 am  God, the Lord, Creator and  Redeem-
er, &c."—" That same night the eyes of my internal
man were opened, and fitted to see things in the world
of spirits, and in hell, in which places I found many 
                       270

persons of  mine  acquaintance,  some of  them  long
since and  others lately deceased."*
  If such  be the  consequences of hearty dinners and
suppers, how important the sentiment of the old latin
prescription:
     Somnusut sit  levis, sit tibi coena brevis ;|
Which has been thus translated, or rather paraphrased ;
        To be easy all nit!;ht,
        Let your supper be light.
The person, who is afflicted  with sleeplessness  and
hateful dreams, has only to put this rule into vigorous
practice for a few  months, to be satisfied  that it  is
perfectly  efficacious.
  Sixthly; it is essential to sound sleep, that the mind
be  unbent  from severe  study, a  considerable  season
before bed  time ; long enough, if possible, to get the
subject entirely out of mind  Perhaps nothing is so well
calculated to accomplish  this,  as those devotional ex-
ercises, that are  appropriate  to the close of the day,
if they be performed with the faithfulness and interest
they demand :  and surely, the calm and peace which
religion  inspires,  are  most  eminently calculated  to
sooth the irritated nerves, and induce quiet  and  re-
freshing  repose.   But to this  point, I shall probably
again refer, in another lecture.
   Finally, there; are  several  other  circumstances, of
 less importance,  that contribute somewhat to secure
 the repose  the literary man needs.
   His sleeping apartment should  be as  spacious  as
possible; or if small, the doors  leading to the adjoin-
ing apartments should be left open.  A room in an up-
 per story is best.  To  crowd several beds  into  the
 same, apartment is highly pernicious.
   * Christian Spectator, Dec. 1823, p. 618.
   ■j-Cheyne's Essay on Health and Long Life, p. 81. 
271
  It is hardly necessary to say,  that a nice attention
to cleanliness,  not only in  beds  and clothing, but also
in the chamber, is of high importance.
  Very warm  sleeping apartments are injurious.    In-
deed, for persons in health, no fires should be admit-
ted into them, at any time :  or if admitted, free   ven-
tilation  before bed time is desirable.   The.tempera-
ture ought not to be  higher in any  case  for  the
healthy, than fifty degrees.
  The  practice of warming the  bed,  unless dampness
or previous exposure to cold  render it necessary, is
very debilitating : and so  is the  habit of loading one's
self  with an insupportable weight of clothes.  Enough
to produce comfortable warmth,  is all that is neces-
sary.
  The  practice of leaving open the windows  of a
bed chamber during the night in summer, is a bad one.
It might do no injury to the sailor, or the soldier; nor
to the student, after he  is thoroughly trained to the
sailor's or  the soldier's life.  But, Shys the Journal of
Health, " many persons have experienced serious and
irreparable injury to their health, by  being in  this
manner subjected, while asleep,  to a current of cold
air from without."*   Multitudes, I know, will say that
they practice this with impunity ; but this only proves
the strength of  their constitutions,  and not the  good
effects of the  habit, nor  its freedom from danger, to
the more feeble.
  Writers  on  the means of preserving the  health, are
almost  unanimous in condemning  the  use  of feather
beds, especially for the young ;  unless it be in the se-
verest part of a northern  winter.  A matress, compos-
ed of moss or  hair, should, they say, be invariably
  * Vol. I. p. 85. 
272
 preferred.  Curtains drawn around the bed are  inad-
 missible in any case ; because  they confine  the air.
 Sleeping with the head beneath the bed clothes is still
 more  pernicious;  and,  for  the same-reason,  beds
 should never be placed upon the floor;  since the im-
 pure air generally settles to  the lower part   of the
 apartment.
   The  practice of sleeping  after  dinner  is  of  very
 questionable utility; chiefly because  it prevents re-
 freshing sleep at night; and disposes  a person to the
 habit of sitting  up  late.  If  the tendency  to  sleep at
 noon be brought on  by excess in eating, as it  usually
 is, it is the precursor of apoplexy,  and must be resist-
 ed.  Even the invalid, if he can, will do well  to avoid
 his " forty winks' nap" at noon.   Some writers,  how-
 ever, 1  ought to remark,  recommend to such, a  short
 indulgence of this kind.
                      MANNERS.
   Attention to the manners,  may not  appear, at first
 view, to have any connection with  the health.  But it
 is not so.  All our habits  of body and mind are so in-
 timately related, that their mutual  influence is great;
 and not  one of  these habits, can be named that  does
 not, directly or indirectly,  affect the health.    And I
 maintain that gentlemanly manners,  or the manners
 prevalent in good society, are favorable to health.  I
 speak not  here of  Chesterfieldian niceties,  nor of
 Chesterfieldian  absurdities ;  but of those fundamental
 rules of  politeness,  which regulate the conduct of a
 gentleman  and a Christian.   These principles dispose
 him to  treat others with  urbanity,  kindness, and  due
 respect; to make him extremely cautious  of injuring
 their feelings, diminishing their reputation, or throw-
ing obstacles in the way of their enjoyment.  And on 
273
*he contrary,  it  is a leading object  in all  his inter-
course with others, to make them happy; not indeed,
by any sacrifice  of truth, or principle ;  but by exhib-
iting a disposition to befriend  them; to overlook their
minor failings; and to give them  credit for every vir-
tue which  they really exhibit.  Now such treatment
from our fellow men, has a powerful tendency to buoy
up  the  mind,  and make it cheerful;  and thus to pro-
mote  the  health.   And by  cultivating  such feelings
towards others, we shall perceive  a happy reaction
upon  ourselves ;  contributing not a little to bodily, as
well as  mental sanity and enjoyment.
  Now it ought not to be concealed, that the retired
life of students, tends strongly to  prevent the forma-
tion of such manners as I have just described.  Hence
it is,  that they are so  apt to  indulge in jesting and
innuendo   in  their  intercourse  with  one  another.
Hence they so often visit each others' rooms in  Qua-
ker style, as to their hats.  The  consequence is, they
are very apt to carry the same habit  into the public
rooms of college: and it will be  strange, if such per-
sons do not find this habit clinging to  them when they
go  abroad  into the world, producing an impression
upon  cultivated minds and  tastes, that it is  easier to
obtain a diploma for progress in knowledge, than to
get rid  of uncouth and clownish manners.  The same
inference  will be  drawn,  should the student,  when
hereafter he becomes a clergyman, or a judge, or a
legislator,  be  seen lolling, and yawning,  and raising
his feet upon  the breast-work of the pulpit, or the
bench,  or  the senate chamber, as he used  to  do  at
college, in the chapel and in the  lecture room.
24 
274
  Influence of the Imagination and Passions upon
                     Health.
  These are the  grand moving powers, not only ofthe
soul, but of the  body.   Take them away,  and you
leave nothing  but a lifeless, stagnating mass of matter
and mind.  But as in  mechanical operations,  the mov-
ing forces are  sometimes too powerful far the delicate
machinery on which they operate, so the passions
sometimes strain and  sweep away the curious  organi-
zation both of mind and of body.   Hence their mighty
influence over the health.   Hence a quaint  writer
calls them " the  thunder and lightning of perturbation,
which causeth such  violent  and  speedy altercations
in this our microcosm,  and many times subverts the
good estate and temperature of it."
   Every man  must have realized in his own  experi-
ence, something of the  mighty influence of the more
violent  passions  over the body.   Who  has  not  been
sometimes sensible that the  blush of shame was hur-
rying the blood  to his cheek, and the strong nervous
excitement of anger, agitating his frame!   Who has
not felt the violent beating of his  heart, on opening
an important letter,  or  on receiving weighty intelli-
gence ! History  testifies, that the Emperor  Valentini-
an the first,  Wenceslas, Matthias  Corvinus,  king of
 Hungary, and many  others, died by a violent fit of an-
ger.*  Murat, king of Naples, received a letter from
his wife, while absent in Bonaparte's  celebrated Rus,
sian campaign, detailing some proceedings of his gov-
 ernment, which he thought encroached upon the royal
 prerogative;  and  so great was the  effect of his jeal-
 ousy, that before he had finished the letter,  his whole
•Journal of Heath, vol. 1. p. 164. 
275
■skin became completely jaundiced.*   Excessive joy is
often fatal.  Thus it is  said that Sophocles, the tragic
writer, died in consequence of a decision being given
in his favour in a contest of honour.   Diagoras died at
the instant,  when his three sons were crowned on  the
the same day, as victors at the games.   Pope Leo X,
died of a fever, produced by  the joyful news of  the
capture ofMilan.j  Sudden and excessive fear has of-
ten  produced a similar effect.  A boy  was once  let
down the side of a very high precipice in a basket, to
rob an eagle's nest.  While suspended, some hundreds
of feet above the rocky base, he was  attacked by  the
eagle : and in cutting at the bird, with a sword which he
carried with him, he struck the rope by which he was
suspended, and cut it nearly off.   On drawing  him  up,
his hair was found changed to white.||   Sudden hor-
ror  and anguish produce  similar effects.   A widow
in  Paris,  on  learning that her daughter with  her
two  children,  had  thrown herself  from  an  upper
story of the house, and  was dashed in pieces,  be-
came in one night as black as  a  negro.J   Terror  has
an effect equally powerful.  Thus, " a Jew in  France
came in the dark, over a  dangerous passage, on a
plank, that  lay over a brook,  without harm :  the
next day,  on viewing  the perilous  situation  he  had
been in, he  fell down dead."||   Sudden grief has some-
times proved alike fatal.  Philip V  of Spain, died sud-
denly, on learning the disasterous defeat  of his army ;
and on dissection it was found that his heart was liter-
       journal of Health, vol. 1. p. 142.
       fllees Cyc. Article  Passion.
       } Johnson on the Liver, &c p. 210
 |] If I recollect right, this is related in Thornton^ Medical Ex-
tracts.
       IJJohnson on the liver, &c. p. 205. 
276
ally burst asunder ;  showing that the common phrase,
abroken heart, is sometimes pathologically correct.
  On the other hand,  imagination  and passion have
often proved of the highest  benefit in the cure  of dis-
eases.  History is full of examples of this kind.  The
animal magnetism of Mesmer, and the metallic tractors
of Perkins, whereby thousands were actually cured of
most obstinate disorders,  by  means,  which were prov-
ed in the most satisfactory manner to be mere mum-
mery, curiously illustrate this subject; although I have
no time  to  enter  into  details*  Indeed, unless the
physician can secure the  influence  of  imagination,  or
rather of hope, operating through the  imagination, in
favour of his medicines,  he  has  litlb  expectation  of
effecting a cure.  Hence, too, it is, that  particular rem-
edies have such a wonderful efficacy for a time, and then
fall into disuse. And hence  too,  the success that often
attends quacks,who are as destitute  of medical knowl-
edge^ they are of moral stamina. By noise and profes-
sion, they secure the confidence  of the ignorant, and in
that way da really perform many remarkable cures ;
though in the end, they usually destroy  a greater num-
ber than they restore.  Hence too, the same medicine
will  cure in the hands of one  physician,  that will do no
good, administered by another.  For " plures sanat, in
quern plures confident.'''1
  That those maladies, which  originate in a  disorder-
dered imagination, can be cured  by producing a belief,
that  they will be, seems  most rational:  and that the
proportion of disorders  originating from this source,
and from the influence of passion, is large,  none can
*See Rets Cycle. Article Imagination- 
277
doubt.   The following amusing estimate, said  to  be
made by an old London physician, exhibits, the  origin
ofthe different cases of disease to which he was call-
ed in the course of a year :  viz.—Vauxhall, Theatres,
Hackney Coaches, and  places of  worship (that  is
crowded public  assemblies,)  1600.—-Indulgence  in
Wine, Spirits and Smoking, 1300.—Indolence, 1000.—
Sudden changes in the atmosphere, 1200.—Prevalence
ofthe North or East winds, 1800.—Force of Imagina-
tion, 1500.—Gluttony,  1300.—Quack Medicines, 900.
—Love, 750.—Grief, 850.—Unsuccessful  gambling,
900.—Contagion,  900.—Study, 950.—Reading Nov-
els, 450.
  " Of these real friends of the physician," he adds,
" I am more indebted to  Vauxhall, the  theatres, plac-
ces of divine worship, and hackney  coaches, than any
other, because  the diseases they occasion are inflam-
mation of internal  parts, which is  not soon reduced,     *j
and often terminates in chronic diseases, as pulmonary
consumption and rheumatism, To Fancy, I do not feel
much indebted, because the  patients are very far from
being pleasant ones to attend ; indeed, I had rather have
been without them.  The north, east,  and  north east
winds, always add  considerably to my  list of patients.
Gluttony and abuse of ale, wine, and smoking are ex-
cellent friends,  because they are constantly  acting  for
me.  Quack medicines are sincere friends, because they
amuse the minds  of the restless hypochondriacs, and
convert acute diseases into chronic. Gambling occasions
nervous affections, which reflection cures.  The south
and west winds, are also good friends, as they add to my
reputation, by curing many diseases.  Love and grief, al-
                         24* 
278
     though perfect strangers to me, are,  nevertheless sin-
     cere friends.'**
       But fancy is  not concerned in Ihe  production  and
     cure of imaginary disorders merely.   Some that are
     real and obstinate, yield  to its power.   At the siege
     of Breda, in  1625, the scurvy raged to an alarming
     degree ; so that the garrison was about  to surrender;
     when the  Prince  of Orange  sent into  the fortress, a
     few phials of sham medicine, which  was distributed
     among the sufferers,  as most costly and invaluable.
     The effect was almost miraculous.  " Such as had not
     moved their  limbs for a  month before,  were  seen
     walking in the  streets, sound, straight, and  whole.
     Many,  who declared that they had  been  rendered
     worse  by  all former remedies, recovered  in a few
     days, to their inexpressible joy."
       The remarkable cures of persons afflicted with the
*    Scrofula, or King's Evil, by the kings of England and
     France, particularly by Charles II: and those ofthe
     pious,  though  superstitious,   Valentine  Greakraks;
     those of Francisco Bagnone, in Italy;  and those cele-
     brated as miracles in the Romish Church, by touching-
     bones, relics,  &c. ; all belong to the  same  class; and
     are well worthy  the students' attention, as illustrating
     the power of imagination over the  body, and as show-
     ing the facility with which mankind may be duped by
     the crafty  and designing.    The case  of a man cured
     of the gout by terror and alarm, as mentioned by phy-
     sicians, is  striking.    Another  person, disguised  as a
     spectre, entered his chamber, while he  was in a  pa-
     roxysm  of the disorder, seized him and  dragged  him
     ^own stairs with  the gouty  feet trailing behind him.
     Then the ghost disappeared; when  the sick  man
Journal of Health vol. 1. p.  107. 
279
sprang upon  his feet  with the utmost  ease, ran Up
stairs, and never afterwards felt another symptom of
gout.
  The sudden strength, which  strong passion  can in-
spire, even in a  dying man, is well illustrated in the
history of Muley Moluc, Emperor  of Morocco.  His
troops were  engaged in battle with  the Portugese ;
and he was  carried upon a Jitter into the field, con-
scious that he must die in an hour or two, of an incu-
rable disease.   But  his army began  to retreat.   He
sprang from his  litter,  rallied his  flying troops, saw
the enemy beaten,  and then  returning to his litter,
sunk down exhausted and expired.
  With the exhilarating and invigorating influence of
the milder passions, both upon  the mind and the body,
we are  all, I trust, familiar..  Every nervous  invalid,
especially, can  doubtless  recollect the remarkable
transition in all his  mental and  corporeal feelings, pro-
duced by the unexpected breaking in upon his  mind of
a ray of hope, or a gleam of joy:  how from being si-
lent and melancholy, he  became sociable, and cheer-
ful ; how his sloth  was exchanged for active  efforts ;
how the dread of disease and death, which had been
haunting his imagination, disappeared ; and the world,
which just before  was  clothed in sombre  hue, was
soon dressed in a sunny radiance,  and he arose a reno-
vated being.
  On the contrary, every such man knows  full  well,
how paralyzing  is the effect  of melancholy,  despon-
dency, and jealousy.  For these are the passions that
brood, like an incubus, over his  spirits, a large por-
tion of the time : and most persons of this character,
by the free use  of  stimulating food and drink, under
the idea of giving their bodies more strength, do, in 
280
fact,  oppress  the corporeal powers,  and thus  feed
these  morbid  passions,  that are slowly  consuming
their lives.   Nor can they  ever get rid of the cloud,
until a change  of habits shall break up the strong de-
lusion.  Temperance in diet, and thorough persever-
ing exercise, will accomplish their emancipation, and
bring them under the influence of settled cheerfulness
and  tranquillity of  mind—a state  of feeling, perhaps
the  most  enviable in this world—and absolutely ne-
cessary to longevity and  usefulness.   To  secure  such
a state, therefore, should be a grand object with every
student.   Let him labour for it without remission ; as.
suredthatit is the true elexir vitae—^the.genuine phi*
losopher's stone
   There  is  one passion  of Omnipotent sway in the
youthful breast,  to  which I have  not  alluded.   And
ought I not, from a sense  of delicacj', to pass by it ?
If I  had not in  these lectures undertaken,  in the plain
and  fearless language of  a friend, to warn  you of eve-
ry danger,  which I could  discover in the field  I am
exploring,  I might  consent  to leave  the subject  of
early attachment to the female sex, untouched.   But
I look  upon students, as a class among men,  who
make the pursuit of knowledge, paramount to every
other of a worldly nature;  and who are ready to sa-
crifice any other  object, when it comes in collision, or
interferes, with this ; certainly, during the  eight or
ten years of their preparatory course.   On this ground
I  have urged the imperious  necessity lying upon such,
to deny themselves  every gratification of the palate,
inconsistent with  the most  vigorous exercise of the
mind.  On the same ground, I warn them against the
mighty and dangerous influence of love.   If they fall
under its magic  influence, and become devotedly at- 
                        281
                       i
tached  to  some angelic nymph, while yet  they are
green in literature, and have not acquired an  uncord
querable relish  for study ;  I  do not  say that  they are
inevitably ruined ;   but  they are walking along the
edge of a precipice, over which thousands and  thou-
sands have plunged : At any rate, they  have  thrown
a mighty obstacle  into their literary course; and  it
will be  marvellous, if  their progress afterwards, be
not with a feeble and halting--step.
      " To sighs devoted and to tender pains,
      Pensive you sit, or solitary stray,
      And waste your youth in musing—
      The infected muid,
      Dissolv'd in female tenderness, forgets
      Each manly virtue and grows dead to fame.
      Sweet heaven,  from such intoxicating charms
      Defend all worthy breasts '."Armstrong on health p. 96*.
  I am  net arguing, with misanthropic stoicism, against
a proper attention  to this subject at the proper time.
It is a  wise  and beneficent law  of heaven,  that the
heart should yield to its influence, when it will not in-
terfere with other concerns of higher moment. But why
this great hurry to be  unalterably  affianced to  some
bewitching fair one, while  yet the  tastes, and habits,
and manners, of the student, are  forming ?  and espe-
cially, while he has  an object  before  him, sufficient for
his  whole powers to grapple with; I mean the  tho-
rough discipline of his mind  by study ? When his edu-
cation is finished, and his taste and habits are formed, he
will have ample leisure to'attend to this concern ; and
will then be less under the influence  of a skitish fan-
cy,  and  less liable to become tired of his choice.   For
however the ardent  lover of eighteen may  resent it,
it is true, that  as his mind  becomes  more expanded,
his  taste more correct,  and his acquaintance  with the
world more extensive, the angelic charms of his love- 
282
ly fair one, may fade away ;  and he find himself in the
sad dilemma, of spending life with one for whom he
has little respect, or attachment;  or of violently break-
asunder engagements, for whose fulfilment, he is most
solemnly pledged.   Such a dilemma is a perfect cure
for the enthusiastic notion,  so prevalent among the
young, that these sexual  attachments are beyond their
control; and that if the spell comes over them, they
liav c uuiiihig tw do but to submit to it; indeed,that these
" congenial minds" are fitted  for one another in heav-
en, hp.fore their descent to this world ;  according to the
lovesick ditty of Dr.  Watts' Indian Philosopher.
   Wisest and happiest by far, then, in  my  opinion, is
that student, who during his collegiate course, avoids
the snare  of female love.  I do not  mean to  charge
him with  moral delinquency if he  is entangled :  but I
say to him, that he  has tie.d a load to  his back, that
will be  very likely  to retard his  progress up  the hill
of science ;  and which may altogether discourage him
from advancing: nay, let him not forget, that this very
hindrance has turned not a few talented and even pious
youth, out of the  path  that  leads to  usefulness and
respectability, and sent them down into the valley  of
forgetfulness—alas, some have landed  in  the  gulf  of
infamy.   And where  else should  we  expect  to find
such, as have  given themselves up  to female influ-
ence !  " An ille mi hi liber  videatur,  cui mulier im-
perat, cui leges imponit, praescribit, jubet, vetat quod
videtur; cui nihil imperanti negare potest,  nihil re-
cusare  audet ? Poscit? dandum est.  Vocat ?  venien-
dum.   Ejicit?  abeundum. Minatur ?  extimescendum.
Ego vero  istum non modo  servum, sed  nequissimum
servum  puto."—(Cicero.)
   But if virtuous love be thus dangerous, what  shall 
283
  I say of every  species  of meretricious connection 1
*  What shall I  say ? Solomon has  already  said  it all,
  with the tongue of inspiration.  He has shown us the'
  way to the house of infamy, and hung up over its en-
  trance, in burning characters, the  appalling inscrip-
  tion--HER HOUSE IS THE WAY TO HELL : HER GUESTS ARE
  IN THE DEPTHS OF  HELL—NONE THAT GO UNTO HER RE-
  TURN AGAIN, NEITHER TAKE THEY  HOLD  OF THE  PATHS
  of life.   If the student heeds not this  warning, it is
  because moral principle, and the sense of shame, and
  the fear of God, are  banishsd from  his  bosom ;  and
  therefore, it is useless to make any farther  appeal  to
  one who  is thrice dead.
    But to  turn our  thoughts far,  far away  from such
  scenes, I  remark,  that there are exercises ofthe prin-
  ciple of love, which  have an omnipotent sway, over
  every unruly passion, and a most salutary effect upon
  the health.   I  refer to  the love  which religion  in-
  spires for holy objects :  for God as the supreme ex-
  cellence, and for other being, in  proportion to  their
  purity and value.   This is  the mighty  energy,  that is
  able to control the fiercest  passions, and  to  strip the
  most desponding of their  power.   Even the settled
  melancholy of  the bilious  and  the  nervous—obsti-
  nately defying every other agency—may be dissipated
  by holy love.   This  turns off the  affections and the
  attention  from  created  objects,  and makes the man
  feel, that it is of little consequence what evils betide
  him  here, or. through what  storms he  has to  pass,
  since there are cloudless skies a  little beyond, and a
  secure haven, which he is sure  of entering and en*
  joying.
       " His hand, the good man fastens on the skies
       And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl." 
284
  He can take up, and apply the triumphant  reason-
ing of Paul:  If God be for us, who can be against us 1
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for
tis all, how shall he not, xoith him, also, freely give as all
things.
  When  such a principle is in  vigorous  exercise in a
man's bosom, what inferior passion will dare to lift its
puny  arm to  make  war therein!  And  the  serenity,
cheerfulness, and stability, which it inspires,  exert a
mightier power  in  the prevention  and  cure  of  dis-
eases, than any prescription the physician's Dispensa-
tory can  furnish.  Yea, and when nature grapples with
her last enemy, it is this principle alone,  that enables
the soul stiil  to triumph ; and amid  the  ruins of the
body, to  exclaim,  O Death, where is  thy  sling!  0
Grave, where  is  thy victory ! 
X.ECTURX3  VXXX.
          PART  III.  EMPLOYMENT.

