HARPER'S
FAftUIiY   LIBRARY,
           N*. T XXI.
  .  CIPLES OF PHYSIOLOGY
          APPLIED TO Till
  PRESERVATION OF HEALTH,
      1ND TO TtlK IMPROVEMENT f'
:   c 1CAL and men; .;   L'^/.T^V.

     B"V ANDREW COMBE, M :-
  ■*


HARPER «  BRCTr'FnK, 82 CLIVJ'-»r.
          Stereotype Kd.U^n. 
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ARMY  MEDICAL LIBRARY

         WASHINGTON

             Founded 1886
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 Section
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Number jZ.J>...A^..J}_.3^_.
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            Fobm 113c. W. D.. S. G. O.
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[■■ 
THE
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Principles of physiology
            APPLIED TO THE



    PRESERVATION  OF HEALTH,


        AND TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF


PHYSICAL AND  MENTAL EDUCATION.




      BY ANDREW COMBE,  M.D.,

   PHYSICIAN EXTRAORDINARY TO THE QUEEN IN SCOTLAND,
               AND
CONSULTING PHYSICIAN TO THE E3NO AND QUEEN OF THE BELGIANS,


         WITH SIX WOODCUTS.   »



  FROM THE SEVENTH EDINBURGH EDITION.





            NEW-YORK:

   PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS,
         NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET.
 
Entered,  according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by

                 Harper & Brothers,

 In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.












                              3tOC







  " Nor is it left arbitrary, at the will and pleasure of every man,
to do as he list; after the dictates of a depraved humour and ex-
travagant phancyi to live at what rate he pleaseth; but every one
is bound  to observe the Injunctions and Law of Nature, Upon  the
penalty of forfeiting their health, strength, and liberty—the true and
long enjoyment  of themselves."—Mainwayrinoe. 
                      TO


             HIS  MAJESTY

LEOPOLD   THE  FIRST,

            KING OF THE BELGIANS.
     Sire,
  In consenting to ascend the  throne, to which you
were called by the fervent prayer of the Belgian peo-
ple, your majesty was graciously pleased to declare,
that, having from early life been placed in many dif-
ficult and trying situations, you had long learned to
value power only as a means of advancing the solid
and lasting happiness of your fellow-creatures.   How
nobly your majesty has  redeemed the pledge implied
in this generous assurance, the tranquillity, security,
and increasing prosperity of your majesty's adopted
country proclaim in language which it requires not
the aid of  individual testimony  to confirm;  and I
venture to  refer to it  only because your majesty's
gracious permission to  dedicate to you a work hav-
ing for its aim the prevention and alleviation of hu-
man suffering, is but another proof of the sincerity
of the  feeling by which it was dictated, and of the
deep interest which your majesty takes in everything
connected with the welfare and improvement of man-
kind.
  As every amelioration of the physical condition of
the people conduces not less to their advancement in 
iv
DEDICATION.
intelligence and good conduct than to their  bodily
comfort, I am inclined to hope that, even in a moral
point of view, some good may  be effected by the
present exposition of the more important laws of the
animal economy, and of the  numerous practical ad-
vantages to be expected from their regular and ade-
quate fulfilment.
   While thus laying my little work before your ma-
jesty as a sincere though humble tribute of respect
and admiration, may I be farther permitted  to ex-
press my profound  gratitude for the condescending
goodness with which you have been pleased  to re-
ceive my imperfect  services, as well as for  the pro-
fessional confidence with which your majesty contin-
ues to honour me.
   That your majesty may long be spared, in  health
and happiness, to watch over the interests  of the
Belgian nation, is the sincere and earnest wish of,
                       Sire,
               Your majesty's most grateful
                   and devoted servant,
                         ANDREW COMBE.
   Edinburgh, November 1,1838. 
        ADVERTISEMENT

TO  THE  SEVENTH EDITION.
   It is now about four years and a half since the
present work was first  published, and already six
editions, consisting together of eleven thousand cop-
ies, have been exhausted in this country.  In Amer-
ica, a  much larger number has been sold; and an
edition, prepared with questions and answers at the
end of the chapters  to  adapt  it for a  school-book,
has been  successfully introduced into several semi-
naries  of education.  In Germany also, where an ex-
cellent translation  appeared about a year ago, it has
been favourably received.  These circumstances af.
ford the most gratifying evidence that the importance
of physiological knowledge as one of the most use-
ful, if not indispensable, branches of general instruc-
tion, is at last beginning to be appreciated among the
intelligent classes of society, and that the present at-
tempt to communicate it in a plain and  unambitious
style has not been  unsuccessful.
  The approbation bestowed  upon  this volume by
several of the medical journals, and by many of my
brethren, is an indication that the want which it en-
deavours to supply has been extensively felt by the
profession as well as by the public; and encourages
me to  hope that, although  designed chiefly for the
genera] reader, it may nevertheless be found useful
as a guide to the medical student, in facilitating his
acquaintance with a branch  of knowledge which,
                      A2 
vi              ADVERTISEMENT.
considering its practical importance in the  improve-
ment of man and in the prevention and cure of dis-
ease, is certainly too much neglected; and  on which
he will not, however disposed, easily find elsewhere
the means of obtaining adequate information.
   Various  and extensive additions have been  made
to the work since it was first published; and  to in-
crease its usefulness, a comprehensive index was an.
nexed  to the fourth edition.   With these  improve-
ments  it has since been stereotyped; and in fulfil-
ment of an intention formerly announced, a treatise
on Diet on  the same general plan, and entitled " The
Physiology of Digestion considered in relation to the
Principle of Dietetics," was published some  time ago,
and is now in its second edition.
   Edinburgh, Nov., 1838. 
CONTENTS.
 Preface........Page 11-20

                     CHAPTER I.

                introductory remarks.

 Physiology, Vegetable, Comparative, and Human.—Animate and
  Inanimate Bodies.—Objects of Physiology.—Usefulness of Phys-
  iological Knowledge.— Illustrations.— Evils of Ignorance.—
  Error in separating Anatomy and Physiology from their Prac-
  tical Applications. — What Health, is — And how to be  pre-
  served  ..........  21-40

                    CHAPTER II.

        STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE SKIN.

The Skin—composed of three Layers.—The Cuticle—its Struc-
  ture and Uses.—The Mucous Coat—the Seat of Colour.—The
  True Skin—its Structure—the Seat of Perspiration—its Nature
  —Consequences of Suppressed Perspiration.—Sympathy be-
  tween the Skin and other Organs.—The Skin a Regulator of
  Animal Heat.—The Seat of Absorption.—Touch  and Sensation.
  —Connexion between the Skin and Nervous  System  .  41-72

                    CHAPTER  III.

HEALTH OF THE SKIN, AND  ITS INFLUENCE ON THE GEN-
                     ERAL SYSTEM.

Mortality in  Infancy from Cold.—Animal Heat lowest at that
  Age.—Too little and too much Clothing equally bad.—Rules for
  Dress.—Advantages of Flannel in preventing Disease.—Venti-
  lation of Beds  and Clothing.—Influence of Light.—Importance
  of Ablution and Bathing.—Cold, Tepid, and Warm  Bath.—
  Sponging with diluted Vinegar.—Friction of the Skin.—Vapour
  Bath and Warm Bath useful in preventing and curing Nervous
  Diseases and  liability to Cold.—Sailing and Riding useful by
  acting on the  Skin.......73-98 
viii
CONTENTS.
                    CHAPTER IV.

           NATURE OF THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM.

Muscles.—Their Structure, Attachment, and Conditions of Ac-
  tion.—Necessity of Arterial Blood and of Nervous Influence.—
  Muscles Act by alternate Contraction and Relaxation.—Fatigue
  consequent on continuing the same Attitude explained.—Inju-
  ries of Spine from neglect of this Law, and from Sedentary Oc-
  cupations in Schools.—The Mind ought to be engaged in Exer-
  cise  as well as the Body.—Superiority of  cheerful  Play  and
  amusing Games.—A dull Walk the least useful Exercise.—In-
  fluence of mental Stimulus illustrated by Examples.—Exercise
  to be proportioned to Strength.—Laws of Strength
                                              Page 99-130


                    CHAPTER  V.

    EFFECTS OF, AND  RULES FOR, MUSCULAR EXERCISE.

Effects of Muscular Exercise  on the  principal Functions of the
  Body explained.—Shampooing a Substitute for Exercise.—Evils
  of deficient Exercise.—Best Time  for taking  Exercise.—Al-
  ways to be taken  in the open Air.—Different Kinds—Walking
  —Riding —Dancing — Gymnastics— Fencing— Shuttlecock —
  Reading  aloud.—Case illustrative of the Principles of  Exer-
  cise.—Involuntary Muscles.....131-154


                    CHAPTER VI.

THE BONES, THEIR STRUCTURE,  USES, AND CONDITIONS  OF
                        HEALTH.

The Bones essential to  Motion, and to the security of the Vital
  Organs.—The  Skeleton.—Bones are composed of Animal and
  of Earthy Matter.—The Animal Part the  Seat of their Vitality.
  —The Proportions between these vary at different Periods of
  Life.—Vessels, Nerves, Life, Growth, and  Decay of  Bones.—
  Advantages of their Vitality and Insensibility.—Their adapta-
  tion to contained Parts.—Conditions of Health.—Necessity of
  Exercise.........155-177

                   CHAPTER VII.

      THE  LUNGS—THEIR  FUNCTIONS—AND HEALTH.

Arterial and Venous Blood.—Circulation of the Blood.—Respi-
  ration.—Situation and Structure of the Lungs—their Air-cells
  and Bloodvessels.—Pulmonary Exhalation and Absorption.— 
CONTENTS.
ix
  Conditions of healthy Action in the Lungs.—Influence of hered-
  itary Predisposition—of wholesome Food and good Digestion—
  of the free Expansion of the Lungs—of Exercise of the Muscles
  and Voice—of Cheerfulness and of Depression of Mind—of pure
  Air and Ventilation.—Vitiation of the Air by  Breathing—Ex-
  tent and Nature of the Vitiation.—Examples of Death produced
  by great Impurity—its Influence in destroying Health—Illustra-
  tions.—Want of Ventilation in Public Halls, Churches, Schools,
  and Houses—Necessity for the Scientific Regulation of Ventila-
  tion—Disease from ill-regulated Ventilation—Means of Venti-
  lation—Effects of vitiated Air on the Animal Economy.—Res-
  piration the Source of Animal Heat—Causes of deficient Gen-
  eration of Heat.—Means of Strengthening the Lungs and Chest.
  —Direct and Indirect Exercise of the Lungs—Beneficial Effects
  of, and Rules for, Pulmonary Exercise.—Precautions to be ob-
  served in Diseases of the Lungs, and in persons predisposed to
  Consumption, particularly at Puberty    .    . Page 178-231

                   CHAPTER VIII.

       NERVOUS SYSTEM AND MENTAL FACULTIES.

Nervous  System.—Structure of the Brain.—The Brain  the Or-
  gan of Mind and Seat of Sensation.—Connexion between the
  Mind and Brain.—Conditions of Health in the Brain.—Influ-
  ence of hereditary Constitution—of the Blood.—Effects of im-
  perfectly oxygenated Blood.—Exercise of the Brain and Mind.
  —Effects of mental Inactivity—exemplified in the Deaf and
  Dumb.—Mental  Inactivity a Cause of nervous Disease.—Ex-
  emplified  in retired Officers, Merchants, and Others—in Fe-
  males  of  the  middle and  higher  Ranks.—Effects of mental
  Activity on  the  Brain.—Effects of excessive mental Activity
  —Exemplified in precocious Children—in Youth—in hard Stu-
  dents—in early and middle Life, Case of Sir  Humphrey Davy
  —in advanced Life, Case of Sir Walter Scott—a Cause of In-
  sanity.—Effects  of  over Activity of Mind on  Health, Cases of
  Gretry, Weber, and others.....232-271


                     CHAPTER  IX.

               RULES FOR MENTAL EXERCISE.

 Rules for the proper Exercise of the Mind and Brain.—Mind not to
  be tasked immediately  after a Meal.—Best Time for Mental
   Exertion.—Importance  of Regularity in Mental Employment.
   —Repetition of Mental Act indispensable to Improvement of
   Mind.—Effects of Repetition illustrated in Moral and  Intellec-
   tual Training.—Every Faculty to be employed directly on its
   own Objects.—Illustrations.—Direct Exercise of the Moral Fac-
   ulties.—Best Means of exciting the Moral Sentiments.—Errors 
X
CONTENTS.
  in ordinary Moral Education, and in Boarding-schools.—Use
  of Philosophy of Mind in  conducting Education.—Influence
  of the Brain and Nervous  System on the general  Health.—
  Exemplified in ordinary Life, and in the Army.—The depress-
  ing Emotions destructive of Health.—Influence of the cheer-
  ful Emotions in preserving  and restoring Health.—Sir H. Da-
  vy's Cure of Palsy by the  application of a Thermometer ex-
  plained.—Examples at the  Siege of Breda—in the  Army and
  Navy, and on the Northern Expedition  .   .  Page 272-308

                    CHAPTER  X.

      APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING PRINCIPLES.
Causes of bad Health.—Not always the Result  of Moral or Im-
  moral Conduct—nor of Accident—but of the  Infringement of
  the Laws of Organization.—Proofs from past History.—Dimin-
  ished Mortality from increase of Knowledge, and better fulfil-
  ment of the Conditions of Health.—The Expeditions of Anson
  and Cook contrasted.—Gratifying Results of the Sanatory Ar-
  rangements of Ross, Parry,  and Franklin.—Pulmonary Diseas-
  es in the Channel Fleet, from ignorance of Physiology.—Rates
  of Mortality  in different Ages and Countries.—Causes of late
  Improvement.—Conditions  of wealthier  and poorer Classes
  compared.—Good done by the apprehension of Cholera.—In-
  fluence of Habit.—Neglect of Organic Laws in Recruiting Ser-
  vice.—Examples     .......  309-337

                    CHAPTER XI.

APPLICATION  OF  THE  PRINCIPLES OF PHYSIOLOGY TO THK
 MORAL TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASE AND INSANITY.
Condition of the Nervous and  Insane too little known.—Necessi-
  ty of improved Moral Treatment.—Use of  Physiological Knowl-
  edge in  effecting the  required Improvements.—Principles on
  which the Nervous and Insane ought to be treated.—Necessity
  of providing  the Means of Bodily and Mental Occupation, and
  humane and intelligent Attendants, in Asylums.—Admission of
  Visiters.—Middlesex and Edinburgh Pauper Asylums contrast-
  ed.—State of Private Asylums—M.  Esquirol's Retreat at Ivry.
  —Conclusion........338-358
        WOOD-CUTS.
Bones of the Arm and Hand, 101.
Muscles of the Human Body, 107.
Bloodvessels of the Arm, 132.
Human Skeleton, 158.
Thoracic and Abdominal Viscera, 183.
Human Brain, 234. 
PREFACE.
  The object of the present volume is  to lay before
the public a plain and intelligible description of the
structure and uses of some of the more  important or-
gans of the human body, and to show how information
of this kind may be usefully applied both to the pres-
ervation of health and to the improvement of physical
and mental education.   In selecting the functions  to
be treated of, I have preferred to examine those which
are most influential in their operation on the general
system, and, at the same time, least familiarly known.
Some, accordingly, whose sphere of action is  com-
paratively subordinate, I have not even named; and
to others of essential consequence in the animal econ-
omy, such as that of digestion, I have merely alluded.
To have included  the first would have  added to the
difficulties of the reader by  the multiplicity of unim-
portant  details; and to  have  treated  of the  latter
would have been, in a great measure, a work of su-
pererogation, as treatises on the digestive organs are
already in extensive circulation.*

  * Notwithstanding the above expression of opinion, so many
suggestions have been made to me since the publication of the
former editions to  continue the work, and give a similar account
ofthe functions of digestion, nutrition, circulation, &c, that I have
nearly completed the preparation of another volume for that pur-
pose, to be entitled " The Physiology of Digestion considered with
reference to the principles of Dietetics."  In this work I have  in-
sisted more on the general laws of digestion, and on the adapta-
tion of diet to different ages, constitutions, and conditions of life,
and less on the qualities of individual articles of food  than is usu-
ally done ; and hope thus to have given it somewhat of the same
plain and practical character which has contributed  so much to
the success of the present. 
12
PREFACE.
  In offering practical rules for the guidance of the
reader, it has been my constant endeavour to exhibit
the relation subsisting between them and the partic-
ular laws of the organization according to which their
influence is exerted, that the recommendation  given
may rest, as far as possible, on the foundation of na-
ture, and not on the doubtful  authority of any indi-
vidual.  Many of the  valuable treatises which have
already appeared on the subject of health  and of ed-
ucation, seem to me to have failed in making an ad-
equate impression on the public  mind chiefly from
this basis  not having been  brought sufficiently into
view; and thus not only have  the evils arising from
defective  education been  unjustly and  invidiously
charged against education itself, but the most opposite
methods have been advocated and practised with equal
earnestness and plausibility, where a direct reference
to the laws of organization would have at once re-
vealed the source of the error, and afforded a protec-
tion against its occurrence.
  It is not uninstructive to remark, that in the case
of the lower animals, the necessity of modifying the
method of cultivation according to the peculiarities
of constitution which they present, has been long per-
ceived and consistently  acted on,  and with such suc-
cess as to afford us good reason for applying the same
rule to our own species, and  for considering  every
mode of education as  erroneous and inefficient which
is not in  harmony with the higher nature of man.
The extent, indeed, to which, by following this plan,
we can carry our influence over  the lower animals,
and secure the development and efficiency of almost
every organ, has often been the theme of admiration
and surprise; and there can scarcely be a doubt, that
were the same principle followed in the cultivation of
the physical, moral, and intellectual powers of man,
and were no rule received which is not in accordance
with the laws of his constitution,  a much  higher de-
gree of success would reward our exertions than has
ever yet been experienced.
   The little regard which has  hitherto  been paid to 
PREFACE.
13
the laws of the*human constitution, as the true basis
on which our attempts to improve the condition of
man ought to rest, will be obvious from the fact that,
notwithstanding the direct uses to which a knowledge
of the conditions which regulate the healthy action of
the bodily organs may be applied in the prevention,
detection, and treatment of disease, there is scarcely
a medical school in this country in which any special
provision is made for teaching it; the pupil being left
to elaborate it for himself from amid information com-
municated to him for  other purposes.  It is, there-
fore, only too true, that "preventive medicine, the des-
tined guardian of infancy, youth, manhood, and old
age, adapted to the interior of families, has yet no
existence."*  In some of the foreign universities, in-
deed, chairs have been instituted for diffusing instruc-
tion of  this description; and in France, a journal of
Hygiene has existed for a short time.  But  in this
country, with the exception of  Sir John  Sinclair's
elaborate Code of Health, and one or two other publi-
cations of a late date, the subject has never been treat-
ed with anything like  the regard which  it assuredly
deserves.  In one point of view, indeed, the omission
is not so extraordinary as it may at first sight appear.
The prominent aim of medicine being to discriminate
and to cure disease, both the teacher and the student
naturally fix upon that as their chief object; and are
consequently apt to overlook the indirect but substan-
tial aid which an acquaintance with the laws of health
is calculated to afford in restoring the sick, as well as
in preserving the healthy from disease.
  It is  true, that almost every medical man, sooner
or later, works out this  knowledge for himself;  but,
in general, he  attains it later than he ought to, and
seldom so completely as he would have done had it
been made a part of his elementary education, to
which he saw others attach importance.  In my own
instance, it was only when entering upon practice that

  * Lecture introductory to a course of popular instruction on the
constitution and management of the human body, by Dr. Thomas
Beddoes, 1797, $. 58. 
14
PREFACE.
I had first  occasion to feel and to observe the evils
arising from the ignorance which prevails in society
in regard to it.   Impressed afterward more deeply
than ever with the interest and utility of the study, I
contributed  two  or three articles on  the subject to
one of our periodical journals, and resolved to make
them the basis, at some future time, of a more  de-
tailed and connected exposition.  This I have now
attempted; not, I need scarcely add, with  the view
of superseding the physician by making " every man
his own doctor," or of recommending the general pe-
rusal of professional treatises—for both practices in-
duce many more ailments than they cure—but simply
with the hope that the method which I have followed,
of connecting physiological details with practical ap-
plications, may be found useful and interesting to both
the student and the general reader.
   There is a tendency in the minds of many, when a
new subject is presented to them, to run away with a
part of a proposition or with an individual illustration,
and  to condemn as unsound the principle in elucida-
tion of which it  is adduced, because  they happen to
know facts which are at variance with the particular
example brought forward.  In this way, there is  per-
haps no one rule which I  have advanced  to which
some individual case may not  be plausibly opposed.
But it does not necessarily follow that the principle or
rule is thereby disproved.  An example may be badly
chosen, and yet the truth it is meant to convey may
be as much a truth as before.  Instead, therefore, of
at once condemning a proposition on account of a sin-
gle apparent exception, it will be better to extend the
inquiry, and discover whether any peculiarity of situ-
ation or constitution has interfered  to modify the re-
sult, and to condemn only when evidence of inaccu-
racy is  obtained.  Thus, because  some  drunkards
have enjoyed good health, and lived  to an unusually
old  age, we are by no means entitled to infer  that
drinking was the cause of the  good health, and that,
if we  would all drink as  freely, we should all live as
long.  An example of this kind, far from disproving 
PREFACE.
15
the principle that ardent spirits are prejudicial to the
human frame, only establishes the fact that individu-
als exist who, from some idiosyncrasy, are better able
than others to resist  their bad effects; and, in like
manner, when I  state, as a general proposition, that
severe  muscular  exertion is  hurtful during  rapid
growth, I do not consider it as any argument against
the fact to say that A.  B. underwent great  exertion
when growing, without being injured by it.  The gen-
eral principle obviously remains unaffected by single
instances of this kind, for the apparent exception can
almost always be explained, and, even when it cannot,
it occurs so rarely as to be entitled to no practical
weight.
  It has been objected, that to teach any one how to
take care of his own health, is sure  to do  harm by
making him constantly think of this and the other pre-
caution, to the utter sacrifice  of every noble  and gen-
erous feeling, and  to the certain production of hypo-
chondriacal peevishness and discontent.  The result,
however, is exactly the reverse; and it  would be a
singular anomaly  in the constitution of the moral
world were it otherwise.  He who is instructed in and
familiar with grammar  and orthography, writes and
spells so easily and accurately as scarcely to be con-
scious of attending to the rules by which he is guided;
while he, on the contrary, who is not instructed in
either, and knows  not how to arrange his sentences,
toils at the task, and sighs  at every line.   The same
principle holds in  regard to health.   He who is  ac-
quainted with the general "constitution of the human
body, and with the laws which regulate  its action,
sees at once his true position when exposed to the
causes of disease, decides what ought  to be done, and
thereafter feels himself at liberty to devote his undi-
vided attention to  the calls of higher  duties.  But it
is  far otherwise  with the person who is destitute of
this information.  Uncertain of the nature and extent
of the danger, he  knows not to which hand to turn,
and either lives in the fear of mortal disease, or, in his
ignorance, resorts to irrational and hurtful precautions, 
16
PREFACE.
 to the certain neglect of those which he ought to use.
 It is ignorance, therefore, and not knowledge, which
 renders an individual full of fancies and apprehensions,
 and robs him of his usefulness.  It would be a stigma
 on the Creator's wisdom if true knowledge weakened
 the understanding and led to injurious results.  And,
 accordingly, the genuine hypochondriac, whose blind
 credulity leads him to the implicit adoption of every
 mons.rous specific, is not the person who has gained
 wholesome knowledge by patient study in the  field
 of nature; but he, and he alone, who has derived his
 notions of the human constitution and of the laws of
 nature from the dark recesses of his own crude ima-
 gination.
   Those who have had the  most extensive opportu-
 nities of forming an  opinion on this subject from ex-
 perience, bear unequivocal testimony to the advanta-
 ges which knowledge confers in saving health and
 life, time and anxiety.  Thus Dr. Beddoes, in alluding
 to the delicate constitutions of females of the higher
 ranks in this country, remarks, that he cannot " con-
 ceive how they can be rendered more  hardy or less
 nervous, if that term is preferred, otherwise than by
 being seasonably taught the principles of self-manage-
 ment."  And adds, that he specifies " the principles,"
 because " little good can be expected unless we pro-
 ceed as in other instances where we exhibit to sense
 that connexion between cause and effect which con-
 stitutes the order of nature" (p. 26).   In like manner,
 Dr. Davies,  of the East India Company's Depot at
 Chatham,  distinctly  states, that the  man of mature
age, who has been some years at a trade before en-
listing, and who has consequently gained some knowl-
edge of his own constitution, always makes the most
valuable soldier, because " he not only conforms with
more  ease to the system of diet and restraint neces-
sary to subordination, but, having more experience, he
is more observant of health, learns sooner how to take care
of himself, to avoid  or diminish causes of disease, and
when ill, he giv.s more aid in bringing about a state of
convalescence."  Dr. Davies adds afterward, that this
 " knowing how to manage is an invaluable qualification 
PREFACE.
17
to a soldier embarking for service in a tropical cli-
mate ;"  and if it is invaluable to the soldier, it is as-
suredly not less safe and advantageous to the civilian.
  If, indeed, ignorance were itself a preventive of the
danger, or could provide a remedy when it approached,
then it might well be said that  " ignorance is bliss;"
but as it gives only the kind of security which shut-
ting the eyes affords against the dangers of a preci-
pice, and, consequently, leaves  its victim  doubly ex-
posed, it is high time to renounce its friendship and
protection, and to seek those of a more powerful and
beneficent ally.  If ignorance could divest us even of
the sense of anxiety attending the apprehension of
evil, the consequent tranquillity of mind,  deceptive
though it were, would be at least some compensation
for submitting to its rule.  But, unhappily, so far from
ignorance of the nature and extent of the threatening
danger saving us from gloomy anticipations, the fact
is notoriously the reverse; for the darkest picture
ever drawn is  assuredly that devised by an unenlight-
ened  imagination.  Every medical man can testify,
that, natural character and other circumstances being
alike, those whose knowledge is the most limited are
the fullest of whims and fancies, the most  alarmed at
every trifling ailment, the most credulous  respecting
the efficacy of every senseless and preposterous rem-
edy, the most impatient of restraint, and the most dis-
contented  at suffering. There are some, no doubt,
whose  constitutional sensibility prevents  them ever
controlling their feelings or being guided  by the dic-
tates of reason; but such persons are comparatively
few in number, and even they become more tractable,
as well as more  comfortable  in spirit, when their
minds are enlightened and their true situation is dis-
tinctly understood.
   If any of my readers be still doubtful of the propri-
 ety or safety  of communicating physiological knowl-
 edge to the public  at large, and think that ignorance
 is in all circumstances to be preferred, I would beg
 to ask him whether it was  knowledge  or ignorance
 which  induced the poorer classes in every xountry of 
18
PREFACE.
 Asia and of Europe, to attempt to protect themselves
 from cholera by committing ravages on the medical
 attendants of the sick, under the plea of their having
 poisoned the public fountains ?  And whether it was
 ignorance  or knowledge which  prompted  the more
 rational part of the community to seek safety in  in-
 creased attention to proper food, warmth, cleanliness,
 and clothing ?   In both cases, the desire of safety and
 the sense of danger were the same, but the modes re-
 sorted to by each were as different in kind as in  re-
 sult ; the efficiency of the one having formed a gla-
 ring contrast to the failure of the other.
  In thus strongly advocating  the benefits to be ob-
 tained by the wide diffusion of a general knowledge
 of the laws of health, I must,  however, express my
 belief, that the stnd_y of diseases  and their modes of
 cure by unprofessional persons, is not only unprofita-
 ble, but often deeply injurious—just because such per-
 sons cannot possibly possess the collateral knowledge
 required to form a correct judgment of all the attend-
 ing circumstances, and are therefore extremely liable
 to fall into error, where every  error is  attended with
 risk.  Let us suppose, for example, what I have seen
 arid what has often happened, that a person of an ap-
 prehensive disposition, who has been occasionally
 subject to palpitation, takes up  a medical treatise, and
 there finds that palpitation is a symptom commonly
 present where the heart is diseased.  It is almost
 certain that such a person will,  in his ignorance, make
 no farther distinction, but hurry at once to  the con-
 clusion that his own heart is affected, and that  he
 must speedily die.   The notion being once implanted
 in his mind, he will become anxious and watchful  of
 every sensation, deny  himself  necessary  exercise
 from fear of over-exertion, and necessary food from
 fear of a bloodvessel giving way, and in no long time
 will fall into a state of weakness and disease which
 will  confirm every  one of his apprehensions.  But
 had this individual, instead of acting on his  own im-
perfect knowledge,  consulted  his medical  adviser,
 whose business it is to make himself acquainted with
 the whole of the case, he would have discovered im- 
PREFACE
19
 mediately that the dreaded source of all this suffering
 was originally a simple fit of indigestion, which nature
 would have cured in three days, had not the machine
 been so perversely deranged by the very want of ex-
 ercise and food, in which the patient was  ignorantly
 seeking for safety.  Even here, be  it observed, the
 danger arises from  the  incompleteness of the  knowl-
 edge possessed; and I would condemn the perusal of
 medical books onJy because the general reader  can-
 not, except by going through a course of professional
 study, become qualified to make a proper use of their
 contents.  And, accordingly, it is well known that few
 students escape fits  of hypochondriacal apprehension
 when they first  seriously enter  on the  study of dis-
 eases ;  and that they become free from them  almost
 in proportion as their knowledge advances.*
   Various repetitions occur in the course of the pres-
 ent work, which to some may seem unnecessary, and
 for which I ought to solicit the indulgence of the read-
 er.  These have arisen chiefly from the intimate man-
 ner  in  which- the different functions are  connected
 with each other, rendering it impossible to explain one
 without constantly referring to the rest.   Occasion-
ally, also, the novelty  and importance of the subject
 have led me to risk repetition,  in order to  ensure at-
tention ; but I trust that  these  faults, if felt as such,
 will be forgiven.
  Those who desire to obtain farther information of
a general nature in regard to the structure  and func-

  * The number of the  Metropolitan Magazine for July, 1834,
contained a very favourable review of the first edition of this work,
which it recommended to the attention, especially of medical men.
 But it went on to caution ladies and unprofessional persons from
dipping into its pages, not because they would find in them any-
thing indelicate, unintelligible, or devoid of interest, for it expressly
acquitted the book  of all these faults; but because they would
immediately afterward fancy themselves ill, and be afraid to move
from fear of deranging some part of the bodily machinery!  To
those whose curiosity should get the better of their discretion, the
 reviewer recommended, as an antidote, the perusal of Shakspeare,
 Don Quixote, or some entertaining novel, to raise their spirits.
 I mention this to show that the remarks in the text (which, by a
curious coincidence, were first published in the second edition
 simultaneously with the review) are not uncalled for. 
20
PREFACE.
tions of Man, may refer to Mr. Lord's " Popular Phys-
iology," Dr. Hodgkin's " Lectures on the  Means of
Promoting  and Preserving Health," and also to an
excellent treatise on Animal Physiology, in four of
the earlier numbers of the Library of Useful Knowl-
edge.   The last is understood to be from the pen of
Dr. Southwood Smith, the able author  of  a volume
entitled " The Philosophy of Health," which was pub-
lished in London simultaneously with the third edition
of the  present work, and with whose sentiments on
the subject now before us, as expressed in the follow-
ing extract from the concluding page of his earlier
treatise, I need hardly say 1  entirely concur:
  " The obvious and peculiar advantages of this kind
of knowledge are, that it would enable  its  possessor
to take a more rational care of his health; to perceive
why certain circumstances are beneficial or injurious;
to understand,  in some degree, the nature of disease,
and the operation as well of the agents which produce
it as of those which counteract it; to observe the first
beginnings  of deranged  function in his  own person;
to give to his physician a more intelligible account of
his train of morbid  sensations as they arise;  and,
above all, to co-operate with him in removing the
morbid state on which they depend, instead of defeat-
ing, as is now, through  gross ignorance, constantly
done, the best  concerted plans for the renovation of
health.   It would likewise lay the foundation for the
attainment  of  a more just, accurate,  and practical
knowledge of our intellectual and moral nature.  There
is a physiology of the mind as well as of  the body ;
both are  so intimately united, that neither can be well
understood without the  study of the  other; and the
physiology of  man comprehends both.   Were even
what is  already  known of this science,  and what
might be easily communicated, made a part of general
education,  how many evils  would be  avoided,  how
much light would  be  let in  upon the understanding,
and how many aids would be afforded to the acquisi-
tion of a sound body and a vigorous mind;  pre-requi-
sites more important than are commonly supposed, to
the attainment of wisdom^ and the practice of virtue." 
CHAPTER I.
              INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Physiology, Vegetable, Comparative, and Human.—Animate and
  Inanimate Bodies.—Objects of Physiology.—Usefulnessof Phys-
  iological Knowledge. — Illustrations. — Evils of Ignorance. —
  Error in separating Anatomy and Physiology from their Practi-
  cal Applications.—What Health is—And how to be preserved.

  Physiology, from $v<n?, nature, and hoyoc, discourse,
signifies literally a discourse about natural powers,
but, as now used, it applies exclusively to the doctrine
of the uses or functions of the different constituent
parts of beings endowed with the principle of life.  As
applied to the vegetable kingdom, it is called Vegeta-
ble Physiology;  to the lower animals, Comparative
Physiology; and to man, Human Physiology.  In all
of these instances, however, the objects of physiology
are the same, viz., the exposition of the mechanism
and laws by which the various functions which char-
acterize living bodies are carried on, so as to fit each
individual for the particular sphere in which the Cre-
ator  intended it to exist.
  The grand mark of distinction between animate  and
inanimate bodies is to be  found in the different rela-
tions in which they stand to the ordinary laws of the
material world.   Inanimate  or  inorganized  bodies
have no internal power of action, and of themselves
can effect no change.  Possessed of certain fixed  and
invariable properties, they stand uniformly in the same
relation to each  other, and act invariably according
to the same general laws, so that what is once ascer-
tained of them can be predicted with certainty to hold
true  for ever after; and therefore, in conducting  our
investigations, we  know  that the  same effects  will
always follow the  same  causes  with mathematical
precision.  But when the same elementary material 
22     ANIMATE AND INANIMATE BODIES.
becomes part  of a  living  body, this rule no longer
holds; the laws of chymical and physical action are
greatly modified, or  for a time counteracted, and the
now organized matter obeys the law of vegetable or
animal life, and  is not again subjected  to those of
purely chymical  action, either till eliminated from the
body, or till life  is extinct; and, in point of fact, the
putrefaction which instantly follows the extinction of
the vital principle is neither more nor less than the
ordinary laws of inanimate matter resuming their do-
minion when no longer opposed by a higher power.
  An example or two will render the difference more
apparent.   All bodies gravitate towards the earth,
according to a constant and well-known law. But ani-
mals are able to  resist this law, so far as to preserve
an attitude  at variance with its tendency, or even to
rise, like the eagle, many thousand feet in the air in
opposition to their natural weight; but on the extinc-
tion of life they lose this  power, and  again become
subject  to the full influence of gravitation.  In the
same way many animals  preserve an elevated and
steady temperature, whether exposed to severe cold
or to excessive heat;  but, when life  ceases, rapidly
assume that of the  objects by which they are sur-
rounded.  A human being may, for instance, be ex-
posed to the  intensest  cold of the Polar Regions
without having his own internal temperature reduced
by a single  degree so long as life endures; but from
the moment when life ceases, his body begins to part
with its heat, and ere long it becomes frozen and
stiff like the inanimate masses by which it is sur-
rounded.
  Here, then, is  a grand boundary line dividing the
organized from the inorganized, the animate from the
inanimate body.   Chymistry and natural philosophy
investigate  the laws and  conditions which regulate
the action and movements of inanimate or inorgan-
ized objects; but, from what we  have  seen of the
power of the  vital  principle in modifying these, it
will be manifest that, however extensive and  accu-
rate our knowledge  of the  properties of the element- 
OBJECTS OF  PHYSIOLOGY.         23
ary materials of living bodies, considered separately,
may be, we can thence infer nothing in regard to the
qualities of the animal compound when endowed with
life, but must resort to observation and study for the
discovery of the conditions by which  life is charac-
terized and under which it is carried On.
  Physiology, or the history of the functions which
characterize living beings, is thus a subject of pecu-
liar interest; and human physiology, or that which
is about to engage our attention, is as important in its
practical consequences as it is attractive to rational
curiosity.  In its widest sense  it comprehends an
exposition of the functions of the various organs of
which the human frame is composed;  of the mecha-
nism by which these are carried on ; of their relations
to each other, or the  means  of improving  their de-
velopment  and  action; of  the purposes  to which
they ought severally to be directed; and of the man-
ner in which exercise ought to be conducted, so  as
to secure for the organ the best health, and for the
function the highest efficiency.  A true system  of
physiology comes thus to be the proper  basis, not
only of a sound physical, but of a sound moral and
intellectual education, and of a rational hygiene; or,
in other words, it is the basis of everything having
for its object the physical and mental health and im-
provement of man; for, so long as life lasts, the men-
tal and. moral powers with which  he  is  endowed
manifest themselves through  the medium of organi-
zation, and no plan which he can devise for their cul-
tivation, that is not in harmony with the laws which
regulate that organization, can possibly be successful.
  But besides the power of resisting the operation of
the ordinary chymical  and physical laws, living bodies
are  distinguished by other  properties peculiar  to
themselves.  Unlike inorganized matter, which exists
in the same form from the beginning, bodies endowed
with the principle of life derive their origin from pre-
viously-existing living bodies of the same nature as
themselves;  and they  in  their turn  give  birth  to
others, and in this way the succession is kept up. 
24           OBJECTS OF PHYSIOLOGY.
 Unlike the inert material which retains its properties
 unaltered throughout endless ages, the living body is
 constantly undergoing  changes from the first to the
 last moment of its existence ; and these are exempli-
 fied, on the large scale, in the great stages of youth,
 maturity, old  age, and death.   Unlike inorganized
 matter, which neither grows nor decays, living bodies
 require a constant supply of nourishment to admit of
 their growth in  youth, and to replace the worn-out
 particles which  are  regularly  thrown off  at every
 period of life ;  and unlike inanimate objects, the prop-
 erties of which  never  alter, living bodies cease  at
 last to exist, and their component elements, deprived
 of the principles of life, again become subject to the
 ordinary laws of matter, and are  speedily decomposed
 and scattered about, as if life had never been.   The
 above properties, it may be observed, are common to
 vegetable and animal life ; but animals possess others
 peculiar to themselves.  Among the most remarka-
 ble of these are sensation, thought, voluntary motion,
 and the faculty of communicating to each other their
 thoughts and feelings, through the medium of natural
 or artificial language.   These  are great marks of
 distinction, and, considered  in  a general point  of
 view, amply suffice to divide the two great classes of
 animated beings; and  while some animals exhibit
 individual powers in higher perfection, man stands far
 their superior,  not only in combining in his own  per-
 son all the senses and  faculties which they  possess,
but in  being endowed with moral and intellectual
powers which are denied to them, and which at once
place him at the head of the living creation, and con-
 stitute him a moral, religious, intelligent, and respon-
 sible being.
  So numerous and important are the various organs
of which the  human  frame is composed, and so
closely are they linked with  each other in their ac-
tion, that, in treating of them, it is difficult, or, rather,
 impossible to follow any arrangement which shall
 not involve considerable  repetition, or which shall
 admit of every statement being  at first fully under- 
    UTILITY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE.  25

stood.   On the present occasion, however, a syste-
matic mode of proceeding is not essential, my object
being merely to communicate a general knowledge
of a few of the more important functions, partly with
a view to the direct practical purposes to which such
information may be  applied, and partly for the sake
of rousing public attention to the necessity of  inclu-
ding this branch of science in every plan of what is
called a liberal education.
  Let it not be said that  knowledge of this descrip-
tion is superfluous to the unprofessional reader; for
society groans under the load of suffering inflicted by
causes susceptible of removal, but left in operation in
consequence  of our unacquaintance with  our own
structure, and of the relations of the different parts of
the system to  each other and  to  external Objects.
Every medical man must have felt and lamented the
ignorance so generally prevalent in regard to the sim-
plest functions of the animal system, and the conse-
quent absence of the judicious co-operation of friends
in the care and cure of the sick.  From unacquaint-
ance with  the  commonest facts  in  physiology, or
incapability of appreciating their importance, men, of
much good sense  in every other  respect, not only
subject themselves unwittingly to  the  active causes
of disease, but give their sanction to laws and  prac-
tices destructive equally to life and to  morality,  and
which, if they saw them in their true light, they would
shrink from countenancing in the slightest degree.
  For proof of this I need only refer to the evidence
on the Factories' Regulation Bill, which lately  occu-
pied so much of public attention.  The law then in
operation authorized the working of children between
the years of eight and sixteen, in the close-heated at-
mosphere of a cotton-mill, for twelve  hours a day;
and as a great  boon, no children are now employed
under nine years of age, while between that and four-
teen the period of daily labour is not to exceed eight
hours.  Had our legislators been instructed in anat-
omy and physiology so far as to obtain even the most
general notion of the constitution of the human  body, 
 26  UTILITY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE.

 and had they been aware of the intimate dependance
 of the mind on the condition of the bodily organiza-
 tion, they would at once have perceived the destruct-
 ive tendency of the former system of labour and con-
 finement, and the  utter  impossibility of combining
 with it that moral and  intellectual cultivation which
 is so imperatively required.  Instead of objecting to
 the limitation when it was proposed, they would have
 looked forward with dread to the physical and moral
 degradation which the system  then in operation was
 fast effecting in the multitudes under its influence;
 and their only doubt would have been, whether even
 eight hours' labour in a close atmosphere was not too
 much for undeveloped children.  The evidence in the
 rinted report to the House of Commons is said  to
 ave been  partially got up; but granting that it was
 so, it nevertheless contains a multitude of facts so en-
 tirely in accordance with the soundest and best un-
 derstood principles in physiology, and which no coun-
 ter-evidence can rebut, that one can only lament the
 ignorance which prevented many able and benevolent
 but prejudiced men from perceiving its true charac-
 ter, and yielding at once to the imperious dictates  of
 nature and  of duty.  That there were great difficul-
 ties in the way of every alteration is quite true; but
 surely no question of mere gain to  any or to every
 class ought to be allowed to stand for ever in the way,
when the lives and happiness of multitudes of our fel-
low-creatures, and the tranquillity and real prosperity
 of the country, are at stake.  Unless we  begin some-
 where, how can any improvement ever be accom-
plished 1
  Another instance of the dangers of ignorance lately
presented itself. In the Edinburgh Advertiser of 1st
March, 1833, we are informed that " a distressing oc-
 currence was discovered  on Wednesday forenoon,
 on board the Magnus Troll, Shetland trader, Captain
 Ganson, lying at Leith.   The master and mate, who
 are brothers, went as usual on Tuesday night to sleep
 in the cabin of the vessel; but, not appearing at the
 customary  hour in the  morning, the crew thought
K 
UTILITY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE.  27
they had merely slept beyond their time.   A little
time having elapsed, they were repeatedly called; but,
no answer  being returned, one of the men went into
the cabin, where he found the two brothers almost dead
through suffocation.  It is thought that they had shut
the companion and  skylights so close, that they had
during the night exhausted the whole of the vital air ne-
cessary for  respiration contained in their confined situ-
ation.   Medical  aid was procured, and hopes are en-
tertained of their recovery. Both were much respect-
ed."  Captain Ganson, however, did not recover, but
died convulsed on the following morning.
  Since the publication of the preceding statement,
doubts have been entertained whether the  catastro-
phe resulted simply from confined air,  or  from  the
stove not having been extinguished, or from impure
air proceeding from the bilge water. But as all agree
that the accident could not have happened if there
had been a proper supply of fresh air from without, it
matters little from which of  these sources the impure
air was derived; for it  is quite certain that,  had Cap-
tain Ganson and his brother possessed the slightest
acquaintance with the  nature of the atmosphere, and
the relation of its elements to the function of respi-
ration, they would have seen too clearly the danger
of shutting themselves up  in a confined space, ever to
have risked their lives in the way they did.  A con-
stant supply of pure air is  indispensable to the  for-
mation of proper blood in the lungs, and, consequently,
to the preservation of  life and the well-being of the
whole body;  but formerly,  when this condition was
as little known or regarded as it was by Captain Gan-
son, many  persons were shut up together in small ill-
ventilated  rooms in schools, jails, and hospitals, and
the natural result was a degree of mortality from fe-
vers and other diseases which, now that the laws of
respiration are better  known and more attended to,
is never heard of.
   From the same  hurtful absence of knowledge, a
law exists, or lately existed, in France, by  which in-
fants must be taken within a very short time after be- 
 28  UTILITY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE.

 ing born to the office of the Maire, if it is wished to
 have their births registered.  But there is another and
 higher law, made by the Creator, with which this en-
 actment is at variance; and that law renders the in-
 fant incapable of bearing exposure to a low tempera-
 ture without injury.  The result is, that  in winter,
 especially in places where the Maire resides at a dis-
 tance, and  where, consequently, the exposure is in
 creased, a  greater mortality takes  place than is ob-
 served among infants placed under more favourable
 circumstances.   Had the nature of the living func-
 tions been generally understood by the framers  of
 such a law, it is obvious that it could never have been
 enacted; for to have done so knowingly would have
 been in  substance to  legalize infanticide.
  One additional example may be given.   It is well
 understood among professional men, that in speaking,
 singing, and playing  on wind instruments, the lungs
 are called  into  play  as powerfully as  in running or
any other species of severe muscular exercise. From
 not adverting to this  fact, a strongly constituted indi-
vidual, who brought on spitting of blood by bodily la-
bour to  which he had not been accustomed, conceiv-
ed himself  perfectly safe and even cautious when he
gave up the spade, and confined himself to talking a
great deal, which he did daily to numerous visiters, in
explanation of favourite views then occupying all his
 thoughts.   The consequence was, that the prescribed
treatment was without effect, and a fatal illness was
brought on. When the action of the lungs was sub-
sequently explained to this individual, he saw at once
the error into which  he had fallen, and lamented the
ignorance which had led to it,  but too late to derive
 any advantage from his knowledge.
  We are constantly  meeting with anomalies in prac-
 tical life, in the case  of individuals little accustomed,
 when in health, to observe or to reflect on the influ-
 ence of external circumstances and modes of life in
 disturbing the action  of the various animal  functions,
 but at the same time easily and deeply impressed by
 all extraordinary occurrences affecting them.  Thus, 
    UTILITY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE. 29

when any one is taken ill, his relatives or friends be-
come extremely anxious to  have his room properly
ventilated; his body-clothes frequently changed and
carefully aired; his food properly regulated in quan-
tity and quality; his skin cleaned and refreshed; his
mind  amused  and tranquillized;  his sleep sound and
undisturbed, and his body duly exercised; and they
state, as the reason for all this care, and most justly,
that pure  air, cleanliness, attention to diet, cheerful-
ness,  regular exercise, and sound sleep, are all highly
conducive to health.  And yet such is the inconsist-
ency  attendant on ignorance, that the patient is no
sooner  restored, than both he and his guardians are
often found to become as careless and indifferent in
regard to  all the laws of health,  as if these were en-
tirely without influence, and their future  breach or
observance could in no way affect him !  Just as if it
were  not better by a rational exercise  of judgment to
preserve  health when we have  it, than first to lose
it, and then pay the  penalty in suffering and danger,
as an indispensable preliminary to its subsequent res-
toration !
  One cause of such anomalous conduct is the dan-
gerous  and prevalent fallacy of supposing that, be-
cause glaring mischief does not instantly follow every
breach  of an  organic law, no harm has been done.
Thus, what is more common than to hear a dyspeptic
invalid, who seeks to gratify his palate, say, that ve-
getables, for example, or pastry, or heavy puddings,
do not disagree with him, as he  ate them  on such a
day, and felt no inconvenience from them ?  and the
same in regard to late  hours, heated rooms, insuffi-
cient clothing, and all other sources  of bad health,
every one of which will, in like manner, be defended
by some patient or other, on the ground that he ex-
perienced no  injury from them  on a certain specified
occasion;  while all, when the rule is  not directly ap-
plied to themselves, will readily admit that such things
are, and must be, very generally  hurtful.
  Happy would it often be for suffering man could he
see beforehand the modicum of punishment which his
                        C2 
 30  UTILITY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE.

 multiplied aberrations from the laws of physiology
 are sure to bring upon him.  But as, in the great ma-
 jority of instances, the breach of the law is limited in
 extent, and becomes serious only by the frequency of
 its repetition; so is the  punishment gradual in its in-
 fliction, and slow in manifesting its accumulated ef-
 fect ; and this very gradation, and the distance of time
 at which the full effect  is produced, are the reasons
 why man in his ignorance so often fails to trace the
 connexion between his conduct in life and his broken
 health.   But the connexion subsists, although he does
 not regard it, and the accumulated consequences come
 upon him when he least expects them.
  Thus, pure air is essential to the full enjoyment of
 health; and reason says, that every degree of vitia-
 tion  must necessarily be proportionally hurtful, till we
 arrive at that degree at which, from its excess, the
 continuance of life becomes impossible.  When we
 state this fact to a delicately constituted female, who
 is fond of frequenting heated rooms, or crowded par-
 ties,  theatres, or churches, and call her attention to
 the hurtful consequences which she must inflict on
 herself by inhaling the vitiated air of such assemblies,
 her answer invariably is, that the closeness and heat
 are very disagreeable, but that they rarely injure her:
 by which  she can only mean, that a single exposure
 to them does  not  always cause an illness serious
 enough to send her to bed or  excite acute pain, al-
 though both results are  admitted sometimes  to  have
 followed.  An intelligent observer, however, has no
difficulty in perceiving that they do hurt her, and that,
 although the effect of each exposure to their influence
 is so gradual as not to arrest attention, it is not the
 less progressive and influential in producing and main-
 taining that general delicacy of health by which she
 is characterized, and from which no medical treat-
 ment can  relieve her so long as its causes are left in
active operation.
  The debility so generally complained of in spring
 by invalids and  persons of a delicate constitution, and
 which renders that season of the year so formidable 
        GRADUAL ORIGIN OF BAD HEALTH.     31

in prospect, and in reality so fatal, seems in numerous
instances to result more from the accumulated effects
of neglect during the preceding winter months, than
from anything directly inherent  in the season itself.
At the commencement of winter, such persons feel
comparatively strong from the beneficial exposure to
the open air, light, and exercise, which they enjoyed
during the summer and autumnal months.  But in pro-
portion  as they are deprived of these advantages by
the advance of winter, and  are  subjected to the evil
consequences of confinement, deficient exercise, cold
damp air, and deprivation of the stimulus of light, the
stamina of the constitution become impaired, and de-
bility and relaxation begin to  be felt, and make prog-
ress from day to day, till on the arrival of spring
they have reached their maximum, and then  either
give rise to positive disease, or again gradually disap-
pear at the return of the invigorating influence of long-
er and  warmer days.  Where, however, pulmonary
disease  or any unusual susceptibility pre-exists, this
principle will not apply; for  in such cases, the east
winds prevalent in spring are directly injurious.
  If the above view be correct, it is obvious that, in
most cases, the hurtful cause is not, as is commonly
supposed, so much any positive quality of the season,
as the accumulated mass of the winter influences then
reaching their maximum ; and this is not perceived,
only because the effect from day to day, although per-
fectly real, is too small to attract notice, while the ag-
gregate  result of the many days composing winter is
striking enough.   The fact that those who deny them-
selves the delight of late parties and crowded rooms,
and are  sufficiently robust to  undergo the necessary
exposure in winter, suffer much less in spring, seems
to corroborate the above explanation.
  We must not suppose, then, that because a  single
excess of any kind does not  produce a direct attack
of disease, it is therefore necessarily harmless; for it
is only when the  noxious agent is very powerful in-
deed that its deleterious influence on the system be-
comes instantly sensible.  In the great majority of 
 32     GRADUAL ORIGIN OF BAD HEALTH.

 situations to which man is exposed in social life, it is
 the continued or the reiterated application of less pow-
 erful causes which gradually, and often imperceptibly,
 Unless to  the vigilant eye, effects the change and  ru-
 ins the constitution before danger is dreamed of; and
 hence, the great mass of human ailments is of slow
 growth and slow progress, and admits only of a slow
 cure; whereas those which  are suddenly induced  by
 violent causes, are urgent in their nature and rapid in
 their course.  And yet so little are we accustomed to
 trace diseased action to its true causes, and to distin-
 guish between the essential  and the accidental in the
 list of consequences, that, as already observed, if  no
 glaring mischief has followed any particular practice
 within, at most, twenty-four hours, nine out often  in-
 dividuals will be found to have come to the conclu-
 sion that it is perfectly harmless, even where it is ca-
 pable of demonstration that  the reverse  is the fact.
  The benevolence and wisdom of this arrangement
 are very conspicuous.  There are many casual influ-
 ences from the agency of which man will  never  be
 able entirely to protect himself.  If they are speedily
 withdrawn from him, the slight disorder which they
produce quickly ceases, and health remains essential-
ly undisturbed.   But, if they be left in operation for
a considerable length of time, the derangement which
they excite gradually and slowly increases, till at last
a state of disease becomes established, which requires
an equally long or longer period, and a steady observ-
ance of the laws of health, for its removal.
  Such is the history of the rise and progress of most
of the  ailments which  afflict the human family, and
the source of the grand distinction between acute and
chronic diseases.  We  are apt to wonder that a se-
vere disease like inflammation should run its course
in a few days, while dyspeptic and nervous ailments
require months for their cure.  But our wonder is di-
minished when we  attend to the fact, that the one
generally dates its rise from a strong cause applied
within perhaps a few hours or a few days ; while the
others are the slow and gradual results of months  of 
CAUSES OF BAD  HEALTH.         33
previous anxiety or neglect of dietetic rules and ex-
ercise, during which the ailment was maturing unno-
ticed  and unsuspected.  Had the real  state of the
matter been early perceived, and the causes been re-
moved, the dyspeptic and the nervous invalids would
have regained health and serenity in proportionally
little time and with proportionally little suffering.  In
such cases, Nature kindly allows some latitude of ac-
tion free of serious penalty, as if on purpose to pro-
tect us from being hurt by such occasional exposure
as we are necessarily subjected to by the ordinary
vicissitudes of life ; but it is always on condition of re-
turning to obedience the moment the necessity is over.
If we presume on the indulgence being permanent,
the evil accumulates and health is destroyed ; but if
we return in time to  the right path, little inconve-
nience results.  Where, however, the injurious influ-
ences are of a more  energetic kind, equal latitude
of exposure is  obviously incompatible  with safety.
Were they not to enforce immediate notice, our  cor-
poreal organs might be irrecoverably altered by dis-
ease before we took the alarm, and it is therefore the
purest benevolence to  attach immediate suffering to
them, in order to ensure that instant  attention which
alone can stay  the rapidity; of their progress.
  In chronic  or slowly arising diseases, then, the  sep-
aration of the effect from its cause is only apparent
and not  real, and in practice it is essential to keep
this in mind.   A fit of insanity, for example, is often
said to have come on without any cause, when, on mi-
nuter examination, causes can be easily traced oper-
ating through many previous months, only not of so
violent a nature as to have at once upset reason, and
the same will  be found to hold in almost all those
slow  and insidious illnesses which so often baffle our
best efforts ;  and  although at  present we  cannot al-
ways discover their true origin, it is clear that we
shall ultimately succeed much better if we believe
them to have causes which may be found out, than if
we regard them as mysteries which no study or at-
tention can ever explain. 
34          CAUSES  OF BAD HEALTH.
  It is this apparent but unreal separation of the ef-
fect from its cause which has given rise to the vari-
ety of opinions entertained in regard to the qualities
of the same agents, and which has, perhaps, tended
more than anything else  to discourage rational  re-
gard to the means of preserving health; and yet this
very variety is a proof  at once of the absence of
sound views of our own nature, and of the urgent ne-
cessity of possessing them.  In society, accordingly,
nothing is more common than to hear the most oppo-
site opinions expressed in regard to the evils or ad-
vantages of particular kinds of clothing, food, and ex-
ercise.   One person will affirm, with perfect sinceri-
ty, that flannel is pernicious,  because it irritates the
skin, and uniformly causes an eruption over the whole
body; and that linen or cotton is an excellent article
of dress,  because it produces no  such consequences.
Another  will tell  us, with equal truth, that flannel is
a capital thing, because it is pleasant  to the feeling,
and  affords protection from  cold  and rheumatism,
which linen does not.  One  will affirm  that a long
walk or violent muscular exercise is an excellent ton-
ic, because it gives a keen appetite, and a vivacity
and alertness which are delightful.   But another will
declare that a long walk or severe exercise is exceed-
ingly injurious  and debilitating,  because it destroys
his  appetite, and  unfits him for  exertion of mind or
body, and always gives him headache.  One  will, in
like manner, praise vegetable as the best diet, and an-
other animal food as infinitely superior, and  so on
through the whole range of the physical objects which
act upon the human frame;  and the natural conse-
quence of these  apparent anomalies and contradic-
tions is, that, when in health,  we come practically to
look upon the effects of air, food, exercise, and dress,
as very much matters of chance, subject to no fixed
rule, and therefore little worth attending to, except
when carried to palpable extremes, or in the cure of
disease.
  In this way, man, instead of being able to protect
his children by the results of his own experience in 
      EVILS OF IGNORANCE  OF PHYSIOLOGY.   35

his journey through life, goes on from generation to
generation, groping a little, then seeing a little, then
groping again, till he arrives, often prematurely, at
the end of his existence, when he stumbles into his
grave, leaving his posterity to pass unaided through
the same  series  of experiments, and arrive at the
same termination, as himself.
  This unnatural  result must arise either  from the
laws which regulate the animal functions and the op-
erations of external objects being variable  and ever
changing, or from the conditions of the living body
on which they act being different in different per-
sons, or  in the same person at different ages or sea-
sons ; and it  is not difficult  to  determine  to which
of these it is to be ascribed.   It cannot be the first,
for the laws of nature are invariable and unbending.
The food which  to-day nourishes  and sustains the
body, and which to-morrow, when sickness is present,
raises the pulse and excites the heart to febrile action,
has not altered its qualities or changed its relation to
the healthy body.   It is the state of the body that has
changed, and caused the apparent discrepance of ef-
fect.  In judging, therefore, of the propriety, advan-
tages, or evils of exercise, food, and clothing, we must
take into consideration not only the kind of exercise,
the kind of food,  and the kind of clothing, but also
the age, health, and kind of constitution of  the  indi-
vidual who uses them, and adapt each to the degree
in which it is required; and then we may rest assured
that many of our difficulties will vanish, and  certainty
and consistency come proportionally into view. *
  Were the intelligent classes of society better ac-
quainted with the functions of the human body,  and
the laws by which they are regulated, many of these
anomalies in practice would disappear, the sources of
much suffering would be dried up, and the happiness
of the community at large be essentially promoted.
Medical men would no longer be consulted  so exclu-
sively for the cure of disease, but would also  be called
upon to advise regarding the best means of  strength-
ening the constitution, from an early period, against 
  36   EVILS OF IGNORANCE OF PHYSIOLOGY.

 any accidental or hereditary susceptibility which might
 be ascertained to exist.  More attention would be paid
 to the preservation of health than is at present practi-
 cable, and the medical man would then be able to ad-
 vise  with increased effect, because he would be pro-
 portionally well understood, and his counsel, in so far
 at least as it was based  on accurate observation and
 a right application of principles, would be perceived
 to be, not a mere human opinion, but, in reality, an ex-
 position of the will and intentions of a beneficent Cre-
 ator, and would therefore be felt as carrying with it
 an authority to which, as the mere dictum of a fallible
 fellow-creature, it can never be considered as enti-
 tled.
   It is true that, as yet, medicine has been turned to
 little  account in the  way of directly promoting  the
 physical and mental welfare of man.  But the day is
 perhaps not far distant, when, in consequence of  the
 improvements both in professional and in general ed-
 ucation now in progress, a degree of interest will be-
 come attached to this application of its  doctrines far
 surpassing what those who have not reflected on the
 subject will be able to imagine  as justly belonging to
 it, but by no means exceeding that which it  truly de-
 serves.
  The practical importance of physiological knowl-
 edge in the training and education of  the young, has
 been overlooked chiefly,  I think,  from the unnatural
 separation of the different branches of  medical  sci-
 ence from each other by its cultivators and teachers,
 and fhe exclusive devotion of each to his own favour-
ite department. The Anatomist, for example, teaches
structure, and structure only, and  refers to the Phys-
iologist for an account of the uses to which it is sub-
servient ; and the Physiologist, on the other hand, ex-
pounds functions, but  scarcely  touches upon the in-
struments by which they are executed.  The conse-
quence is, that the student  often becomes disgusted
with what he considers dry anatomical details, when
perhaps nothing would interest him more deeply were
the purposes which the structure fulfils in the animal 
      EVILS OF IGNORANCE OF PHYSIOLOGY.   37

economy taught to him at the same time.  Many, in
like manner, fail to take any pleasure in the study of
physiology, who would be truly delighted to hear the
truths of which it treats expounded in connexion with
peculiarities of organization, and with more frequent
reference to their practical applications.  The Anat-
omist and Physiologist err, in short, in limiting them-
selves too  exclusively to their own particular pur-
suits, and devoting too little attention to the relations
which these bear to each other and to the great unit,
the living  being, of which they  form a  part.  So
far, indeed, has this separation been carried, and so
injurious is the habit thence arising of contemplating
objects under the narrowest point  of view, that very
lately an able teacher of physiology, in his public lec-
tures, ridiculed the very notion of laying down gener-
al rules for the preservation of health, and imagined
that he had set the matter entirely at rest by the sim-
ple assertion that variety is advantageous, and affirm-
ing that, therefore, uniformity of obedience to any rules
must be prejudicial; as if it were not of the very es-
sence of general  laws to be modified in their opera-
tion and results by the circumstances under which
they act; and as  if, because of such modifications,
their influence might with safety be entirely neglected.
  The result of this erroneous system is, as already
hinted, that the young practitioner is educated without
having made himself sufficiently familiar with the con-
ditions on which the healthy action of the animal econ-
omy depends, or having even  rightly appreciated the
importance of such knowledge; and that, consequent-
ly, in common with his patient, he sometimes unwit-
tingly allows the operation of morbid causes to go on
without interference, where, by a  timely warning on
his part, serious illness might  have been  averted; or
unconsciously permits the gradual ripening of hered-
itary tendencies into active disease, which rational
precautions, early resorted to, might have kept in sub-
jection throughout a long period of existence.
  Some practitioners, I am aware, object to unprofes-
sional persons attempting to make  themselves ac- 
38           EVILS OF  IGNORANCE.
quainted with the structure or functions of the human
body, and, in practice, think it best never to give any
explanation to the patient of the principles on which
it is proposed to conduct the treatment.  But, gener-
ally speaking, it will be  found  that the cheerful co-
operation of the patient is never so effectually secu-
red as by addressing his understanding, and giving him
an intelligible interest in what is proposed for his re-
lief.  In acute diseases, of course, explanation of any
kind is often precluded.  Here  the professional man
must act, and act with  decision.  But the great ma-
jority of ailments are of a chronic character, in the
cure of which the  steady co-operation of the patient
is almost indispensable.  And even when the malady
is acute, the patient will submit to severe  measures
much more  readily when ordered by an adviser who
has been in  the habit of addressing his reason when
opportunity occurred, than when prescribed  by one
who has always followed the system of dictation.
  So far from the rational care  of health being justly
chargeable with the imputation of selfishness, so often
ignorantly thrown out against it, there is nothing
which tends so much to relieve society from the bur-
den of miseries not its own, as each individual taking
such care of his constitution as shall enable him to
cope successfully with the duties  and difficulties of
the situation in which he is placed.  No man is so
thoroughly selfish as he who, in the ardent pursuit of
pleasure or of profit, heedlessly exposes his life to
the hazard of a die, regardless of the suffering which
he may entail upon those who depend on him for sup-
port.  In the abstract, we all admit that the enjoy-
ment of  health is  the first of earthly blessings, and
that without it all others may be lavished in vain;
and yet it has been quaintly asked, " Who is he that
values health at the rate it is worth ?  Not he that hath
it; he reckons it among the  common ordinary enjoy-
ments, and takes as little notice of it, or less regards
it, than his long-worn clothes: perhaps more  careful of
his garments, remembering their price; but thinks his
health costs him nothing, and, coming to him at so easy 
WHAT GOOD HEALTH IS.
39
a rate, values it accordingly, and hath little regard to
keep it: is never truly sensible of what he enjoyed
until he finds the want of it by sickness ; then health,
above all things, is earnestly desired and wished for."
  In proportion, however, as we consider the matter
with  that attention which its importance really de-
serves, we shall become anxious rather to take care
of health when we have it, than first to lose it, and
then exert ourselves to  recover it.   Such was evi-
dently the feeling which elicited  the following re-
marks from the same clear-sighted author:
  " You that have health," says he, " and know not
how to prize it, I'll tell you what it is, that you may love
it better, put a higher value upon it, and endeavour to
preserve it with a more serious, stricter observance
and tuition.
  " Health  is that which makes your meat and drink
both savoury and pleasant, else Nature's injunction of
eating and drinking were a hard task  and slavish cus-
tom.
  " Health  is that which makes your bed easy and your
sleep refreshing; that revives your strength with the
rising sun, and makes you cheerful at the light of an-
other day; 'tis that which fills up the hollow  and un-
even places of your carcass, and  makes your body
plump and comely ; 'tis that which  dresseth you up in
Nature's richest attire, and adorns your face with her
choicest colours.
  " 'Tis that which makes exercise a  sport, and walk-
ing abroad  the  enjoyment of your  liberty.
  " 'Tis that which makes fertile and increaseth the
natural endowments of your mind, and preserves them
long from decay, makes your wit acute, and your mem-
ory retentive.
  " 'Tis that which supports the fragility of a corrup-
tible body, and preserves the verdure, vigour, and beauty
of youth.
  " 'Tis that which makes the soul take delight in her
mansion, sporting herself at the casement of your eyes.
  "'Tis  that which makes pleasure to be pleasure,
and delights delightful, without which you can sol 
40           WHAT BAD HEALTH  IS.
ace yourself in nothing of terrene felicities or enjoy-
ments."
  But " now take a view of yourself when health has
turned its back upon you, and deserts your company;
see then how the scene is changed, how you are rob-
bed and spoiled of all your comforts and enjoyments.
  " Sleep that was stretched out from evening to the
fair bright day, is now broken into pieces, and subdi-
vided, not worth  the accounting;  the night that before
seemed short  is now too long,  and the downy bed
presseth hard  against the bones.
  " Exercise is now toylmg, and walking abroad the
carrying of a burthen.
  " The eye that flasht as lightning is now like the
opacous body of a thick cloud; that rolled from east
to west, swifter than a  celestial orb, is now tired and
weary with standing still;  that penetrated the centre
of another microcosm,  hath lost its  planetary influ-
ence, and is become obtuse and dull," &c.
  If such, then, be a true picture of the opposite con-
ditions of health and disease, what stronger induce-
ments can any one require to give him an interest in
the " study and  observance of Nature's institutions,"
seeing that  they are the only means by which " the
beloved ends and wished-for  enjoyments" can be at-
tained, and that we  " may as likely keep or acquire
riches by •prodigality, as preserve health and obtain long
life by intemperance, inordinate  passions, a noxious
air, and such like injurious customs, ways, and man-
ner of living V*

  * Maynwaringe on the Method and Means of Health, 1683. 
CHAPTER II.
       STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THK SKIN.

The Skin—composed of three Layers.—The Cuticle—its Struc-
  ture and Uses.—The Mucous Coat—the Seat of Colour.—The
  True Skin—its Structure—the Seat of Perspiration—its Nature
  —Consequences of Suppressed Perspiration.—Sympathy be-
  tween the Skin and other Organs.—The Skin a Regulator of
  Animal Heat.—The  Seat of Absorption.—Touch and Sensa-
  tion.—Connexion between the Skin and Nervous System.

  In selecting the subjects of the following essays, I
shall, as hinted in the preface, be guided partly by the
intrinsic importance of the functions of which they
treat  to the well-being of the animal  economy, and
partly by the comparative ignorance which  prevails
in regard to them.  Hitherto the digestive functions
have formed the most prominent topic of disquisition,
and a great mass of  information has, from time to
time, been laid before the public, with a view to in-
duce  greater attention to the regulation of diet and re-
gimen; and the action of digestive disorder, in deran-
ging the general health and modifying the progress of
disease, has also been sedulously pointed  out.   But
there are other organs and functions, of nearly equal
interest, which have been much less attended to than
they deserve, and with which the general reader is
very little familiar.  Among these the Skin, the Mus-
cles, the Bones, the Lungs, and the Nervous  System,
may be mentioned as most worthy of notice, and I
shall  accordingly endeavour to give such an  account
of them in  succession, as will be both intelligible and
of direct practical utility to every one.   I shall com-
mence with an explanation of the structure and func-
tions of the Skin.
   The skin is  that membranous  covering which is
spread over the whole surface of the body, and which
                      D2 
42         STRUCTURE OF THE SKIN.
 serves to bind together and to protect from injury the
 subjacent and more delicate textures.  In different
 animals  and at different parts of the body, it assumes
 different appearances.  It is smooth, soft, and delicate
 in youth and in females; firmer and  more resisting
 in middle age and in males; flabby and wrinkled in
 old age and after disease; puckered  or disposed in
 folds in places that admit of extensive flexion, as over
 the finger-joints  and  in the palm of the hand; and
 thick and horny where it is subjected to the influence
 of pressure, as in the soles of the feet.
  The structure  of the skin, like that  of every other
 part of the animal frame, displays the most  striking
 proofs of the transcendent wisdom and beneficence of
 its great Creator.  Though simple in appearance and
 design, it is a compound of many elements,  and the
 seat of as great a variety of functions.  It is compo-
 sed of three layers of membrane, viz., the  thin scarf-
 skin or cuticle, the mucous coat, and the  thick true skin,
 as it is called, which immediately encompasses the
body.  These distinctions should be kept in view; for,
 as it is a general law of the animal economy  that ev-
ery part has a use or function  peculiar to itself, the
various uses of the compound can be understood only
by attending to those of the simple elements.
  The epidermis, cuticle, or scarf skin, is the  outermost
of the three layers, and is that which is raised in blis-
ters. It is a thin, continuous, and insensible membrane,
and has  no perceptible  bloodvessels or nerves, and,
consequently, neither bleeds nor feels  pain when cut
or abraded.  Being homogeneous in  structure, it is
supposed by many to be merely an  exudation  of al-
buminous mucus ; and although depressions are obvi-
ous on its surface, and exhalation and  absorption are
proved to be carried on through its substance, it is
still in dispute whether  it be actually porous or not.
Probability is in favour of the affirmative, and the cir-
 cumstance of the pores not being visible is no proof
 of the contrary: for the cuticle is so  elastic, that it
 may be perforated by a  needle, and yet the hole not
be discernible even under the microscope.  The ques- 
          STRUCTURE OF  THE  CUTICLE.      43

lion is, however, one of little moment, provided it be
remembered that its texture, whether perforated or
not, is such as to admit of exhalation and absorption
taking place through its substance.
  The structure of the cuticle is  in admirable harmo-
ny with its uses.  Placed as an insensible interme-
dium  between external objects and the delicate ner-
vous expansion on the surface of the subjacent true
skin, it serves as a physical defence against friction ;
and while, by impeding evaporation, it preserves the
true skin in that soft and moist state which is essen-
tial to its utility, it also, by impeding absorption, ena-
bles man to expose himself without injury to the ac-
tion of numerous agents, which, but for its protection,
would immediately be absorbed, and cause the speedy
destruction of health and  life.  This is remarkably
exemplified in several trades, where the workman is
unavoidably exposed to an atmosphere loaded with
metallic and poisonous vapours, or obliged to handle
poisonous  substances; and where, without the ob-
struction of the cuticle, the evils to which he is sub-
jected would be aggravated a hundred  fold.   Being
destitute of nerves, the cuticle is not hurt by the di-
rect contact of external bodies;  and being very thin,
it blunts without impairing the distinctness of the im-
pression made on the nerves of sensation.  The ne-
cessity of this latter provision becomes very obvious,
when the cuticle is abraded or removed by vesication.
The surface below is then found  to be too  tender and
irritable for the exercise of touch, and conveys to the
mind  scarcely any other sensation than  that  of pain.
  For the same reason, those parts of the skin which
are most exposed to pressure and friction, such as the
palms of the hands and  soles of the feet, are pro-
vided with a thicker cuticle to defend them  from in-
jury.  The greater thickness of the cuticle in such
situations  is  manifestly the intentional  work of the
Creator, for it is perceptible even at birth, before use
can have exercised any influence.  Indeed, were the
tender skin not so protected, every violent  contrac-
tion of the hand upon a rough and hard surface, and 
44           USES OF THE CUTICLE.
every step made on uneven ground, would cause pain,
and disable us for exertion.
  By another beneficent provision, calculated to af-
ford increased protection according to the necessities
of the individual, it happens that, when a part is much
used, the  cuticle covering it  becomes  thicker and
thicker within certain limits, till in extreme cases it
becomes as thick, hard, and resisting as horn.  It is
this thickening of the epidermis on the  lady's finger
that alone enables her to wield with impunity that im-
portant  instrument the needle.  And it is the  same
thickening that fits the blacksmith and the mason, the
stone-breaker  and the boatman, to ply  their trades,
without that painful blistering which the young ap-
prentice or unaccustomed labourer so regularly un-
dergoes, and which must have continued to recur for
ever had the cuticle  been organized with bloodves-
sels and nerves, or not  subjected to this law of be-
coming thicker wherever increased protection is re-
quired.
  Another modification of the  cuticle to suit a modi-
fication of circumstances, is that observed in the nails.
These belong to the cuticle,  and  separate with it;
and, like it, they have neither bloodvessels nor nerves,
and  may be cut or bruised without pain.  When the
hand or foot is macerated in water, the nails  and the
cuticle show their identity of organization, by separ-
ating together from  the dermis or true skin below.
The nails, like the cuticle, serve chiefly to protect the
subjacent parts from injury; and accordingly, in those
lower animals whose manner of life subjects  their
feet to continual pressure, and  requires no nice exer-
cise of touch, Nature has provided horny and resist-
ing hoofs for their protection instead of merely a
thickened epidermis.
  To produce thickening of the cuticle, exercise  must
be gradual, and not  too severe.  If, for example, a
person takes a very long walk, rows a boat, or makes
use of a heavy hammer for a few hours, without hav-
ing been accustomed to such  an effort, there is  no
time for the cuticle to thicken, and  defend itself from 
   STRUCTURE AND USES OF THE MUCOUS COAT.  45

the unusual friction.  The parts below, being inade-
quately protected, become irritated and inflamed, and
throw out a quantity of watery fluid or serum on their
surface, which raises up the cuticle in blisters, and, by
making it painful to continue the pressure, obliges the
person to desist from an exercise which, if continued,
would evidently soon  alter the structure  of  the sen-
tient nervous filaments, and for ever unfit them  for
their proper uses: so that even in this result, benefi-
cence and wisdom are prominently displayed.
  Immediately beneath  the scarfskin, and between it
and the true skin, is the mucous coat, rete mucosum, or
mucous network, which is remarkable  chiefly as being
the seat of the colouring  matter of  the  skin.  It is
seen with difficulty on dissection except in negroes,
in whom it is thick.  It is exceedingly attenuated in
albinoes, and is, in fact, thick in proportion to the depth
of colour.  It is destitute of bloodvessels  and nerves,
but, like the epidermis, is permeable by other bodies.
The colouring matter is said to be the same as that
of the blood; Davy and Blumenbach, however, regard
it as carbon.
  From all that is known regarding the mucous coat,
it may be viewed generally as merely a thin soft cov-
ering, placed between the outer  and the inner skin, to
protect the nerves and vessels of the latter, and give
them their requisite softness and pliancy.  Being of a
dark colour in the  negro, it has been supposed to di-
minish the heating influence of the sun's rays in tropi-
cal climates by the higher radiating  power which is
possessed by a black than by  a light surface; but
there  is reason to  doubt the soundness of the theory
at least, for black is well known to excel in absorbing,
as well  as in radiating, heat; and late  experiments on
the coast of Africa seem to  show, that the tempera-
ture of the negro  is actually about  two degrees high-
er than that of the European under the same circum
stances.
  The mucous coat is the seat of the  beautiful and
variegated colouring observed in the skins of many
fishes and other animals, in which it has often a high
and almost metallic splendour. 
46      STRUCTURE OF  THE TRUE  SKIN.
   The third or inmost layer, called the true skin, cutis,
 dermis, or corion, constitutes the chief thickness of the
 skin, and is by far the most important of the three,
 both  in structure and functions.  Unlike the  cuticle
 and  mucous  coat, which  are homogeneous in their
 whole extent, and apparently without organization,
the true skin, or simply, as we shall  sometimes call
it for brevity's sake, the skin, is very delicately organ-
ized, and endowed with the principle of life in a very
high degree.   Not only is it the beautiful and effica-
cious protector of the subjacent structures, but  it is
the seat of sensation and of touch, and the instrument
of a very important exhalation, viz., perspiration, the
right condition or disturbance of which is a most pow-
erful agent in the  preservation or subversion  of the
general health.  The dermis is a dense, firm, and resist-
ant tissue,  possessed  of great extensibility and elas-
ticity, and of a colour more or less red in proportion
to the quantity of blood it receives and contains.  Its
looser internal surface, which is united to the cellular
membrane  in which the fat is deposited, presents a
great number of cells or cavities, which penetrate ob-
liquely into the substance, and towards the external
surface of the  skin, and  also contain fatty matter.
These areolae or cells  are larger on some parts of the
body than on others: they are very small on the back
of the hand and foot,  the forehead, and other places
where fat is never deposited and the  skin has much
tenuity; while they are large in the palm of the hand
and sole  of the foot, where the skin is consequently
thicker and fat abounds.   These cells are traversed
by innumerable bloodvessels and filaments of nerves;
the latter passing through  to be ramified on the outer
surface of the skin, where they show themselves in
the form of numerous small papillae or points, which
are very  visible on the surface of the  tongue, and on
the fingers and palm of the hand.  These papillae con-
stitute the true organs of touch and sensation, and are
therefore most thickly planted where these senses are
most acute*
  The true skin is so abundantly supplied with blood 
USES  OF THE  TRUE  SKIN.         47
and nervous power, that, for practical purposes, it
may almost be regarded as composed of vessels and
nerves alone ; and it is important to notice this fact.
The universal and equal redness of the skin in blush-
ing is itself a proof of great vascularity; but a  still
stronger consists in our being unable to  direct the
point of the finest needle into any spot without punc-
turing a vessel and drawing blood.   The  same  test
proves the equal abundance of nervous filaments in
the skin;  for  not a point can be punctured without
transfixing a nerve  and causing pain;  and it is well
known that, in surgical operations  and  accidental
wounds, the chief pain is always in the skin, because
it is profusely supplied with nerves of sensation on
purpose to serve as an instrument of feeling.  From
these examples, it is plain that the skin may be truly
considered as a network of bloodvessels and nerves
of the finest conceivable texture; and, taking the vast
extent of its whole surface (estimated to exceed  in a
man of average size 2500 square inches) into account,
we can easily understand how these minute ramifica-
tions may really constitute a larger mass of  nervous
matter than what is contained in the original trunks
of the nerves from which they are incorrectly said to
arise, and also how so large a proportion of the whole
blood may be circulated through the skin at one time.
  To understand the important purposes of the true
skin, we  must  distinguish  between its constituent
parts, and consider it in virtue of each of them,  1st,
As an exhalant of  waste matter from  the system;
2dly, As a joint regulator of the heat  of the body;
3%, As  an agent of  absorption; and, \thly, As the
seat of sensation and touch.