Influence of different Employments upon Health.   Lit-
  erary pursuits favorable to Health.   Study :  best pos-
  ture of the -body ; best  time of  day for its prosecu-
  tion ; night  study injurious: Means of preserving the
  Eyes : Recreation from study—Active benevolent En-
  terprises—Light Reading—Social  Intercourse—Mu-
  sic.   General Inferences.

  With this Lecture,  Gentlemen,  I enter  upon the
iHrd general branch of my subject, viz. Employment.
Without much impropriety, indeed, I might perhaps
have treated of this under the head of Regimen. Still,
in the case of  the  student,  it  seems  desirable to
bring forward his daily avocations in bold relief; since
these exert so important an influence upon his health.
And this can be done most  effectually, by considering
literary pursuits as a prominent and distinct branch of
the general subject.
  Although it  is  a matter of every day's experience
and  remark, that some occupations are more favora-
ble to health and  long life, than others :  yet but few
accurate observations  have been made to determine
definitely the amount of influence that is thus exerted.
The following statements, however, will give some
idea of the subject.
  In Hamburgh, in Holland, it was ascertained that
the  proportion of deaths among the tailors, was about
one in every nine ; among  the cabinet makers, about
               25 
286
Physicians & Surgei	3ns 14	Musicians
Astronomer	1	Philosophers
Poets	3	Clergymen
Lawyers	23	Merchants
Schoolmasters	8	Housekeepers
Military Officers	21	Gardeners
Soldiers	12	Herdsmen
Noblemen	8	Laborers
Ministers of State	4	Mechanics
Countrymen	87	Sailors
Citizens	55	Grave Digger
one in 25; and among the barbers, nearly one in  1 8*
  Of 424 individuals, who lived over 80 years, there
were, according to Schroter,
Apothecaries          2     Painters              3
                                                 3
                                                 18
                                                 33
                                                 11
                                                 10
                                                 4
                                                 3
                                                 8
                                                 71
                                                  2
                                                  1
   But the character  of my audience renders it unne-
 cessary for  me to dwell upon any occupation, that is
 not essentially literary.   I  shall, therefore, direct  my
 remarks,
   In the first place, to the subject of study ; and
   In the second place, to recreation from study.
   There exists a prevalent opinion, that  literary pur-
 suits are peculiarly unfavorable to health.   The ac-
 tive part of society make this inference, from the facts
 that so many students are complaining of bad health;
 and so many others are  compelled to abandon  their
 books :  and the student himself comes to such a con-
 clusion, from  an unwillingness to  acknowledge  that
 the failure  of his health  may more probably be  im-
 puted to his excesses in diet, or study,  or  neglect of
 exercise, than  to the  nature  of his  pursuits ;  because
 in the one  case, the fault lies with himself; and in the
•Journal of Health, vol. I. p. 166. 
287
other, it is a mere misfortune.   But I do not believe
the opinion to be correct.  Certainly to  maintain the
mind itself in  a healthy state, it must  have  almost
constant occupation—the more the better, if it do not
fatigue.  It is a want of such mental employment that
gives rise to ennui, melancholy,  and the whole train
of depressing  passions, accompanied by intellectual
imbecility.   Now a disordered  mind  will soon pro-
duce a disordered body.  And what  mental exertion,
if properly made, can  be  more favorable  to health,
than the pursuits of literature and science 1 To every
one, who  deserves the name of a  literary man, the
acquisition of  knowledge is an extraordinary pleasure:
and this circumstance adds greatly to the good  effect
of study upon  the  bodily health; because no  task is
imposed.  There  is indeed, such a thing as an exces-
sive attachment to books, which is injurious; because
it leads to the neglect of every proper means of health :
such was the enthusiasm of the English mathematician,
when he exclaimed;   Crede  mihi, exlingui dulce erit
mathematicarum artium studio.   Still a great degree  of
devotedness to learning, is not always unfavourable to
longevity :  " and," as a medical writer observes, "we
have many instances on record, of men who  have  at-
tained  their century of years, retaining their intellect-
ual faculties, and admiring mental acquirements with
the avidity of youth."*
  In support of the position, that literary pursuits are in
themselves favourable to health, I might add, that while
they afford a man  all needful facilities for attention  to
diet and regimen, they enable him  to avoid many of
those exposures to wet, heat, cold, and excessive  fa-
*Manual for Invalids, p. 36. 
288
tigue, to which the labouring classes  are liable ;  and
which are the exciting causes of a multitude of fatal
diseases.   They  enable  him, also, to adopt greater
regularity in his mode of life, than can be done by oth-
ers ; and this is extremely favourable.
  .This view  ofthe subject  is supported by all medi-
cal, and other authorities.   Says  one  of the former
class; "to cultivate a love of literature and the  fine
arts, and to direct the  taste to pursuits of  usefulness,
is very conformable both  to  health and happiness.*
   Says another, ofthe latter class ; "the time will come
when the most cultivated and vigorous minds  will be
found connected with the  most energetic bodies.
                  " The languid eye ; the cheek
      Deserted of its bloom', the flaccid, shrunk,
      And wither'd muscle ;  and the vapid soul,1'
ought as rarely to be found in our academic halls, as
in the habitations of our hardy yeomanry.   Sanamens
in corpore sano, is, with proper management, emphati-
cally the privilege of students.  They may enjoy even
better health than the most laborious.   Alternation of
bodily and mental effort will be  found  more favoura-
ble to health than the long continued muscular action,
ofthe farmer  and the mechanic.    Studious men have
more  knowledge of the regimen  essential  to health,
than others ; and  their situation for following it, is in
general more  favourable.   That  temperance in all
things, which  God has enjoined,  especially in eating
and drinking, united with that exercise of the  mental
and physical  powers for  which  he made us,  will be
found to ensure the most perfect health."*
  " The cultivation of the sciences," says the Journal

             * Manual for Invalids, p.. 49-
                 t Frost's Oration* 
289
of Health, " appears particularly favourable to longev-
ity :  there  can be  but little doubt that an individual
who exercises his mind as well as his body, has a fair-
er prospect of life,  than  the one whose body alone is
occupied.—Franchini has enumerated 104 Italian math-
ematicians of different epochs : he has ascertained that
of 70 of these,  18 attained the age of 30 years, and 2
of 90.—In France,  according to M. Berard, 152 men
of science and letters, have  been  taken  at random:
half the number appear to have cultivated science,
and. about half to have been devoted to general liter-
ature :  on  computation, it was found, that the average
life of each of  the 152 individuals, was 69 years."*
   In advancing such principles,  however, it ought not
 to be forgotten, that those who fali an early sacrifice
 to  literary pursuits, are not taken into the account;
 because their  names are unknown, beyond the small
 circle in  which they moved.  And in our country, and
 our times, the number of such  victims is  unusually
 great.  . But shall  their  premature fall be imputed to
 the insalutary nature of their pursuits?   By no means :
 In the ignorance and  neglect of the rules of diet  and
 regimen,  I have already pointed out fruitful causes of
 their melancholy  fate : and another  cause is to be
 found in their violation of the rules, which experience
 has shown to be best, for regulating the time and quan-
 tity of study", and the  mode  of  pursuing it.  My pres-
 ent object, is, to  point out  these rules with as much
 distinctness as possible.
    In the first  place, particular attention should be paid
  to the posture ofthe body in study. In general, that pos-
  ture ought to  be erect—certainly so far as the chest is
  concerned. Even when the student is sitting, the breast
                   * Vol. 1. p. 167.
             25* 
290
should be thrown forward, or swelled out, -and the ao>
domen drawn a little inwards, that the lungs may have
their full play, and none ofthe  internal organs be un-
duly compressed.  Bending over a table, so as to con-
tract  the organs  of respiration,  for any considerable
time,  is peculiarly injurious.   And to avoid this  most
effectually, and also to give every organ a natural and
unrestrained position, standing  upon the feet is by far
preferable to sitting, while engaged in study.   In the
former  position, most  persons  will hold out twice as-
long,  with the same fatigue, as  in the latter.  I know
that our natural indolence will plead hard for the  easy
chair; and to one accustomed to this luxury of a study,
of so very questionable utility, it will require not a lit-
tle resolution and self denial, to learn to stand upon the
feet. But I would urge perseverance in this habit,  as of
great importance.   True, when a person attempts to
study, after fatiguing exercise, he  may be excused for
sitting, until refreshed ;  but if his lassitude does not
proceed from fatigue, let him not yield to it.* If long
standing is  painful, the chair  and the  table may  be
used for a short  time, and then the  standing position
be  resumed.  Indeed, such  an  occasional alternation
will generally be found highly beneficial ;  although
the time spent upon  the feet  should  always exceed
that in the chair.
  It can hardly be  thought a digression here,  if I
should say a few  words upon the  position of students
generally.  For they are very apt to acquire postures
of the body, that are  both extremely ungraceful, and
unhealthy: So that probably no equal number of any
other class of men, taken at random, can  be  found,
whose forms and positions would be more exceptiona-
ble, to a military eye and  a  correct taste, than theirs. 
291
Arid the reasons of this are, that  they are generally
bent over and  cramped when studying;  and few of
them take any  pains to correct their forms  and pos-
tures at other times.  But when we consider of how
much importance is an  erect and  graceful form in a
public  speaker—how it half makes up for lame and
crooked sentences—it seems strange  that the subject
is thus neglected.   Every scholar  ought to learn the
posture of a soldier on parade; and to accustom him-
self to it so long, that it shall become easy and habit-
ual.   This posture does not consist  in strutting, as
most suppose ;  that is, in throwing the head far back-
ward, and the belly forward : But in holding the head
perfectly ereet, drawing in the belly, throwing forward
the breast, and the shoulders backwards.   This  will
place the  line  of the  body in a perpendicular direct
tion ; which  is the natural position of man, and very
different from  that slouching, ungainly,  parabolical,,
indescribable form, which we not unfrequently see un-
der a scholastic habit.   Some may,  indeed, imagine
that it  savours  of a proud  spirit,  to appear alwaysr
o) la militaire, with the  head erect, the breast promi-
nent, the elbows close to the body, and the legs straight ;
and that the  curvilinear,  undisciplined  posture, looks
most like  humility.   But I  do not think  that an epicy-
cloidal back, is always indicative of a submissive spirit;
nor  a rectilinear spine,  a sure index of a stubborn
will.   Depend upon it,  gentlemen, that age and infir-
mity  will bend you  down  early  enough;  however
careful you may be to accustom  yourselves to  a sol-
dier-like and gentlemanly  form and posture in youth.
While it is in your power, therefore, do not bring  a
libel on human nature,  by neglecting  to cultivate your
forms, as  well as your minds; especially when health, 
292
 equally with future usefulness and success, demands it^
   In the second  place, health as  well  as success  in
 study,  demand  a certain preparation for those seasons
 that are devoted to "it.  This preparation embraces
 both body and soul.  If the mind be agitated by cares,
 or passions, or disgusted with literary pursuits, attempts
 at successful study are mere  mockery.  And  so if the
 body be oppressed with disease, listlessness, or excess
 in diet, the mind operates to an immense disadvantage ;
 and  to the still  farther prostration of the corporeal
 powers. The body and the  mind, therefore, must be
 put in  order, before we let in the steam, for putting
 the machine  in motion.  Otherwise, some crank, un-
 equally pressed,  will be broken; some  valve will not
 play, or some boiler will burst.
   Very many students, especially in  the  earlier part
 of their course, estimate their proficiency  by  the num-
 ber of hours which  they  employ with  their books
 open before them :  whereas, in fact,  a man  who en.
 gages in study with no preparation for it, though he
 may spend  his twelve or fifteen  hours per day over
 his classics, frequently  gains nothing in point of knowl-
 edge,  or mental  discipline.   Nay, he  is not  unfre.
 quently like the frog in a  well, concerning whom the
arithmetic inquires, how long before he will  get out,
if he  ascends two feet per day,  and falls  back three.
But students  learn, before  many years, that  a .single
hour, spent over their  books, when mind and body are
harnessed for the work, is worth twelve, where the
one is  unstrung, and the other chained.
  It is  surely, then, an object of great importance, for
every student to  know  how  he may  accomplish the
most of mental  labour in  the least time. Vigorous
health  is, indeed, of immense importance  in effecting 
293
 this: but the person  of rather delicate  constitution,
 can perform wonders in this  respect, if he observe
 certain rules i And  first, his study should be retired,
 dry, airy, and agreeable.
   Euripides, indeed, is said to  have composed his tra-
 gedies in a cave ;  and Demosthenes chose a  place for
 study, where  nothing could be heard, or seen.   But
 other men, equally happy in their mental labours,
 have found that  the  cheerful light of the  sun, and the
 bracing influence of dry  and pure  air,  were quite as
 favourable  to the invention  of original and happy
 ide'as, as  the  gloom and dampness of a prison, or  a
 cavern.   The groves  and walks of the Academy and
 Lyceum, near Athens, where Socrates,  Plato, and Ar-
 istotle, taught, were  certainly  far  more conducive to
 health and cheerfulness ;  and the examples of wisdom
 and knowledge which  have emanated thence,  will
 surely sustain a  comparison  with  any  that  antiquity
 can boast.  . The confined air of a small apartment, and
 the  dampness of a  sunken  cell,  must  certainly be
 avoided by the invalid, if he means to preserve com-
 fortable health,  or sustain much literary effort.   Nor
 should any one think it an object of no importance, to
 render his study a  pleasant place : at least, to exhibit
 taste, order, and  neatness, in its internal arrangement:
 and if it have some loop-hole,  through which his eye
 can rest upon an interesting landscape, it  will tend to
 make his situation agreeable, and therefore, like home-
 A study, however, should not crowd too closely upon
 the busy street,  and other  resorts of men, lest the at"
 lention be too  much  distracted.
  Secondly ; exercise, but not fatigue, should precede
the hours of study.  The exercise is necessary, in or-
der that the various parts of the bodily machine should 
294
be put into easy,  vigorous,  and harmonious action.
For until this be effected, the fineF intellectual organi-
zation within, will  be cramped, and  operate only slug-
gishly and  ineffectually.  Every one must have per-
ceived, what acceleration and life have been  given to
mental operations  by exercise in the open air, until a
gentle perspiration opens the  pores, carrying off the
crudities of the blood;  and the pulse is made thereby
to beat full and strong,  and the head  is relieved from
pains and drowsiness.  But if the exercise be carried
so far as to occasion severe fatigue, the mind, sympa-
thizing with the body, demands repose : nor  can i* be
spurred up to vigorous action, without  making such a
draft upon  the secret  energies of the constitution, as
will be extremely  hazardous  to  comfort and health.
   Thirdly; light meals should precede study.  I  mean
when the  hours  devoted to study  follow the meals,
with but little interval, the food should be very simple,
and  moderate in  quantity.   It is said that it is   very
difficult to  make a dog see objects through a window,
because he looks only at the  glass.  And this, it seems
to me, very exactly represents that student's condition,
who sits down to  his books,  after  having loaded his
stomach beyond all reason.   True, he  can fasten his
eye upon his books:  but the clearest  reasonings are
all opaque  to him, because  his mental vision  is so
blunted by  gluttony, as  not to be able to penetrate the
most transparent  medium.   He, however,  does not
suspect the cause, why  he falls so far  behind others
in his attainments  ; nor  why, after  hours of  study, no
distinct impression remains upon his  mind.   He char-
ges  it all to his poor memory, while God charges it
to his intemperance.  Hence it is, that study is so un-
profitable to most persons immediately after dinner- 
295
And  hence it is  so  unprofitable  to  multitudes after
breakfast and supper too :  for after  they  have eaten
at those meals, as much as is necessary for twenty four
hours, their minds can no more  operate freely, than
can the lungs,  when a cord is tightly  drawn  around
the neck.  The  mind, in such a  case, must lie still,
until  the stomach has got rid of its load.  Hence, too,
it is,  that the mind is less clear,  and the power over
the attention less entire,  after a meal of animal food,
than after one of vegetables: for  the latter exercises,
far less  vigorously  than the former, the digestive
powers, and produces less feverish heat.   Hence, too,
abstinence,  when not  carried so  far  as  to produce
prostration, is,  perhaps, the most favorable condition
of any, for clear and powerful mental abstraction.
   Fourthly; the mind should be kept free from strong
excitement,  or  even very  engrossing diversions, for
some time previous to regular study.  The waves of
the  ocean, when once raised, cannot in a  moment be
calmed, even if the  cause of their excitement ceases.
No easier can  you put down at once, the  movements
of the mind.  You may  excite counter waves in the
ocean, but  those  already existing will conflict with
them for some  time :  and the same is true of counter
mental emotions.  But in order to grapple successfully
with the  abstrusities of  science, the  mind  should  be
brought to the task, in a collected and  unruffled state.
No half subdued gust of passion  should start  up—no
melancholy train of thought should pour in its  muddy
current—no sudden start of a skittish fancy, or  engros-
sing remembrance of a darling diversion—no  dreams
of romance, should come in to ruffle the  smooth sur-
face.  The  whole soul  should  be  only  a  mirror of
thought;  where every image should be well defined, 
296
and without distortion.  Intent only upon thoroughly
comprehending  the  point  before  him, the student
should endeavour to forget every thing else ;  and to
concentrate all the  energies' of his soul upon the task
he has  undertaken.  And yet, so absorbed should he
be in his work, as forthwith to forget that it is a task,
and only feel  that it is a pleasure.   Although  at  the
proper  time he may give  up  his  mind to  business,
care, light reading, or diversion ; yet these hours are
consecrated sacredly to study ;—to  the thorough  dis-
cipline  and enlargement of his mind ; and to  all other
things he should be able to say, procul,  O, procul,  este
profani! How very different will be the progress  of a
student  thus fitted  for the work ; thus  nerved with
giant strength, and wielding an Herculean club ; from
that of him, whose head is confused  and heavy from a
loaded  stomach; whose strength is weakness, from
want of  exercise ;   and  whose mind  is  distracted
with corroding passions, or light and airy  thoughts !
  Altogether incompatible with such a preparation as
this, is  the practice of lounging in  the early part of
the day, over the last newspaper, or periodical.  In-
formation thence derived may be serviceable, if ob-
tained at the proper time ;  that is,  if such  works be
read as  a relaxation from study,  and  after the regular
study hours are past: But to dip into them in the morn-
ing,  or  into the  romance, or the play, or the poem, is
effectually to unfit the mind  for the vigorous, undivided
efforts, which the solid branches of  learning demand.
Hence students of this character, although they catch
many of the floating and iridescent  bubbles of polite
literature, and acquire a  pert flippancy and readiness
of expression, are  usually  marked  with tekel, when
put into the balances. 
                       297

  Finally, perhaps there is no means more effectual
to secure this mental preparation for stud}', that is so
desirable,  than by  devoting the  season immediately
previous to devotional exercises.   I am not urging
this duty as a theologian:  but merely as a most effec-
tual method of collecting the thoughts, of fixing the
attention, of calming the excited feelings, and awaken-
ing a  determined purpose of soul.   I speak not here
of a hasty, and formal, and  unfeeling, and unmeaning re-
petition of a prayer ;  but of those sincere and thor-
ough  devotional  exercises, which make the man feel
the presence of God, and  the controlling, influence of
religious  motives,  and the vanity, folly, and guilt, of
acting from merely selfish and ambitious views.   De-
pend upon it, that he who has six hours  before  him
for study, will make a greater proficiency, by devoting
one of them to such exercises, than by monopolizing
the whole for literature  or science.  Such a course,
I might add, enlists in our favour, infinite power and
boundless  wisdom.
   Having  thus described  the requisite preparation for
 literary labour, the third inquiry is, what portion of
 the day shall be  devote.] to regular and systematic
 study? For when I speak of study, I do not mean ev-
 ery thing that  goes by the  name.   I  look upon the
 reading of a  newspaper, a  periodical, a  romance, a
 play, or a poem,  as merely a  relaxation from study.
 It is  only  when the mind is investigating some branch
 of knowledge, hitherto wholly or partially unexplored ;
 and is  advancing systematically in its conquests from
 one position  to another,  that the  effort  ought to r
 dignified with the  name  of study.   A man may "
 with his  books,"   and sometimes ought to do *
                   26 
298
health's sake: but  this is neither  mental discipline,
nor mental conquest;  and therefore, not study.
  As to the season most proper for  study,! shall speak
the unanimous sentiment of every intelligent friend to
health, and learning too,  when I say that the  earlier
part of the day, is decidedly  the best.  Every thing
conspires to render it  so.  The mind,  as well as the
body, is then refreshed and vigorous from repose ; and
every organ plays its  part freely and pleasantly.   And
if the student do not clog his  powers by too hearty a
breakfast,  or too violent exercise, or improper diver-
sions,  he will be able  most successfully to prosecute
his studies  until the hour of dinner ; interrupted  only
by those seasons, which  should  be devoted  to exer-
cise :  for I have already shown, that such seasons ure
imperiously demanded,  both  for the  preservation  of
health, and as a preparation for mental efforts.
   Those individuals in the literary world, who have
 left the most  imperishable monuments of their indus-
 try and knowledge, have, almost  without exception,
 executed  the greatest portion of their  works in the
 early part of the day; devoting the latter part to ex-
 ercise, recreation, and business.   I  have already,  in
 another lecture, mentioned  a striking living example,
 which may stand instar omnium, that Sir Walter Scott,
 devotes  only the hours from four to  nine in  the
 morning  to  literary  labour.   As  to  the  practice of
 studying before day  light, however, no student should
 enter upon it  without  great caution : for few  have
 health and eyes sufficiently strong, to endure it.   But
 when a man has ascertained  that no injury results from
 such a practice,  he  will certainly find a vigor and
  clearness of mind at  that season, which he can scarcely
  hope to possess, during  any  other portion of the day. 
299
  While upon this subject, there is still  greater need
that  I  utter a  strong caveat  against night study:  I
mean study after nine or ten o'clock in  the  evening.
Few literary  men are aware  df the great risk they
run,  by indulging in  such  a* habit.  And it  is the be-
setting sin of studious men.  The  interruptions ofthe
day,  the stillness of the night, and  not unfrequently
the unnatural wakefulness produced  by strong tea, or ,
a deficiency of exercise, are almost irresistible temp-
tations to such, to prolong  their  studies beyond  the
hour,  when   health  demands  their  discontinuance.
The consequence is,  disturbed and unrefreshing sleep.
" The tired brain," says a physician,  " can no more
repose, than the overstrained  muscles  after violent
exertion; hence the  studies of the day rise in  inco-
herent images at night,  or drive away sleep altogeth-
er."*    Every  student's experience will  attest the
truth of this statement:  But every one should make
the  most strenuous efforts to prevent the recurrence
of such excitement  during the night ; for  if suffered
to continue long, it will  infallibly  destroy the constitu-
tion, and in some instances, it has proved suddenly fa-
tal,  by bringing on  apoplexy.  Warned by  the exist-
ence of such a state  of nerves, the student  must forth-
with follow the advice of Dr. Johnson.  " Whenever
 we  find,"  says he,  " the diseases of literature  assail
 us, we should  have the  lamp  scoured out and no more
 oil put into it.   it is night study  that ruins the consti-
 tution, by keeping up  a bewildered chaos of impres-
 sions  on the brain during the succeeding sleep—if that
 can be called sleep, which is  constantly interrupted by
 incoherent dreams and half waking trains of thought."
* Johnson on Hygeia. 
300
   To procure repose in such cases, some resort to the
 laudanum or paregoric phial, or to spirituous liquors.
 This is suicide:  for it tends to produce a congestion,
 or inflammation,  of the brain:  and thus, according to
 Dr.  Johnson,  did the celebrated Professor Porson ter-
 minate his days.
   A more painful case of self-immolation, by immod-
 erate night-study, was  that  of Henry  Kirke White.
 Burning with  an  ardent desire  for distinction in the
 literary world, and full of that self-confident presump-
 tion,  which leads many students  to despise all the ad-
 vice of their  seniors, and to expect that their consti-
 tutions  are  strong enough  to  render all  attention to
 health unnecessary, he persisted in an almost incessant
 application  to study, until the  delicate  machinery of
 his system  gave way,  and left him only time enough
 in this world, while flesh and  body were  consuming,
 to pour forth  the unavailing regret: how have I haled
 instruction, and my heart despised reproof!  He allowed
 himself scarcely no time for relaxation,  or meals, or
 sleep.   He used to study till one, two, and even three
 o'clock in the morning; and then devote only two or
 three hours to  sleep ; having  fixed  a  larum to his
 clock, to awake  him  at  five.   Hi*s  kind  mother re-
 monstrated, wept, entreated, and prayed in vain.   She
 used to go every  night to  his studj, at a  certain hour,
 to extinguish  his lamp ; w^hen he would conceal  the
light, and  springing into bed,  feign to be asleep :  but
 rise  again to his self-immolating  work as soon as she
had gone.   The  sacrifice was  soon  completed ; and
the victim has left his blood sprinkled over the vesti-
 bule  of the  temple of science, as a warning to every
 ardent youth,  who  attempts to enter in an unlawful
 manner. 
301
   Most literary  men  are convinced, that very late
study at night is  injurious to health :  but  few have
any idea that it is equally hostile to the most vigorous
and successful exertion of mind.  Yet such is the fact:
and if a man will review in the morning, the  mental
labours,  of the preceding  night,  especially  if they
were performed under the  influence of any artificial
stimulus, such as tea, coffee, or wine, he will find, that
although there is exhibited evidence that the mind was
in operation, yet  the balance was gone,  and  the
movements were too irregular to be useful.  We should
predict that the mind's vigor and  calmness, would be
affected at  night, by the  bodily exhaustion;  and  the
final result shows this to be a true prediction.   We see
this particularly, in the  far greater  retentiveness  of
the  memory in the morning than at night:  although
probably there is a difference equally great, in the ex-
ercise of  the  other mental powers.    The  scholar,
therefore, who wishes not only to preserve his health,
but  to bring forth the  full strength of his powers, must
choose the early part of the day for the burden of his
intellectual labours.   His  most severe efforts should
be over before dinner.   In the afternoon, indeed, gen-
tle application to studies requiring no great abstraction
of mind, is not particularly  injurious:  and the same
may said ofthe evening, until  nine or ten o'clock : But
to throw the principal and most severe studies into this
part of the day, is  slow, but effectual suicide : and es-
pecially to spur  up the  mind to  intense action, after
nine o'clock in the evening, is aiming a blow, not on-
ly at health and life, but at all the budding hopes of
 literary distinction.
   Probably no class of men violate these rules so ex-
 tensively  as clergymen.   Their  literary labours  are
                            26* 
302
necessarily very great;  composition being probably
more exhausting than any other kind of study :  and as
the necessity of composition is constantly  recurring,
and other duties are  crowding upon  them, they  are
tempted to defer, as long as may be, the  preparation
of their  sermons.   Too often they  procrastinate  till
evening; whose  stillness  invites to  religious med-
itation; and excited by some interesting train of thought,
or, it may be, by strong green tea, they find the clock
striking eleven, or twelve, or even one, before the ex-
hausted powers demand repose.  Worse than all, such
protracted  mental labours most frequently occupy Fri-
day, or Saturday night, following a day of severe  mental
effort, and preceding the day,  when a laborious  bodily
effort is to  be made  in public.   Now this severity of
study,is the very way to unfit the body for sustaining the
labour of public speaking;  which is trying enough, un-
der the most favourable circumstances; but excessively
prostrating to powers weakened by immoderate men-
tal application.   Can  we wonder, that so many cler-
gymen at this day, are victims  to early prostration, and
almost constant feeble health; if such, or any thing
like this, be their practice : and I fear, that essential-
ly this course, is taken by a majority.  The fact  is, Fri-
day and Saturday, or at least the latter,ought to be devot-
ed by the clergyman,almost entirely, to exercise;  and his
preparation for the Sabbath, should be nearly, or quite
completed, before that time.   Or it  might be better
for him, upon the whole, to  make it his rule, to devote
his forenoons only to study : and the remainder  of each
day, to parochial visits and other bodily exercise :  and
to have  his people understand, that any calls, or visits,
before  dinner, except such as are imperiously neces-
sary, will be regarded as an ungentlemanly intrusion 
303
Such a course, resolutely carried through, would work
wonders  in respect to  the health and usefulness of
those, who minister in holy things.
 As to the precise number of hours, which it is advise-
able to spend in regular study, no definite rule can be
given.  Some constitutions will bear  twice  as  much
confinement  as others,  with the  same health.  And
then again, an increase  of exercise will enable  one
to sustain  a greater amount  of study.  Besides,  the
man who enters his study, thoroughly prepared for his
work, will accomplish more in one hour, than he, who
is unprepared, can  do,  in  four.  So  that no student
can estimate his proficiency by the number of hours
he  devotes to his books.   But each  one  may give
as many hours to  his stud}'  as he can do, after  attend-
ing faithfully to the rules which I have mentioned in
respect to diet and exercise:  provided he finds  his
health remaining firm and  vigorous.   If morbid  feel-
ings beset him, he may be sure  something is wrong,
either in his diet,  or  exercise, or amount  of study ;
and if he can discover the  difficulty no where else, he
must shorten his season  of study, and  increase the
amount of his exercise, until he has found out the prop-
er  medium.
   Literary men have varied exceedingly in the amount
 of  time which they have given to close mental appli-
 cation.   Some could  even  confine themselves from
 twelve to fourteen hours each day ;  others, with fee-
ble constitutions, have found six or eight as much as
 they could endure: And,  says  the  Secretary  of the
 American Education Society, " One  of the most ac-
 tive  and laborious professional  students in America,
 and one who has given to the world as substantial fruits
 of his labours, perhaps as any other man, in proportion 
304
to the time he has been upon the public stage, spends
three hours of the day in close study, and a large  part
of the remainder in  exercise.   But  study, with such
men, is a term of different signification  from  what it
has in the vocabularies of many who call themselves
students.  The  hour comes, and finds them  ready,
like a strong man, to run a race.   The  mind grasps
its  subject, and refuses to quit its hold  till it has gain-
ed  its object."*
   The student ought here, however, to- be  cautioned
against too protracted and intense  application  to one
particular point.  When the mind becomes exceeding-
ly absorbed  in a favorite branch of knowledge; exer-
cise, succession of time, and even the common meals,
are apt  to be forgotten; and the man, in  his reverie,
becomes almost a martyr to his pursuit.   This  was
once the case of the learned physician, Boerhave. Hav-
ing for a few days and nights bestowed intense study
upon one  subject, he fell suddenly into  a  state of ex-
treme lassitude, and  lay for some time in an insensible
and death like condition t  To  avoid such a result, let
no student permit himself to employ the whole of any
one day, much less several days, in exclusive attention
to a particular train of thought.  The  rules  for diet
and exercise, which  I have advanced, if properly at-
tended to, will effectually guard against this evil.  And
in this respect, if no other, the required  attention of
the student to two or more branches of study during the
same day, in most of our literary seminaries, operates
very favourably.
*Quarterly Register of Am. Ed. Soc. vol. 1. p. 58.
[-Manual for Invalids, p. 39. 
305
  Not a few conscientious students exceedingly injure
their constitutions, by confining themselves a certain
length of time to their books, when their health is so
far impaired, that they can neither fix their  attention
upon one point, nor  make any valuable advances in
knowledge. Unwilling to yield in the contest with dys-
pepsy, or ignorant that it has seized them, they strug-
gle for a long time to overcome their morbid feelings
by force ; whereas,  a little yielding to them at first, a
little relaxation from severe application, would effect-
ually remove the difficulty, which is only  aggravated
by an uncompromising resistance ; which,  in the end,
is sure to bring down upon the man a full phial of ven-
geance.
  I do not mean, by  any thing 1 have said, to excuse
the indolent scholar, who would gladly escape all men-
tal labour; not because his mind has  become  jaded
out with  effort, but  because it never learned how to
operate aright, nor is capable of applying itself close-
ly to any thing more than a novel,  or a poem, or the
last Edinburgh and  Quarterly.   Such men  have  my
full  liberty to study, all  night,  and all  day, if they
will.  I have no fears that they will injure themselves.
And if they do, society will not regard  it as an  irre-
parable loss.
  The means of preserving the eyes, is so intimately
connected  with this part  of the subject, and is more-
over, of such vast consequence to the student,  that I
feel desirous of devoting a moment to the subject.
  The natural light  of the day is most favorable  for
the eyes ; as we might expect from the  beneficence
of God.  If our studies,  however, have  a southern
exposure, the light of the sun is apt to be too intense.
A northern exposure is far preferable.   The light en- 
306
tering a north window,  from a summer landscape, is
probably more congenial to the eye than almost any
other degree, either more or less intense.
  Green is the most favorable of all colors for the eye:
and hence the benevolence of God appears in spread-
ing this  color over the  earth's  surface for so large a
portion of the year.   Hence too, the reason that the
painter uses a green palette : and  that screens of this
color, afford so good a  defence to weak eyes in the
evening.    Hence too, the value of green  spectacles.
But here permit me to express the opinion, that many
lose much of the benefit of such glasses, by wearing
them in cloudy weather. For unless the eye be  very
weak, they ought to be  used only when artificial lights
are employed, or when  the  person is exposed to  the
strong light of the sun,  shining in his  strength.    At
other times, they are apt to  strain the sight.
  All artificial light, such as  that of candles, lamps,
gas, &.c. is very trying to the eyes.   Hence  the great
danger of injuring the vision by night study.  Every
person, who  reads much in  the evening, should pro-
vide himself  with a  green silk screen, and if conve-
nient, with green spectacles of a light shade of color.
  Perhaps the worst time for making use of the eyes,
is during twilight.   Nor is  it  well, as soon as the sun
disappears, to shut up our window  blinds and resort
to a candle.   The change  seems to be  too sudden.
Another season peculiarly trying to eyes, in the  least
degree weakened, is before day light in the morning.
  Repeated ablutions of the eyes in cold water, espe-
cially in the morning, are generally of service.   Any
more powerful applications, however,  should be em-
ployed with extreme caution, and not at all, undirected
by a physician:  for an  organ so delicate  as the  eye, 
307
will not endure much  quack doctoring.   If the eyes
begin to fail, the best remedy, usually, is to give them
rest.
  Upon the whole, strict temperance and regularity,
particularly in respect  to sleep,  with exercise  in the
open air, are the grand means of  preserving and re-
storing this most delicate and all important organ : and
when we consider  how extremely sensible is the eye
to injury, and how  carelessly men  use it, we shall ra-
ther wonder that so few fail, than that the instances of
their failure  are not  infrequent.    If,  however, stu-
dents were aware of the inconvenience and suffering,
consequent upon impaired  vision, these cases  would
be far less numerous than they now are.
  Having discussed the essential  principles  relating
to study, I proceed, in  the second place, as proposed,
to say a few words in relation to recreation from study.
I have so often, in these lectures, urged the necessity of
diverting the mind  from intense  thought, by turning
the attention to other objects, and those of a pleasant
and amusing kind, that I need not dwell upon this
point again.  And  I have already alluded  to most of
those amusements and pursuits, proper for the sedenta-
ry, and connected with  exercise.    A few other  means
of recreation, which have  little connection with ex-
ercise, although  powerful in their  influence upon soul
and body,  remain to be noticed in this place.
  In selecting our amusements, we are not at  liberty
to forget, that we are moral and accountable beings  •
and that whether we eat, or drink, or whatsoever  we do,
we are bound to do   all  to the  glory of  God.  Happy,
therefore, is that man,  who finds some branch of active
benevolence, the only amusement  that he needs.—
When the exercise  of benevolence is congenial to the 
                       308