  Besides performing the mechanical office of a shield
to the parts beneath, the skin if admirably fitted, by
the great supply of blood which it receives, for its use
as a secreting and excreting organ.  The whole ani-
mal system is in a state of constant decay and reno-
vation ;  and while the stomach and alimentary canal
take in new materials, the skin forms one of the prin- 
48         INSENSIBLE PERSPIRATION.
cipal outlets or channels by which the  old, altered,
or useless  particles  are  eliminated from the body;
and hence, as all the secretions and excretions are de-
rived directly from the circulating blood, the skin ob-
viously requires a supply large in proportion to the ex-
tent of its function.   Every  one knows  that the skin
perspires, and that checked perspiration  is a powerful
cause of disease and of death; but few have any just
notion of the real extent and influence of this exhala-
tion such as we  shall attempt to exhibit it.   When
the body is overheated by exercise in warm weather,
a copious sweat soon breaks  out, which, by evapo-
rating and  so carrying off the superfluous heat, pro-
duces an agreeable feeling of  coolness  and  refresh-
ment.*  This is  the higher and more obvious degree
of the  function  of exhalation; but, in the ordinary
state, the skin is  constantly giving out a large quantity
of waste materials by what is called insensible perspi-
ration, a process which is of great importance to the
preservation of health, and which is called insensible
because the exhalation, being in the form of vapour,
and carried off by the surrounding air, is invisible to
the eye; but its presence may often be made mani-
fest, even to the  sight, by the near approach of a dry
cool mirror, on  the surface of which it will soon be
condensed  so as to become visible.
  Many attempts have been made to  estimate accu-
rately the amount of exhaled matter carried off through
the skin; but so many difficulties stand in the way of
obtaining precise results, and the difference in differ-
ent constitutions, and even in the same person at dif-
ferent  times, is  so great, that we  must be  satisfied
with an approximation to the truth.   Sanctorius, who
carefully weighed himself, his food, and  his  excre-
tions, in a balance every day for thirty years, came to
the conclusion that five out of every eight pounds of
substances taken into the  system passed out of  it
again by the  skin, leaving only three to pass  off by

  * The effect of evaporation in reducing temperature is explain-
ed more fully on p. 59. 
            INSENSIBLE PERSPIRATION.        49

the bowels, the lungs, and the kidneys.  The cele-
brated Lavoisier  and M. Seguin  afterward  entered
on the same field of inquiry, and with greater success,
as they were the first to distinguish between the cu-
taneous and pulmonary exhalations.  M. Seguin shut
himself up in a bag of glazed taffetas, which was tied
over his head and provided with a hole, the edges of
which were glued  to his lips with a  mixture of tur-
pentine and pitch, so that the pulmonary exhalation
might be  thrown outward, and the cutaneous  alone
be retained in the bag.   He first weighed himself and
the bag in a very nice balance, at the beginning of the
experiment; then at  the end of it, when he  had be-
come lighter in proportion to the  quantity of exhala-
tion  thrown out  by the breathing;  and,  lastly, he
weighed himself out of the bag, to ascertain how much
weight he had lost in all; and by subtracting the loss
occasioned by the lungs, the remainder, of course, ex-
hibited the amount carried off by the skin.  He at-
tended minutely also to the collateral circumstances
of diet, temperature,  &c.;  and allowance being made
for these, the results at which he arrived were  the
following:
  The largest quantity of insensible perspiration from
the lungs  and skin together amounted to thirty-two
grains per minute, three ounces  and a  quarter per
hour, or five pounds per  day.  Of  this, the cutaneous
constituted three fourths or sixty ounces in twenty-
four hours.  The smallest quantity observed amount-
ed to eleven grains per minute, or one pound eleven
and a half ounces in twenty-four hours, of which the
skin  furnished about twenty ounces.  The medium or
average amount was eighteen  grains a minute, of
which eleven were from the skin, making the cutane-
ous perspiration in twenty-four hours about thirty-
three ounces.  When  the extent of surface which the
skin presents is considered, these results do not seem
extravagant. But even admitting that there may be
some unperceived source of fallacy in the experi-
ments, and that the quantity is not so great as is here
stated, still, after making every allowance, enough re-
                       E 
50          SENSIBLE PERSPIRATION.
 mains to demonstrate that exhalation is a very impor-
 tant function of the skin.  And although  the precise
 amount of  perspiration  may be disputed,  the greater
 number of  observers agree that the cutaneous exha-
 lation is more abundant than the united excretions of
 both bowels and kidneys; and that, according as the
 weather becomes warmer or colder, the skin and kid-
 neys alternate in the proportions of work  which they
 severally perform; most passing off by the skin in
 warm weather, and by the kidneys in cold.  The quan-
 tity exhaled increases  after meals, during sleep, in
 dry warm weather, and by friction or whatever stimu-
 lates the skin;  and diminishes when digestion is im-
 paired, and  in a moist atmosphere.
   What we have considered relates only to the insen-
 sible perspiration.  That which is caused  by  great
 heat or severe exercise, is evolved in much greater
 quantity; and by accumulating at  the surface, it be-
 comes  visible, and forms sweat.  In this way, a ro-
 bust man may lose two or  three pounds' weight in
 the course of one hour's  severe exertion;  and if this
 be suddenly checked, the  consequences  in certain
 states of the system are often of the most serious de-
 scription.  When  the surface  of the body is chilled
 by cold, the bloodvessels of the skin become contract-
 ed in their diameter, and hinder  the free entrance of
 the red particles of the blood, which are therefore of
 necessity collected and retained in greater quantity
 in the internal organs, where the heat varies very lit-
 tle.  The skin, consequently, becomes pale, and its
 papillae  contract,  forming by their erection what is
 called the goose's skin.   In this state it becomes less
 fit for its uses ; the sense of touch can no longer nice-
 ly discriminate  the qualities  of bodies, and a cut or
 bruise may be received with comparatively  little pain.
 From the oppression of too much blood, the internal
parts, on the other hand, work heavily: the mental
organs are weakened, sleepiness is  induced, respira-
tion  is oppressed, the circulation languishes, and di-
 gestion  ceases; and if the cold be very intense, the
 vital functions are at last extinguished without pain 
           NATURE OF  PERSPIRATION.        51

 and without a struggle.   This is a picture of the ex-
 treme degree; but the same causes which, in an ag-
 gravated form, occasion death, produce, when applied
 in a minor degree, effects equally certain,  although
 not equally marked or speedy in their appearance.
  According to Thenard, the cutaneous exhalation is
 composed of a large quantity of water and a small por-
 tion of acetic acid, of muriates of soda and potass, of
 an earthy phosphate, a little oxyde of iron, and some
 animal matter; but Berzelius considers the acid as
 lactic, and not the acetic.  Some carbonic  acid  and
 oily matter also  are excreted.  It is probable, how-
 ever,  that the composition of the perspiration varies
 both  at different ages and on different parts of  the
 skin,  as is presumable from the peculiarity of odour
 which it exhales in some  situations.   The armpits,
 the groins, the forehead, the hands, and the feet, per-
 spire  most readily, and for this purpose receive a pro-
 portionally larger^supply of blood.  Everything tends
 to show that perspiration is a direct product of a vital
 process, and not  a mere exudation of watery particles
 through the pores of the skin.
  Taking even the lowest estimate of Lavoisier, we
 find the skin endowed with the important charge of
 removing from the system about twenty ounces of
waste matter every twenty-four hours; and when we
 consider that the quantity not only is great, but is sent
 forth  in so divided a state as to be invisible to the eye,
and that the whole of it is  given out by the very  mi-
nute ramifications of the bloodvessels of the skin, we
perceive at once  why these are so extremely numer-
ous that a pin's point cannot touch any spot without
piercing  them; and we  see an ample reason why,
 independently  of the  impression made through  the
 medium of the nervous system, checked  perspira-
tion should prove so detrimental to health—because
 for  every twenty-four hours during which such a state
continues, we must either have twenty ounces of use-
less and hurtful matter accumulating in the body, or
have some of the other organs of excretion grievous-
ly overtasked, which obviously cannot happen with- 
 52  RECIPROCAL ACTION BETWEEN THE SKIN

 out disturbing their regularity and well-being.  Peo-
 ple know the fact, and wonder that it should be so,
 that cold applied to the skin, or  continued exposure
 in a cold day, often produces a bowel complaint, a
 severe cold in the chest, or inflammation of some in-
 ternal  organ :  but were they taught, as they ought to
 be, the structure and uses of their own bodies, they
 would  rather wonder that it did not always produce
 one of these effects.
  In tracing the connexion between suppressed per-
 spiration and the production of individual diseases, we
 shall find that those organs which possess some simi-
 larity of function sympathize most closely with each
 other.  Thus the skin, the bowels, the lungs, the liv-
 er, and the  kidneys, sympathize readily, because they
 have all the common office of throwing waste matter
 out of the system, each in a way peculiar to  its own
 structure; so that if the exhalation from the skin, for
 example, be stopped by long exposure to cold, the
 large quantity of waste matter which it was charged
 to excrete, and which in itself is hurtful to the sys-
 tem, will most probably be thrown upon one or other
of the above-named organs, whose functions will, con-
 sequently, become excited ; and if any of them, from
constitutional or accidental causes, be already weaker
than the rest, as  often  happens, its health will natu-
rally be the first  to suffer.  In this way, the  bowels
become irritated in one individual, and occasion bow-
el complaints ; while in another, it is the lungs which
become affected, giving rise to catarrh or common
 cold, or perhaps even to inflammation.  When, on the
other hand, all these organs are in a state of vigorous
health, a  temporary increase of function takes place
 in them, and relieves the system, without leading to
 any local disorder; and the skin itself speedily resumes
 its activity, and restores the balance among them.
  One  of the  most obvious illustrations of this reci-
 procity of action is afforded by any convivial  compa-
 ny seated in  a warm room in a cold evening.   The
 heat of the room, the food and wine, and the excite-
 ment of the moment, stimulate the skin, cause an af- 
AND OTHER  ORGANS.
53
flux of blood to the surface, and increase in a high
degree the flow of the insensible perspiration ; which
thus,  while the heat continues, carries off an  undue
share of the fluids of the body, and leaves the kidneys
almost at rest.  But the moment the company goes
into the cold external air, a sudden reversal of opera-
tions  takes place;  the cold chills  the surface, stops
the perspiration, and directs the current of the blood
towards the internal organs, which presently become
excited; and, under this excitation, the kidneys, for
example, will in a few minutes secrete as  much of
their  peculiar fluid as they did in as many of the pre-
ceding hours.   The reverse of this, again, is  common
in diseases obstructing the secretion from the  kid-
neys ; for the  perspiration from the skin is then alter-
ed in  quantity and quality, and acquires much of the
peculiar smell of the urinary fluid.
  When the lungs are weak, and  their  lining  mem-
brane is habitually relaxed, and  secretes an unusual
amount of mucus from its surface, the mass of blood
thrown  inward upon the lungs by cold applied to the
skin, increases that secretion to a high degree.  Were
this secretion to accumulate, it would soon fill up the
air-cells of the lungs and cause suffocation; but, to
obviate  this danger, the Creator has so constituted the
lungs, that accumulated mucus, or any foreign body
coming in contact with them, excites the convulsive
effort called coughing, by which a violent and rapid
expiration takes place, with a force sufficient to hurry
the mucus or other foreign body along with it: just as
pease are discharged by boys with much force through
short  tubes by a sudden effort of blowing.   Thus, a
check given to perspiration, by diminishing the quan-
tity of  blood  previously circulating on  the  surface,
naturally leads very often to increased expectoration
and cough, or, in other words, to common cold.
  The lungs excrete, as  already noticed, and as we
shall afterward more fully see, a large proportion of
waste materials from the system; and the  kidneys,
the liver, and the bowels have in so far a similar of-
fice.  In consequence of this alliance with the skin,
                       E2 
54 RECIPROCAL ACTION BETWEEN THE SKIN

these parts are more intimately connected with each
other in healthy and diseased action than with other
organs.   But it is a general law, that whenever an or-
gan is unusually delicate, it will be more easily affect-
ed by any cause of disease than those which  are
sound : so that, if the nervous system, for example,
be weaker than other parts, a chill will be more  likely
to disturb its health than that of the lungs, which are
supposed, in this instance, to be constitutionally stron-
ger; or, if the muscular and  fibrous organizations be
unusually susceptible of disturbance, either from-pre-
vious illness or from natural predisposition, they will
be the first  to suffer, and rheumatism will ensue; and
so on. And hence  the utility to the physician  of an
intimate  acquaintance with  the  previous habits and
constitutions of his patients, and  the advantage of
adapting  the remedies to the nature  of the cause,
when it can be discovered, as well as  to the disease
itself.  A bowel complaint,  for instance, may arise
from  overeating as  well as from a check  to perspi-
ration ; but although the thing to be cured is the  same,
the means of cure ought obviously to be different. In
the one  instance, an emetic or  laxative to carry off
the offending cause, and in the other a diaphoretic to
open the  skin, will be the most rational and efficacious
remedies.  Facts like these expose well the glaring
ignorance and effrontery of the quack,  who affirms
that his one remedy will cure every form of disease.
Were the public not equally ignorant with himself,
their  credulity would cease to afford to his presump-
tion the rich field in which it now revels.
  The close sympathy between the skin and  the
stomach  and bowels has often been noticed, and it is
now well understood that most of the obstinate erup-
tions  which appear on the face and rest of the sur-
face owe their origin to disorders of the digestive or-
gans, and are  most successfully cured by treatment
directed  to the  internal disease.  Even among the
lower animals, the sympathy between the two is so
marked as to have arrested attention.  Thus, in speak-
ing of the  horse, Delabere  Blaine says, " by a wen- 
AND OTHER  ORGANS.
55
known consent of parts between the skin and aliment-
ary canal in general, but between the first passages
and the stomach in  particular, it follows, in  almost
every instance, that when one of these becomes af-
fected, the other takes on a sympathetic derangement
also, and  the condition is then  morbid throughout.
From close observation and the  accumulation of nu-
merous facts, I am disposed to think, that so  perfect
is this sympathetic consent between these two dis-
tant parts or organs, that they change the order of at-
tack as circumstances occur.   Thus, when the skin is
primarily affected, the stomach becomes secondarily
so, and vice versa," so that " a sudden check to the
natural or acquired heat  of the  body, particularly if
aggravated by the evaporation of a perspiring state,"
as often brings on disease of some internal organ, as
if the cause were applied directly to the organ itself.*
  In noticing this connexion between the suppression
of perspiration and the appearance of internal disease,
I do not mean to affirm that the  effect is produced by
the physical transference of the suppressed  exhala-
tion to the internal organ.   In  many instances, the
chief  impression seems to be made on  the nervous
system;  and the manner in which it  gives rise to the
resulting disease is often extremely obscure.   Our
knowledge of the animal functions is, indeed, still so
 imperfect, that we daily meet  with many occurrences
of which no explanation can be given.   But it is nev-
ertheless of high utility to make known the fact, that
 a connexion does exist between two  orders of phe-
 nomena, as it calls  attention  to their more accurate
 observation, and leads to the adoption of useful prac-
 tical rules, even when their mode of operation is not
 understood.   Nothing, indeed, can be more delusive
  than the rash application of merely  physical laws to
  the explanation of  the phenomena  Of living beings.
  Vitality  is a  principle superior to,  and  in continual
  warfare with, the laws which regulate the actions of
  inanimate bodies; and it is only after life has become

    * Blaine's Outlines of the Veterinary Art. Third edition, p. 65. 
56  RECIPROCAL ACTION BETWEEN THE SKiTT

extinct that these laws regain the mastery, and lead
to the rapid decomposition of the animal machine.
In studying the functions of the human body, there-
fore, we must be careful  not to hurry to conclusions,
before taking time to examine the influence of the vi-
tal principle in modifying the expected results.*
  It is in consequence of the sympathy and recipro-
city of action existing between the skin and the inter-
nal organs that burns and even scalds of no very great
extent prove fatal, by inducing  internal, generally in-
testinal, inflammation.   By disordering or disorgan-
izing a large nervous and exhaling surface, an exten-
sive burn causes not only a violent nervous commo-
tion, but a continued partial suspension of an impor-
tant excretion; and, when death ensues at some dis-
tance of time, it is  almost always in consequence of
inflammation being excited in the bowels or sympa-
thizing organ.  So  intimate, indeed, is this connex-
ion, that some surgeons of great experience, such as
the late Baron Dupuytren, of the Hotel  Dieu, while
they point to internal inflammation as  in  such cases
the general cause of death, doubt if recovery ever
takes place when more  than one eighth  of the sur-
face of the body is severely burned.  And whether this
estimate be correct or not, the facts from which it is
drawn clearly demonstrate the importance of the re-
lation subsisting between the skin and the other ex-
creting organs.
  In some constitutions, a singular enough sympathy
exists between the skin  and the bowels.   Dr.  A. T.
Thomson, in his work on Materia Medica (p. 42), men-
tions that he is acquainted with a clergyman who can-
not bear the skin  to be sponged with vinegar and wa-
ter, or any diluted acid, without suffering spasm and

  * After the corresponding sheets of the first edition were print-
ed, I met with some excellent  practical remarks on the sympathy
between the skin and the thoracic and abdominal viscera, in Dr.
Jambs Johnson's " Treatise on Derangements of the Liver, In-
ternal Organs, and Nervous System," published some years ago.
They deserve every attention on the part of the profession, as
showing how affections of different organs influence each other. 
AND OTHER ORGANS.
57
violent griping of the bowels.  The reverse operation
of this sympathy is exemplified in the frequent pro-
duction of nettle-rash and other eruptions on the skin,
by shellfish and other substances taken into the stom-
ach.  Dr. Thomson tells us, that the late Dr. Gregory
could not eat the smallest portion of the white of an
egg without experiencing an attack  of an eruption
like nettle-rash.  According to the same author, even
strawberries have been known to cause fainting, fol-
lowed by a petechial efflorescence of the skin.
  We have seen that the insensible perspiration  re-
moves from the system, without trouble and without
consciousness, a large quantity of useless  materials,
and at the same time keeps the  skin soft and moist,
and thereby fits it for the performance of its functions
as the organ  of an external sense.   In addition to
these purposes, the Creator has, in his  omniscience
and foresight, and  with that regard  to  simplicity of
means which betokens a profoundness of thought in-
conceivable to us, superadded another,  scarcely less
important, and which is in some degree implied in the
former;  I mean the proper regulation of the bodily
heat.   It is well known that, in the polar regions and
in the torrid zone, under every variety of circumstan-
ces, the  human body retains nearly  the same tem-
perature, however different may be that of the air by
which it is surrounded.  This is a property peculiar
to life, and, in consequence of it, even vegetables have
a power of modifying their own temperature, though
in a much more limited degree.  Without this power
of adaptation, it is  obvious that man must have been
chained for life to the climate which gave him birth,
and  even then have suffered constantly from the
change of seasons ;  whereas, by possessing it, he can
retain life in a temperature sufficiently cold to freeze
mercury, and is able for a time to sustain, unharmed,
a heat more than sufficient  to boil water or even to
bake  meat.  Witness the wintering of Captain Parry
and his companions in the Polar Regions ; and the ex-
periments of  Blagden, Sir Joseph  Banks, and others,
who remained for many minutes in a room heated to 
58 THE SKIN A REGULATOR OF ANIMAL HEAT.

960°, or about 50° above the temperature  of boiling
water.  The chief agents in this wonderful adaptation
of man to his external situation, are undoubtedly the
skin and the lungs, in both of which the power is in-
timately connected with the condition of their respect-
ive exhalations.   But it  is of the  skin alone, as an
agent in reducing animal  heat, that we are at present
to speak.
  The sources of animal heat are not yet demonstra-
bly ascertained;  but that it is  constantly  generated
and constantly expended  has been  long known ;  and
if any  considerable disproportion  occurs  between
these processes, it is at the immediate risk of health
During repose or passive exercise, such as riding in
a carriage or sailing, the surplus heat is readily car-
ried off by the insensible  perspiration from the lungs
and skin, and by the contact of the colder air; but when
the amount of heat generated is increased, as during
active exercise, an  increased  expenditure becomes
immediately necessary : this is effected by the  skin
and lungs being excited to higher action ; by the lat-
ter sending out the  respired air loaded with vapour,
and the former exhaling its fluid so rapidly as to form
a sweat.  Accordingly, we find that in cold  countries
and in frosty weather, the exhalation from the skin is
reduced to a  very moderate amount, the superabun-
dant heat being rapidly carried off  by contact with a
cooler air; and that, in warm climates, where the heat
is not carried off in this way, the surface is constantly
bedewed with perspiration, and a corresponding appe-
tite exists for liquids by which the perspiration may
be kept  up to  a sufficient degree.   Every one must
have experienced the grateful effects of this provision,
in passing from the dry, restless, and burning heat,
like that of fever, to the soft  and  pleasant coolness
which follows the breaking out of the sweat.
  Attention to the order of events affords the requi-
site knowledge of the means  employed for carrying
off the increased heat which is produced when a per-
son is exposed to a warm  air and powerful sun, or
engaged in severe exercise.  At first, the body is ac- 
    THE  SKIN A REGULATOR OF ANIMAL HEAT.  59

tually felt to be warmer, the skin becomes dry and
hot, and  the unpleasant sensation of heat is soon at
its maximum.  By-and-by a slight  moisture is per-
ceived on the  surface, followed by an immediate in-
crease of comfort.  In a short time afterward this
moisture passes into free and copious perspiration;
and if the heat or exertion be still kept up, the sweat
becomes profuse, and drops from the body or wets the
clothes which envelop it.  A decrease of animal heat
unavoidably accompanies this, because, independent-
ly of any vital action contributing to this effect, as is
most probable, the mere physical evaporation of  so
much fluid is itself sufficient to carry off a large quan-
tity of caloric.  The curious experiments of Edwards
tend to show that evaporation is really the only means
required  for reducing animal heat to its proper de-
gree ; but the  results obtained by him require  to  be
confirmed, and the experiments varied and carried
farther, before the inquiry can be considered as com-
pleted.   The sagacity of Franklin led him to the first
discovery of the use of perspiration in reducing the
heat of the body, and to point out the analogy subsist-
ing between this process and that of the evaporation
of water from a rough porous surface, so constantly
resorted  to  in the East and West Indies, and  other
warm countries, as an efficacious means of reducing
the temperature of the air in rooms, and of wine and
other drinks, much below that of the surrounding at-
mosphere.  The quantity of fluid evaporated from the
skin during profuse sweat so far exceeds that  given
out during the highest insensible perspiration, that two
pounds in weight have  been lost by this means in a
couple of hours; an amount evidently sufficient  to
carry off the largest quantity of superfluous animal
heat which can ever be present.  In the performance
of this function, the skin is, indeed, assisted by the
exhalation from the lungs;  but as  both act on the
same principle, the explanation is not affected by this
circumstance.
  In very warm weather, the dog is always seen with
the tongue lolling out  of his mouth, and copiously 
 60 THE SKIN A REGULATOR OF ANIMAL HEAT.

 covered -with  frothy secretion.  This is merely an-
 other modification of the means used for reducing ani-
 mal heat.  The dog perspires very little from its skin,
 and the copious exhalation from the mouth is the ex-
 pedient resorted to by Nature for supplying its place.
  Bearing in mind the preceding explanation of the
 functions of the skin, the reader will peruse with in-
 terest the following remarks  from  Dr. Thomson's
 work* formerly quoted.  " Dr. Davy, in his Travels
 in Ceylon, states, from his personal observation, that
 on first landing in a tropical climate, the standard heat
 of the body of a European is raised two or three de-
 grees, and  febrile  symptoms  occur, which require
 temperance, the avoiding every cause of excitement
 of the vascular system, and the use of aperient medi-
 cines.  All authors, and indeed every observing per-
 son, who has visited the torrid zone, agree that with
the  languor and  exhaustion resulting from  the high
 temperature of the atmosphere, there is a greatly in-
 creased mobility of  the nervous system.  The action
 of the cutaneous vessels amounts to disease, and produ-
ces that eczematous or vesicular eruption of the skin
known by the name of prickly heat, which occurs in
 Europeans  who visit the West Indies  on their first
landing.  On the other hand, this function of the skin
is so much weakened, almost paralyzed, when  the
climate from which a person is passing is dry and
bracing, and that into which he has passed is humid
 and relaxing, that congestions of blood take place in
the  larger vessels, the  body becomes susceptible of
 the  least impression of  marshy  exhalations,  and
 agues and similar diseases are produced."
  We shall now be able to understand why in summer
we suffer most from heat in what is called moist close
weather,  when no air is  stirring; and why warm cli-
 mates, that are at the same time moist, are proverbi-
 ally the most unwholesome.  The chief reason is the
 diminished  evaporation from the skin which such a
 condition of the atmosphere produces, partially shut-
* P. 66. 
CUTANEOUS ABSORPTION.          61
ting up the natural outlet of the superfluous heat of
the body; and as it at the same time checks the exit
of the waste matter which ought to be  thrown out,
and which is known to be as injurious to the system
as an active poison taken into the body from without,
the hurtful  consequences of such weather  and  cli-
mates, and the fevers, dysenteries, and colds to which
they give rise,  are  partly accounted  for.   A moist
state of the atmosphere is also favourable to absorp-
tion ;  and hence, if" noxious effluvia are at the time
floating in the air, they are more easily received into
the system.  It is on this account that night air is so
unwholesome, particularly in malaria districts, which
are loaded with  moisture and miasma, or marsh poi-
son ; for when the air is dry as well as hot,  free evap-
oration  takes place, and absorption is almost null, so
that little or no inconvenience is felt, and  health of-
ten remains uninjured.  Delaroche has established
this point conclusively by experiment.   He exposed
animals to a very high temperature in a dry air, and
found them  to sustain no mischief; but when he  ex-
posed them, in an atmosphere saturated with moisture,
to a heat only a few degrees above that of their own
bodies, and greatly lower than in the former instance,
they very soon died.   Here we  see also the reason
why, in ague and other fevers, the suffering, restless-
ness, and excitement of the hot stage can never be
abated till the sweat begins to  flow,  after which they
rapidly  subside ; and why the remedies which, when
given in the hot stage, added  to the excitement and
distress, may now be productive of the best effects.
   The function next to be  noticed, viz., Absorption, is
in some measure the opposite  of the last.  By its in-
strumentality, substances placed in contact with  the
skin are taken up and carried into the general circu-
lation, either to be appropriated to some new purpose
or to be thrown  out of the body.
   In the vaccination of children to protect them from
smallpox, we have a familiar example of the process
of absorption.   A small quantity of cowpox matter
is inserted under the cuticle on the surface of the true
                       F 
62          CUTANEOUS  ABSORPTION.
skin, and there left.   In a short time it is acted upon,
and taken into the system by the absorbent vessels.
In like manner, mercurial preparations, rubbed on the
skin for the cure of liver complaint, are absorbed, and
affect the constitution precisely as when received into
the stomach.  Many even of the common laxatives,
such as rhubarb and croton oil, have of late been suc-
cessfully administered in the same way, and the rapid
absorption of poisons from bites of rabid animals and
wounds in dissection, through the same channel, is fa-
miliar to every one.  It is  from the active principle of
the Spanish flies used  in  blisters being  taken up by
the cutaneous absorbents, that irritation  of the kid-
neys and urinary organs so often attends the employ-
ment of that remedy.
  The process of absorption is carried on by vessels
fitted for the purpose, which are thence named absorb-
ent vessels, or simply absorbents.   In the skin they are
so exceedingly small and numerous, that, when in-
jected  with mercury, the  surface is said by Dr. Gor-
don to resemble a sheet of silver.  In health they are
of too  small a size to admit the red particles of the
blood,  and  hence, from their  contents  being  nearly
transparent, they are sometimes named lymphatics.
  Some ascribe great importance, and others very lit-
tle, to  cutaneous absorption.  In  some diseases, such
as diabetes, in which, occasionally for weeks  in suc-
cession,  the urinary  discharge  exceeds, by many
ounces daily, the whole quantity of food and drink,
without the body losing proportionally in weight, we
can account for the system being sustained only by
supposing moisture to  be  extensively absorbed from
the air by the skin and  lungs.   The ancients, indeed,
believed that, when food could not be retained in the
stomach, a person might be nourished by placing him
.n a bath of strong soup or milk ; but recent experi-
ments  serve to show that, in such circumstances, ab-
sorption is too trifling in amount  for any such result.
Some  indeed deny that any  absorption would take
place at all, because it  is observed as a general fact
that the body does not gain in weight by immersion 
CUTANEOUS ABSORPTION.          63
in a warm bath.  But the inference is not well found-
ed, for occasionally weight is gained ; and even when
it is not, as much water must have been absorbed as
would  make up the loss sustained during immersion
by perspiration, which is believed to go on more rap-
idly in warm water than in the open air.
  That animals absorb copiously when immersed in
water, has been  amply proved by Dr.  Edwards  and
other physiologists.   Dr. Edwards selected lizards as
the subjects of experiment, because he regarded their
scaly skins as unfavourable for absorption.  After re-
ducing the bulk  of a lizard by several  days' expo-
sure to a dry air, he immersed its tail  and hind legs
in water, and found that absorption took place to such
an extent as to restore the original  plumpness of all
parts of the body. The same result attended a vari-
ety of  other trials, so that the fact does not admit of
doubt.   In man, absorption from the surface  is great-
ly retarded by the intervention of the cuticle ;  and it
is universally admitted that, when this obstacle is re-
moved, the process goes on with great vigour.  Thus.
arsenic applied to cancerous sores, and strong solu-
tions of opium to extensive burns in  children, have
been absorbed  in quantities sufficient  to poison the
patients.  Colic in its severest  forms  has followed
similar external  applications of the  salts of lead.
Mercury, also,  in the form  of fumigation, has often
been used where  rapid action was required, because
in the state of vapour it is very speedily taken up by
the cutaneous absorbents.
  It is quite certain,  then, that the skin does absorb.
The only doubt is as to what extent the cuticle oper-
ates  in preventing or modifying that action.  When
friction accompanies the external application, the cu-
ticle, as we  see exemplified in the  use of mercurial
and other liniments, is not an efficient obstacle.   But
when  friction is  not  resorted to, and the substance
applied is of a mild, unirritating nature, such as oil, it
may remain in contact with the skin for a long time
without  being taken  into the system  in  appreciable
quantities.  If, however, it is irritating, like Spanish 
64          CUTANEOUS ABSORPTION.
flies, absorption speedily  begins, and is carried on
through the cuticle, as is proved by the effects produ-
ced on the urinary organs.
  When the perspiration is brought to the surface of
the skin, and confined there either by injudicious cloth-
ing or  by want of cleanliness, there is much  reason
to suppose that its residual parts are again absorbed,
and act on the system as a poison of greater or less
power, according to its quantity  and  degree of con-
centration, thereby producing fever, inflammation, and
even death itself; for it is established by observation,
that concentrated animal effluvia form  a very ener-
getic poison.  The fatal consequences  which have
repeatedly followed the use of a close  water-proof
dress by sportsmen and others, and the  heat and un-
easy restlessness which speedily ensue where proper
ventilation is thus prevented, seem explicable on some
such principle.
  It is believed by many, that marsh miasmata and
other poisons are absorbed by the skin as well as by
the lungs, and  Bichat considered the fact as estab-
lished in  regard to the effluvia of  dissecting-rooms.
There are many reasons for concurring in this belief.
The plague, for instance, is much more readily com-
municated by contact than by any other means, and
this can happen only through the medium of absorp-
tion.  Besides, it is observed that those who work
with oil, and other greasy substances which obstruct
the pores of the skin, often escape the contagion when
all around them suffer.  Flannel and warm clothing,
in like manner, which have been  proved to  be ex-
tremely useful in preserving those who are unavoida-
bly exposed to  the action of malaria and of epidemic
influences, manifestly act  chiefly by protecting the
skin.   A late writer on the Malaria of Rome strongly
advocates this  opinion, and expresses his conviction
that the ancient Romans suffered less from it, chiefly
because they were always enveloped in warm woollen
dresses.  This opinion, he says, is justified by the ob-
servation, that since the period at which the use  of
woollen clothing came again into vogue, intermittent 
CUTANEOUS ABSORPTION.          65
fevers have very sensibly diminished in Rome.  Even
in the warmest weather the shepherds are now cloth-
ed in sheepskins.   Brocchi, who experimented  ex-
tensively on the subject, obtained a quantity of putrid
matter from the unwholesome air, and came to  the
conclusion that it penetrated by the pores of the skin
rather than by the lungs.   Brocchi ascribes the  im-
munity of the sheep and cattle, which pasture night and
day in the Campagna, to the protection afforded them
by their wool.*  These remarks  deserve the serious
attention of observers;  particularly as, according to
Patissier, similar means have been found effectual in
preserving the health of labourers digging  and exca-
vating drains and canals in marshy grounds,  where,
previously to the employment of these  precautions,
the mortality from fever was very considerable.
  It is a general law, that  every organ acts with in-
creased energy when excited  by its own stimulus;
and the application of this  law to the different func-
tions of the skin may help to remove some  of  our
difficulties.  The skin exhales most in a warm dry at-
mosphere, because the latter dissolves and  carries off
the secretion as fast as it is produced; and the same
condition  is unfavourable to absorption, because no-
thing is present upon which  the absorbents of the skin
can act.   In a moist atmosphere, on the other hand,
the absorbents meet with their appropriate stimulus,
and aet powerfully; while  exhalation is greatly di-
minished, because the air can no  longer carry off the
perspiration so freely.   Apparently from this exten-
sive absorption, we find the  inhabitants of marshy and
humid districts remarkable for the predominance of
the lymphatic system, as has long been remarked of
the Dutch; and,  as malaria prevails chiefly in situa-
tions  and seasons  in which the air  is loaded with
moisture, and is most energetic at periods when ab-
sorption is  most  active and moisture is  at its maxi-
mum, the probability of its being received into  the
system chiefly by cutaneous absorption is greatly in-

          * Edin. Phil. Journ., January, 1833.
                      F2 
66          TOUCH AND SENSATION.
 creased, and the propriety of endeavouring to protect
 ourselves from its influence by warm woollen clothing
 becomes more striking.  In the army and navy, ac-
 cordingly, where practical experience is  most follow-
 ed, the utmost attention is now paid to enforcing the
 use of flannel and sufficient clothing as  a protection
 against fever, dysentery, and other diseases, particu-
 larly  in unhealthy  elimates.  In the prevention of
 cholera, flannel was decidedly useful.
  From the above exposition of the laws of absorp-
 tion, and from the facts referred to at page 61, may it
 not be feasibly inferred, that the efficacy of great heat
 in preventing contagion from the plague  is partly ow-
 ing to the consequent dryness of the atmosphere no
 longer presenting the requisite stimulus to  the  ab-
 sorbents, but, on the contrary, powerfully exciting the
 action of the  exhalantsf  Damp directly stimulates
 the absorbents, and hence may arise its  hurtfulness
 as a vehicle.  The  system,  too, it is well known, is
 peculiarly susceptible of infection when  the stomach
 has been for some time empty, as before breakfast.
 May not this be accounted for by the then greater ac-
 tivity of absorption  !

  From grouping all the constituent parts of the skin
 into one whole, and perceiving so  many operations
 connected with that tegument, some may be apt  to
 suppose it an exception to the  principle laid down,
 that no single part can execute more than a single di-
rect function.  In reality, however, it is only by ta-
king the guidance of this principle that we can extri-
 cate ourselves from the apparent confusion. We have
 already seen that exhalation and  absorption are each
connected with distinct textures in the skin.   On far-
ther examination, we  shall find the office of Touch
 and Sensation intrusted exclusively to another con-
 stituent part, the nervous ; for, in serving as the instru-
ment  of feeling, the skin acts in no other way than
 by affording a suitable surface for the distribution and
 protection of the nerves which receive and transmit
to the brain and mind the impressions made on them 
TOUCH  AND  SENSATION.          67
 by external bodies.   In this respect the skin resem-
 bles the other organs of sense, in all of which the
 nerve is the true  instrument  of the sense ; the eye,
 the ear, the nose, and the skin, being simply structures
 fitted to bring the nerve into relation with the quali-
 ties of colour, sound, smell, roughness, and smooth-
 ness, by which they are respectively affected; and
 they differ from each other,  because sound differs
 from colour, colour from smell, and smell from rough-
 ness or smoothness ; and because sound or colour can
 be taken cognizance of by its own nerve, only when
 the latter is provided with an  apparatus fit to be act-
 ed upon by the vibrations of the air or by the rays of
light.   In every instance, it  is the  external object act-
ing upon a nerve which gives  rise to the impression
received from the organs of sense.
  Every part of the skin, however remote, is provided
 with filaments from the nerves of sensation, in order
 that we may become immediately sensible of the pres-
 ence and action of  external bodies.  If any part
were destitute of this property, its texture and vitali-
ty might be destroyed without  our being conscious of
the fact;  whereas, in consequence of this provision
 of sensitive nerves, no object can touch the skin with-
out our being instantly made  aware of its presence
 and properties.   A case described  by Dr. Yelloly,  in
the third volume of the Medico-Chirurgical Transac-
tions, illustrates in a striking manner the great utility
of these nerves  in warning us of danger.   " The pa-
tient's  hands,"  says  Dr. Yelloly, " up to the  wrists,
and the feet half way up the legs, are perfectly insen-
sible to any  species of injury, as cutting, pinching,
 scratching, or burning.  .   .  He accidentally  put one
 of his feet, some time ago, into boiling water, but was no
 otherwise aware  of the high temperature than by finding
 the whole surface a  complete blister on removing it."
  While, however, sensation is common to the whole
 surface of the body, there are parts of the skin more
 immediately destined  by Nature for the exercise of
 Touch, and for the  better appreciation of all the quali-
 ties of which it is cognizant.  Such are the hands and 
68          TOUCH  AND  SENSATION.
tongue in man, the proboscis in the elephant, the tail
in some of the monkey tribes, and the tentacula in
fishes.  Now, in accordance with the explanation giv-
en of the dependance of sensation upon nervous en-
dowment, it is remarkable that all the parts destined
for this special exercise of touch receive the  most
abundant  supply  of  sensitive nerves.   Thus the
nerves going to the hand and arm, the most perfect
instruments of touch and sensation in man, are at
their dorsal roots  five times larger than those which
are destined for its motion; and, in like manner, the
nerve supplying the tactile extremity of the proboscis
of the elephant exceeds in size the united volume of
all its muscular nerves.  On the other hand, in ani-
mals covered with hair or feathers, whose touch and
sensation are comparatively defective, the muscular
nerves far  exceed in size  those of sensation;  and
wherever Nature has  endowed any particular part
with high sensitive powers, she is invariably found to
have distributed to that part, and to it alone, a propor-
tionally higher nervous endowment.   In man, the in-
numerable  nervous  papillae destined for the exercise
of touch may be distinctly seen in parallel irregular
rows  on the fingers and palm of the hand, and every-
body knows how acute the sense is in these parts.
In fishes, on the other hand, no nervous papillae can
be detected on the surface of the skin; but many of
them have tentacula or projections generally about
the mouth,  for the special purpose of exercising touch,
and these are always plentifully supplied with branch-
es from the fifth pair of nerves.
  The nervous tissue of the skin is thus not only an
 mportant instrument for receiving and conveying to
the mind accurate impressions in regard to the prop-
erties of external objects, but it is even essential to
our continued existence.   The pain which is caused
by injuries  is no  doubt very disagreeable, but  in its
uses it is a  positive blessing, in warning us against the
danger, and even certain destruction,  which would
speedily overtake us if we had no such  monitor at
hand  If we had no nerves on the surface to com- 
TOUCH  AND  SENSATION.          69
municate to us a lively impression of cold, we might
inadvertently remain inactive in a temperature which
would not only suspend perspiration, but benumb the
powers of life; or we might, as we have already seen,
approach so near the fire or boiling fluids, as to have
the organization destroyed before we knew:  where-
as, by the kind interposition of the nerves, we can-
not, when perspiring freely, be exposed to the cold
air without an unpleasant sensation being experienced,
impelling  us to attend to our safety, and to  keep up
our heat either by additional clothing or by active ex-
ercise.  When both the nervous and  the vascular
parts  of the  skin are in healthy action, a pleasant soft
warmth is felt over the  body, which is in itself a de-
light,  and  which gives to the  mind a lightness and
hilarity, or pleasant consciousness of active existence,
the very opposite of the low and  languid depression
which so generally accompanies  continued defective
action in the skin, and which forms  a marked feature
in many nervous affections.
   For the due exercise  of sensation, the nerves must
be in  a proper state of  health.  If,  for example, the
cuticle protecting the nervous papillae be abraded  or
removed by vesication, the naked nerves are too pow-
erfully stimulated  by the contact of external bodies,
and, instead of receiving and transmitting the usual
impressions of heat, cold, and configuration, they com-
municate  scarcely  any  feeling except that of pain;
while, if the cuticle become thickened by hard labour,
the impression made on the nerves  is proportionally
lessened, and little information is conveyed by them
to the mind.
   A due supply of  arterial blood  is another requisite
for the action of the nerves of sensation.  If they be
deprived of this, as  by exposing the body to a degree
of cold sufficient to drive the blood  from the surface,
the nerves  become almost insensible, and severe
wounds may be received in this state without the  in-
dividual being conscious of the accident, or feeling the
slightest  pain.  For the same reason, severe cold,
after  a certain time, ceases to be painful, and death 
70          TOUCH  AND  SENSATION.
ensues like deep  sleep and  without  suffering.  But
when a frozen limb is thawed, and the returning cir-
culation begins to set the nerves in action, suffering
forthwith commences, and the overaction  is in dan-
ger of leading to inflammation.  The same phenom-
ena, in an inferior degree, must be familiar to every
one, in the prickling and tingling so commonly com-
plained of on heating cold hands or feet too rapidly at
a good fire ; symptoms which arise from the return of
the blood stimulating the nerves to undue action.
  It is the nervous tissue of the skin which takes cog-
nizance of the temperature of the bodies by which we
are surrounded, and imparts to the mind the sensation
of warmth and coldness.  In  the healthy state, the
sensation is a correct index of the real temperature ;
but in disease, we often complain of cold and shiver-
ing when the skin is positively warmer than natural.
In this way, people whose digestion is weak and cir-
culation feeble, complain habitually of cold and  of
cold feet, where others, differently constituted, expe-
rience no such sensations.   Exercise dissipates this
feeling and increases heat, by exciting the circulation
of the blood, throwing more  of it. to the surface, and
thereby increasing the action of the  cutaneous ves-
sels and nerves.
  Some mental emotions  operate upon the skin, and
impair its  functions much in the  same way as cold.
Grief, fear, and the depressing passions, by diminish-
ing the afflux of arterial blood, render the  skin pale,
and, at the same time, diminish perspiration and ner-
vous action ;  while rage  and other violent passions,
by augmenting the afflux of blood, elevate the temper-
ature  of the surface, and give rise to the  red flush,
fulness, and tension so characteristic  of  excitement.
Sometimes, indeed, the effect of mental emotions on
the skin is so great as to  induce disease.  In speak-
ing of impetigo, Dr. Bateman alludes  to two gentle-
men in whom  the eruption arose from " great alarm
and agitation of mind ;" and adds, that he "  witnessed
some time ago the extraordinary influence  of mental
alarm on the cutaneous circulation, in a poor woman 
touch  and  sensation.         71
who became a patient of the Public Dispensary.  A
sudden universal anasarca (dropsy under the skin) fol-
lowed, in one night, the shock occasioned by the loss
of a small sum of money, which was all  she possess-
ed."*  Facts like these establish  a connexion  be-
tween the brain and nervous system and the skin,
which it is important not to overlook.
  The reverse influence, which the condition of the
nervous matter  distributed over the surface of the
body exerts on  the  rest of the system, is also well
known, and is exemplified in the effects  of exposure
to intense cold.   The first  sensation of  chill excited
in the nerves of the skin is quickly  succeeded by that
of numbness and insensibility; and if the exposure
be continued, the impression  is speedily communica-
ted to the brain, and confusion of mind,  followed ul-
timately by the extinction of life, comes on.   When,
on the other hand, as in tropical climates, the surface
is relaxed by excessive heat, the brain speedily par-
ticipates in  the relaxation,  and the mind is unfitted
for sustained or vigorous action.
  Invalids and literary men often suffer severely from
excess of action in the brain, and deficiency of activi-
ty in the nerves of the skin and remoter organs.  The
nervous stimulus, which is  essential to digestion and
to the health and warmth of the skin,  cannot be pro-
vided when the brain is too exclusively  exercised in
thinking or feeling; and for want of this  stimulus, the
tone of the digestive and cutaneous organs is greatly
reduced;  the  surface of the  body becomes cold,
shrunk, and uncomfortable ; and the individual is sub-
ject to annoyance and painful sensations from trifles
which formerly gave pleasure.  Bad  digestion and
deficient warmth of surface are  thus  proverbially
complained of among literary and sedentary persons,
and can be removed  only by exciting the nervous and
vascular functions of the skin, and  diminishing those
of the brain.

   Such are the direct and important uses of the skin.

        * Bateman on Cutaneous Diseases,  p.  150. 
72         FOLLICLES OF THE SKIN.
But in addition to the parts already noticed, there are
numerous small follicles or glands contained in its
substance, more abundant where hairs are implanted,
and in the vicinity of the orifices  of natural canals,
than in other regions, but existing in all parts except
the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.  They
are about the size of a millet seed, and the skin which
contains them is thin, reflected on itself, and very vas-
cular.  Their cavities are filled with an oily humour,
and each opens by an orifice at the external surface
of the skin.  It is this oily matter which  prevents
water from penetrating easily and relaxing  the cuti-
cle, and the  absence of which, when it has  been re-
moved by the soda used in washing clothes, allows
the skin of the hands and fingers  to assume  that
wrinkled and shrivelled appearance  common among
washerwomen. 
CHAPTER III.
HEALTH OF THE SKIN, AND ITS INFLUENCE  ON THE GEN-
                   ERAL  SYSTEM.

Mortality in Infancy from Cold.—Animal Heat lowest at that
  Age.—Too little and too much Clothing equally bad.—Rules for
  Dress.—Advantages of Flannel in preventing Disease.—Venti-
  lation of Beds and Clothing.—Influence of Light.—Importance
  of Ablution  and Bathing.—Cold, Tepid, and Warm  Bath.—
  Sponging with diluted Vinegar.—Friction of the Skin.—Vapour
  Bath and Warm Bath useful in preventing and curing Nervous
  Diseases  and liability to Cold.—Sailing and Riding useful by
  acting on the Skin.

  As  it is only in  its useful applications to the  im-
provement  and happiness  of man  that  knowledge
truly becomes power, I proceed, in accordance with
this principle, to point out some of the  advantages
derivable from the  information which I have attempt-
ed to communicate.
  It appears from the London Bills of Mortality, that
between a fourth and a fifth of all the infants baptized
die within the first two years of their existence.   This
extraordinary result is not a part of the Creator's de-
signs ; it  does not occur in the lower animals, and
must have causes capable of removal.   One of these,
to speak only of what relates to the present inquiry,
is unquestionably the inadequate protection afforded,
especially among the poorer classes, to the newborn
infant, against the  effects of the great and sudden
transition which it makes in passing at once from a
high and almost unvarying temperature in the moth-
er's womb, to one  greatly inferior and constantly lia-
ble to change.  At birth the skin is delicate, extreme-
ly vascular, and highly susceptible of impressions, so
much so that cases have occurred in which a leech
bite has caused a fatal hemorrhage.  The circulation.
                         G 
74    MORTALITY IN  INFANCY FROM COLD.

is, in fact, cutaneous ; for the lungs, the stomach, the
liver, and the kidneys, are as yet newly brought into
activity, and feeble in their functions.  If the infant,
then, be rashly exposed to a cold atmosphere, the mass
of blood previously circulating on the surface of the
body is immediately driven inward by the contraction
of the  cutaneous vessels, and, by over stimulating the
internal organs, gives  rise to  bowel complaints,  in-
flammation, croup, or convulsions, which sooner or
later extinguish life.  This  shows  the inexpressible
folly of those who bathe  infants daily in cold water,
even in winter, and freely expose them to the open
air, or  to currents from open doors or  windows, with
a view to harden their constitutions ; since it  is quite
certain that no more effectual means could be resort-
ed to, in the earlier months of life, to  undermine the
general health, and entail future  disease on  the un-
happy  subjects of the experiment.
  This hurtful practice has perhaps arisen in some
degree from the prevalent error of supposing  that  in-
fants have  naturally a great power of generating heat
and  resisting cold.  That the very opposite is the
fact, has been established  by the experiments of Dr.
Milne Edwards, which  show that " the power of pro-
ducing heat in warm-blooded  animals is at its mini-
mum at birth, and  increases successively to adult age;"
and that young animals, instead of being warmer than
adults, are generally a degree or two colder, and part
with their heat more readily.   In ten healthy  infants,
from two hours to a few days old, the mean tempera-
ture was observed by Dr. Edwards to be only 94.55°
Fahr., that of adults being 97° or 98° ; and in a seven
months' child, three hours after birth, he found the
temperature so low as  89.6°, although the child was
well clothed and near a good fire.   That exposure to
cold is really so  injurious to  infancy, is unhappily
proved by a multitude of facts.   In France, as already
alluded to in the first chapter, it is the custom to carry
every infant, within the first few days of its existence,
to the office of the Maire, that its birth may be regis-
tered.  Suspecting that the exposure  consequent upon 
     BAD EFFECTS OF IMPROPER CLOTHING.   75

such a practice must be pernicious to health, espe-
cially in winter, and where the distance is great, Dr.
Edwards was induced to consult the returns made to
the Minister of the Interior, from which he found that
the proportion of deaths within a very limited period
after birth was much greater in  winter than in sum-
mer, and in the northern than in the southern depart-
ments ; and on farther inquiry, he discovered that the
mortality was greater in parishes where the inhabi-
tants were scattered at a distance from the Maire, than
where  they were  congregated near him: so that the
number of deaths in infancy seemed to be influenced
by the  degree and duration of the exposure to the cold
air.  What more striking proof than  this can be re-
quired of the evils arising from the ignorance of legis-
lators in regard to the constitution of the human body ?
No man  who understood physiology could ever have
sanctioned a law, the practical effect of which is to
consign annually so many  victims to an untimely
grave.
  Many parents, from over-anxiety to avoid one form
of evil, run blindfold into another scarcely less perni-
cious,  and not only envelop infants  in innumerable
folds  of  warm clothing, but keep them confined to
very hot and  close rooms.   It would be well for them
to recollect, however, that extremes are always hurt-
ful, and that  the constitution may be enfeebled, and
disease induced, by too much heat and clothing, and
too close an atmosphere, as effectually as by cold and
currents  of air.  The skin, thus  opened and relaxed,
perspires too easily, and  is readily affected by the
slightest  variations of  temperature,  whence  arise
colds and other ailments, which it is their chief inten-
tion to guard against; and the internal organs, being
at the  same  time deprived of their fair proportion of
blood, become enfeebled, and afford inadequate nour-
ishment and support to the rest of the body.
   The insensible perspiration being  composed of a
large quantity of water, which passes off in the form
of  invisible  vapour, and of various salts and animal
matter, a portion of which remains  adherent to the 
76
RULES FOR DRESS.
skin, the removal of this residue by washing becomes
an indispensable condition of health, the observance
of which, particularly in early life, when waste  and
nutrition are both very active, prevents the appear-
ance of cutaneous and other diseases common in in-
fancy.   Not only, therefore, is daily washing of the
body required at  that age, but a frequent change of
clothing is essential, and everything in the shape of
dress ought to be loose and easy, both to allow free
circulation through the  vessels, and to permit the in-
sensible perspiration to have a free exit, instead of
being confined to and  absorbed by the  clothes,  and
held in contact with the skin, as often happens, till it
gives rise to irritation.
   In youth, the skin is still delicate in texture, and the
seat of extensive exhalation and acute sensation;  but
it is, at  the  same time, more vigorous in constitution
than it was  during infancy; and the several  animal
fuctions being now more equally balanced, it is less
susceptible of disorder from external causes, and  can
endure with impunity changes of temperature which,
at either an earlier or a more advanced age, would
have proved highly injurious.   The activity and rest-
less  energy of youth keep up a free and equal circu-
lation even in the remotest parts of the body, and this
free  circulation in its turn  maintains an equality of
temperature in them  all.   Cold bathing and  lighter
clothing may now be resorted to with a rational pros-
pect of advantage ;  but when, from a weak constitution
or unusual susceptibility, the  skin is not endowed with
sufficient vitality to originate  the  necessary reaction,
which alone renders these safe and proper—when  they
produce  an abiding sense of dullness, however slight in
degree—we may rest assured that mischief •rill inevita-
bly follow at a greater or shorter distance of time.  Many
young persons of both sexes are in the habit of going
about in winter,and in cold weather with a dress light
and  airy enough  for  a northern summer, and they
think it manly and becoming to do so ;  but those who
are not very strongly  constituted suffer a severe pen-
alty for their folly.  The necessary effect of deficient 
RULES FOR DRESS.
77
 circulation and vitality in the skin is, as wo formerly
 saw, to  throw a disproportionate mass  of blood in-
 ward ; and when this condition exists, insufficient
 clothing perpetuates the evil, until internal disease is
 generated, and health irrecoverably lost.   Insufficient
 clothing not only exposes the wearer to all the risk
 of sudden changes of temperature, but it is still more
 dangerous (because in  a degree less marked, and
 therefore less apt to excite attention till the evil be
 incurred) in that form which, while it is warm enough
 to guard the body against extreme cold, is inadequate
 to preserve the skin at its natural heat.  Many youths,
 particularly females, and those  whose  occupations
 are  sedentary, pass  days, and weeks, and months
 without  ever experiencing the  pleasing  glow and
 warmth of a healthy skin, and are habitually complain-
 ing of dullness of the surface, cold feet, and  other
 symptoms of deficient cutaneous circulation.  Their
 suffering, unfortunately, does not stop here, for the
 unequal distribution of the blood oppresses the inter-
 nal organs, and too often, by insensible degrees, lays
 the  foundation of tubercles in the lungs, and  other
 maladies which show themselves only when arrived
 at an incurable stage.  Young persons of a consump-
 tive habit will generally be found to complain of this
 increased sensibility to cold, even  before they become
 subject to those slight catarrhal attacks which are so
often the immediate precursors, or, rather, the first
stages of pulmonary consumption.  All who value
health, and  have common sense and resolution, will
therefore take  warning  from signs  like  these, and
never rest till equilibrium of action be restored.  For
effecting this purpose, warm clothing, exercise in the
 open air, sponging with vinegar and water, the warm
 bath, regular friction with a flesh-brush or hair glove,
 and great cleanliness, are excellently adapted.
  But while sufficiency of clothing is attended to, ex-
cessive wrapping up must be as carefully avoided.
 Great differences in the power of generating heat and
resisting cold  exists in different  individuals, and it
would be absurd to apply the same rules to those who
                       G2 
 78  WHY WET AND COLD FEET ARE INJURIOUS.

 never feel cold, as to those who are peculiarly sensi-
 tive.  The former may be benefited by cold bathing
 and degrees of exposure which would be fatal to the
 latter.  The rule is, therefore, not to dress  in an in-
 variable way in  all cases, but  to  put on clothing in
 kind and quantity sufficient in the individual case to pro-
 tect the body effectually from an  abiding sensation oj
 cold, however slight.  Warmth, however,  ought not to
 be sought  for in clothing alone.  The  Creator has
 made exercise essential as a means; and if we neg-
 lect this, and seek it in clothing alone, we act at the
 risk, or, rather, with the certainty, of weakening the
 body, relaxing the surface, and rendering the system
 extremely susceptible of injury from the  slightest ac-
 cidental exposures, or variations of temperature and
 moisture.   Many good constitutions are  thus ruined,
 and many nervous and pulmonary complaints brought
 on, to imbitter existence,  and  to  reduce  the sufferer
 to the level of a hothouse plant.
  'Female  dress  errs  in  one  important particular,
 even when unexceptionable in material and quantity.
 From the tightness with which it is made  to fit on the
 upper part of the body, not only is the insensible per-
 spiration injudiciously and hurtfully confined, but that
 free play between the dress and the skin, which is so
 beneficial in gently stimulating the latter by friction
 at every movement of the body, is  altogether prevent-
 ed, and  the  action of  the cutaneous nerves and ves-
 sels, and, consequently, the heat generated, rendered
 less than that which would result from the same dress
 more loosely worn.  Every part and every function
 are thus linked so closely  with the rest, that we can
neither  act wrong as  regards one organ without all
suffering, nor act rightly without  all sharing in the
benefit.
  We can now appreciate  the manner in  which wet
and cold feet are so  prolific of internal disease, and
the cruelty of fitting up schools and similar places
without making adequate provision for the welfare of
their young occupants.   The circumstances in  which
wet and cold feet are  most apt to  cause disease, are 
ADVANTAGES OF FLANNEL.        79
those where the person remains inactive, and where,
consequently, there is nothing to counterbalance the
unequal flow of blood which then takes place towards
the internal parts :  for it is well known that a person
in ordinary health may walk about or work  in the
open air with wet feet for hours together without in-
jury, provided he put on dry stockings and shoes im-
mediately on coming home.   It is, therefore, not the
mere state of  wetness that causes the  evil, but the
check to perspiration and the unequal distribution of
blood to which the accompanying coldness gives rise.
I am acquainted with an  instance in which a  robust
and healthy tradesman, by incautiously standing in the
sea, when in a state of profuse perspiration, for five
minutes, in repairing a  steamboat, brought on  severe
constitutional disturbance, followed by pulmonary dis-
ease, which confined him to the house during the
whole of four winters.   Nineteen years have  now
elapsed since the cause was applied; but  although his
health is gradually improving, he still  suffers from
cough and  breathlessness, and is very susceptible of
cold and illness from every trifling  exposure.   I his
person instantly shifted himself on coming out ol the
water, which at the time  he had been led to believe
was a sufficient precaution.   But had he known some-
thing of his bodily constitution, he would have seen
the danger before he exposed himself to it, and would
have escaped the heavy penalty which his ignorance
brought upon him.                    ..,-,■
   The advantages of wearing flannel next the skin are
 easily explicable on the principles expounded above.
 Being a bad conductor of heat, flannel prevents that
 of the animal economy from being quickly dissipated,
 and protects the body in a considerable degree from
 the injurious influence of  sudden external changes.
 From its presenting  a rough and uneven, though sott
 surface to the skin,  every  movement of the body m
 labour or in exercise  gives, by the consequent fric-
 tion, a gentle  stimulus to the  cutaneous vessels and
 nerves, which assists their action, and maintains their
 functions in health; and being, at the same time, ol a 
80         ADVANTAGES  OF FLANNEL.
 loose and porous texture, flannel is capable of absorb-
 ing the cutaneous exhalations to a larger extent than
 any other material in common use.   In some delicate
 constitutions, it proves even too irritating to the skin,
 and in hot climates  sometimes excites too great a
 flow of perspiration.  In the former case, fine fleecy
 hosiery, and in the latter  cotton, will in general be
 easily endured, and will greatly conduce to the pres-
 ervation of health.  Many are in the custom of wait-
 ing till winter has fairly set in before beginning to
 wear flannel.   This is a great error in a variable cli-
 mate like ours, especially when the constitution is not
 robust.  It is during the sudden ehanges from heat to
 cold, which are so common in autumn, before the frame
 has got inured to the reduction of temperature, that pro-
 tection is most wanted and flannel'is most useful.
   The advantages of flannel as a preservative from
 disease, in warm  as well as in cold climates, are now
 so well understood, that in the army and navy its use
 is cogently, and with great propriety, insisted on.  Sir
 George Ballingal, in his valuable Lectures on Military
 Surgery (p. 92), has some very judicious remarks on
 the influence of warm clothing in preserving the health
 of soldiers.  After adducing  the  testimony of  Sir
 James Macgrigor, to show that in the  Peninsula the
 best clothed  regiments were  generally the  most
 healthy, Sir George mentions that, when in India, he
 had himself a striking proof of the utility of flannel in
 checking the progress of a most aggravated form of
 dysentery in the  second battalion  of  the Royals.
 Captain Murray also, late of H. M. S. Valorous, told
 me that he was  so strongly impressed from former
 experience with a sense of the efficacy of the protec-
 tion afforded by the constant  use of flannel next the
 skin, that when, on his arrival in England in Decem-
 ber, 1823, after two years' service amid the icebergs
 on the coast of Labrador, the ship was ordered to sail
immediately for the West Indies, he  directed the pur-
ser to draw two extra flannel shirts and pairs of draw.
ers for each man, and instituted a  regular daily in-
spection to see that they were worn.  These precau 
ADVANTAGES OF FLANNEL.        81
 tions were followed by the happiest result.   He pro-
 ceeded to his station with a crew of 150 men ; visited
 almost every island in the West Indies, and many of
 the ports in the Gulf of Mexico ; and, notwithstanding
 the sudden transition from extreme climates, returned
 to England without  the loss of a single man, or having
 any sick on board on his arrival.  It would be going too
 far to ascribe this excellent  state of health solely to
 the use of flannel;  but there can be little doubt that
 this was an important  element  in  Captain  Murray's
 success.   Far, however,  from  trusting to  it alone,
 Captain  Murray was as careful in guarding against
 other sources of disease as against variations in tem-
 perature ; and with this view every precaution was at
 the same time used, by lighting stoves between decks
 and scrubbing with hot sand, to ensure the most thor-
 ough  dryness, and proper means were put in practice
 to promote cheerfulness among the men.  When in
 command of the Recruit gun-brig, which lay about
 nine weeks at Vera Cruz, the same means preserved
 the health of his crew, when the other ships of war
 anchored around him lost from twenty to fifty men
 each.
  That the superior health  enjoyed  by the crew of
 the Valorous was attributable chiefly to the means
 employed by their humane and intelligent commander,
 is shown by the analogy of the Recruit; for  although
 constant  communication  was kept up between  this
vessel and the ships in which sickness prevailed, and
 all were exposed to the same external causes of dis-
 ease, yet no case of sickness occurred on board of it. v
 Facts like these are truly instructive, by proving that
 man possesses  much power of protecting  himself^
from injury when he has received the necessary in-
 struction, and chooses to adapt his conduct to circum-
 stances.
  The exhalation from the skin being so constant and
extensive, the bad effects of it,  when confined, sug-
gest another rule of conduct, viz., that of  frequently
changing and airing the clothes, so as to free them from
every impurity.  In the case of flannel, for example, 
 82  VENTILATION OF BEDS AND CLOTHING.

 which imbibes perspiration very readily, it is an ex-
 cellent plan, instead of wearing the same for several
 successive days, either to change it frequently, or to
 make use of two sets of flannel, each being worn and
 aired by turns on  every alternate day.  A frequent
 change, however, is certainly the preferable practice.
 For  the  same reason, a practice common in Italy
 merits universal  adoption.  Instead  of beds being
 made up in the morning the moment they are vaca-
 ted, and while still saturated with the nocturnal exha-
 lations, which, before morning, even become sensible
 to smell  in a bedroom, the  bedclothes are  thrown
 over the backs of chairs, the mattresses shaken up,
 and the window thrown open for the  greater part of
 the day,  so as to secure a thorough and  cleansing
 ventilation.  This  practice, so consonant  to  reason,
 imparts a freshness which is peculiarly grateful and
 conducive to sleep, and its real value may be inferred
 from the well-known fact that the opposite practice,
 carried to  an extreme-1—as in  the dwellings of the
 poor, where three or four beds are often huddled up
 with all their impurities in a small room—is a fruitful
 source of fever and bad health, even where there is
no deficiency of nourishment or of ventilation during
the day.   In the abodes of the poor Irish residing in
Edinburgh. I have seen bedding for fourteen persons
spread over one floor not exceeding twelve feet square:
when morning came, the beds were huddled above
one another to make sitting room during the day, and
at night were again laid down, charged with accumu-
lated exhalations.   If fever were not to appear in such
 circumstances, it would be indeed marvellous;  and
we ought to learn  from this, that if the extreme be
so injurious, the lesser degree implied  in the preva-
lent practice cannot be wholesome, and ought, there-
 fore, not  to be retained when it can be so easily done
 away with.
  The salutary influence of the solar light as a stimu-
 lus to the skin has been much overlooked, and yet it
 must be obvious to everyone after a moment's reflec-
 tion.  Those  who  live in mines or dark caves, and 
   IMPORTANCE OF ABLUTION AND BATHING.  83

who are rarely exposed to the light of day, present a
pale, relaxed sallowness of skin, which contrasts with
the ruddy freshness of country people and others liv-
ing much in the open air.  The inhabitants of towns
may be known  by the light colour and  delicacy of
skin which confinement induces.  Part of the effect
is owing, no doubt, to the agency of the external air,
in the constitution of which the skin seems to produce
changes analogous to those which take place  in the
lungs during respiration; but  much  is also attributa-
ble to deprivation of the stimulus of  light.  Even ve-
getables become pale, watery, and feeble in the dark;
and, in like manner, men who work during the night
and sleep during the day never present the vigorous
look of health which distinguishes  well-fed day la-
bourers.  The squalid paleness and depression of the
poor population  resident in  the dark  lanes of large
and crowded cities, show the necessity of consulting
the wants of nature more than is generally done when
erecting  new streets  and manufactories, and provi-
ding playground  for the young.
  When the saline  and animal elements  left  by the
perspiration are  not duly removed by washing or ba-
thing, they at last obstruct the pores and irritate the
skin.   And it is  apparently for this reason that, in the
eastern and warmer countries,  where perspiration  is
very copious, ablution and bathing have assumed the
rank and importance of religious observances.  Those
who are in the  habit of using the fleshbrush  daily,
are at first surprised at the quantity of white dry scurf
which it brings off;  and those who take a warm bath
for half an hour  at long intervals, cannot  have failed
to notice the great amount of impurities which it re-
moves, and the grateful feeling of comfort which its
use imparts.  The warm, tepid, cold, or shower bath,
as a means of preserving health, ought  to  be in as
common use as a change of apparel, for it is equally
a measure of necessary cleanliness.  Many, no doubt,
neglect this, and enjoy health notwithstanding; but
many, very many, suffer from its omission, and even
the former would be benefited by employing it.  The 
84  IMPORTANCE OF ABLUTION AND BATHING.

perception of this truth is gradually extending, and
baths are now to be found in fifty places for one in
which they could be obtained twenty years ago.  Even
yet, however, we are far behind our Continental neigh-
bours in this respect.   They justly consider the bath
as a  necessary of life, while we still regard it as a
luxury.   I believe that I am within the truth when I
say,  that in one hospital in Paris, a greater number of
baths have been administered to the poor during the
last  year, than to  the  whole working  population of
Great Britain during the last ten years.
  When we consider the importance of the exhaling
functions performed by the skin, the extent to which
ablution and bathing of every description are neglect-
ed in charitable  institutions, in seminaries for the
young, and even by many persons who consider them-
selves as patterns of cleanliness, is almost incredible.
Mr. Stuart, in speaking of the North Americans, re-
marks, that " the practice of travellers washing at the
doors, or in the porticoes or stoops, or at the wells of
taverns  and hotels once a day, is most prejudicial to
health;  the ablution of the body, which ought never
to be neglected, at least twice a day in a hot climate,
being altogether inconsistent with it.   In fact," he
adds, " I have found it more difficult, in travelling in
the United States, to procure a liberal supply of water
at all times of the day and night in my bedchamber,
than  to obtain  any other necessary.  A  supply for
washing the face and hands once a day seems all that is
thought  requisite.''''*  But bad as this is, I fear  that
numbers of sensible people may be found much near-
er home, who limit their ablutions to the visible parts
of their persons, and would even express surprise if
told  that more than this is necessary to  health.   Cer-
tain  it is, that many never wash their bodies unless
they happen to be at seabathing quarters in summer,
or are oppressed with heat, when they  will resort to
bathing  as a means of comfort, but without thinking
at all of its efficacy as a means of cleanliness in  pre-
* Three Years in America, vol. ii., p. 440. 
         COLD, TEPID, AND WARM BATHS.      85'

serving health.  In many public charities and schools,
in like manner, bathing or ablution is never thought
of as a proper or practicable  thing,  except for the
sick ; and  yet it is obviously of great importance to
every one, especially to the young.*
  For general use, the tepid or warm bath seems  to
me much more suitable than the cold  bath, especially
in winter,  and for those who are not robust and full
of animal heat.   Where the constitution is not suffi-
ciently vigorous to secure  reaction after the cold bath,
as indicated by a warm glow over the surface, its use
inevitably does harm.  A vast number of persons are
in this  condition; while,  on the contrary, there are
few indeed who  do not derive evident advantage from
the regular use of the tepid bath, and still fewer who
are hurt by it.
  Where the health is good and  the bodily powers
are  sufficiently vigorous,  the cold  bath during sum-
mer, and the shower bath  in winter, may serve every
purpose required from them.   But  it  should never be
forgotten,  that they are too powerful  in their agency
to be used with safety by  every one, especially in cold
weather.   In proportion as cold bathing is influential
in the restoration of health when judiciously used, it
is hurtful when resorted  to without  discrimination:
and  invalids, therefore, ought never to have recourse
to it without the  sanction of their  professional advi-
sers.
  Even where cold  bathing is likely to be  of service
when judiciously  employed, much mischief often re-
sults from prolonging the immersion too long, or from

  * While revising these pages, a friend  has mentioned to me a
case strikingly illustrative of the necessity of attending to the con-
dition of the skin, and of the sympathy subsisting between it and
the bowels.  A lady,  who is in  other respects very cleanly in her
habits, has never been  accustomed to the use of the bath or to
general ablution of any kind, and, in consequence, the action of the
skin is very imperfect.  As a substitute, however, for its exhala-
tion, she has all her life been affected with bowel complaint, which
no treatment directed to the bowels has been able to remove.  It
is probable that the  natural course of the exhalation could not
now be restored.
                          H 
86      COLD, TEPID, AND  WARM  BATHS.
 resorting to it when the vital powers are too languid
 to admit of the necessary reaction—before breakfast,
 for example, or after fatigue.  For this reason, many
 persons derive much benefit from bathing early in the
 forenoon, who, when they bathe in the morning be-
 fore taking any sustenance, do not speedily recover
 their natural heat and elasticity of feeling.
  For those who are not robust, daily sponging of the
 body with cold water and vinegar, or with salt water,
 is the best substitute for the cold bath, and may be
 resorted to with safety and advantage in most states
 of the system ; especially when care is taken to ex-
 cite in the  surface, by subsequent  friction with  the
 fleshbrushor hair-glove, the healthy glow of reaction.
 It then becomes an excellent preservative from  the
 effects of changeable weather.   When, however, a
 continued sensation of coldness or chill is percepti-
 ble  over the body, sponging ought not to be persisted
 in :  dry friction, aided by the tepid bath, is then great-
 ly preferable, a,nd often proves highly serviceable in
 keeping up the due  action of the skin.
  For habitual use, the tepid or warm bath is certain-
 ly the safest and most valuable, especially during the
 autumn, winter, and spring, and for invalids.   A tem-
 perature ranging from 85° to 98°, according  to  the
 state of the individual, is the most suitable ; and the
 duration of the immersion may vary from fifteen min-
 utes to an hour or more, according to circumstances.
 As a general rule, the water ought simply to be warm
 enough to feel pleasant without giving a positive sen-
 sation of heat; the degree at which this happens va-
ries considerably, according to the constitution and to
the state of health at the time.  Sometimes, when the
generation of animal heat is great, a bath at 95°  will
be felt disagreeably warm and relaxing; while, at an-
other time, when the animal heat is produced in de-
ficient quantity, the same temperature will  cause a
chilly sensation.  The rule, then, is to avoid equally
the  positive impressions of  heat and  of cold, and to
seek the agreeable medium.   A bath of the latter de ■
scription is the reverse of relaxing; it gives a cheer- 
         COLD, TEPID, AND WARM  BATHS.      87

 ful tone and activity to all the functions, and may be
 used every day, or on alternate days, for fifteen or
 twenty minutes, with  much advantage.
   A person of sound health and strength may take a
 bath at any time, except immediately  after meals.
 But the best time for valetudinarians is in the forenoon
 or evening, two or three hours after a moderate meal,
 when  the system is invigorated by food, but not op-
 pressed by the labour of digestion.  When the bath is
 delayed till five or six hours after eating, delicate peo-
 ple sometimes become faint under its operation, and,
 from the absence of reaction, are rather weakened by
 the relaxation it then induces.  As a general rule, ac-
 tive exertion ought to  be  avoided for an hour or two
 after using  the  warm  or  tepid bath; and, unless we
 wish to induce perspiration, it ought not to be taken
 ynmediately before going to bed; or, if it is, it ought
 lo be merely tepid, and not of too long duration.
   These rules apply, of course, only to persons in an
 ordinary state of health. If organic disease, headache,
 feverishness,  constipation, or  other ailment exist,
 bathing ought never to be employed without  medical
 advice.  When the stomach is disordered  by bile, it
 also generally disagrees.  But that it is a safe and
 valuable preservative  of health in  ordinary  circum-
 stances, and an active remedy in disease, is most cer-
 tain.   Instead of being dangerous by causing  liability
 to cold, it is, when well  managed, so  much the re-
verse, that the author of these pages has used  it much
and successfully for the express purpose  of diminish-
ing  such liability, both in himself and in  others in
whom  the chest is delicate.   In his own instance, in
particular, he  is conscious  of having derived much
advantage from its regular employment, especially in
 the colder months of the  year, during which  he has
uniformly found himself most effectually strengthen-
ed against  the impression of cold, by  repeating  the
bath at shorter intervals than usual.*

  * I am delighted to find my opinion of the value of the bath, in
the prevention of pulmonary disease, and indeed the  whole prac- 
88          WARM AND  VAPOUR  BATH.
   In many manufactories where warm water is always
 obtainable, it would be  of very great advantage to
 have a few baths erected for the use of the operatives.
 Not only would these  be useful in promoting health
 and cleanliness, but they would, by their refreshing
 and soothing influence, diminish the craving for stim-
 ulus which leads so many to the ginshop ; and, at the
 same time, calm the irritability of  mind  so apt to be
 induced by excessive  labour.  Where  the trade is
 dirty, as many  trades  necessarily are, it is  needless
 to say how conducive  to health and comfort a tepid
 bath would be on quitting it for the day.*
  On the Continent, the vapour and hot  air baths are
 had recourse to, both as a means of health and in the
 cure of disease, to a vastly greater extent than they
 are in this country.  Their use is attended by the very
 best effects, particularly  in chronic ailments,  and
 where the water-bath  is felt to be oppressive by its
 weight; and there can be no question that their action
 is chiefly on the skin, and, through its medium, on the
 nervous system.   As  a means of determining  the
 blood to the surface, promoting cutaneous exhalation,
 and equalizing the circulation,  they are second to no
remedy now in use; and, consequently, in  a variety
of affections which the encouragement of these pro-
 cessess is calculated to relieve, they may be employ-
ed with every prospect of advantage.  The prevalent
 fear of catching cold, which deters many from using

tical doctrines of the present chapter, corroborated by the author-
ity of Dr. James Clark, in his admirable work on Consumption
and Scrofula; a work well deserving the attention of parents and
 others interested in the health of the young, and especially of those
who are delicately constituted.
  * Since the publication of the third edition in February, 1835,
 I have heard with great satisfaction that  the above recommenda-
 tion has been acted upon in several manufactories, in which the
 waste warm water from the steam engine is made use of at a very
 trifling expense.  At the Caledonian  Pottery in  Glasgow, the
 Messrs. Murray have  fitted up comfortable baths, to which trie
 whole of their work-people, with their wives and families, amount-
 ing in all to several hundred, have weekly  access. I trust that,
 ere long, their excellent example will be extensively followed. 
VAPOUR-BATH.
89
the vapour-bath, even more than from warm bathing,
is founded on a false analogy between its effects and
those of profuse perspiration from exercise or illness.
The latter weakens the body, and, by diminishing the
power of reaction, renders it susceptible of injury
from sudden changes of temperature.  But the effect
of the vapour-bath, properly administered, is very dif-
ferent.  When not too warm or too long continued, it
increases instead of exhausting the strength, and  by
exciting the vital  action of the skin, gives rise to a
power of reaction which enables it to resist cold better
than before. This I have heard many patients remark;
and the fact is well exemplified in Russia and the north
of Europe, where,  in the depth of winter, it is not un-
common for the natives to rush out of a vapour-bath
and roll themselves in the snow, and be refreshed by
doing so;  whereas, were they to attempt such a prac-
tice  after severe  perspiration from exercise,  they
would inevitably suffer.   It is the previous stimulus
given to the skin by the vapour-bath which is the real
safeguard against the coldness of the snow.
  Common experience affords another illustration of
the  same principle.  If,  in a cold winter day, we
chance to sit for some  time in a room  imperfectly
warmed, and  feel, in consequence,  a  sensation  of
dullness over the  body, we are much more likely to
catch cold on  going out than if we had been sitting
in a room comfortably warm.  In the latter case, the
cutaneous circulation  and nervous  action go on vig-
orously; heat is freely generated, and the vital action
of the skin is in its full force.   The change to a lower
temperature, if accompanied  with exercise  to keep
up vitality, is then felt to be bracing and  stimulating
rather than disagreeable.  But it  is widely different
when the  surface is already chilled before going out.
The vitality of the skin being diminished, reaction
cannot follow additional exposure;  the  circulation
leaves the surface  and becomes atill  more internal;
and if weakness exist  in the throat or chest, cold is
the almost certain result.  Many suffer  from igno-
rance of this principle.
                      H2 
90
VAPOUR-BATH.
   The vapour-bath is thus calculated to be extensively
 useful, both as a preservative and as a remedial agent.
 Many a  cold  and many a rheumatic attack arising
 from checked perspiration or long exposure to the
 weather, might be nipped in the bud by its timely use.
 In chronic affections, not only of the skin  itself, but
 of the internal organs, with which the skin most close-
 ly sympathizes, as the stomach  and intestines, the
 judicious application of the vapour-bath  is productive
 of great relief.   Even in chronic  pulmonary com-
 plaints, it is, according to the Continental physicians,
 not only safe,  but very serviceable, particularly in
 those affections of the mucous membrane  which re-
 semble consumption in so many of their symptoms.
 Like all powerful remedies, however, the vapour-bath
 must be administered with proper regard to the con-
 dition and circumstances of the individual;  and care
 must be taken to  have the feet sufficiently warm du-
 ring its use.  If, from an irregular distribution of the
 steam, the feet be left cold, headache and flushing are
 almost sure to follow.
   It happens occasionally, either from some peculi-
 arity of constitution, or from  some unusual  condition
 of the skin, indicated by great dryness and  a liability
 to erysipelatous and scaly eruptions, that the moist-
 ure of the water or vapour-bath is at first rather pre-
judicial and unpleasant, and becomes grateful only in
 proportion as the skin regains its healthy state.  In
 such cases the warm air-bath is said to be remarkably
 successful, and it is gaining ground very rapidly in the
 metropolis.
   Although the preceding remarks apply specially to
 the skin considered as an exhalant, yet most of them
 are equally applicable to it when viewed as the seat
 of an important nervous function.  For so intimately
 and beautifully are all the parts of the frame connect-
 ed with each other, that what is really good for one,
 rarely if ever fails to be beneficial to the rest.  Thus
 while exercise, adequate clothing, the bath, friction,
 and cleanliness, are very efficacious in promoting the
 insensible perspiration and equalizing the circulation, 
WARM BATH BENEFICIAL.         91
 they are almost equally influential in promoting the
 vital action of the innumerable nervous filaments ram-
 ified on the skin, and the tone of which is as essential
 as that of the bloodvessels to the proper discharge of
 the cutaneous functions.   In the large and afflicting
 class of nervous  and mental diseases, attention to
 the skin becomes, therefore, almost a sine qua non of
-successful treatment.  As a preservative, too, it is
 influential.  In most nervous  ailments, languor and
 inaction  of the skin show  themselves simultaneously
 with the earliest dawn of mental uneasiness, and often
attract notice before the morbid feelings of the mind
 have acquired  either permanence  or strength.  At
this  early period the use of the bath will  frequently
prove very efficacious in restoring health.
  Many imagine the tepid and warm bath to be weak-
ening, but experience shows that they are so  only
when abused.  When not too warm, and not prolong-
ed beyond 15 or 20 minutes, the tepid  bath  may be
employed daily with advantage and perfect safety by
persons in health ;  while invalids, whose condition re-
quires its use, are often strengthened  by a  much lon-
ger and equally frequent immersion.   I have  seen it
resorted to for  an  hour daily, for months in succes-
sion, by nervous invalids, with much benefit to health
and strength ; and in France it is employed to a much
greater extent.   At the vast hospital of Salpetriere at
Paris, and also at Charenton,  M. Esquirol has for
many years directed it to be extensively used for two,
three, and even five or six hours a day, and with ex-
cellent effect.   When I visited the hospital for the
insane  at Charenton, and M. Esquirol's admirable pri-
vate asylum at  Ivry, in September, 1831, that gentle-
man spoke to me in very strong terms of the benefits
resulting from the practice, and declared that  he had
 ever found it, when used  with ordinary prudence, a
 safe and valuable remedy; and that, in reality, it fail-
 ed to do good in some cases more from the patient
 remaining in it too short a time, than from its want of
 power to relieve.
  In the Medico-Chirurgical Review for January and 
92          WARM  BATH BENEFICIAL.
April, 1833, a very interesting outline is given of an
article published in the Revue Medicate, illustrative of
the efficacy of the tepid bath and the affusion of cool-
er water on the head during the last few minutes of
immersion, in  the cure of a variety of nervous and
head affections of considerable obstinacy and severity.
Dr. Johnson, the editor of the Review, adds his testi-
mony to the success of the practice, and the results
obtained agree entirely with my own experience; but,
as these papers relate to the treatment of  disease, it
would be out of place to do more here than recom-
mend them to the attention of the professional reader.
I may mention, however, that Dr. Recamier frequent-
ly orders the bath to be repeated two, three, or even
four times  in a day.   So little  reality is there  in its
supposed debilitating effect.
  I notice these facts to show that attention to the
health of the skin is really influential in preserving
the tone of the nervous system, and in contributing to
mental and bodily comfort, and not for the purpose of
inducing persons in bad health to have recourse to the
bath of their own accord, which they ought never to
do, as they may chance to suffer from using it unsea-
sonably.  No rules  of universal application  can be
laid down, and this is not the place for a professional
disquisition.
  If  the bath cannot be had at  all places,  soap and
water may be obtained everywhere, and leave no apol-
ogy for  neglecting the skin; or, as already  mention-
ed, if the constitution be delicate, water and vinegar,
or water and salt, used daily, form an excellent and
safe  means of cleansing and gently stimulating the
skin; to the invalid they are highly beneficial, when
the nature of the indisposition does not render them
improper.  A rough and rather coarse towel is a very
useful auxiliary in such ablutions.   Few of those who
have steadiness to keep up the action of the skin  by
the above means, and to avoid strong exciting causes,
will  ever suffer from colds, sore throats, or similar
complaints; while, as a means of restoring health,
they are often incalculably serviceable.  If one tenth 
 CONNEXION BETWEEN THE SKIN AND LUNGS.  93

of the persevering attention and labour bestowed to
so much purpose in rubbing down  and currying  the
skins of horses, were bestowed by the human race in
keeping themselves in good condition, and a little at-
tention were paid to diet and clothing, colds, nervous
diseases, and stomach complaints would cease to form
so large an item in the catalogue of human miseries.
Man studies the  nature of other animals, and  adapts
his conduct to their constitution;  himself alone  he
continues ignorant of  and neglects.  He  considers
himself a being of superior order, and not subject to
the laws of organization which regulate the functions
of the inferior animals; but this conclusion is  the re-
sult of ignorance and pride, and  not a just inference
from  the premises on which it is ostensibly founded.
   The writer of these remarks has, unfortunately for
himself, had extensive  experience, in his own person,
of the connexion between the state of the skin  and
the health of the lungs ; and can, therefore, speak with
some confidence as  to the accuracy of his observa-
tions, and the benefit to be derived from attending to
the condition of the  skin in chronic pulmonary com-
plaints.  Many affections of a consumptive character
are preceded or  begin by deficiency of vital action in
the skin and extremities, and a consequent feeling of
coldness in  the feet and on the surface, and suscepti-
bility of catarrhal affections  from  apparently inade-
quate causes, often  long before any pressing  symp-
tom,  directly connected with  the lungs, occurs to at-
tract notice.  In this state, means systematically di-
rected to restoring the cutaneous circulation will fre-
quently be successful  in warding  off consumption;
and, even when the disease is formed, the same means
will help to prolong life and  relieve suffering, while
they will go far to effect a cure in those chronic af-
fections of  the  bronchial membrane which stimulate
 consumption, and are  sometimes undistinguishable
 from it, and which, when mismanaged, are  equally
 fatal.
   The two  remedies which enjoy the oldest and most
 general reputation in the successful treatment of pul- 
94      CONNEXION BETWEEN  THE SKIN
 monary and consumptive disease, have this quality in
 common, that both  owe  much of their  influence to
 their exciting the cutaneous functions and equalizing
 the circulation.  I  allude to  sailing and riding on
 horseback.  Many authors speak of both in the high-
 est terms, and Sydenham is well known to have con-
 sidered the latter as almost a specific.  Dr. Rush, of
 Philadelphia, too, extols it  with  nearly equal force.
 Of late, a regular course of emetics has been very
 strongly recommended  in  the early stages  of con-
 sumption, and apparently on good grounds. In whoop-
 ing-cough, chronic catarrh, and other obstinate pul-
 monary affections, they have also been long in vogue,
 both with the vulgar and with the profession.   So far
 as my observation goes, all of these remedial means
 are productive of advantage, chiefly in proportion as
 they  determine  the blood to the  surface,  which
 squeamishness, seasickness, and riding  all do in a
 powerful manner.   Riding seems to have this effect,
 partly from the bodily exercise giving general vigour
 to the circulation, and partly from the continued gen-
 tle friction between the skin and  the clothes stimula-
 ting the cutaneous  vessels and nerves.   This latter
effect is  of more   importance  than many believe.
 Those, accordingly, who  are proof against  seasick-
ness, derive least benefit from a voyage ;  while those
who suffer under  it long, are compensated by the ame-
lioration which it induces in the more serious malady.
 The writer of these remarks became ill in the month
of January, 1820, and soon  presented many of the
symptoms of pulmonary  consumption.   In  spite of
the best advice, he continued losing ground  till the
month of July, when he went by sea to  London, on
his way to the south of France; but, finding himself
unable for the journey, he was obliged to return from
 London, also by  sea.  Being extremely liable to sea-
sickness, he was squeamish or sick during the whole
 of both voyages; so much so as to be in a state of
 gentle perspiration for a great part of the time.  After
 this he became sensible, for the first time, of a slight
 improvement in  his health and  strength, and of a 
AND THE LUNGS.
95
diminution of  febrile excitement.  Some weeks af-
terward, he embarked for the Mediterranean, and en-
countered a succession of storms for the first four
weeks, two of which were spent, in the month of No-
vember, in  the Bay of Biscay, in a very heavy sea.
For more than three weeks he was  generally very
sick, and always in a state of nausea;  and during the
whole time, although his bed was repeatedly partially
wetted by salt water, and the weather cold, the flow
of blood towards the skin was so powerful as to keep
it generally warm, always moist, and  often wet with
perspiration, forced out by retching and nausea.  The
result was, that, on entering the  Mediterranean at the
end of a month, and there meeting fine  weather, he
found himself, though still  more reduced  in  flesh
and very weak, in every other respect decidedly im-
proved; and  on his arrival in  Italy,  at  the end of
seven weeks, recovery fairly commenced, after-about
ten months' illness; and, by great care, it  went on
with little interruption till the summer of 1821, when
he returned home.
  To carry on what was so well begun, riding  on
horseback in the country was resorted  to, and that ex-
ercise was found to  excite the skin so beneficially as
to keep it always pleasantly warm and generally be-
dewed with moisture, even  to the extremities of the
toes ; and in  proportion to this effect  was the advan-
tage derived  from it in  relieving the  chest, increas-
ing the strength, and improving  the appetite.  A sec-
ond winter was spent in the south with equal benefit;
and  in the summer of 1822, riding was  resumed at
home, and the health continued to improve.  The ex-
citement given to the skin by riding was sufficient to
keep the feet  warm, and to prevent even considerable
changes of temperature from being felt, and rain was
not more regarded, although special attention was of
course paid to taking off damp or wet  clothes the mo-
ment the ride was at an end.  Strength increased so
much under this plan, combined with sponging, fric-
tion, and other  means,  that it was persevered in
through  the very severe winter of 1822-3,  with the 
 96 SKIN NOT TO BE EXCLUSIVELY ATTENDED TO.

 best effects.   For nine years thereafter the health
 continued good, under the usual exposure of profes-
 sional life; but in 1831 it again gave way, and pulmo-
 nary symptoms of a suspicious character once more
 made their appearance.  The same system was pur-
 sued, and the same results have again followed the
 invigoration of the cutaneous functions and of the gen-
 eral health, by a sea-voyage, horseback exercise, and
 the regular use of the bath.  These, as formerly, have
 proved  beneficial in proportion to their influence in
 keeping up warmth and moisture of the surface  and
 extremities.
  In thus insisting upon the advantages of maintain-
 ing the healthy action of the skin, I must not be sup-
 posed to ascribe  the whole benefit to that circum-
 stance alone.   So beautifully is the animal economy
 constituted, that, as I have already repeatedly had oc-
 casion to observe,  it is impossible  to use rational
 means for the invigoration Of one organ or function
 without good being done  to all; and so  closely are
 the various parts allied to each other, that, to describe
 fully the functions  and sympathies of any one, we
 would require to make the circle of the whole.   From
 this appears the fallacy of those who select the de-
 rangements of any one organ as the origin and source
 of all existing diseases.   Some functions are no  doubt
 more important, and their disorders exercise a wider
 influence over the general health, than others ; but no
 one who knows the structure of the human body and
 the relations  of its parts,  or  has carefully observed
 the phenomena of disease, can be satisfied with such
exclusive reasoning. The stomach, the bowels, the
liver, and the nervous  system, have each had  their
patrons, and the derangement of each has been spe-
cially held out as the grand fountain of human misery.
 Each doctrine, too, has been demonstrated,  by  cases
 and cures, to be superior to all the rest, and each has
proved successful in its turn, where the  others had
 been tried and  failed.  Far, however, from proving
 the propriety of exclusiveness in favour of any one
 organ, such facts, rightly considered, demonstrate the 
 SKIN NOT TO BE EXCLUSIVELY ATTENDED TO. 97

reverse, and show that  successful practice  requires
views and remedies founded on a careful examination
of every  function; and  afford  a  strong presumption
that the man who traces every disease to the liver,
the stomach, or the nerves, will be at least  as often
strikingly wrong as strikingly right.
  In saying, therefore, that attention to the  state of
the skin is influential in preserving and restoring
health, I wish to represent it as an important, but by
no means exclusive condition, and to ascribe to the
means used for invigorating its functions their due
share of action upon other organs and functions. Sail-
ing, for example,  is useful in pulmonary complaints,
not only because  its accompanying nausea causes  a
healthful flow of blood from the internal parts to the
surface, but because the gentle  and constant exercise
occasioned by the movement of the  ship is admirably
adapted to a debilitated state of the system, when
other exercise cannot be taken without hurrying the
breathing or inducing fatigue; and because pure, fresh,
bracing air is of infinite importance in all, and espe-
cially in pulmonary affections.  Attention to the skin,
therefore, must never be considered for a moment as
superseding attention to the other  functions.  That
were a pernicious mistake.  It must be regarded as a
part  only, though an important part, of a rational and
consistent treatment;  and its efficacy will often  de-
pend, in no small degree, on the care which  is taken
to support its effects by a scrupulous attention to the
necessities of the rest of the system.
  I have often had occasion to remark the powerful
influence which free perspiration from natural causes
has in relieving acidity in the stomach and promoting
digestion, and the fact that  acidity is most prevalent
when the skin  is most inactive; and have  thereby
been led to prescribe with advantage the frequent use
of the tepid and vapour-bath in  calculous and other
complaints arising from excess of  acid.  In accord-
ance with the same principle, Lord Byron is  found
noting in his journal (28th March, 1814), that after
having, when previously very  unwell, " sparred with 
98 SKIN NOT TO BE EXCLUSIVELY ATTENDED TO.