taste, and the student can find a  field  opening before
him, he may be sure, that such  an employment is the
very best recreation he could choose.   For the con-
sciousness of doing good puts the soul into just that
happy state, which is  most favorable to the free play
and security of its frail tenement.
  But it is  not always in every  man's  power, who
chooses it, to find such a pleasant field for benevolent
effort, when  he needs  relaxation from  study.   He
must,  therefore, choose  between those  amusements
which are within his reach.   And here the first  and
most important point is, to make such a  selection as
will be  most favorable  to  virtue:  For  unhappily,
some very popular amusements, either possess in
themselves a positive  tendency  to corruption of mo-
rals, or are so closely associated with excess of some
kind, as  to be dangerous to innocence, however well
fortified by principle.   For example :  the practice of
dancing is in itself a harmless recreation, and salutary
to health; and practised in the  patriarchal simplicity,
in which we  find it in some parts of the  world, the
most rigid moralist  could scarce fin<]  fault with its in-
fluence.  But in most civilized  countries, it is so con-
nected with unseasonable  hours,  the  exhilaration of
wine, spirit,  and tobacco; and  with lasciviousness;
that every  man who respects his own reputation, or
regards the good of society, must resolutely abjure it.
And the same remarks will apply, essentially, to those
various games of chance, which are  so perverted by
avarice and unprincipled harpeyism,  as to prove to
the young enchanted  ground:  whose pits and   quick-
sands they can escape, only by avoiding the spot.
   Among the amusements peculiarly appropriate for
literary men, is what goes by the name of lio-ht read- 
309
 ing.   I include in  this term, all that is  comprised in
 novels,  plays,  poems,  newspapers,  and periodicals.
 Indeed, it may include some branches of philosophy:
 For when a man permits his mind to shift from object
 to object, as it chooses, and just stops to sip a moment
 at the  different fountains it passes, I should call this
 indulging in light reading :  and some minds would be
 drawn to the  retreats of philosophy, or history, more
 strongly than  to the bowers of fiction.   Such reading
 as this, 1 should hardly dignify with the name of study;
 and yet, I fear that  many  professed scholars  are ac-
. quainted with  no other kind.  But to indulge the mind
 of the real scholar, in this discursive rambling, just to
 catch a little  sweet from the flowers of literature, is
 certainly a most  salutary recreation.   True, it does
 not relieve the mind from thought.- but it unbends it,
 and this is all  that health requires :
     "It is not thought—for still the soul's employed—
     'Tis painful thinking that corrodes our clay."
    Of the different kinds of light reading, unquestiona-
 bly novel reading is the most dangerous. .It occupies too
 much time to go through a whole volume  at once ;  and
 to leave it half read, distracts the attention,and renders a
 man uneasy, while engaged  in his regular task of sub-
 stantial study.   These works, also, produce too much
 excitement in  the soul, and  generally in the passions
 too—producing a  morbid sensibility,  unfavorable  to
 strength  and  firmness of intellect.   But I  have  not
 time to discuss this subject.   Let it suffice to say, that
 other kinds of light  reading, exist in such abundant
 variety, and are so attractive, as to preclude all neces-
 sity for resorting to any  species, whose  value and in-
 fluence are at  all questionable.
   Social intercourse is another most important means
                      27 
310
of unbending the  mind, and promoting the  heallti.
How  often an hour's cheerful converse with  friends
or acquaintance, has scattered the darkest clouds of
melancholy, every dyspeptic can testify.  Nor is the
influence of this intercourse hardly less improving to
the mind, than study itself;  although it is  the study
that renders the intercourse profitable.  We are thus
brought into direct contact with other minds, and learn
how the subjects that have engaged  us intently, arc
regarded by  them ;  and some new  views  are  most
commonly elicited  by such a discussion and  compari-
son.  It is literary society, therefore, that is general-
ly most profitable to  the student: and  he has a  fine
opportunity for such intercourse, living in the midst
of so  many companions, whose tastes and pursuits are
congenial to  his own.   We need not wonder, there-
fore,  that  friendships formed   in  this manner," are
among the purest and most enduring in life ;  and that
the student never  afterward?  recollects  his  college
friends, without strong and peculiar emotions.
   The influence of social  intercourse upon, the man-
ners,  is another ofits most  valuable effects.  But here
I confess that students labour under a peculiar difficul-
ty.  For in order that the manners should acquire that
refinement  and delicacy which  is desireable,  virtuous
and respectable female  society is, I believe, indispen-
sable.  Men associating  together alone, will  not con-
duct towards one another with that respect  and suavi-
ty, which  genuine  politeness demands.  There will
be a grossness and  roughness, in their mutual  treat-
ment, which they would not dare to indulge  towards
a refined and respectable female.  True, even this is
better than dandyism;  which shows its  head some-
 times even within  college walls ; and which I would 
311
hot be understood as advocating : for this is the oppo-
site extreme.   It manifests itself in the wasp like fig-
ure—the finical aspect ofthe whole dress and accom-
paniments—the watch  chain—the  breast  pin—the
tasseled cane—the exquisite cut of the hair—and above
all, by the  shallowness of the  soul;  a characteristic,
proving, most conclusively, that this is an exotic, with-
in college  precincts, and  cannot flourish  without a
green house.
   One  other  amusement  only, I shall  notice in this
place.
    '' There is a charm, a power that sways the breast;
    Bids every passion revel or be still;
    Inspires with rage, or all your cares dissolves ;
    Can sooth distraction, and almost despair.
    That power is music.'1-------—
   Cultivated  at  the  proper  season—that  is, at the
close of severe study, to calm  and divert  the  mind ;
and not in  defiance of law  and good breeding, to dis-
turb the stillness of the hours sacred to mental appli-
cation, its effect is most happy.   But its virtues have
been so often  celebrated, that I need only repeat the
poet's panegyric.
      " Music exalts each joy, allays each grief,
      Expels diseases, softens  every pain,
      Subdues the rage of poison and the plague ;
      And hence the wise of ancient days, ador'd
      One power of physic, melody, and song."
   I have now  finished, young gentlemen, according as
I  have been  able, the  system of  Diet, Regimen, and
Employment, which  I proposed to develope.  In con-
clusion, I would occupy your attention a few moments,
in briefly bringing together the most important advan-
tages that  would result to literary men, from its adop-
tion into their practice :  although most of these ad-
vantages  have been incidentally mentioned  in  the
course of my remarks. 
312
   In the first  place, there  is  safety in adopting thk
system.  Many, I know, will feel  that  the  dieteticaf
part, is little short of starvation ;  that the regimen is
severe  drudgery ; and  that  the rules,  as to employ-
ment, are unfavourable to  a  vigorous  prosecution  of
knowledge.   But after all,  is there any  one, who will
contend  that  this system  will shorten life?   Death
is making ravages  all  around us ;  but how seldom
do  physicians tell  us,   that  excessive abstemious-
ness, or too close attention to  regimen, is the cause I
True,  instances have occurred, in  which individuals
have actually  starved themselves; but 999  out of a
thousand, die  of repletion :  yet  the  single case  of
starvation, is more noticed than the multitudes  of an
opposite  character;  simply  because  men  wish  to
prove  to themselves that abstemiousness is dangerous,
that they may not be compelled  to practice it.   In
spite of their  wishes, however, long life and freedom
from disease, are so generally the  rewards of temper-
ance, and regularity in living, that they are unwilling-
ly forced to acknowledge, that safety, if not happiness,
does attend the  adoption of the system for which I
plead.
  Secondly ;  the adoption of this system, by all classes
of the  community, would  free  most countries from
nearly  all their poverty  and grosser crimes.  And for
this reason, that  excess and  extravagance  are the
original source of these  evils, in a  vast majority  of in-
stances.  Three fourths  of the pauperism and crime,
in this country, result from  intemperance in drinking :
and probably  the  largest  moiety  of  the  remainder,
may be set down to  the account  of intemperance in
some other respects.  But in order  that the  lower
classes  in society shall practice rigid temperance, the 
313
example must be set them by the higher classes. And
who so well calculated to take the lead in this matter
as literary men ?
   Thirdly; the thorough adoption of this system would
preserve the life ofthe healthy, and secure them, for the
most part, against acute, as  well as chronic  disease, to
extreme old age.  Here again would I appeal to experi-
ence.  Can there be an instsance produced, in which
persons in good health, have found the practice of tem-
perance to be productive of disease and  early debility;
unless it was pushed to a degree of rigor, for which I
have not  contended ?  On  the contrary, have I not
brought forward a multitude of instances, in  which con-
tinued health, cheerfulness  and happiness, have attend-
ed the practice-of this system of temperance, to ex-
treme old age ?   I have a right, therefore, to con-
clude", that  such would  be its  effects  in every case,
were it faithfully adopted.  That is to say, two ofthe
greatest blessings of this life—health and longevity—
would be  the rich reward  of following out  the system.
   " Some will tell us," says Cornaro, " that old age is
no blessing ;  that when a man is  past seventy, his life
is nothing but weakness, infirmity, and misery.   But I
can assure these gentlemen they are mightily mista-
ken ; and that I  find myself,  old as  I  am, (which is
much beyond what they  speak of,)  to be in  the most
pleasant and  delightful stage of life."
   It is such an old age as Cornaro's, that results from
temperance; and  not  the  "labour and  sorrow," the
fretfulness, melancholy,  and infirmity,  which are the
lot of all  the aged, who,  in any respect, violate the
laws of temperance.
   Thirdly ; the  adoption of this system would cure
most chronic complaints,  particularly nervous  mala-
                         27* 
314
dies, or render  those subject to them more comforta-
ble, prolong even their days, and smooth their passage
to the grave.  Most chronic maladies are brought on
by overworking some  part, or the whole,  of the  sys-
tem.  It is  rational, therefore,  to  conclude, that by
suffering the fatigued organs to rest, as much as  possi-
ble, for a time, they would  probably  recover their
original strength.   Temperance  gives them this rest:
or requires them to labour only  enough to keep the
animal machine in play—demanding no superfluous ef-
fort.  The consequence is, that if the disorder,  under
which a man labours, be curable,  temperance  will
cure it.  And it has cured many, when medical skill
had exhausted its powers.  But  if the  constitution be
too  far reduced, and actual  organic disease  has pro-
ceeded very far, it  may be too late for any thing but
a miracle, to save a man from the grave.  But even
in such a case, rigid temperance will  alleviate the
symptoms, check  the progress of the  complaint, ena-
ble  the powrers of life to hold  out longer, and give  fi-
nally a gentle discharge from life.  Even then, if the
invalid is not sure of  restoration to  health, by the
adoption of this system,  he may confidently calculate
upon most important benefits  from it.   For when  we
feel disease to be triumphing  over nature, how great
a blessing do we deem a respite  of even a few months,
especially if it be accompanied with superior tran-
quillity of mind,  and followed by a release from life,
comparatively easy and peaceful.
  Fourthly;  it follows,  that the adoption of this tem-
perance system, would free men from the largest pro-
portion of those  pains and 'diseases that  now  afflict
them.  For it is the neglect of these rules  that brings
the greater part  of these sufferings upon us.  True, 
315
some causes of disease and pain would remain, were
men  perfectly temperate  and regular: such for in-
stance as some of the unsubdued passions, which tem-
perance  would not restrain; various  unavoidable ac-
cidents, &.c.  But after all, it is intemperance and ir-
regularity  of some kind, that are  the most  prolific
sources of disease  and  suffering.   Few,  indeed, will
believe this: But it is not for want of proof: and who-
ever lives in the millenium, will probably have before
him an ocular demonstration.
   Fifthly;  the adoption of this system would greatly
increase the power of sustaining privations and hard-
ships of  all kinds.  It is not the men  of  full feeding,
and full muscle,  whose whole appearance is  healthy
and vigorous, that can ordinarily sustain  the severest
labours, vicissitudes of weather and climate, hunger,
thirst and nakedness.  The lean Arab will go through
hardships without injury, that would, destroy such a
man.  For such a man's constitution is predisposed to
disease, and will sink under the first shock : whereas,
temperance and coarse fare have hardened the Arab's
system, so  that  disease is almost a  stranger  to  it.
What, but a change in his habits of living,  from excess
and indolence  to rigid temperance  and active  labour,
could  have sustained  Howard so long in his  fearless
exposures to the  filth and  contagion of so many pris-
ons and lazar-rhouses ? " Accustomed," says his  biog-
rapher, " to the most  rigorous temperance,  so as to
discard from his  diet animal food  and fermented li-
quors, he found no difficulty in living in the  poorest
countries :  and he  endured hardships of every kind
without repugnance."  It is this system, incorporated
into all the habits, that can alone preserve the travel-
ler and the missionary, who visit  unhealthy climates, 
316
and are exposed to a thousand privations and  dangers.
If there be  any before  me, who are looking forward
to either of these enterprizes, may I not hope  that
this  fact will make  a deep  impression  upon  them-
They may, indeed, go to foreign lands, unprotected by
the habits 1  am urging them to adopt; but disease and
death will soon  terminate  their usefulness, and  their
lives :  whereas, rigid abstemiousness would have built
up around them  a wall of defence, which might secure
them for a long peiiod.  Let  the young man, who is
not convinced of the truth of these remarks, consult
those medical  writers who have treated  of  this sub-
ject, and he  will no  longer doubt.   Of  all men in
the world, perhaps, the youth  who is training for the
missionary work, needs  to be the most  temperate in
his diet, and  the most attentive to his habits.
   Sixthly ; the adoption of this system would exceed-
ingly increase the ability of sustaining mental labours,
and  give new energy and clearness to the mind. There
is as much difference in the movements of the  mind,
with and without these habits^as there is in  the  mo-
tions ofthe limbs, with and without a heavy load  upon
the  shoulders.   Intemperance, either in food, drink,
or study, oppresses the  mind, as much as such a load
does the body.  Hence  the mental powers work, if I
may so express it, at a great mechanical disadvantage ;
and  the effort soon exhausts.   Whereas, rigid tempe-
rance removes this clog, and the intellect not only op-
erates  with  greater  freedom, but  can  keep in play
much longer without exhaustion.  Hence it is, that the
temperate scholar, although he may want fullness of
muscle, can sustain double the amount of literary la-
bour, that he can, who depends upon stimulating food
and  drink for sustaining his energies. 
317
   Eighthly; rigid temperance is the most  effectual
 check<hext to religion, upon  every inordinate animal
 indulgence.  Excess in eating and drinking and a de-
 ficiency of exercise, are the fuel that feeds every un-
 hallowed  animal appetite and desire.  At  least, witb-
 out this excess,  they would burn only with the gentle
 flame, that warms, while it does not consume the sys-
 tem ; and which spreads no conflagration around.
   Ninthly; the  adoption of this system would cure
 most cases of melancholy, despondency, fretfulness, and
 discontent; and substitute tranquillity and  equanimity
 of mind,  cheerfulness and  contentment.   The  man
 who  is subject  to dejection of mind,  irritability  of
 temper, jealousy, and fickleness,  (and this is the case,
 more or less,  with every dyspeptic,) has only to make
 a  thorough trial of this  system,  in order to have the
 most gratifying  conviction  of the truth of this state-
 ment.  A thorough trial I say: for  many,  who adopt
 it  only in  a very imperfect manner, remain as much
 the slaves, as  ever, to these gloomy feelings.  But he
 who adopts the  plan in earnest,  will be most agreea-
 bly surprised,  to find a  cheerful, contented, equable
 state of mind, succeeding the  contrary one ;  and pro-
 ducing so  much happiness as  amply to repay him for
 all his self-denial, and to strengthen him in the course
 he has begun.
   Tenthly ;  The adoption of  this system  would ope-
 rate most favourably upon the religious affections and
 exercises.   A  severe attack of dyspepsy rarely fails of
being  accompanied by  religious despondency ;  and
very much of  the stupidity, languor, and sluggishness,
of which Christians complain, is merely the effect  of
overloading the digestive powers, and neglecting a due
amount of exercise.  Persuade a man to change bis 
318
habits, to live abstemiously, and to take vigorous exer-
cise, and the cloud will pass away from the mind ; dej
votional exercises will become pleasant and profitable :
lively apprehensions  of divine things  will be experi-
enced ; and :i cheerful hope of the favour of God will
be kindled up  afresh in his  bosom, encouraging him
forward in the path of duty.   He will be surprised at
the change ;  and be convinced that the  melancholy,
and hopelessness, and  stupidity, which he formerly im-
puted to his constitution, and  unavoidable disease, are,
in fact, merely the effects of an excessive and sinful in-
dulgence  of appetite.   And   now  that  his eyes  are
opened on the subject, he  will see, that  to  continue
such indulgencies, will be  doubly criminal.
  This part of the  subject  is extremely important,
and  deserves the solemn consideration of every Chris-
tian.  " Take heed,'''' says their  Master,  " lest  at any
time, your  hearts  be  overcharged with surfeiting  and
drunkenness.   It is your hearts,  remember,  that  are
here described as borne  down, or oppressed, (jtaqww—
gravo—premo,) .by excess.   And if men persist in
thus enslaving their spiritual, to  their animal  nature,
God often does with  them  as he  did to the  ancient
Israelites, who  lusted for flesh ;—he  gave them their
request, but sent leanness into their  souls.
   " Whereas many embrace  a holy and contemplative
life,"  says  Cornaro,  when 95 years old,  " teaching,
and preaching  the great  truths of religion, which is
highly commendable—O that they would likewise be-
tike themselves wholly to  a regular and temperate
life  !  They would then  be considered as saints indeed
upon earth, as  those primitive  Christians were, who
observed so constant  a temperance and lived  so lon«-.
 By  living like them  to  the  age  of one hundred and 
319
twenty, they might make such a proficiency in holi-
ness, and become so dear to God, as to do the great-
est honor and service to the  world ; and  they would
besides enjoy constant health and spirits, and be hap-
py within themselves ; whereas they are  now too of-
ten infirm and melancholy.   In short, if all religious
people  were strictly temperate  and  holy, how glo-
rious  a scene  should  we  then   behold!  such  num-
bers of venerable old men, as should  create surprise.
How  many  blessings might they  shower  upon the
earth !  and not as now,  eating and  drinking so intem-
perately as to  inflame  the blood and excite worldly
passions, pride, ambition, and  concupiscence,  soiling
the  purity of their minds, checking  their growth in
holiness, and in some  unguarded moment, betraying
themselves into sins disgraceful to religion, and ruin-
ous to their  peace for life."*
   Finally ;  the adaption of this system, would greatly
enlarge the  sphere, and prolong the  duration,  of a
man's usefulness and happiness.   It  would lengthen
out his life, and give him greater power to labor dur-
ing all his days.   Thus might he accomplish much
more, in any pursuit in which he should engage.  If
he places his happiness in the accumulation of prop-
erty, or knowledge, or  reputation, or in promoting the
cause of religion,  temperance  would  thus increase
his facilities for the attainment  of his object.   It is,
indeed,  the  grand secret of success in any laudable
pursuit: for a temperate man is always an industrious
man:  and an industrious man, with tolerable health, is
the most happy man ;  especially, if he be engaged in
benevolent efforts.
* Dagget's Cornaro, p. 32. 
i
                       320