Jackson ad sudorem," he felt " much better in health
than for many days;" and remarking, that " the more
violent the fatigue, the better his spirits for the rest of
the day,"  and this, too, at a time when he was deriving
little relief from his favourite remedies, abstinence
and soda-water.
  These  results seem to corroborate the  doctrine of
M. Donne, that in the healthy state an acid humour is
secreted from the whole  surface of the skin, while the
mucus secreted  from the digestive canal is  every-
where, except in the stomach, of an alkaline nature.
I have often noticed that acidity in the stomach was
much relieved by free action of the skin, particularly
in gouty habits, after the use of the warm bath.  On
the other hand, the season of the year at which I have
always heard most complaints of acidity was towards
the end of autumn, when the colder weather was be-
ginning to diminish perspiration and  change the bal-
ance of the circulation.  These facts, if correctly ob-
served, go far to  corroborate  the accuracy  of M.
Donne's views.  The subject, however, still remains
obscure, but  its  importance entitles it to the most
careful examination. 
CHAPTER IV.
         NATURE OF THE MUSCULAR  SYSTEM.

Muscles.—Their Structure, Attachment, and Conditions of Ac-
  tion.—Necessity of Arterial Blood and of  Nervous Influence.—
  Muscles Act by alternate Contraction and Relaxation.—Fatigue
  consequent on continuing the same Attitude explained.—Inju-
  ries of Spine from neglect of this Law, and from Sedentary Oc-
  cupations in Schools.—The Mind ought to be engaged in Exer-
  cise as well  as the Body.—Superiority of  cheerful  Play and
  amusing Games.—A dull Walk the least useful  Exercise.—In-
  fluence of mental Stimulus illustrated by Examples.—Exercise
  to be proportioned to Strength.—Laws of Strength.

  Having examined the  nature and uses  of the skin,
we may next proceed to consider the important sys-
tem of organs lying almost immediately under  it,
viz., the muscles, which, although in constant activity
during our waking hours, and of indispensable neces-
sity to man in every movement which he makes, are
perhaps less  familiarly known than  almost  any other
part of the body.  As the study of the muscular sys-
tem involves an exposition of the  principles which
ought to regulate exercise, it can scarcely  fail to ex-
cite the attention of the general reader, and  especially
of those who, as parents or teachers, are interested
in the education of the young.
  The muscles  are these distinct and compact bun-
dles of fleshy fibres which are found on  animals im-
mediately on  removing  the skin and  subjacent fat;
and which, although perhaps not known  to all under
their generic or scientific name, are familiar to every
one as constituting the red fleshy part of meat.
  Every muscle or  separate bundle of fleshy sub-
stance is composed of innumerable small fibres or
threads, each separated  from, and, at the same time,
loosely connected with, the others by a sheath of eel- 
100
STRUCTURE AND
lular membrane enveloping it, but which is so thin as
not to  obscure the colour of the fibre, or attract no-
tice unless specially looked for.  Each muscle  is in
its turn separated from the neighbouring muscles by
thicker layers or  sheaths of the same membrane, in
some of the cells of which fat is deposited, especially
where  the interval between the muscles is consid-
erable ; and hence the elegantly rounded form of the
limbs, which, without this fat, would present the rigid,
sharp,  and prominent outline which we see occasion-
ally in strong persons of a spare habit of body.  From
the loose texture  of the  connecting  cellular mem-
brane,  the muscles enjoy perfect freedom of motion
during  life, and admit of being easily separated from
each other after death, either by the knife, or by sim-
ply tearing the cellular tissue.
  Muscles, speaking generally, may be divided into
three parts, of which the middle fleshy portion, called
the belly, is the most conspicuous and important.  The
other two are the opposite ends, commonly called the
origin and insertion of the  muscle.  The belly is the
bulky and fleshy part, by the contraction or shorten-
ing of  the fibres of which, the two ends  are brought
nearer to each other, while the belly itself swells out
in a lateral direction.   When we attempt to lift a
heavy  weight in the hand  or to overcome any resist-
ance, the muscles which  bend the arm may be  seen
and  felt to start out rigid  and well defined  in their
whole  extent, while their extremities tend powerfully
to approach each other, and, of course, to carry along
with them  the bones to which they are attached.  In
consequence  of this tendency, if a weight be unex-
pectedly knocked out  of  the  hand before  we  have
time to obviate the result, the muscles,  having then no
resistance  to overcome, will  contract violently, and
throw  the  hand up with  a sudden jerk.  Voluntary
motion is, in fact, effected by the contraction of mus-
cles acting upon and changing the relative  positions
of the bones or solid support of the system, and there-
fore almost all muscles are attached to one bone by
their origin, and to another by their insertion; the for- 
ATTACHMENTS OF MUSCLES.       101
mer being merely the fixed extremity, towards which
the opposite and more moveable end, called the in-
sertion, is carried by the shortening of the intervening
belly of the muscle.
   The figure represents the bones of the arm and hand, having
     all the soft parts dissected off except one muscle OBI,
     of which the function is to bend the arm.  O the origin of
     the muscle.  B the belly.   I the insertion.  T T the ten
     dons.  S the shoulder-joint.  E  the elbow.  When the
     belly contracts, the  lower extremity of  the muscle I, is
     brought nearer to the origin or fixed point O, and, by thus
     bending the arm at the elbow-joint, raises up the weight
     W placed in the hand.

  If the muscles are in general attached to bones, it
may be asked,  How can  the  bones, which  present
comparatively so small a surface, afford space enough
for the attachment of muscles which are so much lar-
ger, and which even appear in successive layers above
each other *  This difficulty is obviated in two ways.
In theirs* place, the heads and other parts of bones
to which muscles are attached are enlarged so as to
present a greater surface than  the body of the bone,
and form what are called  processes, for the  express
purpose of affording greater room ; and, secondly, in-
stead of all the fleshy fibres of a muscle  being  pro-
longed to its points of attachment at the bone, they,
with  a few exceptions, terminate gradually,  as they
proceed from the belly, in a white shining tendon, of
a much smaller size  than the muscle, but of great
strength, which is inserted into the bone.   These ten- 
102          NATURE  OF MUSCLES.
 dons, or sinews as they are occasionally named, con-
 duce greatly to symmetry, elegance, and freedom of
 motion; and may be traced under the skin on the
 back of the hand, and in the very powerful specimen
 at the  heel, called the tendon of Achilles.  The ham-
 strings are  another obvious example,  and  may be
 easily  felt becoming tight when  an effort is  made to
 bend the knee.  There are a few muscles not attached
 to bones by either  extremity, and also  a few  which
 have no tendons.  Those  which surround the eye-
 brows, the mouth, the gullet, and some of the other nat-
 ural passages, are of the former description; as is also
 the heart.  Some of the muscles of the trunk have
 no tendons, but these are few in  number, and may at
 present be considered exceptions to the general rule.
  In man, and in  most of the animals with which we
 are familiar, the muscles are of a red colour.  This,
 however, depends entirely on  the blood which they
 contain; for so far is the colour from being essential
 to their constitution, that  it may be destroyed by
 washing out the blood which produces it, the muscu-
 lar substance remaining in other respects unchanged.
 Hence the colour of the muscles varies with that of
 the blood;  is dark where it is dark, pale where it is
 pale, and white where it is  white.  The true charac-
 teristic of muscular fibres is contractility, or the power
 of shortening their  substance  on the application  of stim-
 uli, and again relaxing when the stimulus is withdrawn.
  The  direction in which the fleshy fibres run,  deter-
 mines  the direction  of the motion  effected by their
 contraction.   In some muscles the fibres are nearly
parallel, and, consequently, act in a straight line.  In
others  they run obliquely, producing a corresponding
obliquity of motion;  while in others they are disposed
like feathers in  relation to a quill, and are therefore
styled  penniform.  A  few  are  circularly disposed
round openings, and contract towards a common cen-
 tre, like the  mouth of a purse  closed by its  strings.
 When  the direction varies, it is always to effect a par-
ticular  kind of action.  Remarkable contrivances ap-
pear for this end; one muscle of the lower jaw, for 
NATURE  OF  MUSCLES.           103
example, is divided into two distinct fleshy bellies by
an  intermediate  thin  strong  tendon,  which  passes
through and plays in a pulley adapted  for  its  recep-
tion ;  its two portions being by this means enabled to
operate with full effect almost at right angles to each
other.  A similar arrangement is found in  the troch-
learis, or pulley-muscle of the  eyeball; and modifica-
tions  of a different kind oceur  in other muscles, as in
those of the fingers and toes, wherever a  particular
object is to be accomplished.
  The chief purpose of the muscles is obviously to
enable us to carry into effect the various resolutions
and designs—or volitions, as they are termed by phi-
losophers—which  have been  formed by the  mind.
But while fulfilling this grand object, their active ex-
ercise is, at the same  time, highly conducive  to the
well-being  of  many other  important functions.  By
muscular contraction, the blood is  gently assisted in
its course through the  smaller vessels and more dis-
tant parts of the body,  and  its  undue accumulation in
the internal organs is prevented. The important pro-
cesses of digestion, respiration, secretion, absorption,
and nutrition, are  promoted, and  the health of the
whole body immediately influenced.  The mind itself
is exhilarated or depressed  by the proper or improper
use of muscular exercise; and it thus becomes a point
of no  slight importance to establish general principles
by which that exercise may be regulated.
  The first requisite for healthy and vigorous muscu-
lar action is the possession of strong and healthy mus-
cular  fibres.  In every part of the animal economy,
the muscles are proportionate  in size  and structure
to the efforts required from them ;  and  it is a law of
nature, that whenever a muscle is called into frequent
use, its fibres increase in thickness within certain
limits, and  become  capable of acting with greater
force and readiness; and  that, on the other  hand,
when a muscle is  little used,  its volume and power
decrease in a corresponding degree.  When in a state
of activity, the quantity of blood which muscles re-
ceive is considerably increased; and, in consequence, 
104   CONDIMONS OF  MUSCULAR  ACTION.
those which are much exercised become of a deeper
red colour than those which are less used.  The rea-
son of this will be evident, when we recollect that to
every organ of the body arterial blood is an indispen-
sable stimulus, and  that its supply is, during health,
always proportioned to the extent and energy of the
action.  When any part, therefore, is  stinted of its
usual quantity of blood, it very soon becomes weak-
ened, and at last  loses its power of action, although
every  other condition  required  for its performance
may remain unimpaired.
  It is the infringement of this condition that entails
so much misery upon our young manufacturing popu-
lation,  and even  upon  many of the  inmates of our
boarding-schools.  Wasted by excessive labour, long
confinement, and miserable diet, the muscular system
is stinted  in growth and weakened in structure; and
the blood, impoverished by insufficiency of nourishing
food and by a vitiated atmosphere, is no longer capa-
ble of repairing the  waste consequent upon exercise,
or of affording a healthy stimulus to the vessels and
nerves which animate the muscles.   Languor, debil-
ity, and exhaustion  of mind necessarily follow; and
the individual  is  left susceptible of no stimulus but
that of ardent  spirits or of excited  and reckless pas-
sion.
  In youth, not only must the waste of materials  be
replaced, but an excess of nourishment must be provi-
ded, to admit of the continued growth which is the
chief function of our earlier years.  If this be denied,
the development of  the bodily organs often receives
a check  which no  subsequent treatment  can rem-
edy, and a foundation is laid for  diseases of  debility
which  afterward  imbitter and endanger life.  From
pretty extensive inquiry, I am satisfied that in board-
ing-schools,  especially for females,  this important
principle is often  disregarded; while the conductors
are, at the same time, without the least suspicion of
the evil they are producing, and even take credit  to
themselves for only checking sensual appetites, and
promoting temperance in eating as well as in drinking. 
       CONDITIONS OF MUSCULAR ACTION.    105

Youth requires the best and most nutritious food,
and  such ought regularly to be  provided.  Weak
broth, twice-cooked hashes, and quantities of vegeta-
bles  and watery milk, are not sufficient  sustenance
for a young and growing frame.  Can we be surprised
that, with such a diet, worm powders and stomachic
medicines are in constant demand, and that, even with
the assistance of these, the girl shoots  up thin, pale,
and fleshless 1   Let it not be supposed that I wish to
make a god of the belly; my object is the reverse of
this,  and I am  sure that no better  means can be used
to effect it than to give a sufficiency (not an  excess)
of wholesome  and nourishing food, which alone will
satisfy the stomach, and obviate the constant craving
which is a frequent  and painful concomitant of defi-
ciency of food.  Let  it be considered  how soon, in
cases of shipwreck for example, men previously well
fed are wasted away by bodily labour, when deprived
of a full allowance of food, and it  will not be difficult
to form  some conception of the  importance  of this
condition to the well-being of the  muscular system.

   Something more than mere muscle, however, is re-
quired for  the production of regulated or voluntary
motion.  The  muscle itself, though perfect in strength
and in structure, would otherwise remain inert.   A
stimulus is required to excite it to activity and to di-
rect its contraction, and this stimulus is conveyed to it
by the nerves.   As we write, the muscles which move
and guide the pen obviously follow the commands  of
the will; and the moment the will is withdrawn they
cease to operate.  If the will be feeble and undecided,
the muscular movements will be equally weak and ir-
resolute ; whereas, if the mind be  powerfully excited
and the will energetic, strength, rapidity, and decision
will  equally characterize all the  movements  of the
body.   Under  the intense excitement and headlong
fury of madness, the muscular action of an otherwise
feeble man acquires a force often exceeding all our
powers of control.
   It  will be at once perceived from this description, 
106   CONDITIONS OF  MUSCULAR  ACTION.
that, in effecting voluntary motion, we must have in
operation, first, The brain, or organ of mind, as the
source of the will; secondly, The nerves, which convey
the intimations of the will to the muscles ; and, thirdly,
The muscles themselves, by whose contractile powers
motion is produced.  It will be understood, also, why
the number and size of the  nerves  distributed to a
muscle  are in proportion, not simply to its volume,
but to  the variety, frequency, and  vivacity of the
movements  required from it; and why some small
muscles employed in many combinations  are there-
fore  supplied with a greater variety of nerves than
others  double their size, but  with more simple func-
tions.
  Muscular  power is  (other circumstances  being
equal) proportioned to the size of the muscle; but it
often happens that great power is  required where
bulk of muscle would be inconvenient or cumbersome.
In such cases, the muscle is supplied  with an  increas-
ed endowment of nervous filaments, which compen-
sate, by the strength of stimulus, for  what it wants in
bulk of fibre.  Many birds, for example, require great
muscular power to sustain them  in their long  and
rapid flights through the air,  and owe its possession
chiefly to the strong stimulus imparted  to moderate-
sized muscles by large nerves, which add extremely
little to their weight; whereas, had the greater power
been obtainable only from an augmentation of fleshy
fibres, the consequent addition of weight would, from
the greatly increased difficulty the animal must have
felt in  raising and sustaining itself in  the air, have
gone far to counterbalance any advantage gained on
the side of power.  But in fishes, which float without
effort in their own element, size produces no  such in-
convenience ; and their strength, accordingly, is made
to depend more on the volume of the muscle than on
its nervous endowment, showing a beautiful adapta-
tion to the mode of life and wants of the animal.
  As voluntary motion depends as much on  nervous
stimulus as on muscular agency, it happens that what-
ever interrupts the action of the nerves puts a stop 
ON  MUSCULAR ACTION.          107
to motion as effectually as if the muscular fibre itself
were  divided.  Injuries and diseases of the brain,
whence the will emanates, are well known to be  ac-
                           companied with palsy,
                           or want of power in the
                           muscles,  although   in
                           their own structure the
                           latter  remain  sound.
                           Sleep   and narcotics,
                           too, suspend voluntary
                           motion, solely in con-
                           sequence of their action
                           on the nervous system.
                           Ardent spirits, in  like
                           manner, disturb the reg-
                           ularity of muscular ac-
                           tion in no other way
                           than by previously  dis-
                           ordering the brain;  and
                           hence the unsteady  gait
                           and faltering elocution
                           of a  semi-intoxicated
                           person are  sometimes
                           removed  in an instant
                           by some powerful men-
                           tal  impression being
                           suddenly  made,  suffi-
                           cient  to   restore  the
                           brain to its natural state,
                           and thereby to give  uni-
                            ty and steadiness to the
                           nervous  impulse  pro-
                           ceeding from  it to the
                           muscles.  For the same
                           reason,  although   the
                           brain  and muscles be
                           perfectly sound, yet if
                            the communication be-
                            tween them be impair-
                            ed or  destroyed by the
 compression or division of the nerves, the  muscles
 cease to act.
 
108         INFLUENCE OF NERVES
  The muscles of the human body are upward of 400
in number, and form several layers lying over each
other.   That some conception may be formed of their
arrangement and distribution, the superficial layer, or
that which appears immediately on removing the skin,
is represented in the annexed woodcut, taken from a
little volume entitled " The Physician," published by
the Society for the Diffusion of  Useful Knowledge.
To understand the uses of the various muscles, the
reader has only to bear in mind that the object of mus-
cular contraction is simply to bring the two  ends  of
the muscle, and the parts to which they are attached,
nearer to each other, the more  moveable being al-
ways  carried towards the more  fixed point.  Thus,
when the slerno-mastoid muscle/^- contracts, its ex-
tremities approximate, and the head, being the movea-
ble point, is pulled down and turned to one side.  This
may be easily seen in the living  subject, the muscle
being not less conspicuous than beautiful in its outline.
Again, when the powerful rectus or straight muscle b
on the front of the thigh  contracts with  force, as  in
the act of kicking,  its iower end attached to the knee-
pan and leg, tends to approximate to the upper or more
fixed point, and pulls the leg strongly forward.  This
occurs also in  walking.   But when the sartorius  or
tailors' muscle c is put in action, its course being ob-
lique, the movement of the leg is no longer in a straight
line, but in across direction,like that in which tailors
sit; and hence the name sartorius.
  Another variety of effect occurs, when, as in the
rectus  or straight  muscle of the belly i i, sometimes
one end and sometimes  both  are the  fixed points.
When  the lower end is fixed, the  muscle bends the
body forward, and pulls down the bones of the chest.
When, as more rarely happens, the lower end is the
moveable  point, the effect is to bring forward and
raise the pelvis and inferior extremities; and when
both ends  are rendered immoveable, the contraction
of the muscle tends to compress and diminish the size
of the cavity of the belly, and thus not  only assists
the natural evacuations, but co-operates in the func-
tion of respiration. 
ON  MUSCULAR  ACTION.         109
  In contemplating this arrangement, it is impossible
not to be struck with the consummate skill with which
every act of every organ is turned to account.  When
the chest is expanded by a full inspiration, the bowels
are pushed downward and forward to  make way for
the lungs;  when the air  is again expelled, and the
cavity of the chest diminished, the very muscles i i i,
which effect this by pulling down the ribs, contract
upon the bowels also; pushing them upward and in-
ward, as can be plainly perceived by any one who at-
tends to his own  breathing.   By this  contrivance, a
gentle and constant impulse is given to the stomach
and bowels, which is of great importance to them in
contributing to digestion and in propelling their con-
tents ; and one cause of the costiveness with which
sedentary people  are  so  habitually  annoyed, is the
diminution of this natural motion in consequence of
bodily inactivity.
  From the preceding exposition, the  action of the
muscles a, k, I, which bend the arm and forearm, will
be easily understood, and some notion may be formed
of the innumerable combinations into which a system
composed of upward of 400 pieces may be thrown, in
effecting all the movements required from the human
frame.  In some of the operations in  which we en-
gage, nearly the whole, and in others only a part, of
the muscles are thrown into action at one time.  The
simultaneousness of action which obtains in such in-
stances—which occurs in almost every  act  of  life,
however simple—and without which no dictate of the
will could be harmoniously and successfully obeyed,
depends solely on the distribution and connexions of
the nerves which animate the muscles.  Every indi-
vidual fibre of every muscle is supplied with nervous
filaments, and different fibres of the same muscle are
indebted for the simultaneousness of their excitement
to the connexion established  between  each of them
by these filaments.  Wherever  many  muscles com-
bine to execute an important movement,  they are
uniformly found to be provided with, and connected
by, branches from the same  system of  nerves; as, 
110         INFLUENCE OF  NERVES
 without this means, simultaneousness and harmony
 of action could not be ensured.  Thus the muscles
 which cover the  upper part of the  chest co-operate
 in  the voluntary  movements of the arm, and, at the
 same time, in the respiratory movements of the chest;
 but these, being two distinct purposes, require differ-
 ent combinations of the muscles among themselves.
 To effect these combinations, two sets of nerves are
 provided, as has been shown by Sir Charles Bell; the
 one regulating the  respiratory, and  the  other the
 purely voluntary movements of the muscles.   This is
 the true reason why the same muscle sometimes re-
 ceives nerves from two or three different quarters;  a
 circumstance which, before the principle was discov-
 ered, and when  all nerves were considered  alike,
 was altogether inexplicable, and seemed a work of
 mere supererogation.
  The influence of  the nervous agency may be still
 farther  illustrated.  When the  trunk  of a muscular
 nerve is irritated  by the contact of an external body
 or by the electric spark, the muscles which it sup-
plies instantly contract, but without either harmony
or permanence of motion :  the contraction is like the
violent and ill-regulated start of convulsion.  It is the
influence of the brain and mind in the equal diffusion
of the required stimulus to each muscle, in the exact
proportion  needful,  that characterizes healthy and
sustained voluntary motion, as opposed to the irreg-
ular convulsive start.   Nothing can be more wonder-
ful than the accuracy with which, in the most delicate
movements, this stimulus is adjusted and apportioned
to such a variety of parts, particularly where practice,
or, in other words, education, has rendered the combi-
nation of powers easy and  certain.   Not to mention
the more obvious and graceful movements of dancing,
fencing, and riding, we  discover, in the management
of the hand and fingers by engravers, sculptors, watch-
makers, jugglers, and other artists and mechanics, a
minute accuracy of muscular  adjustment to effect a
given end, which is the more surprising the more we
consider the  complicated  means by which it is  ef-
 fected. 
ON  MUSCULAR ACTION.          Ill
  In consequence of the co-operation of both nerve
and muscular fibre  being required to effect motion,
excess of action in each is followed by results peculiar
to itself.   If  the nerves preponderate, either consti-
tutionally or  from over-exercise, as they are apt to
do in highly  nervous temperaments, their excessive
irritability renders them liable to be unduly excited
by ordinary  stimuli; and hence, as  in hysteric  and
nervous females, a proneness to sudden starts, cramps,
and convulsions, from causes which would scarcely
affect an individual differently constituted.  Such per-
sons have little muscular power,  except under excite-
ment;  they then become  capable of great efforts of
short duration, but sink  proportionally low when the
stimulus  is past.  If, on the  other hand,  the mus-
cles predominate, as in  athletic, strong-built men,
the  nervous system is generally dull and little sus-
ceptible of excitement, and the muscles which it an-
imates are, consequently, little prone to the rapid  and
vivacious action that accompanies the predominance
of the nervous functions.   Great strength and capa-
bility of bodily labour are then the characteristics.
  Great muscular power and intense nervous action
are rarely conjoined in  the same individual; but,
when they do happen to meet, they constitute a per-
fect  genius for muscular exertion, and  enable their
possessor to  perform feats of strength and agility,
which appear marvellous to those who are deficient
in either condition.   The rtiost  successful wrestlers
and gladiators among the ancients seem to have owed
their superiority chiefly  to the possession of both en-
dowments in  a high degree;  and  among the moderns,
the most remarkable combination of the two qualities
is exhibited by some of our harlequins, clowns, rope-
dancers,  and equestrian performers, and also by those
who display their strength and power of equilibrium
in balancing wheels, ladders, or  other heavy bodies,
on the chin;  and whose performances require from
the small muscles of the jaw and  neck a force of con-
traction which, when reduced to calculation, almost
exceeds  belief.  Belzoni combined both conditions in
a high degree. 
,12     NATURE  OF MUSCULAR ACTION.
  From the general resemblance which characterizes
the different nerves, a similarity in function was long
ascribed  to them all, and no  explanation could be
given why one muscle sometimes received filaments
from a variety of nervous trunks.  Recently, howev-
er, the labours of Sir Charles Bell, Mayo, Magendie,
and Bellingeri have clearly established that  in such
cases each nerve serves a distinct purpose in com-
bining the movements of the particular muscles with
those of  others necessary to effect a given end; and
that without this additional nerve, such a combination
could not have been produced.   The muscular nerves
must  not be  confounded with those which we have
seen ramified on the skin for the purposes of sensa-
tion.  The  former are provided for the purposes of
motion and not of feeling, and hence muscles may be
cut or injured with little  pain, compared to  what  is
felt by the skin.   Weariness is the sensation recog-
nised by  one  set of muscular nerves.
  So  uniformly is a separate instrument provided for
every additional function, that there is strong reason
to regard the muscular nerves, although running in
one sheath, as in reality double, and performing dis-
tinct functions.   Sir Charles Bell has the merit of this
discovery, if such it shall ultimately prove to be.  In
his work on the Nervous  System, he endeavours to
show that one set of  nervous fibres conveys the man-
date from the brain to the muscle, and excites the con-
traction ; and that another conveys from the muscle
to the brain a peculiar sense of the state or degree of
contraction of the muscle, by which we are  enabled
to judge of the amount of stimulus necessary to ac-
complish the end desired, and which is obviously an
indispensable piece of information to the mind in reg-
ulating the movements of the body.   Sir Charles has
shown that  many of the sensations supposed to be
derived  from the sense of touch and the skin, arise
from the muscular sense, and are wholly impercepti-
ble to the skin, without the co-operation of muscular
contraction.
   " The  muscles have two nerves," says Sir Charles, 
         NATURE  OF MUSCULAR ACTION.      113

 "which fact has not hitherto been noticed, because
 they are commonly bound up together.  But when-
 ever the nerves, as about the head, go in a separate
 course, we find that there is a sensitive nerve and a
 motor nerve distributed to the muscular fibre, and we
 have  reason to conclude that those branches of the
 spinal nerves which go to the muscles, consist  of a
 motor and a sensitive filament.
   " It has been supposed hitherto, that the office of a
 muscular nerve is only to carry out the mandate of
 the will, and to excite the muscle to action;  but this
 betrays a very inaccurate knowledge of the action of
 the muscular system ; for, before the muscular  sys-
 tem can  be controlled under the influence  of the  will,
 there must be a consciousness  or knowledge of the
 condition of the muscle.
   " When we admit that the various conditions of the
 muscle must be estimated or perceived in order to be
 under the due control of the will, the natural question
 arises, Is that nerve which carries out the  mandate of
 the will capable of conveying, at the same moment,
 an impression retrograde to the course of that influ-
 ence which is going from the brain to the muscle T If
 we had  no  facts  in anatomy to proceed  upon,  still
 reason would declare to us that the same  filament of
 a nerve could not convey a motion, of whatever na-
 ture that motion maybe, whether vibration or motion
 of spirits, in opposite directions at the same moment
 of time.                               ,
  " I find that, to the full operation of the muscular
 power, two distinct filaments of nerves are necessary,
 and that  a circle  is established between the sensori-
 um and the muscle ; that  one filament or single nerve
 carries the influence of the will towards the muscle,
 which nerve has no power to convey an impression
 backward to the brain; and that another nerve con-
 nects  the muscle with the brain, and, acting as a sen-
 tient nerve, conveys the impression of the condition
of the muscle to the mind, but has no operation  in a
direction outward from the brain towards the muscle,
                      K2 
114      NATURE OF  MUSCULAR  ACTION.
 and does not, therefore, excite the muscle, however
 irritated."*
   This consciousness of the state of the muscles, or
 muscular sense, as it may be truly called, is of great
 importance both to man and to animals, as it is neces-
 sarily by information thence derived, that  every sub-
 sequent exertion is directed  and apportioned in in-
 tensity to the effort required to be made.  If we had
 no such sense, the delicate and well-directed touches
 of the engraver, painter,  and sculptor, or of the inge-
 nious mechanic, would  be at the mercy of hazard;
 and a single disproportioned movement might ruin
 the successful labour of months, supposing success to
 be in reality compatible with chance.  Without this
 sense, man could not deliberately proportion the mus-
 cular efforts to his real wants;  and, even in walking,
 his gait would be unsteady  and  insecure, because
 there would be no harmony between effort and resist-
 ance.  The loss of equilibrium, and the concussion
 and disturbance of the system  consequent upon ta-
 king a false step, as it is called, are a specimen of what
 we would always be subject to without the guidance
 of the muscular sense.  When  we imagine we have
 one step more of a stair to descend than really exists,
 we are placed nearly in the same circumstances as if
 we had no muscular sense to direct the extent of our
 intended movement; because,misled by an erroneous
 impression, we make an effort grievously unsuited to
 the occasion; and yet so habitually are we protected
 from this error by the assistance of the sense alluded
 to, and  so  little  are we conscious of its operation,
 that it is only after mature reflection that we perceive
 the necessity of its existence.
  In chewing our food, in turning the eye towards an
 object looked at,  in raising the hand  to the  mouth,
 and, in  fact, in every variety of muscular movement
which we  perform, we  are guided  by the  muscular
 sense in proportioning the effort to the resistance to
 be overcome; and, where this harmony is destroyed

      * Bell's Anatomy, seventh edition, vol. ii., p. 372. 
         NATURE OF MUSCULAR ACTION.     115

by disease, the extent of the service rendered us be-
comes more apparent.  The  shake of the arm and
hand which we see in drunkards, and their consequent
incapability of  carrying the morsel directly  to the
mouth, are examples of what would be of daily occur-
rence, unless we were directed and assisted by a mus-
cular sense.
  Life and the nervous stimulus are essential to mus-
cular power.  Separated from the body and deprived
of both, the  muscle which formerly contracted with a
power equal to  100 pounds would be torn asunder by
a weight of ten.  This fact is of itself sufficient  to
give a tolerable notion of the  extent to which muscu-
lar contraction depends on  other causes  than the
mere structure  of the fleshy fibres ; for that structure
continues unaltered  for some time after death, and
after the nervous communication has been suspend-
ed ;  and yet how  feeble is the power of  resistance
which the muscle then possesses!
   The required movement having been once effected
by the nervous  impulse stimulating the muscular fibre
to contraction, relaxation speedily follows, and  is m
its turn succeeded by a fresh contraction proportion-
ed to the object in view.   Muscular action, therefore,
consists properly in alternate contraction and relaxation
of the fleshy fibres.   A state of permanent contraction
is both unnatural  and impossible; and, accordingly,
the most fatiguing muscular employment to which a
man can be subjected, is that of remaining immovea-
ble in any given attitude.   To an unreflecting person
it may seem a very easy and pleasant service to stand
for half a day in the attitude of an Apollo or a Gladi-
 ator, as a model to a statuary; but, on trying it, he
 will  find, to his astonishment, that stonebreakmg or
 the treadmill are pastimes in comparison: in the one
 case, the muscles which preserve the attitude are kept
 incessantly on  the strain; while in" the other, they en-
joy that play and variety of motion for which they
 were destined by nature. We may easily  put the
 fact to the test, by attempting to hold the arm extend-
 ed at a right angle to the body for the short space ol 
 116    EVILS RESULTING FROM INACTIVITY

 ten minutes.  He whose muscles, if indeed capable
 of the exertion, do not feel sore with fatigue at  the
 end of that time, may think himself peculiarly fortu-
 nate in being blessed with a powerful constitution.
   The principle just stated explains  very  obviously
 the weariness, debility, and injury to health, which in-
 variably follow forced confinement to  one position or
 to one limited variety of movement, as is often wit-
 nessed in the education of young females.   Alternate
 contraction and  relaxation, or, in other words, exer-
 cise of the muscles which support the  trunk of  the
 body, are the only means which, according to the Cre-
 ator's laws, are conducive to muscular development,
 and by which bodily strength and vigour can be  se-
 cured.  Instead of promoting such exercise, however,
 the prevailing system of female education places  the
 muscles  of the  trunk, in particular, under  the most
 unfavourable circumstances, and renders their exer-
 cise nearly impossible.   Left to its own weight, the
 body would fall  to the  ground, in obedience to the
 ordinary law of  gravitation:  in sitting and  standing,
 therefore, as  well as in walking, the position is pre-
 served only by active muscular exertion.  But if  we
 confine ourselves t(j one attitude, such as that of sit-
 ting erect  upon  a  chair, or, what  is  still worse,  on
 benches without  backs, as is the common practice in
 schools, it is obvious that we place the muscles which
 support the spine and trunk  in the very disadvanta-
 geous position of permanent instead of alternate con-
 traction; which we have seen to be  in reality more
 fatiguing and debilitating to them than severe labour.
 Girls thus restrained daily for many successive hours,
 invariably suffer, being deprived of the sports and ex-
 ercise  after schoolhours which strengthen the mus-
cles of boys, and enable them  to withstand the op-
pression.  The muscles being thus enfeebled, the girls
either lean over insensibly to one side, and thus con-
tract curvature of the spine, or. their weakness being
perceived, they  are  forthwith cased  in stiffer and
 stronger stays, that support being sought for in steel
 and whalebone which Nature intended they should 
           OF THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM.       117

obtain from the bones and muscles of their own bod-
ies.   The  patient,  finding the maintenance of an
erect carriage (the grand object for which all the suf-
fering is inflicted) thus  rendered  more easy, at first
welcomes the stays, and, like  her teacher,  fancies
them highly useful.  Speedily, however, their effects
show them to be the reverse of beneficial.  The same
want of varied motion, which was the prime cause of
the muscular weakness, is still farther aggravated by
the tight pressure of the stays interrupting the play of
the muscles, and rendering them in a  few months
more powerless than ever.  In spite, however, of the
weariness and mischief which result from it, the same
system is persevered in; and, during the short time
allotted to that nominal exercise, the formal walk, the
body is left almost as motionless as before, and only
the legs are called into activity.  The natural conse-
quences of this  treatment  are debility of  the body,
curvature of the spine, impaired digestion, and,  from
the diminished tone of all the animal and vital func-
tions, general ill health; and yet, while we thus set
Nature and her laws at defiance, we presume to ex-
press surprise at the prevalence of female deformity
and disease!
  It would be easy, were it required, to prove that the
picture here drawn  is not overcharged.  A single in-
stance, from a note appended by Dr. Forbes to an ex-
cellent treatise on " Physical  Education," by Dr. Bar-
low, of Bath, will  suffice.  After  copying the  pro-
gramme of a boarding-school for young ladies, which
exhibits  only one hour's exercise, consisting  of  a
walk, arm in arm, on the high road, and that only when
the weather is fine at the particular hour allotted to it,
in contrast with nine hours at  school  or  tasks, and
three and a half at optional sudies or work, Dr. Forbes
adds: " That the practical results of such an astound-
ing regimen are by  no  means overdrawn in the pre-
ceding pages, is sufficiently evinced by the following
fact; a fact which, we will venture to say, may be veri-
fied by inspection of thousands of boarding-shools in
this country.  We lately visited in a large town a board' 
 118   EVILS RESULTING FROM INACTIVITY

ing-school containing forty girls; and we learned, on close
and accurate inquiry, that there was not one of the girls
who had been  at the school two years (and the majority
had been as long)  that was not more or less crooked !
Our patient was in  this predicament; and we could
perceive (what all may perceive who meet that most
melancholy of all processions, a boarding-school  of
young ladies  in  their walk) that all her companions
were  pallid, sallow, and listless.  We can assert, on
the same authority of personal observation, and  on  an
extensive scale, that scarcely a single girl (more  espe-
cially of the middle classes) that has been at a boarding-
school for two or three years, returns home with unim-
paired" health ; and for the truth  of the assertion we
may appeal to every candid father  whose daughters
have  been placed in" this situation."*
  Dr. Barlow justly remarks, that the superintendents
of such schools cannot generally be blamed for indif-
ference about the welfare of their pupils ; that most
of them are extremely anxious to do their utmost to
improve those under their charge ; and that it is  igno-
rance alone which misleads them as to  the  proper
means : he might have adverted also to the ignorance
of parents, who insist on so many hours a day being
dedicated to the study of accomplishments for which
their  children have neither taste, capacity, nor use.
From similar ignorance, the young girls  in a public
hospital in this country used to  be shut up in the hall
and  schoolroom during playhours from November  till
March, and no romping or noise, in other words, no real
play,  relaxation, or exercise,  allowed; and  in 1830,  31,
from  fear of  typhus fever, they were seldom, if ever,
out of doors, except  at church, from November to
April; than which a more efficient method of infrin-
ging  the laws of health could scarcely have been  de-
 vised.  Here, too, the object was unquestionably  be-
 nevolent, but the method was radically bad;  and, in
 consequence, a great deal of sickness prevailed.
   The reality of the  mischief  done in  this way was
   * Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, Article Physical Educa-
 tion, vol. i., p. 698. 
           OF THE  MUSCULAR  SYSTEM.      119

forcibly pointed out by Mr. Carmichael, of Dublin, in
his excellent " Essay on the Nature of Scrofula," pub-
lished so long ago as 1810, and which contains many
valuable practical truths, which were then little known
and coolly received, but to which great importance is
now generally attached.   In noticing the want of ex-
ercise  as a  cause of scrofula, Mr. Carmichael  men-
tions, that in  St. Thomas's  Parochial School,  seven
out of twenty-four girls were affected with that disease
during the preceding summer, owing to their exercise
having been entirely interrupted, first, by the flooding
of the  playground by heavy rains, and subsequently
by the mistress having receivedorders " to keep the chil-
dren perpetually within doors at their schoolhooks."  In
a very short time after " this cruel and impolitic injunc-
tion" was acted upon, scrofula began to make its ap-
pearance, and afterward affected nearly a third of their
number ; although none of them had the disease when
admitted, and there was no fault of diet or other cause
to which it could be ascribed.   Mr. Carmichael adds
that, in the Bethesda School of the same city (Dublin),
six out of thirty girls, fed in the best possible manner,
and free  from the disease on  their  admission,  were
badly affected with it during the same summer.  In
these cases it evidently arose from their  having nei-
ther yard nor playground attached to the institution,
in consequence of which " the  children were necessi-
tated to remain either in the school or bedrooms during
playhours."   On  ascertaining  this fact,  Mr.  Carmi-
chael remonstrated with the governors, and  the evil
no longer exists;  but the circumstance itself affords
an instructive example of the extent of misery which
may arise, not from the institutions of Nature, as we
are so  apt to affirm, but from sheer  ignorance on our
own part of what these institutions are.
  Mr. Carmichael  adduces other facts of a  striking
nature, for which I must refer to the work itself, to
show the needless suffering which is still inflicted on
thousands by the sedentary and unvaried occupations
which  follow each other for hours  in succession  in
many of our schools, and I agree with him that  it is 
120  ADVANTAGE  OF COMBINING MENTAL

high time that a sound physiology should step in to root
out all such erroneous and hurtful practices.  Taken
in connexion  with the  long confinement, the  custom
of causing the young to sit on benches without any
support  to the back, and without any variety of mo-
tion, cannot be too  soon exploded.   If the muscles
of the spine  were so strengthened by the exercise
which they require, but which is so generally denied;
and if the school employments were varied or inter-
rupted at reasonable intervals, to admit of  change of
position and of motion, nothing could be better adapt-
ed for giving  an easy  and erect  carriage than  seats
without backs, because the play of the muscles ne-
cessary for preserving the erect position would give
them  activity and vigour; and, accordingly, the want
is scarcely, if at all,  felt in infant schools, for the very
reason that such variety of motion is, in them, care-
fully provided for.   But it is a gross  misconception
to suppose that the  same good result will follow the
absence of support,  when the muscles are  weakened
by constant straining and want of play.  The inces-
sant  and fidgety restlessness observable after the
second or third hour of common school confinement,
shows the earnest call of  Nature for  a little whole-
some  exercise; and the quiet that ensues when it is
granted, indicates clearly enough that the restlessness
springs even more from bodily than from mental wea-
riness.  It is, in fact, a degree of what we all feel when
kept  long standing  on our feet or sitting at a  desk.
We become weary  and uneasy  from the  continued
strain on the  same muscles, and feel a,t once relieved
by  a  walk, a drive, or any change whatever.   The
same  principle explains  the  fatigue so often  com-
plained of, as experienced  in " shopping" or in an ex-
hibition-room.  We saunter about till the muscles
become sore  from the fatigue of being always in the
same  attitude, and we are refreshed by a walk or a
dance, or anything  which alters the position.   The
same  languor of the muscles is felt after witnessing
a pantomime, or other continuous spectacle, by which
we are induced to keep the neck for a long time in a 
WITH MUSCULAR EXERCISE.       121
constrained and unvaried position.   Children with
thin bodies, weak  muscles, and large heads, some-
times suffer  much by being  taken to church,  and,
that due respect may be shown to the sanctity of the
place, not allowed by their parents to lean their heads
on the board, or on the arm of the person sitting next
them, so as to support themselves more easily.
  Instead, therefore,  of  so many successive hours
being devoted to study and to books, the employments
of the young ought to be varied and interrupted by
proper intervals of cheerful and exhilarating exercise,
such as is derived from games of dexterity, which de-
mand the  co-operation and society of companions, or
from some kind of manual labour in which skill and
ingenuity  are required, such  as carpentry, turning,
or gardening.  This  is infinitely preferable to  the
solemn processions which are so often substituted for
exercise,  and which are hurtful, inasmuch as they
delude parents and teachers into the notion that they
constitute in  reality that which they only counterfeit
and supersede.   We have already seen what an im-
portant part, the mental stimulus and nervous impulse
perform in exciting, sustaining, and directing mus-
cular activity; and observation  proves that muscular
contraction becomes relatively difficult and inefficient,
when the mind, which directs it, is languid, or absorbed
by other employments.  The  playful gambolling and
varied movements which are so characteristic of the
young of  all  animals, man not  excepted, and which
are at once so pleasing and so beneficial, show that,
to render it beneficial in its fullest extent, Nature re-
quires amusement and sprightliness of mind to be
combined  with,  and be the source of, muscular exer-
cise ; and  that, when deprived of this healthful con-
dition, it is a mere  evasion of her law, and is not fol-
lowed by a tithe of the advantages resulting from its
real fulfilment.  The buoyancy of spirit and compar-
ative  independence enjoyed  by boys when out of
school, prevent them suffering so much  from  this
cause as girls do; but the injury inflicted on both is
the more unpardonable, on account of the ease with
                       L 
122  ADVANTAGE OF  COMBINING MENTAL

which it might be entirely avoided.  In some infant
schools  which have no playground attached to them,
the necessity of frequent and playful muscular exer-
cise in the open air is shamefully disregarded, to the
great  injury of the poor children confined in them.
  Facts illustrative of the influence of mental, co-op-
erating  with  and aiding muscular  activity, must be
familiar to every  one; but as the principle on which
they depend is not sufficiently attended to, I shall add
a few additional remarks.
  Everybody knows how wearisome and disagreeable
it is to saunter along, without having some object to
attain; and how listless and unprofitable a walk taken
against  the inclination  and  merely for exercise is,
compared to the same exertion made in pursuit of an
object on which  we are  intent.   The difference is
simply,  that,  in the  former case,  the muscles are
obliged  to  work  without  that full nervous  impulse
which nature has decreed to be  essential  to  their
healthy  and energetic action; and that, in the latter,
the nervous impulse  is in full and harmonious opera-
tion.  The  great  superiority of active  sports, botan-
ical and geological excursions, gardening, and turning,
as means of exercise, over mere measured move-
ments, is referable  to the  same  principle.  Every
kind of  youthful  play and mechanical operation in-
terests and excites the mind, as well as occupies the
body; and  by thus placing the muscles  in the best
position for wholesome and  beneficial exertion, ena-
bles them to act without fatigue for a length of time,
which, if occupied in mere walking  for exercise,
would utterly exhaust their powers.
  The elastic spring, bright eye, and cheerful glow of
beings thus excited,  form a perfect contrast to the
spiritless and inanimate aspect of many of our board-
ing-school processions;  and  the results in point of
health and activity are not less different.  So influ-
ential, indeed, is the  nervous stimulus, that examples
have occurred of  strong mental emotions having in-
stantaneously given life and vigour to paralytic limbs.
This has happened in cases of shipwrecks, fires, and 
WITH  MUSCULAR  EXERCISE.       123
seafights, and shows how indispensable it is to have
the mind engaged and interested along with the mus-
cles.  Many a person who feels ready to drop from
fatigue after a merely mechanical walk, would have
no difficulty in subsequently undergoing much con-
tinuous exertion in active play or in dancing;  and it
is absurd, therefore, to say that exercise is not bene-
ficial, when, in reality, proper exercise has not been
tried.
  The amount of bodily exertion of which soldiers
are capable, is well  known to be  prodigiously in-
creased by the mental stimulus of pursuit, of fighting,
or of victory.  In the retreat of the French from Mos-
cow, for example, when no enemy was near, the sol-
diers became depressed in courage and enfeebled in
body, and nearly sank to the earth through exhaustion
and cold;  but no sooner did the report of the Russian
guns sound in their ears, or the gleam of hostile bay-
onets flash in their eyes, than new life seemed  to per-
vade  them, and  they wielded  powerfully  the arms
which, a few moments before, they could scarcely
drag  along the ground.  No  sooner, however,  was
the enemy repulsed, and the nervous stimulus which
animated their muscles withdrawn, than their feeble-
ness  returned.   Dr. Sparrman,  in like manner, after
describing the fatigue and exhaustion which he and
his party endured in their travels at the Cape, adds,
" yet, what even now appears to me a matter of won-
der is, that as soon as we got a glimpse of the game, all
this languor  left us in an instant."  On  the  principle
already mentioned, this result is perfectly natural,
and in strict harmony with what we  observe in sports-
men, cricketers, golfers, skaters, and  others, who,
moved by a mental aim, are able to undergo a much
greater amount of bodily labour than men of stronger
muscular frames, actuated by no excitement of mind
or vigorous nervous impulse.   I have heard an intel-
ligent engineer remark the astonishment often felt by
country people at finding him and his town compan-
ions, although more slightly made, withstand the fa-
tigues and exposures of a day's  surveying better than 
124  ADVANTAGE  OF COMBINING MENTAL

themselves; but,  said he, they overlooked the fact
that our employment gives to the mind as well  as to
the body a stimulus which they were entirely without,
as their  only object was to afford us bodily aid  when
required, in dragging the chains or carrying our in-
struments.  The conversation  of a friend is, in the
same  way, a powerful alleviator of the fatigue of
walking.
  The same important principle was implied in the
advice which the  Spectator tells us was given by a
physician to one of the eastern kings, when he brought
him a racket, and told him that the remedy was con-
cealed in the handle, and  could act upon him only by
passing  into the palms of  his hands when engaged in
playing with it; and that, as soon as perspiration was
induced, he might desist  for the time, as that would
be  a proof of the medicine  being received into the
general  system.   The effect, we are  told, was  mar-
vellous ; and, looking to the principle just stated, to
the cheerful nervous stimulus arising from the  confi-
dent expectation of a cure, and to the consequent ad-
vantages of exercise thus judiciously managed, we
have no reason to doubt  that the fable is in perfect
accordance with nature.
  The story of an Englishman who conceived himself
so ill  as to be unable to  stir, but who was prevailed
upon by his medical advisers to go down from London
to consult an eminent physician at Inverness who did
not exist, may serve as another illustration.   The
stimulus of expecting the means of cure from the
northern luminary was sufficient to enable the patient
not only to bear,  but to reap benefit from, the  exer-
tion of making the journey down; and his wrath  at
finding no such person at Inverness, and perceiving
that he  had been tricked, sustained him in returning,
so that, on his arrival at home, he was nearly cured.
Hence also the superiority of battledore and shuttle-
cock, and similar games, which require society and
some mental stimulus, over listless exercise.  It is,
in fact,  a positive misnomer to call a solemn proces-
sion exercise.  Nature will not be cheated;  and the 
WITH  MUSCULAR EXERCISE.        125
healthful results of complete cheerful exertion will
never be attained where the nervous impulse which
animates the muscles is denied.
  It must  not,  however, be supposed,  that  a walk
simply for  the sake of exercise can  never be benefi-
cial.  If a person be thoroughly satisfied that exercise
is requisite, and perfectly willing, or,  rather, desirous,
to obey the call which demands it, he is from that
very circumstance  in a state fit for  deriving benefit
from it, because the desire then becomes a sufficient
nervous impulse, and one in perfect harmony with
the muscular action.   It is only where a person goes
to walk, either from a sense of duty or at the com-
mand of another, but against his own inclination, that
exercise is comparatively useless.
  The advantages of combining  harmonious  mental
excitement with muscular activity have not escaped
the sagacity of the late Dr. Armstrong, who thus no-
tices  them  in his frequently reprinted Poem on the
Art of Preserving Health, but without giving the phys-
iological explanation:

                         " In whatever you sweat
    Indulge your taste.  Some love the manly toils,
    The tennis some, and some the graceful  dance;
    Others, more hardy, range the purple heath
    Or naked stubble, where, from field to field,
    The sounding covies urge their lab'ring flight,
    Eager amid the rising cloud to pour
    The gun's unerring thunder ; and there are
    Whom still the mead of the green archer charm.
    He chooses best  whose labour entertains
    His vacant fancy most ;  THE toil YOU HATE
    Fatigues you soon, and scarce improves your limbs."
                                         Book HI.

  This  constitution of Nature, whereby a mental im-
pulse is required to direct and excite muscular ac-
tion, points to the propriety of teaching the young to
observe and examine the qualities and arrangements
of external objects.  The most pleasing and  health-
ful exercise may be thus secured, and every  step be
made to add to useful knowledge  and to individual
                        L2 
 126 EFFECTS OF EXERCISE ON THE MUSCLES.

 enjoyment.  The botanist, the geologist, and the nat-
 ural historian, experience pleasures in their walks
 and rambles, of which, from disuse of their eyes and
 observing powers, the multitude is deprived.  This
 truth is acted upon by many teachers  in Germany.
 In our own country, too, it is beginning to be felt, and
 one of the professed objects of infant education is to
 correct the omission.   It must not, however, be sup-
 posed  that any kind of mental activity  will give the
 necessary stimulus to muscular action, and that, in
 walking, it will  do equally well to read a book  or
 carry on a train  of abstract thinking, as to seek the
 necessary nervous stimulus in picking up plants, ham-
 mering rocks, or engaging in games.  This were a
 great mistake ; for in such cases the nervous impulse
 is opposed rather than favourable to muscular action.
 Ready and pleasant mental activity, like that which
 accompanies easy conversation with a friend, is  in-
 deed  beneficial  by diffusing  a gentle stimulus over
 the nervous system;  and it may be laid down as a
 general rule, that any agreeable employment of the
 mind that does not require a  considerable effort of at-
 tention adds to the  advantages of muscular exercise :
but wherever the mind is absorbed in reading or in
 abstract speculation, the  muscles are drained, as  it
 were, of their nervous energy, by reason of the great
 exhaustion of it  by the brain ;  the active will to set
 them in motion is proportionally weakened, and their
 action is reduced to that inanimate kind I have already
 condemned as almost  useless.   For true and benefi-
 cial exercise, there must, in cases where the mind is
 seriously occupied, be harmony  of action  between  the
moving power and the part to be moved.   The will and
 the muscles must be both directed to the same end at  the
same time, otherwise the effect will be imperfect. The
 force exerted by strong muscles, animated by strong
 nervous impulse  or will, is prodigiously greater than
 when the impulse is weak; and as man was made not
 to do two things  well at once, but to direct his whole
 powers to the one  thing he is performing at the time,
 he has ever excelled most when he has  followed this
 law of his nature. 
    EFFECTS OF EXERCISE ON THE MUSCLES.  127

  When a physician urges the necessity of exercise,
it is very usual for him to be told by persons of an in-
dolent or sedentary habit, that even a short walk fa-
tigues them so much as to render them unfit for every-
thing for some days after,  and that they are never so
well as  when allowed to remain in the house.  But
if, in perfect reliance  on the  regularity of the Crea-
tor's laws, we seek out the cause of this apparent ex-
ception, we shall  almost uniformly find, that, instead
of beginning with a degree of exertion proportioned to
the weakened state of the  system, such persons have
(under the  notion that it was not worth while to go
out for  a short time) forced their muscles, already
weakened by inactivity and confinement, to perform
a walk  to  which  only  regularly exercised muscles
were adequate.  The amount of exertion which  is
always  followed by exhaustion is thus, through mere
impatience and ignorance, substituted for that lesser
degree which always gives strength; and because the
former is followed by headache and debility, it is ar-
gued that the latter also must be prejudicial!  Many
sensible people delude themselves by such puerile plau-
sibilities; and it is only by the diffusion of a knowledge
of the laws of exercise as part of a useful education,
that individuals can be enabled to avoid such  mis-
takes.
   The effects of exercise upon the organs employed
are very remarkable, and useful to be known.  When
any living part is called into activity, the processes of
waste and renovation, which are incessantly going on
in every part of the body, proceed with greater rapid-
ity, and in due proportion to each other.  At the same
time the vessels and nerves become excited to higher
action,  and the supply of  arterial  or nutritive blood
and of nervous energy becomes greater.  When the
active exercise ceases, the excitement thus given to
the vital functions subsides, and the vessels and nerves
return at length to their original state.
   If the exercise be resumed frequently and at mod-
erate intervals, the increased action of the bloodves-
sels and nerves becomes  more permanent, and does 
128     RULES FOR MUSCULAR EXERCISE.
not sink to the same low degree as formerly;  nutri-
tion rather exceeds waste, and the part gains, consequent-
ly, in size, vigour, and activity.  But if the exercise be
resumed too often or be carried too  far, so as to fa-
tigue and exhaust the vital powers of the part, the re-
sults become reversed : waste then exceeds nutrition,
and a loss of volume and  of power takes place, ac-
companied with a painful sense of exhaustion and fa-
tigue.   When,  on the other hand, exercise is alto-
gether refrained from, the vital functions decay from
the want  of their requisite stimulus; little blood  is
sent to the part, and nutrition and strength fail in equal
proportion.  A limb which has been long in  disuse
becomes weak  and shrivelled from this cause, and its
muscles present an unusual paleness and flabbiness,
strongly contrasting with the florid redness and rigid
fulness of the muscles of a well-exercised limb.
  Even sensation gives faithful notice of these chan-
ges, and therefore serves as a guide  to  exercise.
When  muscular employment is neglected,  the body
becomes weak, dull, and unfit for powerful efforts, and
all the  functions languish.  When exercise is taken
regularly and in due proportion, a grateful sense of
activity and comfort prevails, and  we feel ourselves
fit for  every duty, both mental  and  bodily.   Lastly,
when we are subjected to excessive exertion, a pain-
ful sense of weariness and exhaustion ensues, which
is not  relieved  by rest, and  which  for a long time
prevents sleep.  A person who has greatly  over fa-
tigued  himself in walking, for example, is feeble and
restless; and, on lying down, either  cannot sleep at
all,  and rises in  the morning weak in body and languid
in mind, or has  uneasy and disturbed sleep till the ex-
haustion is partially recovered from, after which he
may enjoy sound and refreshing repose.
  From this exposition of the  effects of exercise in
its different stages, it becomes  easy to deduce rules
applicable to all for promoting the healthy develop-
ment of the muscular system, and to  trace the errors
by which indolent people are accustomed to maintain
that exercise is hurtful to  their constitutions.   The 
RULES FOR MUSCULAR EXERCISE.     129
second stage of exercise, or that in which, by its frequen-
cy, moderation, and regularity, nutrition and vigour are
preserved at their highest pitch, is, of course, to be aimed
at; but the quantity of exercise which corresponds to
it must vary according to the constitution and  pre-
vious habits of the individual, as is well exemplified
in training for pedestrian feats, for the  ring, and for
racing.   The assertion made by many,  that exercise
hurts them, arises entirely from overlooking this cir-
cumstance.
  A person accustomed to daily activity will feel in-
vigorated by a walk of four or five miles in the open
air, whereas the same distance will weaken another
who has not been in the habit of walking at all.   But
instead of inferring from this, as  is often done, that
exercise in the open air is positively hurtful to the
latter, reason and experience coincide  in telling us
that he has erred only in over-tasking the powers of
his system, and that, to acquire strength and activity,
he ought  to have begun with one mile, and to have
gradually extended his walk in proportion as the mus-
cles became invigorated by the increased nutrition
consequent on  well-regulated exercise. A  person
recovering from fever begins  by walking across his
room perhaps ten times in a day, and  gradually ex-
tends to twenty or thirty times, till he gains strength
to go into the open air.   On going out,  a walk of ten
minutes proves sufficient for him at first; but, by de-
grees, his strength and flesh increase, and his exercise
is prolonged till  he arrives  at his usual standard.
Such is the order of Nature; but many sedentary peo-
ple have no patience for such slow progress, and, when
urged to  take exercise, they grudge the trouble of
going out for a short time, and think that, if a walk
of  half a mile does them good, one of a whole mile
 will do more ; and when they suffer from the error,
they shelter their ignorance under the general assump-
tion that exercise does not agree with them!  And
the same persons who argue thus would think them-
selves  entitled to laugh at the Irishman who, finding
himself relieved by five pills taken at night, inferred 
130    MENTAL AND MUSCULAR EXERCISE.
that he would necessarily be cured if he took the
whole boxful at once, and, on doing so, narrowly es-
caped with his life.
  From these principles it follows, first, that, to  be
beneficial, exercise ought always  to be proportioned
to the strength and  constitution, and not carried be-
yond the point, easily discoverable by experience, at
which waste begins to succeed nutrition, and exhaus-
tion to take the place  of strength; secondly, that it
ought to be regularly resumed after a sufficient inter-
val  of rest, in order to ensure the permanence of the
healthy impulse given to the vital powers of the mus-
cular system; and, lastly, that it is of the utmost con-
sequence to join with it a mental and nervous stimu-
lus.  Those who go out only once  in four or five days
are  always at work  but never advancing; for the in-
creased action induced by the previous exercise has
fully subsided long before the succeeding effort  is
begun;  and, so far  as increased nutrition,  strength,
and greater  aptitude for exertion are concerned, no
progress whatever is made. 
CHAPTER V.
   EFFECTS OF, AND RULES FOR, MUSCULAR EXERCISE.

Effects of Muscular Exercise on the principal Functions of the
  Body explained.—Shampooing a Substitute for Exercise.—Evils
  of deficient Exercise*.—Best Time for taking Exercise.—Al-
  ways to be taken in the open Air.—Different Kinds—Walking
  —Riding —Dancing — Gymnastics— Fencing— Shuttlecock —
  Reading aloud.—Case illustrative of the Principles of Exer-
  cise.—Involuntary Muscles.

  We have seen that  exercise is necessary  for  de-
veloping and  improving the health of the muscular
system; but it still remains for us to  explain how it
acts in imparting tone and strength to the rest of the
body, and to mention the circumstances by which its
employment ought to be regulated.
  Man  being  intended for  a life of activity, all  his
functions are  constituted by Nature to fit him for this
object, and they never go on so successfully as when
his external situation is such as to demand the regular
exercise of all his organs.   It is, accordingly, curious
to observe the admirable  manner in  which  each is
linked in its  action and sympathies  with the rest.
When  the  muscular system, for example, is duly ex-
ercised,  increased action in  its vessels and nerves
takes place, as already observed ; but the effect is not
by any means limited  to the mere  organs of  motion.
The principal  bloodvessels in all parts of the body lie
imbedded among muscles, both for the protection and
for the aid which the latter afford them.  Every con-
traction of the muscles compresses and  lessens  the
diameter of the vessels; and as the blood contained
in them cannot retrograde in its course, it is propelled
in the arteries from the heart towards the  extreme
  Earts, and in  the veins from  the latter towards  the
  eart,  with greater force and velocity than before. 
 132   BENEFIT  OF MUSCULAR EXERCISE.

                  This  will be better understood on
                  examining the annexed engraving
                  of the bloodvessels of the arm, cop-
                  ied from Fyfe's  Anatomy.   The
                  letters A, B, C, D, E, represent the
                  principal muscles of the arm, and
                  F, G, H, I, K, M, N, those  of the
                  forearm; though, as the  prepara-
                  tion is dried, and  the muscles, con-
                  sequently,  much  shrunk,  they do
                  not appear in their natural situa-
                  tion.   The letters in italics  point
                  out the  humeral  artery, which is
                  seen  dividing  at the  elbow into
                  two branches.   The one, called the
                  radial artery, passes  on the outer
                  side  of the  forearm towards the
                  thumb, and is  the branch in which
                  the pulse is generally felt;  the oth-
                  er, called the  ulnar,  passes  along
                  the inner side of the forearm.
                   In the  natural state, these blood-
                 vessels are covered and protected
                 in almost their whole  course by
                 the adjacent muscles.   In conse-
                 quence of this position, the  mus-
                 cles cannot contract without at the
same time compressing  the bloodvessels and propel-
ling their contents; for, as we saw in  a former chapter,
the muscles swell out laterally at every contraction.
The assistance afforded to the circulation of the blood
by this arrangement is  familiarly exemplified in the
operation of bloodletting from the arm.   When the
blood stops or flows slowly, it is  customary to  put a
ball or other hard body into the hand of the  patient,
and desire him  to  squeeze  and turn it  round.   The
utility of this depends simply on  the muscles of the
arm compressing  the interjacent bloodvessels, and
forcing onward the current of the contained blood by
their successive contractions.  Muscular action is,
indeed, one of the powers provided for  effecting a
 
BENEFIT  OF MUSCULAR EXERCISE.    133
regular circulation;  and hence, when its assistance
is neglected, as it is by those who take no active ex-
ercise, the blood begins to flow less freely, till at last
it finds some difficulty in returning against the law of
gravitation from the lower extremities, which then
gradually swell.  People engaged for years^n seden-
tary professions are thus very subject to varicose or
dilated veins and swelled feet.
  The chain of connexion  among all the living func-
tions is nowhere more  visible than in  this relation
between muscular exercise and the  circulation of the
blood.  Action requires the presence of arterial blood,
and, in the case of the muscles, the very circumstance
of their being active favours the  circulation and in-
creases the supply.  This  increase, in its turn, ena-
bles the parts  to which it is sent to act with greater
energy  and effect, and the augmented  action  is at-
tended by  corresponding waste and exhalation, and
proportionate  nutrition  of the parts.  To replenish
the blood thus exhausted of its nutritive principle, a
greater quantity of food  is required: and, to prompt
us to attend to this  condition, the appetite  becomes
keener and more imperative, and the power  of diges-
tion proportionally vigorous.   The food taken is more
speedily converted into chyle, and its absorption from
the surface of the intestines and transmission into the
circulating current more rapid.  That the  blood so
improved may be properly and quickly animalized in
the laboratory of the  lungs, respiration becomes deep-
er and more frequent, thus admitting a larger quantity
of air and freer circulation through them than before;
and the blood, in this way renewed and re-endowed
with the pabulum of life, imparts fresh nutriment and
vigour to all the organs of the body, and fits them for
that active exertion which the proper discharge of his
duties imperatively  requires from  every member of
the human race.
   Considered in this point of view, the hurried breath-
ing and quickened circulation, of which we are so apt
to  complain when engaged in muscular  exercise, in-
stead of being evils, are, in fact, the beneficent means
                        M   " 
134     EVILS  OF DEFICIENT EXERCISE.
by which we become fitted to continue the exertion.
Without a more than usually rapid  flow of blood to
the part in  use, the necessary stimulus to  its vessels
and nerves could not take place, and its action could
not be sustained.   But were the bloodvessels not so
situated among the muscles as to have their contents
propelled more quickly by the compression to which
every muscular contraction necessarily subjects them,
it is obvious that no increase of circulation could take
place.   And  if respiration, on the other hand, were
not to be accelerated, so as to oxygenate the venous
blood more quickly as it arrived at the lungs, it is ob-
vious that  the requisite stimulus must again have
failed; as, in that case, the blood must either have
accumulated  in the lungs and caused death, or have
passed through them imperfectly prepared, and extin-
guished life more slowly, but not less certainly.
  It is from  this effect of muscular compression in
promoting the flow of blood through the arteries  and
veins,  that shampooing, which consists in a kind of
kneading of the flesh, is so successfully resorted to in
the warm climates of the east, and among the richer
class of invalids in our own country, as a substitute
for active exercise.  Shampooing furnishes from with-
out that impulse to the circulation which the Creator
has destined it to receive from active muscular exer-
tion ;  and the principle of its action being the same,
we  cannot wonder that it should prove indisputably
useful  in promoting circulation, strength, and nutri-
tion, in cases where  active exercise cannot be en-
joyed.   Hence also its utility in  dispersing indolent
swellings, in  restoring tone to weakened joints, and
in the cure of rheumatism.
  It is a common observation, that sedentary persons
are habitually subject to costiveness and its attendant
evils.  The reason is the same.   In the natural state,
the contents  of the bowels are  propelled  partly by
the successive contractions  of the  muscles, which
form the walls of the  belly and separate  that cavity
from the chest, and partly by the contraction of the
muscular fibres, which constitute  an important part of 
BEST TIME FOR  TAKING EXERCISE.   135
the structure of the intestines themselves.  If, how-
ever, exercise be refrained from, and the same posi-
tion be preserved for many hours a day, as in sitting
at a desk, the bowels are necessarily deprived of one
important source of power; and, thus weakened, they
are unable to act upon and propel their contents with
the same regularity as when assisted by exercise.  A
slowness of action ensues, which no course of medi-
cine, and scarcely any modification of diet, can over-
come, so long  as sedentary habits are  indulged in;
but which also may often be relieved by daily pressing
over the region of the abdomen with a kind of knead-
ing motion, imitating, though feebly, the effects  of
muscular action.   Females suffer much from intes-
tinal debility caused by sedentary habits.
  The evils arising from deficiency of exercise to all
the functions of the mind and body will now be equal-
ly evident and intelligible, for they are the converse
of what we have seen to be  the advantages of ade-
quate exercise.  The circulation, from want of stim-
ulus, becomes languid, especially in the extreme ves-
sels ;  the feebleness of action occasions little waste
of materials, and little demand for a new supply; the
appetite  and digestion  consequently become  weak,
respiration heavy and imperfect, and the blood so ill
conditioned, that, when distributed through the body,
it proves inadequate to communicate the stimulus re-
quisite for  healthy and vigorous action.   The concat-
enation of  causes and consequences thus exhibited,
cannot fail, when  the principle connecting them is
perceived, to interest and instruct every thinking mind.

   The time at which exercise  ought to be taken  is of
some consequence in obtaining from it beneficial re-
sults.  Those who are in perfect  health may engage
in it at almost  any hour, except immediately after a
full meal;  but those who are not robust  ought to con-
fine their hours of exercise within narrower limits.
To a person in full vigour, a good walk in the coun-
try before breakfast may be highly beneficial and ex-
hilarating ;  while to  an invalid or delicate person, it 
136    BEST TIME FOR TAKING EXERCISE.
will prove more detrimental than useful, and will in-
duce a sense of weariness which will spoil the pleas-
ure of the whole day.  Many are deceived by the cur-
rent poetical praises of the freshness of morning, and
hurt themselves in summer by seeking health in un-
timely promenades.
  In order to prove beneficial, exercise  must be re-
sorted to only when the system is sufficiently vigor-
ous to be able to  meet it.  This is the  case after  a
lapse  of from two to four or five hours after a mod-
erate  meal, and, consequently, the forenoon is the best
time.   If exercise be delayed till some degree of ex-
haustion from the want of food has occurred, it speed-
ily dissipates instead of increases the strength which
remains, and impairs rather than promotes digestion.
The result is quite natural; for exercise of every kind
causes increased action and waste in the organ, and
if there be not materials and vigour enough in the gen-
eral system  to keep up  that action and supply the
waste, nothing but increased debility can reasonably
be expected.
  For the same reason, exercise immediately before
meals, unless of a very gentle description, is injurious,
and an interval of  rest  ought  always to intervene.
Muscular action causes an afflux of blood  and nervous
energy to the surface and extremities; and if food be
swallowed whenever the activity ceases, and before
time has been allowed for a different distribution of
the vital powers to  take place, the stomach is taken
at disadvantage, and, from want of the necessary ac-
tion in its vessels and nerves, is unable to carry on
digestion with success.  This is very obviously the
case where the  exercise  has been severe or protract-
ed ; and the  consequence is so well known, that it is
an invariable rule in the management of horses, never
to feed them immediately after work, but always to
allow  them an interval of rest proportioned to the pre-
vious  labour.  "Eat  not," therefore, " until you be
fully reduced to that  temper and moderate heat as when
you began, and  when the spirits are retired to their 
       BEST TIME FOR TAKING EXERCISE.    137

proper stations."*  Even instinct would lead to this
conduct,  for appetite revives after repose.
  Active exercise ought to be equally avoided imme-
diately after a heavy meal.  In such  circumstances,
the functions of the digestive organs are in the highest
State of activity;  and if the muscular system be then
called into considerable action, the withdrawal of the
vital stimuli of the blood and nervous influence from
the stomach to the extremities, is sufficient almost to
stop the digestive process.  This is no supposition,
but demonstrated fact; and, accordingly, there is  a
natural and marked aversion to active pursuits after
a full meal.  In a dog, which had hunted for an hour
or two directly after eating, digestion was  found, on
dissection, to have scarcely begun ;  while in another
dog, fed at the same time and left at home, digestion
was nearly completed.
  A mere stroll, which requires no exertion and does
not fatigue, will not be injurious before or  after eat-
ing; but  exercise beyond this limit is at such times
hurtful.  All, therefore, whose  object is to improve
or preserve health, and whose occupations are in their
own power, ought to arrange these  so as to observe
faithfully this important law, for they will otherwise
deprive themselves of  most of the benefits resulting
from exercise.
  When  we know that we shall be forced to exertion
soon after eating, we ought to make a very  moderate
meal, in order to  avoid setting the stomach and mus-
cles at variance with each other,  and exciting fever-
ish disturbance.   In  travelling by  a stagecoach,
where no repose is allowed, this precaution is inval-
uable.  If we eat heartily as appetite  suggests, and
then enter the  coach,  restlessness, flushing, and fa-
tigue  are inevitable; whereas, by eating sparingly,
the journey may be continued for two or three days
and nights with less weariness than is felt during one
fourth of the time under full feeding.   I observed this
when travelling as an invalid on rather iow diet, and
* Maynwaringe, p. 141.
       M2 
 138   BEST TIME FOR TAKING EXERCISE.

 was surprised to find myself less fatigued at the end
 of seventy-two hours, than I had previously been,
 when in health and living fully, with half the journey ;
 and I  have heard the same remark made by others,
 also from experience.
  It is the custom in many families and schools, ap-
parently  for the purpose of saving time, to take young
people out to  walk about the close of the day, because
there  is not light enough to  do anything in the house.
Nothing can be more injudicious than this plan; for, in
the first place, exercise once a day is very insufficient
for the young; and even supposing that it were enough,
the air is then more loaded with moisture, colder, and
proportionably  more  unhealthy, than  at any other
time ; and, secondly,  the absence of the  beneficial
stimulus  of the solar light diminishes  not a little its
invigorating influence.  For those, consequently, who
are so little out of doors, as the inmates of boarding-
schools and children living in towns, and who  are all
at the period of growth, the very best  times of the
day ought to be chosen for exercise, particularly as
in-door occupations are, after nightfall, more in ac-
cordance with the order of nature.
  By  devoting part of the forenoon  to exercise, an-
other  obvious advantage is gained.   If the weather
prove unfavourable at an early hour, it may clear up
in time to admit of going out later in the day; where-
as, if  the afternoon alone be allotted to exercise, and
the weather then proves bad, the day is altogether
lost.  In winter, indeed, it is not unusual for girls to
be thus confined from Sunday to Sunday, simply be-
 cause the weather is rainy at the regular hour of go-
ing out.  When the muscular system  is duly exer-
 cised  in  the open air early in the day, the power  of
mental application is considerably increased ; while,
 by delaying till late, the efficiency of the whole pre-
 vious  mental  labour is diminished by the restless cra-
 ving for  motion which is evinced by the young of all
 animals,  and which, when unsatisfied, distracts atten-
 tion, and leads to idleness in school.  It would be well
 to copy in this respect the practice adopted in the in- 
BEST KINDS  OF EXERCISE.        139
fant schools, where the children are turned out to play
for a few minutes as soon as the wandering of mind
and restlessness of body indicate that the one has been
too much and the other too little exerted.  After such
an interval, work goes on briskly again, and every one
is alive.
  To  render exercise  as beneficial as  possible, par-
ticularly in educating the young, it ought always to
be taken in the open air, and to be of a nature to oc-
cupy the mind as well as the body.  Gardening, hoe-
ing, social play, and active sports  of every kind,
cricket, bowls, shuttlecock, the ball, archery, quoits,
hide-and-seek, and similar occupations and recrea-
tions well known to the young, are infinitely prefera-
ble to  regular and unmeaning walks, and tend in  a
much higher degree to develop and strengthen the
bodily frame, and to  secure  a straight  spine, and an
erect and firm, but easy and graceful, carriage.  A for-
mal walk is odious and useless to many girls, who
would  be delighted and benefited by spending three
or four hours a day in spirited exercise and useful
employment.
  Let those mothers who are afraid to trust to Na-
ture for  strengthening and developing the limbs and
spines of their  daughters, attend to facts, and their
fears will vanish.   It is notorious  that  a  majority of
those girls who, in opposition to the laws of Na ture, are
encased in stays, and get insufficient exercise, become
deformed; an occurrence which is, on the  other hand,
comparatively rare in boys, who are left, in conformi-
ty with the designs of Nature, to acquire strength and
symmetry from free and unrestricted muscular action.
In a seminary for young ladies, for example, contain-
ing forty pupils, it was discovered, on examination,
by Dr. Forbes,  that only two out of those who had
been resident in it  for two years had straight spines ;
while out of an equal  number of boys, imperfect as
their exercise often is, it would be difficult to discover
as many whose spines were  not  straight.  Here,
then, is  ample proof, that stays and absence of exer-
cise, so  far from contributing to an elegant carriage, 
140        BEST  KINDS  OF EXERCISE.
  are  directly opposed to its acquisition; and that the
  absence of stays and indulgence in exercise, even
  when not carried so far as the wants of the system
  require, instead of being hurtful to the  spine, contrib-
  ute  powerfully to  its  strength and security.  Yet
  such is  the dominion of prejudice and habit, that, with
  these results meeting our observation in every quar-
  ter, we  continue to make as great a distinction in the
  physical education of the two sexes in early life, as
  if they  belonged to different orders of beings, and
  were constructed on such opposite principles that
 what was to benefit the one must necessarily hurt the
 other.   It is true that there  are cases  of disease in
 which the use of stays, may be beneficially resorted
 to; but, so far from sanctioning their general employ-
 ment, such  cases are  sufficient to prove, that, like
 every other remedy, they ought to be used only under
 the direction of the medical attendant.
   Were there  any real difficulty in determining the
 best means of developing the body and preventing de-
 formity, the comparison of savage with civilized man
 would at once remove it.  Mr. Henry Marshall, in
 his late  excellent work " On the Enlisting, the Dis-
 charging, and the Pensioning of Soldiers," states, that
 " lateral curvature of the spine is intimately connect-
 ed with civilized life.  In the male sex, it occurs more
 frequently among boys who study very closely, clerks,
 and persons who exercise sedentary trades.  The ag-
 ricultural peasant is seldom affected with it, and the
 tribes of  people  commonly denominated savage perhaps
 never.  1 have had good opportunities of observing
 the form of the natives of India and of the Malay
 islands, and  I do not recollect having seen a single
 case of  this deformity among them."—P. 21.   Mr.
 Marshall's testimony is strongly supported by an in-
telligent  old author, who, in describing the Caribs 170
years ago, 6ays, in a tone  of  regret, " They do not
swaddle their infants, but leave them to tumble about
at liberty in their little hammocks, or on  beds of
leaves spread on the earth in a corner of their huts;
and, nevertheless, their limbs do not become crooked, 
        DIFFERENT KINDS OF EXERCISE.     141

and  their whole body is perfectly well made!"   And
again, " Although the little creatures are left to roll
about on the ground in a state of nudity, they neverthe-
less grow marvellously well, and most of them become
so robust as to be able to walk without support at six
months old."*
  The  naivete of this expression of surprise at the
little Caribs growing marvellously well with the assist-
ance of Nature  alone, and without the use of stays
and  bandages imported from Europe, is  extremely
amusing, and  shows  to what extent prejudice and
custom, once established, will  continue to prevail,
even where we  have before our eyes the  strongest
evidence of their being hurtful.   Our excellent author
seems never to have allowed the thought to enter his
head, that the Europeans  produced the deformity by
means of swaddling and bandages, and that the Caribs
escaped it simply by avoiding  its causes, and giving
liberty to both limbs and trunk of the body.
  It  is mentioned of  the Araucanian Indians, also, in
Stevenson's Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in
South America, that " the  children are never swad-
dled, nor their bodies confined  by any tight clothing."
" They are allowed to crawl about nearly naked until
they can walk."  " To the loose clothing," adds Mr.
Stevenson, " which the children wear from their in-
fancy, may doubtless be attributed the total absence
of deformity among the Indians."—Vol. i., p.  9,10.

  Different kinds of  exercise suit  different constitu^
tions.   The object, of course,  is to employ  all the
muscles of the body, and  to strengthen those espe-
cially which are too weak : and hence exercise ought
to be often varied,  and always  adapted to the pecu-
liarities of individuals.  Speaking  generally, walking
agrees well with everybody ; but as it brings into play
chiefly the lower limbs and the  muscles of the loins,
and affords little scope for  the play of the arms  and
muscles of the chest, it is insufficient of itself to con-
  * Histoire Naturelle et Morale des Isles Antilles.   Rotterdam
1658. 
 142    WALKING—INJURIOUS IN  EXCESS.

 stitute adequate exercise; and  hence the advantage
 of combining with it movements performed  by the
 upper half of the body, as in rowing a boat, fencing,
 shuttlecock, and many other useful sports.  Such ex-
 ercises  have the additional advantage of animating
 the mind, and, by increasing the nervous stimulus,
 making  exertion easy, pleasant, and invigorating.
 Nature, indeed, has shown her intention that the upper
 part of the body should always  partake in  the exer-
 cise of  the lower, by rendering it impossible for us
 even  to walk gracefully  without  the arms keeping
 time, as it were, with the movements of the legs.
   Pedestrian excursions, in pursuit  of mineralogical
 or botanical specimens, or in search  of scenery, com-
 bine in  their results all  the  advantages which well-
 conducted exercise is capable of yielding, and are
 much resorted to in the German seminaries, for the
 purpose of developing the mental and bodily powers.
 On the Continent generally, more attention is paid to
 health in the education of the  young than with us;
 and in many institutions  a regular system  of useful
 manual  occupation is substituted for mere play, and
 with decided advantage.   For not only is the physical
 organization thereby strengthened and developed, but
the mental energy and dignity of character are in-
 creased, and the mind becomes  better fitted for inde-
pendent action.  Among the ancients the training and
invigoration of the body formed a leading object in ed-
ucation ; but physical strength having become of less
importance in war since the invention of gunpowder,
the moderns  have too generally restricted their at-
tention to the direct improvement of the mind.
  In summer, walking excursions to the Highlands of
 Scotland are common among the youth of our cities;
 and, when proportioned in extent to the constitution
 and previous habits of the individual, nothing can be
more advantageous and delightful.  But not a season
passes in which health is not sacrificed and life lost
 by young men  imprudently exceeding their natural
 powers, and undertaking journeys for which they are
 totally unfit.  It is no unusual thing for youths, still 
        EXAMPLES OF  VIOLENT EXERCISE.    143

 weak from rapid growth, and perhaps accustomed to
 the desk, to set out in high spirits at the rate of twen-
 ty-five or thirty miles a day, on a walking excursion,
 and (in consequence of carrying exercise, for days in
 succession, to the third degree, or that in which waste
 exceeds nutrition) to come home so much worn out
 and debilitated that they never recover.  Young sol-
 diers, whose growth is scarcely finished, are well
 known to die in great numbers when exposed to long
 and heavy marches, particularly when food is at the
 same time scanty.  Violent exercise is not less per-
 nicious, and, as well  remarked by Dr. Johnson, " it
 did great harm even when nations were more in a
 state of nature than they now are.  Galen, in his dis-
 course on Thrasibulus,  inveighs against the athletic
 practices of the gymnasium.   A smart walk of a mile
 is to a valetudinarian what a furious wrestle would
 be to an athletic.  If we trace those  dreadful aneu-
 rysmal affections of the heart and  arteries in early
 life, we shall find their origins in violent exercise  or
 sudden over-exertion, in nine cases out of ten, where
 age  and ossification are not concerned."*  Even  a
 single day of excessive fatigue will sometimes suffice
 to interrupt growth and produce permanent bad health;
 and I know  one instance of a strong young man, who
 brought on  a severe illness and permanent debility
 by sudden return to hard exercise for a single day,
 although some years before he had been accustomed
 to every species of muscular exertion in running, leap-
 ing, and swimming.  Many young men hurry on the
 premature development of consumption by excessive
 fatigue  during the shooting season, in cases where,
 by prudent management, they might have escaped it
 for years, if not altogether.  The principle already
 laid down, of not exceeding the point at which exercise
promoter nutrition and increases strength, will  serve as
 a safe guide on all occasions, and indicate the rate at
 which it may be extended.  Old sportsmen know the
 rule by experience, and generally prepare themselves

    * Johnson on Derangement of the Liver, &c, p. 129. 
 144    EXAMPLES  OF VIOLENT  EXERCISE.

 for the moors by several weeks of previous training
 The science and judgment which fox-hunters display
 in preparing their horses for their future exertions
 in coursing are well known, and  might be still more
 usefully applied by their riders to the training of their
 own families.
  Since the above remarks appeared in the third edi-
 tion of this volume, I have had occasion to examine
 carefully two young gentlemen, who, during their at-
 tendance at Cambridge, were in the habit of using very
 violent and continued exertion in rowing.  In the one
 the muscles of the arm and upper part of the chest were
 of an almost unnatural size and hardness from excess
 of nutrition, while the rest of the body was only mod-
 erately developed.  In the other  there was no such
 disproportion, but there was a liability to palpitations
 and severe pain in the  region of the heart,  which,
 he said, were first brought on by excessive exertion.
 On cautioning him against the probable consequences
 of continuing such trials of strength as occurred du-
 ring their frequent boat-races, he told me that, in look-
 ing back to his own companions at college, he could
name several dead within the last four years whose
lives were distinctly ascertained to have been sacri-
ficed in this way; a fact strikingly corroborating Dr.
Johnson's testimony, and which  certainly ought to
make a salutary impression in the minds  of those
who, in the pursuit of pleasure, rush so thoughtlessly
into danger.
  As the subject  is one of much practical importance,
I may  add another melancholy but instructive exam-
ple, with which a friend has  furnished me, of the op-
eration of the principles just inculcated.   He says,
" A young gentleman whom I knew was employed
as a clerk in one of the banks in Edinburgh.   He was
closely confined to his desk  during the  summer, and
towards the end  of July had become weak and ema-
 ciated from deficient exercise in  the open air.  His
 strength continued to decline till Friday the 12th of
 August, when he went to shoot on Falkirk Moor.  On
 Friday and Saturday he was much fatigued by exces- 
       RIDING ON HORSEBACK—DANCIN«G.   145

sive and unusual exertion, and on Sunday  evening
was feverish and heated, and perspired much during
the night.  In this condition, he rose about three or
four o'clock  on Monday morning, and  returned to
Edinburgh on the top of a coach.   When he  reached
home he felt  very unwell, but went to the bank.  At
two o'clock he became so sick as  to be unable to sit
at his desk.  He was then bled by a medical gentle-
man, but without much  effect; and after passing three
months in a feverish and sleepless condition, he died
in the beginning of November.  He was previously
of a healthy constitution."  It is more than probable
that this young man's  life became a sacrifice to his
ignorance of the structure and functions of the human
body.
  Riding is a  most salubrious exercise, and, where the
lungs are weak, possesses a great advantage  over
walking, as it does not hurry the breathing.  It calls
into more equal play all the muscles of the body, and,
at the same time, engages the mind in the  manage-
ment of the animal, and exhilarates by the free con-
tact of the air and more rapid change of scene.  Even
at a walking pace, a gentle but universal and constant
action of the muscles  is  required to  preserve the
seat, and adapt the rider's position to the movements
of the horse; and this kind of muscular action is ex-
tremely favourable  to the proper  and equal  circula-
tion of the  blood through the extreme vessels, and to
the prevention of its undue accumulation in the cen-
tral organs.  The gentleness of the action admits of
its being kept up without accelerating respiration, and
enables a delicate person to reap the combined advan-
tages of the open air and proper exercise for a much
longer period than would otherwise be possible.
   From the tendency of riding to equalize the circula-
tion, stimulate the skin, and promote the action of the
bowels, it is  also excellently adapted as an exercise
for dyspeptic and nervous invalids.
   Dancing is a cheerful and useful exercise, but has
the disadvantage of being used within doors, in con-
fined air, and often in  dusty rooms and at most un-
                       N 
 146         DANCING—GYMNASTICS.

 seasonable hours.  Practised in the open air and in
 the daytime, as is common in France, dancing is cer-
 tainly an invigorating pastime;  but in heated rooms
 and at late hours, it is the reverse,  and often does
 more harm than good.
  Gymnastic  and  callisthenic exercises have been in
 vogue for some years, for  the purpose of promoting
 muscular and general growth and strength, but they
 are now rather sinking in public estimation; entirely,
 I believe, from overlooking the necessity of adapting
 the kind and  extent of them  not only to the individ-
 ual constitution, but to the natural structure of  the
 body; the consequence of which has been, that some
 of the more weakly pupils have been injured by  ex-
 ertions beyond their strength, and  discredit has thus
 been brought upon the system.  It is certain, indeed,
 that some of the common gymnastic exercises  are
 altogether unnatural and at variance  with the design
 of the  bodily organization;  and  that others are fit
 only for robust and healthy boys,  and not at all  for
 improving those who are delicately constituted, and
 who stand  most in need of a well-planned training.
 It is impossible to  enter minutely into this subject at
present; but the best guide we can have is to follow
the footsteps of Nature, and, before adopting any  ex-
 ercise, to consider whether it is  in harmony with  the
mode of action  assigned by the Creator to the parts
which are to perform it.  If it be so, we may proceed
 with perfect confidence that it will not only improve
the health, but add to the freedom, elegance, precision,
and strength of our movements; whereas, if it be  op-
posed to the obvious intention of the Creator, we may
rest assured that no good can accrue from it.
  If, for example, we examine the various attitudes
and motions of  the  body which  occur in fencing,
dancing, swimming, shuttlecock-playing, and some of
the better class  of  gymnastic  exercises, we find that
 they are not less graceful and beneficial to the young
 who engage in them, than pleasing to  those by whom
 they are witnessed ; just because they are in perfect
harmony with Nature, or, in other words, with the 
GYMNASTICS.
147
structure and mode of action of the joints, ligaments,
and muscles by which they are executed.  But it is
far otherwise with some of the anomalous exercises
which were at one time so fashionable, and which are
not yet extinct  in schools and gymnasia, and which
seem to have for  their chief object the conversion of
future men and women into  foresters, firemen, or
savages, rather than into beings who are to continue
to have the use  of stairs, ladders, carriages, steam-
boats, and  the  other conveniences of civilized life.
It is no  doubt a good  thing  for a boy to be able to
climb up a perpendicular pole or a slippery rope, when
no other means present themselves of attaining an
important object at its upper end; and it is an equally
good thing  for a young lady to be able to sustain her
own weight hanging by one or both hands, when there
is no possibility of resting her feet on terra firma; and
where boys and girls are strong enough to take pleas-
ure in such amusements, there is no great reason to
hinder them, provided they are impelled to them, not
by emulation or  any  secondary motive which may
lead to over-exertion, but by the pure love of the  ex-
ercise  itself.  In all ordinary circumstances, those
only who are vigorously constituted will attempt them,
and, if left to themselves, will be sure to desist before
any harm can be  done.  But the case is entirely al-
tered when such extraordinary evolutions are  not
only encouraged,  but taught to all  indiscriminately,
whether they be  strong or weak, resolute or timid.
We have only to  reflect for  a  moment on the struc-
ture of the  shoulder-joint, and on the sphere of action
of the  muscles surrounding it, to perceive at once
that the position  of the one and the strain upon the
other, caused by the exercises alluded to, are so forced
and unnatural as to exclude the possibility of the Cre-
ator having intended  either to be  practised  except
upon occasions of urgent  necessity, and to discover
how preposterous it is, therefore, to make  them a
subject of general  instruction.   Nay, the very violence
of the effort required to  sustain the body when hang-
ing by the hands is far beyond that moderate exertion 
148
GYMNASTICS.
 which adds to nutrition and to strength; and in deli-
 cate  subjects it may  even induce  relaxation and
 stretching of the ligaments and bloodvessels, and thus,
 as in the case of the young men at  Cambridge, lay
 the  foundation  for future and  fatal disease.   The
 same remarks apply to a common practice of making
 the pupils slide down an inclined plane resting on the
 hands alone, by which unnatural effort the shoulders
 are pushed halfway up the neck, and the wrists, arms,
 and chest severely tried.  But in these and other simi-
 lar evolutions, it requires only to look at the dragging
 and distortion which they produce, and which form
 such a painful contrast  to the ease and grace  of all
 natural  motions and attitudes, to perceive that they
 are out of the order of Nature, and that neither health
 nor elegance can result  from them.
   I am aware that these exercises are said to stretch
 the spine and  to remedy its deformities; but it would
 be quite  as sound logic to maintain,  that, because a
 broken leg requires to be tied up with splints and band-
 ages, therefore the best way to strengthen a sound leg
 must be to bandage it also; as to infer, that, because
 a few diseased spines require to be  stretched, there-
 fore all  healthy spines must also derive benefit from
 the same  process;  although, in the latter case, it is
obvious to reason that  the stretching will be much
likelier to put the bones out of their places than to
fix them more firmly in those which they already oc-
cupy.  It is not by such extravagant means that  a
soldierlike carriage  is obtained in the  army, and yet
there the uniformity of result, the erect and  steady
gait, is scarcely less remarkable than the discordant
materials and  variety of slouching and awkward atti-
tudes  out of which it is formed, by perseverance in a
rational system of drilling.
  In the selection of exercises for the young,  then,
we should not be misled  by a vain desire of surmount-
ing difficulties  and performing feats at the serious risk
of inducing aneurism or rupture, but rather endeavour
to strengthen the body by  active  amusements, which
6hall call the social  and  moral feelings and intellect 
             FENCING—DUMB-BELLS.          149

into play at the same time, and by the practice of such
gymnastic  evolutions only as tend to improve  and
give tone to the natural action of the moving powers.
And in endeavouring to attain this object, we should
be always careful to avoid great fatigue, and to mod-
ify the kind, degree, and duration of the exercise, so
as to produce the desired results of increased nutrition
and strength; and to remember that the point at which
these results are to be obtained is not the same in
any two  individuals, and can be discovered only by
experience and careful observation.
   For giving strength to the chest, fencing is a good
exercise  for boys, and what is called- the club exercise
for females; but the above limit  ought never to be
exceeded, as it often is, by measuring the length  of a
lesson by the hourhand of a clock, instead of its effects
on the constitution.   Shuttlecock, as an exercise which
calls into play the  muscles of the chest, trunk, and
arms, is also very beneficial, and would be still more
so were it transferred to the open  air.  After a little
practice, it can  be  played with  the left as easily as
with the  right hand, and is, therefore, very useful in
preventing curvature and giving vigour to the spine in
females.  It is an excellent plan to play with a bat-
tledore in each  hand, and to  strike with them alter-
nately.   The play called the graces is also well adapt-
ed for expanding the chest, and giving strength to the
muscles  of the back, and has the advantage of being
practicable in the open air.
   Dumb-bells are -less in repute than they were some
years ago; but when they are not too heavy, and the
various movements gone through are not too eccen-
tric or difficult, they are very useful.  They do harm
occasionally from their weight being disproportioned
to the weak frames which use them; in which case
they pull down the  shoulders by dint of  mere drag-
ging.  When this or any other exercise is resorted to
in the house, the windows ought to be thrown open,
so as to  make the nearest possible approach to the
external air.
   Reading aloud and recitation are more useful and in*
                       N2 
150
READING  ALOUD.
vigorating  muscular exercises than is generally im-
agined, at least when managed with due regard to the
natural powers of the individual, so as to avoid effort
and fatigue.  Both require the varied activity of most
of the muscles of the trunk to a degree of which  few
are conscious till their attention is turned to it.   In
forming and undulating the voice, not only the chest,
but also the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, are in
constant action, and communicate to the stomach and
bowels a healthy and agreeable stimulus; and, con-
sequently, where  the voice is raised and elocution
rapid, as in many kinds of public speaking, the mus-
cular effort comes to be even more fatiguing than the
mental,  especially to those who are unaccustomed to
it, and hence  the copious perspiration and bodily ex-
haustion of popular  orators and preachers.   When
care is taken, however, not to carry reading aloud or
reciting so  far at one time as  to excite the least sen-
sation of soreness or fatigue in the chest, and it is
duly repeated, it is extremely useful in developing and
giving tone to the organs of  respiration  and to the
general  system.  To the invigorating effects of  this
kind of exercise, the  celebrated and lamented Cuvier
was in the  habit of ascribing his own exemption from
consumption, to which, at the  time of his appointment
to a professorship, it was believed  he would other-
wise have fallen a sacrifice.   The exercise of lectu-
ring gradually strengthened his  lungs and improved
his health  so much that he was  never afterward
threatened with any serious pulmonary disease.  But,
of course, this happy result followed only because the
exertion of lecturing was not too great for the then
existing condition of his lungs.  Had the delicacy of
which he complained been farther advanced, the fa-
tigue of lecturing would only have accelerated his
fate; and this must never be  lost sight of in practi-
cally applying the rules of exercise.
  It appears,  then, from the foregoing remarks, that
the  most perfect of all  exercises are  those sports
which combine free play of all the muscles of the body,
mental excitement, and the unrestrained use of the 
         DIFFERENT KINDS OF EXERCISE.     151

voice; and to such sports, accordingly, are the young
so instinctively addicted, that nothing but the strict-
est vigilance and fear of punishment can deter them
from  engaging in them  the moment the restraint of
school is at an end.  Many parents, absorbed in their
own  pursuits, forgetful of their own former experi-
ence, and ignorant that such are the benevolent dic-
tates  of Nature, abhor these wholesome outpourings
of the juvenile voice, and  lay restrictions upon their
children, which, by preventing the full development of
the lungs and muscles, inflict permanent injury upon
them  in the very point where, in this climate, parents
are most anxious to protect them.  In accordance
with this, we find that what are called wild romping
boys  or  girls, or those  who break  through all such
restrictions, often turn out the strongest and health-
iest ;  while those who submit generally become more
delicate as they grow older.
  Enough has,  I trust, been said to enable any ra-
tional parent or  teacher to determine the  fitness of
the different kinds of muscular exercise, and to adapt
the time, manner, and degree of each to every indi-
vidual under his care; but, before taking leave of the
subject, and with a view to impress the more deeply
upon  the mind of the reader the practical importance
of the principles inculcated in the preceding pages, I
cannot refrain from subjoining a case which affords
an  extremely apposite  illustration  of almost every
one of them. The particulars were furnished to  me
by a young friend who was allowed to peruse the man-
uscript of these pages, and who, as himself the subject
of the case, was struck with the  perfect accordance
between his own experience and the doctrines here
expounded.   It is proper to keep in view, that, at the
time of his experiment, my friend was about seven-
teen years of age, and growing rapidly.  I shall use
nearly his own words.
  After having passed the winter, closely engaged in
a sedentary  profession,  and accustomed to much ex-
ercise, he was induced, by the beauty of returning
spring, to dedicate a day to seeking enjoyment in a
country excursion; and  for that purpose set off one 
152      CASE  OF EXCESSIVE EXERCISE.
 morning in the month of May, without previous prep-
 aration, to walk to Haddington by way of North Ber-
 wick, a distance of thirty-four  miles.  Being at the
 time  entirely unacquainted with the  principles  of
 physiology, he was not aware that the power of ex-
 erting the muscles depended in any degree upon the
 previous mode of life, but thought that, if a man were
 once able to walk thirty miles, he must  necessarily
 continue to possess  the same power, under all cir-
 cumstances, while youth and health remained.  The
 nervous stimulus arising from  his escape  from the
 desk, and from the expected delights of the excursion,
carried him briskly and pleasantly over  the ground
 for the first twelve miles, but then naturally began to
decrease.   Unfortunately, the next part of the  road
 lay through a dull, monotonous, and sandy tract, pre-
senting no object of interest to the mind, and no va-
 riety of any description; so that the mental stimulus,
already greatly  impaired in intensity, became still
weaker.  Being alone, his intellect and feelings could
not be excited by the pleasure of companionship and
conversation; weariness consequently increased  at
every step; and long before his arrival at North Ber-
wick (twenty-five miles)," every vestige of enjoyment
had disappeared, time  seemed to move at a marvel-
lously tardy pace, and every mile appeared doubled in
 length."
  Not being aware that excessive exercise, without a
 succeeding period of repose, is unfavourable to diges-
 tion, and having a lively recollection  of the pleasure
 and refreshment consequent upon eating a good din-
ner with an appetite whetted by a proper degree of
bodily labour in the open air, he looked forward with
confidence  to some recompense and  consolation for
his toils when dinner  should make  its appearance.
 In this, however, he was  doubly disappointed; for,
from having started  with too light a breakfast, and
 walked so far, his digestive organs were,  in common
 with every part of his system, so much impaired, that
 he looked upon the viands placed before him almost
 without appetite;  and as they were in themselves not
 remarkably nutritive  or digestible, he infringed still 
CASE  OF EXCESSIVE  EXERCISE.     153
further that condition of muscular action which con-
sists in a full supply of nourishing arterial blood,
made from plenty of nutritious food;  a condition
which  I  have stated  to  be essential, especially  in
youth and during growth.
  After a rest of two hours, and taking a moderate
allowance of wine, which, however, he says," seemed
to have lost its ancient virtue of imparting cheerful-
ness to the human heart," he set out to complete the
remaining nine miles to  Haddington.  The  country
was more beautiful and varied, but the charms of Na-
ture had, by this time, lost all attractions, for our pe-
destrian  was " now wholly occupied in counting the
tedious miles  yet to be traversed, and in making a
pious vow that this pleasure excursion, though not the
first, should certainly be the last in his life."  Being
reduced  to  the  utmost degree of exhaustion, it re-
quired an  extraordinary effort  to persevere; but at
last he arrived at Haddington, in a state of exquisite
misery.  Unable to read from fatigue, and having no-
body to converse with, he sought refuge in bed at an
early hour, in the expectation that " tired  Nature's
sweet  restorer, balmy sleep," would visit his  couch
and bring him relief.  But, in accordance with what
is mentioned on page 128, he tossed and tumbled  in-
cessantly till  four in the morning,  a period  of seven
hours, after which  sleep came on.  Next  day my
youthful friend returned home in the stagecoach, wiser
at least, if not happier, for his pleasure excursion; and
now makes the observation, that if he had  been  in-
structed in the least degree in  the nature of the hu-
man constitution, he would never, for a moment, have
entertained an expectation of enjoyment from a pro-
ceeding  so utterly in defiance of all the laws of exer-
cise, as that of which he reaped the  unpalatable fruits.
 He adds justly, that the number of young men who
 suffer in a similar way is by no means small, and that
 he  has  reason  to be thankful  that  he  has  not, like
 some  of his  companions, carried his transgressions
 so far as permanently to injure health, or even sacri-
 fice life. 
154         INVOLUNTARY  MUSCLES.
   My aim being practical utility, I have said nothing
 in this place on  the  subject of what are called the
 Involuntary Muscles, or those over which the will has
 no power, in contradistinction to the Voluntary, or
 those which obey the direction of the will.  Most of
 the involuntary muscles are the agents of important
 vital functions, which are carried on by them uncon-
 sciously to ourselves, and which it would have been
 dangerous to leave  under our control.  The chief of
 them is  the  heart,  which goes on  in one unvarying
 lound of alternate  contraction and relaxation, from
 the commencement till the close of existence.  The
 next  in  importance are those connected with res-
 piration, which,  like  the  heart, continue to act  by
 night and by day for the whole period of a long life,
 without  weariness  and without  interruption.   The
 muscular fibres  of  the stomach, bowels, and other
 viscera, are  excellent examples of the same class;
 and the  beneficence of Providence in withdrawing
 them  from our control cannot be sufficiently admired.
 Had the  action of the heart and respiratory muscles
 depended on the will, as that of the muscles of loco-
 motion does, the circulation of the blood and the pro-
 cess of breathing would both have  ceased whenever
 sleep  or any other cause overcame  the power of at-
 tention, and life  would, in consequence, have been
 extinguished.
  From the different constitution of the voluntary and
 involuntary muscles, it is clear that the former were
 designed for alternate activity and repose.  Had it so
pleased  the Creator, he could as easily have render-
ed the one set of muscles incapable of fatigue, as he
has actually rendered the other ; but then the powers
of man would not have been in harmony with the pur-
pose of his existence.  Incessant muscular activity
would not only have been incompatible with the high-
est human enjoyment, that arising from the gratifica-
tion of  the moral and intellectual  faculties, but it
would have lacked objects on which to  expend itself
usefully,  and, unguided by intellect,  would only have
served to overturn and destroy the best provisions of
Nature for our happiness. 
CHAPTER VI.
THE  BONES, THEIR STRUCTURE, USES, AND CONDITIONS OF
                      HEALTH.

The  Bones essential to Motion, and to the security of the Vital
  Organs.—The Skeleton.—Bones are composed of Animal and
  of Earthy Matter.—The Animal Part the Seat of their Vitality.
  —The Proportions between these vary at different Periods of
  Life.—Vessels, Nerves, Life, Growth, and Decay of Bones.—
  Advantages of their Vitality and  Insensibility.—Their adapta-
  tion to contained Parts.r—Conditions of Health.—Necessity of
  Exercise.

   The hardness, strength, and  insensibility  which
form the distinguishing properties  of healthy  bones,
fit them in a remarkable degree for serving as a basis
of support to the softer and more active textures of
the body.  By their means, the human frame is ena-
bled to unite the  most  finished symmetry  of form
with the most perfect freedom of motion and security
to life.
   Some of  the bones, such as those which compose
the scull and the socket for the eye, are designed ex-
clusively for the protection of important organs con-
tained  within them.   But by  far the greater number
are constructed with a direct  reference to voluntary
motion, and  serve only incidentally the purposes of
protection.
  In proportion to the variety of movements  which
any  piece of mechanism is required to perform, its
component parts must be numerous and varied.   Con-
sidered in this light, the animal frame is the most
wonderful of all combinations of machinery.  No pro-
duction of art can be compared with it for the multi-
plicity and nicety of its evolutions;  and yet all these
are executed simply by muscular power, acting upon
the bones or other parts, and  changing their relative
 ositions. 
156     DESCRIPTION OF THE SKELETON.
   The incalculable variety of movements required
 from man, is the reason why the bones composing
 the skeleton are so numerous, and each so admirably
 connected with the others by articulations, construct-
 ed so as to admit of precisely that kind of motion
 which the animal requires of it, and of no other.  The
 advantages of this arrangement are not less obvious
 than admirable.  Had the osseous framework  con-
 sisted of one  entire piece, not only would man and
 animals have been incapable of motion, but every ex-
 ternal shock would have been communicated undi-
 minished to the whole system.  Whereas, by  the di-
 vision of its parts, and by the interposition of  elastic
 cartilages and ligaments at the joints, free and ex-
 tensive motion is secured, and the impetus of every
 external shock is deadened in its force and diffused
 over the body, in the same way as, to a person riding in
 a carriage,  the jolt of the wheej passing over a stone
 is diminished by being equally diffused over the whole
 vehicle, in consequence of the elasticity of,the springs.
 The safety imparted by this arrangement to the deli-
 cate and important vital organs, is apt to be lost sight
 of from the very smoothness with which it enables
us to move along; but it will be perceived if we  reflect
 on the shock given to the whole system by taking a
 single false step in going up or down stairs.  The
parts have then no time to adapt themselves to the
 exigencies  of  the moment, and to  put the proper
 springs in play for the equal distribution of the impe-
tus.  Death has been occasioned by accidents  of this
kind.
  The fabric resulting frorrt the connexion of all these
pieces, in their natural order of arrangement, is called
the Skeleton.   When the  connexion is maintained by
 means of the ligaments which bound the pieces to-
 gether during life, the whole is called a natural skele-
 ton ; but  if the place of the ligaments be supplied by
 wires, the skeleton is then said to be artificial.  The
 bones entering into the composition of the human
 skeleton  exceed 200 in number.   Each is separated
 from,but intimately connected with, the rest;  and of 
DESCRIPTION OF THE SKELETON.     157
 a shape, size, and construction in exact harmony with
 the kind and extent of motion which it is destined to
 exercise.  Dry and uninviting as such a subject may
 seem at first sight, there are found, nevertheless, on
 closer  examination, many points of inquiry both  in-
 teresting and instructive, to which I shall briefly ad-
 vert.
   The three great divisions of the skeleton recognised
 by anatomists  are the  head, trunk, and  extremities.
 The  first is well known; the second includes the two
 great cavities, the thorax or chest, and the abdomen or
 belly; and the third comprises the arms and legs, or
 upper and lower extremities.
   Each of these presents a structure beautifully adapt-
 ed to the purposes for  which it is  destined.  The
 head consists of the scull and bones of the face.  The
 scull affords complete protection to the brain from  all
 ordinary accidents, and also to the organs of hearing,
 seeing,  smelling,  and tasting.  Protection and not
 motion being the  sole object of its construction, the
 numerous bones of which it is composed are joined
 to each other, not by moveable joints like other bones,
 but by a kind of dovetailing, which combines the so-
 lidity of continuous  structure with the advantages
 which their  separation gives  to  facilitating growth,
 and  interrupting the extension to all, of the injuries
 inflicted on one.
  The trunk, as will be seen from the annexed cut,
 consists of the  spine a a, the ribs r r, the sternum x,
 and the  pelvis s s.  The spine, vertebral column, or
 back-bone a a, which supports all the upper parts, is
 a very remarkable  piece of  mechanism.   It is  com-
 posed, in all, of twenty-four  separate bones, called
 vertebra, from the  Latin word verlere, to turn, as the
 body  turns upon them as on a pivot.   Of these, seven,
 called cervical vertebrae, belong to the neck; twelve,
 connected with the ribs, and called dorsal, to the back;
 and five, called lumbar, to the loins.  The base of the
 column  rests on the sacrum w, which is closely com-
pacted between the bones of the pelvis s s.   The ver-
tebrae are firmly bound to each other in such away as 
158    DESCRIPTION  OF THE SKELETON.
to admit of flexion and extension, and a certain degree
of rotation, while, by their solidity and firm attach-
ment to each other, great strength is secured.   Some
conception of this strength may be formed when we 
        DESCRIPTION OF THE SKELETON.    159

consider the  enormous  loads  which some athletic
men are able to carry on their shoulders, or raise in
their hands; the whole weight of which is necessarily
borne by the vertebrae of the loins.  As the space oc-
cupied by the abdomen gives large outward dimen-
sions to this region of the body, it is only upon reflec-
tion that we  perceive that the whole force exerted
by the human frame in its most strenuous efforts cen-
tres in the bony column we are now examining.
   While the  smooth or  rounded forepart or body of
the vertebrae  affords support to the superincumbent
parts, the projecting  ridge  behind and rugged pro-
cesses at the sides combine with it to  form a large
tube or canal, extending from the top to the bottom
of the column, and in which the spinal marrow is
contained and protected.  Between each of the ver-
tebrae a thick compressible cushion of cartilage  and
ligament is interposed, which serves the triple purpose
of uniting the bones to each other, of diminishing and
diffusing shocks received in walking or leaping, and
of admitting  a greater extent of motion than if the
bones were in more immediate contact.
   The ribs r r, twelve in number on each side, are at-
tached by their heads to the spine, and by their other
(cartilaginous) extremities to the sternum or breast-
bone x.  The seven uppermost are called true  ribs,
because each of them is connected directly with the
sternum by means of a separate cartilage.   The five
lower ribs are called false, because one or two of
them are loose at one end, and the cartilages of the
rest run into each  other  instead of being separately
prolonged to the breast-bone.  The use  of the ribs is
to form the cavity  of the chest for the reception  and
protection of the lungs, heart, and great bloodvessels,
and to assist  in  respiration by their alternate rising
and falling.  This action enlarges and diminishes by
turns  the size of the  chest and the capacity of the
lungs.
  The pelvis  s s, is formed by the broad, flat bones
which support the bowels, and serve for  the articula-
tion of the thigh.  A general notion of their appear- 
160    DESCRIPTION OF  THE  SKELETON.
 ance and uses may be obtained from inspection of the
 cut, which, however, does not represent with perfect
 accuracy the minuter structure.
   The bones of the upper extremities are, the scapula
 or shoulder-blade ; the clavicle or collar-bone y; the
 humerus or  arm-bone b; the radius d, and ulna e, or
 bones of the forearm ;  and the small carpal and meta-
 carpal bones / and phalanges g, forming the wrist,
 hand, and fingers.
   The  scapula is  the  broad flat bone lying  at the
 upper part of the back, familiarly known as the shoul-
 der-blade, and so troublesome to many young ladies
 by its unseemly projection.  It serves to connect the
 arm with the trunk of the  body, and gives origin to
 many of the muscles by which the former is put in
 motion.  The collar-bone y  extends from the  breast-
 bone outward to the scapula.  Its chief use is to pre-
 vent  the arms  from falling forward in front of the
 body; and hence it is wanting in the lower animals,
 whose superior extremities are much  closer to each
 other than those of man.
  The humerus, or arm-bone b, is adapted by a kind
 of ball and socket joint to a corresponding surface in
 the scapula, and hence enjoys great latitude of motion,
 and, from the shallowness of the receptacle, is some-
 what liable to dislocation.  The radius and ulna d e
 constituting the forearm, are connected with the hume-
 rus by a hinge-like joint, which admits readily of flex-
 ion and  extension, but not of rotation; and as the ar-
ticulation is of a peculiar construction, it is rarely dis-
located.  The movements of pronation and supina-
 tion, or  turning round the hand, are effected, not by
the elbow-joint, but by the radius d moving upon the
ulna e, by means of joints formed for  this purpose.
The  wrist and finger-joints are  too complicated to
 admit of explanation here.
  The lower extremities consist of the  os femoris or
 thigh-bone i; the patella or knee-pan /; the tibia m,
 and fibula n, or leg bones; and the tarsal and metatar-
 sal bones o, and phalanges  p, composing the ankle,
 foot, and toes. 
COMPOSITION OF  BONES.         161
  The thigh-bone t is articulated by means of a large
round head deeply sunk into a corresponding hollow
in the pelvis at h;  freedom of motion being thus com-
bined with  greater  security.   The  thigh  may be
moved backward and forward, as in walking;  and also
outward and inward, as when sitting on horseback,
or with the legs crossed.  The socket being much
deeper than that of the shoulder-joint, the thigh-bone
has not the  same  range of motion as  the humerus,
but it has proportionally greater  security.
  The patella, or kneepan I, is well known.   It  is a
small bone constituting the projection of the knee.
It increases  the power of the muscles which extend
the leg, and protects the front of the knee-joint.  The
tibia m is the principal bone of the leg, and is the only
one articulated with that of the thigh.   Its lower end
forms the projection at the inner ankle.  The fibula
n is the long slender  bone at the outer side of the leg,
the lower end of which forms the outer ankle.  The
tibia and fibula both contribute to the formation of the
ankle-joint, which, like that of  the knee, is  almost
limited to flexion and extension.
  The tarsal bones constituting  the  foot display an
admirable mechanism, but without plates any descrip-
tion of  them  would be unintelligible.  My present
aim being practical utility, I shall, therefore, pass over
these details, and rather lay before the reader several
considerations of a more general and directly useful
nature.

  Bones consist of two kinds of substances, viz., those
of an animal and those of an earthy nature.  To the
former belongs everything connected with  the  life
and growth of bones, and to the latter the hardness
and power of resistance by which they are character-
ized.
  The animal portion of bones constitutes, according
to the analysis of Berzelius, about 32.17 per cent, of
their substance, and consists chiefly of albumen, gela-
tine, cellular membrane, bloodvessels, nerves, and ab-
sorbents.  Of the  remaining 67  per .cent, of earthy
                      02 
162         COMPOSITION OF BONES.
matter, nearly 52 parts  consist of phosphate, and 11
of carbonate, of lime.   The  relative  proportions of
the animal and  earthy  constituents vary, however,
according to the period of life.  In infancy, the ani-
mal portion greatly predominates, and, consequent-
ly, the bones are at that age comparatively soft, yield-
ing, and elastic.  In middle life, the portions are more
equally balanced, and while the bones thereby acquire
great  hardness and solidity, they still  preserve some
elasticity.  In old  age, on the  contrary, when the
earthy constituents predominate, they become dry,
brittle, and comparatively lifeless.
  If a bone be subjected for a time to the action of
muriatic  acid, the earthy portion is gradually decom-
posed, and a cartilaginous-looking substance of the
exact shape and size of the bone is procured, which
is in reality its animal constituent.  If, on the other
hand, the bone be subjected to the  action  of fire,
which decomposes and dissipates the animal elements,
but scarcely affects the earths, a white, light, easily
crumbled mass, of the shape  and appearance of the
original bone, is procured, which is simply the earthy
part of bone, deprived of its  connecting  membrane.
The latter is called the animal  constituent of the bone,
because it is the product of animal life, and does not
exist  in nature, except in the system of animals ; and
the former is called the earthy constituent, because it
may and  does exist in nature, without relation to life.
  A very important purpose is served by the differ-
ent proportions which the animal elements  of bone
bear to the earthy at different ages.  In early youth,
when much strength is not  wanted, as  the body is
never exposed  to severe efforts, but  when  a great
growth of bone is  required to complete the develop-
ment  of the human frame, the animal or living part of
the bone  is observed to preponderate.  But  in mid-
dle life, when growth is finished, and  the powers of
resistance are at their maximum, and when nutrition
is required only to  repair waste, a larger proportion
of the solid or earthy, and a smaller proportion of the
vital  constituents, become  necessary.  In  old age, 
GROWTH  OF BONES.           163
again, when the wants of the system  are  reversed,
and when positive diminution of existing masses  is
required to  put the frame into harmony  with the
shrunk muscles and feebler powers of life, the absorb-
ent vessels carry away more of the vital matter, leav-
ing chiefly the earthy, which, being  less susceptible
of change, requires scarcely any support from within;
and hence the  brittle and compact  hardness of the
bones, and their little capability of uniting when frac-
ture happens at an advanced period of life.
   At birth many of the bones are, properly speaking,
of a cartilaginous  nature.  As ossification advances,
the cartilage is removed by the absorbents, and its
place supplied by a kind of cellular membrane, in the
interstices of which the earthy particles are deposit-
ed ; the two forming, by their union, the homogene-
ous whole called Bone.  Although, therefore, it is to
the softer material alone that vital properties essen-
tially belong, it is usual to speak of  the life, the ves-
sels,  and the  nerves of bones, as if  life belonged
equally to the  earthy and animal portions.  This is
correct enough in reality, because the union between
the earthy and animal tissues is always the product
of life; and the parts thus united are, to all intents
and purposes, living parts.
   To carry on the processes of waste and renovation,
by which every living structure  is  distinguished,  all
parts of the body are provided, 1st, with arteries con-
veying to them red or nutritive blood; 2dly, with ex-
halants, by which the new matter is deposited, and
which are believed to be the minute terminations of
the arteries; 3dly, with  veins,by which the blood is
 carried back to the heart; 4thly, with absorbent ves-
 sels, which take up and carry away the waste parti-
 cles to be thrown out of the  system ; and, lastly, with
 nerves to supply all these vessels and  the organs on
 which they are distributed, with that nervous energy
 which is essential to their vitality,  and to their con-
 nexion with other parts of the system.  The bones,
 insensible as they may seem, possess all these attri-
 butes of living and organized parts.  They are  all 
164         RENOVATION OF BONES.
provided with bloodvessels, with  nerves, and with
exhaling and absorbing vessels; and they are con-
stantly undergoing the same process of decay and of
renovation, to which all other living parts are sub-
jected.
  That bones are provided with bloodvessels, is shown
by the fact, that anatomists are able to trace these
vessels into their substance, and to inject those of a
young subject with wax, so minutely as to make  the
bones appear of  a  lively red colour.  That they  are
provided also with nerves, is evident, both from dis-
section and from the effects of injuries and disease.
A  healthy bone may be cut or sawed across without
causing pain; but when the same bone becomes in-
flamed, the most excruciating torture is felt.   And, as
sensation  is the  exclusive  attribute of the nervous
system, this fact  alone would authorize us to assume
their  existence, even although nervous fibres could
not be traced entering the osseous substance.
  That the substance of the bones  is continually  un-
dergoing a change, and that, while the old  particles
are withdrawn by absorbents, new particles are con-
stantly deposited by the nutrient or exhalant vessels,
is  abundantly proved by the often-repeated experi-
ments of  Duhamel.  If madder be mixed  with  the
food of fowls for a few days, and the fowls be then
killed, the colouring matter deposited by the nutrient
vessels will invariably be found to have died the bones
of a deep  red; and if the madder  be withdrawn,  the
bones will then be found  to be less and less  red in
proportion to the length of time which has been al-
lowed to  elapse—evidently showing that waste and
renovation are constantly going on.
  It may be thought that bones are, in their very es-
sence, so  hard  and durable, as to  render any such
supply of nourishment and change of parts altogether
unnecessary.  But if we look for  a moment to  the
advantages consequent upon this order of things, we
shall see abundant cause to reject such an opinion.
   It is only by means of the processes of growth  and
renewal that  the bones can adapt themselves to  the 
     ADVANTAGES OF VITALITY  IN BONES.  165

wants and state of the system.  If the  bones were
not endowed with the principle of life, the stature of
the infant must have been that of the  future man.
Or even supposing  the osseous system to have grown
to maturity, and then remain unchanged, the withered
form of old age  would  necessarily have been op-
pressed and overcome by the large and massive bones
which  the vigorous muscles of manhood alone can
easily put in motion.  Had the bones been  created
unsusceptible of internal change and unendowed with
life, it is obvious that, when broken by accident, they
must have remained for ever disunited, and therefore
an encumbrance instead of an assistance to the animal.
But, from possessing bloodvessels of their own to sup-
ply them with nourishment, and nerves to give power
of action to those bloodvessels, the very  irritation of
the broken end is  made  to serve the purpose of in-
creasing the vital  powers of the injured parts, and
producing that excitement which is necessary for the
formation of a  new bond  of union, and for filling up
the gap that would otherwise have remained.
  In a  state of health, the bones  are insensible to
pain ; and here also the more provident benevolence
appears.  For,  surrounded as  they  are by the softer
and more sensitive parts, these afford them ample
protection, while their insensibility  enables them to
act, for any length of time, without weariness or pain.
But when a severe  accident  occurs to  break them
asunder or destroy their  texture, pain then becomes
their kindest guardian, and the surest promoter of
their recovery.  In such circumstances, indeed, no-
thing can be more truly benevolent  than pain.  It ac-
companies  that inflammation and  vascular activity,
without which the work of reunion of the broken part
cannot be accomplished ;  and is the means of securing
the repose and quietude  which are essential to the
exact adaptation of the parts to each other, and which
can be  effected only by causing great pain to follow
even the slightest motion.  Of such utility is inflam-
mation  on these occasions, that when, as sometimes
happens, the requisite degree of it, from want of ner- 
166  ADVANTAGES OF  VITALITY IN BONES.

vous sensibility in the part, does not take place, and
the bone remains ununited for many weeks, surgeons
are in the habit of  using violence  to produce the ne-
cessary stimulus.  In this case, they either rub the
broken ends rudely against each other, or introduce
an instrument between them, by which pain and irri-
tation may be excited,  and  then  reunion  is accom-
plished.  On the other hand, if pain did not guard the
limb from  motion when the process of recovery is
going on, the union would be incessantly disturbed by
every heedless and unavoidable start altering the rel-
ative position of the parts.  This, also, is occasionally
exemplified in practice.   Looking at these facts, it is
impossible not to admire the wisdom and the  benev-
olence manifested  in the adaptation of the  structure
of bones in every particular to the circumstances and
occurrences of life.
  Another  advantage arising  from the  vitality  of
bones, is their susceptibility of change without injury
to life.   Thus it frequently happens, that, in infancy,
water collects within the head in  considerable quan-
tity ; but, in consequence of the  law that  the  form
of the scull accommodates itself  to the form and di-
mensions of its soft contents,  the bones yield to the
pressure from within, become larger, and, by forming
a larger  cavity, permit the brain to execute its func-
tions, and life to go on; whereas, had the scull been
incapable of undergoing change, death would have to
a  certainty ensued.  The scull owes this  power of
adaptation entirely  to  its  possessing  vessels  and
nerves, and to its undergoing a constant  decay and
renewal, like the other parts of the system.
   The same phenomena are exhibited by the bones
of the chest. When tumours  arise, or collections of
fluid take place within that cavity, there is a constant
effort on the part of nature to take advantage of this
constitution of the bones, and  to  cause  them  so to
expand as to save the lungs and heart from hurtful
pressure, and allow respiration and circulation to go
on unimpaired.
   In the opposite circumstances of diminished volume 
     INCREASE  AND  DIMINUTION  OF  BONES.  167

of the soft contents of the cavities, the same law en-
ables the bone to decrease in a corresponding propor-
tion, and, consequently,  to  continue  the  protection
which it affords to its contained organs.  Thus, were
the bone to remain unaltered, when, in cases of dis-
ease and in old age, the brain diminishes in  size, the
cavity of the scull would be only partially filled, and
the brain, so far  from being protected, would  be jolted
backward and forward,  upward and downward, by
every motion of the head  or' body, till its structure
should  be  utterly destroyed,  and  life itself  extin-
guished.
  To those who are unacquainted with the laws of
nutrition of organized bodies, and who are accustomed
to notice the hard and  unyielding nature of bone,
without having any adequate perception of the  par-
ticular uses of the adaptation of the hard  to the soft
parts, this adaptation may seem strange and improb-
able ; but a little consideration will satisfy every one
that it could not have been otherwise.
   In infancy, when the lungs  are  imperfectly devel-
oped, the chest is  narrow, flat, and confined, and the
ribs almost  in close juxtaposition.  In youth and in
middle  age, when force and activity require fulness
and vigour of respiration, the lungs enlarge, and to
give them scope, the chest becomes full, broad, and
capacious.   In old age, again, when the season of
active exertion is  over, and the strength decays, the
broad  shoulders and capacious chest  of manhood
gradually disappear, and a totally different  form oc-
cupies its place.   Now, at all the«e periods,  the bones
are the parts which, by their  alteration, serve as an
index of the changes going on within; and, on this
large scale, the  difference in their form is  so great
that it must be obvious to all.
   Where the whole of the soft contents of a bony
cavity  increase  in size, as happens in the case of
water in the head, the result is, as already mentioned,
an expansion from interstitial  growth of the osseous
covering.   But  where the tumour or pressure  is lim-
ited to  a small part, a process of a different kind often 
 168   CONDITIONS OF HEALTH  IN BONES.

  akes place, which also has the preservation of life
 for its object, and which is accomplished by another
 of the  natural actions—absorption.  When a bone,
 say of  four inches square,  is  required gradually to
 expand itself so as to protect a surface of six inches,
 or Of double the  extent, this is accomplished by the
 gradual removal of the old, and the deposition of new
 and additional particles, on, as it were, a  new and
 enlarged mould.   But in the other case, where  the
 pressure is  very limited—where, for instance, a small
 tumour develops itself on the surface of the brain,
 which,  if allowed to grow  within unyielding walls,
 would soon cause death by pressure on the brain—
 the ordinary process of absorption becomes greatly
 excited, and gradually eats away the whole thickness
 of the bone over the  tumour, which then protrudes
 externally, and relieves the brain  within from pres-
 sure, which  would have been fatal  to it.
   I have already  stated, that, besides a large propor-
 tion of  earthy matter, which gives to them dryness
 and hardness, bones contain a large quantity of animal
 matter,  which is  essential to their constitution.  In
 early life, this cartilaginous matter  preponderates,
 and  the bones are consequently  less heavy, more
 pliable and elastic, and possessed of greater vitality.
 In old age, again, the earthy parts predominate, and
 with them fragility, insensibility, and a lower degree
 of life.  It is from this difference that bones broken
 in youth reunite  in one third of the time necessary
 for their reunion in advanced life.
  In some unhealthy states  of the system, the pro-
 portion of earthy matter is greatly  diminished, and in
some parts it is even altogether removed.  The bones
become  soft, compressible, and incapable of affording
protection or support to the other parts, to such a
degree thajt  instances have  occurred  in which  the
lower extremities could be twisted behind, as if made
 of wire.  A slighter degree of the same affection is
 common in  weak, rickety children; and hence the
 deformity of limbs, so often occurring from absolute 
        CONDITIONS OF HEALTH IN BONES.    169

insufficiency of the bones to support the weight of
the body.
  The practical application to be made of our knowl-
edge of the constitution of the bones, as parts of our
animal frame, and as governed  by the ordinary or-
ganic laws, will now be obvious.   Their health we
have seen to depend on the regular supply of nour-
ishment by the bloodvessels, on  a due supply of ner-
vous energy  by the nerves, and on  a due  balance
between the action of the nutrient and absorbent or
removing vessels.   To the steady fulfilment  of these
conditions, therefore, we are bound to attend.
  It is a common fault to consider the study of an or-
gan or function complete, when we have viewed it on
all sides as  an isolated part,  without regarding  its
external relations as constituting an essential portion
of its history.  Thus, although we examine the  struc-
ture  and functions of the heart, and  see that it is a
muscle, and that its office is to contract, our knowledge
is incomplete if we do not go still further, and see
that blood is the stimulant which causes the  contrac-
tile power to act.  And in like manner with the eye,
whose relations to light are as essential a part of its
constitution as the transparency of its membranes or
the convexity of  its lens.   Now, in the  case of the
bones, we are apt to describe their hardness, their mo-
bility, and other qualities, without sufficiently advert-
ing  to  the  fact that, being organs of  support and
resistance, the frequent and  regular performance of a
full but not excessive amount of their duties is as es-
sential to their wellbeing as blood is to the heart, air
to the lungs, or light to the  eyes.  And, accordingly,
when that condition is not fulfilled, the bones become
feeble, diseased, and  unfit for  their functions, just as
the softer parts of the body do.   In practice, it is of
the utmost importance to  be fully aware  of this fact.
   It is  familiar to the professional mind^hat  a part
deprived of that exercise or action which nature des-
tined it to fulfil, becomes weakened, diminishes in
size, and at  last  shrivels  and alters so much  in ap-
pearance as not to be recognisable.  Thus,  if  an ar- 
 170    CONDITIONS OF HEALTH IN BONES.

tery—the large artery which supplies the arm with
blood,  for example—be tied, and the flow of blood
obstructed, a change of structure immediately begins,
and goes on  progressively, till, at the end of a few
weeks, what was formerly a hollow elastic tube pre-
sents the appearance of a ligamentous inelastic cord.
A muscle condemned to inaction is speedily reduced
to half its original  bulk; and, if long unexercised, at
last loses entirely its power of contraction and mus-
cular appearance.  The same rule holds with all other
parts of the system, and, in an especial manner, even
with the hard and apparently unalterable fabric of the
bones.   It is ascertained by extensive experience, that
complete inaction, besides  diminishing  the size  of
bone, injures its structure so much  as to  deprive it of
hardness, and render it susceptible  of being cut with
a knife.  Now, what is strongly marked in the. ex-
treme case is not less active, although it may be less
palpably  apparent, in cases where there  is great,
though not total, deprivation of exercise; and here is
seen one  cause of the bad health, crooked spines,
and deformed figures, of which the habitual restraint
and condemnation to attitude in modern education
lay so wide-spreading and  so  deep  a  foundation;
evils which could  never stand for a moment before
knowledge or reason.  The bones are the solid frame-
work of the body; and unless they are duly exercised
in actual motion, they, like the muscles which move
them, suffer and decay in virtue of that universal law
which  requires the exercise of voluntary organs  as
the condition of their wellbeing—as the stimulus ne-
cessary to their efficient existence.
  One great requisite, then, for the development and
health of the osseous system, is adequate  exercise.
But wherever matter is the subject, action implies
waste of materials, and unless this waste be made  up
by proporifcnate supplies, exercise leads to speedy
decay, such as we see take place where the exertion
has been carried beyond the proper limits, and occa-
 sioned a waste beyond what any supply can compen-
 sate.   A second requisite for the proper state of the 
       CONDITIONS OF HEALTH IN BONES.    171

bones, therefore, is a sufficient amount of nourishment
to counteract the waste now alluded to.
  In early youth, in particular, when every part teems
with life and activity, and is almost hourly acquiring
an increase of dimensions, the nutrient system is in a
state of unceasing and powerful action, and a rich and
abundant  supply of food is  indispensable to health.
Nature points out this fact in the keen and vigorous
appetite and strong powers of digestion which every
healthy child uniformly manifests.   To put ourselves
in accordance with the intention  of Nature at this
period of life, it is therefore absolutely necessary to
supply in abundance wholesome and nourishing food.
The non-fulfilment  of this condition, so often  seen in
times of distress among the labouring classes, gives
rise to that tumid softness and consequent weakness
of the bones and soft parts, which is known by the
name of rickets; and which, if  it continue till matu-
rity, i. e.,  during the  years  of  active nutrition  and
growth, invariably leads to distortion and deformity.
  The effect of exercise in  causing the waste of the
active organs, is well illustrated by the comparative
absence of waste when they are unemployed.  Inac-
tion implies almost stagnation, and is always attended
by diminution of the vital functions; as  is exempli-
fied in the extreme degree  in  hybernating animals,
which pass months in sleep without food, and almost
without breathing; and also in  frogs found alive in
stones and trees, where they must have been dormant
for a great number of years.   Inactive parts, then, re-
quire little nutrition,  because there is little expendi-
ture ; and they require little force or energy, because
it would be not only useless, but detrimental to them.
   By a law of the  constitution, manifestly arranged
with relation to  this principle, when any part of the
system is  active, it attracts to itself, by the simple
stimulus of that activity, an increased supply of blood
and nervous energy.  The former repairs the waste
of  substance which action  produces, and the latter
gives an increased tone in harmony with the  greater
call made  on its powers.  If the exercise is moment- 
 172     CONDITIONS OF HEALTH IN BONES.

 ary and  is not  repeated, the extraordinary flow of
 blood soon disappears, and the nervous power falls to
 the usual standard: but if it is continued for a time,
 and is recurred to at regular intervals, a more active
 nutrition is established; a permanently greater supply
 of blood  enters the vessels, even  during the intervals
 of inaction;  and an increase of development  takes
 place, attended with increased facility  and vigour ol
 function.
  If, again, any part  is not duly exercised, there is
 no local stimulus to attract a large supply of blood or
 abundant flow of the nervous fluid; there is no activ-
 ity of nutrition, no perfection of development, and no
 vigour of function.  And  hence, in partial exercise,
 there is  always  predominance of some  parts over
others; the one too strong, the other too feeble.  In
the muscular system, the arms of a  blacksmith con-
 trasted with those of a dancing-master are a sufficient
 illustration.
  This law of increased afflux of fluids and increased
nutrition to exercised parts, and of diminished afflux
and nutrition to inactive parts, is not only highly im-
portant in its practical consequences, but in exact and
obvious accordance with the plainest  principles  of
reason.   By this benevolent arrangement, parts acting
strongly receive large supplies, and  parts doing no-
thing are left in the state of weakness befitting the
demands made upon them.  To every one who sees
the principle, it must appear the height of folly to ex-
pect great nutrition and great energy to follow inac-
tion, and vice versa; and yet this is what is, in  igno-
rance, daily looked for by mankind at large.
  This law of exercise, as influencing  nutrition and
function, is universal in its application, and applies to
the osseous as much as to any other system.  If i.he
bones are duly exercised, then active nutrition goes
 on, and th^ppacquire dimension, strength, and solid-
 ity.  If they are not exercised, the stimulus requirec
 for the supply of blood to them becomes insufficient;
 imperfect nutrition takes place; and debility, softness,
 and unfitness for duty follow in the train.   This cause 
CONDITIONS OF HEALTH IN BONES.    173
of defective formation is most active and most com-
monly seen in the bones of the spine in growing girls,
who are denied free exercise in that  part; and the
consequent weakness in the bones and cartilages, as
well as in the muscles, is a very frequent cause of the
swollen joints and curvature in the bones of the limbs
in young people, which  no subsequent care can ever
remove.
  The beneficial effects of exercise and diet in im-
parting  solidity to the bones, have not escaped the
observation of trainers and veterinary surgeons.  Sir
John Sinclair expressly mentions that the bones of
persons trained become, in a remarkable degree, harder
and tougher, and less liable to be injured by blows or
accidents.*  Delabere Blaine, also, in speaking of the
deposite of earthy matter, and the consequent consoli-
dation of the bones of the horse being hastened  by
anything that permanently quickens the circulation
through them, adds, that  Nature gives to young ani-
mals a playful disposition for the purpose of "increas-
ing the flow of blood, and occasioning a more free de-
posite of the earthy particles."  " The earthy depos-
ite," he continues, " is usually  proportioned to the
wants of the animal; it is thus most perfect in those
whose exertions are  most considerable; in the full-
bred horse, therefore, the bones will be found more
solid than in the bulky  lower-bred varieties."  But
from this very circumstance, when the  animal is sub-
jected to premature exertion,  the consolidation of the
bones becomes complete  before their  softer  portion
has increased to its full dimensions, and hence " horses
early and hard worked never arrive at their full size."f
Testimony of this kind ought to be of great weight,
as based, not on theory, but on  the  broad  and well-
marked experience of practical men.
   It must be observed, however, that defective nutri-
tion may arise  from other causes than inadequate ex-
ercise ; but even then, the consequences  attending it
are  analogous  in their  nature.  Among  the  poor it
  * Code of Health, 5th edition. Appendix, p. 35.
  t Blaine's Outlines of the Veterinary Art. Third edition, p. 93.
                       P2 
174    CONDITIONS OF HEALTH IN BONES.
 often arises from deficiency of wholesome food, and
 from damp dark habitations;  among  the  rich,  from
 feeble digestive and assimilating powers, and pamper-
 ing in diet; and also from errors in clothing, and neg-
 lect of sufficient ventilation, and due exposure to the
 open air.  Rickets, softness of the bones, and white
 swelling, are accordingly observed to  be almost con-
 fined to children belonging to  one or  other of these
 classes.
  To understand more clearly the relative uses of
 bones and muscles,  we may be allowed to use a com-
 parison, although, like all other comparisons, it pre-
 sents many points of difference.   The bones are to
 the body what the masts and spars are  to a ship; they
 give support and the power of resistance: and the
 muscles are to the  bones what the ropes  are to the
 masts and spars.  It is to the muscles that the bones
 are indebted  for the preservation  or change of their
 relative position.  If the bones or masts are too fee-
 ble in proportion to the weight which  they are re-
 quired to sustain, then a deviation  from their shape or
 position takes place; and, on  the other hand, if the
 muscles or ropes are not sufficiently strong and well
 braced, then insufficiency of support must necessarily
 result.  Early infancy affords an instance of both im-
perfections; the bones being infirm, and the muscles
 small and destitute of true  fleshy fibres.  The diseas-
 ed state, called mollities ossium, or softness  of the
bones, is an instance of what may be  called a weak
mast of the body, which must yield if  its muscles be
 strongly drawn.  The state of muscular debility  con-
 sequent on fever and many acute diseases, or even on
 sudden fright, is, on the other hand, an instance of
 the inability of the bones alone to preserve an attitude,
 or  execute  motion, when  the muscular  system is
weakened by disease.  These differences merit at-
 tention.
  In the regular order of  Nature, the maturity and
 perfection of all organs and functions are attained at
 the precise  time  at which  each  is required.  The
bones of the  infant are soft, vascular, cartilaginous, 
CONDITIONS OF HEALTH IN BONES.    175
full of life, and vigorous in growth; but, having no en-
ergetic motions to perform, they possess little power
of solid resistance.  In accordance with this condition
of the bones, the muscles which move them are small,
gelatinous, imperfectly fibrous, and incapable of pow-
erful contraction.  If the bones had been made solid
and heavy from the beginning, they would  not only
have  been inert and cumbrous masses, destitute of
muscles to put them in  motion, but, from being less
vascular and less alive, could not have grown with the
rapidity necessary to adapt themselves to the growth
of the other parts of the  system.  If, on the  other
hand, powerful muscles had existed from  the first,
they would have served only to  twist the  soft and
yielding bones into fantastic shapes.   Or, if both solid
bones and strong muscles  had  been given from birth,
then a complete power of  locomotion would have
been the  result, which, from the absence of intellect
and of knowledge of  the external world to  direct it,
would have led to incessant evils, if not to speedy de-
struction.  But as things are arranged, the most pro-
found wisdom and the purest benevolence show them-
selves in the beautiful adaptation of all the  parts and
functions to each other  and to one common end.
  Knowledge  of the condition of  the bones at differ-
ent periods of life is not  without its practical uses,
particularly in regulating our  treatment of children.
Some fond parents, disregarding the  fact  that the
bones are comparatively soft and pliable in infancy,
and in their haste to see the little objects walk with-
out  support, are continually  soliciting attempts  at
standing or walking, long  before  the bones have ac-
quired sufficient power of resistance, and  the mus-
cles sufficient power of contraction, to cope with the
laws of gravitation.   The natural consequence is  a
curvature of the bone, which yields just hke an elastic
stick bending under a weight.   The two  ends ap-
proach nearer to each other than they ought to do;
 and, to accommodate themselves to the change, the
muscles become shorter on one side, and perhaps long- 
 176    CONDITIONS OF HEALTH IN BONES.

 er on  the other, each  losing part of its efficiency in
 the unnatural change which it undergoes.
  From this view, it will  be seen how hurtful lead-
 ing-strings must be.  In the first place, by their me-
 chanical force, they compress the  chest and  impede
respiration; and, in the  second, by preventing  the
body from falling to the  ground,  or, rather, by pre-
serving an upright position, they cause more of  the
weight to fall on the bones of the spine and lower ex-
tremities than these parts  are fitted to carry.  From
this noxious practice, flatness of the chest, confined
lungs, distorted spine,  and deformed legs, too often
originate.
  The impropriety of the indiscriminate use of dumb-
bells in early life will also be easily understood.  If
the weight of these be disproportioned to the strength
of the  bones, it is obvious that we  must produce the
same kind of evil as by premature attempts to walk,
viz., yielding of the bones, and stretching and relax-
ation of their connecting  ligaments.  If, again, they
be disproportionate to the muscular power, their effect
will be to exhaust instead of increasing the strength
of the body.
  From the exposition T have given of the laws of
exercise, as affecting the muscular and osseous sys-
tems, the absurdity of expecting to strengthen either
the one or the  other by the use of stays, or by lying
for hours on  a horizontal or inclined plane, will be
 abundantly manifest.  There is no royal road to health
 and strength, and no method by which, while exer-
 cise is dispensed with, its advantages can be obtained.
 In the intervals between exercise, reclining on  a plane
 is very useful in delicate, fast-growing girls; but it
 should be resorted to only when the feeling of fatigue
 exists, either from previous exercise  or from mere
 sitting up.  As soon, however, as  this feeling is  en-
 tirely recovered from, it ought to be discontinued, and
 never  employed for hours and days  in  succession,
 without reference to previous weariness, as it often
 is,  on  the  false notion of its being  conducive to
 strength. 
CONDITIONS OF HEALTH IN BONES.    177
  In this chapter, as well as that on the muscles, I
have dwelt  perhaps too long on the principles by
which exercise ought to be regulated; but as the sub-
ject is little understood by those who have the direc-
tion of youth, and is of paramount importance, I am
inclined to hope that the tediousness of repetition may
be forgiven, if clearness and conviction are obtained. 
CHAPTER VII.
      THE LUNGS—THEIR FUNCTIONS--AND HEALTH.

Arterial and  Venous Blood.—Circulation of the Blood.—Respi-
  ration.—Situation and Structure of the Lungs—their Air-cells
  and Bloodvessels.—Pulmonary Exhalation and Absorption.—
  Conditions of healthy Action in the Lungs.—Influence of hered-
  itary Predisposition—of wholesome Food and good Digestion—
  of the free Expansion of the Lungs—of Exercise of the Muscles
  and Voice—of Cheerfulness and of Depression of Mind—of pure
  Air and Ventilation.—Vitiation of the Air by Breathing—Ex-
  tent and Nature of the Vitiation.—Examples of Death produced
  by great Impurity—its Influence in destroying Health—Illustra-
  tions.—Want of Ventilation in Public Halls, Churches, Schools,
  and Houses—Necessity for the Scientific Regulation of Ventila-
  tion—Disease from ill-regulated Ventilation—Means of Venti-
  lation—Effects of vitiated Air on the Animal Economy.—Res-
  piration the Source of Animal Heat—Causes of deficient Gen-
  eration of Heat.—Means of Strengthening the Lungs and Chest.
  —Direct and Indirect Exercise of the Lungs—Beneficial Effects
  of, and Rules for, Pulmonary Exercise.—Precautions to be ob-
  served in Diseases of the Lungs, and in persons predisposed to
  Consumption, particularly at Puberty.

  We come next  to  treat  of the lungs and of the
function which  they perform;  but,  in  order  to be
clearly  understood, I must premise  a few observa-
tions on the circulation of the blood.
  The  blood circulating through  the body  is of two
different kinds; the one red or arterial, and the other
dark or venous blood.   The former alone is capable of
affording nourishment and of supporting life.  It  is dis-
tributed from the left side of  the heart  all over the
body, by means of a great artery or bloodvessel  called
the aorta, which subdivides in its course, and ultimately
terminates  in myriads of very minute ramifications
closely interwoven with, and, in reality, constituting a
part of, the texture of every living part.   On reaching
this extreme point of its course, the blood passes into 
ARTERIAL AND VENOUS BLOOD.      179
equally minute ramifications of the veins, which, in
their turn, gradually coalesce  and form larger and
larger trunks, till they at last terminate in two large
veins, by which the whole current of the venous blood
is brought back in a direction contrary to that of the
blood in the arteries, and poured into the right side of
the heart.   On examining the quality of the blood in
these two systems of vessels, it is found to have un-
dergone a great change in its passage from the one
to the other.   The florid hue which distinguished it
in the arteries has disappeared, and given place to the
dark colour characteristic of venous blood.  Its prop-
erties, too, have changed, and it is now no  longer ca-
pable of sustaining life.
  Two conditions are  essential to the reconversion
of venous into arterial blood, and to the restoration
of its vital properties.   The first is an adequate pro-
vision  of new materials from the food, to supply the
place of those which  have been expended in nutri-
tion ; and  the second is the free exposure of the nervous
blood to the atmospheric  air.
  The first condition is fulfilled by the chyle or nutri-
ent principle of the food being regularly poured into
the venous blood just before it reaches the right side
of the heart; and the  second, by the very important
process of respiration, which takes place  in the air-
cells of the lungs, and  which it is  our present object
to explain.
  The venous blood, having arrived at the right side
of the heart, is propelled by the contraction of that
organ into a large artery, leading directly, by separate
branches, to the two lungs, and hence called the pul-
monary artery.*   In the innumerable branches of this
artery expanding themselves throughout the substance
  * Taking the nature of the blood for our guide, the pulmonary
artery ought to be named the pulmonary vein, for it  contains ve-
nous blood.  But, from its structure and  office in regard to the
right side of the heart resembling those of the arteries, it has
been called  an artery.  The pulmonary veins, or vessels which
return the blood from the lungs to the left side of the heart, on
the  other hand  contain arterial  blood, although named  veins.
To prevent confusion, it is necessary to advert to this source a.
ambiguity. 
180      CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD.
of the lungs, the dark blood is subjected to the con-
tact of the air inhaled in breathing; and a change in
the composition both of the blood and of the inhaled
air  takes place, in consequence of which the former
is found to have reassumed its florid or arterial hue,
and to have  regained its power  of  supporting life.
The blood then enters minute venous  ramifications,
which gradually coalesce into larger branches, and at
last terminate in four large trunks in the left side of
the heart; whence the blood, in its arterial form, is
again distributed over the body, to pursue the  same
course and undergo the same changes as before.
  There are thus  two distinct circulations, each car-
ried on by its own system of vessels :  The one, from
the left side of the heart to every part of the  body,
and back to the right side; and the  other, from the
right side  of the heart to the two lungs, and back to
the left.  The former has for its object nutrition and
the maintenance of life ; and the latter the restoration
of  the deteriorated blood, and the animalization or
assimilation of the chyle   from which that fluid is
formed.
  As the food cannot become a part of the living ani-
mal, or the venous blood  regain  its  lost properties,
until they have undergone  the  requisite changes in
the air-cells of the lungs, the function of respiration,
by which  these are effected, is one  of pre-eminent
importance in the animal economy, and well deserves
the most careful examination.   The term respiration
is frequently  restricted  to  the  mere inhalation and
expiration of air from the lungs; but more generally
it is employed to designate  the  whole series of phe-
nomena which occurs in these  organs.  The words
sanguification and aeration of the  blood are other  forms
of expression occasionally used to denote that part
of the  process in which the blood, by exposure to the
action of the air, passes from the venous to the arte-
rial state; and, as the chyle does  not become assim-
ilated to  the blood until it has passed through  the
lungs, the term sanguification or  bloodmaking is  not
unaptly applied. 
           RESPIRATION—THE  LUNGS.        181

  The quantity and quality of the blood have a most
direct and  material influence upon the condition of
every part  of the body.   If the quantity sent to the
arm, for example, be diminished by tying the artery
through which it is conveyed, the arm,  being then
imperfectly nourished, wastes away, and does  not
regain its plumpness till the full supply of blood be
restored.   In like manner, when the quality of tnat
fluid is impaired by deficiency of food, bad digestion,
impure air, or imperfect sanguification in the lungs,
the body and all its functions become more or less
disordered.  Thus, in consumption, death takes place
chiefly in consequence of respiration not being suffi-
ciently perfect to admit of the formation of proper
blood in the lungs.
  A knowledge of the structure and functions of the
lungs, and of the conditions favourable to their healthy
action, is therefore very important; for on their wel-
fare depends that of every organ of the body.  And
when we recollect that, in the  British Isles alone,
above fifty  thousand persons fall victims  annually to
pulmonary consumption, and that these  are chiefly
among the  young and most gifted, we cannot but feel
deeply interested in obtaining some acquaintance with
the organization which is  the seat of that affection,
and with the conditions most  conducive  to  the due
performance  of its functions and the preservation of
its health.
  The exposure of the blood to the action of the air
seems to be indispensable to every variety of animated
creatures.  In man and the more perfect of the lower
animals, it  is carried on in the lungs, the structure of
which is admirably adapted for the purpose.  In many
animals, however, the requisite action is effected with-
out the intervention of lungs.   In fishes, for example,
which  live  in a dense medium, and do not breathe,
the blood  circulates through  the  gills, which, from
being constantly and directly in  contact with  the
water, are  more accessible than lungs would be  to
the action  of the air which the water contains, and
much better adapted to the medium in which fishes 
182        SITUATION  OF THE LUNGS.
 live.   In  worms and many similar animals, on the
 other hand, no distinct organ is set apart for the pur-
 pose, but  the aeration of the blood takes place at the
 surface of the body, by means of pores  in the skin,
 called spiracula,  specially  adapted to this end, and
 which cannot be shut up or obstructed, any more than
 the lungs  or gills, without inducing death.  So neces-
 sary, indeed, is atmospheric air to the vitality of the
 blood  in all cases of animals, that its abstraction in-
 evitably proves fatal; and a fish can no  more live in
 water deprived of air, than a man could do in  an at-
 mosphere devoid of oxygen.   And thus  the fish re-
 quires a renewal of air, and perishes when it is denied,
 exactly as man does in similar circumstances.
  In man  the lungs are those large, light, spongy
 bodies, which, along with the heart, completely fill
 the cavity of the chest.  They vary much in size in
 different persons; and as the chest is formed for their
 protection, we find  it either large  and capacious, or
 the reverse, according to the size of the lungs.  Their
 position relatively to the other viscera may be under-
 stood  on reference  to the subjoined woodcut, which
 represents the various organs of the chest and belly,
 as they appear on removing the integuments, breast-
 bone, and  part of the ribs.  The sketch is rather rude,
 but it will serve the purpose.  The letters  R L and
 L L mark the right  and left lungs,  with  the  heart H
 lying between them, but chiefly on the left side.   V is
 a not very accurate  representation of the large blood-
 vessels going to the head, neck, and superior extrem-
ities.   Livr. is the  liver, lying in  the abdomen, or
belly, and separated from the chest  by the arched
fleshy partition D D, called the diaphragm or midriff.
The stomach appears on the other side marked Stm.,
but both it and the liver are removed a little from their
natural situation.  G is the gall-bladder.  Ill are
 the various parts of the intestinal canal, through which
the food is passed on its way from the  stomach, by
 means of  what is called the peristaltic or vermicular
 motion of the bowel, one circle of fibres narrowing
 after another, so as  to propel  its contents slowly but 
    STRUCTURE  OF THE  LUNGS--AIR-CELLS.  183
          /.

steadikjt; and resembling, in some degree, the con
traction of a common worm.
The substance of the lungs consistsibf bronchial tubes,
air-cells,  bloodvessels, nerves, and cellular mem-
brane or parenchyma.  The first are merely continu-
ations and subdivisions of the windpipe, and serve to
convey the external air to the air-cells of the lungs.
The air-cells constitute the* chief part of the pulmo-
nary tissue, and are, in one sense, the terminations of
the smaller  branches of the bronchial tubes.  When
fully distended, they are so numerous  as  in  appear- 
 184  STRUCTURE  OF THE  LUNGS---AIR-CELLS.

 ance to constitute almost the whole lung.   They are
 of various sizes, from the twentieth to the hundredth
 of an inch in diameter, and are lined with an exceed-
 ingly fine, thin membrane, on which the minute capil-
 lary branches of the pulmonary arteries and veins are
 copiously ramified; and  it  is while circulating in the
 small vessels of this membrane, and there exposed to
 the air, that the blood undergoes the change from the
 venous to the arterial state.  So prodigiously numer-
 ous are these air-cells, that the  aggregate  extent of
 their lining membrane in man has been computed to
 exceed a surface of 20,000 square inches.
  It may be thought that the interposition of such a
 membrane must have the effect of preventing any ac-
 tion of the air upon the blood.  But in addition to the
 proof to the contrary drawn from observation, it has
 been ascertained by experiment, that even the thick
 and firm texture of bladder  is insufficient to prevent
 the occurrence of the change; venous blood confined
 in a bladder speedily acquiring a florid red colour, like
 that of arterial blood.
  Bloodvessels necessarily form  a large  constituent
 portion of the substance of the  lungs.  Besides the
 arteries and  veins which the lungs possess in common
 with other parts for the purposes of  nutrition, they
 have, as we have seen, the large pulmonary arteries
 and veins,  dividing everywhere  through their sub-
 stance into innumerable  branches,  conveying  the
 whole blood of the body to and from the air-cells, and,
therefore, of a magnitude proportioned to the quantity
 of blood which is destined to pass through them.
  These  two tissues,  air-tubes and bloodvessels, to-
gether with the loose cellular texture  or network
which binds them together, called parenchyma, form
the principal part of the  structure of the lungs.   But
the latter, like all other organs, are provided also with
nerves, without the active co-operation of which, in
 supplying the requisite nervous stimulus, their special
 functions, and, consequently, life itself, would speed-
 ily cease.
  Every one must have remarked the copious exhala- 
  PULMONARY EXHALATION AND ABSORPTION. 185

tion of moisture which takes place in breathing, and
which presents a striking analogy to the exhalation
from the surface of the skin.   In the former, as in
the latter instance, the exhalation is carried on by the
innumerable  minute  capillary vessels, in which the
small arterial branches  terminate in the  air-cells.
Pulmonary exhalation is, in fact, one of the chief out-
lets of waste matter from the system; and  the air
which we breathe is  thus vitiated, not only by the
subtraction of its oxygen and the addition of carbonic
acid, but also by animal effluvia, with  which it is load-
ed when returned from the lungs.  In some individu-
als, this  last source of impurity is so powerful as to
render their vicinity offensive and even insupportable
to the hy-standers, and it is its presence which gives
the disagreeable, sickening smell to crowded rooms.
  Absorption,  in  like  manner, takes  place from the
lining membrane of the lungs,  as we  have seen it do
in the skin.   When a  person breathes an atmosphere
loaded with fumes of spirits, of tobacco, of turpentine,
or of any other volatile  substance, a portion of the
fumes is taken  up by the absorbing vessels of the
lungs, and carried into the system, and there produces
precisely the same effects as  if introduced  into the
stomach; dogs, for example,  have  been killed by
being made to inhale the fumes of prussic acid for  a
few minutes.   The lungs  thus become a ready inlet
to contagion, miasmata, and other poisonous influen-
ces diffused through the air which we breathe.
  From this general explanation of the structure and
uses of the lungs, it will be obvious that several con-
ditions, which it is our interest specially to know and
observe,  are essential  to the healthy  performance of
the important function of  respiration.  First  among
these we may rank a healthy original formation of
the lungs.  No fact in medicine is better established
than that which proves the hereditary transmission
from parents  to children of a  constitutional  liability
to pulmonary disease, and especially to consumption;
yet no condition is less attended to in forming matri-
monial  engagements.   The children of scrofulous
                       Q2 
 186 INFLUENCE OF HEREDITARY CONSTITUTION.

 and  consumptive parents are generally precocious,
 and  their minds being early matured, they engage
 early in the  business of life, and often enter the mar-
 ried  state before their bodily frame has had time to
 consolidate.  For a few years, everything seems to
 go on prosperously,  and  a numerous family gathers
 around them.  All at once, however, even while youth
 remains, their  physical powers  begin  to  give way,
and they drop prematurely into the grave, exhausted
by consumption, and leaving  children  behind them
 destined, in all probability, either to be cut off as they
 approach maturity, or to  run through the same delu-
sive but fatal career as that of the parents from whom
they derived their existence.
  Many examples of this kind might be pointed  out
 among the higher classes of society, who are not re-
strained from following their predominant inclinations
by any  necessity of seeking subsistence  in profes-
sional pursuits.  And many  instances  might  be  re-
 ferred to, in which no regard was shown to the man-
ifest existence of the same disposition  in the family
 of either parent, and  in which, consequently, the mar-
 ried  state was imbittered  either by barrenness,  which
 is then the most favourable  result, or by the  preva-
 lence of disease and delicacy in the progeny. It may
 not be  easy to enforce upon the young and inexpe-
 rienced the requisite degree of attention to these  cir-
 cumstances ; but surely  education,  especially when
 backed  by example, might  do much,  if the young
 were properly  instructed at  an  early period  in  the
 leading facts and principles of the human constitution.
 Where there are hereditary precocity and delicacy of
 frame, marriage, instead of being hastened, ought in-
 variably to be delayed, at least, till the fullest maturity
 and consolidation of the system ; otherwise the con-
 sequences will be equally unhappy for the individual
 and  for his progeny.  During growth, and for a con-
 siderable time afterward,  the constitution is still  im-
 perfect even in  healthy subjects, and wants the endu-
 ring strength which it acquires  in  mature age,  and
 the possession of which marks the period which nature 
   OF WHOLESOME FOOD AND GOOD DIGESTION. 187

 has fixed for the exercise of the functions of produc-
 tion.  Many young people of both sexes fall sacrifices
 to early marriages, who might have withstood the or-
 dinary risks of life, and lived together in happiness, if
 they had delayed their union for a few years, and al-
 lowed time for the consolidation of their  constitu-
 tions.
   I have urged this point strongly, because heredita-
 ry predisposition is, avowedly and beyond all doubt,
 the most frequent source of the more serious forms
 of pulmonary disease, and it would be worse  than
 folly to allow past and painful experience to go for
 nothing.  Medical men have much in their power in
 preventing such violations of the laws of the Creator,
 at least where they are regarded, as they always ought
 to be, as the friends  not  less than the  professional
 advisers of the family.
   As connected with this subject, I may mention that
 Dr. Clark has the  merit of  having drawn attention
 to the important fact, that a state  of impaired health
 in  the parent, whether constitutional or  acquired, and
 particularly if caused by imperfect digestion and as-
 similation, is as productive of a tendency to scrofula
 and consumption in the children as if it had descend-
 ed by hereditary transmission.  If parents in general
 were duly impressed with the truth  and bearing of
 this fact, many of them might be induced, on account
 of their children, to take  that rational  care of their
 own health which they seem to be incapable of doing
 for its own sake.
   The SEcoNr requisite to the wellbeing of the lungs,
 and to the free and  salutary exercise of respiration, is
 a due supply of rich and healthy blood.  When, from
 defective food or impaired  digestion, the blood is im-
 poverished in quality, and rendered unfit for adequate
 nutrition, the lungs speedily suffer, and  that often to
 a  fatal  extent.  So certain is  this fact, that, in the
 lower animals, tubercles (the cause of incurable con-
 sumption) can be produced  in  the lungs to  almost any
extent, by withholding a sufficiency  of nourishing food.
The same circumstances operate to a lamentable ex- 
188 OF THE FREE EXPANSION OF THE LUNGS.

tent among the poorly-fed population of our manu-
facturing towns ; whereas it is proverbial that butch-
ers—a class of men who eat animal  food twice  or
thrice a day, and live  much in the open air—are al-
most exempt from pulmonary consumption.   Among
the higher classes, again, the blood is impoverished,
and the lungs are injured, not  from want of food, but
from want of the power of adequately digesting it; and
hence we find, in every  treatise on  consumption, a
section devoted specially to "dyspeptic phthisis," as it
is called, or simply " consumption from bad digestion."
The late hours, heavy meals, and  deficient exercise,
which are so generally complained of, but still  so reg-
ularly adhered to in society, are the chief sources
of the evils to which we are now alluding.
  Thirdly.—The free and easy expansion  of the
chest is obviously indispensable to the full play and
dilatation of the lungs:  whatever impedes it, either
in  dress or in position, is prejudicial  to health; and,
on the  other hand, whatever favours the free  expan-
sion of the chest, equally promotes the healthy fulfil-
ment of  the respiratory functions.   Stays, corsets,
and  tight waistbands operate most  injuriously, by
compressing the thoracic cavity, and impeding the
due dilatation of the lungs; and, in many instances,
they give rise to consumption.  I have seen one case,
in  which the liver was actually indented by the exces-
sive pressure, and long-continued bad health and ulti-
mately death were  the results.  In allusion to this
subject, Mr. Thackrah mentions, that men can  exhale
at  one effort from six to ten  pints of air; whereas
in  women the average is only from two to four pints.
In ten females, about 18 1-2 years of age, belonging to
a flax-mill,  and " who were labouring under  no dis-
ease,"  Mr. Thackrah found the average to be only
3 1-2 pints, while in young men of the same age it
amounted to 6 pints.  Some allowance is to be made
for the naturally smaller capacity of the lungs in fe-
males than in  males,  but Mr. Thackrah is  satisfied
that the above remarkable difference " is attributable 
    OF THE FREE EXPANSION OF THE LUNGS. 189

chiefly to the lacing of the chest."*  Having, howev-
er, discussed this matter when treating of the muscu-
lar system, it is unnecessary to enlarge on it again,
further than to  remark, that the constrained motion-
less  attitudes enforced upon young females  in  the
course of education, are very unfavourable  to  the
play of the lungs and to the full development of the
chest.
  The admirable harmony established by the Creator
between' the various constituent parts of the  animal
frame, renders  it impossible to pay regard to, or in-
fringe the conditions required for,  the health  of  any
one, without all the  rest participating in the  benefit
or injury.  Thus, while cheerful exercise in the open
air and in the society of equals is directly and emi-
nently conducive to the wellbeing of the  muscular
system, the advantage does not stop there, the  be-
neficent Creator having kindly so ordered it that the
same exercise shall be scarcely less advantageous to
the important function of respiration.  Active exer-
cise calls the lungs into play, favours their expansion,
promotes the circulation of the blood through their
substance, and  leads to their complete  and healthy
development.   The  same  end is  greatly facilitated
by that free and vigorous exercise of the voice, which
so uniformly accompanies and enlivens the sports of
the young, and which doubles the benefits derived
from them considered as exercise.  The excitement
of the social and moral feelings which children expe-
rience while engaged in play, is  another  powerful
tonic, the influence  of which on the general health
ought not to be overlooked ; for the nervous influence
is as indispensable to the right performance of respi-
ration, as it is to the action of the muscles or to the
digestion of food.
  This latter principle explains the reason why the
depressing passions  predispose  to pulmonary con-
sumption, a fact which has been remarked from  a

  * Thackrah on Employments as affecting Health and Longev-
ity, p. 95. 
190 OF CHEERFULNESS OR DEPRESSON OF MIND.

very early period.  When the mind is  in a state of
depression, the whole nervous  system becomes en-
feebled ; the stimulus to the other organs, on which
so much of their vital power depends,  is impaired;
and a general want of tone pervades the system, ren-
dering the principal organs of the body, and the lungs
among the  rest, unusually susceptible  of  disease.
Here, again, we may perceive the beautiful adaptation
of all the  functions to each other, and the exquisite
harmony of design  existing between the  different
parts of the body.
  It is curious indeed to trace the relations in which
the animal functions stand to each other.  Grief, sor-
row, fear, and other depressing passions of the mind,
diminish the activity of  the circulation, impair respi-
ration, lower vitality, and, consequently, render the
organization more than usually susceptible of  diseases
arising from diminished action.   Anger, joy, and the
other exhilarating passions, on the other hand, stim-
ulate  the  circulation, quicken respiration,   increase
the vital powers, and create a proneness to inflamma-
tory or  excited action.  At first sight, it may seem
strange  that such should be  the results of  different
kinds of  mental emotion.  On examination,  how-
ever, we perceive evident design in the arrangement.
The tendency of grief, despondency, and sorrow, is
to produce meditative inaction.   These emotions re-
quire  no exercise of the bodily powers, and  no unu-
sual expenditure of vital  energy;  but rather  the
reverse.   This, it will be observed, is a condition in-
compatible with a quick supply of blood or a high
degree of respiration; for  if these were conjoined,
they would only give rise to an  amount of bodily ac-
tivity at variance with the absorbed and concentrated
state of the mind.  The nature of the exciting pas-
sions, again, is to impel us vigorously to action; but
action cannot  be sustained without a full supply of
highly oxygenated blood, and hence a very manifest
reason for the quick respiration and  accelerated cir-
culation which attend  mental  excitement.   Great
depression of mind thus leads naturally to imperfect 
OF PURE  AIR AND VENTILATION.     191
respiration, a more sluggish flow of blood, and the va-
rious diseases of diminished vitality; while great ex-
citement induces full respiration, quickened circula-
tion, and  the various diseases of  exalted vitality.
These principles show the paramount importance, in
the treatment of disease, of carefully regulating the
mental state of the patient, according  to  the object
we have in view.
  A fourth essential condition of healthy respiration
remains to be noticed, viz.: a regular supply of pure
fresh air, without which  the requisite changes in the
constitution of the blood, as  it passes through the
lungs, cannot be effected.  To enable  the  reader to
appreciate this condition, we must premise some re-
marks on the nature of the changes alluded to.
  Atmospheric air  consists of about 78 per cent, of
nitrogen or  azotic gas, 21 per cent, of oxygen, and not
quite 1 per cent, of carbonic acid or fixed air; and
such is  its constitution when taken  into the lungs in
the act of breathing.  When it is expelled from them,
however,  its composition is found to be greatly alter-
ed.  The quantity of nitrogen  remains  nearly the
same, but 8 or 8 1-2 per cent, of the ogygen or vital
air have disappeared, and been replaced by an equal
amount of carbonic acid.  In  addition to these changes,
the expired air is loaded with  moisture.  Simultane-
ously with these occurrences, the blood collected from
the veins, which enters the lungs of a dark colour and
unfit for the support of life,  assumes a  florid red hue,
and acquires the power of supporting life.
   It is not easy to offer a satisfactory explanation of
the processes by which these changes  are effected in
the lungs.   According to one view, the carbonic acid
contained in expired air is formed by the secretion of
carbon from the venous  blood in its passage through
the lungs, this immediately uniting with the oxygen
of the air, and forming carbonic acid, in which shape
it is then thrown out in expiration.   According to the
other view, the carbonic acid exists in, and is separa-
ted from, the venous  blood in the  state of acid, and
the oxygen which disappears is absorbed into the cir- 
 192 EXTENT AND NATURE OF VITIATION OF AIR.

 culating current.  The former explanation was long
 almost universally  received, but  Dr. Edwards  has
 lately advanced very strong grounds for adopting the
 latter.  Whatever may be the true theory, all physi-
 ologists are agreed as to the fact that the arterializa-
 tion of the blood in the lungs is essentially dependant
 on the supply of oxygen contained in the air which
 we breathe, and that air is fit  or unfit for respiration
 fn exact proportion  as its quantity of  oxygen ap-
 ?roaches to, or differs from, that contained in pure air.
 f, consequently, we attempt to breathe nitrogen, hy-
 drogen, or any other gas not containing oxygen,  the
 result  will be speedy suffocation; while, if we breathe
 air containing a too  high  proportion of oxygen,  the
 vital powers will speedily suffer from excess of stim-
 ulus.   From  oxygen being thus essential to life and
 respiration, it is often called  vital  air, in contradis-
 tinction to those gases which are incapable of sup-
 porting life.
  We  can  now  appreciate the importance of a due
 supply of fresh  air wherever living beings are con-
 gregated.  In man, the rate of vitiation produced by
breathing, and the relative importance of ventilation,
may easily be estimated.  An individual is ascertain-
 ed to breathe, on an average, from 14 to 20 times in
 a minute, and to inhale from 15 to 40 cubic inches of
 air at each inspiration.  Sir H. Davy and others rate
the quantity so low as from 13 to 17 inches: but most
observers agree with Dr. Menzies, who experimented
with great  care,  in estimating it at 40  inches.  The
quantity, however, varies  much in  different individ-
uals.
  Even taking the consumpt of air at 20 inches, as a
very low estimation, and rating the number of inspi-
rations at 15, it appears that, in the space of one min-
ute, no less than 300 cubic inches of air are required
for the respiration of a single person.  In the  same
 space of time, 24 cubic inches of oxygen disappear,
 and are replaced by an equal amount of carbonic acid;
 so that, in  the course of an hour, one pair of lungs
will, at a low estimate, vitiate the air by the subtrac- 
       DEATH PRODUCED BY VITIATED AIR.    193

tion of no less than 1440 cubic inches of oxygen, and
the addition of an equal number of carbonic acid, thus
constituting a source of impurity which cannot be
safely overlooked.
  The fatal effects of breathing highly vitiated air
may easily be made the subject of experiment.  When
a mouse is confined in a large and tight glass jar full
of air, it seems for a short time to experience no in-
convenience ; but in proportion as the consumption of
oxygen and the exhalation of carbonic  acid proceed,
it begins to show symptoms of uneasiness, and to
pant in its breathing, as if struggling for air;  and in
a few hours it dies, convulsed exactly as if drowned
or strangulated.  The same results follow the depri-
vation or vitiation of air in man  and in all animated
beings; and in hanging, death results, not from dislo-
cation of the neck, as is  often supposed, but simply
because the interruption of the breathing prevents the
necessary changes from taking place in the constitu-
tion of the blood.
  The horrible fate of the 146 Englishmen who were
shut up in the  Black Hole of Calcutta in 1756, is
strikingly illustrative of the destructive consequences
of an inadequate supply of air.   The whole of them
were thrust into a confined  place  18 feet square.
There were only two very small windows by which
air could be admitted, and as both of these were on
the  same side, ventilation was  utterly impossible.
Scarcely was the door shut upon  the prisoners, when
their sufferings commenced, and in a short time a de-
lirious and mortal struggle ensued to  get  near the
windows.   Within four hours, those who survived lay
in the silence of apoplectic stupor; and at the  end of
six hours, ninety-six were relieved by death!  In the
morning, when the  door  was opened, 23 only were
found alive, many  of whom were subsequently cut
off by putrid fever, caused by the dreadful effluvia and
corruption of the air.
  But, it maybe said, such a catastrophe as the above
could happen only among a barbarous  and ignorant
people.   One would think so,  and yet such is the ig-
                      R 
 194  VITIATED AIR DESTRUCTIVE OF HEALTH.

 norance prevailing  among ourselves, that more than
 one parallel to it can be pointed out even in our own
 history.   Of two instances  to which  I shall  allude,
 one has lately been published in the Life of Crabbe,
 the poet.   When ten or eleven years  of age, Crabbe
 was sent to a school at Bungay.  " Soon after his ar-
 rival he had a very narrow escape. He and several
 of his schoolfellows were punished for playing at sol-
 diers, by being put into a large dog-kennel, known by
 the terrible name of the ' Black Hole ;' George was the
 first that entered; and the place being crammed full
 with offenders, the atmosphere soon became pestilen-
 tially close.  The poor boy in vain shrieked that he was
 about to be suffocated.   At last, in  despair, he bit the
 lad next to him violently in the hand; ' Crabbe is dy-
 ing, Crabbe is  dying,'  roared  the  sufferer;. and the
 sentinel at length opened the door, and allowed the
 boys to rush out into the air.   My father said, 'A  min-
 ute more and I must have died.' "*
  The other instance is recorded in Walpole's Letters,
 and is the more memorable,  because it was the  pure
 result of brutal ignorance, and not at all of cruelty or
 design.  " There has been lately," says Walpole, " the
 most shocking scene of murder imaginable; a parcel
 of drunken constables took it into their heads to put
 the laws in execution against disorderly persons, and
 so took up every person they met,  till they had col-
 lected five or six-and-twenty, all of  whom they thrust
 into St.  Martin's roundhouse, where they kept them
 all night with doors and windows closed.   The poor
 creatures, who could not stir or breathe, screamed as
long as they had any breath left, begging at least for
water; one poor wretch said she was worth eighteen
pence, and would gladly give it for a draught of wa-
ter, but in vain!  So well did they  keep them there,
that in the morning four were found stifled to death;
 two died soon after, and a dozen more are  in a shock-
 ing way.  In short, it is horrid to think what the poor
 creatures  suffered;  several  of them were beggars,
* Crabbe's Life by his Son, p. 17. 
EXAMPLES.
195
who, from having no lodging, were necessarily found
on the street, and others honest labouring women.
One of the dead was a poor washerwoman, big with
child, who was returning home late from washing.
One of the constables is taken, and others absconded;
but I question if any of them will suffer death : though
the greatest  criminals in this town are the officers of
justice, there is no tyranny they do not exercise, no
villany of which they do not  partake.  These same
men, the same  night, broke into a bagnio in Covent
Garden, and took up Jack Spencer, Mr.  Stewart, and
Lord George Graham, and would have put them into
the roundhouse with the poor women if they had not
been worth more than eighteen pence."*
  These  melancholy examples  ought not to be  lost
upon us.  If the results arising from extreme vitiation
of the air be so appalling, we may rest assured  that
those arising from every minor degree, although they
may be less obvious, are not less certain in their op-
eration.  It  is, indeed,  readily admitted in  the  ab-
stract, that a constant supply of pure air is indispen-
sable to the healthy performance of respiration ;  but
if we inquire how far this condition is attended to by
mankind at  large, we shall have no reason to think
the present warning unnecessary.  I have already no-
ticed (at p. 26) the case of Captain Ganson, who was
suffocated in the cabin of the Magnus Troil, in Leith
Harbour, on 1st March, 1833, and whose brother was
recovered with great difficulty from a state of stupor,
induced apparently by an insufficient supply of respi-
rable air.  To these instances another may be added
from the Globe newspaper of 1st April, in which it is
mentioned that the captain and mate of the French
Chasse-maree  Royaliste lost their lives  from suffoca-
tion, in the harbour of Jersey, in  a precisely similar
way.   In both vessels the cabin was very small, and
the door having been carefully shut, the access  of
fresh air was completely prevented.  It  has been said
that cases like these are of rare occurrence, and arise
* Walpole's Letters, 1833. 
  196 VITIATED AIR DESTRUCTIVE OF HEALTH.

 only from extremely vitiated air; but there is, as we
 have seen, reason to believe that they occur more fre-
 quently than has been supposed; and if they have
 happened already, where is the security that they will
 not occur again, if we do not bestir ourselves to re-
 move the ignorance in which they originated ?
   I do not mean to  say, that in all of  the above in-
 stances the fatal results were  attributable exclusively
 to vitiation of the air by breathing.  Fixed air may
 have been disengaged  also from some  other source;
 but the deteriorating influence of respiration, where
 no ventilation is possible, cannot be doubted. Accord-
 ing to Dr. Bostock's  estimate, an average sized man
 consumes about 45,000 cubic inches of oxygen, and
 gives out about 40,000 of carbonic acid in twenty-four
 hours, or 18,750 of oxygen, and 16,666 of carbonic
 acid in  ten hours, which was nearly the time during
 which the sufferers had remained in the cabin before
 they were found.  As they were two in number, the
 quantity of oxygen which would have been required
 for their consumption was of course equal to 37,500
 cubic inches, while the carbonic acid given out would
 amount to upward of 32,000 inches ; a source of im-
 purity which, added to the constant  exhalation  of
 waste matter and animal effluvia from the lungs, was
 manifestly quite equal to the production of the seri-
 ous consequences  which ensued from  it, and which
 no one,  properly acquainted with  the conditions es-
 sential to healthy respiration, would ever have wil-
lingly encountered.  Even supposing that the cause
 of death was some disengagement of gas within the
vessel, it is still certain that, had the means of venti-
lation been adequately provided, this gas would have
been so  much diluted, and so quickly dispersed, that
it would have been comparatively innocuous.
  The best and most experienced medical officers  of
the army and navy, are always the most earnest  in
 insisting on thorough ventilation as a chief preserva-
 tive of health, and as indispensable for  the recovery
 of the sick.   Sir George Ballingall recurs to  it fre-
 quently, and shows the importance attached to it by 
EXAMPLES.
197
Sir John Pnngle, Dr. Jackson, Sir Gilbert Blane, and
others of equally high authority.  Sir John Pringle
speaks of hospitals being, in his day, the causes of
much sickness and of frequent deaths, " on account of
the bad air and other inconveniences attending them;"
and Dr. Jackson, in insisting on " height of roof as a
property of great importance in a house appropriated
to the reception of the sick of armies," adds as the
reason, that " the air being contaminated by the breath-
ings of a crowd of people in a confined space, disease
is originated, and mortality is multiplied to an extra-
ordinary extent.   It was  often  proved in the history
of the late war, that more human life was destroyed by
accumulating sick men in low and ill-ventilated apart-
ments, than by leaving them  exposed, in severe and in-
clement weather, at the side of a hedge or common dike."*
   In the same volume (p.  114), the  reader  will find
another example not less painful than instructive of
the evils arising, first, from crowding together a great-
er number of human beings than the air of the apart-
ment can sustain, and, secondly, from the total neg-
lect of scientific rules in effecting ventilation.  In the
summer of 1811, a low typhoid fever broke out in the
4th battalion of  the Royals, then quartered in Stirling
Castle.  In many instances, violent inflammation of
the lungs supervened, and the result of the  two dis-
eases was generally fatal.   On investigating the cir-
cumstances of this fever, it was found that rooms of
21 feet by 18 were occupied by sixty men,  and that
others of 31 feet by 21 were occupied by seventy-two
men!  To  prevent  suffocation, the  windows  were
kept open all night, so that the men were exposed at
 once to  strong currents of cold air and to " the heat-
 ed and concentrated animal effluvia necessarily exist-
 ing in such  crowded apartments;  thus subjecting
 them to the combined effects  of typhus fever and of
 pneumonic inflammation.  In the less  crowded apart-
 ments of the same barrack, no instance of  fever oc-
 curred."  The  men who were directly in the way of

              * Ballingall's Letters, p. 178.
                        R 2 
198 VITIATED AIR DESTRUCTIVE OF HEALTH.

the current of cold air, were, of course, those who suf-
fered from inflammation.
  Mr. Carmichael justly regards impure air as one of
the most powerful causes of scrofula, and accounts for
the extreme prevalence of the disease in the Dublin
House of Industry at the time he wrote (1809), by
mentioning,  that, in one ward of moderate  height,
sixty feet by eighteen, there were thirty-eight beds,
each containing three children, or more than one hun-
dred in all!   The matron told Mr. Carmichael, that
" there is no enduring the air of this apartment when
the doors  are first thrown open in the morning; and
that it is in vain to raise any of the windows, as those
children who happen to be inconvenienced  by  the
cold close them as soon as they have an opportunity.
The air they breathe in the day is little better; many
are confined to the apartments they sleep in, or crowd-
ed to the number of several hundreds in the school-
room."*  Can any one read this account, and wonder
at the prevalence  of scrofula  under such  circum-
stances 1
  In the preface to the present work, I have expiessed
an opinion that the  attention of the professional stu-
dent is by far too little directed to the acquisition of
an accurate  acquaintance with  the  laws and  condi-
tions of health, as in reality one of the most directly
useful  branches  of  knowledge which he can attain.
A stronger proof of the truth of this proposition can-
not be desired, than  the simple statement of the above
facts.  If the medical officers then in charge of the sick
at Stirling Castle had been as intimately conversant
with the conditions  required for the healthy perform-
ance of the living functions, and as deeply impressed
with the  importance  of preventing disease,  as they
were qualified to conduct its treatment when once
excited, it is impossible that such causes could have
been allowed to come into play, or to remain a single
hour undetected and unremoved.  When the Profes-
sorship of Military Surgery was first established in
  * Carmichael's Essay on the Nature of Scrofula.  Dublin,
1810. 
EXAMPLES.
199
 the  University  of Edinburgh, it was contended by
 many that attendance on its lectures would be a hard-
 ship on the student rather than a benefit, as the infor-
 mation to be obtained from them was already commu-
 nicated in the ordinary courses on surgery.  But when
 I state that one of the main purposes of the professor-
 ship is to teach the means  of preserving the health
 and efficiency of soldiers under every vicissitude of
 garrison, tent, and field, the reader, instead of thinking
 its establishment superfluous, will rather be disposed
 to agree with me in regretting that no  analogous
 course of instruction, having a reference to the  exi-
 gences of civil life, is provided for those who are des-
 tined for the not less important duties of private prac-
 tice.  Many would gladly  avail themselves of such
 an opportunity, if it once existed.
  That the due renovation of the air which we breathe
 is really influential in protecting us against the inroads
 of disease, may be inferred also from instances of an op-
 posite kind, those in which health has been preserved
 apparently through its  agency, even in the midst of
 pestilence.   In  preventing  contagion from fever, a
 constant circulation of air is known to be the most ef-
 fectual means;  and Sir Walter Scott, in describing
 the old Tolbooth or prison of Edinburgh, or " Heart
 of Mid-Lothian," mentions that, " gloomy and  dismal
 as it was, the situation in the centre of the High-street
 rendered it  so particularly well aired, that, when  the
plague laid waste the city in 1645, it affected none within
 these melancholy precincts ;"*  and yet, in other respects,
 a jail was precisely the place where it  might have
 been expected to prevail with the greatest virulence.
 An equally striking example of the beneficial influence
 of fresh air is mentioned in a memoir by the late  Dr.
 Joseph Clarke, of Dublin, read before one of the meet-
 ings of the British Association, at Edinburgh, in Sep-
 tember, 1834. The memoir consisted of an abstract
 of a Registry kept in  the  Lying-in  Hospital, Dublin,
from  1758 to the end of 1833; from which it appeared

       *  Heart of Mid-Lothian, vol. i., chap. vL Note. 
 200  VITIATED AIR DESTRUCTIVE  OF HEALTH.