  But I need not dwell any longer upon the utilities of
this system.   If those already pointed out, do not in-
fluence my hearers to adopt it, I know of no arguments
that  will  avail.  If they have not resolution enough,
nor religion  enough, to  restrain their inordinate ap-
petites, and conquer their  intemperate  habits,  they
must go on and abide the result.    And what is that ?
Know thou, that for all these things,  God will bring thee
into judgment. 
XS€?Tir&£  XX.
              PART IV.  DYSPEPSY.

 Nervous maladies :  knowledge concerning them impor-
    tant : Their  general  character and  designations.—
    Their Effects:  1. Upon the body ;  2.  Upon the intel-
    lect ; 3.  Upon  the heart;  4, Upon society.  Extent
    to which these maladies prevail.   Conclusion.

    To  cure and  prevent  nervous maladies,  you are
 aware, Gentlemen, has been the grand object I have
 had in view in these Lectures.  Yet I have given no
 regular and distinct account of the nature, or effects,
 of these complaints.   And it seems to  me, that  it
 would leave too  great a chasm in the subject, to close
 without attempting this.  It is not my object, howev-
  er, to do it in  the technical phraseology of the phy-
 sician ; but in such a manner as is best adapted to the
 wants of every intelligent man, who has no profession-
  al acquaintance with medicine.
    I know, indeed, that many regard all attempts to
  enlighten men on this subject, as injurious in their
 tendency.   It Is supposed that  the  effect will be,  to
••lead many to conclude themselves sick, who otherwise
 would never have known it: and such  will set up for
 fashionable invalids, when indolence and indisposition
 to  study, are the amount of the  difficulty.   Hence it
 is  thought better for students to let  medical works
 alone  ; lest they should bring on the  very maladies
  they would  avoid.
    That men, under the  influence of certain forms of
                  28 
322
these complaints, and in certain stages, are liable to en-
tertain exaggerated apprehensions concerning their dis-
order and their danger, I readily admit : but in such a
case, their error lies in a  too  limited acquaintance
with the character of diseases; whereby they are led
to imagine  themselves  afflicted with  those of the
most terrific character.   But more accurate acquaint-
ance  with nervous maladies, will  teach them, that
they mimic almost every other disease ;  though they
are rarely changed into  other disorders, unless long
neglected and aggravated.   Now what advantage can
there be in remaining ignorant of these facts? If ner-
vous complaints in their early stages, can  be readily
and  effectually  conquered,  and in a  more advanced
state are very difficult to be  brought under, can a man
know  too early that they have asaulted him?   Espe-
cially,  if they are to be met and  overcome, not so
much by the physician's emetics, cathartics,  and  ton-
ics, as by diet, regimen, and employment;  is it not im-
portant, that he know how  to distinguish  accurately
their earliest vestiges?
   It appears then, that it is  not knowledge on the sub-
ject of nervous maladies, that is dangerous ; but ignor-
ance,  under the name of knowledge.   If a man, alto-
gether unacquainted with  medical science, plunges,
without a guide, into a pandect of  medicine, and ex-
 pects  to ascertain  what  particular disorder  he is-«
labouring under, by comparing his  nervous feelings
with the symptoms therein described, it  is to be ex-
pected that he will be injured ; simply because he will
 not  know  enough of medicine,  properly to discrimin-
 ate  between so many diseases.  But if dyspepsy alone
 be the object of his examination, and its effect on body
 and  mind be accurately described, there  can surely 
323
be little difficulty in any man's determining whether
he be affected with it;  certainly, if it has really assail-
ed him. And where can be the injury, in letting a man
know his real condition, who is dyspeptical ?  Will it
excite unreasonable  and extravagant fears, and lead
him to suppose his  case much more alarming than it
is ?   This surely cannot be the case, if he acquires a
correct knowledge of  dyspepsy:   For  this will show
him, that this complaint, in  its earlier stages, is mere-
ly a slight derangement of the digestive organs ; which
scarcely deserves the name  of a regular disease :  that
it is by no means dangerous : and that it requires little
else, than attention  to diet and regimen, to  throw it
off: and that  even  if  it continues, it does not usually
endanger life seriously, for  years ; unless it  be aggra-
vated by neglect. He will learn too, that unreasonable
fears, despondency of mind, and dismal  forebodings of
evil, are among the symptoms  of this complaint;  and
hence he will be led to guard against them:  especial-
ly  when he learns that the real nervous invalid is com-
monly less liable to  violent and fatal disorders,  than
those in vigorous health ;  unless  it be after years of
suffering.   In  short, such  knowledge  will  put  his
disorder almost completely in his power;  with  only
 the occasional advice  of a  physician.   And can such
 knowledge as this be  injurious?   Is  it not all impor-
 tant?  Is  not the want of it, the grand reason why
 so many literary men suffer dyspeptic habits to be  in-
 wrought into their constitutions,  before they take any
 effectual means of  resisting them?  Does not every
 such man, when  his  eyes  are at length opened upon
 his true condition, lament most  bitterly that he has
 been kept so long ignorant of his maladies and their
 remedy ;  and feel almost  sure, that  early knowledge 
323
 on the subject, would have been his salvation ?   The
 most able physicians, at the  present day, lament that
 there is such a deficiency of medical knowledge, even
 among educated men. " It is much to be wished," says
 one, " that  men of education and information in our
 country, had  more generally some knowledge of the
 principles of medicine—A general knowledge  of the
 human frame, of physiology  and the animal economy,
 ofthe  obvious phenomena of diseases, and the outlines
 of their principles and treatment, ofthe general rules
 of diet and regimen, both in health and sickness, con-
 stitute some  ofthe most interesting subjects, in  which
 a man  of a philosophical  turn of mind can engage."*
 " On the supposition that hygiene and physiology were
 to constitute, as  they  ought,"  says another, " a  part
 of a liberal,  academic, or collegiate education, less ob-
 jection would apply to the amateur reading of medical
 works."!  "The  time will certainly arrive,"  says a
 third, " when medical  philosophy will form  a very
 important part of general education"—"A  well in-
 formed mind upon the principles of health and disease,
 by a knowledge  of the causes and the  effects of mala-
 dies, will  be certain  to  acquire  considerable power
 over events:  knowledge gives  power and resolution
 also."J
   Nervous maladies belong to an advanced, and  more
 especially, to a luxurious state of  society.   Savages,
 and men whose  lives are  chiefly spent in active pur-
 suits, in the open  air, are rarely troubled with them
in  the slightest degree.   Even  in Europe, they were
little known  150 years ago.   " Sydenham, at the con-

       *Christian Spectator for March 1830, p. 79.
         f Journal of Health. Vol. 1. p. 197.
          t Manual for Invalids, p.  10—47. 
325
elusion of the seventeenth  century, computed fevers
to constitute two thirds of the  diseases of mankind.
But at the beginning of the  nineteenth century, we do
not hesitate to affirm," says Dr. Trotter, " that ner-
vous  disorders  have  now  taken the place of fevers,
and may justly be reckoned two thirds of the whole,
with which civilized society is afflicted."*  But not-
withstanding their  prevalence at this day, physicians
cannot yet  invent a name  for them, which shall con-
vey just notions of their character.   Hence they are
known under a variety of terms.  " Of all these desig-
nations" says Dr. Johnson,  " Indigestion has been the
most hackneyed title, and it is in my opinion, the  most
erroneous.   The very worst forms of the disease, (that
is, certain  cases of hypochondriasis and melancholy,)
forms in which the body is tortured for  years, and the
mind ultimately wrecked, often exhibit no signs of indi-
gestion.—Nearly the same objection lies  against the
term Dyspepsia,  or difficult digestion. The term Hypo-
chondriasis,  conveys no just idea of the nature  ofthe
disease, though a group of some of its  more common
phenomena  is usually understood by that term—Bil-
ious disorder is a term equally vague and equally erro-
neous as the others—Ofthe various other designations,
as spleen, vapours, melancholy,  nervousness, irritabil-
ity, mental despondency, &c. I need only say, that they
are forms or features of a disorder that assumes almost
all forms.    Hence my sagacious friend, Dr. Marshall
Hall, not inaptly applied to  this class, the generic
name Mimoses,  or imitators ;  an appellation which is
very significant, but which, of course, conveys no idea