 " that, in 1781, every sixth child died, within nine days
 after birth, of convulsive disease; and that, after means
 of thorough ventilation had been adopted, the  mor-
 tality of infants, in five succeeding years, was reduced
 to nearly one in twenty."*  Facts like these are very
 conclusive.
  Many writers have been  at pains to point  out the
 actual occurrence of the evils which sound physiology
 would lead us to anticipate from frequently breathing
 impure  air.  Among others, Mr. Thackrah, in his ex-
 cellent little work on the effects of trades and profes-
 sions  on health, expresses himself very strongly, and
 specially notices that dyspeptic symptoms are often
the first indications of the  commencing disease, and
 that the lungs suffer only after the digestive  system
 has been for a  time disordered.  It may not be easy
 to explain why the stomach and bowels should suffer
 even sooner than the lungs themselves, from a cause
which seems exclusively directed to  the latter; but
observation substantiates the  fact, and it is  one of
much interest in enabling  us  to trace to  their true
sources many of the forms  of bad health prevalent in
the middle ranks of life.
  Although, however, the first effects are so often ref-
 erable to  the stomach, the  lungs and general  system
sooner  or  later become  implicated.  An individual
possessing a strong constitution may indeed withstand
the bad consequences  of occasionally breathing an
impure atmosphere, but even he will suffer for a time.
He will not experience the  same amount of mischief
from it as the invalid, but will be perfectly conscious
of a temporary feeling of discomfort, the very purpose
 of which is, like pain from a burn, to impel  him to
 shun the danger, and seek relief in a purer air.  The
 comparative harmlessness of a single exposure is the
 circumstance which blinds us to the magnitude of the
 ultimate result, and makes us fancy  ourselves safe
 and prudent, when every  day is surely, though imper-
 ceptibly, adding to the sum of the mischief.  But let
  * Report of Proceedings of the British Association, in Edin.
 Phil. Jour, for Oct., 1834, p. 416. 
 IMPURE AIR A CAUSE OF INSIDIOUS DISEASE. 201

any one who doubts the importance of this condition
of health watch the dyspeptic, the pulmonary, or the
nervous invalid, through a season devoted to attend-
ance on crowded parties and public amusements, and
he will find the frequency of headaches, colds, and
other fits of illness, increase in exact proportion  to
the accumulated exposure, till, at the end of spring,
a general debility has been induced, which  impera-
tively demands a cessation of festivity, and a change
of scene and air.  This debility is often erroneously
ascribed to the unwholesome  influence of spring—a
season extolled by the poets, not as a cause of relax-
ation and feebleness, but as the dispenser of renova-
ted life and vigour to all created beings.
  It is in vain to warn such persons beforehand, that
Nature  is always consistent, and that, if bad air be
really unfit for healthy respiration, it must be detri-
mental to them, and to all who breathe it; and that its
ill effects are  not less real, because at first gradual
and unperceived in their  approach.   They know too
little of the animal economy and of Nature's  laws,
and are too much devoted to their own object, to be
impressed by cautions of this kind; and, in looking
forward to the ballroom  or crowded evening party,
few of them will believe that any possible connexion
can exist between breathing its vitiated atmosphere,
and the headaches, indigestion, and cutaneous  erup-
tions which so frequently follow, and to be delivered
from which they would sacrifice almost every other
enjoyment.
  If it be said that nobody will be troubled with all
this trifling care,  and that thousands who  expose
themselves  in every way  nevertheless  enjoy  good
health and a long life, I can only answer that this is
true;  but that an infinitely greater proportion pass
through life as habitual invalids, and  scarcely know,
from experience, what a day of good health really is.
The late discussions on the Factory  Bill have dem-
onstrated, by an unassailable mass of evidence, that
many circumstances, rarely considered as  injurious,
because they have  no immediate effect in suddenly 
202 IMPURE AIR A CAUSE OF INSIDIOUS DISEASE.

destroying life by acute diseases, have, nevertheless,
a marked influence in slowly undermining health and
shortening human existence.  There are trades, for ex-
ample, at  which workmen may labour for fifteen  or
twenty years, without having been a month confined by
disease during all that time, and which are, therefore,
said to be healthy trades; and yet, when the investi-
gation is pursued a little farther, it is found that the
general health is so steadily, although imperceptibly,
encroached  upon,  that scarcely a single  workman
survives his fortieth or fiftieth year.
  It is this insidious influence of impure air to which
I am anxious to direct attention.  So long as delica-
cy is the rule, and robust health the exception, espe-
cially  among females, and so long as nearly one
fourth of the annual deaths in Great Britain are caus-
ed by consumption alone, it will  be  difficult to per-
suade any rational  and instructed mind that every
cause of disease is already removed, and that farther
care is superfluous.  My own conviction, on the con-
trary, is that, by proper care and a stricter observance
of the laws of the animal economy on the part of the
parents and guardians of the young, the development
of the disease might be prevented in a large propor-
tion of the number, and that even the robust would
enjoy health in a higher degree and with increased
security.  It is an instructive proof of this, that those
who have directed their chief attention to training ei-
ther man or  animals  for  athletic exercises or the
racecourse, have been led by  observation to attach
the  utmost importance  to  pure air.  The late  Sir
John Sinclair was  at  pains to collect  the rules fol-
lowed by Jackson, the celebrated trainer, and others
of the same profession, and he tells us that, by all of
them, the necessity of  pure air is uniformly insisted
upon.  Sir John  adds, that the same condition was
deemed so essential by the ancients, that the Roman
Athletae established their principal schools at Capua
and Ravenna, as enjoying the most pure and  healthy
air in all Italy; and  that, in the training of racehorses,
and even of gamecocks, the most sedulous attention
is paid to the purity of the air in which they live. 
  EXAMPLES OF DISEASE FROM IMPURE  AIR.  203

  The necessity fof adequate ventilation is nowhere
more urgent than  in many  of our manufactories,
where, from the length of time (varying from 10 to
17 hours a day) during which the operatives are ex-
posed to the evils of impure air, a great sacrifice of
health and happiness is constantly going on.  In ref-
erence to this cause, Dr. Clarke mentions the striking
fact, that among the forkgrinders of Sheffield, those
resident in the country, and subjected to a more free
circulation of air, live, on an  average, eight years
longer than those resident  in  towns.   In  both, the
irritating cause and the habits of life are the same,
but the rooms in which the country workmen carry
on their labours are larger and much better ventila-
ted.   The latter live, on an average,  forty years,
while their town companions are cut off between the
ages of twenty-eight and thirty-two*  I may add, that
the dust floating  in the air in  cotton manufactories
and spinning mills, and produced in many trades, is a
very  serious aggravation of the evil, as all  foreign
bodies thus inhaled into the lungs produce irritation
in their structure, and sooner or later lead to the de-
velopment of fatal pulmonary disease.
  Striking, however, as these and innumerable other
facts of a similar nature are, we still remain so blind
to the instructions of experience, until we acquire a
knowledge of the principles which give  it value, that
we  go on, especially in towns, constructing  our
houses in utter defiance of scientific rules.  The public
rooms, which can be easily ventilated at any time—
which are, in fact, ventilated by the constant opening
and shutting of the door, and by the draught of the
chimney—and in which, therefore, large dimensions
are less necessary for salubrity, are always the most
spacious and airy.  The bedrooms, on the other hand,
in which, from the doors being shut, and from there
being no current of air in the whole seven or eight
hours during which they are occupied, the vitiation
of the air is the greatest, and in which, consequently,
* Cyclopedia of Piactical Medicine, Part xxii., p. 312. 
204 DEFICIENT VENTILATION IN PUBLIC HALLS.

size is most  required,  are  uniformly the smallest
and most confined ; and, as if this source of impurity
were not sufficient, we still farther reduce the already
too limited space by surrounding the bed closely with
curtains, for the express purpose of preventing ven-
tilation and keeping us enveloped in the same heated
atmosphere.   Can anything be imagined more direct-
ly at variance  than this with  the fundamental laws of
respiration !  Or could such practices ever  have been
resorted to, had the nature of the human constitution
been regarded before they were adopted *  In this re-
spect, we  are  more humane towards the lower ani-
mals than  towards our  own species; for, notwith-
standing all the refinements  of civilization, we have
not yet aggravated the want of ventilation in the sta-
ble or the cowhouse, by adding curtains to the indi-
vidual stalls of the inmates.
  So little, indeed, are we taught to  think of the na-
ture and wants of the human constitution, that in Edin-
burgh,  and almost every large town,  we have instan-
ces of  large public rooms, capable of holding from
800 to  1000 persons, built within these few years,
without any means of adequate ventilation  being pro-
vided, and apparently without the subject having ever
cost the architect a thought!   When these  rooms are
crowded and the meeting lasts for some hours, espe-
cially if it be in winter, the  consequences are suffi-
ciently marked.   Either such a multitude must be
subjected to all the evils of a contaminated and un-
wholesome atmosphere, or they must be partially re-
lieved  by  opening the windows, and allowing a con-
tinued  stream of cold air to pour down upon the heat-
ed bodies  of those who are near them, till  the latter
are thoroughly chilled, and perhaps fatal illness is in-
duced : and unfortunately, even at such a  price, the
relief is only partial;  for the windows being all on
one side of the room, and not extending much above
half way to the ceiling, complete ventilation is im-
practicable. This neglect is glaringly the result of
ignorance, and could never have happened had either
the architects  or their employers known the laws of 
   DEFICIENT VENTILATION IN PARLIAMENT. 205

the human constitution; and yet it is still doubted
whether it be prudent or right to teach the intelligent
portion of the community any knowledge of the struc-
ture and uses of their own organs!
  These remarks have been fully verified since they
were first printed.  During the last winter an unusual
number of courses of popular lectures were given in
Edinburgh, many of which were very fully attended.
From the utter impossibility of safe ventilation, those
courses which were most crowded, were accessible
only at such an expense of health and suffering on the
part of their less robust auditors, as served to neu-
tralize, in  a  great  measure, the  advantages  which
might otherwise  have been derived from them.  Sev-
eral of my own  friends were compelled to discon-
tinue  their attendance, while others persevered^ al-
though at the certain cost of a severe headache.  This
nuisance is the more to be regretted, as it has arisen
solely from the architects and the public not having
been sufficiently alive to the importance of that prime
necessary of life, pure air;  and not at  all  from any
difficulty of obtaining it which could not, at the first,
have been easily overcome.
  Nowhere, perhaps, have the evils  arising from de-
ficient ventilation been experienced in greater inten-
sity than in the two Houses of Parliament, and more
particularly in the House of Commons, where, from
the great number of both members and strangers gen-
erally in attendance, the length  of the sittings,  the
small  size of  the apartment, and the vitiating effects
of the lights, the air is rendered so impure, that few,
indeed, are able to withstand its poisonous influence
for  many weeks.  The effects of this vitiation gave
rise to loud complaints during the busy and memora-
ble  session of 1835, when the importance of the  in-
terests at stake,  and the  equal balancing of parties,
occasioned an unusually close attendance  and very
lengthened sittings.  The lives of several of the mem-
bers were sacrificed in consequence of it, and the
health of many more, even  the most robust among
them, was very seriously impaired.  The  evil, how- 
206      DEFICIENT VENTILATION IN
 ever, at last attracted the  attention of Parliament 60
 forcibly, that there is every reason to hope that spe-
 cial care will be taken to guard against its occurrence
 in the construction of the new edifices.  It will, in
 truth, be a disgrace to the country, and to the scien-
 tific talent with which it abounds, if  so vital a defect
 be not entirely and permanently remedied.
  In dwelling houses lighted by gas,  the frequent re-
 newal of the air acquires  increased  importance.  A
 single gas-burner will consume more oxygen, and pro-
 duce more carbonic acid to deteriorate the atmosphere
 of a room, than six or eight candles.  If, therefore,
 where several burners are  used, no provision be made
 for  the escape of the corrupted air, and for the intro-
 duction of pure air from without, the health will ne-
 cessarily suffer.  A ventilator  placed over the  burn-
 ers, like an inverted  funnel,  and  opening into  the
 chimney, is an efficient and easy remedy for the former
 evil;  and a small tube, forming a communication be-
 tween the external air  and the room, would  supply
fresh  air where necessary. The tube might be made
to pass, like a distiller's worm, through a vessel con-
taining hot water,  by which means the air might be
heated in very cold weather before being thrown
into the room, and thus  the danger arising from cold
draughts and inequalities of temperature be avoided.
  Many of our churches and schools are  extremely
ill ventilated;  and accordingly it  is  observed, that
 fainting and hysterics occur in churches much more
frequently in the afternoon than in the forenoon, be-
cause the air is then in its maximum of vitiation.  In-
deed,  it is impossible to  look around us in a crowded
church, towards the close of the service, without per-
ceiving the effects  of deficient air in  the  expression
of the features of every one present.  Either a relax-
ed sallow paleness of the surface, or  the hectic flush
of fever is observable; and, as the necessary accom-
paniment, a  sensation  of mental and bodily lassitude
 is felt, which is immediately relieved by getting into
 the open air.
  I have seen churches frequented by upward of a 
CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.         207
thousand people, in which, during winter, not only no
means of ventilation are employed during service, but
even  during the interval between the forenoon and
afternoon services, the windows are kept as carefully
closed as if deadly contagion lay outside, watching
for an opportunity to enter by the first  open chink;
and where, consequently, the  congregation must in-
hale,  for two or three hours in the afternoon, an ex-
ceedingly corrupted air, and suffer the penalty in head-
aches, colds, and bilious and nervous attacks.
   Few of our schools  are well regulated in this re-
spect.  It is now several years since, on the occasion
of a visit to one of the classes of a great public semi-
nary, my attention was first strongly attracted to the
injury resulting to the mental and  bodily functions
from  the inhalation of impure air.  About 150 boys
were  assembled in one large  room, where they had
been  already confined nearly an hour and a half when
I entered.  The windows were partly open; but, not-
withstanding this, the change from the fresh atmo-
sphere outside  to the close contaminated air within,
was exceedingly obvious, and most certainly was not
without its effect on the  mind itself, accompanied as
it was with a sensation of fulness in the forehead and
slight headache.  The boys, with every motive to ac-
tivity that an excellent system and an  enthusiastic
teacher could bestow, presented an aspect of weari-
ness and fatigue which the mental stimulus they were
under could  not overcome, and which recalled forci-
bly sensations long by-gone, which I had experienced
to a woful extent when seated on the benches of the
same  school.
  These observations stirred up a train of reflections;
and when I called to mind the freshness and alacrity
with which, when at  school, our morning operations
were  carried on, the gradual approach to languor and
yawning which took  place as  the day advanced, and
the almost instant resuscitation of the whole energies
of mind and body that  ensued on our dismissal,  I
could not help thinking that, even after making every
necessary deduction for the mental fatigue of the les- 
208  DEFICIENT  VENTILATION  IN  HOUSES,

sons and the inaction of body, a great deal of the com-
parative listlessness and indifference was owing to the
continued inhalation of an air too much vitiated to be
able to afford  the  requisite stimulus to the blood, on
which last condition the efficiency of the brain so es-
sentially depends.   This became the more probable,
on recollecting the pleasing  excitement occasionally
experienced for a  few moments, from the rush of
fresh air which took place when the door was opened
to admit some  casual visiter.*  Indeed, on  referring
to the symptoms induced by breathing carbonic acid
gas or fixed air, it is impossible not to perceive that
the headache,  languor, and debility  consequent  on
confinement in an  ill-ventilated apartment, or in  air
vitiated by many people,  are nothing but minor de-
grees of the same process of poisoning which  ensues
on immersion in fixed air.   Of this latter state," great
heaviness in the head, tingling in the ears, troubled sight%
a great inclination to sleep, diminution of strength, and
falling  down"  are stated by Orfila as the chief symp-
toms,! and every  one knows  how closely these  re-
semble what is felt in  crowded halls.
  Another instance of the noxious influence of vitiated
air, which made a very strong impression on my mind,
was during a three hours' service in a crowded coun-
try church, in a warm Sunday of July.  The windows
were all shut, and,  in consequence, the open door was

  * The accuracy of the above remarks has been strikingly con-
firmed, since the  appearance of the first edition, by an intelligent
teacher in Edinburgh,  who, in compliance with my advice, pays
much attention to ventilation, and turns out his pupils to play in
the open air for ten minutes at the end of the first hour.  During
this time the doors and windows are thrown open, and the air
completely renewed. The effect of this proceeding was a marked
increase in the mental activity and attention of the pupils, greater
pleasure and success in the exercises, and a striking diminution in
the number of absentees from sickness.  The latter effect was so
marked, that some of the parents observed the improved health of
their children, without being aware to what it was due.  Since
the publication of the second edition, an almost identical instance
has been published in a very favourable review of the present vol-
ume in the Quarterly Journal of Education for October, 1834.
  t Toxicologic,  ii., 422. 
CHURCHES,  AND  SCHOOLS.        209
 of little use in purifying the atmosphere, which was
 unusually contaminated, not only by the respiration
 and animal effluvia proceeding from so many people,
 but by their very abundant perspiration excited by the
 heat and confinement.   Few of the lower classes,
 either in town or  country, extend their cleanliness
 beyond the washing of the hands and face.  Hence
 the cutaneous  exudation, in such persons, is charac-
 terized by a strong and nauseous smell, which, when
 concentrated, as it was on this occasion, becomes ab-
 solutely overpowering.  Accordingly, at the conclu-
 sion of the service, there was heard one general buzz
 of complaint of headache,  sickness, and oppression;
 and the reality of the suffering was amply testified by
 the pale and wearied appearance even of  the most
 robust.
   One of the evils of ignorance  is, that we often sin
 and suffer the punishment  without being aware that
 we are sinning, and that it is in our power to  escape
 the suffering by avoiding the sin.  For  many gener-
 ations, mankind have  experienced the evil  results of
 deficient ventilation, especially in towns, and suffered
 the penalty of delicate health, headaches, fevers, con-
 sumptions, and cutaneous and nervous diseases;  and
 yet, from ignorance of the true nature and importance
 of the function of respiration, and of the great con-
 sumption of air in  its performance, architects have
 gone on planning and constructing edifices, without
 bestowing a thought on the means of supplying them
 with fresh air, although animal life cannot be carried
 on without it; and, while ingenuity and science have
 been taxed to the uttermost to secure a proper supply
 of water, the admission of pure air, though  far more
 essential, has been left to steal in like a thief in  the
 night, through any hole  by which  it  can find  an en-
trance.  In constructing hospitals, indeed, ventilation
has been  thought  of,  because a  notion is prevalent
that the sick require fresh  air, and cannot recover
without it; but it seems  not to have been perceived,
that what is indispensable for the recovery of the sick,
may be  not less advantageous in preserving from sick-
                       S2 
 210 DISEASE FROM ILL-REGULATED VENTILATION.

 ness those who are well.  Were a general knowledge
 of the structure of man to constitute a regular part of
 a liberal education, such inconsistencies as this would
 soon disappear, and the  scientific architect  would
 speedily devise the best  means for supplying our
 houses with pure air, as the engineer has already sup-
 plied them with pure water.
   The truth of the preceding remarks is strongly con-
 firmed by the recent experience of the highly respect-
 able establishment by which this volume is printed.
 For years the workmen employed in it were exposed
 to the  full influence of the vitiated air arising in print-
 ing-houses from the nature of the materials, the pres-
 ence of many persons in the same  room,  and the nu-
 merous lights required, especially in winter, the whole
 of which, combined, formed an atmosphere sickening
 and oppressive to those unaccustomed to it, but  of the
 true  nature of which, those habitually exposed to it
 received a much fainter impression.   On the attention
 of the partners being drawn to the importance of pure
 air to bodily health and mental activity, they became
 anxious to effect a thorough ventilation  of their own
 premises.  The plan resorted to was  very simple,
 viz., opening a hole of six or eight inches  square into
 a disused chimney at each end of the principal apart-
 ments, the  upper  edge of  it being on  a level with
 the ceiling.  The warm vitiated air naturally ascends,
 and having  the benefit of the draught through the
 chimney, is readily carried up, and a good ventilation
 thus  established.   The consequent improvement in
the comfort and working power of the men is,  I un-
derstand, not less remarkable than  the  difference in
comfort and freshness to a stranger entering from the
open air.  The same simple plan has been adopted in
the printing-office  of the Scotsman newspaper, and
I have  been told  by one of  the  proprietors, that
there the workmen are now as little exhausted by
two or  three hours of extra labour,  as they were be-
 fore with their ordinary exertion.  But in admitting
 an abundant supply of fresh air, especially into hos-
pitals, care must be taken that it do  not form currents 
MEANS  OF EFFICIENT  VENTILATION.   211
which may be prejudicial to the persons within.  A
writer in  the  Lancet, of 29th December, 1832, after
narrating a case of a patient who was carried off by
pleurisy, while under treatment by Dr. Elhotson, in
St. Thomas's  Hospital, for disease  of  the pylorus,
gives his opinion, that the pleurisy " was most likely
occasioned by the extreme draughts of this ward.  There
is a great  current of air in the ward, and I have seen
many persons in it suffer very much indeed."  In a
note, it is  added, " The number of patients who are thus
carried off yearly, forms a startling list to be laid before
the eyes of the governors  of this institution.   Such re-
sults are shamefully frequent."   I have already noticed
the occurrence of pneumonic inflammation from the
same causes in the garrison at Stirling Castle, and it
is to be feared that there are still many hospitals as
much in need  of improvement in this respect as St.
Thorn 3.s's
   As a contrast to the above case, it is  gratifying to
observe the care  which has been taken to effect a
thorough  and safe ventilation  in fitting  up the  new
surgical wards  of the  Edinburgh Infirmary, which
may serve as a model of what ought to be done, not
only with all public edifices, but,  I may add, with all
private dwellings.  In these wards, fresh air is intro-
duced by  large circular openings in the floor, and the
vitiated air escapes by similar openings in the roof.
The apparatus is so constructed as to  admit of the
air being heated in winter before it enters the ward,
by which means all danger from cold currents is pre-
vented.
   Since the first publication of these pages, my atten-
tion has  been kindly drawn, by  Mr.  Robert Cadell,
bookseller in  this city, to the still more efficient and
wholesome method of warming and ventilating houses
and buildings, at present in use in his own extensive
establishment, and which was first invented by Mr.
Perkins.   The apparatus consists simply of a furnace
in the lowest  part of the  building, and of a continuous
iron pipe, about an inch in diameter, filled with water
and of a length sufficient to  make it extend through 
 212 VITIATED AIR DESTRUCTIVE OF HEALTH.

 all the  apartments in which heat is wanted, and re-
 turn to the point from which it started.  The pipe is
 thus properly a circle, and has no end.  The portion
 of it surrounded  by the fire of the  furnace becomes
 first heated, the water in it expands, and  this, being
 specifically lighter  than the colder  water in the de-
 scending branch, begins  to ascend,  and continues  to
 do so as its temperature rises.  A regular current  of
 ascending  hot water and descending cooler water is
 thus established ; and all that  is required to heat any
 apartment  is to have a quantity of the ascending pipe
 in it proportioned in length to the space to be heated.
 In ordinary rooms, this is done  by  having part of it
 coiled up in the usual fireplace ;  but in large halls the
 pipe is  carried round the edge of  the floor,  so as
 to diffuse the heat more equally  over its most distant
 parts.
   From the small size of the  pipe,  and the distance
 to which it  is carried in large establishments, like that
 of Mr. Cadell, there may seem at first sight an impos-
 sibility that it should be able to furnish an adequate
 supply of heat. But experience shows that it is great-
 ly more than adequate to this  purpose.  When I vis-
 ited Mr. Cadell's premises, I was  struck with the
 genial and  pleasant heat which  pervaded  every part
 of them, although there was only one  furnace for the
 whole five  stories.   I was not less struck with the
 total absence of the empyreumatic odour and parched
 dryness so  generally characteristic of heated air.
  By Mr. Perkins's apparatus, ventilation can be  car-
 ried, with safety,  to any extent which may be requi-
 red. All that is necessary is to  have  the cold air from
without conveyed into the lower part of the orna-
mental metal box or stove, in which the coils of pipe
 are contained, and to have proper apertures at the top
of the box  to  allow the warm air to escape into the
room.  To permit the vitiated air to get  out, open-
 ings are left in the  ceiling of the room or  hall; and,
 by having stopcocks placed on both, the entrance of
 warm external air, and the issue  of vitiated air, or, in
other words, ventilation,  can be regulated at pleas- 
SOURCES OF  ANIMAL HEAT.        213
ure, without any risk either from draughts or from
the entrance of cold damp air, such as prevails in this
climate during the winter months.
  The efficacy, economy, safety, and agreeableness
of warming by the above plan can scarcely be over-
rated,  particularly in large buildings, hospitals, and
places liable to  fire.  The  pipes may be  conveyed
through rooms full of paper or other inflammable ma-
terials without the  possibility of accident; and the
apparatus being once fitted up, lobbies and every part
of a house can be comfortably heated with as little
trouble as a  single  room.   This,  too,  is of much
consequence, because numerous colds are caused by
passing frequently from warm rooms to  cool lobbies
and bedrooms, without any additional clothing.  The
Russians and other northern nations  owe their com-
parative  exemption from consumption partly to the
whole interior of their houses being of a comforta-
ble and uniform temperature, and partly to their warm
clothing; and, so long as our modes of heating and
ventilation remain so imperfect, and diseases of the
chest continue so prevalent among us, we ought nev-
er to lose sight of  the relation of cause and effect
subsisting between the two circumstances, or relax
in our  endeavours to obviate the latter by the rectifi-
cation of the former.
  In the third chapter, I pointed out the  necessity of
protecting the skin by suitable clothing, and mentioned
the intimate relation which subsists between its func-
tions and those of the lungs.  We have  now to con-
sider this subject a little farther, as regards the origin
and regulation of the animal heat.
  The true sources of animal heat are still imperfect-
ly known, and any discussion concerning them would
be too abstract for the present volume.  Its regular
production, however, is an essential condition of life.
If the human body did not possess within itself the
power of generating heat,  so as to maintain nearly
an  equality of temperature in all climates, it  could
not long exist.   In winter, and especially in the nor-
thern regions, the blood would speedily be converted 
214       SOURCES OF ANIMAL HEAT.
into a solid mass, and life be extinguished, if no pro-
vision existed for  replacing the caloric  withdrawn
from the system by the cold air surrounding it.  In
most parts of the globe, the heat of the atmosphere
is, even in summer,  inferior to  that of the human
body, and, consequently, a loss  of caloric is always
going on, which must be made up in some way, other-
wise disease and death would  speedily  ensue.  In
cholera a very remarkable diminution of heat occurs,
and return to the natural temperature is an indispen-
sable step towards recovery.
  The relation between the production of animal heat
and the condition of the respiratory functions is the
most direct and remarkable.  In general, other condi-
tions being alike, the  quantity of heat generated is in
proportion to the size and vigour of the lungs; and,
when these are impaired, its production is diminished.
Hence  many persons, with imperfectly  developed
lungs and a predisposition to consumption, complain
habitually of coldness of the surface and feet; and
many who were previously in good health, become
more and more sensible to cold, in proportion as the
approach of disease  weakens the functions of the
lungs.  I have noticed this increased sensibility to
cold, as a precursor  of chronic  pulmonary disease,
both in myself and in others, before  any  other very
obvious symptom had appeared, and think  I have seen
its  farther progress  arrested by the timely use of
Eroper means, where much greater difficulty would
  ave been experienced had the  warning not been at-
tended to.
  The generation of heat in the living system being
so immediately connected with the lungs,  we find the
temperature  highest in  those animals which possess
them in  the greatest perfection, namely, birds.  In
many species, the internal  heat exceeds that of man
by twenty or thirty degrees ; while  that of man  ex-
ceeds, to as great an extent, the heat of  such of the
inferior animals as are remarkable for imperfect or-
 gans of respiration.
   The next condition affecting the production of ani- 
SOURCES  OF ANIMAL HEAT.      215
 mal heat, is the co-operation of the nervous system.  If
 the mind be depressed by grief, tormented by anxiety,
 or absorbed in sedentary  meditation, all the bodily
 functions  become weakened,  the  circulation  lan-
 guishes, the breathing becomes slow and  scarcely
 perceptible, digestion is ill performed, and  coldness
 of the extremities ensues.  If, on the other hand, the
 mind and nervous system  be stimulated  by cheerful
 and  agreeable emotions, a  pleasant glow pervades
 the frame, and external cold is much more easily re-
 sisted.
  The quantity and quality of the food, and state of the
 digestive functions, are  also  important  conditions.
 The enormous quantity of stimulating animal food,
 such as fat and oil, required for the support of life
 under  exposure to the intense cold of the polar re-
 gions, as mentioned by Franklin, Parry, and Richard-
 son, is an appropriate example.  The proposition will,
 indeed, be readily assented to, when the reader con-
 siders that a due supply of well-formed chyle is ne-
 cessary to restore the  nourishing properties  of the
 blood, and that if, in consequence either of insufficient
 food or of a weak digestion, this be rendered impos-
 sible, all the animal functions, among others the pro-
 duction of heat, must unavoidably be impaired.  This
 is the reason why cold  is felt most  severely  in the
 morning before breakfast, and why  coldness  of the
 feet  and chillness of the  surface are so generally com-
plained of in indigestion and bilious complaints.
  Everybody knows that exercise favours and indo-
lence  obstructs the development of, animal heat.
 Exercise produces its effects by  the general stimulus
which it gives directly to the  respiratory and circula-
ting  systems, and indirectly to the nervous and diges-
tive  functions.
  In attempting, therefore,  to increase the power of
resistance to cold  in the human body, we  ought to
take into account all the conditions which favour the
generation of heat.  Observation proves that the de-
gree of cold  required to overcome the internal gen-
erating power and to extinguish life,  varies in the 
216   CONNEXION BETWEEN RESPIRATION

same individual at different times; and, therefore, our
protecting measures also ought to be  varied accord-
ing to the state of the constitution, the vigour of the
respiratory and digestive functions, the  kind and quan-
tity of food, and the amount of exercise.  When the
food is inadequate and the mind depressed, the sys-
tem resists the impression of cold with great difficulty;
and even in Scotland, where the temperature is rarely
very low, scarcely a winter passes without several
instances of death from exposure occuring  in ill-fed
and ill-clothed individuals, even when the  thermome-
ter is above the freezing point.  This happens usually
when a high wind aids the rapid abstraction of heat.
Well-fed guards of coaches, on the other hand, are
remarkable examples  of the power of withstanding
low temperatures in very  exposed situations, where
the animal functions are in a state  of vigour.   The
recent Arctic  expeditions under Parry,  Lyon, and
Ross, afford similar instances.
  Having already, when treating of the  skin, suffi-
ciently  explained the principles on which clothing
ought to be  adjusted, it is unnecessary to  recur to its
utility as a means of regulating the temperature of
the human body.  If the use of  suitable  clothing is
found insufficient to keep the body warm, we may
infer  with certainty, although no other sign of bad
health has appeared, that some internal cause exists,
affecting and impairing one or other of the sources of
animal heat already mentioned, and that, till the spe-
cial cause be discovered and removed, the evil itself
will continue undiminished.  A not unfrequent cause
of suffering from cold during the day in delicate per-
sons is the common practice of sleeping on  very soft
feather beds, in which the body sinks so deep as to
be almost surrounded by feathers. The undue warmth
thence arising relaxes the  surface of the body, weak-
ens the action of the skin, and thus renders the indi-
vidual unusually susceptible of the impression of cold
when exposed out of doors.   When a feather bed ia
used, it ought to be so well stuffed as to afford ample
resistance to the weight of the body. 
AND ANIMAL  HEAT.
217
  In winter,  young people often suffer from being
daily confined, for many hours in succession, without
exercise, in rooms insufficiently heated.  This is a
constant subject of complaint in large academies and
boarding-schools, where economy in fuel is carried
to its utmost limits.  Nothing tends more than this to
lower the general standard of health, and prepare the
individual for the future inroads of insidious diseases.
In scrofulous children especially, in whom the  evo-
lution of heat is rarely energetic, the evil is one of
great magnitude; for the chilblains, colds, and head-
aches more immediately complained of, are often its
least important consequences.  . It is far from my wish
to recommend that the young of either sex should be
brought up in the relaxing atmosphere of overheated
rooms.  On the contrary, comfortable warmth ought,
in every instance, to be drawn chiefly from its legiti-
mate sources, free respiration in a pure air, abundant
exercise out of doors, vigorous digestion, and an ac-
tively employed mind.  If these conditions be observ-
ed, little fire will be required to supply warmth to the
young.  But  if, as often happens, these be neglected,
and the generation of  animal heat be thereby reduced
too low, we must either allow the mischief to go on
increasing, or afford adequate warmth from without.
It is in vain  to  think  of rendering young creatures
hardy by subjecting them to the continued influence
of a low and chilling temperature.   A  few may es-
cape, but the majority will certainly suffer.
  In the heating of rooms and public halls, it is proper
to be on our guard against rendering the air too dry,
a condition which is hurtful in causing too rapid evap-
oration from the whole line of  the  air-passages, as
well as from the  surface of the body, and which is
apt to produce considerable irritability in the system
at large.  On the  Continent, where stoves are much
in use, a vessel containing water is commonly placed
in a sand-bath on the top, that moisture may  be
generated  quickly or  slowly, according  to the de-
gree of heat,  and diffused  through the  top atmo-
sphere.  In  such of  our halls  as  are warmed by
                        T 
218        EXERCISE OF THE LUNGS.
heated air or stoves, some plan of this sort ought to
be adopted.

  Having thus examined the chief conditions required
for  healthy  respiration, it  only  remains for me to
throw out  a few practical hints in regard to what may
be called the education of the lungs, or the  means by
which their development may be favoured, and their
functions improved in tone and extent.  Most of these
means have  been already noticed at some length, and
the  only important one which still claims our atten-
tion is the exercise of the lungs.
  Judicious  exercise of the lungs is one of the most
efficacious means which we can employ for promoting
their development and warding off their diseases.   In
this respect the organs of respiration closely resemble
the  muscles  and all other organized parts.   They are
made to be used, and if they are left in habitual inac-
tivity, their  strength and health are unavoidably im-
paired ; while, if their exercise be ill-timed or exces-
sive, disease will as certainly follow.
  The lungs may be exercised indirectly by such kinds
of bodily or muscular exertion as require quicker and
deeper breathing;  and directly by the employment ol
the voice in  speaking, reading aloud, crying, or sing-
ing. In general, both ought to be conjoined.   But
where the chief object is to improve the lungs, those
kinds which have  a tendency to expand  the  chest,
and call the  organs of  respiration into play, ought to
be  especially preferred.   Rowing a boat, fencing,
quoits, shuttlecock, and the proper use of the skipping-
rope, dumb-bells, and gymnastics, are  of this descrip-
tion.   All of them employ actively the muscles of the
chest and trunk, and excite the lungs themselves to
freer and  fuller expansion.   Climbing up hill is, for
the same  reason, an exercise of high utility in giving
tone and freedom to the pulmonary functions.
  Where, either from hereditary predisposition or ac-
 cidental causes, the chest is unusually weak, every
 effort should be made, from infancy upward, to favour
 the growth  and strength of the lungs, by the habitual 
EXERCISE  OF THE  LUNGS.        219
use of such of the above-mentioned exercises as can
most  easily be practised.   The  earlier they  are re-
sorted to and the more steadily they are pursued, the
more  certainly will their beneficial results be  experi-
enced.  In their employment, the principles explained
in the chapter on the Muscles ought to be adhered to.
  Habitual exercise in a hilly country, and the fre-
quent ascent  of acclivities, especially in pursuit of an
object, are well known to have  a powerful effect in
improving the wind and strengthening the lungs; which
is just another way of saying that  they increase the
capacity of the chest, promote free circulation through
the pulmonary  vessels, and lead to the more complete
oxygenation of the blood.   Hence the vigorous appe-
tite, the increased muscular power, and the cheerful-
ness of mind so commonly felt by  the invalid on his
removal to the  mountains, are not to be wondered at.
I was myself sensible of advantage from this  kind of
exercise during a Highland excursion.  The necessity
of frequent and deep inspirations, and  the stimulus
thus given to the general and pulmonary circulation,
had an obvious effect in increasing the  capacity of
the lungs and the power of bearing exertion without
fatigue.  Even when I was wearied, the fatigue went
off much sooner than after a walk of equal length on
a level road, and was unattended with the  languor
which generally accompanied the latter.   In fact, the
most  agreeable feeling which I experienced during
the whole  time was while resting  after undergoing,
in the ascent of a hill, a degree of exertion sufficient
to accelerate the breathing, and  bring out a consider-
able quantity of perspiration.  A lightness and activ-
ity of mind,  and freedom  about the chest, which I
never felt to  the same extent at any other time, fol-
lowed such excursions, and  made  the fatigue com-
paratively light.
   Before such practices, however, can be resorted to
with  advantage, or even with safety, there must be
nothing in the shape of active disease existing.  If
there be, the adoption of  such exercise  will, in all
probability, occasion the most serious injury.  This 
220       EXERCISE OF  THE LUNGS.
also I experienced in my  own case, as, for many
months at an earlier stage of convalescence, going up
a stair, ascending the most gentle acclivity, or speak-
ing aloud for a few minutes, was  equally fatiguing
and hurtful, and often brought on  cough, and occa-
sionally a slight spitting of blood.   All that time, ri-
ding on horseback, which exercises the body without
hurrying the breathing, was especially useful.   The
advantage of these exercises in giving tone and capa-
city to the lungs, where debility rather than disease
is  complained of, is shown  in their being  uniformly
resorted to  in  preparing for the racecourse  and for
the field.  The true sportsman puts himself in train-
ing as well as his dog or his horse, and  fits  himself
for the moors by regular excursions previous to the
12th of August.  By so doing he improves his wind
and increases his muscular strength to a remarkable
extent in a very short time.
  When no  active pulmonary disease exists, these ex-
ercises may, with the best effects,be frequently carried
so far as to  induce free perspiration; only great care
ought to be taken immediately after, to rub the surface
of the body  thoroughly dry, and to change the dress.
It  is  quite ascertained that, with these precautions,
perspiration from exercise is the reverse of debilita-
ting.  It equalizes and gently stimulates the circula-
tion, relieves the internal organs, improves digestion,
and invigorates the skin.  Jackson testifies strongly
to these results, when he declares that the severe ex-
ercise undergone in training not only improves the
lungs, but always renders the skin " quite clear, even
though formerly subject to eruptions.    These asser-
tions are, of course, to be received as the statements
of a man partial to his own art; but they are in ac-
cordance with experience, and  with the laws of the
animal functions, so far as these are known.  They
therefore merit the consideration of professional men,
and of those whose features are often disfigured by

  * Sir John Sinclair's Code of Health, 5th Edition.  Appendix,
p. 37. 
EXERCISE  OF THE LUNGS.        221
eruptions which they find it difficult to remove by
any kind of medicine.
  I need hardly say, that, when wishing to favour
the development of the lungs, we ought to be scrupu-
lous in avoiding such positions of the body as hinder
their full expansion.  Tailors, shoemakers, clerks at
a writing desk, and the like, are unfavourably situated
in this respect, as their bent position constrains the
chest, and impedes the breathing and circulation.
  Direct exercise of the lungs in practising deep in-
spiration, speaking, reciting,  singing, and playing on
wind instruments,  is very influential for  good or  for
evil, according as it is indulged in with or without ref-
erence to the constitution of  the individual.   If it is
properly managed and persevered in, particularly be-
fore the frame has  become consolidated, nothing
tends more  to expand the chest, and give  tone and
health to the important organs contained in it; but if
either ill-timed or carried to excess, nothing can be
more detrimental.  As  a preventive measure, Dr.
Clark is in the habit of recommending the full expan-
sion of the chest in the following manner :  "We de-
sire  the young  person, while standing, to throw  his
arms and shoulders back, and, while in this position,
to inhale  slowly as much air as he can, and repeat
this  exercise at short intervals, several times in suc-
cession ; when this can be done in the open air, it is
most desirable, a double advantage being thus obtain-
ed from the practice.  Some exercise  of  this kind
should be adopted daily by all young persons,  more
especially by those whose chests are narrow or de-
formed, and should" be slowly and gradually increas-
ed."*  In this recommendation I heartily concur.
  For the same reason, even the crying  and sobbing
of children  contribute to their future health, unless
they are caused by disease, and carried to a  very un-
usual extent.  The loud laugh and noisy exclamations
attending  the  sports of the young, have an evident
relation to the same beneficial end; and ought,  tiere-

        * Clark on Consumption and Scrofula, p. 298.
                        T 2 
222       EXERCISE OF  THE  LUNGS.
 fore, to be encouraged instead of being repressed, as
 they are often sought to be by those who, forgetting
 that they themselves  were  once  young,  seek in
 childhood the gravity and decorum of more advanced
 age.  I have already noticed, at page 117, an instance
 on a large scale, in which the inmates of an institu-
 tion were, for the purpose of preserving their health,
 shut up within the limits of their hall for six months,
 and not allowed to indulge in any noisy and romping
 sports.  The  aim of the  directors  was undoubtedly
 the purest benevolence, but, from their want of knowl-
 edge, their object was defeated, and the arrangement
itself became the instrument of evil.
  Beneficial as the direct exercise of the  lungs is
thus shown to be in strengthening the chest, its influ-
 ence extends still farther.  If we examine the posi-
tion of the lungs as represented in the figure on page
 183, we shall see that, when fully inflated, they must
necessarily push downward and flatten the moveable
arch of the diaphragm D D, by  which they are  sep-
arated from the belly or abdomen.   This alteration,
however, cannot take place without the diaphragm in
 its turn pushing down the liver, stomach, and bowels,
 which it accordingly does, causing them to project
 forward and outward.  But no  sooner are the lungs
 fully inflated, than the contained air is again thrown
 out.  The lungs diminish in size, the diaphragm rises,
 and with it all the contents of the abdomen return to
 their former position.  The whole digestive apparatus
 is thus subjected to a continual  pressure and change
 of place;  and the stimulus thence arising is in truth
 essential to the healthy performance of the digestive
 functions, and is one of the means  arranged  by the
 Creator for the purpose.  Consequently, if the lungs
 be rarely called into active exercise, not only do they
 suffer, but an important aid to digestion being with-
 drawn, the stomach and bowels also become weakened,
 and indigestion and costiveness make their appear-
 ance.  I have already alluded to this subject in the
 chapter on muscular exercise; but  the principle will
 now be better understood with the  aid of the  figure. 
   EXERCISE OF THE LUNGS DURING DISEASE. 223

  After this exposition I  need hardly say that the
loud and distinct speaking enforced in many public
schools is productive of much good to the young,
and that the occasional songs in which all are requi-
red to join in the infant schools and other institutions
are much to be commended.  Let any one who doubts
their efficacy as exercises of the lungs, attend to what
passes  in his own body  on reading aloud a single
paragraph, and he will find that not only deep  inspi-
rations  and full expirations are encouraged, but that
a considerable impulse is communicated to the bow-
els, affording a marked contrast to the slight breath-
ing and quiescent posture of those whose voices  never
rise above a whisper.
  Reading aloud, public speaking, and lecturing, are
excellent exercises for developing the lungs and the
chest.   But, as  they require  some exertion,  they
ought to be indulged in with prudence, and with con-
stant reference to the constitution and health of the
individual.   The reviewer of a former edition of the
present volume  (himself a lecturer), in noticing this
part of the  book, adds  the  following testimony:
"We know ourselves, from personal experience, that
often, when preparing to go to lecture, a languor has
crept upon us, inducing an unwillingness to exert our-
selves.   We have gone—the lecture has commenced
—the mind  was  called into  action—a perspiration
broke forth on the brow—the  circulation was equal-
ized—and, at the conclusion of the lecture, the languor
was gone."  Hence he recommends " reading to one's
family in the evening" as " an  excellent practice, and
one tending much to sweeten social life."*  When
early resorted to and steadily persevered in, such ex-
ercises are very useful in warding off disease and
communicating strength to an  important function.
But when begun suddenly, and carried to excess by
persons with weak lungs, they  are more directly inju-
rious than almost any other cause.  It is not uncom-
mon for young divines to devote themselves to preack-

    * London Medical and Surgical Journal, No. 134, p. lO" 
224 EXERCISE OF THE LUNGS DURING DISEASE.

ing, without any preparation for the effort which it
requires, and to experience, in consequence, pains in
the chest,  spitting of blood,  and other dangerous
forms of disease, which often extinguish their bright-
est prospects in the morning of life.  Sacrifices of
this kind are the more to be lamented, because it is
probable that, by a well-planned  system of gradual
preparation, many who fall victims might find in their
profession even a source of safety.
  The  late illustrious Cuvier, as  was mentioned at
page 150, is considered to have  been saved from  an
early death by his  appointment to a professorship
leading him to the moderate and regular exercise of
his lungs in teaching; a practice  which soon removed
the delicacy of chest to which he was  subject, and
enabled him to pass uninjured through a long life  of
active  business.   Other  examples  of the same kind
might be mentioned.  But it is important to observe,
that in all of them the exercise was, at all times, ac-
curately  proportioned to the existing state of  the
lungs.   Had active  disease existed, or the exertion
required been beyond what the lungs were fully able
to bear, the effect would have been, not to improve
health, but  to destroy life ; and  this condition of ac-
curate  relation between the amount of exercise  and
the state of the organization must never for a moment
be overlooked.  With a little care, however, the point
at which direct exercise of the lungs ought to stop
may easily be determined by observing its effects.
  The  same principle leads to another obvious rule :
When disease of any kind exists  in the chest, exercise
of the lungs in speaking, reading, and  singing, and
also in ordinary muscular exertion, ought either to be
entirely refrained from  or strictly regulated by pro-
fessional advice.  When a joint is sore  or inflamed,
we know that motion impedes its recovery.  When
the eye is affected, we, for a similar reason, shut out
the light; and when the stomach is disordered, we
have respect to its condition, and become more care-
ful about diet.  The lungs demand a treatment found-
ed on the same general principle.   If they are infla- 
     EXERCISE OF THE LUNGS AS A REMEDY.  225

med, they must be exercised as little as possible, oth-
erwise mischief will  ensue.   Hence, in a common
cold of any severity, silence, which is the absence of
direct pulmonary exercise, ought to be preserved, and
will, in truth, be its own reward.  In severe cases,
and in acute inflammations of  the chest, this rule is
of the greatest importance.   It is common to meet
with patients who cannot speak three words without
exciting a fit of coughing, and who, notwithstanding,
cannot be persuaded that speaking retards their re-
covery.  In like manner, in spitting of  blood, and in
the early stage of tubercular consumption, when the
breathing cannot be excited without direct mischief,
it is often difficult to convince the patient of the ne-
cessity of silence.  He perhaps does not feel pain on
attempting to speak, and says that " it merely raises
a short tickling cough, which is nothing."  But if he
persists, dearly-bought experience will teach him his
error, and dispose him to regret, as did a lamented
friend of the author, that a few weeks out of the years
which he had dedicated to  the study of the classics
had not been devoted to the acquisition of some  little
knowledge of the structure and functions of his own
body.  In the instance alluded to, after spitting  of
blood had been induced by severe  bodily labour, the
patient continued talking almost the whole day to the
visiters and inmates of a large, public establishment,
and believed  himself all the time to be very careful,
as he said he was no longer exerting his body.  When
the error was pointed out, and the mechanism of the
lungs explained to him, he deeply bewailed the igno-
rance which had allowed him to act in a manner so
pernicious.
  All violent exercise ought, for similar reasons, to
be refrained from, during at least the active stages of
cold.  Everything which hurries the breathing, wheth-
er walking  fast, ascending an acclivity, or reading
aloud, has the same effect on the diseased lungs that
motion of the bone has on an inflamed joint.  It seems
to me, that many people hurt themselves much more
by the active exercise they take during a severe cold 
226 EXERCISE OF THE LUNGS AS A REMEDY.
than by the mere exposure to the weather.  It is well
known, that a person, when suffering from cold, may
go out for a short time even in an open carriage  more
safely than on foot; and there is much reason to be-
lieve, that it is the absence of active exertion of  the
lungs in the former case which makes the exposure
less hurtful.
  After all active disease has been subdued, or  when
nothing but delicacy remains, the adequate  exercise
of the lungs is one of the best means of promoting ef-
fectual recovery.  Those parents, therefore, act most
erroneously who, in their apprehensive  anxiety for
the protection of their delicate children, scrupulously
prohibit them from every kind of exercise which re-
quires the least effort, and shut them up from the open
air during  winter, with the false hope of thereby
warding off colds and protecting their lung*.  I have
seen the greatest delicacy of  constitution  thus  en-
gendered, especially where an undue  quantity of
warm  clothing was at the same  time  employed.
When tested  by the principles above explained, such
conduct is found to be as ill adapted as possible to the
end in view, and utterly at variance with the laws of
the animal economy.
  Considering the delicacy and extent  of the  lining
membrane  of the lungs, and the  ready aecess to it
which the external air has, it cannot be a  matter of
surprise that sudden or great changes in its tempera-
ture or constitution should often operate injuriously
on the lungs, and be the means  of  inducing not only
colds, but more serious disease.   Hence, especially in
delicate subjects, the obvious propriety of diminishing
the risk of sudden transitions,  by  breathing  through
several folds of woollen fabric or silk when obliged to
pass from a warm room to the cold external air, or to
breathe a cold or damp air for a length of time.   The
cold air becomes partially heated and deprived  of its
moisture in passing through such a medium, and the
protection thus afforded is so marked, that  few who
have  tried  the precaution will ever afterward neg-
lect it. 
   PREVENTION OF DISEASES IN THE LUNGS.  227

  Perhaps  the most important time in the life  of a
person born with a predisposition to consumption is
that of puberty, comprising from the commencement
of rapid growth to the full consolidation of the sys-
tem about or after the twenty-fourth year.  In most
young people, the transition from adolescence to ma-
turity is so rapid, that for two or three years all the
animal powers are tasked to enable nutrition to keep
pace  with  growth,  and a  corresponding debility of
both body and mind is often observed  to co-exist, in-
dicating in the clearest manner the necessity  of a
temporary remission from  such  studies and occupa-
tions as require much mental exertion or confinement
within doors.  The development and health of the
physical system ought then to be almost exclusively
attended to; and when the body has acquired its so-
lidity, the mental faculties will again become active.
I have seen instances where a knowledge of the lat-
ter fact afforded substantial consolation to young men
who, while their bodies were growing rapidly, were
apt to become despondent, on account of the unusual
sluggishness and inefficiency of their intellectual pow-
ers.   In the course of a few years, when growth and
consolidation were completed, the brain vigorously
resumed its functions.
  In such circumstances, relaxation from study, resi-
dence in the country, exercise in the open air, plenty
of food, and freedom from care, will often do immense
good, if sufficiently persisted in, and go far to protect
the careful patient against the future invasion of con-
sumption. Whereas, if, under the mistaken notion that
such precautionary measures are a waste of time, a
delicate growing youth is allowed to  continue at his
studies  or  his desk till disease has  actually com-
menced, the disappointed parent may discover that it
is too late to take alarm when health is gone.
  A good deal of observation has satisfied me, that
too little attention is paid to the preservation of health
at this critical period of life, and  that, by proper man-
agement during the transition  from adolescence to
maturity, many might be saved who now fall victims. 
228 PREVENTION OF DISEASES IN THE LUNGS.

Dr. Clark, in the  excellent treatise  already referred
to, strongly advocates the same view, and his remarks
cannot be too earnestly recommended to both profes-
sional and general notice.
  Mr. Marshall has taken some pains to point out the
disadvantages laboured under by very young recruits
from their  being  neglectful of health, and ignorant
how to take care of themselves.  In common life the
same disadvantages result  from the same  causes.
The young  being left in entire ignorance of the struc-
ture and uses  of  the different organs of their own
bodies, and without experience of the evils of expo-
sure, heedlessly give way to their predominant incli-
nations, and rashly subject  themselves to the opera-
tion of morbid causes, which, had they been instruct-
ed,  they might  easily have avoided.  The  conse-
quence is, that the body being weak at that age from
the rapidity of growth and want of consolidation,
external, causes act with double energy, and lay the
foundation of consumption, or other forms of disease,
without any means being used to counteract their in-
fluence ; and that a greater mortality takes place du-
ring the few years of adolescence, than at an earlier
or more advanced period of life.
  A late writer, who has bestowed infinite pains on
the investigation  of the laws of mortality, describes
the period  between seventeen and twenty-four years
of age in the male sex, as " one of restlessness, toil,
and danger; the human faculties are  then exercised
to the  utmost, and life is more freely expended than
at  any other season.  Inflammatory diseases, often
of fatal termination, are most prevalent for both sexes
during this  period."*   The accuracy of  these state-
ments  is incontrovertibly established by a reference
to  the  bills of mortality.   It appears, for example,
from the Count Chabrol's Statistical Researches of
the City of Paris and Department of the Seine, that, in
 1819, the total mortality was 22,445, of whom 10,865

  * On the Natural and Mathematical Laws concerning Popula-
 tion, Vitality, and Mortality.  By Francis Corbaux.  P. 92. 
    PREVENTION OF DISEASE IN THE LUNGS. 229

were males, and 11,580 were females.  Of this num-
ber there died—
                               Males.     Females.
    Between the ages of 10 and 15,     298       238
              «     15    20,     420       391
       '«      ««     20    25,     815       650
       «      "     25    30,     374       567
Showing  a remarkable increase in the number of
deaths between 15 and 20 over those between 10 and
15, and again another increase of  nearly double  in
those between 20 and 25 over those between 25 and 30.
In the females, from circumstances  not now to be ex-
plained, the period of increased mortality extends to
nearly 30 years of age.
  Similar results appear for other years.  In 1820,
the total  deaths were 22,218, of whom  10,584 were
males, and 11,634  females.  Of this number there
died—
                                Males
    Between the ages of 10 and 15,    172
                    15    20,    396
       «       »    20    25,    749
       «       «    25    30,    381
 And in 1821 we have a total of 22,648, of whom 11,167
 were  males,  and  11,481  females.  Of this  number
 there died—
                               Males     Females.
    Between the ages of 10 and 15,    209      236
       «       «    15    20,    367      337
       <<       »    20    25,    776      556
               "    25    30,    405      560
   These  tables, confirmed by  others drawn  up with
 equal accuracy, place in  a striking point of view the
 dangers of the state of transition from youth  to man-
 hood, and the necessity of attempting,  by early  in-
 fluence and timely  prudence,  to protect the young
 against the numerous causes of disease which then
 come into active and fatal operation.  They ought
 also to serve as a warning to those  who, in the spring-
 time of life, are inclined to trust implicitly for their
 safety to the strength of a good constitution, and to
Females.
 223
 303
 590
 524 
230 PREVENTION OF DISEASE IN THE LUNGS.

despise the prudence which dictates the avoidance of
unnecessary exposure.  The experience derived from
the limited observation of one man may be set aside
as undeserving of trust; but when the unvarying  re-
sults exhibited to us are deduced from the changes in
nearly a million of people, it is impossible to ascribe
them to chance, or to deny their bearing on ourselves.
Many invaluable practical truths will, ere long, be fur-
nished to the world by the statistical researches now
in progress.
  The earlier maximum of mortality in the male sex,
especially in  cities, is explicable by the fact, that it
is at the approach of manhood, when both mind and
body are in a state of transition, that dissipation is
most indulged in, and presses with its  deadliest force.
Many delicate youths are carried off, who would have
escaped without injury if they  could have  been per-
suaded to act with prudence during these two or three
critical years.  Many, I am constrained to say, first
learn the means of their  destruction in boarding-
schools and  places of public  resort, and that often
when no mischief is suspected by their respectable
teachers.  On this topic, however, the non-profes-
sional character of the  present work precludes  me
from entering into details.
   Before quitting this important subject, I may  add
another word of advice in regard to those who  are
predisposed to consumption or weakness of chest.
As soon as active growth commences,  permanent
benefit may be derived from removal, for a few years,
to a milder and less variable climate.   Many who are
sent abroad only to die painfully in a foreign land, in
the noonday of life, might have lived for years, in the
enjoyment of health and usefulness, had they been
sent abroad before the appearance of disease, instead
of after its unequivocal commencement.  The previ-
ous delicacy, whence the susceptibility to colds  and
pulmonary affections arises, ought to attract the ear-
liest attention, and excite the most persevering efforts
for its removal.  If it be allowed to make progress
till consumption has commenced, medicine may come 
PREVENTION OF  DISEASE IN  THE LUNGS. 231
armed with its most powerful remedies, and directed
by the most consummate skill; but it will too often
come in vain.  The rage which now prevails for mere
intellectual education,  and  the utter neglect  of the
bodily health to which it leads, is  too often carried
so far as to be a curse rather than a blessing; and
till its fury be moderated by an increase of good sense
in the parents, great mischief must, I fear, continue
to ensue.
  I cannot dismiss this subject without again refer-
ring the reader to Dr. Clark's work on Consumption
and Scrofula, as affording, I may almost say for the
first time, a comprehensive, philosophical, and practi-
cal view of the causes, nature, and treatment of con-
sumption.  The able author has not, it is true, greatly
extended our power over that fatal disease in its most
advanced periods, but he has done more to throw light
upon its causes, to obviate its development,  and  to
arrest it in its incipient stages, than any writer with
whose works I am acquainted. 
CHAPTER VIII.
       NERVOUS SYSTEM AND MENTAL FACULTIES.

Nervous System.—Structure of the Brain.—The Brain the Or
  gan of Mind and Seat of Sensation.—Connexion between the
  Mind and Brain.—Conditions of Health in the Brain.—Influ-
  ence of hereditary Constitution—of the Blood.—Effects of im-
  perfectly  oxygenated Blood.— Exercise of the Brain and Mind.
  —Effects of mental Inactivity—exemplified in the  Deaf and
  <Dumb.—Mental Inactivity a  Cause of nervous Disease.—Ex-
  emplified in retired  Officers, Merchants, and  Others—in Fe-
  males of the  middle and higher Ranks.—Effects of mental
  Activity on the Brain.—Effects of excessive mental Activity
  —Exemplified in precocious Children—in Youth—in hard Stu-
  dents—in early and middle Life, Case of Sir Humphrey Davy
  —in advanced Life, Case of Sir Walter  Scott—a Cause of In-
  sanity.—Effects of over Activity of Mind on Health, Cases of
  Gretry, Weber, and others.

  In man and the higher  orders of animals,  the  ner-
vous system is  composed of, 1st, the brain; 2d, the
spinal marrow;  and, 3d, the  nerves.   But, on  the
present occasion, it will be necessary to confine our
remarks chiefly to the brain;  and,  even regarding it,
to offer observations  only on such points  as all are
agreed upon, and the general reader can easily com-
prehend.
  The brain  is that  large organized  mass which,
along  with its enveloping membranes, completely
rills the cavity of the scull.  It is the seat of thought,
of feeling, and  of  consciousness,  and the centre
towards which  all impressions made on the nerves
distributed  over the  body are  conveyed,  and from
which the commands of  the will are transmitted, to
put the various parts in motion.
  The structure of the  brain is so complicated,  that
less  is known of its true nature than of that of almost
any other organ.  It would, therefore, be entirely ou* 
STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN.       233
of place to attempt to describe it  here, farther than
by stating generally its principal divisions.   On saw-
ing off  the top of the scull, and removing the firm,
tough  membrane  called dura mater (hard mother),
which adheres closely to its concave surface, the
cerebrum or brain proper  presents itself, marked on
the surface with a great variety of undulating wind-
ings or convolutions, and extending from the fore  to
the back part of the head, somewhat in the form  of
an ellipse.  In the annexed woodcut, the convolu-
tions are represented as seen on the base of the brain
In the middle line  from G to  G, there is, on the upper
aspect of the brain, a deep cleft or fissure, separating
it, in its whole length, into two halves, or hemispheres
as they are called.  Into this cleft dips a tight stiff
membrane, resembling a scythe in shape, and hence
called the falx (scythe), or, sometimes, from  its be-
ing a  mere  fold, of the dura  mater, the falciform
{scythe-like)  process  of the  dura  mater.  From its
dipping down between the two halves of the brain,
the chief purpose  of this membrane seems to be  to
relieve  the one side from the pressure of the other,
when the head is reclining to either side.
  Each half  or hemisphere of the brain is, in its turn,
divided—but  in a  less marked way, as the divisions
are observable only on its inferior surface—into three
portions, called, from their  situations, the  anterior,
middle,  and posterior lobes,  each  occupying  nearly
a third of the whole length of the brain.  The ante-
rior  lobe, being the  portion  lying above  the  dotted
line E E, occupies the forehead ; the middle is all the
portion lying between the two transverse lines E E
and F F, above and a little in front of the ears; and
the posterior lobe is  that portion lying  below the
transverse fine F  F, and corresponding to the back
part of the head.
  Beneath the posterior lobe, a-strong fold  of the
dura mater, called the tentorium, is extended horizon-
tally to support and separate it from the cerebellum
A A, or little brain, lying below it. The cerebellum
forms the last great division of the contents of the
                      U2 
234      8TRUCTURE  OF THE BRAIN.
scull.  Its surface is marked by convolutions, differ-
ing, however, in size and appearance from those ob-
served in the  brain.
  Adhering to the surface of the convolutions, and,
consequently, dipping down into and lining the sulci or
furrows between them, another membrane of a finer
texture and greater vascularity, called pia mater, is
found.  The bloodvessels going to the brain branch
out so extensively on the pia mater, that, when a lit-
tle inflamed, it seems to constitute a perfect vascular
network.  This minute subdivision is probably of use
in preventing the blood from being impelled with too
great force against the delicate tissue of the brain.
  A third covering, called the arachnoid  membrane,
from its fineness resembling that of a spider's web, is
interposed between the other two, and is  frequently
the seat of disease.
   On examining the convolutions in different brains, 
STRUCTURE OF  THE  BRAIN.       235
they are found to vary a good deal in size, depth, and
general appearance.  In the various regions of the
same brain they are also different, but preserve the
same general aspect.   Thus they are always small
and numerous in the anterior lobe, larger and deeper
in the middle, and still larger in the posterior.  The
thick cord or root C, springing from the base of the
brain, is named the  medulla oblongata, or oblong por-
tion of the spinal marrow, which is  continued down-
ward, and fills  the  cavity of the spine or backbone.
At one time the brain  has been regarded as proceed-
ing from, and at another as giving rise to, the spinal
marrow; but, in reality, the  two are merely connect-
ed, and neither grows  from the other.  The false
analogy of a stem growing from a root has led to this
abuse of language.
  The small round filaments or cords seen to proceed
from the  sides of the medulla  oblongata, and from
near the base of the brain, are various nerves of sen-
sation and motion, some of them going to the organs
of sense, and others to the skin  and muscles of the
face, head, and other more distant parts.   The long,
flat-looking nerve a a, lying  on the  lower surface  of
the anterior lobe, is the olfactory nerve, or nerve  of
smell, going to the nose.  The round, thick nerve 4 4,
near the roots  of the former, is the optic  nerve,  or
nerve of vision, going  to the  eye.  That marked b is
the motor nerve, which supplies the muscles of the
eyeball.  A little  farther back, the fifth pair C, is seen
to issue apparently from the  arch D, called Pons Va-
rolii, or bridge of Varolius.  It is a  large compound
nerve, and divides into three branches, which are ram-
ified on almost  all the parts connected  with the
head and face, and the upper  and under jaw.   It
comprehends nerves both of sensation and  motion,
and one branch of it,  ramified on the tongue, is the
nerve of taste.  Other branches supply and give sen-
sibility to the teeth, glands,  and skin.  The  seventh
or auditory nerve  e, is distributed on the internal ear,
and serves for hearing.  The eighth or pneumogastric
nerve d, sends filaments to the windpipe, lungs, heart, 
236    THE BRAIN THE  ORGAN OF MIND.

and  stomach, and is one of great importance in the
production of the voice and respiration.   It  also in-
fluences the action of the heart and the process of
digestion.
  Such are the principal  nerves more immediately
connected with the brain,  but which  it is impossible
to describe more minutely here.  Those which sup-
ply the trunk of  the body  and the extremities, issue
chiefly from the spinal  marrow; but  they also must,
for the  present, be passed over in silence, that  we
may return to the consideration of the brain.
  The brain receives an unusually large supply of
blood, in comparison with  the  rest of the body; but
the nature of its circulation, although  a very interest-
ing object of study, being only indirectly connected
with our present purpose,  cannot now be discussed.
  Most physiologists are  agreed that the different
parts of the brain perform  distinct functions, and that
these functions are the  highest and  most important
in the animal economy; but there is great discrepan-
cy of opinion as to what the  function of  each part is,
and as to the best mode of removing  the obscurity in
which the subject is involved.  It would be useless to
examine here the merits  of the respective theories
and modes of inquiry, as the attempt would  lead us
too far from the practical aim of the work.  Suffice, it
to say, that all physiologists and philosophers regard
the brain as the  organ  of  mind;  that most of them
consider it as an aggregate  of parts, each charged with
a specific function; and that a large  majority regard
the anterior lobe as more immediately the seat of the
intellectual faculties.*   Farther, by nearly universal
consent, the brain is held to be also  the  seat of the
passions and moral feelings of our nature, as  well as
of consciousness and every other mental act, and to

  * In speaking of the cerebral lobes being the place " where all
the sensations  take a distinct  form and leave durable impres-
sions," Cuvier adds, " L'anatomie  comparee  en offre une autre
confirmation dans la proportion constante du volume de ces lobes avec
le degri d'intelligence des Animaux"—Vide Report to the Institute
on Flourens's Experiments in 1822. 
CONNEXION BETWEEN THE MIND AND BRAIN. 237

be the chief source of that nervous influence which is
indispensable to the vitality and action of every organ
of the body.  There are so few  exceptions  to the
general belief of these propositions, that I consider
myself fairly entitled to hold them as established.
  Many animals possess individual senses or instincts
in greater perfection than man, but  there is not one
which can be compared with him  in the number and
range of  its faculties; and, as a necessary  conse-
quence, there is not one which  approaches him in the
development and perfection of its  nervous system.
No organ can execute more than  a single function;
and, accordingly, even the Edinburgh Review  (which
has evinced great hostility to some of the above views)
admits, that, exactly in proportion as  we  ascend in
the scale of creation, and the animal acquires a sense,
a power, or an instinct, do its nerves multiply, and
" its brain improve in structure and augment in vol-
ume ; each addition being marked by some addition or
amplification of the powers of the animal, until in man
we behold it possessing some parts of which animals are
destitute, and wanting none which they possess,"  so that
" we are enabled to associate every faculty which gives
superiority, with some addition to the nervous mass, even
from the  smallest indications of sensation and  will, up
to the highest degree of sensibility, judgment, and ex-
pression."*
  It is extremely important to bear in  mind this con-
stant relation between mental power and development
of brain.  It  not only explains why  capacities and
dispositions are so different, but shows  incontrover-
tibly that the cultivation of the moral and intellectual
faculties can be  successfully carried on only by act-
ing in obedience  to the laws of organization,  and as-
sociating together those faculties, the organs of which
are simultaneously progressive in their growth. When,
in infancy, for example, the intellectual powers are
feeble and inactive, this arises solely from the inapti-
tude of a still imperfect brain; but, in proportion aa
* Edinburgh Review, No. xciv., p. 442-3. 
238 CONNEXION BETWEEN THE MIND AND BRAIN.

the latter advances towards its mature state, the men-
tal faculties also become vigorous and active.  In like
manner, when we engage in intense thought so  long
as to induce confusion of mind and headache, these
results follow solely because the  brain has been over-
tasked, and its action  carried beyond  the  limits of
health.  Every mental operation, in fact, takes place
in subjection to the laws of organization;  and  it is
worse than useless for us to attempt to disjoin that
which  an all-wise Creator has  connected  together.
It is a law, for  instance, that alternate periods of ac-
tivity and repose conduce to the strength and devel-
opment of every organ, and to the easy performance
of its function, and that excess in either direction is
alike hurtful  in its consequences.  If, therefore, in
our anxiety for the advancement of  a  child in a fa-
vourite pursuit, we urge it to incessant and unvaried
exertion of the same kind for many hours a day, we
violate this law in neglecting the necessary intervals
of rest, and thus run the risk of injuring the health of
the brain, and entirely defeating our object.  And, on
the contrary, if we withdraw the child altogether from
the pursuit, for weeks or months at a time,  as hap-
pens during the vacation of a school, we violate the
organic law again, in depriving the faculties of their
necessary exercise, and thus run the risk of sacrificing
the improvement  already gained, and of diminishing
the mental power.  In neither case is the brain exer-
cised in conformity with the organic laws, and, conse-
quently, we look in vain for the  same amount of im-
provement which  would have followed  their fulfil-
ment ;  and yet, so far is the physiology of the brain
from being considered as the only  sound basis on
which  the science of education can rest, that  very
few teachers or moralists are aware that the organic
laws have any connexion with the operations of mind,
and still  fewer have ever thought of adapting  their
practice to the dictates of  these laws; although no
truth in education or philosophy can be more  clearly
proved  or  more  beneficially applied  than that on
which I am now insisting. 
CONNEXION BETWEEN THE MIND AND BRAIN. 239

  It has been said, in answer to  the above proposi-
tion, that a month's vacation and idleness in the coun-
try, after ten or eleven  months spent  at  schools in
town, is beneficial in increasing the aptitude for men-
tal exertion.  This is true, but it is, in reality, no ex-
ception to what I have stated.  According to the pres-
ent system of education, intellectual cultivation and
school tasks are pushed so far as to impair health and
injure the constitution; and after  ten months of this
unwholesome discipline, the vigour of mind and readi-
ness of application are so much diminished, that the
school is regarded with loathing, and the vacation is
longed for with  all the ardour of an exile panting for
his home.  If a young person, in  this unnatural situa-
tion, be sent to the country to enjoy exercise and play
in the open air for two months without opening a book,
there cannot be a doubt that he will return better dis-
posed for his lessons, and more able to keep pace with
his companions, than if he had continued to receive
daily instruction at school during all that time.  This
result, however, will follow simply because his health,
which had been impaired by confinement and over-
tasking, will now be restored  by country air, idleness,
and exercise; and his brain will have regained its lost
tone, and be able to manifest the mental faculties with
greater vigour.
   But it does not by any means follow from this cir-
cumstance,  that, if the brain and mind be always duly
exercised according to their strength and the laws of
Nature, a month or two of idleness will then be ad-
vantageous.  As well might we say that because two
or three weeks of bodily inaction may be relished after
 many months of exhaustion from hard labour, there-
 fore a long interval of inactivity will be equally agree-
 able to a person who is  getting daily no more exer-
 cise than enough.   In the one case as in the other,
 the absence of exertion, so far from being desirable,
 would be not less hurtful than irksome to the individ-
 ual ;  and if a healthy young person were  so situated,
 idleness would be so unpleasant to him, that he would
 devise active occupation of some kind or  other for 
240 INFLUENCE OF HEREDITARY CONSTITUTION.

himself.   This distinction must not  be lost sight
of.
  In thus treating of the  brain as the indispensable
instrument or organ of the mental faculties, I must
not be understood as representing mind and brain to
be one and the same thing.   I  mean only that the
brain is necessarily engaged in every intellectual and
moral operation, exactly as the eye is in every act ot
vision; and that, as the mind  cannot see without the
intervention of the eye, so neither can it think or feel,
during life, except through the instrumentality of the
brain.  Consequently, it would be as reasonable and
logical to infer from  the former proposition that the
eye is the mind or the mind the eye, as to infer from the
latter, that the brain is the mind or the mind the brain.
  It requires, however, to be distinctly understood,
that activity of mind and activity of brain are not only
inseparable, but that, so long as life remains, the men-
tal operations are directly influenced by the condition
of the brain.  If, by the excessive use of stimulants,
the brain be highly excited, the mind will be disturbed
in an equal degree, as is exemplified every day in the
phenomena of intoxication; and if, on the other hand,
the mind be suddenly roused  by violent passions, the
vessels of the brain will  instantly take on increased
action, redness will suffuse the face, and the cerebral
excitement will show  itself in characters as legible
as if produced by a physical  cause.
  The mind and brain being thus so closely associated
during life that the former acts in strict obedience to
the laws which regulate the latter, it becomes an ob-
ject of primary importance in education to discover
what these laws are, that we  may yield them wilhng
obedience, and escape the numerous evils consequent
on  their violation.   To  this inquiry the  following
pages shall be devoted.
  The brain being a part of  the animal system, and
subject to the same general laws as the other organs,
the reader will not be surprised that I should, as  in
the case of the lungs, state a sound original constitution
as the first condition of its healthy action.  If the 
    ON THE FUTURE HEALTH OF THE BRAIN.  241

brain possess from birth a freedom from all hereditary
taints and imperfections, and have acquired no unusual
susceptibility from injudicious treatment in infancy,
it will withstand a great  deal in after-life, before its
health will give way.   But if, on the other hand, either
it inherit deficiencies, or early mismanagement have
subsequently detailed upon it an  unusual proneness
to morbid action, it will give way under circumstances
which would otherwise have been perfectly innocu-
ous ;  and, accordingly, it may be truly said that the
most  powerful of all the causes which predispose to
nervous  and mental disease, is the transmission of a
hereditary tendency from parents to children, produ-
cing in the latter an unusual liability to the maladies
under which the parents have laboured.
  Even where the defect in the parent is merely some
peculiarity of  disposition or temper, amounting, per-
haps,  to eccentricity, it is astonishing how clearly its
influence on some one or other of the progeny may
often  be  traced, and how completely a constitutional
bias of this description may interfere with a man's
happiness or success in life.  I have seen  instances
in which it pervaded every member of a family, and
others in which  it affected only one or two.  When
the original eccentricity is on the mother's side, and
she is gifted with much force of character, the evil ex-
tends  more widely among the children than when it is
on the father's  side.   Where both parents are descend-
ed from  tainted families, the progeny is, of course,
more  deeply affected than where one of them is  from
a pure stock;  and seemingly for this reason, heredi-
tary predisposition is a more usual cause of nervous
disease in the higher classes, who intermarry much
with each other, than in the lower, who have a wider
choice.
  Unhappily, it is not merely as a cause of disease
that hereditary predisposition is to be dreaded.  The
obstacles which it throws in the way of permanent
recovery are  even more formidable, and can never
be entirely removed.   Safety is to  be found only in
avoiding the perpetuation of the mischief; and,there-
                       X 
 242  ON THE FUTURE HEALTH OF THE BRAIN.

 fore, if two persons, each naturally of an excitable
 and delicate nervous temperament, choose to unite
 for life, they have themselves to blame for the  con-
 centrated influence of similar tendencies in destroying
 the health of their offspring, and subjecting them to
 all the miseries of nervous disease, madness, or  mel-
 ancholy.
  Even where no hereditary defect exists, the  state
 of the mother during pregnancy has an influence  on
 the mental character and health of the offspring of
 which few  parents have any adequate conception.
 In my work on  Mental Derangement, I referred, in
proof of  this fact, to  the testimony of M. Esquirol,
whose talent, general accuracy, and extensive expe-
 rience, give great weight to all his well-considered
 opinions.  It is often, he says, in the maternal womb
 that we  are to  look for the true cause, not only of
 imbecility, but also of the different kinds  of mania.
 During the agitated periods of the French revolution,
 many ladies then pregnant,  and whose  minds were
 kept constantly on the stretch by the anxiety and alarm
 inseparable from the epoch in which they lived, and
 whose nervous  systems were thereby rendered irri-
table in the highest degree  compatible with sanity,
were afterward delivered of infants whose brains and
nervous systems had been affected to such a degree
by the state  of their parent, that, in future life, as chil-
 dren they were  subject to spasms, convulsions, and
 other nervous affections, and in youth to  imbecility
 or dementia almost without any exciting cause.   The
 extent to which the temporary state of the mother
 during gestation may influence the whole  future life
 of the child, may be conceived from a single fact re-
 corded by the same author.   A pregnant woman, oth-
 erwise healthy, was greatly alarmed and terrified  by
 the threats of her husband when in a state of intoxi-
 cation.  She was afterward delivered, at the  usual
 time, of a very delicate child.  The child  had, how-
 ever, been so much affected by its mother's agitation,
 that, up to the age of eighteen, it continued subject to
 panic terrors, and then became completely maniacal. 
  INFLUENCE OF HEREDITARY CONSTITUTION. 243

 The nervous  timidity of James  VI., so ludicrously
 exhibited by  Sir  Walter Scott in the Fortunes of
 Nigel, is said to have had a  similar origin.  I have
 myself seen several instances of the same kind, and,
 among others, one of a young lady, whose extreme
 nervous  sensibility was partly attributable  to  pro-
 longed excitement and alarm in her mother, who,
 when pregnant with her, spent several days half im-
 mersed in water during  a storm at sea, and in the
 hourly expectation of shipwreck and death.
  Dr. Caldwell, too, the able and philanthropic advo-
 cate of an improved  system of physical, moral, and
 intellectual education in America, is very  urgent in
 enforcing rational care during the period of gestation
 on  the part of every  mother who values the future
 health and happiness of her progeny.  Among other
 things, he insists on the necessity of mothers taking
 more exercise in the open air than they usually do ;
 and cautions them against allowing a feeling' of false
 delicacy to keep them confined  in  their rooms for
 weeks or months.* For the same reason, the mind
 ought to be kept free from gloom or anxiety, and in
 that state of cheerful activity which results from the
 proper exercise of the moral and social feelings and
 intellect.  But if seclusion and depression be hurtful
 to the unborn progeny, thoughtless  dissipation, late
 hours, dancing, waltzing, and rough exercise on horse-
 back, irritability of temper and peevishness of dispo-
 sition,  are not less injurious.  Hence the Margravine
 of Anspach most justly remarks, that" when a female
 is likely to become a mother,  she  ought to  be doubly
 careful of her temper, and, in particular, to  indulge
 no ideas  that are not cheerful and no sentiments that
 are not kind.  Such is the  connexion between the
 mind  and body, that  the features  of the face are
moulded  commonly into an expression of the internal
 disposition; and is it not  natural to think that an in-
fant, before it  is born,  may be affected by the temper
of its mother !"—Memoirs, vol. ii., chap. viii.

  * Thoughts on Physical Education, by Charles Caldwell. M.D.
 Boston, 1833 
244   IMPERFECTLY  OXYGENATED  BLOOD.

  The second condition required for the health of the
brain is a due supply of properly oxygenated blood.
The effects of slight differences in the quality of the
blood are not easily recognised, but, when extreme,
they are too obvious to be overlooked.  If the stimulus
of arterial blood be altogether withdrawn, the brain
ceases to act, and sensibility and consciousness become
extinct.  Thus, when fixed air  is inhaled, the blood
circulating through the lungs does not undergo that
process of oxygenation which is essential to life;
and as it is in this state unfit to excite or support the
action of the brain, the mental functions become im-
paired, and death speedily closes the scene.   If, on
the other hand, the blood  be too highly oxygenated,
as by breathing oxygen gas instead of common air, the
brain is too much stimulated, and an intensity of ac-
tion, bordering on  inflammation, takes place, which
also soon terminates in death.
  Such are the consequences of the two  extremes;
but the slighter variations in the state of the blood
have equally sure, although less palpable effects.   If
its vitality be impaired by breathing an atmosphere so
much vitiated as to be insufficient to produce  the
proper degree of oxygenation, the blood then affords
an imperfect stimulus to the brain;  and, as a neces-
sary consequence, languor and inactivity of the mental
and nervous functions ensue,  and a tendency to head-
ache, syncope, or hysteria, makes its appearance. This
is seen every day in the listlessness and apathy preva-
lent in crowded and ill-ventilated schools ;  and in the
headaches and liability to fainting which are so sure
to attack persons of a  delicate habit in the contami-
nated atmospheres of crowded theatres,  ^churches,
and  assemblies.  It is seen less strikingly, but more
permanently, in the irritable  and sensitive  condition
of the inmates of cotton manufactories and public
hospitals. In these  instances, the  operation of the
principle cannot be disputed, for the languor and ner-
vous debility consequent on confinement in ill-venti-
lated apartments, or in air vitiated by the breath of
many people, are neither more  nor less than minor 
        IMPERFECTLY OXYGENATED BLOOD.   245

 degrees of the same process of poisoning to which I
 have formerly alluded.   It is not real debility which
 produces them ; for egress to the open air almost in-
 stantly  restores  activity and vigour to both  mind
 and body, unless the exposure has been very long, in
 which case more time is required to  re-establish the
 exhausted powers of the brain.   A good deal of ob-
 servation  has convinced me, that the transmission of
 imperfectly oxygenated blood to the brain is  greatly
 more influential in the production of nervous disease
 and delicacy of constitution, than is commonly ima-
 gined ; and I am delighted  to see the same truth so
 powerfully insisted on by Mr. Thackrah, from exten-
 sive experience in the  manufacturing district about
 Leeds.  Having,  however,  dwelt on this  subject in
 the preceding chapter, I need not repeat the observa-
 tions already made*
   Although, in delicate  constitutions, the  health of
 the brain  and  nervous system is often impaired  by
 inadequate nutrition, and a due supply of nourishing
 food is therefore indispensable to their wellbeing;
 yet, as this condition is  implied in the preceding, and
 its separate consideration would lead us too far from
 our  main  object, I  shall not dwell upon it hep.   I
 shall merely state, that  starvation often  affects the
 brain so much as to produce ferocious delirium, and
 that in the Milanese, a  species of insanity arising
 from defective nourishment is very prevalent, and is
 easily cured by the nourishing diet provided in the
 hospitals to which the patients are sent.  I have seen
 the mental functions  weakened, and the brain disor-
 dered, by  the same cause—inadequate  nutrition—at

  * The intelligent teacher to whom I have  already alluded as
 acting on the above views, by turning his pupils out to play, and
 throwing open the door  and windows for ten minutes at the end
 of the first hour's confinement, assures me that the difference be-
tween the languor and little power of sustained attention exhibit-
ed under the old system, and the activity shown under the new,
is very marked, and that the interval of relaxation is most profita-
bly spent time both to his pupils and to himself, as they return to
work with new life.  Its influence on the health of his pupils has
been already noticed.
                      X2 
 246  EXERCISE  OF THE  MIND AND BRAIN.

 the period of rapid growth.  This defective nutrition,
 however, it must be observed, does not always depend
 on want of proper food.  On the contrary, it is often
 the result, among the higher classes, of too much or
 too stimulating food over-exciting and ultimately im-
 pairing the digestive powers.  The proneness to mor-
 bid excitement in the brain, induced by insufficient
 food, is one  cause why, in times of public distress,
 the lower orders are so apt to resort to violence to
 remove the sources of their discontent.
  The third  condition Of health in the brain and ner-
 vous system, and that to which it is my chief object
 in the present chapter to direct attention, is the reg-
 ular exercise of their respective functions, according
 to the laws already so frequently referred to, and so
 fully explained in a preceding part of this work.*
  The brain,  being an organized part, is subject, in so
 far as regards its exercise, to precisely the same laws
 as the other organs of the body.  If it be doomed to
inactivity, its health decays, and the mental operations
 and feelings,  as a necessary  consequence, become
dull, feeble,  and slow.   If it be duly exercised,  after
regular intervals of repose, the mind acquires readi-
ness4 and strength; and, lastly, if  it be overtasked,
in either the  force or the duration of  its activity, its
functions become impaired, and irritability and disease
take the place of health  and vigour.
  The consequence of  inadequate exercise may be
first explained.
  We have  seen  that, by  disuse, muscles become
emaciated, bone softens, bloodvessels are obliterated,
and nerves lose their characteristic structure.  The
brain is no exception to  this general rule.   Of it also
the tone is impaired by permanent inactivity, and it
 becomes less fit to manifest the mental powers with
 readiness and energy.  Nor will this surprise any re-
 flecting person, who considers that the brain, as a part
 of the same  animal system, is nourished by the same
* See Chapter iv., p. 127, and also p. 171. 
       EFFECTS OF MENTAL INACTIVITY.    247

blood, and regulated by the  same vital laws, as the
muscles, bones,  and nerves.
  It is the weakening and depressing effect upon the
brain of the withdrawal of the stimulus necessary for
its healthy exercise, which renders solitary confine-
ment so severe a punishment even to the most daring
minds;  and  it is a lower degree of the  same cause
which renders continuous seclusion from society so
injurious to  both mental and bodily soundness, and
which often renders the situation of governesses one
of misery and bad health, even where every kindness
is meant to be shown towards them. In many families,
especially in the higher ranks, the governess lives so
secluded, that she is as much out of society as if she
were placed in solitary confinement.  She is too much
above the domestics to make  companions of them,
and too  much below her employers to be treated by
them either with confidence or as their equal.  With
feelings as acute, interests as dear to her, and a judg-
ment  as  sound as those of any of the persons  who
scarcely  notice her existence, she is denied every
opportunity of gratifying the first or expressing the
last, merely because she is  "only the governess;"
as if governesses were not  made of the same flesh
and blood, and sent into the world by the same Crea-
tor, as their  more fortunate employers.  It is, I be-
lieve, beyond question, that much unhappiness,  and,
not unfrequently, madness itself,  are unintentionally
caused by this cold and inconsiderate treatment.  For
the same reason, those who are  cut off from social
converse by any bodily infirmity, often beeome dis-
contented and  morose in spite of every resolution to
the contrary.   The feelings and faculties of the mind,
which had formerly full play in their intercourse with
their fellow-creatures, have no longer scope for suffi-
cient exercise, and the almost inevitable result is irri-
tability and weakness in the corresponding parts of
the brain.
  This fact is particularly observed among the deaf
and blind, in whom, from their being precluded from
a full participation in the same sources of interest as 
248   EFFECTS  OF MENTAL  INACTIVITY.

their more favoured brethren, irritability, weakness of
mind, and idiocy, are known to be much more preva-
lent than among other classes of people.   In the
Dictionnaire de Medecine (vol. xx., p. 87), Andral gives
a description of the deaf and dumb, every word of
which bears a direct reference to the above principle;
and a nearly similar  account has been lately given of
 he blind by an equally intelligent observer,  " The
deaf  and dumb," says Andral,  " presents, in intel-
iigence, character, and the development  of his pas-
sions, certain modifications which depend on his state
of isolation in the midst of society.  He remains ha-
bitually in a state of half childishness, is very credu-
lous, but, like the savage, remains free from many of
the prejudices acquired in society.  In him the tender
feelings are not deep; he appears susceptible neither
of strong attachment  nor  of lively gratitude; pity
moves him  feebly; he has  little  emulation, few en-
joyments, and few desires.  This is what is com-
monly observed in the deaf and  dumb, but the picture
is far from being of  universal  application; some,
more happily endowed, are remarkable for the great
development of  their intellectual  and moral nature ;
but others,  on the  contrary, remain  immersed in
complete  idiocy."   Andral adds,  that  we must not
infer from this that the deaf and  dumb are therefore
constitutionally inferior in mind to other men. " Their
powers are not developed, because they live isolated from
society: place them, by some means or other, in relation
with their fellow-men, and they will become their equals."
This is the cause of the rapid brightening up of both
mind and features, which is so often observed in blind
or deaf children, when transferred from home to pub-
lic  institutions, and  there taught the means of con-
verse with  their fellows.   In  these  instructive in-
stances, the whole change is from a state of inactiv-
ity of the mind and brain to that of their wholesome
and regular exercise.   The truth of these remarks
has since been confirmed by an admirable letter on
deafness, from the pen of Miss H. Martineau, which
appeared in Tait's Magazine for April, 1834.  Miss 
NERVOUS DISEASE FROM MENTAL INACTIVITY. 249

Martineau cautions her  fellow-sufferers against in-
dulging in seclusion from society, for the very reason
I have just stated.  The letter is full of sound prac-
tical observations, and does infinite credit to the mor-
al courage and talent of its author.
  Keeping the above principle in view, we shall not
be surprised to find that non-exercise of the brain and
nervous system, or, in other words, inactivity of in-
tellect and of feeling, is a very frequent predisposing
cause of every form  of  nervous disease.  For de-
monstrative evidence of this position, we have only
to look at the numerous victims to be found among
females of the middle and higher ranks, who have no
call to exertion in gaining the  means of subsistence,
and no objects of interest on which to exercise their
mental faculties, and who  consequently sink into a
state  of mental sloth and nervous weakness, which
not only deprives them of much enjoyment, but lays
them  open to suffering, both of mind and body, from
the slightest causes.
  If we look abroad upon society, we shall find innu-
merable examples of mental  and  nervous debility
from  this cause.   When a person of  some mental
capacity is confined for a long time to an unvarying
round of  employment, which  affords neither scope
nor stimulus for one half of his  faculties, and, from
want of education or society, has no external resour-
ces, his mental powers, for want  of exercise to keep
up due vitality in their cerebral organs, become blunt-
ed, and his perceptions slow and dull; and he feels
any unusual subjects of thought as disagreeable and
painful intrusions.   The intellect  and  feelings not
being provided with interests external to themselves,
must either become inactive and weak, or work upon
themselves  and  become diseased.   In the  former
case the  mind becomes apathetic, and possesses nO
ground of sympathy  with  its  fellow-creatures; in
the latter, it becomes unduly sensitive,  and shrinks
within itself and its own limited circle, as its only
protection against every trifling intrusion.  A desire
to continue  an unvaried round of  life takes strong 
250 NERVOUS DISEASE FROM MENTAL INACTIVITY.

possession of the mind;  because to come forth into
society requires an exertion of faculties which have
been long dormant, and cannot be awakened without
pain, and which are felt to be feeble when called into
action.   In such a state,  home and its immediate in-
terests become not only the centre, which they ought
to be, but also the boundary of  life; and  the mind,
originally constituted  to  embrace a  much wider
sphere, is thus shorn of its powers, and the tone of
mental and bodily health is lowered, till a total inapti-
tude for  the business of  life and the ordinary inter-
course of society comes  on, and often increases till
it becomes a  positive malady.  Such are the  effects
of inactivity on the tone of the brain.
  But let the  situation of such persons  be changed;
bring them, for instance,  from the listlessness of re-
tirement to the business  and bustle of a town;  give
them a variety of imperative employments, and place
them in society so as to supply to their cerebral or-
gans that extent of exercise which gives health and
vivacity of action; and, in a few months, the change
produced will be surprising.  Health, animation, and
acuteness will take the place of former inspidity and
dulness.   In  such instances it would be  absurd to
suppose that it is the mind itself which becomes heavy
and feeble, and again revives into energy by these
changes in external circumstances ; the effects arise
entirely from changes in the state of the brain; and
the mental manifestations and the bodily health have
been improved solely by the improvement of its  con-
dition.
  Examples of this kind are not  rare among retired
officers, annuitants, merchants, and other persons liv-
ing on  certain incomes, without fixed occupations to
interest them ; and a curious enough instance occurred
lately in a young  military officer, who spent three
years in Canada, commanding a small detachment in
a remote station, where he was completely separated
from all society of his own rank.  During  all  that
period he spent his time  in sauntering, shooting, or
fishing, without that excitement to his various facul- 
   EXEMPLIFIED IN RETIRED OFFICERS, ETC. 251

ties which is afforded by the society of equals.   The
consequence of this  compulsory mental apathy, and
the corresponding inactivity of brain, was that, on re-
turning to England, his nervous system had become
so weak  and irritable, that, although by nature  fond
of society, he feared to meet even with the members
of his own family, and for many weeks would never
venture to walk out to take necessary exercise except
in the dark.  And it was only at the end of several
months that the renewed stimulus of society and em-
ployment restored the tone of his nervous system so
far as to  allow him to regain his natural character of
mind and to return to his former habits of life. In
this  predisposed  state of  the  system, a very slight
cause would obviously have sufficed to convert the
depression into absolute derangement.
  But, as mentioned above, the most frequent victims
of this kind of predisposition are females of the middle
and higher ranks, especially those of a nervous  con-
stitution  and good natural abilities; but who,  from
ill-directed education, possess nothing more solid than
mere accomplishments, and  have no materials of
thought,  and no regular or imperative occupations to
excite  interest or demand attention.  Such persons
have literally nothing on  which to  expend half the
nervous energy which nature has bestowed on them
for better  purposes.  They have nothing to excite
and  exercise the  brain, nothing to elicit  activity;
their own  feelings and personal interests  necessa-
rily  constitute the grand objects of their contem-
plation ;  these are brooded over till the mental ener-
gies  become impaired, false ideas of existence and
of Providence  spring up  in the mind, the fancy is
haunted by strange impressions, and every trifle which
relates to self is exaggerated into an object of im-
mense importance.  The brain, having almost no em-
ployment, becomes weak, and the mental manifesta-
tions are enfeebled in proportion; so that a person of
good endowments thus treated, will often  not  only
exhibit somewhat of the imbecility of a fool, but grad-
ually become irritable, peevish, and discontented, and 
 252 IN FEMALES OF  THE  HIGHER CLASSES. .

 open to the attack of every form of nervous disease
 and of derangement from causes which, under differ-
 ent circumstances, would never have disturbed her
 for a moment.   Persons so situated too often fly for
 relief to opium or drinking.
   That the liability of such persons to melancholy,
 hysteria, hypochondriasis, and other varieties of men-
 tal disease, really depends on a state of irritability of
 brain, induced by imperfect exercise, is proved by the
 vast and rapid improvement we often witness in con-
 sequence of the sudden  supervention of occurrences
 which excite and employ the mental powers and their
 cerebral organs.  Nothing is more usual than to see
 a nervous young lady, who for years had been unfit
 for anything while ease and indolence were her por-
 tion,  deriving the  utmost advantage from  apparent
 misfortunes, which throw her upon her own resour-
 ces, and force her to  exert her utmost energies to
 maintain a respectable station in society.  Where, as
 in such circumstances, the mental faculties and brain,
 the intellect and moral and social feelings, are blessed
 with a stimulus to act, the weakness, the tremours,
 and the apprehensions which formerly seemed an in-
born part of herself, disappear as if by enchantment,
 and strength, vigour, and happiness take their place;
 solely because now God's law is fulfilled, and the brain,
with which he  has connected the mind, is supplied
with that  healthful stimulus and exercise which he
ordained to be indispensable to its healthy existence.
The same  principle explains the  conversion which
often occurs of a timid, sensitive, and nervous young
lady, into  a firm-minded and healthy matron.
  An additional illustration, and I venture upon it be-
cause the principle is an important  one in the produc-
tion of many distressing forms of disease, will be
found in the case of a man of mature age and of ac-
tive habits, who has devoted his life to the  toils of
business, and whose hours of enjoyment have been
 few  and short.   Suppose  such a person to  retire
 to the country in search of repose, and to have no
 deep moral, religious, or philosophical pursuits to oc- 
MENTAL ACTIVITY  IN FEMALES.     253
 cupy his attention and keep up the active exercise
 of his brain, this organ will lose its health, and the
 inevitable result will be ennui, weariness of life, de-
 spondency, or some other variety of nervous disease.*
   One great evil attending the absence of some  im-
 perative employment or object of interest to exercise
 the mind and brain, is the tendency which it generates
 to waste the mental energies on every  trifling  occur-
 rence which presents itself, and to seek relief in the
 momentary excitement of any sensation, however un-
 worthy.   Not only does painful instability of purpose
 and interest arise from this cause, especially among
 females,  but,  by  degrees, enjoyment  is sought  for
 more from the indulgence of the sensual appetites of
 eating and drinking than from any higher occupation;
 till at last the habit of gormandizing is  established,
 and quantities of food and wine are daily swallowed,
 which add disease to indolence, and oppress both mind
 and body.  Patients labouring  under this form of in-
 disposition complain much of debility^  and of  the
 exhaustion left by every effort.   It is common to hear
 them defending the excesses which  they commit, by
 affirming, that  with less  support they  would die of
 weakness; but the plea, though plausible, is utterly
 groundless.   No doubt they may feel stronger after
 a  good dinner  and a few glasses of  wine, but the
 strength  is that of feverish excitement, and the sub-
 sequent languor  is proportionally great.   Ere  long,
too, the power of mental application gives way; the
 digestive  organs fail under the task imposed  upon
 them, and headache, flushing, sickness, and bilious at-
 tacks ensue in such rapid succession, that life at last
 becomes a state of habitual indisposition.
  The best remedy for these evils is to create occu-
 pation to interest the mind, and give that wholesome
 exercise to the brain which its  constitution requires.

  * It may be proper to state; that several of the preceding pages
 have been taken, with little  alteration, from my " Observations on
 Mental Derangement," published some time ago.  But as that work
is designed moie for the profession than for the general reader, I
 have thought it necessary to repeat them here.
                        Y 
254      EFFECTS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY
 Unless this can be done, the services of the physician
 will be available  only so long as their novelty con-
 tinues a source of excitement; and then, in all proba-
 bility, he will be discharged to make way for another,
 who will, in his turn, be dismissed to  give place to a
 third.  The principle on which this is done is perfect-
 ly sound, and, in such cases, no sensible physician
 will take it amiss that his assistance is declined.  The
 error lies in the patient seeking the necessary mental
 stimulus in a change of attendance, instead of in sal-
 utary occupation.  But there cannot be a doubt, that
 where the patient is either unable or unwilling to seek
 recovery from engaging  in  proper employment, the
 mere change of physician is often of temporary ser-
vice.

  The evils arising from excessive or ill-timed exer-
 cise of the brain or any of its parts, are numerous and
 equally in accordance with the ordinary laws of phys-
iology. When we use  the eye too long  or in too
bright a light, it becomes bloodshot, and the increased
action of its vessels and nerves gives rise to a sensa-
tion of fatigue and pain requiring us to desist.  If we
turn away the eye, the irritation gradually subsides,
and the healthy state returns; but if we continue to
look intently, or resume our employment before the
eye has regained its natural state by repose, the irri-
tation at last becomes permanent, and disease, follow-
ed by weakness of sight or even blindness, may en-
sue ; as often happens to glass-blowers, smiths, and
others, who are obliged to work in an intense light.
  Precisely analogous phenomena occur when, from
intense mental excitement, the brain is kept long in
a state of excessive activity.  The only difference is,
that we can always see what happens in the eye, but
rarely what takes place  in  the brain.  Occasionally,
however, cases of fracture of the scull occur, in which,
from part of the bone being  removed, we can see the
quickened circulation in the vessels of the brain as
easily as in those of the eye.  Sir Astley Cooper had
 a young gentleman brought to him who had lost a
portion of his scull just  above  the eyebrow.  " On 
ON  THE BRAIN.
255
examining the head," says Sir Astley, " I distinctly
saw the pulsation of the brain was regular and slow ;
but at this time he was agitated  by some  opposition
to his wishes, and directly the blood was sent  with in-
creased force to the brain, the-pulsation became frequent
and violent; if, therefore," continued Sir Astley, " you
omit to keep  the mind free from  agitation, your other
means will be unavailing" in  the treatment of  injuries
of the brain.*  A still more remarkable case  is men-
tioned by Dr.  Caldwell, as having occurred to Dr.
Pierquin,  in the hospital of Montpelier, in 1821.  " The
subject of it was a female at the age of 26, who had
lost a large portion of her scalp,  scull-bone, and dura
mater, in  a neglected attack of lues venerea.  A cor-
responding portion of her  brain was  consequently
bare, and  subject to inspection.   When she was in a
dreamless sleep, her brain was motionless, and lay within
the cranium.   When her sleep was imperfect and she
was agitated by dreams, her brain moved and protru-
ded without  the cranium, forming cerebral hernia.  In
vivid dreams, reported as such by herself, the protru-
sion was considerable ;  and when she was perfectly
awake, especially if engaged  in active thought or
sprightly  conversation, it was  still greater."!  This
protrusion arose, of course, from  the greater quantity
of blood  sent  to  the brain during its  activity than
when it was quiet; and, if the case be accurately re-
ported, it  is certainly one of the  most interesting on
record.
  In alluding to this subject, Dr. Caldwell remarks,
that, if it were  " possible, without doing an injury to
other parts, to augment the constant afflux of healthy
arterial blood  to  the brain, the  mental operations
would be  invigorated by it.   I state this opinion con-
fidently, because we often  witness its  verification.
When a public speaker is flushed  and  heated in de-
bate, his mind works more freely and powerfully than
at any other time.   Why!   Because his brain is in
better tune.  What  has thus suddenly improved its
  * See Sir A. Cooper's Lect. on Surg., by Tyrrel, vol. i. p. 279.
  f Annals  of Phrenology, No. i., p. 37.   Boston, 1833. 
 256 EFFECTS OF EXCESSIVE MENTAL ACTIVITY.

 condition1?  An increased current of  blood  into it,
 produced by the excitement of its own increased ac-
 tion.  That the blood does, on such occasions, flow
 more copiously into the brain, no one can doubt who is
 at all acquainted with the cerebral sensations which
 the  orator himself experiences at the time, or who
 witnesses the unusual fulness and flush of his coun-
 tenance, the dewiness, flashing, and protrusion of his
 eye, and the throbbing of his temporal and carotid ar-
 teries.  It is well known, that,  while  intensely en-
 gaged in a memorable debate last winter in Washing-
 ton, a distinguished senator became  so  giddy, by the
 inordinate rushing of blood into his brain, that he was
 obliged to sit down, and the Senate adjourned to give
 him time to  recover.  And, more recently,  a  new
 member of the House of Representatives fell while
 speaking, and suddenly expired from the same cause.
 A member of the law class  of Transylvania, more-
 over, experienced, a few weeks ago, a convulsive af-
 fection from a congestion of blood in the head, indu-
 ced by excessive excitement of the brain  in the ar-
 dour of debate."*   In  many instances, indeed, the in-
 creased circulation in the brain  attendant on high
 mental excitement, reveals itself by its effects when
 least  expected, and leaves traces after death which
 are but too legible.  How  many public  men, like
 Whitbread, Romilly, Castlereagh, and Canning, urged
 on by ambition or natural eagerness of mind, have
 been suddenly  arrested in  their career by the inordi-
 nate action of  the brain induced by incessant toil!
And how many more have had their mental  power
for ever impaired by similar excess !  When  tasked
beyond its strength, the eye  becomes  insensible to
light, and no longer conveys  any impressions to the
mind.  In like  manner, the brain, when  much ex-
hausted, becomes incapable of thought, and conscious-
ness is almost lost in a feeling of utter confusion.
  At any time of life, excessive and continued mental
exertion is hurtful; but in infancy and  early youth,

    * Caldwell's Thoughts on Physical Education, p. 114. 
  EFFECTS OF EXCESSIVE MENTAL ACTIVITY. 257

 when the structure of the brain is still immature and
 delicate, permanent mischief is more easily inflicted
 by injudicious treatment than at any subsequent peri-
 od ;  and, in this respect, the analogy is complete be-
 tween the brain and  the other  parts of the body, as
 we have already seen exemplified in the injurious ef-
 fects of premature exercise of the bones and muscles.
 Scrofulous and rickety children  are the most  usual
 sufferers in this way.  They are  generally remarka-
 ble for large heads, great precocity of understanding,
 and  small, delicate bodies.  But, in such instances,
 the great size of the brain and the acuteness of mind
 are the results of morbid growth; and, even with the
 best management, the child passes the first years of
 its life  constantly on the brink of active disease.
 Instead, however,  of  trying to repress its mental ac-
 tivity, the fond parents, misled by the  early promise
 of genius, too often excite it still  farther, by unceas-
 ing  cultivation  and  the never-failing stimulus of
 praise ;  and  finding its progress,  for a time, equal to
 their warmest wishes, they look forward with ecsta-
 sy to the day when its talents will break  forth and
 shed a lustre on its name.  But in exact proportion
 as the picture becomes  brighter  to their fancy, the
 probability of its being realized becomes less ;  for the
 brain, worn out by premature exertion, either becomes
 diseased or loses its tone, leaving the mental powers
slow and depressed for  the remainder of life.  The
 expected prodigy  is thus utimately and  easily out-
 stripped in the social race by many whose dull out-
 set promised him an easy victory.
  Taking for our guide the necessities of the  consti-
 tution, it will be obvious that the modes of treatment
 commonly resorted to ought to be reversed, and that,
 instead of straining to the uttermost the already irri-
 table powers of the precocious child, and leaving his
 dull  competitor to ripen  at leisure, a systematic at-
 tempt ought to be made, from early infancy, to rouse
to action the languid faculties of the latter, while no
pains ought to be spared to moderate and give  tone
to the activity of the  former.   Instead of this, how- 
 258 EXEMPLIFIED IN  PRECOCIOUS CHILDREN.

 ever, the prematurely intelligent child is generally
 sent to school, and tasked with lessons at  an unusu-
 ally early age; while the healthy, but more backward
 boy, who requires to be stimulated, is kept at home
 in idleness, perhaps for two  or three years longer,
 merely on  account of his backwardness.  A double
 error is here committed, and the consequences to the
 clever boy are frequently the permanent loss both of
 health and  of his envied superiority of  intellect.
  In speaking of  children of this  description, Dr.
 Brigham, in an excellent little work  on the influence
 of mental excitement  on health, lately published in
America, says, " Dangerous forms of scrofulous dis-
ease among children  have repeatedly  fallen  under
my observation, for which I could not account in any
other way than by supposing that the brain had been
exercised at the expense of other parts of the sys-
tem, and at a time of life when nature is endeavour-
ing to perfect all the organs of the  body;  and after
 the disease commenced, I have seen with grief the
 influence of the same cause in  retarding or preventing
recovery.  I have seen several affecting and melan-
choly instances of children five or six years of age,
lingering a  while with diseases from which those less
gifted readily recover, and at last dying, notwithstand-
ing the utmost efforts to restore them.   During their
sickness, they constantly  manifested a passion  for
books and mental excitement, and were admired for
 the maturity of their minds.   The chance for the re-
covery of such precocious children is, in my opinion,
 small, when attacked by disease; and several medi-
 cal men have informed me, that their own observa-
 tions had led them to form the  same opinion, and have
 remarked, that in two cases of sickness, if one of the
 patients was a child of superior and highly cultivated
 mental powers, and the other one equally sick, but
 whose mind had not been excited by study, they
 should feel  less confident of the  recovery of the
 former than  of the latter.   This mental  precocity
 results from an unnatural development of one  or 
   EFFECTS  OF EXCESSIVE MENTAL ACTIVITY. 259

 gan of the  body at the  expense of the  constitu-
 tion"  (p.  45).*
   Dr. Brigham justly remarks, that it is ignorance in
 the parents which leads to the too early and exces-
 sive cultivation of the minds of children, especially
 those  who are precocious and delicate ; but from the
 examples which he gives, and the general bearing of
 his admonitions, the error of commencing systematic
 education too  soon, and stimulating the  infant mind
 too highly, seems to be decidedly more prevalent in
 the United States than in this country.  Among the
 " children's books" in  the United States, many are
 announced as purposely prepared " for children from
 two to three years old!" and among others are " In-
 fant Manuals" for Botany, Geometry, and Astrono-
 my !!   That mode of teaching  is considered the best
 which forces on the infant mind at the most rapid
 rate, without regard to  health or  any other consider-
 ation.
   Dr.  Brigham adds from personal observation, that,
 in many families, children under three years of age are
 not only required to commit to memory many verses,
 texts of Scripture and  stories,  but are often sent to
 the ordinary schools for six hours a day.  Few chil-
 dren are  kept  back later than  the age of four.  At
 home, too, they are induced by all  sorts of excite-
 ment to learn additional tasks or peruse  juvenile
 books and magazines, till the nervous system becomes
 enfeebled and the health broken.   " I have myself,"
 he continues, " seen many children who are supposed
 to possess almost miraculous mental powers, experi-
 encing these  effects and sinking under them.   Some
 of them died early, when but six or eight years of
 age, but manifested to the last  a  maturity of under-
 standing which only increased  the agony of separ-
 ation.  Their minds, like some of the fairest flowers,
 were ' no  sooner blown than blasted;' others have

  * Remarks on the Influence of Mental Cultivation and Men-
tal Excitement upon  Healrh.  By Amariah Brigham, M.D.,
Boston, 1833. 
 260 EFFECTS OF EXCESSIVE MENTAL ACTIVITY

 grown up to manhood, but with feeble bodies and dis-
 ordered  nervous system, which subjected  them to
 hypochondriasis, dyspepsy, and all the protean forms
 of nervous disease;" " others of the class  of early
 prodigies exhibit in manhood but small mental pow-
 ers, and  are the mere passive  instruments  of those
 who,  in  early life,  were  accounted  far.their infe-
 riors" (lib.  cit., p.  59).#   In well-conducted infant
 schools,  these evils are  carefully guarded against.
  In this country children are not generally sent to
 school so early; but education is still too much re-
 stricted to the exclusive exercise of the mental pow-
 ers, to the neglect of the physical, and, in the  instance
 of delicate children, is pushed on too rapidly.   I lately
witnessed the fate  of one of these  early prodigies,
 and the  circumstances  were exactly such as those
above described. The prematurely developed intellect
was admired, and constantly stimulated by injudicious
praise, and by daily exhibition to  every visiter who
chanced to call.  Entertaining books were thrown in
 the way; reading by the fireside  encouraged; play
 and exercise neglected; the diet allowed to be full
and heating, and the appetite pampered by every del-
icacy.  The results were the speedy deterioration of
a weak constitution, a high degree of nervous sensi-
bility, deranged digestion, disordered bowels, defect-
ive nutrition, and, lastly, death, at the very time when
the interest excited by the mental precocity was at
its height.
  Such, however, is the ignorance of parents on all
physiological subjects, that when one of these infant
prodigies dies from  erroneous treatment, it is not un-
usual  to publish a memoir of his life, that other pa-
rents may see by what means such transcendent qual-
ities were called forth.  Dr.  Brigham refers  to a me-
moir of this kind, in which the history of John Moo-
ney Mead, aged four years  and eleven months, is
 narrated as approved of by " several judicious persons,
 ministers and others, all of  whom united in the re-
 quest that it might be published, and all agreed in the
 opinion that a knowledge of the  manner in which the 
IN YOUTH.
261
child was treated, together with the results, would be prof-
itable both to parents and children, and  a benefit  to the
cause of education"  This infantine philosopher was
" taught hymns before he could speak plainly;"  " rea-
soned with" and  constantly instructed until his last
illness, which, " without any assignable cause," put on
a violent and unexpected  form, and carried him off.
As a warning not to  force education too soon or too
fast, this case maybe truly " profitable both to parents
and children;"  but, as an example  to  be  followed,  it
assuredly cannot be too strongly or loudly condemned.
Infant schools, however,  in  which physical health
and moral training are duly attended to, are excellent
institutions.  Such are those established and regulated
on the plan of the benevolent Wilderspin, whose  ex-
ertions have gone so far  to demonstrate the impor-
tance of early infant training.  But I regret to say
that many schools lately opened under the same name
have  scarcely  one  sound principle  in action, and
threaten to do more injury to the children  by forced
and injudicious intellectual cultivation and close con-
finement than will be easily remedied even by the best
management in after  life.   I know some schools, con-
sisting of a single small apartment, without any play-
ground, and with very imperfect means of ventilation,
where upward of 150 children are  crowded together
for four or five hours a day, with no free access  to
the open air, no adequate muscular or  pulmonary ex-
ercise, no mental recreation worthy of the name, no
systematic cultivation of the moral and social feelings
in actual intercourse with each other; and where,
with a few intervals of rest, an occasional march round
the room, and a frequent change of subject, the time
is consumed in intellectual tasks, to the almost com-
plete exclusion of everything else.  Schools of this
description  cannot  be too strongly  denounced  as
fraught with mischief  to the young, and as flagrant
abuses  of a most valuable principle.  But in thus cen-
suring what is radically wrong, we must  be careful
not  to  go to the other extreme, and, like Cobbett,
condemn as bad that which is so  only in its abuses. 
262 EFFECTS OF  EXCESSIVE MENTAL ACTIVITY

A well-regulated infant  school  is an instrument of
great power in improving and humanizing mankind.*

  In youth, too, much mischief is done by the long
daily periods of attendance at school, and the contin-
ued  application of mind which  the  ordinary  system
of education requires.  The law of exercise, that long-
sustained action exhausts the vital powers of an organ,
applies, I cannot too often repeat, as well to the brain
as to the muscles;  and hence the necessity of varying
the occupations of the young, and allowing frequent
intervals of active  exercise in the open air, instead of
enforcing the continued confinement now so common.
This exclusive attention to mental culture fails,  as
might be expected, even in its  essential object;  for
experience shows  that, with a rational distribution of
employment and exercise, a child will make  greater
progress than in double the time employed in contin-
uous mental exertion.  If the human being were made
up of nothing but a brain  and nervous system, it would
be very well to content ourselves with sedentary pur-
suits, and to confine .ourselves entirely to the mind.
But when observation tells us that we have numerous
other important organs of motion, sanguification,  di-
gestion, circulation, and nutrition, all demanding exer-
cise in the open air as essential both to their own health
and to that of the nervous system, it is worse than folly
to shut our eyes to the truth, and to act as if we could,
by  denying it, alter the  constitution of nature, and
thereby escape the consequences  of our misconduct.
  Reason and experience being  thus set at naught  by
both parents and teachers in the management of chil-
dren, young people naturally grow up with the notion
  * Many of my readers will be glad to learn that Dr. Brigham's
little work has lately been reprinted in this country in a very cheap
form, under the care of Dr. Macnish, of Glasgow, who is already
well known as a very able and successful writer, and who has en-
riched his edition with a number of excellent notes.  Dr. Cald-
well's " Thoughts on  Physical Education" are also in the course
of republication.  Both works contain facts and principles of great
interest  to every parent and teacher,  and  are calculated to be
highly useful in advancing the cause of rational education. 
EXEMPLIFIED IN  YOUTH.         263
that no such influences  as the laws of organization
exist, and that  they may follow any  course of life
which inclination leads them to prefer, without injury
to health, provided they avoid what is  called dissipa-
tion.  It  is owing to this  ignorance that we find
young men of a studious or literary habit enter heed-
lessly upon an amount of mental exertion, unallevia-
ted by bodily exercise or intervals of repose, which is
quite  incompatible with the continued enjoyment of a
sound mind in a sound body.  Such, however, is the
effect of the total neglect of all instruction in the laws
of the organic frame during early education, that  it
becomes almost impossible to warn an ardent student
against the dangers to which he is exposing himself,
and nothing but actual experience will convince him
of the truth.  I have seen several instances of almost
total  incapacity for future useful exertion brought on
by long-protracted and severe study in subjects whose
talents,  under a better  system  of cultivation, would
have  raised them to that eminence, the injudicious
pursuit of which  had defeated  their own  object and
ruined their general health.  Two of these persons
made the remark, that early instruction in the struc-
ture and laws of the  animal economy, such  as that
which I  am now attempting to communicate, might
have saved them.   Both meant well, and erred from
ignorance more than headstrong zeai.
   In  the first  number of the "American Annals of
Education," the reader will find an instructive article
on the necessity of combining bodily with  mental ex-
ercise.   " For twenty years and more," says the wri-
ter, in reference to what had taken place in an Ameri-
can seminary, " the unnatural union of sedentary with
studious habits, contracted  by the monastic system,
has been killing in  the middle age.  The Register of
Education shows in one year 120 deaths.   Examine
into the  particular cases, and these will be found the
undoubted effects of sedentary habits. Look at one
name there.   He had valuable gifts, perfected by two
years' academic,  four  years' collegiate,  and  three
years' theological studies.  He preached,  gave  much 
264     EXCESSIVE MENTAL ACTIVITY
 promise, and then died of a stomach disease.  He  con-
 tracted it when a student.  He did not alternate bodily
 with mental labour, or he had lived and been a bless-
 ing to  the church.   When he entered on his studies, he
 was growing into full size and strength.   He sat down
 till his muscles dwindled, his digestion became disorder-
 ed, his chest contracted, his lungs congested, and his head
 liable to periodical pains.   He sat four years in college,
 and  three years in theological application.  Look at
 him now.  He has gained much useful knowledge  and
 has improved his talents; he has lost his health.  The
 duties  of his mind and heart were done, and faithfully
 so; but those of his body Were left undone.  Three
 hundred and seventy-five muscles, organs of motion, have
 been  robbed of their appropriate  action for nine or ten
 years, and now they have  become, alike with the  rest of
 his frame, the prey of near one hundred and fifty diseased
 and irritable nerves."—" Look at another case.  Expo-
 sure incident to the parson or  missionary  has devel-
 oped the-disease in his chest, planted there while fit-
 ting himself for usefulness.   He contracted a seden-
 tary, while he was gaining a  studious habit.  That
 which  he  sows  that also shall he reap.  The  east
winds gave him colds; a pulpit effort causes hoarse-
ness and cough, oppression and pain.   He becomes
alarmed and nervous.  His views of usefulness begin
to be limited.  He must now go by direction, and not
so much to labour where  otherwise he would have been
most wanted,  as to nurse his broken constitution.   He
soon adds to the number of mysterious providences;
to the  number of innocent victims, rather, of cultiva-
ting the mind and heart, at the unnecessary and sinful
expense of the body; to the number of loud calls to
alternate mental and corporeal action daily, for  the
reciprocal sanity and vigour Of  both body and  mind."
  To remedy these evils and introduce a better sys-
tem of training, so as to make bodily health and men-
 tal and rational education go hand in hand, an estab-
 lishment called the Manual Labour Academy was open-
 ed near Philadelphia in  1829, and has already proved
 the soundness of its principles  by the success of its 
EXEMPLIFIED IN  YOUTH.        265
results.  The usual branches of  study in classical
schools, with the addition of  the Bible, are pursued;
and the " hours  of recreation are employed in useful
bodily labour, such as will exercise their skill, make
them dexterous, establish their health and strength,
enable each to defray his own expenses, and  fit  him
for the vicissitudes of life."   From this systematic
union of bodily labour in gardening, farming, carpen-
try, and other work, with the usual academic studies,
many comforts are  said to have arisen.  The health
of the inmates has been uninterrupted, except  in a
few who were ill when received; and, at the  date of
the report, in 1830,  " every invalid remaining there had
been restored to health."   Young men  thus trained to
practical obedience  to the organic laws are much less
likely to run into excess in after life, than those  who
have been left in ignorance of the constitution of their
own bodies.   " When thought shall need no brain," the
Report continues, " and nearly four hundred organs of
motion shall cease to constitute  the principal portion of
the human body, then may the student dispense with mus-
cular exertion;" but, till then, let  him beware what he
does, and, looking to the laws which the Creator has
established for his guidance, seek his happiness, not
in denying their  existence, but in yielding them will-
ing and cheerful  obedience.  De  Fellenberg has done
much at his agricultural  school near Berne, to adapt
the physical and mental education of the lower orders
to their  situation in society, and it  would be  well
were his methods better known and more practised
in this country.
   In early and middle life, fever, with an unusual de-
gree of cerebral  disorder, is a common consequence
of the excessive and continued  excitement  of the
brain, which is brought on by severe study, unremit-
ted mental exertion, anxiety, and  watching.   Somo
very marked cases of this kind have come under my
observation;  but that of Sir Humphrey Davy is so
strikingly illustrative of the dangers alluded to, that I
cannot do better than lay it before the reader.  In
November; 1807, Sir Humphrey Davy was seized with 
266     EXCESSIVE  MENTAL ACTIVITY
very severe fever, in consequence of the excitement
and fatigue which he underwent when engaged in the
researches which led to his splendid discovery of the
alkaline metals.  " The laboratory of the institution
was crowded with persons of every rank and descrip-
tion;  and Davy,  as may be readily  supposed,  was
kept in a  continued state of excitement throughout
the day.   This circumstance cO-operating with the
effects of the fatigue he had  previously undergone,
produced  a  most severe fit of illness, which, for a
time,  caused an awful pause in his researches, broke
the thread of his  pursuits, and turned his  reflections
into different channels."  Davy ascribed his illness to
contagion caught  in experimenting on the fumigation
of hospitals.  " Upon conversing, however, with Dr.
Babbington, who, with  Dr.  Frank, attended Davy
throughout this illness, he assured me that there was
not the slightest ground for this opinion, and that the
fever  was evidently the effect of fatigue and an over-
excited brain.  The  reader will not feel much hesita-
tion in believing this statement, when he is made ac-
quainted with the habits of Davy at this period.  His
intellectual exertions were of the most injurious kind, and
yet, unlike the  philosophers of  old, he sought not to
fortify himself by habits of temperance."  " Such was
his great celebrity at this period of his career, that
persons of the highest rank contended for the honour
of his company at dinner, and he did not possess suf-
ficient resolution to resist the gratification thus afford-
ed, although it generally happened that his  pursuits in
the laboratory were not suspended until the appointed
dinner hour had passed.   On his  return in the evening,
he resumed his chymical labours, and commonly contin-
ued them till three or four o'clock in the morning, and yet
the servants of the establishment not unfrequently found
that he had risen before them."   Such was the alarm-
ing state of his health, that for many weeks his phy-
sician regularly visited him four times in the day ; and
the housekeeper, Mrs. Greenwood, never retired to
bed, except one night, during eleven weeks.  In the
latter part of his illness "he was reduced to  the ex 
IN MIDDLE LIFE.
267
treme of weakness, and his mind participated in the
debility of his body."*
  Instances sometimes  occur of persons, exhausted
by anxiety and long attendance on others, being them-
selves  attacked by fever, and dying, more from the
unfavourable state to which previous exhaustion had
reduced them, than  from the intensity of the fever
itself.
  Nervous disease from excessive mental labour and
exaltation of feeling sometimes shows itself in anoth-
er form.  From the want of proper intervals of rest,
the vascular excitement of the brain, which always
accompanies activity of mind, has never time to sub-
side, and a restless irritability of temper and disposi-
tion comes on, attended with sleeplessness and anx-
iety, for which no external cause can be assigned.
The symptoms gradually become aggravated, the di-
gestive functions  give way, nutrition is impaired, and
a sense of wretchedness is constantly present, which
often leads to attempts  at suicide.   While all this is
going  on, however, the patient will talk  or transact
business with perfect propriety and accuracy, and no
stranger could tell that  anything ails him.  But in
his intercourse with his intimate friends or physician,
the havoc made  upon the mind becomes apparent;
and, if not  speedily  arrested, it  soon  terminates  ac-
cording to the constitution and circumstances of the
individual case, in derangement, palsy, apoplexy, fe-
ver, suicide, or permanent weakness.
   As age advances, moderation in mental exertion
becomes still more necessary than in early or mature
years.   Scipion Pinel, in adverting to the  evil conse-
quences of excessive moral or intellectual excitement,
acutely remarks,  that although in youth and manhood
the wear of the brain thus induced may be repaired,
no such salutary result follows over-exertion in the
decline of life; " what is lost then, is lost for ever.  At
that period, we must learn to wait for what the brain
 is  willing to give, and allow it to work  at its  own
* Paris's Life of Sir H. Davy, p. 183. 
268  IN  ADVANCED LIFE—SIR W. SCOTT.

time : to attempt to force it is to weaken it to no pur-
pose ; it becomes excited  and quickly exhausted
when forced to vigorous thinking."   " Men of exalt-
ed intellect perish by their brains, and such is the no-
ble end of those whose genius procures for them that
immortality which so many ardently desire."*
  Who  can peruse these lines  without  the fate of
Scott instantly occurring to his mind as a practical
illustration of their truth 1  In the vigour of manhood,
few ever wrote so much or with greater ease.   But
when, on the verge of  old age, adversity forced him
to unparalleled exertion, the organic waste could no
longer be repaired, and perseverance only " weaken-
ed the brain to no purpose," till morbid irritability be-
came the substitute of healthy power, and he perish-
ed by that brain which  had served him so faithfully
and so efficiently, but which could no longer perform
with safety the gigantic efforts which  he continued
to demand from it.
  Where a predisposition to insanity exists, the cer-
ebral excitement induced by  excessive  activity of
mind often leads to disease.  Examples of  this kind
abound  in  the  works  of  authors.  Pinel  mentions
several.  One of them  is the  case  of a  young man
distinguished for his  talents and  his profound knowl-
edge of chymistry, who was occupied with a discov-
ery which he hoped  would lead him to fortune  and
distinction.  To effect it the sooner, he  resolved to
shut himself up in his laboratory for several succes-
sive days ; and, the better to banish sleep and to raise
himself  to the level of his labours, he prepared a va-
riety of  stimulants.  A singing girl shared his retreat;
he drank spirits, smelled frequently odoriferous sub-
stances, and sprinkled  the room with  eau de  Co-
logne.   The combined action of all these means, ad-
ded to the heat of his furnace, caused such a degree
of cerebral excitement, that, at the end of eight days,
the most furious delirium took place, followed by a
regular  attack  of mania.  If anything can demon-
* Physiologie de PHomme Aliens, p. 177. 
HEALTH RUINED BY EXCESSIVE APPLICATION. 269

strate the mutual influence of mind and brain, it is
surely a case like this; a case which it is impossible
to read without perceiving how easily  the cerebral
affection might have been of the violent inflammato-
ry character, which terminates after a  few days, in
life or in death : or of the febrile character, that lasts
for one or two months, and leaves the mind for ever
reduced in tone and vigour.
  It is  well remarked by Tissot, that the disorders
produced by efforts of  the  mind fall soonest upon
such as are incessantly engaged in the contemplation
of the same object.   In this case, he adds, there is
only one part of the sensorium (brain) acted upon, and
that is kept always on the stretch:  it is not relieved by
the action of the other parts, and, therefore, is sooner fa-
tigued and injured; the same rule  holding with the
brain as with  the muscles, that the exercise, which,
if divided among the different parts of which it is
composed, will strengthen them, will, if  confined to a
few, exhaust and impair them.   Boerhaave himself,
after a long  period of intense thinking, suffered for
six weeks from  excitement  of  the brain, bordering
on madness,  and  characterized by that want of
sleep, irritability, and  indifference to  ordinary in-
terests which so often appear as the harbingers of
insanity.                          .
   The  number of literary and public men, students
and persons in business, who do themselves irrepa-
rable injury in this  way, is so great, that few of my
readers who have had experience of the  world will
be at a loss for examples even among their own ac-
 quaintances.   In addition to Davy, Scott, and others
 already mentioned, Sir Isaac Newton maybe referred
 to, as it is now certain that his  mind was for a time
 disordered by excessive  application,  and  there  is
 much reason  to believe that he never altogether re-
 covered from the shock. The more limited the sphere
 of talent, the greater the danger of the brain  being
 over-exercised, particularly where the  temperament
 is  quick and irritable; and hence the  frequency  of
 nervous affections in musicians and others  of sus- 
 270 GRETRY, WEBER,  AND  OTHER EXAMPLES.

 ceptible minds, who dedicate  their lives to the ex-
 clusive cultivation of their arts.   It is said that Gre-
 try not only ruined his own health, but lost  three
 highly-gifted and beautiful daughters in succession
 from over-excitement of the nervous system thus in-
 duced ; and there  can be no doubt that the melan-
 choly fate of Weber was  greatly hastened by intense
 application.  He continued deeply engaged in  musi-
 cal composition long after his health was undermined ;
 and, even when the hand of death was almost upon
 him, his avocations pressed so heavily that he  could
not help exclaiming, " Would that I were a tailor, for
 then I should have a Sunday '* holy day.'"  The philan-
thropic physician will rather be inclined to exclaim,
"Would  that  mankind  would  study  their  bodily
structure and functions, and thus learn to  preserve
longer the health and existence, of  those whose ge-
nius is the source of so many pleasures to the world
 at large!"
  So little, however, is this close connexion of the
mind  with  the brain  generally understood,  even
among educated people, that instances are constant-
ly occurring of the health of the nervous system be-
ing ruined by excessive application of mind, without
the sufferer in the least suspecting the  true cause of
his ailments.  This fact is well exemplified in the pa-
 ges of a very sound and  able American writer, who
 says, " I once knew a young Christian, who resolved
that he would pass the whole day in  prayer.   But
very soon he became  exhausted and weary.   He,
however, persevered through the whole day, with the
 exception of  a  few necessary  interruptions;  and,
when night came, he felt a deadness and exhaustion of
feeling, which he unhappily mistook for spiritual deser-
 tion."*  I need scarcely add, that no one at all ac-
 quainted with the laws under which God has placed
 the functions of the human body, could ever have ex-
 pected his blessing to attend so flagrant a  violation
 of his  designs, or  have felt  surprise at the apparent

    * Jacob's Young Christian, 2d Edinburgh edition, p. 230. 
EXAMPLE.
271
spiritual desertion increasing in exact proportion to
the excess of the bodily fatigue.  Cases like that of
the young Christian show, in a strong light, the evils
arising from confining ourselves too exclusively to
the word,  and  neglecting the study of  the works,
of God, as  if the latter  were quite of a  secondary
character, and did not proceed from the same infalli-
ble source ; whereas it is only by duly investigating
the laws of God, as operating in the varied works of
creation, that we become enabled rightly to interpret
and to apply to our conduct what is revealed in His
word. 
CHAPTER  IX.
             RULES FOR MENTAL EXERCISE.

 Rules for the proper Exercise of the Mind and Brain.—Mind not to
  be tasked immediately after a Meal.—Best Time for Mental
  Exertion.—Importance of Regularity in  Mental Employment.
  ■—Repetition of Mental Act indispensable to Improvement of
  Mind.—Effects of Repetition illustrated in Moral and Intellec-
  tual Training.— Kvery Faculty to be employed directly on its
  own Objects.—Illustrations.—Direct Exercise of the Moral Fac-
  ulties.—Best Means of exciting the Moral Sentiments.—Errors
  in ordinary Moral Education, and in Boarding-schools.—Use
  of Philosophy of Mind in  conducting Education.—Influence
  of the Brain and Nervous  System on the general Health.—
  Exemplified in ordinary Life, and in the  Army.—The depress-
  ing Emotions destructive of Health.—influence of the cheer-
  ful Emotions in preserving and restoring Health.—Sir H. Da-
  vy's Cure of Palsy by the  application of a  Thermometer ex-
  plained.—Examples at the  Siege of Breda-jn the Army and
  Navy, and on the Northern  Expedition.

  Having thus pointed out the evils arising both from
inadequate  and  from  excessive mental exertion, it
remains for me to direct attention to some of the
rules which ought to guide us in the proper exercise
of the brain.
  It seems to be a law of the animal  economy, that
two classes of functions cannot be  called into  vigor-
ous action at the same  time, without one  or  other,
or both, sooner or later sustaining injury.   Hence the
important rule,  never to  enter upon continued mental
exertion,  or to rouse deep feeling, immediately after
a full meal, as the activity of the brain is sure to in-
terfere  with that of the stomach,  and disorder  its
functions. Even in a perfectly healthy person, unwel-
come news, sudden  anxiety,  or mental excitement,
occurring after eating, will put an entire stop to diges-
tion, and  cause  the stomach to loathe at the sight of
lood.  In accordance with this, we learn by experi- 
    MENTAL  EXERTION  BAD AFTER A MEAL. 273

ence, that the worst forms of indigestion and nervous
depression are those which arise from excessive ap-
plication of mind or turmoil of  feeling, conjoined
with unrestrained indigence in the pleasures of the
table.  In such circumstances, the stomach and brain
react upon and disturb each other, till all the horrors
of nervous disease make their unwelcome appearance,
and render life miserable.   Literary men and hard
students know this fact from sad experience; but as
they are not aware of the incompatibility of the two
processes of  active thinking and active digestion go-
ing on at the same time, it  is  extremely difficult to
give them a sense of their danger, and to convince
them that an  hour or an hour and a half after a meal
is more profitably spent in easy relaxation than in the
labour of composition.   As regards the lower ani-
mals, indeed, we  are careful enough to observe this
organic law ; for  we do not allow our horses or dogs
to be actively exercised  till digestion is in some de-
gree completed.
  It may be said that mechanics, labourers, and oth-
ers, hurry away to  work immediately after meals
without any apparent injury; and that, in the United
States, the practice of hastily swallowing dinner and
instantly returning to business is almost universal.
My answer to this objection is simply that experience
proves the fact that digestion goes on better when
exertion is refrained from and repose is enjoyed; and
that the tendency to sleep and inactivity which besets
most animals after a full meal, shows repose to be,
in  such  circumstances, the intention of Nature.  It
must be observed, also, that the bad effects  of imme-
diate exertion are not among those which ensue in-
stantly, or are felt from day to day.  They may show
 themselves only at  the  end of months  and years,
 when the influence  has, as it were, accumulated by
 repetition.  Although, therefore, the system  possess-
 es a certain  power  of resistance, and many persons
 seem to escape even for years, it cannot be doubted
 that opposition to the law of Nature will eventually
 prove  injurious.  The extreme prevalence of dys- 
 274 BEST TIME FOR MENTAL APPLICATION.

 peptic complaints and of insanity among Americans
 is doubtless partly owing to the very practice which
 is supposed by some to be harmless to them.   Dr.
 Caldwell, of Lexington, who has devoted much time
 and talent to the diffusion of sound knowledge and the
 improvement  of  the race,  and whose opportunities
 of observation have been  very extensive, expressly
 states, that " dyspepsy  and  madness prevail more
 extensively in the United States than among the peo-
 ple of any other  nation.  Of the amount of our dys-
 peptics," he says, "no estimate can be formed; but
 it is immense.  Whether we inquire in cities, towns,
 villages, or country places,  among the rich, the poor,
 or those in moderate circumstances, we find dyspep-
 sy more or less  prevalent throughout the land."*
 It is clear, from  this  testimony, that the people of
 the United States form no  exception  to the general
 law  of Nature.
  The time best adapted for mental exertion falls next
 to be considered.   Nature has allotted the darkness
 of night for repose, and for the restoration, by sleep,
 of the exhausted energies of mind and body.   If study
 or composition be ardently engaged in towards that
 period of the day, the  increased action in  the brain
 which always accompanies activity of mind  requires
 a long time to  subside; and, if the individual be at all
 of an irritable habit of body, he will be sleepless for
 hours after going  to bed, or perhaps be tormented by
unpleasant dreams.  If, notwithstanding, the practice
be continued, the  want of refreshing repose will ulti-
mately induce  a state of morbid irritability of the ner-
vous system, not  far distant from  insanity. It is,
therefore, of great advantage to engage in severer
studies early in the day, and devote two or three of
the hours which precede bedtime to lighter  reading,
music, or amusing conversation.  The vascular ex-
 citement previously induced in the head by study has
 then time  to subside,  and sound refreshing  sleep is
 much more certainly obtained.   This rule is of great

     * Caldwell's Discourse on Physical Education, p. 87. 
INFLUENCE OF REGULARITY.       275
consequence to those who are obliged  to  undergo
much mental labour, and it will be found that many
of our most prolific writers—of those especially who
write much and yet preserve their health—are among
those who have, either from knowledge or from incli-
nation, devoted their mornings to study and their even-
ings to relaxation.  Such was Sir Walter Scott's dis-
tribution of his time, and such  I know to be that of
one of our ablest living writers.
  There are, no doubt, individuals  so happily consti-
tuted, and whose natural sphere is so essentially  that
of activity, that they are able to  think and work, early
and late, for years in succession, with very little sleep,
and with little regard to diet and regimen; but they
are so obviously exceptions to  the general rule,  that
we cannot for a moment hold them up  as  models for
imitation ;  and even they would.enjoy their astonish-
ing gifts with greater security, were they to conform
more completely to the laws of their organization.
  Periodicity,  or  the tendency  to  resume the same
mode of action at stated times, is peculiarly the char-
acteristic of the nervous system  ; and, on this account,
regularity is of great consequence in exercising the
moral and intellectual powers.  All nervous diseases
have  a  marked tendency to observe regular periods,
and the natural inclination to sleep at the approach
of night is but another instance of  the  same fact.
It is this principle of our nature which  promotes the
formation of what are called habits.   If we repeat any
kind of mental effort every day  at the same hour, we
at last find ourselves entering  upon it, without pre-
meditation, when the time approaches;  and in like
manner, if we  arrange our studies in accordance with
this law, and take up each regularly in the same order,
a natural aptitude is soon produced, which renders
application more easy than by taking- up the subjects
as accident may direct.   Nay, the  tendency to peri-
odical and associated activity occasionally becomes
in the course of time so  great, that the faculties seem
to go through their  operations  almost  without con-
scious effort, while their facility of action becomes so 
276  IN  THE EMPLOYMENT OF  THE MIND.

prodigiously increased as to  give  unerring certainty
where at first great difficulty was experienced.*
  In thus acquiring readiness and forming habits, we
merely turn to account that organic law which asso-
ciates increased aptitude, animation, and vigour, with
regular exercise.  It is not the soul or abstract prin-
ciple of mind  which is thus changed, but simply the
organic medium through which it is destined to act:
and when we  compare the rapid and easy eloquence
of the practised orator with the slow and embarrassed
Utterance which distinguished him at the outset of his
career, we have merely a counterpart in the organ of
mind, of what is  effected in the organs  of  motion,
when the easy and graceful movements of the prac-
tised dancer,  writer, or piano-forte  player take the
place of his earliest  and rudest attempts.
  The necessity of j.udicious repetition in mental  and
moral education is, in fact, too little adverted to, be-
cause the principle  on which it is  effectual  has not
been understood.  To induce facility of action in the
Organs of the  mind, practice is as essential as it is in
the organs of motion.  The idea or  feeling must not
only be communicated, but it must  be reproduced and
represented in different forms, till all the faculties con-
cerned in understanding it come to work efficiently
together in the. conception  of it, and till a sufficient
impression be made upon the organ of mind for the
latter to retain it.  We often blame servants for not
doing a thing every day because they were once told
to do so.   The organic laws, however, teach us that
we are presumptuous in expecting  the formation of a
habit from a single act, and that we must reproduce
the associated activity of the requisite faculties many
  * These remarks are  curiously confirmed by an anecdote of
Silvio Pellico, which I read in the Foreign Quarterly Review (No.
XXii., p.  478), when this sheet was passing through the press.
When first imprisoned, Pellico was " allowed the use of a copy of
Dante and the Bible.  Of the former, he used to commit a canto
to memory every day,  till at last the exercise became so mechanical
that it  ceased to  afford any interruption to the train of melancholy
thought."  I need scarcely point out the coincidence between this
and the remarks  in the text. 
     EFFECTS  OF REPETITION ILLUSTRATED. 277

 times before the result will certainly follow, just as
 we must repeat the movement in dancing or skating
 many times before we become master of it.  In like
 manner, we find, on turning to a new  subject, that,
 however well we may understand it by one perusal,
 we do not fully master it  except by dwelling upon it
 again and  again.
   Repetition is thus necessary to make a durable im-
 pression on the brain; and, according to this princi-
 ple, it follows, that, in learning a language or science,
 six successive months of application will be more ef-
 fectual in  fixing it in  the  mind, and making it a part
 of its  furniture, than double or triple the time, if the
 lessons are interrupted  by long intervals.  Hence it
 is a great  error to begin and study, and then break off
 to finish at a later period.   The ennui is  thus doubled
 and the success greatly diminished.   The best way is
 to begin at the proper age, and to persevere till the
 end is attained. This accustoms the mind to sound
 exertion, and not to fits of attention.   Hence the mis-
 chief of long vacations,  and hence the evil of begin-
 ning studies before the age at which  they can be un-
 derstood, as in  teaching the abstract rules of grammar
 to children; to  succeed in which implies in them a
 power of thinking and an amount of general knowl-
 edge which they cannot possess.
   In physical education, we are quite alive to the ad-
 vantages of repetition and practice.  We  know that
 if practice  in dancing, fencjng,  skating, and riding  be
 persevered in for a sufficient length of time to give
 the muscles the requisite promptitude and harmony of
 action, the power will be ever afterward retained, al-
 though little called into use;  whereas, if we  stop
 short of this point, we may reiterate practice by fits
 and starts, without any proportional advancement.
 The same principle- applies equally to the moral and
 intellectual powers because these operate  by means
 of material organs.
  The necessity of being in private what we wish to
appear in public, springs from the same rule.  If we
wish to be polite, just, kind, and sociable, we must
                      Aa 
 278  EFFECTS OF REPETITION  ILLUSTRATED.

 habitually act under the influence  of the correspond-
 ing sentiments in the domestic circle and in every-
 day life, as well as  in the company of strangers and
 on great occasions.  It is the daily practice which
 gives ready activity to the sentiments and marks the
 character.  If we indulge in vulgarities of speech and
 behaviour at home, and put on politeness merely for
 the reception of strangers, the  former  will  shine
 through the mask which is  intended  to hide them;
 because the habitual association to which the organs
 and faculties  have been accustomed cannot thus be
 controlled.   As well may we hope to excel in elegant
 and graceful dancing by the  daily practice of every
 awkward attitude.   In the one case as in  the other,
 the organs must not only be  associated in action by
 the command of the will, but also be habituated to the
 association by the frequency of the practice; a fact
 which exposes the ignorant folly of those parents who
 habitually act with rudeness  and  caprice towards
their children, and then chide the latter for unpolite be-
haviour towards strangers.
  The same principle  of repetition  being  necessary
to make a durable impression on the brain and  con-
stitute a mental habit, also  explains the  manner in
which natural endowments are modified by external
situation.  Taking the average of  mankind, the limits
to which this modification may be carried are not nar-
row.  Place a child, for example,  of average propen-
sities, sentiments, and intellect, among a class of peo-
ple—thieves—in whom the selfish faculties are exclu-
sively exercised; by whom gain is worshipped as the
end of life, and cunning and  cheating as the means;
and among whom is never heard one word of disap-
probation or moral indignation against either crime or
selfishness, and  its lower faculties  will be exclusively
 exercised and increased in strength, while the higher
 will be left unemployed and become weak.  A child
 so situated will, consequently, not only act as those
 around him do, but insensibly  grow up resembling
 them in disposition and character; because, by the
 law of repetition, the organs of the selfish qualities 
    EFFECTS OF REPETITION ILLUSTRATED.  279

will have acquired proportionally greater aptitude and
vigour, just as do the muscles of the fencer or dancer.
But suppose the same individual placed from infancy
in the society of a superiorly endowed moral and in-
tellectual people; the  moral faculties will  then be
habitually excited, and  their organs invigorated by
repetition, till a greater aptitude,  or, in other words,
a higher moral character, will be formed.   There are,
of course, limits set  to this modification by the natu-
ral endowments of the individual;  but where the origi-
nal dispositions are not strongly marked, the range is
still a wide one.
  From this source arise  many differences not only
of individual but of national character, and such differ-
ences as we observe take place from changes of for-
tune and condition.  The negro free in Africa differs
widely from the negro subjected to the scourge of the
colonist.
  The same principle is well illustrated by M. Arago
in his account of Freycinet's Voyage round the World
in 1818,19,20.  In speaking of the different results of
education in the Isle of France  and  in  the mother
country, he observes, that the professors, the methods,
and the subjects taught, are quite on a par with those
of Paris;,but that, nevertheless,  from the very early
maturity of the human  being in that climate, the pu-
pils  are removed from school so soon  that the im-
pression made on their minds is speedily obliterated;
on which account, he adds, the only really educated
and. well-informed men to be met with are those who
have been sent  to France very young, and retained
there till a later age and more thorough grounding
have been attained, after which the risk of losing their
acquirements is greatly diminished.

   The next rule to be observed in the cultivation of
the brain and mental faculties, is founded on that law
of our  constitution which directs each organ to be ex-
ercised  directly upon its own objects, and not merely
roused or addressed through the  medium of another
organ.   We have said that  when we wish, for exam- 
 280  DIRECT EXERCISE OF THE FACULTIES.

 pie, to  teach the graceful  and rapid evolutions  of
 fencing, we do not  content ourselves  with merely
 giving directions, but our chief attention is employed
 in making the muscles themselves go through the evo-
 lutions, till, by  frequent repetition and  correction,
 they acquire the requisite quickness and precision of
 action : and when we wish to teach music, we do not
 merely  address  the understanding and explain the
 qualities of sounds, but we  train the ear to their at-
 tentive discrimination,  and  the hand to the reproduc-
 tion of  the  motions which call them  into existence.
 We follow this plan, because the laws of organization
 require direct practice, and we feel instinctively that
 we can succeed only by obeying them.  Now, the
 purely mental faculties, being connected  during life
 with material organs, are subjected to precisely the
 same law; and, therefore, if we wish  to improve the
 reasoning powers, we must  exercise them regularly
 in tracing the causes and relations of things.  And,
 in like  manner, if our  aim  is to develop the senti-
 ments of attachment, benevolence, justice, or respect,
 we must exercise each of  them  directly  and for its
 own sake, otherwise neither it nor its organ will ever
 acquire  promptitude or strength.
  It ought never to be  forgotten, that in education it
 is the brain, or organ of the mind, and not the abstract
 immaterial principle, which  requires cultivation, and
 that hence education operates  invariably in subjection
 to the laws of organization.   In improving the external
senses, we admit this principle readily  enough; but
whenever we come to the internal faculties of thought
and feeling, it is either denied or neglected.   With
gross inconsistency, we admit that the superior quick-
ness of touch, sight, and hearing consequent upon
 judicious exercise, is always referable to increased
facility  of  action in their  appropriate  organs; but
when we explain, on the same principle, the  superior
 development of the reasoning powers, or the greater
warmth of feeling produced by similar exercise in
these and other internal faculties, few  are inclined to
listen to our proposition, or allow to it half  the weight 
       EMPLOYMENT  OF THE FACULTIES.    281

or attention which its importance requires, although
every fact in philosophy and experience concurs in
supporting it.  We see the mental powers of feeling
and of thought unfolding  themselves in infancy and
youth, in  exact accordance with the progress of the
organization; we  see them perverted or suspended
by the sudden inroad of disease, and as suddenly re-
stored ; nay, we sometimes observe every previous
acquirement obliterated from the adult mind by fever
or by accident, leaving education to be commenced
anew, as if it had never been; and yet, with all these
evidences of the organic influence, it is still a novel-
ty in education to  propose that the established  laws
of physiology, as applied to the brain, should be con-
sidered as our best and surest guide; and scarcely a
volume can be pointed out in which it is even hinted
that these laws  have the  slightest influence  over
mental or moral improvement.
  Were a general  acquaintance with the laws of or-
ganization to be held as an indispensable  part of a
liberal education, we would then be able to inculcate,
with tenfold force  and success, the necessity of ac-
tively exercising every faculty, whether of thought,
feeling, or motion, directly on its own objects, and at
once to explode the mistake of supposing that any
organ or function may be efficiently exercised through
the medium of  another,  and that, to produce  high
moral feeling, it is sufficient to address ourselves to
the intellect alone.  The merest savage,  following
the footsteps of Nature, would pity the philosopher
who should seriously assure him that,  to  cultivate
acuteness of hearing or of vision, it was sufficient to
be told how to listen or to look.  The savage goes more
directly and surely to  work.  If he  wants physical
strength, agility, and swiftness of foot, he sets  him-
self to develop the muscular system of his child by
ample  muscular exercise, by constant repetition of
the movements and acts he wishes him to perform, and
by causing him to  run, to  leap, or to swim ; and he
rests in well-founded hope of accomplishing his pur-
pose.   Following the same rule when he seeks acute-
                     A  a 2 
282     EXERCISE OF EVERY FACULTY
ness of hearing, he does not merely tell his child
how to listen, but  he lays him with his ear to  the
ground, and teaches him, by practice, to distinguish
the qualities of sounds.  If he wishes him to excel
in hunting, in fishing, in lying in ambush, or in scent-
ing the approach of an enemy, he expects to be suc-
cessful only in proportion as he finds occasion to em-
ploy him  in the practice of  these  pursuits.   If he
wishes to  inculcate courage  in battle,  contempt of
pain, endurance of  fatigue, obedience to chiefs, or re-
venge  upon enemies, he  chooses  the sure way, and
cultivates  each of  these  qualities by calling it into
direct  action on its own objects; and we all know
the success which  the savage meets with in the edu-
cation  thus bestowed.
  With this experience before our eyes, then, let us,
who pretend to superior wisdom and  civilization,
show ourselves also consistent, and ready to receive
instruction from whatever quarter it may come.  As
God has given us bones and muscles, and bloodves-
sels and nerves, for the purpose of being used, let us
not despise the gift, but consent at  once  to  turn
them to account, and to reap health and vigour as the
reward which he has associated with moderate labour.
As he  has given us lungs to breathe with and blood
to circulate, let us  abandon the folly of shutting our-
selves  up with so little intermission, engaged in mo-
tionless study and sedentary occupations, and consent
to inhale  copiously and  freely that wholesome at-
mosphere  which his benevolence  has spread  around
us.   As he has given us  appetites and organs of di-
gestion, let us profit by  his bounty, and earn their
enjoyment by healthful exercise.   As he  has given us
a moral and a social nature, which is invigorated by
activity, and  impaired  by solitude and  restraint, let
us cultivate good feeling,  and  act towards each other
on  principles of kindness,  justice, forbearance, and
mutual assistance ; and, as he has given us intellect,
let us exercise it in seeking a knowledge of his works
and of his laws, and in  tracing out the relation in
which  we  stand towards him, towards our fellow-men, 
         TO BE DIRECT—ILLUSTRATIONS.     283

and towards the various objects Of the external world:
and, in perfect faith and sincerity, let us rely upon his
promise that, in so doing, we shall have a rich reward ;
a reward a thousand times  more pure, more perma-
nent, and more delightful, than we can ever hope to
experience in following our own blind devices, regard-
less of  his will and intentions towards us.*
   Shortly after the  third edition of this work was
published, I had  occasion, in the course of conver-
sation with a very intelligent friend,  to  express the
gratification which I felt on .learning that in two ex-
cellent  educational establishments just opened in Ed-
inburgh, by associations of the ablest teachers of the
city, physiology was not only included as an impor-
tant branch of study, but had proved attractive and
interesting even  to  young ladies, who constituted a
large proportion  of the audience, although, by their
previous education,  they were as little prepared for
the  favourable reception of its  doctrines as it was
possible to conceive any one to be.  On being asked
why I attached so much importance to physiology as
a practical science,  I stated briefly some of the rea-
sons mentioned in these pages.  My friend was struck
with their force,  and wishing to be put in possession
of them in a  tangible form  for a special  purpose, re-
quested me to write them out in the form of a letter.  I
complied with the request, and  as an  explanation
arising out of an individual case often possesses more

  * Those of my readers who wish to  pursue the inquiry, and
to trace the relations in which Man stands to his Creator, to his
fellow-creatures, to himself, and to the external world, will find
a clear and comprehensive guide in a small volume entitled " The
Constitution of Man considered in relation to  External Objects.
By George Combb."  In this work, of Which upward of 15,000
copies have got into circulation within the last year, a general
view is taken of the  human constitution, and  of the laws which
regulate the organic, moral, and intellectual nature of man.  The
sources of most of the evils which afflict the  human family are
successfully traced to violations of those laws, and shown to be,
to a  great extent, within our own control; so  that practical use-
fulness,  and not mere speculation, is the characteristic of the
volume. 
284      IMPORTANCE OF PHYSIOLOGY
point and applicability than a more general argument,
and the subject is one of immense importance, I shall
subjoin the letter entire, although it necessarily in-
volves some repetition of statements already given.

                         Edinburgh, 9th April, 1835.
    " My dear----,
  " When we last met, I said that I was much grati-
fied to see the recently-formed Association of Teach-
ers ranking physiology first among the subjects which
it was important for them, as professional men, to be
acquainted with; and the reason I gave was the sim-
ple fact, that all the moral and intellectual functions
stand in the same relation to one part of our organized
structure, viz., the brain, as  the physical power of
motion or exercise does  to another, viz., the muscles;
that, consequently, to educate the moral or intellectual
faculties successfully, we must have the same constant
reference to the laws under which organization acts,
as we have in educating the muscles and training them
to any of the ordinary exercises of walking, dancing,
fencing, or riding; and that hitherto this grand prin-
ciple had been overlooked, and many modes of train-
ing the intellect and feelings resorted to, which, being
contrary to the laws of organization, could not succeed.
  " I gave the muscular system as an example, and
stated it as a law of organization, that, to keep a part
in health and vigour, it must  be duly and regularly
exercised.  If it be  too little, the blood flows lan-
guidly through it, the nervous energy in it is enfeebled,
and the part becomes weakened and indisposed to act
without some strong stimulus.   If it be too much exer-
cised, its vessels and nerves become  feeble  and  irri-
table from exhaustion, and inability to act with vigour
ensues.  If it be exercised to a proper extent, the cir-
culation  through  it becomes  animated, it  receives
more blood, and, consequently,  more  nourishment;
its nerves act with more tone, and it becomes stron-
ger, readier for action, and after a time fitted for re-
pose.  If, however, the exercise be not resumed after
sufficient repose, then weakness of necessity follows
as above. 
        WITH REFERENCE  TO  EDUCATION.    285

  "To apply this principle to the exercise of a bodily
power.   Suppose that A B walks ten or fifteen miles
every Monday morning, and during the other six days
of the week not at all, and that, finding himself greatly
fatigued by the exertion, he  roundly asserts that ex-
ercise is hurtful—what answer would be  made 1  He
would be told that as  he sowed so had he reaped;
that, as he had infringed all the laws of  exercise, so
had he  suffered the punishment  due to the infringe-
ment :  1st, By walking much farther than his consti-
tution was fit for, he had induced debility from exhaus-
tion ; 2dly, By remaining inactive the other  six days,
he had induced debility, with indisposition to action, de-
pendant on a sluggish circulation and low tone of vi-
tality.   Had he wished to  strengthen  his  muscular
system, the laws of exercise required that he should
employ his muscles to a sufficient degree to increase
their tone,  and regularly resume the exercise after
adequate repose.   The very gradual and regular way
in which horses are prepared for the race-course Or
hunting-field, is an  excellent illustration of the impor-
tance attached to the observance of the law of Nature
in training animals.
  " In training the  mental powers, precisely the same
principle ought to guide our  efforts, because God has
made the mind as dependant on the brain for its action
during life, as he has done the power of motion in the
muscles; and, therefore, we are doubly bound to fol-
low the law which he has given  us for our guidance.
According to this principle, then, every mental power
may be  weakened  by too little, and also  by too much
exercise; because  the brain, through which  it acts,
may be left sluggish or be exhausted by excess of ex-
ertion,   In the  first case, the mental faculty becomes
indisposed to act; and, in the second, it becomes in-
capable of acting vigorously and  steadily.  It  may be
excited to action, but the action will be irritable, and
unsteady, and unprofitable ;  not permanent, enduring,
and available, such as  attends the  medium or right
degree of exercise.
  " To apply this to moral education.  It is evident 
286      IMPORTANCE OF PHYSIOLOGY
that, granting the  truth of the principle (which can
be demonstrated),  every moral feeling which we wish
to strengthen and  cultivate  must be duly, regularly,
and systematically exercised before full success can
be attained, just as we see done with the intellectual
faculties of music, painting, language, and memory of
facts.  We have no choice in the matter.   Either we
must  obey the law which God  has  imposed on our
constitution,  or we must fail in attaining the moral
excellence of which  he  has made us capable.   He
has connected mind and feeling with organization  to
fit us for our residence in a material world, and we
must either act under its laws or suffer.
  " Here, then,  is the use of teachers  being taught
this fact.   Love of approbation is a strong and active
feeling of  the human  mind,  and it is  one to which
food is  easily administered, and the gratification  of
which is attended with much pleasure  to those who
are largely endowed with it.  Being a very prominent
feeling in  society, it is, perhaps, the most regularly
and sedulously educated which we have.   Before  an
infant can  walk, or speak, or understand, we begin by
praising its beauty, its shoes, its rattle, or its dress:
when it cries, we flatter it to silence ; when it speaks,
reads, sings, or dances, every one is in an ecstasy  of
admiration at its achievement.   At school, its vanity is
cultivated by places, and prizes, and public exhibitions.
At college, emulation  ill directed is often its bane.
In the world, ' fame' is  its  grand prize.  With  fe-
males, emulation,  prizes, flattering, and compliment
are still more effective.  The result of this careful
education and systematic exercise of an inferior feel-
ing is manifest in every age and in every rank of life.
It predominates  everywhere.   How much of charac-
ter and conduct in public and in private circles springs
from the single principle of love of approbation in its
various modifications  of emulation, vanity, desire of
renown,  love  of praise, notoriety, or fame!   There
is, in truth, scarcely an act of any note in which it
does not come in as a primary element.
  " Is it equally  so with the sense of justice  or reli- 
        WITH REFERENCE TO EDUCATION.    287

gionl   Are they called systematically into play in
every act which  intervenes between the cradle and
the grave 1  And do we find them constantly referred
to as rules of conduct, as  we  do emulation^ fame,
glory, and honour!  And do we  find them exercising
even  a tithe of  the influence over human conduct
which the other does ?  Far from it: conscience, in-
deed, is a " still small voice,"  for its cry is rarely
heard, and its voice  is easily drowned by less noble
sounds.  Why is it so 1  The reason is obvious : not
being recognised as a primitive faculty connected with
an organ of  its  own, no one thinks that  it requires
regular and  systematic exercise to give  it strength.
Being viewed as an offshoot from intellect, it is said,
' Cultivate intellect, and the sense of justice will shift
for itself.'  From this error, parents and teachers not
only neglect  to educate conscience, or the sentiment
of justice, but too often violate its dictates, in the be-
lief that the  child has not sense enough to see the
violation.  Instead of being made a ruling principle
in every-day life, it  is rarely heard of; and hence,
from inactivity, it becomes indisposed to act, because
such is the law of its organization.
  "It  is the same  with the  religious  feelings.   If
these be actively cherished and  made to regulate ev-
ery-day life, their organs acquire readiness and vigour
of action, and the feelings become  sources of happi-
ness and right conduct.  But if  their exercise be re-
served for the seventh day, and  they be laid aside  in
the intervening six, the law of organization  decreed
by  God is again broken, and from sluggishness indis-
position to  activity is induced!  The separation of be-
lief from practice, which some  inculcate, has misled
many and done  infinite harm.
   " From the same principle which requires the regu-
lar exercise  of all the moral and  intellectual faculties,
it necessarily happens, that, if one or several be great-
ly cultivated to  the exclusion of the rest, all are  apt
to suffer.  Those which are too  constantly in action,
are apt to pass into that irritable state of  excitement
which  constitutes an almost morbid craving, and is 
288      IMPORTANCE OF PHYSIOLOGY
 hurt by indulgence;  while those which are not suffi-
 ciently exercised become sluggish and  indisposed to
 act.  This is, in truth, one of the reasons why persons
 remarkably gifted with partial talent, are rarely equal-
 ly remarkable for sound  general sense or feeling, or
 for being proportionably happy.  Continual activity
 in the one direction exalts their irritability, diminishes
 the healthy tone of the system, and  leaves in abey-
 ance all the other faculties of the mind, whether mor-
 al or intellectual.  Hence, in some degree, the  pro-
 verbial irritability of  poets, artists, musicians, and au-
 thors, whose minds  are exercised on one set of ob-
jects, and whose moral feelings are not brought suf-
 ficiently into play in  the ordinary duties of life.   And
 hence, I may add, the danger of deterioration of char-
 acter in young people from excessive addiction to one
 line of pursuit, and  the  neglect of their other  and
 higher faculties.
  " In  short, in attempting to produce moral  excel-
 lence in the young, we have no royal road to stride
 over with seven-league boots.   We must just submit
 to cultivate the sense  of justice, and the sentiments
 of veneration and benevolence, on the same principle
 as we do musical talent or muscular  power ; and we
 may be very thankful in having the guarantee of  Om-
 nipotence to assure us of success when we do so.  It
 is a fact which I can explain  only by the prevailing
neglect of moral education, that, as a general rule,
 the sense of  conscientiousness is more  active  in
 childhood than in mature age.  If the sentiment were
 properly cultivated, I think it would become propor-
 tionably stronger instead of weaker."

  So little, however, are even educated men familiar
 with the influence and  laws of the organization, that,
 even in our  best-directed establishments, as well  as
 in private families, cultivation is still in a great meas-
 ure confined to intellect alone; and the direct exer-
 cise and training of the moral and  religious senti-
 ments and affections are rarely thought of as essen-
 tial to their full and vigorous development.   Moral 
WITH REFERENCE TO EDUCATION.     289
precepts are,  no doubt, offered in abundance; but
these address  themselves chiefly  to  the intellect.
We  must not be satisfied with merely exclaiming,
" be kind, just, and affectionate," when perhaps, at the
very moment, we are counteracting the effect of the
advice by our own opposite conduct.   " She  told me
not to lie," said Guy Rivers in speaking of his mother,
" and she set me the example herself by frequently de-
ceiving my father, (and teaching me to disobey and de-
ceive him."  Conduct like this is more common in real
life than is supposed, although generally less flagrant
in degree.  Parents and  teachers, indeed, too often
forget that the sentiments feel and  do not reason, and
that, consequently, even a stupid child may, by the
instinctive operation of its moral nature, at once de-
tect and revolt at the immorality of practices, the true
character of which its reason is unable to penetrate or
expose.  It is one of the most effectual methods of
cultivating and exciting the moral sentiments in chil-
dren, to set before them the manifestations of these
in our habitual conduct.   What kind of moral educa-
tion is that, for instance, which, while the instructress
vilifies  the  physical  appetites  of hunger and thirst,
and preaches disregard of their cravings and of the
gratifications  of taste, leads  her to set down a meal
to her boarders, from partaking in which she betrays
the  strongest desire to escape, on account of its in-
feriority to that which is provided for herself and the
few at the head of the establishment ?   What advan-
ces  in morality and religion can be expected under
the  charge of one who says, "Do unto others as you
would be done by," and then leaves his dependants to
suffer pain, chilblains, and disease, from want of a fire
to warm the room in which they sit, he himself com-
ing  into it with features  flushed by the heat of the
blazing fire, which, for weeks,  has been provided for
his  comfort in his own apartment ?  What generosity
of feeling can arise from the  superintendence of a
teacher, who, though liberally paid for the food of her
pupils,  and  with moral precepts on her lips, satisfies
the  cravings  of nature in the long interval between 
290  NECESSITY OF THE DIRECT EXERCISE

meals only at the expense of the pence constituting
the pocket-money of the scholar!  the  food  in this
case being denied, not because it is considered im-
proper—for, were that the case, it  would  be a derelic-
tion of duty to give it on any terms—but from sheer
meanness and cupidity.  What  kind of  moral duties
does the parent encourage, who, recommending kind-
ness, openness, and justice, tricks the child into the
confession of faults, and then basely punishes  it, hav-
ing previously promised forgiveness?   And  how is
openness best encouraged—by practising  it in conduct,
or by neglecting it in practice but praising it in words?
Is it to  be cultivated  by thrusting suspicions in the
face of honest intentions ?   And how is justice to be
cultivated by a guardian who speaks about  it,  recom-
mends it,  and in  practice charges each of four pupils
the whole fare of a hackney-coach ?  Or what kind
of moral  education is  that which says, Do as I bid
you, and I will give you sweetmeats or money, or I will
tell your mamma how good  you were; holding out the
lowest and most selfish propensities as  the motives
to moral conduct!   Did space permit, I might  indeed
pursue the whole round of moral and religious duties,
and ask  similar questions  at each.   But it is need-
less.  These examples will suffice; and  I give them,
not as applicable generally either to parents or teach-
ers, but  simply as individual instances  from  among
both, which have come within the sphere of my own
knowledge, and which bear directly upon the  princi-
ple under  discussion.
  If I have here or elsewhere spoken too harshly of
the errors of teachers and conducters  of boarding-
schools, it has been quite unconsciously, for my sole
anxiety  is to see them, as a  class, elevated  to that
high moral and intellectual position in the scale of so-
ciety, which  those intrusted  with so responsible  a
charge as  the education of the young ought unques-
tionably to occupy.  But I have too deep a sense of
the mischief done by incompetent persons  assuming
the duties and responsibilities of instructers, without
possessing a single preparatory qualification, and with
no higher motive than that of having been unfortunate 
           OF THE MORAL  FEELINGS.       291

in another calling, to hesitate about condemning prac-
tices which I believe to be wrong.  For those among
them who have  fitted themselves in earnest for the
duties of their profession, and whose energies are de-
voted to the  welfare of their  pupils—and there are
many such—I entertain the highest respect, and to
them none of the censure is meant to apply.
  Such were the remarks which, in the former edi-
tions, I felt it necessary to make on the  want of har-
mony between precept and practice in the moral train-
ing of the young in boarding-schools.  Since then,
my attention  has been called to other practices, which
are still more reprehensible than those already no-
ticed.   One of these is the custom which prevails in
many seminaries of retaining, when  the  pupil leaves
the school, the towels, sheets, and even  the  silver
fork and spoon which each is required to bring along
with her at entry.  So far, indeed, was this paltry spir-
it of appropriation carried in one  instance, that even
a pianoforte belonging to one of the young ladies was
retained, without leave being either asked or given.
In another instance the pupil brought along with her a
new wardrobe, in which she and her friends intended
that she should keep her own clothes and property.
But, to her great mortification, it was taken from her
the very first day, set up as an ornament  in another
room, and a single drawer in an old chest given in its
place!   It also was  left behind as the property of the
family.
  Those who have been long  familiar with the exist-
ence of the  above  practice in boarding-schools, or
who have themselves acted upon it from habit, with-
out being conscious  of any censurable meanness, may
think I go too far in thus stigmatizing it.  But I have
never met with any one who, on hearing of it for the
first time, hesitated  a moment  to denounce it as re-
pugnant to all the higher feelings of our nature, and
as peculiarly  unbecoming in those whose conduct  so
directly influences the moral and religious training of
the youth confided to their charge.   The only excuse
which I have  ever heard alleged in its favour, even by
those  who defend it. is that such is the custom, and that 
292    PROPER  METHOD  OF EDUCATING
as parents are aware of the practice before they send
their children to school, there is, therefore, no immo-
rality involved in its continuance.   This mode of rea-
soning, however, is as false and oblique as the pro-
ceeding which it is used to sanction; and  does not
touch the real merits of the question, Whether the
retention of the property of the pupil be an open and
honourable way of increasing their own gains or not ?
If it is, then it need not be concealed, but  should be
plainly and broadly stated in the  list of terms.  If it
is not, but the thing is done merely from long custom,
then the sooner it is given up the better: for although
indulgence in that which is wrong may blunt the acute-
ness of the  moral perceptions, it can never so far alter
the true relation of things as to render that  right and
virtuous which was at first wrong and unjust;  and, to
the essential merits of the question, it signifies  little
whether the property be detained by the express order
of the conductors of the school, or by the attachment
of ridicule  to the pupil who would otherwise  take  it
away.  To every delicate mind,  the one motive to
the sacrifice is evidently as compulsory as  the other.
  Another immoral and disgraceful practice in many
seminaries  is that of exacting from the private teach-
ers employed in them a heavy per-centage (amounting
in some instances within  my knowledge to one half)
on the fees which  they receive from the pupils.  If
these  fees be fair  and reasonable, gross injustice is
obviously done to the teacher by this underhand sys-
tem of pillage.   If, on the other hand, the teacher be
compelled to increase his  demand on the pupil beyond
the point of a fair  remuneration, on purpose to meet
the per-centage required of him, then he is  made the
instrument  of a dishonest exaction from others.  On
either supposition,  the practice is immoral; and that
it is felt to  be so, even by the parties themselves,  is
proved by the very concealment with which it is at-
tended.   It has also the farther drawback of exposing
the conductors to  the temptation  of employing, not
the teachers who are best qualified, but those who will
give up the largest allowances out of their own gains.
  It is no excuse whatever to allege, as is sometimes 
THE MORAL SENTIMENTS.        293
done, in justification, that without these additions the
rate of board received would afford an inadequate re-
muneration to the conductors of the boarding-school.
This would be an exceedingly good reason for increas-
ing the amount payable by each pupil, but it is none
whatever for the perpetration of a gross immorality.
The education, and moral and religious training of the
young, ought to be liberally and gratefully paid  for.
If, therefore, an erroneous calculation has been made
at the outset, the board ought clearly to be increased;
but the necessity for such increase ought to be openly
and honestly stated, and not allowed to stand for ever
after as an apology for the continued infliction of a
miserable  and degrading injustice; an  injustice  cal-
culated to set at naught all  the  moral  and religious
instruction for which chiefly the remuneration is be-
stowed.  To the pocket of the pupil or parent it mat-
ters little under what heads the amount is claimed;
but  to their  feelings and character it is of great im-
portance that  no outrage to the common feelings of
honesty should be mixed up with the  conduct of edu-
cation.*
  * As the observations in the text are strongly expressed, I think
it right to subjoin a few specimens of the charges made in a most
respectable school, of which the prospectus is now before me, and
which, I think, will amply justify all that I have said.  The sums
received by the teachers are given on what I believe to be a trust-
worthy authority.
		The pupil		And, consequently,
For		is charged	The teacher	the annual sur-
		per quarter,	receives,	charge amounted to,
Dancing,		1.2 2 0	/. 1 1 o	/. 4 4 0
Drawing,		3 3 0	2 2 0	4 4 0
Singing, Harp, Guitar,		4 4 0 4 4 0	3 3 0 3 3 0	4 4 0 4 4 0
		4 4 0	3 3 0	4 4 0
German,		3 3 0	2 2 0	4 4 0
French,		2 2 0	1 11 6	2 2 0
Writing, &c..		1 1 0	0 10 6	2 2 0
Geography, .		1 1 0	0 10 6	2 2 0
Elocution,		1 1 0	0 10 6	2 2 0
Annual total of surcharge				I. 33 12 0
on the above branches,				------ .
B b2 
294    PROPER METHOD OF EDUCATING
  There are persons who, when proved to be in the
wrong,  find great comfort to their wounded feelings
in the fact of their neighbours or censors being as
bad as themselves.  To  such of my readers as re-
quire  consolation of this description, I am ready to
admit, that men of my own profession are also falli-
ble, and that, not very many years ago, physicians
participated largely in the profits of their apothecaries,
on the very same principle as that on which conduc-
tors of schools participate in the gains of the private
teachers.  But I am happy to  say that this practice
has been long discontinued,  as not less degrading
to the parties concerned in it than injurious  to  the
public;  and all that I wish, in the present instance,
is to see their  example followed for good as well as
for evil.
  Not to be misunderstood, however, I must add that
the parents and public are fully as much to blame for
these  delinquencies as those who more immediately
commit them.  If, in society, the teachers and guar-
dians  of youth were treated  generally with  the re-
spect  and consideration to which those really qualifi-
ed for the trust are so amply entitled, and a liberal
remuneration were afforded them in the  same spirit
of confidence  and equality, a higher  class of minds
would dedicate themselves to  the profession,  and
qualify  themselves  by previous preparation for its
duties.  Whereas, under the  existing system, there
is no inducement whatever for any person of superior
talent and character to enter upon a profession which
places him in an inferior grade in society  to  that
which the  same  talents  and character, differently
employed, would enable him  to  reach with ease:
and hence, with  a few honourable exceptions, those
only embark in it who are compelled by the narrow-
ness  of their circumstances or the impossibility of
finding  any other career left open to them.  Both
parties are thus to blame, and both suffer the conse-
quences of their own errors ; the one  in being treat-
ed with disrespect, and the other in disappointment
at the miserable  results  of the expensive education
which their children receive. 
THE MORAL  SENTIMENTS.       295
  Before leaving this subject, I am anxious to repeat,
that I am far from including all boarding-schools in
the above censure.  There are some in which the
practices commented upon  are stigmatized and dis-
countenanced ; and in alluding to such defects as /
know to be  still in existence in many of them, my
sole object has been to increase their usefulness, by
hastening the introduction of such improvements as
are essential not less to their own moral respectabil-
ity and ultimate prosperity than to the lasting advan-
tage of their pupils.