      *Nervous Temperament, p. 13. Introduction.
           28* 
326
ofthe nature of the malady."*   Dr. Johnson himself,
employs the phrase, Morbid Sensibility of the Stomach
and Bowels,  to designate these complaints.
  Some writers divide nervous  maladies into  seve-
ral  varieties,  distinguished  by some peculiarities  of
symptoms.   Thus,  hypochondriasis is  generally  re-
garded as distinct from dyspepsy :  the latter being the
common form  of indigestion, and characterized by dif-
ficult conversion of food into nourishment.   The hy-
pochondriac, on the other hand, often makes no com-
plaint of difficult  or imperfect digestion : still, he is
affected by  severe nervousness, and  the faculties of
his  mind are much more  powerfully affected, than in
simple dyspepsy ; so as sometimes to  terminate  in in-
sanity, partial  or  universal.   But these-varieties of
the general  disorder, pass into one another by imper-
ceptible shades ;  and are probably in most  cases, de-
pendant on the same cause, viz. " a disordered condi-
tion of the  gastric and intestinal nerves ;  in  which
their  natural  sensibility  is changed,  being  morbidly
acute, morbidly obtuse, (torpid) or perverted."!
  Instead of occopying time in physiological discus-
sions, concerning the  nature of nervous complaints,
my  purpose  is to devote  this lecture to a description
of their  effects upon the body—the intellect—the
heart—and society.
  First, their  effects upon the body.
  Every man, who has ever eaten too  hearty a din-
ner, knows  something of the symptoms of dyspepsy:
for  though such excess be rather a fit of intemperance
than indigestion ;  yet the symptoms are essentially
  * Morbid Sensibility ofthe Stomach and Bowels,  p. 53
       f Do. p. 67. 
327
alike.  A sense of weight,  fullness, and uneasiness, is
felt in the stomach, some  time after eating.  Eructa-
tions of disengaged air take place, often with a sensa-
tion of acidity, or  heartburn.   Sometimes nausea and
chilliness succeed ;  and generally lassitude and drow-
siness come on, accompanied by a considerable degree
of feverish heat.  Sleep, during the subsequent night,
is  disturbed  and unrefreshing; attended by  dream3
and incubus:  and on the following morning, the head
achs, the spirits are  sunk, the nerves are unstrung,
the tongue is furred, and the bowels often disordered.
These symptoms commonly ere long pass away, after
giving a man  a foretaste  of dyspepsy in its  milder
forms:  and  probably  there are few men  among  the
healthy, whose experience cannot testify to the truth
of this statement: for " nine tenths of men  in civili-
zed society," says  an  observing physician, " commit
more or less of this intemperance every day.
   From whatever cause confirmed dyspepsy proceeds,
it creeps  on gradually and insidiously.   Suppose  the
individual  be a student, who is daily in the  habit of
indulging too freely at the table,  or who neglects ap-
propriate exercise, or is  too much  devoted to his
books.  For a season, he  feels only an  occasional, it
may be a daily, recurrence ofthe symptoms I have
described.   But these gradually increase in  severity.
His headachs  are  more frequent and abiding:  his
bowels are generally costive; though when relieved
in this respect, disposed to an opposite condition.   To
remove the constipation, he resorts to drastic medi-
cines ; which, indeed, give relief for a short time, but
not permanently. His strength begins gradually to de-
cline, and he feels an almost unconquerable  disposi- 
328
tion to inaction, especially  after meals.   His counte-
nance assumes a pale, or yellowish aspect; his tongue
is almost constantly furred ; and frequently—particular-
ly in the morning—an unpleasant taste is perceived in
his mouth ; accompanied, it may be, by nausea.  Heart-
burn, flatulence, and colic, are  experienced ; unpleas-
ant dreams, and even nightmare, are not  unfrequent.
Sometimes, partial numbness of some part is felt for a
day or two: he finds it difficult to keep his hands and
feet warm, in the early part ofthe day ; but after din-
ner, a feverish heat oppresses him, with  extreme lan-
guor.  Dizziness, with  noise in the  ears,—nervous
twitchings  of the muscles;  shooting pains in various
parts;  dimness  of  sight: palpitations of the  heart;
emaciation, in a greater or less degree, &c. &c. are no
uncommon sympathetic affections.
   The student, who has such symptoms,  is  an estab-
lished dyspeptic : and he finds that his studies now be-
come irksome,  and  his mind and  his feelings  are af-
fected no  less than his body.  He becomes alarmed ;
tells his tale of sufferings to all whom he  meets ; con-
sults physicians of all sorts ;  and follows every kind  of
prescription, except attention  to diet,  exercise, and
employment.  Pills, tinctures, cordials, bitters, &c. af-
fording a temporary relief, because they alleviate his
symptoms,  are  most diligently  employed;  until, after
a long time, he finds  that  they  aggravate his com-
plaints, though they cure symptoms.   He  is now told,
perhaps, of the  necessity of paying some  attention  to
diet and exercise :  and he begins by discarding some
particular articles  of food:  and taking longer walks.
But as to the quantity of his food, he does  not think  it
will answer to  reduce this much, because his kind 
329
friends  tell him,  that  he must  try  to  keep up  his
strength as much  as  possible, by a good supply of
nourishment:  and this  advice is, moreover, exactly
agreeable  to  his  inclination; since his  appetite, in-
stead of diminishing, has become  much better than
formerly.  It is, however, somewhat capricious ;  and
what seems to agree well  with his stomach  to-day,
disagrees tomorrow; and so he changes from one ar-
ticle to another, at least once a week:  always  impu-
ting the bad effects of his diet to the^kind,  and not to
the  quantity.   For  how can  it be, that he eats too
much, when he feels so faint the greater part of his
time ; and could eat twice as much as he  does.  In
this way, he worries through the term   of study;  cal-
culating upon  vacation, in  which  to recruit himself.
Vacation comes;  and the change of objects, and more
 exercise abroad, and less study, do, indeed, exhilarate
 his spirits, and afford  no small relief.   But his appe-
 tite gains strength, also, and he indulges it freely : and
 when he returns  again to his studies, he lays but little
 restraint upon his palate, having become satisfied that
 the starvation system will  not answer for him; since
 full  feeding has served  him so well during vacation.
 Flesh, fish, and  fowl,  therefore; gravies, sauces, and
 condiments ; butter,  pies,  and cakes, and  it may be,
 wine and brandy, are the grand, anti-dyspeptic, restor-
 ative mixture, which he employs:  and  in one  or two
 weeks, he is  quite as deep in the  mire  as ever. Some
 physician, or friend, now faithfully states to him the
 absolute necessity of rigid attention to diet and exer-
 cise ;  insisting upon it, that he must eat only of one
 dish at a meal, and but a  small quantity of that  dish ;
 and altogether abandon stimulants and  narcotics.
    The dyspeptic has now reached a critical period in 
330
         his course.   If he listen to the voice of conscience,
         which seconds this  advice, and perseveres in a course
         conformed to it, he will, in almost every case, be grad-
         ually, though it may be, very slowly, restored to health
         and happiness.  But if appetite prevail  over reason,
         and he still resolves to indulge the palate ; or if, after
         having commenced a course  of  abstemiousness, he
         grows weary of the self denial,  and not immediately
         deriving from it the benefit he had expected, he gives
         up again to appetite, the reins of self control, then his
         subsequent history will be only that of a melancholy,
         misanthropic, neglected hypochondriac.  It may be,
         that through the kindness  and influence of literary
         friends, he  will be  smuggled into  professional life.
         But it will be only to make a few inefficient, unnoticed
         efforts, producing mortification and disappointment to
         his friends, and drawing from the world, only the ac-
         knowledgment, that he is  an  unfortunate man.  For
         the dyspeptic symptoms I have described, will gradu-
al        ally gain strength, while the  resistance  of his consti-
         tution will become  weaker and  weaker.   Formerly,
         his sufferings were  only occasional: but now, he is
         rarely at  rest.  Although  the essential  symptoms  of
         his complaints remain  nearly  the same,  yet so  many
         changes  are  wrought  upon  them, and  so many new
         pains and morbid  feelings  are continually springing
         up,  as to produce an almost incessant state of alarm ;
         and the apprehension that some  dreadful malady has
         seized him, which will shortly end  his days.  Indeed,
         at this advanced stage  of the complaint, these fears
         are not altogether groundless.  For there is a constant
         tendency in his system to organic disease.   For years
         dyspepsy is  a disorder of function merely :  that  is,
         certain organs do not properly  perform their office ; 
331
although they are merely weakened, but not  oppres-
sed with any actual disease.   But disorder of function
will ultimately  produce  organic disorder:  that is,
some one organ  will be attacked in its structure, and
be actually destroyed, if the  attack  cannot  be repel-
led : and most generally in such a case, life itself will
be destroyed too.  For  the  organs  most liable to be
attacked by long protracted nervous maladies, are the
brain, the heart, and the  lungs; the three grand cen-
tres of life.  The system of the  dyspeptic, when his
disorder has advanced thus far, may  be regarded as  a
besieged place.   To-day the enemy pushes his assault
against  one point; and tomorrow against another; al-
ways selecting the weakest.  Now, all his energies are
brought to bear upon-the heart;  and then appear pal-
pitation, dyspnoea, and other symptoms of angina pec-
toris ; one  of the most  terrible  of all  maladies.  At
another time, he assaults the brain ;  and then  come on
violent   headach, vertigo, and  other premonitions of
delirium, palsy,  and apoplexy.   When  the lungs are
assailed, the cough, the  hectic, and difficult breathing
of consumption, technically  called  " dyspeptic phthi-
sis," succeed.   So long as there is energy enough left
in the constitution to repel  these assaults, the threat-
ening symptoms of the  several diseases gradually dis-
appear.  But worn out at  length by long protracted
resistance  to repeated attacks, some one point gives
way, and speedily the  whole citadel  is in ruins.
   Thus essentially, have many of the noblest  geniuses
and most upright young men, lingered, and  suffered,
and died.  They have  fallen  victims  to their  early
ignorance of their complaints ;  or to their wedded at-
tachment to the indulgence of their  appetites.   Having
lived in perpetual violation of  the laws of nature, the 
332
inevitable retribution has  been terrible.  1 have fol-
lowed out the melancholy history  of its effects upon
the body, until death has closed the scene:   But after
all,  the  mental sufferings and  decay, resulting from
nervous maladies, are of a character still more pain-
ful.   1 proceed
   In the second place, to  give an account of those ef-
fects upon the mind.*
   One of the first marks of superannuation, is a fail-
ure of the memory : and this faculty also, earliest and
most distinctly, manifests the inroads of nervous mala-
dies.   In the latter case, however,  there is a singular
capriciousness of memory, not observable in the for-
mer.   The most impressive  and interesting circum-
stances, which the man supposes indelibly fixed in his
mind, suddenly and strangely pass away, like the mor-
ning cloud;  while those facts and objects, that  are  of
little importance, and disagreeable, seem to be written
on the tablet of the memory, with  a pen of iron, and
the point of a diamond.
   The nervous invalid will, also, early perceive,  that
he is  losing the  power  of attention  and abstraction.
His mind may have been  thoroughly disciplined in the
school of mathematics—of all  means,  the  most  certain
and  effectual, to give  a  man the  mastery over his
thoughts—and yei he will find, that  the Circean rod of
dyspepsy, has  more than counteracted the influence  of
science.   For a time, perhaps, he  may struggle  suc-
cessfully against this erratic  disposition of  mind ; and

  * In some of the subsequent parts ofthese Lectures, free use
bas been made of an Essay on Nervous Maladies,  in the Chris-
tian Spectator for April, Mill.  '1 his cannot be considered ob-
jectionable, if both productions are from the same pen : which
the writer is not disposed to deny. 
333
by increasing the centripetal force, balance, in a meas-
ure, the centrifugal.  But  such  mental efforts only
weaken the corporeal powers still farther, and render
every successive trial, to chain the attention, more ar-
duous.  In this way, that is, by often  repeated  efforts
to force the mind up to the  work of attention and  ab-
straction, has many a man riveted the chains of  dis-
ease upon himself through life, and so prostrated  his
energies, that the mind becomes the sport of every
nervous* feeling.   Was he  a  mathematician ?  The
pursuit must be  abandoned: for  patient  and  fixed
thought are no longer within his power.  Did he  de-
light in  tracing  mental phenomena  to their sources,
and in the  metaphysics of theology ?   His leaden wings
cannot bear him so high, nor guide him aright.
   In this case, however, we find the same  capacious-
ness in the power of attention, as of  memory.  Upon
his own sufferings, and the  evils that hang over him,
the mind of the  nervous invalid  fastens with painful,
and a sort of involuntary intentness.   He  may. force
himself into pleasant society ; or mingle in the bus-
tle of the city;  or range  over the hills and dales of
the country, even  when they are clothed  in  vernal
loveliness ; yet will the mind turn away from all these
alluring objects, and brood,  with morbid interest, over
its own woes, and conjure up a thousand terrific ima-
ges, which, like  so many incubi, sink  the soul  into
the dust.
   Extreme irregularity in  the  mental operations, is
another characteristic effect of nervous  complaints.
Let the nervous man become exhilarated by propitious
occurrences in his temporal  prospects; or by absti-
nence from his usual  inordinate quantity of food; or
by some stimulating,  or narcotic  substance; and his
                   29 
334
intellectual movements will seem to be most clear and
most rapid.  They will resemble, however, the  run-
ning down of a watch, when the balance  wheel is re-
moved; producing no valuable results, but merely ex-
hausting the system.   For if a man examines his men-
tal labours at such a  time, he  will find them incohe-
rent and unsatisfactory :  a few diamonds,  buried amid
loads of chaotic rubbish.
  On the other hand, when the dyspeptic horrors set-
tle down upon a man, after having loaded himself with
food, or drink, or neglected appropriate  exercise,  or
met  with some adverse occurrence, the mental torpor
corresponds to the corporeal;  and he finds it an intol-
erable hardship to spur  up the mind to any successful
effort. He bends over his classics, or his mathematics ;
but all is fog—all is confusion.  Or if a glimpse of
light break into his dungeon, it seems  swallowed  up
by the darkness, and leaves no abiding impression.
  It is the imagination, however, that probably suffers
most from nervous maladies:  though this influence is
not usually so obvious to the  invalid  himself.  For to
him, the distorted and magnified images of fancy, are
undoubted realities: and while others perceive many
of them to be but  " the baseless  fabric  of a vision,"
he  rarely discovers their extravagance.   In the hypo-
chondriac these strange workings of fancy often shoot
out  into the  most monstrous  distortions  ; and in fact,
 constitute  the essence  of his  disorder.   They make
him the butt  of ridicule : and,  indeed, no risibles  but
 his  own, can remain  unmoved, by  the strangeness
 and extravagance of some of his imaginations.  When
 we  see a man (as some  have  done)  firmly believing
 himself made of wax, and dreading, on that account,
 to approach the  fire : or fancying that his bones have 
335
become soft like tallow, and  therefore, not daring to
trust his weight upon them: or pining away through
fear of want, while he is  actually wallowing in opu-
lence : or wilder still, when we see such a man as Si-
mon Browne, writing an  able  defence of revelation,
and yet,  in the dedication of his book  to Queen Eliz-
abeth, declaring with  the utmost sincerity of belief,
and distressing anguish, that " by the immediate hand
of an avenging God, his very thinking substance has
for more than seven years been wasting away, till it
is wholly perished out of him"—when we see such
delusions, we cannot but smile, even  though compas-
sion for  a soul in ruin, would teach us  rather to weep.
But such cases are  the very extravagance of hypo-
chondriacism : or rather, they are decided mental de-
rangement ;  to be pitied,  not ridiculed : and the expe-
rience of most dyspeptics has in it nothing approach-
ing such wildness.  Still, in  probably every case of
these complaints, there is no small play of a morbid
imagination.  The soul, turning away from the lovely
visions which hope would paint  on the  future,  fixes
 her eye alone upon the scenes which  timidity and de-
spondency have drawn with sombre  hues: or as the
 poet says,
     " Fear shakes the pencil -, fancy loves  excess,
     Dark ignorance is lavish of her shades ;
     And these the formidable picture draw."
   If such be the waking visions of the dyspeptic, we
 might calculate that his real dreams would exhibit the
 wildest  riotings of fancy.  And her images in sleep,
 are nearly always disgusting or terrific.  She opens
 the grave, and digs up the  mouldering  and  festering
 dead:  she descends into the world  of despair, and
 plunges her captive  victim into the burning lake : 
336
now she hurries him  over the tumnlfuous waters, or
sinks him choking beneath the dark  waves : anon she
drags him to the brink of the  dizzy precipice,  and
casts him over : now she plants him on the battle field,
and there transfixes him with the bullet, or the sword :
or leaves  him to sink in  an unequal contest with the
solitary murderer,  rushing  from  his ambush.   She
even immures him in prison, and then drags him to
the scaffold, there  to  suffer, with the dreadful con-
sciousness of crimes,  from which, when  awake, his-
soul would shrink with horror.
  If the individual faculties ofthe mind be thus pow-
erfully  affected  by  nervous maladies,  the judgment,
most obviously, will be subject, to a correspondent de-
flection. If sensation  convey erroneous impressions to
the understanding; if memory retain only a partial and
indistinct view of facts; if the power of attention be
partially wrested from the hands of reason ; and a pe-
culiar  obtuseness of intellect be manifested  towards
some objects, and a  morbid acuteness towards others.;
and if the reins be given up to a disordered  imagina-
tion ; what is the judgment, that it should form correct
conclusions, when the guides  to  its decisions, are all
gone out of the way ?   It makes no difference, though
the nervous man's impressions are many of them mere
spectres;  for  to him, they  are realities;  exerting
over him the same influence as if there were no delu-
sion.
  Upon the whole, these mental effects of indigestion,
are the worst part of the  disease.  So long as the in-
tellect remains unshattered, a man can see, with com-
parative composure, his bodily powers gradually yield-
ing to decay.  But to perceive the immortal part los-
ing its energy—the  memory failing—the power of at- 
337
tention and discrimination weakening—the imagination
giving to almost every object a  false  coloring—the
judgment clouded and erratic—in short, the  whole
mind sinking into fatuity—who, but those that  feel it,
can tell the anguish of such  experience  ?  True,  the
invalid may suppose the inroads made  upon his mind
deeper than they are in reality : yet even  the mildest at-
tack  of these complaints,  does influence, weaken, and
confuse,the mind : and sometimes the mental powers do
so symphathize with  the  corporeal, that before death
closes the scene, mere idiocy is all that  remains of a
once  powerful and noble intellect.
   In  the third  place, I  shall  speak of the effects of
nervous  maladies upon the heart;  or the passions and
affections.
   Every man, who has seen a nervous invalid, knows,
that despondency and  melancholy are  elements  of  his
character: for  their gloomy lines  are depicted even
upon  his countenance.  Though he be surrounded and
caressed by all the  kindness  and sympathy   of  the
most  sincere friendship and  affection:  though  exter-
nal prosperity,  peace, and plenty, bear him along upon
their full  unruffled  flood;   and even  though some
cheering intelligence  may have just reached him ; yet
if the fit overtake him, not all these buoyant circum-
stances can keep him from sinking into  the mire;  un-
til the digestion of his too hearty meal be over, or  the
north-easterly,  easterly or southerly wind be succeed-
ed by one from the northwest ; bringing with it a  re-
turn of sunshine, and inducing him to  go abroad to  in-
hale the purified air,  and  to throw  off the morbid and
acrid secretions, that produce his melancholy.   Then
the  cloud  passes also from  his  mind;  and a clear
sky  succeeds,  until some physical or  mental  cause,
                           29* 
338
again involves him in  gloom.   Yet as the disorder
advances, these paroxysms  of despondency  usually
increase in frequency and severity, until often they be-
come settled, hopeless,  melancholy.
   The  deadly influence of such a state of mind upon
the hopes of the invalid, must obviously be very great.
I do not mean that this passion is totally extinguished
in his bosom:  for how then could life be tolerable ?
—but it is so neutralized, as almost to cease to be  a
moving spring of action.  In his ordinary worldly pur-
suits, he goes forward more from necessity, and a sense
of duty, than in the expectation of success.  But if he
be a religious man, his prospects beyond the grave,
stir  up  within  him   a  more  distressing anxiety.
Once, he may have seen some evidence  of personal
piety:  But now,  he can see  in  his heart  nothing
but  unbelief,  murmuring, impatience and stupidity.
Once, he thought himself at least sincere :  but now he
charges  himself with hypocrisy, and with performing
all his religious acts to  be seen of men, or from a self
righteous spirit.  Justly, therefore, does he feel  him-
self given over to a reprobate mind :  and as  he looks
over the sacred record, his eye fastens  with  terrible
self application, upon all those passages  that describe
the  awful doom of one,  who has resisted  the  Spirit of
God, and is living only to fill up the measure of iniqui-
ty.   Among  these  he  classes himself:  nor can you
break the delusion, until you can unlock the iron grasp
 of dyspepsy.
   While the nervous man is thus suffering from des-
 pondency, another  gloomy passion settles, like an in-
 cubus, upon his soul.   It is jealousy.   Disposed by his
 melancholy feelings to  shrink from public inspection,
 when business, or duty, force him into an  intercourse 
                       339