  In the practical training of the young, it is of con-
sequence to keep in mind that the moral sentiments,
in common with  the intellect,  are dependant on or-
ganization for their means of activity during life, and,
consequently, are more successfully cultivated by be-
ing habitually employed in regulating the every-day
affairs of life, than by waiting for great occasions on
which  they may be exercised  with  unusual vigour.
Benevolence, no doubt, is vividly excited by the as-
pect of great misery and unhappiness, and impels
strongly to the relief of the suffering object; but this
is not its most common or its  most useful field.  In
ordinary life, it finds ample scope in charity to our
neighbours, and in contributing to the happiness of
our family circle, and of our associates and depend-
ants. Benevolence is much better occupied in adding
a gleam of  enjoyment, in removing little sources of
irritation, in promoting concord among relatives, and
in other kind offices of a similar nature, than in giv-
ing alms indiscriminately to all who demand them, or
even in relieving  occasional distress, where this  is
held, as it too often is, to dispense with all obligation
to habitual forbearance and Christian good-will in the
private relations of life.   But how little is this most
important faculty directly attended to or cultivated,
in the way we see done  with the faculties necessary
for the practice of drawing or music, which, by in-
cessant exercise, procured at a great sacrifice of time,
money, and labour, are brought into such a state of 
296    PROPER METHOD OF  EDUCATING
activity as ever after to  enable  their possessors to
derive delight from their exercise, where the talents
are possessed in any considerable degree !  And what
might we not expect from the systematic training of
the higher sentiments on a similar plan, in improving
society and exalting the happiness of the race!   But
it is evident that the objects of benevolence are our
fellow-creatures; and, consequently, if we restrict
our intercourse and our sympathies to the limits of
our own drawing-rooms, and take no interest in the
progress of the race or of the individuals composing
it, we leave our best faculties in abeyance, and reap
the reward of bodily debility, and weakness and  mo-
notony of mind.
  Conscientiousness is another moral principle  that
requires direct cultivation, and that rarely receives it.
It holds the balance between man and man, and is
excited by the presentment of any difference of right
between individuals, of any injustice, or of any temp-
tation offered by the other faculties, which may  lead
us to  encroach on the rights of other men.  It gives
a strong sense of duty, with which it is agreeable to
act in conformity, but which it is painful and injuri-
ous to oppose.  It gives weight  and force to the im-
pulses of  the  other sentiments,  and, joined with in-
tellect and the feeling of devotion, gives that faith
in the beneficence and equity of  the Deity, and in the
immutability of all his laws, that forms the strongest
encouragement to virtuous  conduct and  temporary
self-denial.  And here again, living in society, enga-
ged in  the active  duties of life,  and acting justly
amid the  conflicting  interests  of others—and not
seclusion  and privacy—are manifestly intended by
the Creator as our proper sphere.
   I need not follow out this exposition in detail.   The
preceding illustrations will suffice to explain the prin-
ciple; and to  exceed this limit  would withdraw at-
tention  too much from the matters more directly be-
fore us.
   For the same reason that every faculty ought to be
exercised directly upon its own obiects. the exclusive 
         THE  INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES.     297

use of book-education as a means of conveying in-
struction is manifestly unnatural as well as inefficient.
If allowed to  handle and examine a new object,  a
child will pursue the investigation with pleasure, and
in five minutes will acquire more correct knowledge
than by a whole hour's reading about  its qualities
without seeing it.  In the one instance, its perceptive
powers  are stimulated by the direct  presence of the
qualities of which they are destined to  take cogni-
zance;  while, in  the other,  they  are  roused  only
through the imperfect medium of artificial language,
and the child has to create the object  in his own mind
before he can take notice of its qualities.  When we
recollect the different ideas which the same written
language suggests to different mature minds, we may
form some conception of the impossibility of a child
making  progress  in this way, and of the weariness
and ennui which  the thankless effort  must  always
induce; and yet, at the present day, in nineteen out
of twenty schools, all the knowledge that is  offered
is through the medium of books and  language alone!
^ It is well remarked by M.  Duppa,  in his excellent
little work on the education of the peasantry in Eng-
land, that " it is the habit of accurately observing the
actual nature of objects, as perceivable by the senses,
and distinctly marking their differences, which in af-
ter life  renders  a man  intelligent and judicious.
There are few whose natural faculties are so dull as
to be unable to perceive a distinction when pointed
Out to them or when their notice is directed towards
it;  for instance, that one thing is long, another short;
that one is round, another flat; one green,  and another
black.   But how few are there who, when minutely
questioned, can give a'clear or circumstantial descrip-
tion of any object they have been conversant with,
or in what particular that object differs from another.
And why is this ?  Because they have not the habit
of accurate observation of things; and they have not
that habit, because, in modern  education, a child's obser-
vation, at the moment  when all is new and observation
most active, is  wilfully drawn away from  things to the 
 298   USE OF PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATION.

 signs of things; and the boy who might easily have been
 made to distinguish the nature and properties of the dif-
 ferent objects around him, lias only learned to distinguish
 one letter from another."  (P. 27.)
   It is but another proof of the harmony of design in
 all the works of the Creator, that this  method of di-
 rectly cultivating the observing powers cannot be ad-
 equately fulfilled without a certain amount of muscu-
 lar exertion and of daily exposure to the open air, in
 going about to collect and examine the  varied objects
 of interest with which creation abounds.   In  other
 words, we cannot benefit the  perceptive faculties,
 without at the same time benefiting the  muscular sys-
 tem  and the organs of respiration, circulation, and di-
 gestion ; and  this grand recommendation in the  eye
 of reason, viz., pursuing study in the field of nature
 instead of in  books  alone, is  actually, though  not
 avowedly, the circumstance which retards its adop-
 tion  in ordinary education.  To take the scholar out
 of the schoolroom to  look at the  works  of God, is
 thought to be encouraging idleness and a love of pleas-
 ure,  and therefore it is denied!
   What, therefore, is wanted is a system of education
 in harmony with the constitution of the human mind,
 and a mode of life and of occupation which shall give
 not only full play to the intellectual powers, but also
 healthy excitement and activity, and a right direction to
 the moral, religious, and affective feelings.
   The details of such  a system do not fall under  the
 scope of a treatise like this; and I must, for the pres-
 ent,  content myself with the exposition of  the gen-
eral  principle.*   A serious obstacle to entering upon

  * Mr. Simpson, in his recent work on " The Necessity of Pop-
ular Education as a National Object," and in his admirable  evi-
dence before the Irish Education Committee of the House of
 Commons, in August, 1835, has filled up the  above outline, and
very ably shown how the different faculties of the mind may be
 best called into play.  His clear, consistent, and eloquent exposi-
tion of what is still wanted to render education effective and
 available for all classes of society, produced a strong impression
 on the Committee, and richly deserves the attentive consideration
of every one who takes an interest in the improvement of the race. 
INFLUENCE OF NERVOUS SYSTEM ON HEALTH. 299

the regular exertion here recommended requires to
be noticed, as  it arises from a feeling in the patient
against which he cannot be  too much on his guard.
Where the nervous system is weak, and where it, of
course, requires  most to be  strengthened, there is
often a retiring sensitiveness of disposition, leading
its possessor rather to  avoid than to seek intercourse
with  society.  Feeling the irksomeness of present
exertion, the nervous invalid is apt to form the secret
resolution to live in solitude till the mind shall become
stronger, and then to seek society when it will no long-
er be  a burden.  Unhappily, however,  this feeling
leads only to delusion, and the wished-for result be-
comes every day more distant, the longer retirement
and indolence  are persevered in.  It is by activity,
and  not by repose, that strength is to be acquired.
We do not expect to increase bodily strength by ly-
ing in bed, but by stirring about; and, in like manner,
we shall never succeed in strengthening the nervous
system by indulging in mental  indolence.  Many are
led astray by the  false  expectation  of  acquiring
strength without using the natural means from which
alone strength can be procured.
  It may be remarked, that in the preceding pages I
have made no allusion to the doctrines of Phrenology.
My reasons are simply^ that, for the object I had in
view, a special reference to them was not necessary ;
and that, in a work written for the general reader and
for practical purposes, I  was naturally anxious to
avoid every contested point.   Accordingly, in limit-
ing myself to the statement that different parts of the
brain perform different functions, without specifying
those connected with any particular part, farther  than
that they are all concerned in the mental operations,
I am not venturing beyond what most eminent anato-
mists and physiologists, in  the  past or present times,
have taught before me.  My own sentiments on the
subject are already before  the public ;* and I am

  * Vide Observations on Mental Derangement; being an appli-
cation of the Principles of  Phrenology to the elucidation of the
Causes, Symptoms, Nature, and  Treatment  of Insanity.   1 vol.
post 8vo., 1831. 
 300   INFLUENCE OF THE NERVOUS  SYSTEM

 bound to say that every day's experience increases
 my conviction of the truth of Phrenology, and deep-
 ens my sense of its practical value.  Those who de-
 sire to prosecute the inquiry will find ample assist-
 ance in the numerous works already published, both
 in this country and in France.  The splendid work of
 Vimont would do honour to any age or country.
  I have already had frequent occasion to notice the
 direct influence exercised by the mind  and brain over
 all the bodily functions and over the general health.
 As  the subject is an  important  one, and  has  not
 received all the attention which  it deserves, it  may
 be proper, before  concluding, to offer a few remarks
 on it.
  The nervous  fluid or influence presents many phe-
 nomena allied  to those of electricity, but its real na-
 ture is not yet known.   All that can be  said is, that
 it is an influence of a peculiar kind, originating in the
brain and nervous system ; and that, like the blood,
it is essential to the vital action of every animal or-
gan.   When I move the hand in writing,  the muscles
of the  arm are  called  into play by an influence
transmitted to them from the brain, by means of the
 soft white cords called nerves.  This  stimulus is so
indispensable, that, if the communication between the
brain and the muscles be cut off, by dividing or tying
the nerve, no effort of the mind will longer suffice to
 excite them to action.   In like manner, if the nerves
of the lungs and stomach be cut through, so as to in-
terrupt the flow of nervous influence, respiration and
digestion will cease, although in every other respect
their respective organs remain uninjured.
  Changes  in the quality or amount of the nervous
influence transmitted  from the brain  to any organ,
have thus a direct power of modifying its function.
 If, from a peculiar state of the brain, the nervous in-
 fluence sent to the stomach be impaired, the tone of
 that organ  will be also impaired, and digestion be-
 come imperfect; whereas if, in consequence of pleas-
 ing excitement, the nervous stimulus be  increased, a
 corresponding  activity will be communicated to the 
ON  HEALTH.
301
stomach, and digestion will be facilitated, as is expe-
rienced after a dinner in pleasant society.   But if, by
a violent burst of passion or grief, the brain be inor-
dinately and disagreeably excited, so as to send forth
a stimulus vitiated in quality, the stomach  which re-
ceives it will partake in the disorder.   Hence the  sud-
den loathing and sickness so often induced by unex-
pected bad news, vexation, or alarm.
  Something analogous to this is still more visibly ex-
hibited  in the  case of the muscles.   If the mind be
active and decided, the  muscles, receiving a strong
stimulus, move with readiness and force; but if the
cerebral activity be  impaired by bilious depression,
muscular action becomes slow, infirm, and indolent;
whereas, if the brain be excited by strong passion, and
the stimulus be  impetuous, the movements instantly
become energetic and decided; and, if the excitement
be carried  still  farther, the  regulated muscular  con-
traction passes the limits of health, and becomes in-
voluntary and convulsive.
  As the quality of the nervous influence depends on
the condition of the  brain, that which springs from a
brain of which all the parts are in sound and vigorous
action is the best.   Mental indolence and high mental
excitement are  alike inimical to bodily health;  and,
consequently, our great aim ought to be to  secure for
every mental power, moral as  well as  intellectual,
that equal and regular exercise from which alone the
proper  nervous  stimulus can spring.
  It is indeed interesting to observe the various ef-
forts of the nervous influence, according to the facul-
ties in predominant action at the time it is produced.
If the  higher feelings have the ascendency, and the
more selfish propensities be merely  active  enough to
give force to the character, without setting the mind
at war with itself, the nervous influence is the most
grateful and efficient which  can be imagined for  sus-
taining the healthy co-operation of the whole body.
This result follows, because  the Creator  evidently
designed such a state of mind to be the best and  hap-
piest for man himself, and therefore took care to sur- 
302  INFLUENCE OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
round him with every motive to induce him to enter
into it.
  If, however, the lower feelings be in great activity,
and filled with designs and emotions repulsive to the
moral sentiments, so that the faculties are ranked in
opposition to each other; or, if the mind be oppress-
ed with grief, anxiety, or remorse, the stimulus which
it communicates is far from beneficial, being no long-
er in accordance with the conditions designed by the
Creator.   It  is in such circumstances, accordingly,
that  bad  health is so often seen to  arise from the
state of the mind, and that suffering is produced which
no art can relieve till the primary cause  has ceased
to exist.
  The same result follows over-exercise of intellect
and inactivity of the feelings.   From the concentra-
tion of vital action in the brain, the stomach and oth-
er organs are unprovided with the requisite  nervous
stimulus, and become impaired in their functions;
and hence the dyspeptic and hypochondriacal symp-
toms which so often render life a burden to. literary
men.  Persons so situated, when advised to attend to
diet, often answer that it is in vain, and that,  while at
some times nothing can  be digested, at other times,
perhaps within a few hours or days, nothing comes
amiss—the power of digestion varying thus  quickly,
according to their mental condition.   Whereas, when
indigestion  arises from a primary affection of the
stomach, the least deviation in the way of indulgence
proves injurious. In both instances, attention to diet
is beneficial; but in the one it is less rigidly important
than in the other.
   The influence of the brain on the digestive organs
is so direct, that sickness and vomiting are among the
earliest symptoms of many affections of the head, and
of wounds and injuries of  the brain;  while violent
emotions, intense grief, or  sudden bad news, some-
times arrest at once the process of digestion, and pro-
duce squeamishness or loathing of food, although, an
instant before, the appetite was keen.   Narcotics, the 
ON THE GENERAL HEALTH.        303
direct action of which is on the brain, have a similar
effect on the stomach.
  The influence of the mind and brain over the action
of the heart and lungs is familiar to every one.   The
sighing, palpitation, and fainting, so often  witnessed
as consequences of emotions of the mind, are eviden-
ces which nobody can resist.   Death itself is not a
rare result of such excitement in delicately-organized
persons.
   This law of our constitution, whereby the regula-
ted activity of both intellect and feeling is made es-
sential to sound  bodily health, seems to  me one of
the  most beautiful, arrangements of an all-wise  and
beneficent Creator.
   If we shun the  society of  our fellow-creatures,
and shrink from  taking a share in the active  duties
of life, mental indolence and physical debility beset
our path.  But if, by engaging in the business of life,
and taking an active interest in the advancement of
society, we duly  exercise our various powers of per-
ception, thought, and feeling, we promote the  health
of the whole corporeal system, invigorate the mind
itself, and, at the same time, experience the highest
mental gratification of which a human being  is sus-
ceptible—that of having fulfilled the end  and  object
of our being, in the active discharge of our duties to
God, to our fellow-men, and  to  ourselves.   If  we
neglect our faculties or deprive them of their objects,
we weaken the organization, give rise to  distressing
diseases, and, at the same time, experience the bitter-
 est feelings that can afflict human nature, ennui and
 melancholy.  The harmony thus  shown to exist be-
 tween the moral and physical world is but another
 example of the  numerous inducements to that right
 conduct and  activity in  pursuing which  the Crea-
 tor has evidently destined us to find terrestrial hap-
 piness.
   The reader  will now understand why the state of
 the mind is so influential in the production and prog-
 ress of disease.  In the army, this  principle  has of-
 ten been exemplified in a very striking manner, and 
304 INFLUENCE OF DEPRESSION ON HEALTH.

on so large a scale as  to put its influence beyond a
doubt.   Sir George Ballingall mentions,  in his lec-
tures on Military Surgery, that the proportion of sick
in garrison in a healthy country and under favoura-
ble circumstances, is about five per cent. ;  but that,
during a campaign, the usual average is never  ten
per cent.  So marked,  however, are the preservative
effects of cheerfulness and the excitement of success,
that, according to Vaidy, the  French army cantoned
in Bavaria after the battle of Austerlitz, had only 100
sick in a division of 8000 men, being little more than
one in the hundred. When,  on the other  hand, an
army is subjected to privations, or "is  discouraged
by defeat or want of confidence in its chiefs," the pro-
portion of sick is " often fearfully increased."*
  The same principle explains why it is so important
for the physician to carry the feelings of the patient
along with him in his curative measures.   It is well
known, for example, that those who live in constant
apprehension of fever, cholera, or other ailment, are
generally among its first victims when exposed to its
causes.  The  reason  is  obvious.  The depressing
nervous influence resulting from the painful activity
of the selfish  feelings, affects all the  organs  of the
body, and places them  on the brink  of disease, even
before any external cause is in operation; and  hence
the easy inroad which the latter makes when it  comes
into play.
   The influence of the state of the mind on health is
well exemplified in recruits for the army.  According
to Mr.  Henry  Marshall, regret for having  enlisted
and  separation from friends  make  them brood over
the inconveniences attending their new mode  of life,
and  their health  suffers in  consequence.    These
causes, combined with the fatigue of drill and  the re-
straints of discipline,  have so much  influence,  that
" growing lads" frequently fall victims to them. The
recruit, if not very robust, "loses that active forti-
tude which is required to fit him to bear up against

      * Medico-Chirurgical Review, No. xxxvi., p. 430. 
  INFLUENCE  OF CHEERFULNESS ON  HEALTH. 305

difficulties, and falls into a gloomy state of mmd that
is soon followed by deteriorated bodily health;  he
loses his appetite, becomes emaciated, a slight cough
supervenes, and, after frequent admission into hospi-
tals, he at last dies of diseased lungs.   This is an out-
line of the history of many a young lad who  enlists
in the army."*  In France, where the conscription is
compulsory, and many are, of course, serving against
their will, the agency  of depression of mind  is still
more marked  and fatal.  In the seven years extend-
ing  from 1820  to  1826, both inclusive, it appears
from the returns that  the French army lost ninety-
seven men from pure nostalgia or home-sickness, an
affection which is rarely fatal in this country.
   So efficacious, on the other hand, is a more cheer-
ful state of mind, from the more healthful nervous
influence which it  diffuses through the frame, that
surprising recoveries occasionally happen which can
be ascribed to no other  cause but this.  A singular
but instructive instance fell under the observation of
Sir Humphrey Davy, when, early in life, he was as-
sisting Dr. Beddoes in his experiments on the  inhala-
tion of nitrous oxyde.  Dr.  Beddoes having inferred
that the oxyde must be a specific for  palsy, a  patient
was selected  for trial and placed under the care of
Davy.  Previously to administering the gas, Davy
inserted a small thermometer under  the tongue of
the patient to ascertain the temperature.  The para-
lytic man, wholly ignorant of the process  to which
he was to submit, but deeply impressed by Dr. Bed-
does with the certainty of its success, no sooner felt
the thermometer between his teeth than he concluded
the talisman was in operation, and, in a burst of en-
 thusiasm, declared that he  already experienced  the
 effects of its  benign influence throughout his whole
 body.  The opportunity was too tempting to be lost.
 Davy  did nothing more, but desired his patient to re-
 turn on the following day.  The same ceremony was
 repeated; the same result followed; and at  the end

     * Marshall on Enlisting and Discharging Soldiers, p. 5.
                      C c  2 
306      EXAMPLES—SIEGE OF  BREDA.

of a fortnight he was dismissed cured, no remedy of any
kind except the thermometer having ever been used.*
Quacks profit largely by taking advantage of  this
principle of our  nature:  and regular practitioners
would do well to bestow more pains than they do in
assisting their treatment by well-directed moral influ-
ence.  Baglivi was deeply impressed with this senti-
ment when he said,  " I can scarcely express how
much the  conversation of the physician  influences
even  the life of his patient,  and modifies  his com-
plaints.   For a physician  powerful in speech  and
skilled in addressing the feelings of a patient, adds so
much to the power of his remedies, and excites so
much confidence in his treatment, as  frequently to
overcome dangerous diseases with very feeble reme-
dies, which more learned doctors, languid and indif-
ferent in speech, could not have cured with the best
remedies that man could produce."
  Another  remarkable instance occurred during the
siege of Breda in 1625.  When the garrison was on
the point of surrendering from the ravages of scur-
vy, a few vials of sham-medicine, introduced by the
Prince of  Orange's orders as the most valuable and
infallible specific, and given in drops as such, produ-
ced astonishing effects : " such as had not amoved their
limbs for months before were seen walking in the streets
sound, straight, and whole; and many  who declared
they had been rendered worse by all  former reme-
dies, recovered in a few days, to their inexpressible
joy."f
  Every one, indeed, who has either attended inva-
lids or been an invalid himself, must often have re-
marked that the visit of a kind and intelligent friend
is highly useful in dispelling uneasy sensations, and
in promoting recovery by increased cheerfulness and
hope.  The true  reason  of this  is simply that  such
intercourse interests the feelings,  and  affords an

  * Paris's Life of Davy, p. 51.
  + F. V. Mye, De Morbis et Symptomatibus, &c, quoted by Dr.
Johnston in  his Treatise on Derangements of the Liver, &c,
p. 206. 
     INFLUENCE OF THE  MIND  ON THE SICK. 307

agreeable stimulus to several of the largest organs in
the brain, and thereby conduces to the diffusion of a
healthier and more abundant nervous energy over the
whole system.   The extent of good which a man of
kindly feelings and a ready command of his ideas and
language may do in this way, is  much beyond what
is generally believed ; and if  this holds in debility ari-
sing from general causes, in which the nervous sys-
tem  is affected  not exclusively,  but only as part of
the body, it must hold infinitely more in nervous de-
bility and in nervous disease ; for then the moral man-
agement is truly the medical remedy,  and differs
from the latter only in this, that its administration de-
pends on the  physician, and  not  on  the apothecary;
on the friend, and not on the indifferent attendant.
  In his excellent little treatise on physical education,
Dr. Caldwell justly remarks, that the influence of a
regulated and well-balanced  activity in the moral and
intellectual faculties on the general health, compared
with that  of active and boisterous  passions, is like
the  salutary  effect of mild and wholesome  nourish-
ment contrasted with the fiery  potency of  alcohol.
The former  is  eminently conducive to life, health,
and enjoyment, while the latter is eminently opposed
to them all.  Of this truth Dr. Caldwell gives an in-
teresting example from the history of his own country.
Of the fifty-six delegates who signed the Declaration
of Independence, almost all were men of well-regu-
lated and active minds, not marked  by any excess of
passion.   Two  of them died  early from accidents.
The aggregate years of the remaining fifty-four were
 3609, giving to each an average of sixty-six years
 and nine months; thus affording a striking  evidence
 of the  salutary influence  of the  mind on health.
 From the  same absence of active passion in mathe-
 maticians, the average duration of life in twenty of
 them, taken promiscuously by Dr. Caldwell, extended
 to seventy-five  years, while, in  an  equal number of
 poets, whose vocation greatly depends on excitability
 of  feeling, the average was so  low as  fifty-seven.*
* Caldwell on Physical Education, p. 84-86. 
308 INFLUENCE OF THE MIND ON THE SICK.

  The powerfully stimulating effect of healthy men-
tal excitement on the bodily functions is familiar to
every one,  and is duly noticed in the works of the
novelist and poet.   In nine cases  out of ten, a visit
to a watering-place, or a journey through an interest-
ing country, does more good by the beneficial excite-
ment which it gives to the mind and  brain, than by
all the other circumstances put together. It is, indeed,
greatly to the credit of the medical departments of
both army and navy, that the influence of the mind
in preserving and restoring health is more correctly
appreciated and provided for than it is even in private
practice.  In the late expeditions of discovery to the
Northern Regions, the utmost attention was bestow-
ed by the enlightened commanders to keep up a health-
ful vivacity of intellect and  feeling among their men,
by constant occupation, intellectual instruction, the
representation of plays, masquerades, and other amu-
sing and exciting  exertions; and there cannot be a
doubt that  their remarkable immunity from disease
was in no small degree owing to these admirable  ar-
rangements.  From this is  obvious the immense im-
portance which attaches to the selection of a humane
and considerate, as well as scientific commander.  In
the second volume of Captain Basil Hall's first series
of Fragments of Voyages and Travels, some of the
principles just explained are very amusingly illustra-
ted. 
CHAPTER X.
      APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING PRINCIPLES.

Causes of bad Health.—Not always the Result of Moral or Im-
  moral Conduct—nor of Accident—but of the Infringement of
  the Laws of Organization.—Proofs from past History.—Dimin-
  ished Mortality from increase of Knowledge, and better fulfil-
  ment of the Conditions of Health.—The Expeditions of Anson
  and Cook contrasted.—Gratifying Results of  the Sanatory Ar-
  rangements of Ross, Parry, and Franklin.—Pulmonary Diseas-
  es in the Channel Fleet, from ignorance of Physiology.—Rates
  of Mortality in different Ages and Countries.—Causes of late
  Improvement:—Conditions of wealthier and poorer Classes
  compared.—Good done by the apprehension of Cholera.—In-
  fluence of Habit.—Neglect of Organic Laws in Recruiting Ser-
  vice.—Examples.

   The  reader will now be prepared to take a correct
view of a question on which it especially interests us
to have true and precise notions.   I allude to the real
origin of bad health.   On this point  very vague and
contradictory opinions are prevalent; and, as our con-
duct in life must necessarily be closely dependant on
our views in regard to this subject, I cannot do better,
before concluding, than devote a chapter to its con-
sideration.
   Setting aside,  for the present,  hereditary tenden-
 cies to disease (which must have begun at first with
 some progenitor, from ordinary causes, and which,
 therefore, are not really unconnected with the inqui-
 ry), bad health may be regarded in one of three dif-
 ferent lights . First, As having no necessary connex-
 ion with our conduct, but as being the result of cir-
 cumstances entirely beyond our knowledge and con-
 trol, and sent by a superintending Providence, not to
 urge us to more rational care, but to soften our hearts
 and warn us from sin;  Secondly, As the result of
 accident  alone  or of external influences which we 
310       SOURCES  OF BAD HEALTH.
can  appreciate, but from  which it is impossible to
withdraw ourselves;  or, Thirdly, As, in every in-
stance, the result of the direct infringement of one
or more of the  laws or conditions decreed by the
Creator to be essential to  the well-being and activity
of every bodily  organ, and the knowledge  and ob-
servance of which are, to a great extent, within our
power.
  According as one or other of these views  shall be
adopted, the most opposite practical results will fol-
low.   If the first be received as the truth, and health
and  sickness be viewed as dispensed without refer-
ence to our bodily conduct, but solely as a means of
reclaiming us from  sin, attention to moral  and reli-
gious improvement alone will be our best protection,
and any attempt to avert bad health, by studying and
obeying the laws which regulate the bodily functions,
will  be entirely useless.  If, again, the second princi-
ple be  correct, and  disease arise from accident and
from influences beyond our control, then neither our
moral  nor our bodily conduct will avail us  as a pro-
tection, and our only resource will be humble resig-
hation  to the will of God.  But if the third be true, and
the human frame be  constructed by the Creator on
principles calculated to carry on life for seventy years,
and if,  de facto, a large portion of the race perish be
fore  attaining ten years of age, chiefly from infrin-
ging the conditions on which the due performance of
the various vital functions depends, it then becomes
an object of great interest to us to study the structure
of our organs, to discover the  laws  which  regulate
their functions, and to yield to those laws that impli-
cit obedience from which alone health can spring.
  That the strictest observance of the moral laws, and
the purest devotion of which human nature is capa-
ble, are insufficient to secure health to the body with-
out a simultaneous  observance of the organic laws,
is too  clearly proved by the instances already addu-
ced,  and by the history of mankind, to  require any
demonstration here.  The biographies of the pious
and excellent furnish abundant examples to tho con- 
            SOURCES OF  BAD  HEALTH.       311

trary;  while the annals of crime afford numerous in-
stances of men of the most depraved characters en-
joying unbroken health.   If, indeed, the organic con-
ditions be fulfilled, the upright man will enjoy a se-
renity of health which the criminal  can  never know;
but the moral observance  alone will not avail him, if
he at the same time neglect the organic laws.*
  In regard to the second proposition, a little reflec-
tion will satisfy every intelligent mind that it is equal-
ly untenable, and that disease is not always the result
of accident or of circumstances which cannot be mod-
ified.  There are causes of  bad health against which
even the most stupid and prejudiced take some pre-
cautions, and with success; and the whole art of medi-
cine would be a grosser delusion than ever romancer
believed it to be, if health  were not  influenced by cir-
cumstances within  our control.  All our remedies,
and all our attention to diet, clothing, and regimen,
are indications of the contrary persuasion.  There are,
indeed, agencies from which we shall probably never
be able entirely to protect ourselves.   Such are  va-
riations in the state  of the atmosphere, epidemic and
contagious causes, and necessary exposure, in pursu-
ance of higher duties, to known unhealthy influences;
but, allowing for all these, ample scope remains with-
in which man may, by an extension of his knowledge
and industry, provide himself with  safeguards far be-
yond what he has ever yet made use of or has ever
dreamed of discovering.
   The  third view, or that which ascribes bad health
to the infringement of some one or more of the  or-
 ganic laws, thus presents itself as the only one in ac-
 cordance with observation and past experience; and,
 after the  full exposition I have already given of the
 conditions of health of various important organs, I
 trust that little farther proof of this will be required.
 At the same time, as the principle  is  full of practical

   * I may again refer to " The Constitution of Man" for a con-
 sistent and intelligible view of the relation subsisting between the
 organic and the moral and intellectual laws. 
312       SOURCES OF  BAD HEALTH.
value, I will take a short review of some facts which
go far to establish its accuracy.
  Considering that the human frame is constructed
to endure, in many cases, for sixty, seventy, or eighty
years, it must seem extraordinary to a reflecting mind,
that, in some situations, one half of all who are born
should die before attaining maturity; and that, of 1000
infants born and reared in London, 650 die before the
age of ten years.   It is impossible to  suppose that
such a rate of mortality was designed by the Creator
as the  unavoidable fate of man; for, by the gradual
improvement of society and a closer observance of
the  organic laws, the proportion of deaths in early life
has already been greatly reduced.  A hundred years
ago, when the pauper infants of London were receiv-
ed  and brought up in the workhouses, amid impure
air,  crowding, and want of proper food, not above one
in twenty-four lived to be a year old; so that out of
2800 annually received  into them, 2690 died.  But
when the conditions of health came to be a little bet-
ter  understood, and an act of Parliament was obtain-
ed obliging the parish officers to  send the infants to
nurse in the country, this frightful mortality was  re-
duced to 450 instead of  upward of 2600!   Can evi-
dence stronger than this be required to prove that bad
health frequently arises from causes which man may
often be able to  discover  and remove, and which,
therefore, it is his bounden duty to investigate and
avoid by every means which Providence has placed
within his reach!
  The different rates of mortality in crowded cities
and country villages equally demonstrate the influ-
ence  of bad  air, crowding,  and  imperfect food in
abridging life.  Even in the best managed communi-
ties, the number not only of the sick of all ages, but
of those who are cut off in early youth, is so prodi-
gious as to show that we are far from having arrived
at the maximum of health of which the race is sus-
ceptible ;  while the advances  we have already made
give us every reason to hope that, by perseverance 
     KNOWLEDGE HAS  DIMINISHED DISEASE. 313

and the extension of our knowledge, we may continue
to improve for many centuries to come.
  The progress of knowledge and the increasing as-
cendency of reason  have already delivered us from
many  scourges which  were regarded by our forefa-
thers as unavoidable dispensations of an inscrutable
Providence.  In the days of the ancient Romans, their
capital and territories were frequently almost depop-
ulated by visitations of plague  and pestilence, from
which the present generation is, by a stricter observ-
ance of the conditions  of health, entirely exempted.
In  London, in  like  manner, the same  contempt of
cleanliness, ventilation, and  comfort, which was so
fatal to the Romans, produced  similar  results,  and
swept off its  thousands and  tens of thousands, till a
fortunate disaster—the great fire—came in the place
of knowledge, and, by  destroying the crowded lanes
and other sources of impurity, which man had shown
himself so little  solicitous to remove, procured-for its
inhabitants a perfect and permanent immunity from
one of the deadliest forms of disease, and taught them
the  grand  practical truth, that such awful visitations
are  not wanton  inflictions of a vengeful Providence,
but  the direct consequences of  neglect of those con-
ditions by  which the various vital functions are regu-
lated, and  by conforming to which alone health  can
be  preserved.   Accordingly, by greater  attention to
proper food, cleanliness, and pure air, London, with
its  gigantic population, now flourishes in comparative
security, and scarcely feels the ravages of an epidemic
which has inflicted a blow on some less fortunate
cities, the  effects of which will be long remembered.
   Smallpox is another scourge which annually carried
off its thousands, and from which modern science  bids
fair to protect us;  although, half a century  ago, any
one who might have ventured to express such an ex-,
pectation would have been ridiculed for  his credulity.
Even before  Jenner's immortal discovery of  vaccina
 tion, the improvement of medical science consequent
on increased knowledge of the structure  and functions
of the human body had greatly mitigated the fatality
                        D D 
 314 KNOWLEDGE HAS DIMINISHED  DISEASE.

 of smallpox.  Formerly the patients were  shut up,
 loaded with bedclothes, in heated rooms, from which
 every particle of fresh air was excluded ;  and stimu-
 lants were  administered, as if on  purpose to hasten
 the fate of the sick.   But sounder views of the wants
 of the  animal economy at last prevailed;  and, by the
 admission of fresh air, the removal of everything heat-
 ing or  stimulating, and  the administration of cooling
 drinks and other appropriate remedies, thousands were
 preserved whose lives would have been lost under the
 mistaken guidance of the older physicians.
  So lately as the middle of last century, ague was so
prevalent in  many parts of Britain where it is  now
never seen, that our ancestors looked upon an attack
of it as a kind of necessary evil, from which they
 could never hope to  be delivered.  In this  instance
 also, farther experience has shown that Providence
was not in  fault.  By  draining the land, removing
dunghills, building better houses in better situations,
 and obtaining better food and  warmer clothing, it ap-
pears that generations now succeed each other, living
 on the very same soil, without a single case of ague ever
occurring where, a century ago, every man, woman,
 and child were almost  sure to suffer from It at one
time or other of their lives; thus again showing how
much man may do for the preservation of his  health
and the improvement of his condition, when his con-
 duct is directed by knowledge and sound principles.
  If we wish for a still more  admirable proof of the
 same practical truth, we have only to compare  the
 condition of our seamen in maritime expeditions un-
 dertaken a century ago, with their lot in the present
 day; the expedition  against Carthagena, or that of
 Anson, for  instance, with those of Cook,  Parry, and
 Ross, or the health enjoyed by the crew of the Val-
 orous with  that of the  seamen in the other vessels
 lying in the same harbour.*
  Anson set sail from  England on 13th  September,
 1740, in the Centurion, of 60  guns and 400  men, ac-
* Vide p. 80. 
 CONTRAST BETWEEN MARITIME EXPEDITIONS. 315

 companied by the Gloucester, of 50 guns  and  300
 men; the Pearl, of 40 guns and 250 men;  the Wager,
 of 28 guns and 160 men; the Tryal sloop, of 8 guns
 and 100 men,  and two victuallers, one of 400, and the
 other of 200 tuns.   They had  a long run  to Madeira,
 and thence to the coast of Brazil, where they arrived
 on the 18th December; but by this  time the crews
 were remarkably sickly, so that many died, and great
 numbers were confined  to their hammocks.   The
 commodore now ordered " six air-scuttles to be  cut
 in each ship, to admit more air between the  decks," and
 took other measures to correct the " noisome stench
 on board"  and destroy the vermin, which nuisances
 had become " very loathsome ;" " and, besides  being
 most intolerably offensive, they were doubtless, in some
 sort, productive of the sickness under which we had
 laboured."  Such is  the mild language used by the
 chaplain Mr. Walter, in communicating these frightful
 truths!  On anchoring at St. Catharine's,  80 patients
 were sent on shore from the Centurion alone, of whom
 28 soon died, and the number of sick increased to 96.
 Although  this was nothing  compared to what took
 place afterward, it is  nevertheless worthy  of remark;
 for as yet they had suffered no privations  or  unusual
 hardships, except from contrary winds.  The causes
 of disease lay  entirely within themselves.
  After a  stormy  and tedious navigation of  three
months round  Cape Horn, scurvy carried off 43  more
in the  month of April, and double that  number in
May, 1741.  Those who remained alive now became
more  dispirited  and  melancholy than  ever; which
"general dejection added to the virulence of the  disease,
and the mortality increased to a frightful degree."  On
9th June, when in sight of Juan Fernandez, the debil-
ity of the people was so great, that, 200 being already
dead, the lieutenant could muster only two  quarter-
masters and six foremast-men able for duty in the
middle watch; so that, had it not been for the assist-
ance of the officers,  servants, &c, they would  have
been unable to reach the island; to such a condition
was the crew of 400  men reduced in the course of &
few months! 
 316   EXPEDITIONS  OF ANSON  AND COOK.

   I have noticed the cutting of holes for the admission
 of air between decks, and the dejection of the men.
 The narrative proceeds to say that the commodore's
 principal attention was now devoted to  getting the
 sick on shore, as they were dying fast on board," the
 distemper being, doubtless, considerably augmented
 by the stench  and filthiness in which they lay; for few
 could be spared to  look after them, which rendered the
 ship extremely loathsome between decks."  The officers
 suffered least, as being the  best fed and best lodged.
 Within a year, out  of upward of 1200  men composing
 the crews of the squadron who had sailed from Eng-
 land,  only 335 remained.
   The fate of  the Spanish squadron, which sailed
 nearly at the same time, was still  more horrible.
 The Esperanza, of 50 guns, lost 392 out of 450 men,
 and the other ships almost as large a proportion.  It
 is true that, in doubling Cape Horn, they encountered
 the severest weather and the greatest privations, and
 that their deplorable  fate was aggravated by  these
 causes.   But when we look to the conduct of later
 navigators  in circumstances equally trying, it is im-
 possible to resist the gratifying conviction, that mor-
 tality like this forms no part of the designs of a be-
neficient  Providence;  and that, for the best of pur-
poses, our safety is placed, to  a great extent, within
the limits of our own power.  The late  memorable
expeditions of Parry, of Franklin, and more especial-
ly of Ross, who, with few resources, spent upward
of four years in the desolate regions of the north with
scarcely any loss of life, are examples pregnant with
meaning to all who are interested in the future prog-
ress of man.
  It may be said that the climate and situation of the
two parties were dissimilar.  In some respects the
objection is well founded; but Cook's  second voyage
round the world in 1772 affords a parallel presenting
so many points of resemblance to that of Anson, that
no  one can  reasonably object  to  their comparison.
On this occasion, the vessels selected were the Reso-
lution, carrying 112 men, and the Adventure, with a 
   EXCELLENT HEALTH IN COOK'S VOYAGES. 31?

crew of 81.  Enlightened by former experience, Cook
spared no pains to effect his equipment in the com-
pletest manner, and to lay in such stores of clothing
and provisions as  he  knew to be useful in preser-
ving the health of those under his command.   Among
these  were malt, sourkrout, portable broth, sugar, and
wheat.  Care  was taken to expose the men to  wet
as little as possible, to make  them shift themselves
after being wet, and to keep their persons, hammocks,
bedding, and clothes, perfectly clean and dry.   Equal at-
tention was paid to keeping the ship clean and dry
between decks : once or twice  a week it was aired
with fires; and a fire was also frequently made at the
bottom of the well, which was of great use in purify-
ing the air in the lower parts of the ship.   To the last
precaution too great attention cannot be paid; as the
least  neglect  occasions a  putrid and  disagreeable
smell  below, which nothing but  fires can remove.
Fresh water, vegetables, and fresh provisions, were
also eagerly sought for at every opportunity, and these
it was Captain Cook's practice to oblige his people, by
his own example and authority, to  make use of.  The
results of these measures we shall now see.
  The two ships sailed on 13th July, 1772.  Towards
the end of August, when they were advancing  to-
wards the south, the rain " poured  down, not in drops,
but in streams ; and the wind at the same time being
variable and rough, the people were obliged to attend
so constantly upon the deck, that few of them esca-
ped being completely  soaked;"  but although rain is a
great  promoter of sickness in warm climates, the air-
ing by fires between decks, and the other precautions,
were  so effectual, that, on arriving at the Cape  of
Good Hope, only one man was on the sick list; where-
as we have seen that,  after a similar voyage, the Cen-
turion arrived on the coast of Brazil with 80 sick, of
whom 28  soon died.   As we proceed, the contrast be-
comes still more striking.  On  22d November, Cook
sailed from the Cape in search of a southern continent
On the 29th, a violent storm, attended with hail and
rain,  came on, and caused the loss of most of the live
                       Dd2 
318 EXCELLENT HEALTH IN COOK's VOYAGES.

stock on board; and a sudden transition took place
from  warm and mild  to  extremely cold  and wet
weather, which was severely felt by the people.  On
10th December they met with  islands  of ice; and,
from that time till the middle  of March, continued
their search for land with unremitting diligence, amid
cold, hardships, and dangers, such as landsmen can
form a very imperfect idea of;  and  at  last, on 26th
March, after being 124 days at sea, during which they
had sailed 3660 leagues, they came to anchor in Dusky
Bay, New Zealand.   "After so  long a voyage," says
Dr. Kippis, from whose Life of  Cook these particu-
lars are taken, " in a high southern latitude, it might
certainly have been  expected that many of Captain
Cook's people would be ill of scurvy.  This, howev-
er, was not the case.   So salutary were the effects of
the sweetwort and several articles of provision, and
especially of the frequent airings  and sweetening of the
ship, that there was only one man on board who could
be said to be much  afflicted with the  disease; and
even in that man it was chiefly occasioned by a bad
habit of body, and a complication of other disorders."
  Can anything be conceived more  demonstrative of
the advantages to be derived from investigating and
obeying the laws of health, than those splendid re-
sults, when  contrasted with those  on board of the
Centurion 1 In the Resolution, cheerful activity, clean-
liness, dry pure air, adequate clothing, and a suitable
regimen, were found to carry man unscathed through
hardships, and  exposure which, in   the Centurion,
were, from neglect of the same protective means, se-
vere enough to sweep off a large proportion of her
crew.  And, as if on purpose to place the efficacy of
these measures beyond a doubt, and  to remove any
objection which might be started oh the ground of the
inferior health of the Centurion's crew originally, it
appears that, in the month of July, 1773, the Adven-
ture had many sick, and twenty of her best men inca-
pable  of duty from scurvy and flux, when the Resolu-
tion, with a larger crew, had but three men sick, and
only one of them from scurvy. This  difference in 
   EXCELLENT HEALTH IN COOk's VOYAGES. 319

the state of health of the  two ships was distinctly
traced to the crew of the Adventure having eaten few
or no vegetables when in Queen Charlotte's Sound,
while, on board of the Resolution, Cook was most
particular in enforcing attention to this part  of their
dietetic regimen.
  By this admirable care and unwearied watchfulness
on the part of Cook and  his officers, the Resolution
performed  a voyage  of  three years and eighteen
days, through all climates, from 52° north to 71°  south,
with the loss of only one man by disease out of 1121
And in his last voyage, so efficaciously were the same
means  put  in  practice, that his  ship was  brought
home after an absence of four years, without the loss
of a single man by disease!  Lord Nelson is said to
have been equally successful, and to have spent three
years on the West India station without one life hav-
ing been lost by disease.*
  Similar results were obtained by the able command-
ers of our more recent expeditions  to the Northern
Regions.  The Fury and Hecla were, at one  time, no
less than  twenty-seven months entirely dependant on
their own resources, before  scurvy began to make its
appearance; and at the  end of 28 1-2  months both
ships returned home (in September, 1823,)  with the
loss of only five men; a  result which, a century ago,
could hardly have  occurred, and  which, even  at the
present day, is  a remarkable indication of the talent
and humanity of the officers by whom it was  effected.
   Nothing, in  fact, could  have been better devised
than the means practised in these expeditions to pre-
serve the health of the  people;  and, did my limits
permit  it, I might illustrate almost every principle in
this volume  by a reference to its actual efficacy as
displayed in these voyages. Not only were the con-
ditions of health attended to  as regarded the skin,
the muscles, the bones, the lungs, and the digestive
organs; but the health of  the all-important nervous
system was sedulously provided  for by the  constant

  * Sir George Ballingall's Lectures on Military Surgery, p. 73. 
 320    PREVALENCE  OF DISEASE AT  THE

 and cheerful occupation of the people in their various
 duties and amusements; and so judiciously were
 these planned, that a  spirit  of life and activity ex-
 tremely favourable to the preservation of health was
 constantly kept up, and had, no doubt, great influ-
 ence in producing that concord and unity of feeling
 among them,  which were  so conspicuous amid  all
 their  privations.

  If, from these bright examples, we turn  to the ex-
 traordinary prevalence of disease at the penitentiary
 of Milbank in 1823-4,  we shall find little  reason to
 congratulate ourselves on the successful application
 of scientific principles  to the preservation of health
 in our civil institutions.  At  the time spoken of, in-
 tractable affections of the bowels and other insidious
 forms of disease were so general in the penitentiary
 that few  of the prisoners escaped, and parliamentary
 inquiry into their causes was ordered.   Great discrep-
 ance of opinion  prevailed, as usual, among the wit-
 nesses, from each giving utterance rather to his own
impressions than to opinions founded on any philo-
sophical examination of the circumstances.  But ev-
idence enough was brought  forward to show  that
several great  errors had been committed.  In the
 first place, the penitentiary  itself was built, at an
enormous expense, in  a low, damp situation, rather
under than above the level of the highest tides in the
river, so  that  ventilation or  the supply of dry pure
air is always imperfect, and the atmosphere at night
is often heavy and  damp, as on all low grounds in the
neighbourhood of rivers and half-covered mud.   To
this great and  permanent source of debility were ad-
ded, secondly, a very low and inadequate diet;  and,
 thirdly, the influence of constant mental depression,
 arising partly  from the local situation of the pris-
 oners, and partly from  the monotonous  confinement
 and labour under too scanty a supply of food.  In
 such circumstances, it was certainly  not wonderful
 that a low state of health, and, latterly, scurvy and
 bowel complaints,  should make such general havoc. 
PENITENTIARY  OF MILBANK.       321
  That much of the  sickness was justly attributable
to these  causes, is shown by the perfect immunity
enjoyed  for some years both by the officers of the
penitentiary and by about thirty of the  prisoners,
who, from being employed in the kitchen and offi-
ces of the establishment, were  less subjected than
the rest to the debilitating influence ; and also by the
rapid convalescence  of almost every,one out of 635,
on being removed to Woolwich and to the Regent's
Park, and supplied with a more nourishing diet.  On
more minute inquiry, indeed, it appeared that, instead
of the bad health having begun all at once in 1823, as
at first supposed, bowel complaints had been extreme-
ly prevalent from the first opening of the penitentia-
ry in 1816, and had continued to be so, though in rather
a less degree, down to that time; so that the causes,
instead of being altogether of sudden origin, must
have been inherent  in  it  from  the beginning,  and
only became aggravated by the farther reduction of
diet, which took place some months previously, and
by the inclemency of the weather.
   Dr. Latham gives striking evidence of the state of
the mind exerting a  powerful effect on the health of
the prisoners.   Speaking of  the women  who were
sent on board of one of the hulks at Woolwich, he
says that individuals were pardoned from time to
time for good conduct, and that recently pardons had
become  very numerous, as a kind of atonement for
the  bad health  to which they had been subjected.
But, as  all had  nearly  an equal  claim, "every  one
pleased herself  with believing that she would be the
next who would be set at liberty.  Whenever, there-
fore, an individual was  pardoned, all the rest were
thrown into an agony of the  bitterest disappointment,
and were, at the same lime, overtaken by disease.  It was
not a mere nervous  or  hysterical ailment, but some
actual form of real disease, such as they  had before
suffered, and requiring the strictest medical treatment
for its relief."*   Examples like  these, let it be again
   * Account of the disease lately prevalent at the General Peni-
tent.ary, by Dr. Latham, p. 192. 
322        NORTHERN EXPEDITIONS.
 and again repeated, show the extent to which health
 is in our power when we choose to fulfil the condi-
 tions on which alone it can be obtained.
   In looking forward to a still greater diminution of
 disease in the human family, it is cheering to fix at-
 tention on what has been  already accomplished by
 the  hand of authority.   Had the  same  individuals
 who circumnavigated the globe  with Cook, or braved
 the northern winters with Ross and Parry, been  left
 for an equal  number of years to undergo the ordina-
 ry vicissitudes of life  at home,  unrestrained in their
 inclinations  and conduct by the constantly operating
 and  beneficent  influence of  a  superior mind, it is
 morally certain that disease  and death  would have
 made greater havoc among them than actually occur-
 red  amid physical privations  and suffering much
 greater than they  were likely to have ever encoun-
 tered at home.  This renders  obvious the pressing
 necessity of diffusing widely among society that spe-
 cies of knowledge  which has proved beneficial in the
 hands of those who were fortunate enough to possess
 it.  If human health and  happiness be thus effectual-
 ly promoted by increased attention to the conditions
 which  regulate the  vital and animal functions, nothing
 can be more useful than to  communicate to every
 intelligent being such  a  measure  of  knowledge as
 will enable him  to do for his own safety and improve-
 ment that which  government now does for those
 whose services  it requires.
  With these successful and cheering results of knowl-
 edge, it will be instructive to contrast another instance
of the  fatal  effects of ignorance in  a situation where
knowledge might  have been  effectual in preserving
life and sparing suffering.  I shall take the example
from an early publication of Dr. James Johnson,* who
has devoted no small attention to the subject of health
and the causes by which it  is  affected, and  whose
work contains much valuable  matter connected with
hygiene, as well as with the history and cure of dis-
  * On the influence of the Atmosphere on the Health and Func-
tions of the Human Frame, &c, 8vo, 2d edition, p. 102. 
       CAUSES  OF DISEASE IN  THE  NAVY.   323

ease.  In treating of exercise and the evils of its ex-
cess, Dr. Johnson says," I shall exemplify this rea-
soning by an instructive lesson.  During the late war,
it  was observed that, in its earlier periods,  lever,
fluxes, and scurvy made the greatest havoc; while,
in its middle  and ulterior periods, these diseases  al-
most disappeared, and pneumonia (inflammation  of
the lungs), with its too frequent consequence, phthi-
sis, became infinitely more prevalent and fatal.  The
facts were apparent  to all, but the causes few could
divine.  Some of our chymical wiseacres attributed
the pneumonic diathesis to the lime-juice served out;
but this hypothesis need not detain us, for I think a
more rational explanation can be offered.   As the pe-
riod of warfare was lengthened out, discipline gradu-
ally became more perfect, and at  length  attained  its
acme.  Every evolution  was now performed with a
rapidity and precision that seemed the effect almost
of magic.  All machinery and apparatus were not only
so arranged as to give human power its greatest force
and  facility  of application, but human  strength was
put to its ultimatum of exertion, and every muscular
fibre of the frame called into furious action during each
manoeuvre of navigation or war.   Thus, in exercising
the great  guns, the heaviest pieces of artillery were
made to fly out and  in, or wheel  round, with almost
the celerity of a musket in the hands of  a fugleman.
The most ponderous anchors were  torn from their
beds with astonishing velocity, while the men were
often seen lying  about the decks breathless and ex-
hausted after such ultra-human exertions !
  "But reefing  and  furling sails were  still worse.
Here, as in all other  operations, there was a constant
struggle  against  time.  The instant that the word
' alofC was given, the men flew up the shrouds with
such agility, that, by the time they were on the yards,
the respirations were then nearer fifty than fifteen in
a  minute!  In this  state  of anhelation they bent
across the yards, and exerted every atom of muscular
energy in dragging up the sails and securing the reef-
lines, while the thorax was strained and  compressed 
324 NEGLECT OF THE LAWS OF PHYSIOLOGY.

up against the unyielding  wood!   What were  the
consequences 1  The air-cells were  frequently torn ;
blood extravasated, and the origins of cough and he-
moptoes continually laid.  The lungs were now in a
proper state for receiving the impression of aerial vi-
cissitudes ; and constant exposure to night air, to rain,
and every inclemency of the season, soon evolved the
long black catalogue of pulmonic and phthisical maladies,
which swept off our men in vast numbers, to the no small
surprise of the officers, who could not divine the cause
of this new  and destructive enemy.
  " But it was not the lungs alone thaj suffered here.
The central organ of  circulation bore a part of the
onus, and  a host of anomalous and otherwise inex-
plicable symptoms were produced, which completely
puzzled the naval practitioners, who rarely suspected
any lesion of  the heart.  These last affections both
aggravated, and were  in their turn aggravated by, the
depressing passions engendered during the long con-
finement on shipboard and separation from friends and
native home."
  I need hardly stop to point out to what extent the
fatal results above mentioned might have been  pre-
vented, had the officers been possessed even of super-
ficial acquaintance with the laws of respiration and of
muscular action. A perusal of the chapters on these
subjects will enable the reader to judge  for himself,
and to determine whether the cause of the destruction
was really difficult to be divined. Dr. Johnson, it may
be mentioned, has the Channel and North Sea fleets
chiefly in view in his  remarks.
  Increased attention to the organic laws has greatly
reduced the annual rate of mortality in Europe, even
within the last forty years, and it cannot be supposed
that farther improvement is impracticable.  Dr. Haw-
kins, in his Medical Statistics, states, that in 1780 the
 annual mortality in England and Wales was 1 in 40;
 in 1790 it was 1 in 45; in 1801 it was 1 in 47; in  1811
 1 in 50; and in 1822 it had sunk so low as 1 in 58.
 In cities the diminution is still more remarkable.   In
 London 80 years ago, the annual mortality was 1 in 
DIMINISHED  MORTALITY.        325
20; it is now 1 in 40.  In  Manchester, Glasgow, and
other places, a similar improvement has taken place;
but, in  some instances, the decrement in the rate of
mortality has  been so much  exaggerated, that the
deaths are  stated at only 1 in 74;  a proportion which
is altogether incredible as occurring in any commu-
nity.
  In France the average mortality is 1 in 40; in Aus-
tria, 1  in 38; in  Russia, 1 in 41;  and in the United
States, 1 in 40; while it is rated by Humboldt at 1 in
30 in South America.   In Paris it is rated at 1  in 32.
  From the greater accuracy  with which statistical
returns are obtained and preserved in France and on
the Continent, and the inadequate means which we
have in this country of procuring correct tables, as
well as the great disparity between the results obtain-
ed here and abroad, there  is every reason to suspect
that, in England, sources of error have been over-
looked, and that the rates are consequently too favour-
able.   It is difficult to believe, for example,  that with
us the rate of mortality can be so low as 1 in 58, when
in France,  Russia, and Austria, it is ascertained to be
so high as 1 in 40, 1 in 41, and 1  in 38.  Still, how-
ever, the returns, such as they are, show a manifest
improvement in the value  of life within the last forty
years, which can be ascribed only to a greater degree
of comfort  among the people, and a more skilful treat-
ment of their diseases.
  The principle which I am advocating is established
even by many of the  continental  returns, which are
more trustworthy than our own.   In France, the an-
nual deaths in 1781 were  1 in 29; in 1802,  1 in 30;
and in 1823, 1  in 40; and  in Paris the mortality has
diminished, in seventy years, from 1 in 25 to 1 in 32:
so that, though we neglect altogether the more than
doubtful statements as to Manchester and other places,
with an annual mortality of only 1 in 60 or 70, evidence
enough exists  to prove the proposition that  health is
intimately  connected with, and dependant on, man's
own conduct;  and that, when the conditions  of health
                      E s 
326      PROGRESS OF  KNOWLEDGE.
shall be better understood, we  may reasonably look
for still brighter results.
  It was very common at one  time  to eulogize the
simple food and hardy habits of the poor and labour-
ing classes as eminently conducive to  health, when
contrasted with the debilitating effects of the  cares
and luxuries of the rich.  Experience unfortunately
reverses the picture, and shows, by arithmetical ar-
guments, that  the excess of work and the privations
to which the poor are habitually exposed, produce a
much higher rate of mortality among them, especial-
ly in seasons of scarcity or commercial depression,
than among the richer classes  of society; and the
same  thing is  further proved by the fact that, in the
army  and navy, the officers almost invariably  suffer
less than the men from changes of climate, and from
the fatigues and calamities of war.   In France, the
mortality among the infants of the poorer classes is
said to be nearly double that occurring among those
in more affluent circumstances; while, in the weal-
thier departments, the average of life is twelve years
greater Jhan in those which are poor.  In London,
according to Dr. Granville's tables, only 542 infants
out of every 1000 births among the poor survive their
second year ; and in Paris, also, the mortality in the
quarter inhabited by the working classes is  nearly
double that which occurs among the more wealthy.
The influence of impoverished diet, defective clothing,
and an unfavourable moral position, is strikingly ex-
hibited among the children of soldiers, of whom, ac-
cording to Mr. Marshall, only a very small proportion
reach the age of manhood; most of them being stint-
ed in their growth, scrofulous in constitution, and bad
in morals.*
  If, as seems to be the case, a corresponding dispro-
portion occurs between the rates of mortality in the
different classes of society in  Great Britain, it sug-
gests  some most important considerations, the firs*
of which is the simple question, Whether that condi-
* Marshall on Enlisting, &c, p. 16. 
HEALTH IN DIFFERENT CLASSES OF SOCIETY. 327

tion of the lower orders can be regarded as eminent-
ly prosperous or natural which subjects them to be
cut off by death so  many years before the term allot-
ted to those by whom they are employed ?  It also
illustrates strikingly what I have said about bad
health being more  frequently the  result of gradual
causes long in unperceived operation, than of any sudden
or accidental exposure; and proves that a mode of
life or degree of labour is not to be rashly ^pronoun-
ced harmless, merely  because  its injurious  effects
are not immediately seen, and because years may
elapse before it breaks down the constitution.  It is
blindness  to  the existence of  this principle  which
still misleads mankind, and renders them insensible
to the agency of numerous hurtful influences, from
which, by a little exertion, they might easily be  re-
lieved.
  Much angry discussion took place a  few years ago
as to  the reality of the mischief inflicted by the pro-
tracted and unremitted exertion required in our fac-
tories and spinning-mills, where an unerring test might
easily have been found.  If those who contended that
the times of labour were not too long for either  the
children or the  adults, could have produced evidence
to show that, among operatives, the average of life was
equally high as  among  the apparently  more favoured
classes, there would have been at once and for ever
an end of the argument; while, had the result pro-
ved  different,  the  system of  labour might justly
have  been deemed oppressive, in the precise ratio in
which the mortality among the operatives exceeded
that among their wealthier countrymen.  No  criteri-
on could be so infallible as the one now  proposed;
and if  government possessed the means  of  obtain-
ing accurate returns, it seems to me that the expense
of procuring them would be well bestowed, as, what-
ever  might be the  result, it could not  fail to produce
greater harmony of views and purpose  than now
unhappily prevails  between the different  classes of
 Bociety.
   Everything which tends strongly to call attention 
 328 GOOD DONE BY APPREHENSION OF CHOLER#.

 to the conditions which influence public and individ-
 ual health, is calculated to do great good to the com-
 munity.   In this point of view I am disposed to con-
 sider the  visitation of cholera to  the  British Isles
 rather as one of those remarkable instances in which
 a beneficent Providence brings good out of evil, and
 converts an apparent calamity into a positive bless-
 ing,  than  as the  public  scourge which it  has been
 generally  proclaimed.  True it is that many individu-
 als have perished, and others  suffered by  it in their
 affections  and in their worldly circumstances;  but I
 question if anything short of the dread which chol-
 era produced could have  combined all classes so effi-
 ciently and ardently in their efforts to discover and
 remove  everything in the condition of  the poor and
 labouring  portions of  the community  which - could
 prove detrimental to health.   In the season of appa-
 rent danger, not only did the importance of cleanli-
 ness, ventilation, warmth, clothing, and nourishment,
 as preservatives of health, become manifest to minds
 on which nothing  else  could have  made an impres-
 sion ; but their experienced efficacy became an impe-
 tus to the  exertions of the lower orders in their own
behalf, which will continue to be productive of good
long after the  cause from which it sprung shall be
 forgotten.
  The comparative exemption of the wealthier class-
 es from cholera  is itself sufficient to show how
 much it  is in the power of man, by the proper exer-
 cise  of reason  in the application of his knowledge,
to obviate the dangers  to which his health is expo-
sed ; how closely his bodily welfare is dependant on
his own conduct  and external situation;  and how
very little, comparatively, it is the result of circum-
 stances which he cannot control or modify. In fact,
 every one who  has investigated the subject with at-
 tention will readily testify that, but for the  estab-
 lishment of soup-kitchens, the supplies  of  warm
 clothing, and the whitewashing, cleaning, and venti-
 lating of the houses of the poor before and during
 the epidemic, a much greater number would have 
             INFLUENCE  OF HABIT.         329

fallen victims to its ravages.  And it is consoling to
know, that even those who  regard such visitations as
direct inflictions of  a  vengeful Providence, and  as
nowise connected with mere neglect of  the laws  of
health, were, nevertheless, not the least active in en-
forcing and superintending  the removal of every ex-
ternal cause of disease, and promoting the comforts
and supplying the wants of the needy and destitute;
so that, whatever differences in  mere  belief there
might be, all parties were  content to act  as if the
Creator had intended the health of the race to depend,
in a very high  degree, on the care which was taken
to fulfil the conditions which he has  decreed to  be
essential to the due action and preservation of the
various bodily organs.
  Many individuals exist who, from hereditary defi-
ciencies, can scarcely attain tolerable health, even
with the  best care;  and  many more  are to be met
with who are exposed  to bad health from the hurtful
nature of the professions in which  they are engaged.
Many suffer, also, from vicissitudes of the weather,
and other causes which we may never be able entire-
ly to  guard against.  But all these united are few,
when compared to the number of those whose health
is ruined by causes capable of removal or  of modifi-
cation, and to which they are now exposed from igno-
rance of their nature, from  apathy, or  from  the want
of the comforts and necessaries of life.   If I  have
succeeded in calling attention to this important truth,
one great object of these pages will be  accomplish-
ed ; and here I  cannot  help repeating  the remark  al-
ready made  more than once, that health is more fre-
quently undermined by the gradual operation of constant
though disregarded causes, than by any great and mark-
ed exposures of an accidental kind, and is, consequently,
more effectually to be preserved by a judicious and
steady observance of the organic  laws in  daily life,
than  by exclusive attention to any particular func-
tion, to the neglect of all the rest.
   It may be said that I allow nothing for the influence
of habit in rendering situations and causes compara-
                      E e  2 
330         INFLUENCE OF HABIT.
tively innocuous which were dangerous at first.  It
is quite true that the human constitution possesses a
power of adapting  itself  within certain  limits to a
change of circumstances ;  but it is not less true that
sudden and extreme changes often destroy health and
life before the system can adapt itself to the exigency;
and that, after making the most ample allowance  for
this  sort  of safety, the protection which it affords
against the active causes of disease is comparatively
trifling.
  Where the change is sudden, as in passing from a
temperate to a  tropical climate, or even from  very
fine to very inconstant weather, the consequences to
health are well known to be highly injurious.  But
where it is gradual and not extreme in degree, as in
passing from winter to summer, health is not much
endangered, because the system has time  to accom-
modate  itself to its new  circumstances.  Different
organs predominate in activity in different climates
and seasons, and time is thus required to admit of the
necessary changes taking place without disturbing the
general balance of the circulation.   In hot countries,
for example, the skin predominates greatly in activity
in comparison with  the kidneys; whereas, in a cold
country, the case is precisely reversed.  If, therefore,
a sudden transition be made from the one to the other
without due preparation, the rapid change in  the dis-
tribution of the  blood from the surface to the  internal
organs, or from these to the surface, consequent  on
such change, is likely to be attended with danger;  al-
though the same change, gradually effected, would be
unattended with any injurious results.
  If, again, the change be from a healthy situation to
one only a little less favourable, the consequences to
the system will  be also gradual and progressive.   No
immediate injury to health may be apparent,  and the
body may be said to  adapt itself to the circumstances ;
but, in reality, health will be lowered  and  life short-
ened  in exact proportion to the amount of the inju-
rious exposure  and the state  of the  system at the
time.  Individuals of a peculiar constitution may live 
INFLUENCE OF HABIT.          331
long, but the average of health and life will be posi-
tively diminished; a fact which shows that the appa-
rent exception is more a fallacy than a reality, and
that, ceteris  paribus, the highest  health and greatest
vigour will always be on the side of those who make the
nearest approach to the fulfilment of the organic laws.
  It is, therefore, a glaring  perversion of  logic and
reason to infer that we may safely rest satisfied with
a limited portion of evil, on the plea that the consti-
tution will adapt itself  to  its presence.   The argu-
ment  ought to be turned in exactly the opposite di-
rection.   If the constitution possesses this power of
adaptation to external  circumstances, it becomes
doubly incumbent on us to have it always surrounded
with beneficial influences ; seeing that, when the laws
of health shall be fulfilled, the same tendency to adap-
tation will operate  with equal  force in permanently
ameliorating the constitution.  In every point of view,
therefore, it is an object of much consequence to us
to become acquainted with  and to obey all the laws
which regulate the functions of the human body.
  It would be easy, were it consistent with the limits
and purpose  of the present  volume, to show that, al-
though great advances have been made of  late years
both in physiological knowledge and  in its applica-
tions  to the advancement of human happiness, many
of  the usages current  in society, and many of the
practices resorted to in  education, are still far from
being in harmony with the laws of the human consti-
tution ;  and that much good may be done by diffusing
among  the reflecting portion of mankind, and  espe-
cially among the young, more accurate notions of the
structure and uses  of the various  bodily organs, and
of  the conditions  required  for their healthy action.
Illustrations  in proof this position, drawn  from indi-
vidual cases, may be cavilled at as incomplete, or re-
garded as accidental coincidences ; but when the prin-
ciple is exhibited in active operation on a large scale,
minor qualifications fall into the shade, and leave the
evidence absolutely unassailable.  On this account I
prefer selecting an example from the records of the 
332      NEGLECT OF  ORGANIC LAWS
army, both as being striking in its features, and as
being one in  which the public interest is  deeply in-
volved.
  A few years ago, young growing lads were uniform-
ly selected for the army in preference  to men of a
mature  age, on the supposition that, because  their
habits were not formed, they could  be  more easily
converted into good soldiers, than if taken a few years
later.   Many officers still entertain and act upon this
opinion; and  the period at which, by law, liability to
military service commences in this country,  remains
fixed at eighteen years of age, although it has  been
raised to twenty by most of the Continental govern-
ments.
  Examined physiologically, the practice of enlisting
juvenile recruits seems peculiarly irrational.  During
growth, the conditions required for the healthy devel-
opment of the body are, moderate and healthy exer-
cise, plenty of nourishing food, abundance of sleep,
and a cheerful state of mind.  In making  the transi-
tion from boyhood to maturity, the equilibrium of ac-
tion between the different parts of the system is so
much disturbed, that, under the  most favourable cir-
cumstances, an unusual susceptibility of disease pre-
vails,  which renders that period of life particularly
dangerous.  By consulting the statistical tables pre-
pared by  Mr.  Finlayson, and those  of the  popula-
tion of Paris  by Count Chabrol, already referred to,
it will be  seen, that, in all classes of society, the rate
of mortality suddenly increases from the age of four-
teen, when rapid growth may be said to commence,
to that of twenty-three, when it is nearly completed.
In Paris, for example, the tables for the year 1820 ex-
hibit only 395 deaths as occurring between the ages
of  10 and 15;  whereas those  between  15 and 20
amount to no less than 703, being nearly double; while,
in the five years immediately subsequent, they rise to
1339,  and afterward begin to decrease.
  Viewing these results in connexion with the  laws
of the  animal  economy, and bearing in mind  that,
even in peace, military service  implies broken sleep, 
IN SELECTING RECRUITS.        333
separation from  friends, and occasional exposure to
fatigue and privation, we must consider it almost self-
evident, that an army composed of young lads at this
hazardous period of life must be sickly and inefficient,
and that a large portion of the expense and trouble
bestowed  in enlisting and training them must be en-
tirely thrown away.   That such is actually the fact,
has unfortunately been too often proved by fatal ex-
perience.  Mr. Marshall, in the valuable work already
quoted, adduces  an irresistible  mass of evidence to
show that, till the growth is completed, it is impossi-
ble to form any  correct estimate of the probable effi-
ciency of a recruit; as numbers of apparently promis-
ing young men are cut off by affections Of the  chest,
and  other acute diseases, before  attaining maturity,
and  before being exposed to any unusual privations
or fatigue.  So  literally accurate is  this statement
that Coche, a high French authority referred  to  by
Mr.  Marshall, mentions distinctly, that even in time
of peace, when no great hardships are to be  encoun-
tered, volunteers received into the army at the age
of eighteen or twenty pass two, three, or four years
of their period  of service (eight years) in hospita^,
solely from inability to  bear up against difficulties
which scarcely affect those who are a few years older.
   If such be the result during  peace, I need hardly
say  that, in time of war, the practice of enlisting very
young men must be not less fatal to the recruits than
costly to the country.  It appears, accordingly, that
in the army  in Spain, sickness and inefficiency pre-
vailed almost in proportion to  the youth and the re-
cent arrival of  the soldiers.  ~ Sir James MacGrigor
cites the  7th regiment as ah  illustration, and adds,
that between 9th August,  1811,  and 20th May, 1812, it
lost 246 men; of whom 169 were recruits'landed in
the  preceding June,  while only 77 were old soldiers.
The original number of this detachment of recruits
was 353, so that more than one half died within the first
eleven months.   The total  number of old soldiers, on
the  other hand,  was  1143, and of them only 77 perish-
ed in the same time!  So convinced, indeed, is  Sir 
334      NEGLECT  OF ORGANIC  LAWS
 James of growing " lads being unequal to the harass-
 ing duties of the service," that in making calculations
 for measures in the field, he thinks that 300 men who
 had served five years would be  more effective  than
 1000 newly arrived, not simply from their greater ex-
 perience, but chiefly from the additional stamina pro-
 ceeding from maturity.*
  In a note subjoined to the preceding opinion of Sir
 James MacGrigor,  Mr.  Marshall says,  " Numerous
 examples might be quoted to show that young lads are
 much less able to endure the fatigue of marching than
 men a little more advanced in life.  During the win-
 ter of 1805, a French army, which was stationed on
 the coast in the neighbourhood of Boulogne, marched
 about 400 leagues to join the Grand Army before the
 battle of Austerlitz, which it effected without leaving
 almost any sick in the hospitals on the route.  The men
 of this army had served two years, and were not under
 twenty-two years  of age.  The result of the march of
 this army may be compared with that of another un-
 der different circumstances.   In the campaign of the
 summer of 1809, the troops cantoned in  the north of
 Germany marched to Vienna, but, by the time they
 arrived at the place of their destination, all  the hospi-
tals on the road were filled with sick.  More than one
half of the men composing this army were under twenty
years of age, the usual levy of conscripts having been
anticipated.   After  the battle of  Leipsic, Napoleon
made great exertions to  recruit his army, and called
upon the legislative senate to give him  their assist-
ance, to which they showed some reluctance.  ' Shame
on you!'  cried the emperor ;  * * * ' I demand a levy
of 300,000  men, but / must have grown men; boys
serve only  to  encumber the hospitals and road-
sides.' "
  In similar defiance of the laws of physiology, half-
grown lads were at one time preferred  for the East
 India  seryiee, on the false supposition that their un-
 consolidated constitutions  would more easily adapt
* Marshall on Enlisting, &c, p. a. 
IN  SELECTING RECRUITS.        335
themselves to the climate than those of men already
arrived at maturity ; a proposition very nearly equiva-
lent to saying, that  because  a person  is  already en-
feebled, exposure to the causes of disease will there-
fore have  less effect on him than after his strength
shall be  restored!  Palpably fallacious as this kind
of logic now appears  to be, it nevertheless reigned
for years with undisputed sway, and still has a few
stanch supporters.  Sir George Ballingal is entitled
to the credit of having early and earnestly raised his
voice against it, in his work on Fever and Dysentery,
published on his return from India in 1819.  His evi-
dence is very striking; but  so slow is the march  of
reason, that it was only in December, 1829, that an or-
der was issued from the Horse Guards that no recruits
under twenty should be received for regiments serving
in tropical  climates; and so late as the year 1826, near-
ly 15 per cent, of the  king's troops in Bengal were
under that age.
   Mr. Marshall also, in touching upon  this question,
supports his positions by reference to facts of a very
conclusive kind, and to authors whose opinions ought
to have great  weight.  Among  other evidence,  he
quotes the register of a regiment employed  in the
Burmese  territory in 1824, 5, from which it appears
that,  in 1824, the ratio of mortality among the young
men  who  went out with the corps was 38 per  cent.,
or 1 in every 2 1-3; while among the volunteers, who
were considerably  older, the  mortality was 17 per
cent., or only 1 in 6.   In 1825, it was 30.5 per cent.,
or 1 in 3 1-3 among the younger class, and only 6 per
cent., or 1  in 16 among the older.   P. 10.*

   * In availing myself of Mr. Marshall's labours, I may be allow-
ed to express my opinion of the benefit he is conferring by his sta-
tistical researches, not only on the service with which he has been
so long and  honourably connected, but also on the public,at large.
There are  many  practical questions deeply  concerning public
health, which can be fully elucidated only by such masses of facta
being grouped together as shall destroy all minor inequalities, and
place the operation of principles prominently in view.  But to ef-
fect this object with due regard to accuracy, requires an acquaint-
ance with details, an acuteness of observation, and a power of 
336      NEGLECT OF  ORGANIC LAWS
  Some other instances might be quoted in proof of
the greatest mortality being always among the youn-
gest men; and I might refer to a regiment mentioned
by Dr. Davies, in which, when it was sent out to
Bombay in 1808, there was not a single private above
22 years of age, and in which, out of 550 men, near-
ly 300 required medical assistance within six weeks
after he joined it; but it is unnecessary, as, although
individual officers still prefer young men, government
is at least awakened to their unfitness."  A vague no-
tion that growing lads do not bear fatigue, is indeed
prevalent enough; but I venture to say, that if those
by whom the age of enlistment was first determined
had  been thoroughly acquainted with  the laws  of
physiology, and had possessed a clear  perception of
the conditions of healthy growth, the practice of re-
ceiving recruits at 17 or 18 years of age would never
have been  sanctioned, and the country would  have
been saved the pain and the expense of sending thou-
sands" of young men to " encumber the hospitals and
roadsides"  of the Peninsula,  or to perish under the
exhausting influence of a tropical climate.
  I have dwelt at some length on this  subject, both
because the practice which 1  condemn was lately in
full operation, and is even yet not entirely exploded,
and  because, from the magnitude of its results, and
the clearness with which they can be traced to the
direct violation of a natural law of the constitution,
it affords an instructive example  of the evils arising
from ignorance of the structure and functions of the
human body, and of the aid which might be derived
from a general acquaintance with physiology, in pre-
serving health, and promoting  the happiness of the
race.
  It was my intention to analyze, in the same way,
various other  practices in which public or private
health is concerned; but I have already so far exceed-

successful generalization, which are rarely found in combination
with adequate zeal and  industry. It would be very useful if sim-
ilar researches were instituted in regard to the occurrences in our
public hospitals. 
IN SELECTING RECRUITS.         337
ed the limits originally proposed, that I must now
draw to a conclusion, and judge, from the reception
of the present volume, how far I am right in believ-
ing that  information of the kind now communicated
will be acceptable or useful to the public.
                      F r 
CHAPTER XI.
application of the principles of physiology to the
 moral treatment of nervous disease and insanity.

Condition of the Nervous and Insane too little known.—Necessi-
  ty of improved Moral Treatment.—Use of Physiological Knowl-
  edge in effecting the required Improvements.—Principles on
  which the Nervous and Insane ought to be treated.—Necessity
  of providing the Means of Bodily and Mental Occupation, and
  humane and intelligent Attendants, in Asylums.—Admission of
  Visiters.—Middlesex and Edinburgh Pauper Asylums contrast-
  ed.—State of Private Asylums—M. Esquirol's Retreat at Ivry.
  —Conclusion.