with a bustling and selfish world,  he watches every
word, and almost every look,  with  a strong suspicion
that some insult, or unkindness, is intended against him-
self.   He is  ever fancying that  some one is trying to
injure him, or to insult him, or  to wound his feelings.
The least appearance  of neglect, stirs up within him,
the most bitter, and  the  most desponding feelings :
And especially, if any of his  groundless imaginations
are treated with  ridicule, it sends  home a dagger to
his heart; and  even if his best friends  do not  listen
with sympathizing attention to his oft repeated tale of
suffering, he  judges  them to have become  his  ene-
mies.
   The effect of such a morbid state of mind is to pro-
duce a gloomy misanthropy;  and  to fix strong preju-
dices in the  bosom against individuals.   Those in sta-
tions superior to his own, he  looks upon as oppressive
and unjust in their requirements ;  and his  equals, he
regards as desirous of supplanting him.  If he is coun-
seled, he looks upon it as abuse :   if he  is exhorted to
 rise above his gloom and jealousy, he resents it;  and
 retiring into himself, he broods  with  morbid relish,
 over his feelings, and cries out in  the bitterness of his
 soul;
       " There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart,
       It does not feel for man."
   Excessive timidity is another passion  attending ner-
 vous complaints from their commencement. The mere
 throbbing ofthe temples, or a shooting pain, which the
 healthy man would scarcely feel, will sometimes pro-
 duce such an anxiety in the mind  of the invalid, as to
 make  him fear  that bis last sickness has come :  and
 then his imagination will paint before him, all the ter-
 rors of the  final struggle ;  the agonizing parting of 
                       340

friends;  the failure of sensation; the ravings of delir-
ium ;  the shroud, the funeral,  and the dark  grave.
And still worse,  his hopeless prospects in futurity, will
be arrayed in all their blackness before him, awaken-
ing intolerable forebodings, and realizing  to  him all
the horrors of a hardened sinner's dying hour.
  This is the most common channel in which the fears
ofthe dyspeptic  run.  But when less agitated, and less
oppressed by his disease, he looks no farther than this
world, the prospect is gloomy.  True, his property, his
friends, his reputation, are not yet lost.   But he fan-
cies, that amid the gloom  of the future, he sees the
blow impending, that will, speedily sweep these bles-
sings away.
  It is a curious  fact, that these apprehensions ofthe
nervous man, are more strongly excited by trivial and
fanciful causes of danger, than  by those that are a real
ground of alarm.  And so his  anticipated dangers and
trials are far more dreadful to endure, than those which
are present and  real.  He, whom the slightest  unusu-
al bodily sensation will  make pale with alarm, will
sometimes be  found, patient and resigned, when dis-
ease has actually settled upon some organ, and brought
him upon the bed  of sickness.   He, who lived in per-
petual fear, lest poverty, or sickness, should visit his
friends, or family, will be found, calm and  collected,
witnessing  the  flames devouring  his  habitation, or
watching the sick bed of a dying wife,  or child.   So
powerful magnifiers are distance and obscurity  in fan-
cy's  telescope,  that  the merest mote  in the field  of
view, seems  to  the  mind an  ominous  cloud,  over-
spreading the  whole heavens.
  This timidity, with the attendant melancholy ofthe
nervous invalid, deeply affect his decision, resolution, 
341
and fortitude.  He dare not decide, lest some tremen-
dous consequence  should  ensue,  that would  furnish
ground for long and  unavailing  repentance.   Thus
will he remain, halting between two opinions—one of
the most  painful  conditions in  which a man can be
placed.  And so long as he is under the power of this
indecision and irresolution, whether  in  respect to
temporal or spiritual concerns,  he  must remain, not
only one of  the most inefficient, but most miserable
of men.  For it is vigorous action alone, that can im-
part happiness to the mind, whether engaged in world-
ly, or religious pursuits.
  It is not so  much  real  tangible  evils that  break
down the dyspeptic's fortitude;   but  rather the dark
cloud which he sees  hanging  over  the future ;  the
force of whose thunderbolts, when it bursts, he cannot
predict.  His quickened sensibilities have opened his
eyes wide upon danger; but they have also weakened
his power of withstanding them.  The unfortunate man
seems, like the trembling  aspen, to be shaken by eve-
ry breath ;  and to be ciushed into the dust, like a bruis-
de reed,  unable to rise from his ruins.   Philosophy
may teach him lessons of firmness, and religion  bid
him trust in  the  overruling Providence of God, and
wait calmly the event; but alas, how feeble  is even
religious principle—the mightiest power on earth—in
a soul  that is borne  away by  an excited  sensibility,
an overpowering fear, and a gloomy fancy !  Much that
and goes under the name  of Christian fortitude, would
be found  mere strength of nerves if accurately tested;
much that is censured as weakness of Christian char-
acter, will appear  at last, to be  but the inevitable re-
sult of nervous maladies.  So that, in fact, it would, in
many cases, be more proper to  congratulate the man 
                       342

of resolute fortitude, on the soundness of  his nerves,
than to celebrate the strength of his Christian  char-
acter :  and, on  the other hand, we ought frequently
to pity the man of irresolution and indecision, for the
excessive sensibility of his bodily system, rather than
blame him for want of faith  and  fortitude :  though I
pretend not to say,  that men  are  generally  without
fault in suffering nervous maladies to creep upon them.
   This nervous timidity is seen sometimes to produce
the singular effect, of rendering  a philosopher and a
Christian, somewhat subject to superstitious apprehen-
tions.  His religion and philosophy may both remon-
strate against  regarding unfavourable  dreams, or re"
markable natural appearances, as prognostics of per-
sonal misfortune, sickness, or death ; yet when " he is
all soul within, and all nerve without," his imagination
is sometimes so excited by those occurrences, that he
cannot wholly divest himself of the secret impression,
that he may have been thus  supernaturally warned of
impending calamities.  They will be apt to fasten up-
on his memory, for a long time, and haunt him from
day to day, until he  half believes them divine admoni-
tions :  and sometimes reason is overpowered, and the
man fancies  himself favored, or rather tormented,
with visions and immediate revelations.
   When the fears of the nervous man assume  a relig-
ious character—as  they do  whenever such a  man is
religious—they put on a still more unhappy aspect.
He, who dare not expect any  thing prosperous in this
world, will surely not dare to believe his name to be
written in the Lamb's book of Life.   He, who cannot
confide in any thing future  on earth, will feel a like
 want of faith in  the Divine  Promises, as applied to
 himself.  Thus will his religion partake more of  the 
343
drudging service of slavery, than ofthe  confiding, un-
suspicious confidence ofsonship.
  Irritability of temper,  or  peevishness, is another
characteristic effect of nervous maladies upon the heart.
It is not, however, in the  early stages of these  com-
plaints, that this effect becomes obvious  to the invalid
himself.  But even the man  of phlegmatic tempera-
ment, in whom, when in health, patience and forbear-
ance were scarcely virtues, and who never felt the
need of a guard on this side of his character, after
struggling for years with dyspepsy, finds himself most
imperceptibly  betrayed into a hasty  resentment  of
injuries ;  and when insulted, perceives a counter tu-
mult rising  in his bosom, which is  apt to break forth
upon his adversary.   Nay, he gets ere  long to such a
pass, that he cannot bear to be contradicted when the
irritable fit is upon him ; and he will give vent to his
spleen and ill  humour, in spite of decency and  relig-
ion.   Jealous  in  the extreme, and oppressed  with
gloomy feelings, not  even his  best friends can escape
 the discharge of his  ungoverned  temper:  much less
 can others escape ;  and even the  poor  domestic ani-
 mals, and inanimate objects around him, feel the fury
 ofthe storm.   Misanthropic  and dejected, he murmurs
 at  the allotments of Providence ;  considers  himself
 maltreated by nearly all his fellow men ;  and cen-
 sures, with great severity, the  failings of his brethren :
 while any  marks  of superiority  in a  neighbour,  or
 companion, awaken  bitter envy in his  heart.   True,
 when the irritable paroxysm passes by, he has some
 sense of the entire contrariety between his feelings,
 and those which religion inspires  ;  and he repents of
 his wickedness: but ere he  is  aware of it, again is he
 overcome by the same temptations, and manifests the 
                        344

  same unlovely disposition.   This lays the  foundation
  for still more bitter repentance;  so that he is render-
  ed,  not only a  most uncomfortable  companion,  but
  most burdensome to himself.
    This capriciousness and irregularity in the nervous
  man's  feelings, are  not only very characteristic, but
  in general, most  unaccountable to himself.   One hour,
  or one  day, his whole soul may be calm ;  his feelings
  unruffled and cheerful ;  while  the very next hour, or
  day, without the  least change, as he can perceive, in
  his external condition, or that  of his health, he finds
  himself borne down  by melancholy and jealousy, and
  unable to bear the slightest trial of his temper, with-
  out exhibiting a high degree of irritation and fretful-
 ness.  Such a sudden transformation of soul, is entire-
 ly inexplicable to most nervous invalids: while those
 in health are hence led  to conclude that these parox-
 ysms of bad and  anomalous feelings, result from  no
 physical cause, but 'are merely  unnecessary and sinful
 aberrations of mind;  to be cured  by moral means.
 But the  fact is, these mental phenomena are almost in
 every case, the  result of a  fit of indigestion—Too
 much food; or of a bad  kind;   or too many sorts;  or
 not sufficient exercise has been taken;  and  although
 the excess has not been  great enough  to produce any
 sensible  disorder in the  body, the irritation it produ-
 ces in the nerves, powerfully affects the more deli-
 cate organization of the  mind.  " There is no effect
 of indigestion more common," says Dr. Johnson, "than
 dejection of mind,  when  no corporeal  inconvenience
 appears to follow—The mental despondency (in hypo-
 chondriacs) is invariably dependent on some disorder of
 the body, and in nine cases out often, it is immediate-
ly dependent  on  a morbid  or irritable state ofthe 
345
nerves ofthe stomach  and  bowels.   Of the truth of
this I have had such multiplied proof, that  not a doubt
remains on my mind respecting it.   It is as useless to
attempt the  removal  of this mental despondency by
moral means, or mere persuasion, as to remove a fever
or an inflammation by argument.  The attempt, indeed
betrays a great ignorance of the  real  nature  of the
complaint?"*  I have already mentioned in a former
lecture, the case ofthe hypochondriac, who exhibited
these mental paroxysms regularly every other day, be-
cause he  could  not  be  prevented from  eating  and
drinking to excess every other day.  And Dr. Johnson
says, " I have known many instances where  individuals,
having this morbid sensibility of the gastro-intestinal
nerves, experienced, after eating certain articles of dif-
ficult digestion, such a  state of iiritability  of temper,
that they were conscious  ofthe  danger they ran, by
the slightest  collision or contradiction  from even  the
nearest relations ; and therefore, avoided  society till
the fit went off.   One gentleman in  this state always
caused his servants to tie his two hands together,  lest
in the paroxysm of irritation (without any  observable
cause) he should cut his throat  or otherwise  commit
suicide."t
  If any who hear me,  are subject to occasional dejec-
tion of mind, and irritability of temper, with more or
less of those  other effects  on the mind, which 1  have
described, as resulting from  indigestion; 1 would  ask
them, in the first place, whether they are not  usually
most free from suffering of body  and mind, just before
bed time ?  If so, the reason certainly is, that then the

  ♦ Observations on the Disease  &c, of Invalids from Hot Cli-
mates.—p.  16.
          tMorbid Sensibility, &c, p. 106.
                  30 
346
food they have eaten during the day,  is digested ;  and
consequently irritation is removed from the stomach and
bowels.   Again,  if you  eat  a  late and  hearty supper,
are you  not subject the next  forenoon, to  dejection of
mind,  irritability of temper,  and obtuseness of appre-
hension ?  If so; do not these  effects evidently  flow
from excess in eating?  Once more; are you not more
likely  to be melancholy, fretful, and incapable of study,
Monday  forenoon, than any other day ofthe week? If
so; how can you doubt  that it is owing to your having
indulged your appetite too freely on the Sabbath, while
you had  less of exercise ?
   My object in putting these  enquiries to the dyspep-
tic, is, to show him,  first, that in  most cases, it is in
his power in  a great  measure, to get  rid  of melan-
choly,  jealousy, a fretful  temper, languor and im-
becility of  mind,  and  stupidity,  simply  by   avoid-
ing their  most common  cause,  which   is,   excess
in eating, or drinking.   Let him, for  instance, great-
ly reduce his  diet  on  the Sabbath, and  see  wheth-
er his Mondays will be days of gloom, irascibility, and
incapacity for study.   And if he finds that  a reduction
of his food does produce such an  effect, then I  would
say to  him, in  the second place, that his mental dejec-
tion, irritation,  weakness,  &c,  are highly criminal.
Dyspeptic as he is, he can  in a great measure over-
come these hateful feelings, and that imbecility  of mind
which  so unfit him for  study, and for duty  of any kind.
God, therefore, will  not hold  him guiltless, if he does
not so  restrain his appetite as to do this.   His sin does
not lie so rnuehin the feelings themselves ; as in their
cause ; for when the  stomach  and bowels are overload-
ed with food, such  a state of feeling can no more  be
prevented, than a tooth ache  : but a man,  even if he
be a dyspeptic, can eat less :  and  this will ordinarily 
347
preserve him in a pleasant state of mind and heart.  If
he will not do this, if he will not do it thoroughly,  he
ought to  receive no  sympathy,  when he pours  his
tale  of  sufferings, as  the  nervous are apt to do, into
the ear  of friendship.  For he  is  wilfully  sinning
against his body and soul, and against God.  He will
not restrain a mere bodily appetite, although it would
immensely increase his power of doing good, and  ad-
vancing in knowledge and virtue.  Why then is  he
not as guilty, as any other man, who is a slave to bodi-
ly appetites ?
   A striking trait in the character of  eminent literary
men, has usually been, a peculiar irritability of temper.
It is well known that the ancients described an irritcv-
bile genus vatum: and  it has  been the practice of mo-
dern writers, to  dignify this unlovely trait of charac-
 ter, with the phrase,  Irritability of Genius ;  and to re-
gard it as a necessary accompaniment of a great mind.
 But I apprehend, that  in most  cases  the least unfa-
 vourable account of  the  matter, which justice  can
 give, is, to impute it to dyspepsy : since few literary
 men, given to close  habits of study, escape this com-
 plaint entirely.  And if the irascibility of dyspepsy, is,
 in most cases, criminal, because the result of exces-
 sive eating or drinking, so probably is the " irritability
 of genius."  Cicero, indeed, by a  dexterous use of
 words, attempts to show that this trait of character  is
 usually to  be imputed to  goodness.  Irritabiles  esse
 animos optimorum saepe virorum, eosdemque placab-
 iles; et  esse hanc  agilitatem  mollitiemque  naturae
 pler'umque bonitati tribuendam.  It would come nearer
 the  truth, I apprehend, to say, Plerumque  dyspepsiae
  et voracitati tribuendam. 
                      348

  I proceed, in the fourth place, to point out the ef-
fect of nervous maiadies  upon society.
  Societies and nations will be  distinguished  by the
aggregate character ofthe individuals composing them.
Just so  far, then, as nervous complaints prevail in so-
ciety, they will modify the characteristics of the mass.
We have only, therefore, to suppose a community, in
which the influence of these  complaints is so great as
to modify its  character,  and  then  infer their effects
upon  the whole, from their effects upon individuals.
  1. Their effects will be obvious upon  the physical
character of  a community.   Much as  the nervous
have  to do with imaginary sufferings, they are by no
means free from  real  bodily infirmity.  Though the
deterioration of strength and  vigor be slow, yet who,
that has seen the  emaciated  frame,  and torpid move-
ments ofthe dyspeptic, can doubt that the constitution
is wearing down ; and every physical energy gradually
sinking to decay ? Suppose now,  that these complaints
should so infect society, that its  army  and  navy must
be recruited from nervous  invalids ; and its manufac-
tures, commerce, mechanic arts,  and agriculture, must
depend upon such men to carry them on.  How could
such soldiers and sailors stand a  moment against men
of undiminished bodily power,  and  of courage un-
daunted by imaginary  dangers.  Nay, how inefficiently
must  even the common pursuits of society be conduct-
ed,  by men of such withered muscle  and  irresolute
souls? Let the officers of government, in the legisla-
tive, executive, and judiciary departments, be nervous
invalids, characterized by their fickleness, irascibility^
jealousy, and despondency, and who would wish to be
among the governed ? 
349
  The pages of history give us abundant  examples,
illustrative of these suggestions.  For  no  nation be-
comes  rich  and prosperous, without becoming also
luxurious and debilitated.  Now this luxury, intem-
perance in food, and drink, and living,  infallibly pro-
duce nervous complaints, and  these work a  gradual
change in the character of a people : For such com-
plaints are hereditary ;  or at least debilitate the con-
stitution, and predispose  to dyspepsy and  bilious  at-
tacks.  Energy of body and mind ; the  power of en-
during hardships ;  and fortitude that braves   difficul-
ties, disappear  before these diseases :  Hence it was
that Rome,  luxurious,  enervated, dyspeptic  Rome,
sunk an easy prey before the brawny arm of the Goth
and the Vandal.   Compare Italy at that  time,  or Italy
now, with what she was in the early days of Roman
glory,  and you  see the genuine  influence  of these
maladies,  operating through   centuries.   There  is
scarcely  any nation, indeed, of long duration, whose
character does not exhibit  more or  less of this same
influence.  Even England,  roused to effort, as  she has
been, by so many causes; and  cultivated as she now
is, in intellect, in arts, and refinement, presents, in the
sterner features of her character,  an alarming con-
trast between the eupeptic days of Elizabeth, and the
dyspeptic times of George  the  Fourth.   Nor  can the
observing eye fail to perceive in this country, the
same debilitating causes powerfully at work,  when  it
compares  the habits, manners, and constitutions of our
fathers with our own.
  2. Nervous complaints will unfavourably affect the
enterprise of society.  The irresolution  and heartless-
ness which they produce in individuals, cannot but
extend to  the community :  Because  those individuals
           30* 
350
compose the community.   And we cannot expect that
they will exhibit ardor and perseverance in public en-
terprizes, when even self interest, one  of  the  most
powerful  of impulses, cannot spur them up to the
work, in their own behalf.  Accordingly we find, that
the periods in the history  of nations and particular so-
cieties,  which  exhibit the  most noble  and daring
achievements, and the most useful public enterprizes,
are commonly previous to the time of their greatest
external prosperity.   Splendid baths, and mausoleums,
and monumental pillars, and arches, may, indeed, spring
up at the command of imperial or lordly pride, in de-
generate times.  But when is it that commerce pushes
her adventures into the farthest seas; that agriculture
encroaches most successfully upon the forest; that the
most useful canals, and roads, and other  means  of in-
tercommunication  are constructed ?  When  are  insti-
tutions  of learning and benevolence  most successfully
and  numerously founded? Before a nation or society
has  reached the acme of its prosperity, I  reply:  for
when this point is passed, what shall we  eat, and what
shall we drink; where shall we   find any new sensual
pleasure? these are  the  all-absorbing inquiries; and
the  consequence is,  imbecility and irresolution, both
of body and mind.
   3. These maladies injuriously affect the stability  of
•society.  They are characterised by a sensibility, ei-
ther morbidly acute, or morbidly obtuse, strongly and
irregularly excited.  Hence those under their  influ-
ence act  more from  feeling, (and that too often of an
unhealthy character,) than from sober  judgment. Con-
 sequently, they are liable to counter  feelings,  which
 erelong lead  them to new and opposite conclusions.
 To-day, a nervous community, under the influence  of 
351
Strong irritation, may adopt measures  which  are ex-
ceedingly imprudent; and thus involve themselves in
suffering.   This brings on  melancholy:  which will
make them feel that alJ is  lost;  and they will refuse
to act at all, when a little vigor in action would free
them from impending evils.  Again, jealousy, or strong
prejudices, for or against  individuals,  high in office,
may draw forth, either immoderate  praise,  or scurri-
lous abuse.  In short, a society leavened by  dyspepsy,
will exhibit so much  of fickleness, so much of irreso-
lution, so much of rashness  and extravagance, that lit-
tle calculation can be made upon  their  opinions,  or
their conduct.  Every new gust  of  passion will swell
the surface of the public mind into tumultuous waves ;
and every ebbing tide of feeling  will drain away even
its vital flood.
   4.  These maladies exert no small  influence upon
the literature of society.   They tend to make it su-
perficial.   Such is  the usual effect of feeble health
generally, upon individual  scholarship: for such a
person cannot sustiin the  protracted  labours that  are
necessary to enable one to drink deep  ofthe Castalian
fount.  The alternative  with  such an one, is,  often,
whether  he shall just sip  the waters, as  he hastily
passes, or leave  them  altogether untouched.   Multi-
ply such individuals in the community, and you create
a kind of necessity for superficial literature.  Writers
must be superficial, because  they cannot endure the
physical effort which profound investigation demands:
and readers will prefer superficial works, because they
are too  dyspeptical  to endure the labour of long and
patient thought.   We are not,  therefore,  to  impute
the innundation ofthe literary world, in modern times,
by light reading, so much to a defect in our systems of 
352
education, as to  the  creation of a  host of superficial
writers and readers by nervous maladies.
  The same cause imparts to literature a morbid sen-
sibility, and creates a demand for it.  If a scholar be
of a melancholy temperament, a sombre hue will be
imparted to his pages :  If he be choleric,  his spleen
will discharge itself  from his pen:   If he be jealous,
his imagination will delight in conjuring up dark plots,
and schemes of blood and suffering, that have no like-
ness in real  life.   And since these passions usually
reign in the bilious  man's bosom, it were folly to ex-
pect that his writings should be free from  them.  Nay,
we should expect that the gall, and the hemlock, and
the wormwood, and the  vinegar, would  be mixed to-
gether on his pages.    Such  a mixture would not, in-
deed, be very palatable to healthy appetites.  But ner-
vous ailments produce  a morbid  appetite in the mind,
as well as in the body :  and hence, such disgusting
mixtures are greedily devoured.   In short,  the  dys-
peptic writer is apt to  find  a dyspeptic community to
 relish his productions.
   If the history, ofthe  prevalent literature ofthe  day,
does not illustrate this view ofthe subject,  then am I
greatly mistaken.   True,  we  have profound  works
upon science, issuing at this day  from the press :  Yet
they are not the productions of dyspeptics ;  but ofthe
few of strong intellects, that are not crushed by the
power ofthe monster. The great mass ofthe common lit-
erature of the day however,—our romances, and plays,
and poems, exhibit more or less of the morbid sensibil-
ity of weakened nerves.  And if there were not a pre-
ternatural excitement pervading the community, re-
sulting from excess of  various kinds,  they would not
devour so greedily   as they do,  these unhealthy  pro- 
353
ductions.  But when we see with what a ravenous ap-
petite, the concentrated mixtures  of  every  vile  and
murderous passion, which a great  and noble poet of
modern times, so often vomited forth  upon the com-
munity, were devoured and relished, can we  doubt the
wide spread and pernicious influence of nervous de-
rangement, through luxury, excess, and indolence  ?
  5. These same causes exert  an  unhappy  influence
upon  the religion of a community.  I mean  they give
to it a peculiarity of character, that is unfavourable to
devoted personal piety, and to the  progress ofthe Re-
deemer's Kingdom  among men.   The  timidity,  des-
pondency, and hopelessness of the  nervous  man,  are
not limited  to earthly objects ;   but take hold, with a
stronger power upon his eternal interests.  Hence he
lives,  not like  a freeman and a son;  but like a slave
beneath the throne.  Fear, and not hope, seems to be
the inspiring motive of his actions.  And a similar ti-
midity and want of resolute  action, and confidence of
success, are seen in the religion of a  community,  that
is much affected by dyspeptic  complaints.   There is
exhibited a hesitation, a wavering, a  fickleness, in the
religious aspect of such a society, that very much  neu-
tralizes the influence of its example.
   Now I greatly mistake the aspect of these times, if
it does not demand a very different  character in the
religious  community.   The elements  of society are
wakened into a feverish  excitement  on almost every
subject: among others, opposition to  religion exhibits
such  a character.  Nor  is it  to be  successfully  met
and encountered, by the puny arm, and shrinking sen-
sibility, of dyspepsy.   It needs the resolution, the as-
sured faith, and  the energetic action, of our Pilgrim
Fathers.   And then again, what but  the  strong  arm, 
354
and  the  resolute courage, and  unwavering faith, of
men, sustained by eupepsy,  as  well as the  grace  of
God, can urge forward, into the dark  and  untrodden
fields of spiritual death, the mighty wheels of benev-
olence that are in  motion ?  And as to the  men, who
go forth as missionaries into these fields of danger and
death, what can dyspeptics  do  there, with all  their
despondency, timidity,  and irresolution  ?
       Non tali auxilio,  nee defensoribus istis
       Tempus eget.
  True,  they can go to the field:  but  it will be only
to fall, prematurely,  victims to the  climate, or  ex-
cess  in  diet, or cares and  labours too mighty  for.
their enfeebled frames.  They  were  eupeptics, who
carried the  Gospel  over the  earth,  in   primitive
times. They were eupeptics, who, in modern times,
have successfully  engaged in the  same work;  and
they must be eupeptics, who  are to bring on the mil-
lenium.
  Such are  the  deadly influences  of  nervous mala-
dies upon the corporeal, the intellectual, and the mor-
al powers ; and upon the character of society.  I have
only  sketched some of the  outlines  of the picture.
But  the  filling up  would  afford  no alleviation to  its
gloomy lines.  Nor is  it a picture  ofthe imagination.
At this very day, these maladies are  exerting a wither-
ing influence;, not only upon individuals, but  upon  na-
tions.  We have the testimony ofthe ablest  physicians
as to their influence in Great Britian :  and though it is
to be hoped,  that our country, as a  whole,  is not  yet
equally under their  power;  yet  we  are  advancing
with the most rapid strides, to the same state ;  and
therefore, we have in  her condition,  an example  of
what we  shall shortly be, and are now almost become. 
355
Thirty years ago, as we have seen, "Dr. Trotter de-
clared that two thirds of the diseases  in  society, (in
England  of course)  were  nervous.   More recently,
Dr. Johnson declares, that  " what with ennui,  and dis-
sipation in the  higher ranks—anxiety of mind arising
from business, in the middling classes—and poverty,
bad air, bad drink, and  bad occupations,  among the
lower classes, there  is  scarcely an individual in this
band of liberty and prosperity—in this  kingdom  of
ships, colonies and commerce,  who does not  experi-
ence more or less of the "  English malady"—that is to
say, a preternaturally irritable state ofthe nervous sys-
tem,connected with, or dependent on, morbid sensibility
ofthe stomach and bowels."   To the older and more
thickly  settled  parts of our country, this description
would probably apply without alteration.   Indeed, we
may justly regard nervous  maladies as already a formi-
dable national evil.   And the leaven is spreading wi-
der and  wider; and by its fermentation, is  secretly
heaving up the foundations of society.  The  ravages
of these complaints will always go hand in hand with
luxury, intemperance, and excess of every kind.  Prob-
ably no class ofthe community, however, are so close-
ly beset by them, as literary men.  The church of God
deeply feels their inroads,  in prostrating the energies,
and prematurely destroying the usefulness, of  multi-
tudes of her most valuable and able ministers.  They
lurk too,  around our Theological Seminaries,  our Col-
leges, and preparatory schools ; and seize as  victims^
many ofthe most devoted  and able youth, who had
consecrated themselves to  Christ and the  church.   In-
deed, scarcely any real scholar escapes altogether their
withering touch.
   Can there be any doubt  as to the  causes that pro- 
356
 duce this mighty evil ? It is intemperance in some of
 its  hydra forms—excess  in eating,  or drinking, or
 study, or the indulgence of other  consuming passions
 and appetites, or a neglect of exercise, and the other
 requisitions  of  appropriate healthy  regimen.   And
 when we reflect on the almost universal prevalence of
 these excesses and abuses, we are  led rather to won-
 der that nervous complaints  are not  more prevalent
 and obstinate, than that so many are their victims.
   Nor can there be any more doubt, as to the  means
 which can alone arrest their progress.   It is the adop-
 tion of temperance in all its branches ; temperance in
 eating, temperance in drinking, temperance in regi-
 men, and  temperance  in  employment.   This  is  the
 sole and the  sovereign antidote,  which God has given
 for stopping this  desolation.   Men, therefore,  have
 their choice; to suffer the  evil to continue  its  in-
 nundating  march,  or  to raise up  this  mound against
 it.   There  must be a great change in  the present
 habits  of society, even among those who are consid-
 ered temperate,  or dyspepsy will continue its ravages,
 and multiply  its victims.
  Firmly convinced of the deadly  influence and wide
 extent of this  Protean malady;  and  that  no  other
 means, but decided,  thorough, universal temperance,
 can ever retard its progress ; and perceiving the deep
 slumber  of the public mind on the subject, while the
 interests of learning, humanity, and religion are tram-
 pled upon and crushed under the  tread  of this  de-
stroyer, I have been induced to  come  forward,  and
publicly lift up my voice,  to warn  the literary  youth
of his danger.   I thank God that he has  given me
strength to finish my  testimony.   I am aware indeed,
that carrying, as I do, the marks  of dyspepsy  in  an 
357
emaciated frame and a debilitated aspect, the proverb
will be in almost every mouth, ' Physician, heal thy-
self.'  If the  system of diet, regimen, and  employ-
ment, which you urge so zealously, as the grand pan-
acea,  cannot  restore your  own system to a healthy
state,  how can you  expect others to believe in its
mighty efficacy ?
  It is not pleasant, thus  publicly to recur so often
to one's private trials and feelings, as  1 have done, in
these  lectures.  But in the present case,  I  am  bound
to answer a few words.  Permit me then, to say, that
in order to  estimate correctly  the difficulties against
which I have  to contend in this matter, it ought to be
considered, first,that it is not the work of a month mere-
ly, nor of a year,  to restore to health and vigor, a con-
stitution, which, like mine, has been for some  twenty
years  sinking  lower and  lower,  under the power of
dyspepsy—Secondly, although I had for yeais suppos-
ed myself attending to  diet and regimen, yet  it  has
been only a comparatively short  period, in  which 1
have even attempted to adopt the system which I have
recommended in these lectures.   I formerly selected
certain articles of diet, which were of easy digestion,
and adhered to their use;  but defeated all the good ef-
fects by eating too much ; and especially, by not mak-
ing out my entire meal from  a single dish:  and into
these errors I fell, through ignorance ofthe true system
of dietin°\  The same cause led me into similar errors
in respect to regimen and employment.  And, indeed,
there  is scarcely  a rule in this  whole  system, which I
have  been enforcing, whose importance 1 have  not
learned by experiencing the bitter effects of its  viola-
tion ;  and, therefore, I can  say  to any, who  are only
partially adopting it for their guide, that they  willcer-
                  31 
                       358

tainly fail of deriving from it any important benefits,
In the third place, I must confess with shame, that even
since 1 have known the proper course for me to fol-
low, 1 have too often found an inordinate  appetite,  or
indolence,  conquering  the  firmest resolutions;  and
thus, in a great measure, counteracting the good effects
of temperance and exercise.  Finally, it  ought to  be
recollected, that nervous  complaints,  long continued
and aggravated, do, at length, become organic, and be-
yond the power, not only of diet and  regimen, but of
every other means of cure.  That such is my case, I
neither assert nor deny.   I would cheerfully leave the
event, with God.   If he  has  more labour for me  to
perform in this world, he  will give me  strength.   If
not, all  1 would pray for, is, a  quiet and cheerful sub-
mission to his will,  and a peaceful exit from this try-
ing scene.
   But notwithstanding all these unfavourable  circum-
stances, I can most conscientiously testify, that just so
far as I  have faithfully  adopted the system,  which I
have been advocating, I have never failed of realizing
from it, the most happy effects, fully corresponding to
my expectations.  Indeed, after so many  years of al-
most unalleviated suffering, I cau hardly speak, without
enthusiasm^ ofthe influence of this system on the body,
the mind, and the heart.   To mention a  single exam-
ple : the preparation of these lectures, in the space of
a few months, in addition to my usual  professional  du-
ties, small as the. labour may seem to a  man  of vigo-
rous health, especially when so  imperfectly  perform-
ed ;  has nevertheless, so  exceeded  my  powers  for
many years past, as to  excite my  surprise and grati-
tude :  for it has been solely the result of attention  to
diet, exercise, and employment:  and  at a season ofthe 
359
year too, when my system has to struggle the hardest
with the inclemencies and vicissitudes of our climate.
   Finally ; it may be that Providence has thus brought
me before you, a living example of the nature and
desolating influence  of dyspepsy, that  you might be
roused to flee  from  the destroyer, before his  cords
shall be  bound  around you  loo  firmly to be  severed.
If I can not tell  you of health  restored by  diet and
regimen, I  can testify  of the personal, bodily, and
mental' sufferings,  that  accompany  this  complaint.
And should any of you struggle  for two or three de-
cades of years against it, you will then regard Cheyne's
description of these  sufferings,  extravagant as it may
now seem, as not overdrawn. "Of all the miseries that
afflict human life," says he,  " and relate principally to
the body in this valley of tears, I think nervous dis-
orders, in their extreme  and last degrees, are the most
deplorable, and beyond all comparison the worst.   It
was the observation of a learned and judicious physi-
cian, that he had seen persons  labouring under the
most exquisite  pains of gout,  stone, colic, cancer, and
all other distresses that tear the human frame; yet  he
had observed them all willing-to  prolong their wretch-
ed being, and scarce any ready to lay down cheerfully
the load  of clay, but such as laboured under a constant
internal anxiety,  meaning  those  sinking, suffocating,
and strangling nervous disorders.   It is truly the only
misery, almost,  to  be dreaded  and avoided in life.
Though other evils be burthens, yet an  erected spirit
may bear them ;  but when the  supports are fallen,
and cover the  man with their ruins, the desolation is
perfect."
  May no one, who hears  me, ever  know from his
own experience, the truth of this appalling description. 
360
May no one be compelled, after twenty or thirty years
contest with dyspepsy, to look back, and see the lop-
ped-aff fragments of himself, strewed over the field of
combat.  O,   such  experience has  all  of death in it,
but the last pang.  Nay, it is death protracted, repeat-
ed* multiplied, concentrated.  But I rejoice in the be-
lief,  that none of the members of this Institution are
acquainted  with these bottomless gulfs of dyspepsy.
I rejoice, that even though some of you may have felt
the sting of some of his spent arrows, you all as yet
occupy  vantage ground comparatively  high.  O gird
on, I  beseech you, the  panoply of temperance,  and
maintain your post.   Long after I shall be sleeping in
the grave, may the next generation see you vigorous,
healthy, and happy,  moving in extensive  spheres of
usefulness, and  leaving at your departure, the  light
and warmth of a lovely example,  to  kindle up  other
fires in future times. 
 
BRARY OF MEDICINE     NATIONAL  LIBRARY OF MEDICINE


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