  Having given the reader some notion of the extent
to which human health and happiness depend on the
fulfilment of the conditions  which the Creator has
attached to  the exercise  of the  bodily and mental
functions, and shown  that the direct design of suf-
fering and pain is to lead  to a stricter obedience to
the Divine institutions, and to  more perfect enjoyment
of life, I might now, perhaps, leave the farther appli-
cation of the doctrines to the consideration  of the
reader.   But the reception which the first three edi-
tions of this volume have  met with, gives  me  fresh
confidence in the practical importance of the princi-
ples which I have  been unfolding, and encourages me
to add in the present edition a few remarks on the
condition of the nervous and insane—a class of suf-
ferers who have the strongest claims on our sympathy,
and in regard to whom, notwithstanding the numer-
ous channels in which public benevolence has of late
been so generously flowing, an apathy is still displayed
which is not less hurtful than melancholy, and  which
can proceed only from their real state and wants be-
ing too imperfectly known.
  If the  wretchedness  of the nervous invalid has 
 CONDITION OF  THE  NERVOUS AND  INSANE. 339

been more frequently made the subject of mirth and
ridicule than of friendly regard and rational curative
treatment, a still greater  sacrifice of health, feeling,
and happiness has been occasioned to the lunatic by
the extreme ignorance which prevails  in society in
regard to the disorders of the  nervous system.  In
the case of the insane, the secluded life which most
of them are obliged to lead, separated from  kindred
and  from society, and  the  disgraceful prejudices
against them which have descended to us almost un-
impaired from amid  the  superstitions of the darker
ages in which they originated, have, in no small de-
gree,  contributed to this result.  Insanity has  thus
remained one of the few evils which  mankind has
never ventured to look fairly in the face, with a view
to discover its nature, and the means of its prevention
and cure.  The  consequences  are, not only that it
has been allowed to extend more and more widely,
but that the waywardness of conduct, irritability of
temper, and caprice of sentiment, which are  the first
indications of a disordered nervous system, are often
resented by the friends  as voluntary, and, therefore,
culpable offences; and  indignation  or indifference is
displayed where, perhaps, rational  sympathy and an
early perception of the true  state  of the patient
might have led  to  the  prevention  of  the  disease.
Similar maltreatment is far from uncommon  in cases
of what is called nervous—a term which some con-
sider as equivalent to imaginary-^disease, but in which,
when used to denote a certain class of disorders hav-
ing their seat in the nervous system, and not in the
fancy, an amount of misery and wretchedness is of-
ten imbodied, of which few who have not either felt
themselves, or witnessed it  in some valued friend,
can form any adequate conception.   In the correction
of these evils, little can be effected while the igno-
rance in which  they  arise remains undiminished;
and, therefore, it becomes an imperative duty to allow
no opportunity to escape  of spreading abroad such in-
formation as may help to dissipate the prevailing in-
difference, and rouse attention to the magnitude of the
existing evils. 
340 SOCIETY AND EMPLOYMENT REQUISITE

  If the state and management of public and private
asylums for the reception of the insane be examined
with reference to the conditions  of health  already
explained  in treating of the respiratory, muscular,
and nervous systems, it cannot fail to  strike the re-
flecting observer* that while in many institutions the
most laudable zeal has been shown for the physical
health and comfort of the patients, comparatively lit-
tle has been  accomplished, or even attempted, with
the direct  purpose of correcting the morbid action of
the brain  and restoring  the mental functions.   We
have now, in most asylums, clean and well-ventilated
apartments, baths of various descriptions, abundant
supplies of nourishing food, and a better system of
classification,  the  furious and the depressed  being
no longer  subjected to each other's influence and so-
ciety : and the result has been, that in so far as these
important  conditions are favourable to the general
health, and to that of the nervous system in particu-
lar, recovery has been promoted  and personal com-
fort secured.   But in so far as regards the systematic
employment of what is called active moral treatment
and  its adaptation to particular cases, a great deal
more remains to be done than has hitherto been con-
sidered necessary.  This will be apparent on reflect-
ing how extremely influential the regular action of
the various feelings, affections, and  intellectual pow-
ers is on the  health of the brain, and how  few asy-
lums possess any adequate provision for effecting this
most desirable object.   If want of occupation,  and
the absence of objects of interest, be, as we  have
seen, sufficient to destroy the health of a sound or-
gan, the same causes must be not less influential in
retarding  the recovery  of  one  already diseased.
Hence it becomes  an object of extreme importance
in establishments for the insane, and in the  social
treatment of  those  suffering from nervous  diseases,
to provide the necessary means for encouraging the
healthy and regular exercise of  the various bodily
and mental powers; and for drawing out, as it were,
and directing to their proper objects, the various af 
FOR  THE  NERVOUS  AND INSANE.    341
fections, feelings, and intellectual faculties—this be-
ing a condition essential, in a higher degree than any
other, to the success of our curative measures.
  Those who  have not attended to the subject may
be disposed to think that the importance of mental
and bodily occupation in cases of insanity and  ner-
vous disease is here exaggerated.   But the physiol-
ogist who looks to the established law of the animal
economy, which decrees regular action of every or-
ganic part to be essential to its health, no matter
whether that part be bone, muscle, bloodvessel, nerve,
or brain, will not fail to bear testimony to the truth of
my remarks.   The pathological observer, also, whose
attention is daily called to the miseries and bad health
resulting from the total absence of mental occupation
in those whom fortune has condemned to a life of idle-
ness, without having imparted to them that activity of
constitution which seeks out objects of interest and
makes occupation for itself, will at once acknowledge
that a command of the means of healthy mental and
bodily exercise would add more to his power over ner-
vous and  mental  diseases  than any other  remedy
which art has yet discovered.  And yet, in the major-
ity of Our asylums, the patients are still merely pla-
ced  in security and humanely treated, without the
least effort made to afford  them occupation of mind
or body,  or any of the more cheering comforts of
sympathy and social intercourse; and this being the
case, can we be surprised that only one third or one
half recover  their reason, or shall we rest contented
in imagining  that human means  can go no farther to
alleviate their calamities'?
   It is in the treatment of  this unhappy class of pa-
tients, who are deprived of their dearest enjoyments
and of the soothing intercourse and consolations of
social and domestic life, that an acquaintance with
the laws  of health, and the structure  and functions
of the human body, becomes pre-eminently useful.
When, for example, we contemplate  the number of
 muscles,  the importance of their functions, and their
influence on the circulation and on the general sys- 
342 USE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IN

tem, and understand the laws or conditions of their
healthy action, we cannot fail to  perceive that any
mode of treatment which does not provide for their
exercise in the nervous and the insane, must be radi-
cally defective, however  kindly and  judiciously it
may be  administered in other respects; and we have
thus an unerring  standard by which the efficacy of
every contrivance used to rouse this class of patients
from contemplative inaction to useful exertion may
be at all times determined.  Hence we have no hesi-
tation  in pronouncing as  imperfect  every  asylum
which does not provide for the  regular active em-
ployment of its inmates, either in their former trades
or in some kind of bodily, and, if possible, useful and
imperative exertion.   When we know the  structure,
uses, and relations of the skin, and are at the same
time aware that, in disorders of the mind, its exhala-
tions and nervous functions  are almost always dis-
ordered, so much  so as often to be accompanied with
a smell peculiar to mental invalids, it becomes impos-
sible for us longer to overlook the necessity of devo-
ting attention to its condition, and taking steps for its
restoration to health as a  means of promoting  the
recovery of the brain.  When we become acquainted,
in like manner, with the functions of the lungs and the
nature of respiration, we can scarcely fail to use
every exertion to secure free ventilation,  and such
ample  accommodation as shall prevent several luna-
tics from being placed together in a small apartment.
And, lastly, when we become impressed with  the
fact that the human mind is endowed with affections,
moral  feelings, and  intellectual  powers,  operating
through the medium  of bodily organs, and requiring
for their health regular and  free exercise on their
respective objects—and that, without this  gratified
activity, they fall  into debility and disease—we can
no longer rest contented until every possible means
of affording occupation to  intellect, interest  to  the
feelings, and employment to the body, shall have been
resorted to.  In fact, till adequate arrangements shall
be made in every  public and private asylum for effect- 
  EFFECTING THE REQUIRED IMPROVEMENTS. 343

ing these purposes, and till the same principles shall
be acted upon in private society in regard to nervous
diseases, it will  be only deceiving ourselves and
shutting our eyes to the truth to suppose that we
have  accomplished all that  can be done for  the re-
covery and relief of the nervous and insane; and too
much pains cannot be taken to force attention to the
defects which still impair the usefulness of many of
our best institutions.
  In  making these comments I have no wish either
to blame anyone or to overlook the difficulties which
stand  in the way of such improvements as science
and  humanity  will one  day consider indispensable.
Adequately trained and qualified moral  agents will
not be easily obtained in such numbers as will be re-
quired ; nor will  money be  easily procured to meet
the  necessary expense.   Still, however  slow  our
progress may be, it will begin the sooner and proceed
the faster if attention be now called to the urgency
of the case, and to the  leading principles  by which
farther ameliorations are to  be effected.
   It is a common but most deplorable mistake to sup-
pose, that because a person  is insane, he is insensible
to the ordinary feelings and affections of humanity;
that  his reason is blind to  the ordinary relations of
life and of external nature; and that, consequently,
it matters little in what language he is addressed or
 what demonstrations of feeling are offered  to him;
 for, in the great majority of instances,  the  mind is
 only partially disordered, and is as much alive as ever
 to the perception of insult, kindness, common sense,
 and  drivelling.  And even  in those rare instances in
 which all the  faculties  seem to be deranged, and in
 which much irritation and violence frequently exist,
 kindness, truth, and reason, although at the moment
 they seem without effect,  rarely fail, when  calmly
 persevered in, to produce a salutary impression and
 to sooth the  patient.  It therefore becomes of the
 utmost conceivable importance, in erecting  asylums
 for the insane, to make also special provision for that
 systematic  moral treatment,  which is  to the brain 
344         PRINCIPLES ON WHICH
and mind what medicine and dietetic regimen are to
the stomach, the liver, and the bowels.  It has been
said, and I believe not without reason, that keepers
of asylums who live, without any variety of  inter-
course and occupation, exclusively in .the company of
the insane, are themselves apt to become of unsound
mind;  and that of those who escape insanity there
are comparatively few who do not ultimately acquire
the peculiar expression of eye which is observable in
lunatics.  If, then, constant exposure to the society
of lunatics be in any case sufficient to give rise to
madness in a previously healthy mind, it is as clear
as the light  of day that  the same  influence  must
retard the recovery of those whose minds are already
deranged; and that, on the same principle, it must be
of importance to subject the lunatic continually to the
restorative influence of the society  of healthy and
well-regulated minds.  Every day brings fresh con-
viction with it, that the more nearly we can approximate
our treatment  of the insane  to that of reasonable beings,
the more successful shall we be in effecting cures, and
the more delightful will the duty become of ministering
to the mind diseased.
  It is hardly necessary to remark, that in these ob-
servations on the importance of regulating the moral
treatment of  the insane, I  have  in view chiefly that
numerous class of patients in whom the acute stage
has been  subdued, either  by medical aid  or by the
mere lapse of time.  At the very commencement of
the disease, a cure may frequently be accomplished
by the removal of the exciting causes, active medical
treatment, and careful superintendence at home.  But
after this period, much more will be accomplished  by
judiciously regulating the exercise of the mental and
bodily functions, than by strictly medical  remedies;
and it is consequently chiefly to this stage that I now
refer.  To the nervous invalid the rule is still more
extensively applicable.
  To secure regular and animating exercise of all the
mental and bodily functions, as conducive  equally to
the preservation and  restoration of  mental  health, 
     THE  INSANE OUGHT  TO BE TREATED.   345

ought then to be our grand aim in the construction
and management of public  and private asylums, and
in the treatment of nervous patients.
  In planning the means of mental and bodily occu-
pation  for the  insane, we  should follow, as far  as
possible, the same  rules and principles which are
applicable to persons of sound  mind.  Thus, daily
muscular exercise in the open air is essential equally
to bodily health and to mental  soundness, and  is,
therefore, indispensable to  both sane and insane.  It
is more pleasant, more easily  persevered in, and
also  more salubrious to the individual, when it is
combined with  an object calculated not only to occu-
py the mind, but to impress  the patient with the utility
of his labours.   This latter  condition tends greatly to
reconcile  him to the world, and to sooth his feelings
by the consciousness which it imparts to him of not
being either a  degraded or a forsaken being.  Mere
walking or riding, or employment resorted to merely
as employment, generally  becomes irksome, and  is,
consequently, either speedily given up, or pursued
with a  degree  of languor  which  deprives it  of  its
utility.  On this account* mechanical and agricultural
pursuits, which arrest  attention  and elicit activity,
ought to be provided for in choosing a situation:  for
experience  has demonstrated that, as remedies, such
employments cannot be too highly estimated; and
that, wherever the  rank of the patient or the preju-
dices of his friends do not  preclude him  from en-
gaging  in them, they produce the happiest results in
promoting quiet and sleep,  subduing irritation, dispo-
sing to perfect subordination, and,  above  ali, hast-
ening the progress of recovery.
   Ample  extent  of ground for the purposes of agri-
culture and gardening ought, therefore, never to  be
forgotten; and for those  who either are  fond  of
mechanics or have been trained to some manual em-
ployment, workshops become equally necessary, and
have the advantage of contributing  to the general
expenses of the house.  In several establishments
where  field-labour, gardening, and workshops have 
346 MENTAL AND BODILY OCCUPATION NECESSARY.

been tried on an extensive scale, the results have been
highly satisfactory, not only in the improved habits
and comfort of the patients, and in their more speedy
and numerous recoveries, but also in the important
advantage of  economy;  as the labour of the patients
has in some asylums gone far to defray their current
expenses, while scarcely a  single accident is  on
record as having arisen from an improper use of the
liberty allowed them, or  of the  edged tools put into
their hands.
  Man is so  much  a social being, and depends so
much on the  sympathy, esteem, and co-operation of
his fellows, that, as  one of a body, he will submit
cheerfully to  tasks and duties against which, if pro-
posed to him as an  individual or as one of a few,
he would unhesitatingly rebel.  Disease may modify
this tendency of the mind, but cannot destroy it; and
the practical  physician  does not  fail  to avail him-
self of its power in  the  management of the insane.
Many will at  first refuse  to work in the fields, in the
garden, or in the workshop, particularly if unaccus-
tomed to manual labour, who, seeing others do so with
cordiality and pleasure, will gradually allow their res-
olution to give way, and, ere  long, become as zealous
as they were  previously backward. One of the chief
advantages of large establishments is the great facil-
ity they afford of turning out numbers to every kind
of employment, so as to subject  an individual who
refuses to exert  himself  to all the disadvantages of
singularity, which the insane dislike even more than
persons of  sound mind.
  Where there is any difficulty in  engaging patients
of a higher class in  the  easier and  more agreeable
kinds of bodily labour, such  as gardening, netting,
and basket-making, much good may still be done by
engaging them as much  as possible  in the  employ-
ments to which they  were  formerly accustomed.
Billiards, bowls, walking, reading, writing, and music,
are then  valuable resources, and may be made to con-
stitute the  business of the day; care  being always
taken to turn the talents of the patient to  a  useful 
   ADVANTAGE OF  EDUCATED ATTENDANTS. 347

account whenever an opportunity occurs, so as to
give him, as frequently as possible, the consciousness
of filling his place as a member of society.
  In the smaller, and especially in private asylums,
dedicated to the middle and higher classes of society,
the presence of a numerous body of intelligent and
educated  attendants is  a great desideratum.  The
patients are  too few  in  number to operate on each
other by example, and their habits are  not in har-
mony with any manual  employments.  By placing
numerous attendants  among them, who would act
systematically  in endeavouring to engage them in
useful labour, at first of a very light description, and
to rouse them  by example and cheerful encourage-
ment, a good deal might be  done; but as, in such
retreats, the patients are generally persons of a more
intelligent and  refined  description than in the larger
asylums, the  attendants, to be on a par with them,
would require to possess proportionally higher moral
and intellectual qualifications, so as to fit them for
being companions and friends, as well as guardians,
of the  inmates.  The expense of providing a suffi-
cient number of  qualified persons will long  be  an
obstacle to their  being obtained;  but if the  impor-
tance of the  provision were once fully appreciated,
and  its success demonstrated, it  can  scarcely  be
doubted that this difficulty would be  surmounted.
Every year we  hear of large legacies being left to
lunatic asylums by the benevolent;  and if one  of
these were bequeathed to the  first  public institution
that should introduce such a system, we should not
have to wait  long to see the example generally fol-
lowed.   The  wealthier classes are, indeed, directly
interested in  the experiment,  as their ranks  afford
proportionally the greater number of victims; and if
the diseases were once treated on such  principles,
there would be much less reluctance to seek early
advice, and, consequently, much  more  success  in
combating its attacks.   Since the former editions of
this work appeared, a friend  has  communicated  to
me, as confirmatory of  the truth of these remarks, 
 348 ADVANTAGE  OF EDUCATED ATTENDANTS.

 the cases of two patients who, after having been in-
 sane and violent for fourteen years, were placed some
 time ago in the society of a. family circle, accustomed
 to the  kind treatment of the insane.   Even in these
 unpromising instances an  improvement has taken
 place.   " Every month," says my friend, " I perceive
 some strength gained by them in acquiring restrain-
 ing power in the presence of the family.  So long as
 any perceptive power remains, such  patients soon
discover the difference of being again with intelligent
 and agreeable companions, instead of being subjected
 to the  caprice  and authority of an ordinary keeper."

  Pinel has said that thirty years' experience  had
taught  him, that  a striking analogy subsists between
the art of educating and training the young and  that
of managing the insane, as the same  principles are
 applicable to both.  Natural activity, unwearied kind-
ness, tact, and firmness, are eminently useful in both
 situations; but they are productive of their  fullest
 advantages only when re-enforced by an accurate ac-
quaintance with the laws which regulate the mutual
influence of mind  and body, with the  nature  and
sphere of the primitive mental powers, and with the
methods and objects  by which each may be soothed
into repose, or stimulated to activity; in other words,
by an intimate knowledge of human nature and of the
philosophy of mind.
  But it will be asked, What fortunate  establishment
possesses attendants endowed with such  excellent
qualifications,  and where  are  such persons  to be
found by any one who wishes to procure their assist-
ance ?   The answer  must be, Nowhere; but it may
with equal truth  be  affirmed, that, as a  necessary
consequence, nowhere is the treatment of insanity
 so successful as it would  be, were such assistants
 provided in sufficient numbers to mix with,  and exert
 a constant and active influence on, the patients.   In
 sortie retreats, an approximation to this desideratum
 is made in the frequent admission of visiters, who,
 actuated by kindness and intelligence, seek the society 
 ADMISSION OF VISITERS TO LUNATIC ASYLUMS. 349

 of the insane, devote themselves to their relief and
 comfort, and. by gaining their confidence and showing
 a sympathy with their situation, succeed in dispelling
 morbid associations, and restoring health and tone to
 the disordered mind.  In these asylums, the propor-
 tion of cures  is greater than in others apparently as
 well regulated, but in whicn no effort is bestowed in
 active moral  treatment.  In the Connecticut Retreat
 this system has been  carried as far as the present
 state of knowledge will  permit, and with the best
 effects; the proportion of cures in recent cases being
 nine out of ten of all admitted.  At present, indeed,
 no  amount of funds could command the services of
 a sufficient number of properly qualified assistants;
 but, nevertheless, it is important that the deficiency be
 made known, that we may make provision for supply-
 ing it, and not proceed contented  with  our  present
 means, as if they were already adequate.  The tend-
 ency of the human mind is to become accustomed to
 existing defects, and never to think of remedying them
 till some accidental occurrence displays their magni-
 tude, and  turns attention  to further improvements.
  As matters now stand, the higher class of lunatics
 are in  one sense the most unfortunate of all. Ac-
 customed at home to the refinements of educated and
 intelligent  society, to  the enjoyments  arising from
 change of scene, to horse and carriage exercise, and
to  the command of numerous sources  of interest,
they find themselves transported to an asylum where
they may no  doubt be treated with kindness, but
where  they are necessarily cut off from many of the
 comforts to which they have been accustomed, and
 must encounter prejudices, feelings, and modes  of
 thinking and acting to which they are strangers, and
 with which they can have no sympathy.   Being there
 restricted  almost exclusively to the society of keep-
 ers, who,  from their rank, education, and manners,
 cannot be considered qualified to gain their confidence
 or elicit friendly interchange of sentiment, the pa-
 tients are, in a great measure, deprived of that bene-
 ficial intercourse with  sound minds which is indis-
                       Gc 
350 ADMISSION OF VISITERS TO LUNATIC ASYLUMS.

pensable to health, and of the numerous opportunities
which such intercourse presents for gradually stirring
up new interests and leading to new trains of thought.
The medical attendant, indeed, is  often the only be-
ing to whom patients of this class can freely unbur-
den their minds, and from whom they can seek com-
fort; but unfortunately, in most establishments, his
visits  are so few and short, that they can scarcely be
reckoned as part of an efficient moral regimen.
  The poorer  patients, on the other hand, although
too much left to  their own society, have still the ad-
vantage of being, to a certain extent, in daily com-
munication with minds in harmony with their  own
both in feeling  and in intelligence ;  as the keepers are
always men of the same rank, education, and man-
ners as themselves.  They consequently are less sen-
sible of the change in their situation, and  feel less
acutely any accidental indignities to which they may
be exposed.
  Experience  has already shown  that great benefit
arises  to the  insane from  the frequent association
and sympathy of persons of tact, intelligence, and
kindness, who  feel a real interest in the happiness
of the patients,  and visit them from a ivish to sooth
and comfort them, and not from mere idle  curiosity.
Nothing tends  so much as this to break down the
formidable barrier which still separates the disorder-
ed in mind from the sympathies of  society, and to dis-
pel those sinful prejudices which brand insanity  with
the stigma of crime, and  impel us to shroud its vic-
tims in obscurity and neglect.
  It may be said, " This is  all true, and  very proper
for medical men to know; but why introduce it into
a book intended for the general reader ?"  My answer
is, that I introduce it here  purposely, because  it is
from among the  public that the directors and mana-
gers of institutions for the reception of the insane
are chosen; and so long as they remain unacquainted
with the wants of the patients, little can be done to
provide a remedy.  Medical men may direct, but so-
ciety must  co-operate, and  cheerfully and  earnestly 
          EDINBURGH PAUPER ASYLUM.      351

take a part in the good  work.  Besides, there are
thousands of warm-hearted beings who would delight
in this very duty, if they only knew how to set about
it; and these can  be  reached  only  by writings ad-
dressed to the general public.
  That I may not be considered as either too  severe
in pointing out existing defects, or  too visionary in
conceptions of the improvements required, I shall
give a brief outline of the condition of one or two es-
tablishments  at present in full operation, and leave
the reader to form  his own conclusions.
  In Edinburgh, for example, we have two institutions
for  the reception of pauper  lunatics; one belonging
to the city, and the other attached to the West Church
Charity Workhouse.  That  belonging to the  city is
situated in a part of the town  almost surrounded by
high buildings and the old town-wall, which is of great
height, and goes far to obstruct the  free circulation
of air.  The buildings themselves were erected many
years ago for a projected trading company, and are
confined in extent, low in  the ceilings, entirely coop-
ed up, and not in any way adapted for the purpose.
The usual number of patients  is  about  seventy.
From the  scanty  accommodation, there is little or
no  room for proper  classification; none for  work-
shops of any description, and very little for adequate
ventilation or exercise.  In  the aspect of the place,
there is nothing to cheer, to comfort,  or  to  sooth;
but, on the contrary, high walls, small windows, and
iron bars appear on every hand.   The same remarks
apply essentially to the West  Church  Charity Asy-
lum, with the single exception that  it is more open
to the air and the light of  day.
  As a contrast to these we may  take the Middlesex
County Asylum at Hanwell, which I had occasion to
visit in May, 1834, and to which I  refer in preference
to the excellent institutions at Perth, Dundee, and
Glasgow, because it  is appropriated exclusively to
pauper  patients, which the others  are not,  and is,
therefore, a fairer object of  comparison. The Han-
well Asylum contains about 600 lunatics.   The site 
352  MIDDLESEX AND EDINBURGH PAUPER

on which it is built is elevated, cheerful, dry, and
airy, without being exposed, and commands an ex-
tensive and enlivening view.  The various apartments
are well laid out, admirably warmed and  ventilated,
clean,  and comfortably furnished.   The window-
frames being of  iron instead of wood, there is per-
fect safety without the appearance of restraint; and
everywhere the apparatus  of government is so little
visible, that every one seems as if trusted entirely to
his own discretion.  Ample provision is also  made
for due classification, so that none are injured by be-
ing placed in contact with  those whose state is like-
ly to have a hurtful influence on their feelings.
  In these respects, the superiority of Hanwell is in-
contestable.  It fulfils almost every condition requi-
red for the purpose.  Its moral advantages, however,
are scarcely less remarkable.  In its most humane,
intelligent, and experienced resident superintendents,
Sir William and Lady Ellis, Hanwell possesses  a dis
tinction which few other asylums, for either rich or
poor, at present enjoy, but which is of immense import-
ance as the mainspring of the whole moral machinery.
Such, indeed, is the influence of their knowledge of
human nature, undeviating  kindness, and tact, in gain-
ing the confidence and affection of the patients, that
although  the number of bad cases is unusually great
(nearly five sixths  being incurable before being sent
to Hanwell), order, quiet, and comfort reign through-
out ; and even among the  worst, namely, the idiotic,
the furious, and  the epileptic,  there is  an aspect of
comparative cheerfulness  and  confidence, which is
the strongest proof of the general system of  treat-
ment being active, kind, discriminating, and judicious.
Such is the general appearance of the establishment,
that  I can scarcely imagine a more gratifying spec-
tacle to a humane and intelligent  mind than that
which a visit to Hanwell affords.  In this opinion  I
am powerfully supported  by Miss Martineau, who,
after repeated visits to the asylum, has given an elo-
quent testimony to the same effect in Tait's Edin-
burgh Magazine (June, 1834), in an article which is 
ASYLCMS  CONTRASTED.          353
full of interest, though it errs somewhat in assuming
that asylums in general remain in  the  same deplo-
rable condition which was so common about twenty
years ago.   In point of fact, a great advance has been
made since then in both public and private establish-
ments ; and few indeed are now so bad as Miss Marti-
neau describes.   Hanwell ranks, justly, among the
foremost; but to place it in its true position, it is not
by any means necessary to depreciate the condition of
all the rest.  I have visited one public establishment
since the publication  of her letter,  to which almost
the worst of her description was applicable at the
time of my visit.  Even in the two great institutions
of Bethlem and St.  Luke's, the old system is still so
far in full force that the patients wander about their
courts in hopeless indolence, without an effort being
made, so far as I  know, to provide them with syste-
matic employment.
  The Edinburgh Pauper Asylum, also, is fortunate
in having an excellent  resident superintendent; but
while I most willingly give him all the credit to which
he is so justly entitled, I must be allowed to add, that
an educated professional man, who is acquainted with
the structure and functions of the human body, and
has not only studied human nature as a physician and
philosopher, but specially investigated the subject of
insanity, possesses  qualifications which experience
alone can never impart; and  it is therefore no dis-
paragement to say, that, in regard to moral manage-
ment, our asylum is less favourably circumstanced
than that of Hanwell.
  The almost entire absence  of the means of active
employment and healthful exercise in the Edinburgh
Asylum,  is another point which contrasts singularly
with the ample provision of them  at Hanwell, and
with the aspect of industry  by which the latter  is
characterized.  On  passing the outer gate, some of
the patients are generally to be met with busily em-
ployed in keeping the grounds in order.  Others are
at work in their extensive garden, and others, again,
ia. the adjoining  fields.  On  entering the  spacious
                    Gg2 
354     STATE  OF PRIVATE  ASYLUMS.
 offices attached to the asylum, some are found plying
 their trades  of baker, brewer, and dairyman; while
 in the workshops, numbers are seen engaged in rope-
 making,  shoemaking, tailoring,  and basket-making.
 Nor are the women idle.   Many of them are  em-
 ployed in the kitchen, washing-house, and laundry;
 many in making and  mending clothes;  and many
 more in cleaning, knitting, sewing, arid other house-
 hold duties.  No one is forced to  work; whether he
 works or not, he is treated with kindness; but all are
 requested to work.   If they obey, they are welcomed
 and encouraged.  If they refuse, all their little extra
 comforts, such as tobacco, which are made to depend
 on their doing something as an equivalent, are with-
 held ; and they soon find it to be more agreeable, and
 more for their own interest, to be  industrious than to
 be idle.
  In Edinburgh, pn the other hand, there is neither
 sufficient ground for exercise, nor  any means of use-
 ful  bodily employment;  and when it  is  considered
 that  most of the  patients are persons habituated to
 labour and to the open air, and unprovided with re-
 sources from which they can derive enjoyment within
doors, the deprivations to which they are subjected
by confinement assume increased importance.   Du-
ring  the violence of the malady, when the patient
requires to be confined, and is not  composed enough
for any quiet occupation, the want of room is less
felt.   But it is very  different when the period of ex-
citement is past, and both mind and body require to
be roused to  exertion on objects  external to them-
selves.  So far from idleness being then either neces-
sary or natural, the bodily energies  are often in-
creased  and craving for an outlet; and, even  in the
worst cases, several, at least, of the mental faculties
remain unimpaired,  and ready to act when their ob-
 jects  are presented to them.  Idleness only aggra-
vates the evil, by throwing the patient back upon his
own morbid feelings; and the ennui to which it then
gives rise renders the temper impatient and the con-
finement intolerable. 
STATE OF  PRIVATE ASYLUMS.      356
   When a person in health is deprived of active ex-
 ercise, he generally passes a restless night; or, if he
 sleeps, he is visited by distressing dreams.  The same
 thing occurs among the insane.  If their energies do
 not  get scope by day, they become noisy and impa-
 tient during the night.  At  Hanwell and other sim-
 ilarly managed institutions, employment and exercise
 in the open air are found by experience to be of great
 value, even as soporifics, and, therefore, highly useful
 in promoting recovery.
   In many  private asylums, again,  defects exist,
 which urgently demand  improvement.   The rooms
 are  so small, low in  the ceiling, and  ill-ventilated,
 that, when the presence of an attendant is necessary
 during the night, the vitiation of the air becomes in-
 tolerable, does positive harm to the  patient, and is
 often a source of complaint  with the  keeper. This
 is a very serious evil; for the exhalation from  the
 skin and lungs is often extremely offensive in the in-
 sane, and its accumulation,  from confinement in  a
 small apartment, becomes not only a source of an-
 noyance, but an obstacle to recovery.  Cleanliness in
 person and in clothes, also, is too little enforced, and
 baths are too sparingly used.  Little or no exertion is
 made to occupy or direct the mind, and no society or
 amusement  of any kind is provided to cheer the te-
dious hours.   Not unfrequently, moreover, patients,
still  possessed of the  greatest  acuteness, and the
nicest sense of propriety, are habitually addressed as
if they were incapable of thinking, and required to be
moved or influenced like babies and idiots.   I have
known instances in which threats, such  as are vul-
garly held out  to children, have been used towards
lunatics whose powers of intellect  and delicacy of
feeling were  far above the average of sound minds;
and  the effect was to induce a flood of tears, from a
deep sense  of the  indignity to which they were so
rudely subjected.  It is a fatal mistake^ I  must again
repeat, to  suppose  that, because a person is insane,
he is, therefore, insensible to ordinary motives, and
 may be safely treated as if he could not appreciate 
356    m. esquirol's retreat at ivry.

either reason or truth, kindness or severity.  In gen-
eral, the fact  is' the  reverse, the sensitiveness  to
good or bad treatment being greatly increased.
  The  celebrated and benevolent Esquirol has been
loud and eloquent in enforcing regard to the feelings,
and attention to the real welfare, of the insane ; and
in his private establishment at Ivry, near Paris, which
I had  the gratification of visiting along with him in
September, 1831,  he  exemplifies almost  every prin-
ciple on which such an asylum ought to be conducted.
The asylum is placed in a beautiful and airy situation,
with a pleasant exposure, and its general aspect is
that of an inhabited and well-kept villa.  Four dis-
tinct buildings, of ample size and elegant appearance,
are conveniently distributed through  a well laid out
and ornamented park  of twenty-five acres,  part in
garden, part in grass, and part in plantation, with neat
walks  bordered with flowers running in every direc-
tion; which, it will be observed, is a very handsome
provision  for thirty or thirty-five patients, to  which
number he restricts himself.  For the troublesome
or  excited patients, there  are  two neat  one-story
buildings, one for males and the other for females,
separate from each other, and far removed  from those
 appropriated to the convalescent and tranquil.   These
one-story tenements open upon, and look into, spa-
 cious  grassplots,  surrounded on two  sides by high
walls,  along  which covered galleries  are  made for
shelter from the rain and sun; so that the height of
the walls  seems as if intended to admit of galleries
 being  made, rather than for the purpose of prevent-
 ing escape.  The third side is occupied by a plain,
 neat, high railing, like that of the Tuilleries garden.
 To these plots and galleries the patients have  access
 at pleasure;  and most of them prefer coming out at
 the window, from which they can easily step, no re-
 straint being visible, and nothing of the prison being
 apparent.  This  degree  of harmless  freedom tran-
 quillizes them amazingly.  Each room  (neatly and
 plainly furnished) has beside it a room for a servant—
 each patient having one—so that ample surveillance 
       m. esquirol's  retreat  at  ivry.    357

is exercised.  When a little confirmed in tranquillity
they are allowed to go out by a back door to a large
ornamental  walk, shrubbery, and garden, with a fine
view over a lower wall, apparently opening upon the
public  fields, but,  in reality, perfectly retired.   The
attendants are more refined and gentle in their man-
ners, and better educated, as well  as naturally more
humane and intelligent, than the corresponding class
of persons  in this country.   Their number, intelli-
gence, and amiable disposition, are a great advantage
both to themselves and to the patients.  Being less
exclusively confined to the society of the insane, they
have not that  peculiar expression of eye and general
appearance which our keepers so often acquire, and
which  indicate a state  in some degree allied to in-
sanity.   Esquirol  says, that all his English visiters
complain of the difficulty of getting any but coarse
and ignorant  men for keepers, and wonder how he
succeeds; but the French of all classes are naturally
more  observant of the kindnesses of ordinary inter-
course, especially with their inferiors, than we  are,
and are habitually more tolerant of the caprices and
weaknesses of others.   The different classes of so-
ciety thus stand at all times in  a more favourable
position than with us for acquiring an interest in each
other,  and for becoming friends, or, in other words,
for effecting a cure.  The importance of this confi-
dence  was well  illustrated by an  expression of Es-
quirol's, in speaking of  a patient: " At last," he said,
" I succeeded in gaining his  confidence; and  after
that," he added, with a significant look, " on va vite a
la guerison."  This, of course, must be received  as a
general proposition only, but it shows the force of the
principle.
  When tranquillity is secured, the  patient is removed
to another building, and from that to a third, each
bringing him  nearer and nearer to ordinary life, till,
in the third, convalescents meet, in the character of
ladies and gentlemen, at meals, music,  billiards, read-
ing, &c, along  with  the family of Dr. Metivier, a
nephew of Esquirol, who resides there with his wife 
358
CONCLUSION.
and  children.  There  the  patients  receive  their
friends, and with them make excursions to the envi-
rons, or go to the theatre ; or, if from the provinces,
they go and see the wonders of the capital.   They
are thus gradually prepared to resume their station in
society;  and, from being treated throughout with
most considerate kindness, they become attached to
the family, and cease  to repine at their temporary
separation from friends and home.  But, not to dwell
too long on this most interesting subject, I shall con-
clude at once  by remarking,  that  it  is necessary
only to  see  the different appearance and conduct of
the patients  in a well-contrived and properly-regu-
lated asylum, as contrasted with one of an opposite
character, to perceive at once how influential active
moral treatment is in  promoting recovery, and how
necessary it is to devote more attention than hitherto
to this and the other conditions of health in our treat-
ment of the insane.
  In commenting, as I have done, on the defects of
the pauper asylum of Edinburgh, I must not be re-
garded as accusing the managers of neglect or indif-
ference.   I am quite aware of their anxiety to better
the  condition of*  the  patients, and that they have
already done more in the way of  cure than  could
have been conceived possible  with their imperfect
means.  But it is on this very account—that the pub-
lic may be stirred up to provide the necessary funds
—that I am so anxious  to direct attention to the
miserable  accommodation; for I cannot help con-
sidering the asylum, in its present state, as a disgrace
to the metropolis of the country. 
QUESTIONS
                         ON THK


PRINCIPLES   OF   PHYSIOLOGY.
BY REV. ALFRED ADDIS, TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
                        CHAPTER I.

   What is the literal signification of the word physiology ?  How
 is the term now used?  What are the branches of physiology
 called ?  What is vegetable  physiology ?  Comparative ?  Human ?
 In what respects are the objects of all these the same ?
   In what is the groundwork of distinction between animate and
 inanimate bodies to be found ?  Mention the different relations in
 which they stand to the ordinary laws of the material world.
   Give some examples of these different relations.
   What is the object of chymistry and natural philosophy ?  Can
 we infer anything of the qualities of living bodies from our knowl-
 edge of the elementary materials  which compose them?  How
 must we arrive at any just  knowledge of the conditions by which
 life is characterized and under which it is carried on ?
   What branch of physiology is the subject of this treatise ?   In
 what do its importance and attraction consist ?   What is human
 physiology in its widest sense ?  In what respects is a true system
 of physiology eminently useful ?  What do you mean by hygiene ?
 How are the mental and moral powers of man manifested ?  What
 would be the most successful plan for their cultivation ?
  Are.living bodies possessed of any other distinctive properties
 besides  the power of resisting the ordinary chymical and physi-
 cal laws?  What are these peculiar properties?  How do they
 differ from inorganized matter with regard to origin  and  produc-
 tion ?  With regard to their preservation ?  With regard  to their
 growth  and decay ?  With  regard to the term of their existence ?
 To what classes  are these properties common ?  What  are the
 most remarkable which are peculiar to animals?  What division
 of animated beings do these great marks of distinction warrant?
 In what respects is man far superior to other animals?
  What renders any systematic arrangement of a treatise on human
physiology very difficult or impossible ?  Why is not a systematic
arrangement necessary in the present instance ? 
360
QUESTIONS.
  Why should this branch of science form an important part of a
liberal education, and be familiar to the unprofessional reader ?
What evils result from popular ignorance on this subject ?
  What pernicious system was the Factories' Regulation Bill in
England designed to amend?  What prevented  the  legislative
body from perceiving at once the evil tendency of the former sys-
tem ?  What amelioration would an  acquaintance with anatomy
and physiology have led them immediately  to adopt ?  What be-
sides ignorance should not stand in the way of promoting the hap-
piness of our fellow-creatures ?
  What was the case of Capt. Ganson's vessel, lying at Leith ?  To
what was the accident attributed ?
  An acquaintance with what laws  would have prevented this
distressing  occurrence?  To what is a constant supply of pure
air indispensable ?   What have been the evil effects resulting from
want of proper ventilation in small  rooms,  in schools, jails, and
hospitals ?
  What pernicious law, with regard to infants, exists, or has exist-
ed, in France ?   How is it at variance with the laws of the Crea-
tor?  What are  its destructive consequences?  How came it to
be enacted?  And, if enacted knowingly, what would it legalize 1
  In what cases  are the lungs called into action as powerfully as
in running,  or any other species of severe muscular exercise ?
Would an  individual who had brought on spitting of blood  by
bodily labour at the spade, be deemed perfectly safe and cautious
by relinquishing that occupation and confining himself to harangu-
ing and discoursing ?  What would be the consequence ?  From
what circumstance ?
  What are the constant practical anomalies in life with regard to
health?  What treatment  takes place in the time of sickness?
What are the reasons assigned ?  What inconsistency is observed
upon the recovery of the  patient?   What  inference  are we to
draw therefrom ?
  What is  one cause of such  anomalous conduct in regard  to
health?  Give an illustration.  Another.   What is the ground in-
sisted upon for such inconsistencies ?
  What would be beneficial to man in his so frequent breach of
the laws of physiology ?   Why does  he so often fail to trace the
connexion between his conduct in life and his broken health ?   In
what manner do the consequences of his aberrations come upon
him?
  To what is pure air essential, and how are its degrees of vitia-
tion to be measured ?  In the case of a delicately-constituted fe-
male, who frequents heated rooms, crowded parties, theatres, &c,
how is the plea,  that the closeness and heat rarely injures her, to
be understood ?   What is the real state of the case, and the gen-
uine eventual consequence ?
  To what is the debility complained  of in spring by invalids and
persons of delicate constitution, more particularly owing ?  Detail
the causes at length.   In what cases does not the principle apply 7 
QUESTIONS.
361
  Is the hurtful cause derived from any positive quality of the
spring season?   From what then?  Why is not this fact immedi-
ately perceived ?  What may be said in corroboration of this view
oi the case ?
  How are we to judge of the harm produced by any single excess
in the human system?  In what manner and by what kind of
causes are the change and ruin of the human constitution gener-
ally effected ?  What, hence, is the character of the great mass of
human ailments ?  How do those suddenly and violently induced
differ from them ?  By what false inferences do we fail to  trace
diseased action to its true causes ?
  What is the rise and progress of the two kinds of casual  influ-
ences to which man is liable ?
   What is the first called ?  What is the other ?  Why ought we
not to wonder at the  speedy termination of severe cases of the
former, when the latter, as dyspeptic and nervous ailments, require
months for their cure ?   What would have been the beneficial ef-
fect of a just knowledge  on this subject ? Detail at length in
what the benevolence and wisdom of the  arrangement are con-

   How is the separation of the effect from the  cause in chronic
diseases to be estimated ?  Give an illustration in the case  of in-
sanity.   How does this  apply to other cases ?  And what may be
the general deduction concerning them?
   To what has  the apparent  but unreal separation of the  effect
from its cause  given rise ?  What does this variety of opinions
Drove i  Mention some of  these discordant sentiments.  What is
the natural result of these apparent anomalies and contradictions ?
   What influence does this want of unanimity exert upon suc-
cessive generations.  From what two causes must this discrep-
ance arise '  Why can it  arise from only  one of  them?   How,
then are the differences of opinion with regard to the advantages
or evils of exercise, food, and  clothing, to be settled so as to obvi-
 ate many difficulties 7                    .
   Whv should the intelligent  classes of society become better ac-
quainted with human  physiology?  What benefit would  result
 to the physician and society in general therefrom ?
   What is the present  state of medicine in its application  to the
 physical and mental  welfare of man ?  What are its prospects  in

 thHow hasC£e practical importance of physiological knowledge
 been overlooked in the training of youth ?  What do the anatomist
 and physiologist respectively teach?  Why should anatomy and
 physiology not  be taught separately 7  In what do the anatomist
 and physiologist err ?  How far has the separation been carried ?
 In what is the absurdity of this plan evident ?
    What is the result of this erroneous system  to the young prac-

 UtHow are practitioners to be answered who  object  to unprofes-
 sional persons making themselves  acquainted with the structure
                              Hh 
362
QUESTIONS.
or functions of the human body ?  Why is physiological knowledge
desirable in the patient in the case of chronic diseases?  Why also
in acute ?
   How is the charge of selfishness to be repelled  by those who
are solicitous in yielding rational care to the preservation of their
health?  Who are the  truly selfish?  In what respects has the
blessing of health been too foolishly underrated?
  What is the better object of  consideration with  regard  to the
enjoyment of health ?
  How does Maynwaringe depict the advantages and blessings of
health ?  How also does he describe the evils attendant on its loss i
  What is the general inference to be deduced?

                       CHAPTER II.

  On what principle are the following essays conducted ?  What
have been hitherto the most prominent topics of disquisition in the
animal economy?  What  other subjects of discussion are most
worthy of notice 7
  What is the skin 7   Mention its different appearances in its dif-
ferent conditions in the human frame.
  What is the structure and composition of the skin 7  How many
layers of membrane has it ?  What are they ?  Are these distinc-
tions of any importance ?  Why ?
  What is the epidermis, cuticle, or scarfskin ?  Describe it.  From
what is it supposed to originate 7   Is  it porous 7 How is the ob-
jection to  the contrary answered 7
  What is the use of the cuticle, and how is it adapted to its use 1
Give an illustration.   Is the cuticle possessed of nerves?   What
benefit is conferred by their absence ?  Show the wisdom of this
arrangement.
  In what cases is a thicker cuticle provided 7  What reason have
we to think this provision  is intentional ?
  When'does the cuticle become thicker than its original consist-
ence, and for what purposes?  Give  some  illustrations.   What
organization of the cuticle would have been less beneficial ?
  To which layer of the skin do the nails belong ?  Why ?   What
are their use 7 What are their substitute in the lower animals 7
  How must  the thickening of the cuticle  be produced 7  Why 7
Give an illustration.
  What is between the scarfskin and the true skin 7  Describe  it
accurately, and give its peculiarities  in  negToes and  albinoes.
What is the colouring matter 7
  What is known of the mucous network?  What is its use?
What in negroes ?  Is this theory correct ?  Why 7
  What place does the mucous coat occupy in fishes 7
  What is the third or inmost layer called ?   In what does it differ
from  the cuticle and mucous coat ?  Of what is it the seat and
the instrument ?   Describe it.  What appearance does its internal
surface present ?  Describe the areola or cells.  By what are they 
QUESTIONS.
363
traversed ?  What is the course and appearance of the nerves of
the skin ?   What are they called 7  Where are they chiefly visi-
ble 7  What do they constitute 7  Where  are they most thickly
planted f
  Of what, for practical purposes, may the true skin be said to be
composed 7  What are proofs of the cellular nature of the skin 7
What proves the equal abundance of nervous filaments in the skin ?
What may be a general description of its character ? Of the ex-
tent of its surface?  Of its amount of nervous matter?  n
  What may be considered as the four constituent functions of the
true skin?
   Explain how the skin is a secreting and excreting organ, and give
the meanings of those words.  What are extraordinary and ordi-
nary exhalations of the skin 7   Prove the reality of the  latter.
   Does the amount of excreted matter admit of calculation 7  What
was the estimate made by Sanotorius?   What distinctions did
Lavoisier and M. Seguin introduce?  What do you mean by
cutaneous and pulmonary ?  How did Seguin calculate the cuta-
neous and pulmonary exhalations?
   What was the largest quantity  of pulmonary and cutaneous per-
spiration per minute, hour, and day, according to Seguin?  The
smallest ?   The  average ?   What is the value of  his estimate ?
What proportion does the cutaneous exhalation bear to the excre-
tions of bowels and kidneys ?   What modification does  the weath-
er effect on the exhalations 7  What are other causes which af-
fect them, and in what measure 7
   How does the sensible perspiration compare with the insensible ?
What consequence results from the former's being suddenly check-
ed 7  Describe  the condition of  the skin when this takes place.
The effects produced on its use.  The results to other functions of
the body.   Are its ultimate consequences always sudden?
   What  is  Thenard's analysis of the  cutaneous exhalation?
What is Berzelius's 7  How does the composition vary 7  Where
does the blood enter most into  the composition ?   What inference
is to be deduced 7
   What is the lowest estimate of the cutaneous excretion made by
Lavoisier ?  What reasons have we, from considering the ner-
vous system of the skin and its daily insensible exudations, to con-
clude  that checked perspiration must prove so detrimental to
health ?   What is the practical application of this fact?
   Why do organs sympathize with each  other?  What organs
sympathize with the skin?   Why?  What effect has checked
perspiration on these organs?  What is the result if any of them
are in a diseased state ?  What if in a healthy condition ?
   Give an illustration  of the reciprocity of action in  the sympa-
thetic organs allied to the skin.
   What increases the secretion of the lungs when in a weak state T
What great danger is obviated by the convulsive effort of cough-
ing? How?  What has the state of the skin to do with producing
expectoration, and a cough 7 
364
QUESTIONS.
   What is one office of the lungs in conjunction with  the skin 7
 What is the consequence of this union ?  By what law does dis-
 ease operate upon sympathizing organs? Illustrate.  What ought
 a physician to make  himself acquainted with ?   Is the same dis-
 ease always produced by the same cause?   Ought it to be treated
 always  by the same remedy ?  Illustrate.   To what class of per-
 sons does popular ignorance give currency 7
   What extraordinary sympathy exists between the skin and the
 stomach and  bowels?  Among the lower  animals?  How does
 the sympathetic concert between these two organs reciprocate 7
   How may the connexion between suppressed perspiration and
 internal disease  be accounted  for?  Can  an explanation of the
 mode of operation be always given ?  Why not 7
   What connexion have scalds and burns with the internal organs 7
 How may this fatal connexion be accounted for ?  What is Baron
 Dupuytren's opinion 7  What is the unquestionable inference ?
  Mention two or three remarkable instances of the sympathy be-
tween the skin and the bowels 7
   What is to be considered next to the exhalation of waste matter
from the system ?  What is the temperature of the human  body
in  various climates 7  What great principle in man subdues the
external influences of his locality 7  In what does  the benefit of
this arrangement consist ?  What are the  chief agents employed
in  adapting man to his external situation ?  What may be observed
of Capt. Parry, Blagden, and Sir Joseph Banks 7
  What is known of animal heat 7  What is the law of its gener-
 ation and  expenditure ?   Illustrate.  What connexion has thirst
with the temperature of the body ?
   What is the process by which extraordinary heat is  carried off
from the system?  What did the experiments of  Edwards and
Franklin tend  to show upon the subject ?  How may superfluous
animal heat be easily carried off on the evaporating principle 7  Is
the skin the only agent?
  How does the case of the dog bear upon the question 7
  What is Dr. Davy's observation on the standard heat produced
in  a European's  body on  his first landing  in a tropical climate 7
How does it affect the nervous system 7 The skin ?  How is the
skin affected on his passing from a dry to a humid region ?
   Why is hot, when connected with moist, weather unwholesome 7
What different effects are produced by a  hot  and  dry, and by a
hot and moist atmosphere ?   How has Delaroche established this
point ?   How, then, may the  benefits of perspiration in some dis-
eases be accounted for ?
  What is the next function of the skin to be noticed 7  What is
the mode  of its operation?  Give a familiar example of the pro-
cess of absorption.  Another.  Another. Another.
  How is the process of absorption carried on ?  Describe the prop-
erties of the absorbents.  Why are they called lymphatics ?
  How does the disease called diabetes  incontrovertibly prove the
doctrine of absorption ?  What was the ancients' belief on the sub- 
QUESTIONS.
365
 ject 7   With what reason 7   What weight of evidence for and
 against this function do the phenomena attendmg immersion in
 a warm bath bring ?
   Relate some experiments made by Dr. Edwards on animals in
 proof of the absorbing principle.   What retards absorption in the
 human frame ?   When is the impediment greatly removed ?  In
 what cases and by what means has the principle of absorption been
 successfully applied ?
   How is the obstacle to absorption presented by the cuticle gen-
 erally overcome 7  When is friction necessary and unnecessary ?
   What becomes of the perspiration when confined to the skin by
 injudicious clothing and want of cleanliness?  What is the effect
 to the health ?  Illustrate this in the case of water-proof dresses
 worn by sportsmen and others.
   What reasons have we to believe that marsh  miasmata  are
 absorbed  by the skin?  What good effects  have resulted from
 the wearing of woollen clothes ?  Why ?  Give some instances in
 men.  In animals.  What is the practical inference 7
   What general  law of organic action  explains some difficulties
 with regard to the functions of  the skin?   How do a dry and
 a moist  atmosphere  respectively  affect the several  processes
 of exhalation  and absorption ?  Why is the predominance of the
 lymphatic system remarkable in the Dutch?   What adds to the
 probability of malaria being absorbed by the skin 7  What prevent-
 ative should be  adopted 7  What course has been pursued with
 regard to the British army and navy in conformity with these views
 of the absorbing influences 7  What has been the success 7
   How may the doctrine of exhalation  and absorption bear upon
 the prevention or contraction of the plague ?   Illustrate.
   How may the  objection  of two  opposite functions  being per-
 formed by the same organ, viz., exhalation and absorption, be an-
 swered 7  To what constituent part is the office of touch and sen-
 sation intrusted 7  In what way does the skin act in this respect 7
 In what respects  does the skin resemble the other organs of sense ?
 What gives rise in all instances to the impressions  received from
 the organs of sense ?
   How is the skin provided in  order to transmit the impression to
 the mind 7  What is essential to its texture and vitality 7  Illus-
 trate the great utility of the nerves from the case mentioned by
 Dr. Yellolv.
   Is the principle  of sensation in the surface of the body uniform ?
 Where is  it most predominant ?  What proof  is there that sensar
 tion  depends upon nervous endowment?   Illustrate  the  fact.
Wh3t is the difference  in the distribution of the nervous papilla
between man and fishes ?
  In what is the nervous tissue of the skin essential to our con-
tinued  existence? Illustrate this fact  in the case of cold.  Of
heat.   How are the spirits affected  by the healthful or morbid ac?
tion of the nervous parts of the skin ?
                           Hh2 
366
QUESTIONS.
  What is essential to the due exercise of sensation T  Give an
exemplification of the causes of pain and insensibility.
  What is another essential ?  How does the arterial blood affect
sensation ?   What is occasioned by the violent return of the arte-
rial blood after its temporary expulsion ?
  What important office does the nervous tissue of the skin per-
form ?  How does the accuracy of its decisions vary ?
  By what is the skin materially operated upon 7  How are the
changes in the skin produced  by mental  operations 7  Mention
some extraordinary cases.
  What is the reverse influence which the condition of the ner-
vous matter exerts upon the rest of the system 7  Upon the mental
operations in particular 7
  What effects do sickness and literary pursuits produce on the
nerves of the skin 7  What may be ascribed as the reason 7   What
is the general complaint of sedentary  persons, and how may it be
removed 7
  What other parts and elements are noticeable in the substance
of the skin 7   Describe them.  Relate their uses.
                      CHAPTER III.

  In what sense is knowledge power 7  What is the subject of
this chapter?
  What important fact is furnished us by the London bills of
mortality with Tegard to infants ?  To what may this extraordi-
nary result be attributable ?   What is the state of the skin at birth 7
What connexion has the mortality among infants with  the func-
tions of the skin?  What may be observed  concerning the prac-
tice of bathing infants in cold water ?
  To what error may this practice be ascribed 7 What is the real
state of the case?  Support this by facts.  By  the custom in
France.  In what are legislators  lamentably deficient ?  What is
the unhappy consequence ?
  Into what opposite pernicious evils do parents run 7  What may
be said of too much heat and clothing as applied to infants ?  Re-
late the effects produced by it.
  Of what is the insensible perspiration composed ? Why should
this be particularly removed in early life !  Why is daily washing
and frequent change of clothing essential in that age 7
  What are the several and particular properties of the skin in
youth 7  How is the temperature kept up ?  What rule and cer-
tain maxim may be laid down with regard to cold bathing 7  What
pernicious habit is observable in the young of both sexes 7  State
the circumstances which produce its severe consequences.  How
do these operate upon youths, especially females 7  Upon those
of a consumptive habit 7  What precaution is to be taken 7  What
remedy 7
  What is to be said of excessive clothing ?   How are rules to be 
QUESTIONS.
367
  laid down 7  What general rule may be deemed sufficient 7  What
  other mode of preserving necessary warmth ought to be pursued
  besides clothing?  What beneficial effects has it?  From what
  complaints does it secure us 7
    In what important point is female dress faulty?  What disor-
  ders arise from tightness in dress?  How does each part or func-
  tion of the body operate upon the other ?
    How do wet and cold feet produce disease ?  Is it the mere
  state  of wetness that causes the evil ?  Mention an instance in
  point.
    From what principles may the advantage of wearing flannel be
  proved?  State its particular advantages, and how it operates on
  the skin.   What should be its substitute in delicate constitutions?
  Why ?  What general rule should be observed  in the assumption
  of flannel clothing ?  Why ?
   Give the substance  of the  testimony adduced  by Sir George
  Ballingal  in  favour of flannel clothing.  Give the substance of
 Capt.  Murray's testimony.
   To  what may the superior  health of the crew of the Valorous
 be attributable 7   Why 7
   What other rule of conduct may be practised  to obviate the bad
 effects of cutaneous exhalations ?  In the case of flannel ?  What
 is  the preferable practice 7  What excellent practice, common in
 Italy, should  be adopted ? Why is this so consonant to reason ?
 What is the reverse custom of the poor Irish in Edinburgh ?  What
 are its dangers ?
   What influence has the solar light  on the skin ?  What is  ob-
 servable in those who are deprived of it ?   In  the inhabitants of
 towns 7  In vegetables ?  To what else may paleness be attribu-
 ted ?  What should be provided for in the erection of new streets 7
   What is the consequence of not removing the exhalations of the
 skin?   Why was ablution a religious observance ?  What proofs
 have we of its necessity ? What ought to be  as common as a
 change of apparel ?  Where is it more frequently practised ?
   How is  the importance of  ablution compared with its  observ-
 ance ?  Among the North Americans?  In the United States?
 In England ?  In public charities and schools 7   Which is  more
 suited for general use, the warm or the cold bath ?  Why 7
   Mention the extraordinary connexion of the bowel complaint and
 cutaneous exhalation in the case of a lady.   See note.
   When may the cold bath and the shower bath be used with ad-
 vantage ?  With what limitations and exceptions ?
   How should the time of immersion in a cold bath be regulated 7
 What has been found the most beneficial season of the day?
  What practice may be  substituted in the case  of those that are
iiot robust?  With what qualifications and limitations?
  What is the safest and most valuable lor habitual use ? At what
stage of temperature .'   For what length of immersion ?  How
jnay the  most suitable temperature be best  estimated?  What is
■its effect?   How often may it be used? 
368
QUESTIONS.
   What is the best time for valetudinarians to receive the benefit
 of the bath 7  Why ?   What precautions are to be taken there-
 with?
   When ought bathing not to be employed ?  In what cases is it
 beneficial ?  Has it any tendency to produce  a cold !  What has
 been the testimony of experience in its favour?   How does it op-
 erate in pulmonary disease?  Note.
   What advantages would bathing have in being used  in manu-
 factories ?  How has the waste warm water  from the steam-en-
 gine been profitably used ?  Note.  What has been effected in the
 Caledonian Pottery at Glasgow i  Note.
   What is the state of vapour bathing on continental Europe ?  By
 what beneficial effects is it attended there ?   What prejudices are
 there against its use ?  On what are they founded 7  How are they
 falsified by the fact? How is this exemplified in Russia and in
 the north of Europe ?  What difference is there in the state of per-
 spiration produced  by exercise and in that generated by a vapour
 bath?  Why?
  How does common experience illustrate the above principle in
the case of a room imperfectly warmed and one comfortably warm ?
 Explain the principle.
  In what cases may the vapour bath be hence a preservative and
 remedial agent?  With what cautions must it be administered ?
  In what cases may a vapour bath be prejudicial ?  Why ?  What
 may be a substitute ?
  To what are the preceding remarks specially applied ?  To what
 may they also be extended?  Why?  Illustrate  the  case.  Give
 some  instance.  What  objection has been made to the tepid or
 warm bath?  How is it  erroneous?   Give some instances  and
testimonies in favour of it.  When  does it sometimes fail to be
beneficial ?
  How has the affusion of cool  water on the head during immer-
 sion in a warm bath been  successfully applied ?
  With what limitation and caution are the above facts to be re-
 ceived ?
  What are  always available  substitutes  for the  warm bath?
What the consequence of their neglect 7  To what reflections
does man's inconsistency in his treatment of himself and animals
give rise?
  Relate the process by which a diseased state of the skin operates
upon the lungs and produces pulmonary complaints.  What ef-
fect will the restoration  of the cutaneous circulation produce ?  In
some chronic affections ?
  What are  the two remedies which enjoy the oldest reputation
in the successful treatment of pulmonary consumption ?  To what
do they owe much of their influence ?  What has been their course
of treatment of late ?  How far  has this treatment proved service-
able?  How does riding prove  efficacious?   How does a  voyage
 by sea benefit ?  Mention in detail the benefits derived from  sea-
 sickness in the case of the author. 
QUESTIONS.
369
  Narrate at length the benefits which subsequently accrued to
his health by the practice of riding on horseback.
  How far are the advantages to be derived from the healthy ac-
tion of the skin to be insisted on?   For what reasons 7  What is
a not unfrequent fallacy among medical men 7  To what is it ow-
ing 7  What functions  of the human system have had their re-
spective patrons ?  How has the doctrine of each been sustained 7
What does this prove 7
  With what qualification is the importance due to the state of
the skin  to be  received 7  Illustrate  the case with an example.
How will its treatment prove efficacious 7                     4
  What connexion has free perspiration with acidity in the stom-
ach 7  Relate the case of Lord Byron, and give the principle of his
cure.
  What is the doctrine of M. Donne?  What facts corroborate
the accuracy of his views ?

                      CHAPTER  IV.

  What is the subject of this chapter?  What position do the
muscles occupy in respect to the  skin? What functions of the
body are less familiarly known 7  Why ought the muscular system
to excite our attention 7
  What are the muscles 7  What constitutes the red, fleshy part
of meat 7
  Of what is  every muscle composed?  Relate the manner in
which the muscles are separated and  connected with each other?
What produces the roundness  of the limbs, or the contrary, in
persons ?  How do the muscles enjoy their freedom of motion 7
  How may the muscles be divided?  What are their names?
Which is the most important?   What is the belly ?  How are the
muscles affected in the lifting of any weight or in overcoming any
resistance?  What would produce a violent  contraction  of the
muscles ?  What is, in general,  effected by the contraction of the
muscles?  In  what manner?  Explain the nature  of the origin
and insertion, and  their mode of attachment.
  Draw the figure and explain its  several parts.  Show also the
manner in which contraction of the muscles is effected from it.
  What difficulty presents itself in the attachment of the muscles 7
What considerations obviate this difficulty ?   In what do the fleshy
fibres of the muscles terminate ?  To what are tendons or sinews
conducive?  Have all muscles osseous attachments or tendons?
Which have no bones 7  Which no tendons 7
  What is the usual  colour  of the muscles ?   Upon  what does
this  depend?   How is this ascertained?   What is the conse-
quence ?   What is the true characteristic of muscular fibres ?
  How is the direction of muscular motion determined ?  Recount
separately and distinctly the various  directions of the muscular
fibres.  Give examples of some of the particular uses of these va-
riations. 
370
QUESTIONS.
   What is the chief use of the muscles 7  To what else are they
 conducive?   Mention these uses severally and clearly.
   What is requisite for healthy and vigorous muscular action?
 What arrangement and law are observed  in the animal economy
 to this effect ?  What phenomena attend  the action of  the mus-
 cles?  The  reason?  What result is produced to the muscular
 system from loss of blood ?
   What produces such misery upon  the  young manufacturing
 population and the  inmates  of boarding-schools?  Explain  the
 evils and their causes.
   What is necessary to sustain the growth of the animal system
 in youth ?  What if this be neglected ?  Where has this impor-
 tant principle been  disregarded?  To what is it owing?  What
 regimen should be  observed  in the nourishment of the young?
 With what caution is this course to be adopted ?  How is this il-
 lustrated in cases of shipwreck ?
   What else besides mere muscle is required to produce regulated
 or voluntary motion ?  How is this stimulus conveyed to the mus-
 cle ?  What is this stimulus?  What produces intense excitement
 to muscular action ?  If this stimulus be withdrawn, what is  the
 consequence ?
   What three things must be in operation  to effect voluntary mo-
 tion ?  How are the number and size of the muscles distributed.
 and why ?  Why have some smaller muscles a greater quantity of
 nerves than  others double their size ?
   What arrangement is adopted where bulk  of muscle, though
 necessary in ordinary cases, would prove inconvenient ?  Give an
 illustration in the case of  birds?   Show the reverse adaptation in
 fishes.
  How does the nervous stimulus operate upon voluntary motion 7
 Injuries and diseases of the brain7  Sleep and narcotics?  Ardent
 spirits ? How is semi-intoxication sometimes suddenly removed ?
 What else is requisite, besides the soundness of the brain and mus-
 cles, to give effect to voluntary action?
  What is the number of the muscles of the human body ?  How
 are they distributed ?  How  is  muscular  contraction  effected  ?
 Show this in the sterno-mastoid muscle in the figure ?  In the rec-
 tus or straight muscle ?  In the sartorius or tailor's muscle ?
  Relate the variety of operations and effects of the rectus or
straight muscle.
  Show the wisdom and design  of the  muscular arrangement in
 the case of respiration.  What wholesome impulse is thus given
to the stomach and bowels ?   What is one cause of costiveness ?
  Explain the action of the muscles a, k, I.  What combinations
 are produced  by the  muscular system?  To what extent are the
muscles used ?  Upon what does  their simultaneous  action de-
pend ?   Why?  From  what  necessity?   Give an illustration.
Why does  the same muscle receive nerves from different quarters ?
What difficulty does this explain ?
  Give a farther illustration of the influence of the nervous agen- 
QUESTIONS.
371
cy 7  What characterizes healthy and sustained voluntary motion 7
How is this stimulus adjusted?  Give some instances in which
its accuracy is discernible ?
  What does the excess of action in the nerve effect, when not bal-
anced by the operation of the muscular fibre ?  What, if the mus-
cles predominate. ?
  Are great muscular power and intense nervous action often con-
joined?  What do they constitute when  united?   In what in-
stances has this been eminently displayed 7
  What error  long obtained with regard to the  functions of the
muscular nerves 7  How has this been rectified 7  What distinc-
tion is to be made between  the muscular and cutaneous nerves ?
What are their different sensations ?
  What  leads us to suppose that the muscular nerves, though
running in one sheath, are double, and perform distinct functions ?
What is the doctrine  of Sir Charles Bell on the subject 7
  How does Sir Charles divide the  muscular nerves, and define
their separate functions ?
  What error does he contravene as to the office of the muscular
nerve ?  What are his reasons ?
  How does he query the difficulties and exigences of the case 7
What  is his conclusion?
  Relate his views concerning the functions of two distinct fila-
ments.
  What is  the meaning of the muscular sense?  What is its use
and importance?  What would be the several disadvantages to
man arising from the want of this sense ?
  How are we guided by this sense on ordinary occasions?
  What is  essential  to muscular power besides the nervous stim-
ulus?   What  would be the result if the body were deprived of
both?   What fact does  this prove?
  By what  law is  muscular action governed?  In what does it
properly consist ?  What is the most fatiguing muscular employ-
ment?  Why?  Illustrate this.  Give another illustration.
  What does the principle  just stated explain ?   What are most
conducive  to  muscular development?  What has been the pre-
vailing system of female education 7   What has been its inconve-
niences and results?  What evil effects proceed from some ordi-
nary implements for sitting?  What awkward remedy has been
perniciously attempted? In what has its evils been shown?   In
what is the formal walk deficient?
  What remarkable fact is produced by Dr. Forbes as to the prac-
tical results of the female boarding-school system?
  To what  is the  inadvertence of teachers and parents owing ?
Show to what their mistaken view of decorum have led.
  Give Mr. Carmichael's testimony  with regard to St. Thomas's
Parochial School, Dublin.  With regard to the Bethesda School
of the same city.
  Why should some salutary physiological reforms be adopted in
the school  system ?  What reforms ?   Why should there be some 
372
QUESTIONS.
 intermission for bodily relaxation during study hours 7  To what
 is weariness and uneasiness often owing?  Give some illustra-
 tions of this of common occurrence.
   How ought the employments of the young to be regulated 7
 How is this preferable to the opposite system {   How does nature
 universally authorize this reformation 7  How does it Operate on
 boys 7  Why should it be adopted in infant schools 7
   What aids and co-operates with muscular activity 7
   Give an illustration.   To what is this difference owing 7  What
 may be referable to the same  principle ?   What is necessary to
 give muscular action its full play ?
   In what extraordinary cases has the nervous stimulus shown
 itself to have been beneficial?  Show the different effects pro-
 duced by the absence and presence of the mental stimulus in a
 particular  case.
   Show the difference in the case of the  retreat of the French
 from Moscow.   In Dr. Sparrman's incident.  In other cases.   In
 that of an engineer.
   What is the story told in the Spectator?   How does it apply?
   Relate the anecdote of an Englishman.   How does it illustrate
 the principle 7 What are the necessary deductions and reflec tions 7
   When may a walk simply for the sake of exercise be beneficial?
 Repeat the lines of Dr. Armstrong in favour of the principle of
 combining harmonious mental excitement with muscular activity.
   How may the  union of mental impulse and muscular action be
 directed in the young?   In what particular case will this union
 fail to produce the desired effect ? What  is necessary  in  order
 that the union should be successful 7  Why 7
   What has been sometimes the plea for neglecting bodily exer-
 cise ? In  what consists  its fallacy ?
   What effects does exercise produce upon the organs employed T
 What the  cessation from exercise ?
   What is  the effect of exercise taken frequently and at moderate
 intervals?   What if resumed too often or carried too far ?  What
 if neglected 7
   How does sensation serve as a guide to exercise 7  Give the
 different cases.
   How may rules be deduced for the promotion of the healthy de-
 velopment of the muscular system by exercise 7
   Give some illustrations of the general principle.  How do these
 apply to the objections  urged by many sedentary people 7  How
may their inconsistency be ridiculed 7
   Sum up  and state the three conditions on which exercise may
prove salutary to the human system.   Why do those who resume
 it only at long intervals never advance 7

                      CHAPTER V.

  What remains  to be explained in this chapter with regard to
muscular exercise? 
QUESTIONS.
373
  How do the functions of man fit him for his condition?  What
is  to be observed in the manner his organs are adapted to their
purpose 7  What is to be observed with regard to the  action of
the muscles on the bloodvessels ?  Point out the muscles in the
arm according to the figure.   Point out and describe the humeral
artery.  The radial artery.  The ulnar artery.
   What is the position of the bloodvessels in the system 7  What
is  the consequence of this position ?  How is the circulation of
the blood exemplified in this instance?  What expedient is made
use of in blood-letting to accelerate the flow of the blood?   For
what purpose is muscular action provided?  To what are seden-
tary people subject?
   Show how the connexion between muscular exercise and the
circulation of the blood operates upon the whole system.
   Show why the hurried breathing and quickened circulation re-
sulting from exercise fit us to continue the exertion.
   Show the reason for the benefits arising from shampooing.
   Show why sedentary persons are habitually subject to costive-
ness.
   What are the converse effects derived from the want of exercise 7
   At what times ought exercise to be taken so as to produce ben-
eficial results ?
   In what  state of the animal system?   When does this  take
place ?  What does  an opposite procedure produce 7  For what
reason?
   Why is  exercise immediately before meals injurious ?  If severe
 or protracted 7  What is the rule ?
   Why injurious immediately after a heavy meal?  Prove this in
 he case of two dogs.
   What and when is the benefit of a mere stroll 7
   Under what circumstances  are we to take precautions in regu-
 lating our diet ?
   Why is it injudicious to reserve the time of exercise till the
 close of the day ?
   Why should part of the forenoon be chosen 7  How is the power
 of mental application  increased or diminished?   What practice
 should be imitated ?
   How ought exercise to  be  rendered as beneficial as possible ?
 Illustrate.
    How ought nature to be consulted in all respects ?  What is the
 testimony of Dr. Forbes 7  How are stays and absence  of exercise
 injurious to the beauty of the female figure ?  What is the effect of
 prejudice and habit 7  Are there any cases of health in which stays
 are beneficial?
    What does the comparison between savage and civilized man
 teach us ?   What is the testimony of Mr. Henry Marshall ?   How
 is this testimony supported ?
    What singularity is to be observed in the terms of this corrobo.
 ration ?
                              Ii 
374
QUESTIONS.
   What is Stevenson's testimony concerning the Araucanian In-
 dians ?
   What is the object to be attained in the pursuit of exercise 1
 Why is walking insufficient?   What other methods should be
 adopted?  How does nature intimate this?
   How  might pedestrian  excursions  be beneficially  directed?
 How is this managed on Continental Europe ?  What is said of the
 ancients?  Why is their practice discontinued?
   What is common among the  young Scotchmen ?  How is this
 custom to be appreciated?   What abuse of the principle is com-
 mon among youths?   What are its evil effects?  What are Dr.
 Johnson's sentiments 7  Give some instances.  By what rule are
 we to be guided ?  What is the practice of sportsmen ?
   Relate in full the cases of two students of Cambridge.
   Relate the case of a clerk in Edinburgh.
   Relate at length the salutary  effects produced by riding.
   From what is its peculiar advantages derived 7
   Give the advantages and disadvantages of dancing.
   How is the value of gymnastic and callisthenic exercises to be
 estimated ?
   What exercises may be said to be not  only graceful, but benefi-
 cial ?   Why ?   What may be said of other exercises 7  What are
 they 7   Why are they unnatural 7  Why dangerous 7
   What is said in defence of some of them ?  How is the fallacy
 of the argument shown ?
   What ought to guide us  in the selection  of exercises for the
 young 7  What ought to be particular objects kept in view?
   What may be said of fencing?  Of the club exercise 7   Of shut-
 tlecock ?  Of the play called the  Graces ?
   What may be said of the advantages and disadvantages of dumb-
 bells ?  What caution should be  observed in the use of them 7
  What can be said of reading aloud and recitation ?  How do they
 operate upon the human structure ?  What evils and benefits does
 public oratory produce on the speaker?   How did this operate in
 the case of the celebrated  Cuvier ?  On what considerations is
 his recovery to be accounted for ?
  What are the most perfect of all exercises ?  To what does the
 ignorance of parents tend ?   Illustrate.
  What has been the design of the preceding remarks ?
  Illustrate the whole by the anecdote of a young gentleman, and
 show in every particular case how it accords with the foregoing
 principles.
  What order of muscles has been passed over, and why ?  What
is the use of the involuntary muscles ? Which is the chief of them ?
 Which are the next in importance ?  What are excellent examples
 of the same class ?  How  is the beneficence of Providence in
withdrawing them from our control manifest I
  What is to be observed of the  different constitution of the vol-
untary and involuntary muscles ?  In what is exhibited the wisdom
 of the Divine arrangement ?   What would have been the effect of
a different disposition of muscular activity? 
QUESTIONS.
375
                       CHAPTER VI.
   How are the bones adapted to their purposes ?  What do they
 effect 7                                                    J
   For what are some bones designed 7   What uses do they sub-
 serve in general 7
   In what respects is the animal frame the most wonderful of all
 combinations of machinery ?
   Why  are  the  bones composing the skeleton  so  numerous?
 What would have  been the  effect of an opposite arrangement 7
 Recount the benefits of the present system.   How is the safety of
 this disposition manifest 7
   What is the fabric resulting from the combination of the bones
 called ?  What is the difference between a natural and an artificial
 skeleton ?  How  many bones  enter into the composition  of the
 human skeleton 7   How are they connected with each other?
   What  are the three great divisions of the skeleton recognised by
 anatomists?  What does the  second include?  What does  the
 third comprise ?
   Of what does the head consist 7  What is the use of the scull ?
 How and for what reason are the bones of the scull constructed ?
   Of what does the trunk consist?  Point them out in the  figure.
 How is the spine, vertebral column, or back-bone constructed ?  What
 is the use of  the vertebra?   Why are they called so?  What are
 the cervical vertebrae, and how many ?  The dorsal ?  The lumbar ?
 Upon what does the base of the column  rest ?  How are the ver-
 tebrae connected ?   What do they secure ?  Give an illustration.
 What prevents us from perceiving at once this to be the case ?
   What is  the use of the body of the vertebras ?  Of the projecting
 ridge behind and rugged processes at the sides ?  What is inter-
 posed between each of the vertebrae ?  What triple purpose does
 it answer?
   What is  the number of the ribs, and how  are they attached ?
 What are the seven uppermost called, and why?  What are the
five lower called, and why ?  What is their use 7  What their ac-
tion 7
  How is the pelvis formed 7   Point it out in the figure.   How
may a general notion of its bones and their uses be formed 7
  What are the bones of the upper extremities ?  Point out the
scapula.   The clavicle.  The  humerus.  The  radius.   The ulna.
The carpal and metacarpal bones.  The phalanges.
  What  is the  scapula?   How is  it familiar to young ladies?
What is its use 7  What is the collar-bone ? What is its chief use ?
Why wanting in the lower animals?
  How is the humerus adapted, and to what is it liable, and why 7
How are the radius and ulna connected 7   What is peculiar  to this
articulation?  How is the  movement of  turning round the hand
effected ?
  Of what do the lower extremities consist ?  Point them  separ-
ately out in the figure. 
376
QUESTIONS.
  How is the thigh-bone ariticulated ?  What does it thus effect 7
How is the thigh-bone compared with the humerus ?
  What is the patella or kneepan 7  What is its use ?  What is
the tibia ? What does its lower end form ?   What is the fibula ?
To what do the tibia and fibula contribute, and how do they com-
pare with the knee ?
  What may be said of the tarsal bones ?  Of what importance
are they to the subject 7
  Of what do bones  consist?  What are the properties of each
kind?
  What does the animal portion constitute according to Berzelius,
and of what does it consist ?  How do the animal and earthy por-
tions vary ?  In infancy ?   In middle life ?  In old age ?
  What is the effect of muriatic acid on the bone, and how is its
animal  constituent procured ? What is the  effect of fire on  the
bone, and how is the  earthy constituent procured ?  What do you
mean by the animal constituent ?   What by the earthy constituent ?
  What important purpose  is served by the different proportions
of the animal and earthy elements of bones ?   In early youth ?  In
middle life 7   In old age 7
  What is the process of the formation of the bone 7 To which
 Eart do the vital  properties essentially belong ?  Why may they
 e said to belong to both ?
  With what organs are all parts of the body provided to carry on
the processes of waste and renovation ?  What is the use of  the
arteries 7  The exhalants 7  The veins 7   The absorbent vessels ?
The nerves ?   What may be said of the bones in these respects 7
•  Prove the fact that the bones are provided with bloodvessels.
With nerves.
  Show by Duhamel's experiments that the bones are provided
with absorbing and exhaling vessels.
  What objection may be raised against this view ?
  What circumstances may be satisfactorily alleged in answer to
such objection ?
  What is the nervous condition of the bones when in  health?
Why ?   In what is the benevolence  of pain manifest when they
are in a fractured state?  What is the habit of surgeons in order
to produce the reunion of broken  bones ?  Apply the principle.
  What other advantage arises from  the vitality of the bones ?
Exemplify this in the case of water in the head.  To what is this
power of adaptation owing?
  How are the same phenomena exhibited in the bones of the
chest ?
  How is the same principle manifest in the diminution of the soft
contents of the osseous cavities?   In the case of the brain 7
  Why does the adaptation of the hard to the soft parts seem im-
probable ?
  Exemplify its reality in the various stages of human existence 7
  By what two processes are bones expanded to suit the exigen-
ces of the several occasions ?  Give illustrations. 
QUESTIONS.
377
  What proportion does the cartilaginous matter bear to the earthy
in bones in early life and old  age, and what different results does
this variation effect 7
  What takes place in the osseous formation in some unhealthy
states of the system?
  What is the practical application to be made of our knowledge
of the constitution of the bones ?  On what does their healthy con-
dition depend 7
  How is the study of an organ or function often rendered incom-
plete 7  In the case of the heart ?   Of the eye ?  Of the bones ?
  What effect is produced in any part of the system if it is deprived
of its natural exercise or action ?   Give an exemplification in the
case of the large artery which supplies the arm with blood.  Of a
muscle.   In the case of the bones.  When the case is not extreme.
What purpose do the bones answer, and what law must they fulfil ?
  What is one  great requisite for the development and  health of
the osseous system ?   How must this be provided for ?  What is
then a second requisite ?
  Why is this indispensable in the case of youth 7  What are the
consequences of the non-fulfilment of this condition?
  How is the wasting effect of action best illustrated ? In the
case of animals?  What is the inference?
   What is the law of the constitution in relation  to this principle?
When the action is momentary ?   When continued ?
   What results from  a partial action of the system 7  How is this
manifest in the muscular system?
   What law, highly important in its practical consequences, regu-
lates the active and inactive  states of the animal functions ?  In
what is  the benevolence of this arrangement manifest?  How is
this obvious principle daily disregarded ?
   How does the law of exercise  apply to the osseous system 7
What natural defects in the bones may be attributed to the neglect
of exercise ^
   Give the testimony of Sir  John  Sinclair in favour of the bene-
fits accruing to the osseous  structure from  the  enjoyment of ex-
ercise.   Give that of Delabere Blaine.  Why do horses early and
hard worked never arrive at  their full size'!
   From what other causes besides inadequate exercise does defec-
tive nutrition  arise ?   Among the  poor?  The rich?  What  are
 the consequences  to both ?
   How may the relative uses of the bones  and  muscles be com-
pared ?  How does this  apply ?  In the case of  infancy ?  In the
 diseased state called mollities ossium ?   In the case of fevers, acute
 diseases, and sudden fright ?
   When is the maturity and  perfection of all organs and functions
 attained ?  Exemplify this at large in the case of the infant.
   Of what practical use is the  knowledge  of this  circumstance
 possessed?  How is  it often perniciously  disregarded by some
 fond parents ?
   What is said of the effects of leading-strings ?
                             Ii2 
378
QUESTIONS.
   What may be said of the indiscriminate use of dumb-bells T
   What is said of the use of stays and the inclined plane ?
   What excuse is given for  the tautology of this and  the  last
chapter 7

                      CHAPTER  VII.

  What is the subject of this chapter?  What is necessary to be
premised ?
  How many different kinds of blood circulate through the body ?
What is the property of the former?   How is it distributed?  What
is the aorta ?  What great change does the blood undergo in its
circulation through its two systems of vessels ?
  What two conditions are essential to the reconversion of venous
into arterial blood ?
  How is  the first condition fulfilled 7  How is the second ?
  Explain the manner in which  respiration effects this reconver-
sion.  Into what do the venous ramifications terminate ?
  What distinction is to be observed between the pulmonary artery
and the pulmonary veins ?  See note.
  What circulations of the blood are  there, and how are they car-
ried on ?  What is the object of the former ?   Of the latter 7
  Why is the function of respiration of pre-eminent importance in
the animal economy ? What  are the particular and more general
meanings  of the term respiration ?  What are the words sanguifica-
tion and aeration used to denote ?
  What influence have the quantity and quality of the blood on the
system ?  Exemplify in the case of quantity.  In the case of quali-
ty.  In consumption.
  Why  is  a knowledge of the structure and functions of the lungs
highly important 7
  How  is exposure of the blood to the action of the air carried on
in man and  the more perfect animals 7  In fishes 7  In  worms ?
Why is this  exposure necessary ?
  Describe the lungs in man.   How do they vary in different per-
sons ?   Point out  the position  of the right and left lungs in the
figure.   Point.out the large bloodvessels going to the superior ex-
tremities.  The liver. What is  the position  of the diaphragm or
midriff?  How is the stomach situated?   Which is the gall-blad-
der?  What is the intestinal canal?   What is its use?   What do
you mean by the peristaltic  or vermicular motion?  What does  it
resemble ?
  Of what does the substance of the lungs consist?   What are
the bronchial tubes ?  The air-cells ?  What is their appearance 7
Their size ?  Their internal structure ?  Their use ?  The extent
of their fining membrane ?
  Does not the lining membrane prevent the  action of the air on
the blood ?  Prove the fact.
  What bloodvessels  do  the lungs possess in common with other
parts, and what are peculiar to themselves ?  What is their use I 
QUESTIONS.
379
  What form the principal part of the structure of the  lungs?
Why are they provided with nerves 7            .
  What is pulmonary exhalation?  How is it earned on7   What
is its use?   How is the air which we breathe vitiated7   What
renders the  breath offensive, and gives to rooms their sickening

Bmin what part does pulmonary absorption take place 7  How does
It operate 7  What are sometimes its effects 7
  What practical advantages may we derive  from the explanation
of the structure and uses of the lungs?   What is the first condi-
tion f  How may this be applied to hereditary transmission of a
constitutional liability to pulmonary disease ?
  Where may instances  be adduced  of these lamentable results?
How might  they be prevented ?  What course shou  d be adopted
by the young under such circumstances ?  For what reason ?
  What is the most frequent source of the more serious forms of
pulmonary disease?  How might medical men be useful in this
case
  To what important fact has Dr. Clark drawn attention on the
subject?  How should this weigh with parents?
  What is the second condition requisite to the well-being of the
lungs and to the free and salutary exercise of respiration?  To
what may the morbid state of the lungs be frequently attributable ?
Tntherwer animals? In the manufacturing population?  Among
the higher classes?  What is the case of butchers?
  What is the third condition?  How  is this impeded?  What
are the consequences?   What are Mr. Thackrah's  calculations
with  respect to the relative pulmonary exhalations of males and
females f To what two causes may be referred the minor quantity

°f Whftmt oeSofthe relative  harmony of  the constituent
parts of the animal frame ? In the case of the muscular system
and the function of respiration?  By what  other means is the
same end greatly facilitated 7  By what else, and for what reason 7
  W^ydoTe depressing passions predispose to  pulmonary con-


SUwffeffecVsP°do ffiSESSUmnf °f ft?£ SStt



ShWhat is * fourth essential condition?   F ^h?^°n ?consist
   What does atmospheric air, when taken into the lungs, consist
of?  What changes has it undergone when expelled .'
   What simultaneous changes occur  m the blooaf
   What  two explanations are  adduced to  account  for  these
changes?  Which explanation is received?  UP™ wha,1 ™ftc,^
all Z sioloiiists agreed ?  What inference may be deduced from it 7
   V  h'a estimates"  have  been made by Sir Humphrey Davy and
 Dr. Menzies of the times and quantity of the human pulmonary
exhalations ? 
380
QUESTIONS.
   What is a low estimate of the inhalation, and how is the vitiation
 of the exhaled air to be calculated ?
   Give illustrations of the evil effects produced by inhaling vitia-
 ted air.  In a mouse.  What is the real cause which produces
 death in hanging ?
   Exemplify the principle by the case of the 146 Englishmen shut
 up in the Black Hole of Calcutta in  1756.
   Relate the incident which occurred in the case of Crabbe the
 poet.
   What other instance is recorded in Walpole's Letters ?
   What practical inferences may be deduced from  these extreme
 cases of atmospheric vitiation 7  What other instances may be ad-
 duced? What reason is there to believe that cases like these oc-
 cur more frequently than is supposed ?
   Is it  necessary to infer that the fatal results in all the above in-
 stances were produced exclusively by the vitiation of the  air 7  Ap-
 ply Dr. Bostock's estimate to the elucidation  of  the  last case.
 What conclusion may be  at any rate admissible?
   What is the testimony of the most  experienced medical officers
 of the army and navy ?  Of Sir George BaLlingall ?  Of  Sir John
 Pringle ?  Of Dr. Jackson 7
   Give another example in the case of the 4th battalion  of Royals
 quartered in Stirling Castle.
   What disease, according to Mr. Carmichael, is produced by im-
 pure air 7  Give his testimony in the case of the prevalence of the
 disease in the Dublin House of Industry.
   What is one great deficiency in the education  of the profes-
 sional  student?  Give an instance of the  truth of this charge.
 How does the case of the  Professorship of Military Surgery in
 the University of Edinburgh become a general caution ?
   How has the renovation of the air served as a preventive against
 disease ?  Mention Sir Walter  Scott's case.  Give  Dr. Joseph
 Clark's testimony.
   What is Mr. Thackrah's testimony with regard to the  first indi-
 cations of pulmonary disease ?  How are they to be accounted for?
   What is the imperceptible yet certain progress of the disease on
 the constitution ?  How is this  ascertained ?  What  is an error
 concerning its cause?
   How is it difficult to impress some persons with a sense of these
 facts ?
   What attention may be expected to be paid to these strictures 7
 What is the testimony of  experience with regard to their truth ?
 What important fallacy did the discussions on the Factory Bili
 detect ?
   To what should our  attention be especially directed  7  What
 difficulty presents itself in persuading  any  rational and instructed
 mind that all care is superfluous 1  What would be the beneficial
 results of greater precautions ?  What instructive proof  have we
 of this?  Give the testimony of Sir John Sinclair.   What is said
of the Roman Athletes?  Of racehorses and gamecocks 7 
QUESTIONS.
381
  Why is necessity for adequate ventilation so urgent in the Brit-
ish manufactories ?   Give Dr. Clark's evidence.  What other
evils to the lungs attend cotton  manufactories, spinning mills
and the work of many trades ?  Why ?
  How does the principle apply to  our construction of houses 7
Of public rooms ?  Of bedrooms 7   What may be observed of bed-
curtains and cow-houses ?
  Give an illustration in the case  of the ill-constructed  public
rooms  in  Edinburgh.  In what do  the evils  of the architecture
consist ?   How does a knowledge of physiology thus show itself
essential ?
  How have these remarks been verified in the lecture-rooms of
Edinburgh?  To what is the nuisance chiefly attributable 7
  How are  they exemplified  also in the case of the two British
Houses of Parliament ?
  Why is the renewal  of the  air more particularly required in
houses lighted  with  gas?  What plan of ventilation should be
adopted in them 7
  What may be observed in the ventilation of churches  and
schools ?   What are  its effects in  the close of the afternoon ser-
vice ?
  What is said of the ventilation of churches during the winter?
  What instructive incident was experienced by the author in the
case of an imperfectly ventilated schoolroom ?
  To what reflections did his observations give rise?   What con-
firmed him  in these views ?   To what  may the effects produced
by confinement in an ill-ventilated apartment be compared 7   What
are its  chief effects according to Orfila ?
  Mention the case related in the note to  prove the salutary  ef-
fect attending the occasional  relaxation of scholars and the ven-
tilation of their schoolroom.
  What other illustrative incident of had ventilation  in a church
occurred to the notice of the author ?
  What is one of  the evils  of ignorance? How has this been
universally manifest, time out of  mind, in deficient  ventilation 7
What has science failed to effect in one case, while it has been
provident in  another ?  In what is the inconsistency of ventilating
only hospitals manifest?  What would be the effect of making
physiology a part of a liberal education ?
  What detrimental  effects were occasioned by the  influence of
vitiated air in a printing establishment ?   What  beneficial improve-
ments  were  introduced  into the apartments?  Upon what natu-
ral principle did this benefit depend ?   How did it act upon  the
workmen ?   In another instance ?  What caution  should be ob-
served  in introducing free ventilation ?  What diseases may be
produced by extreme draughts of air?  Give some instances.
  What admirable  expedient for ventilation has been adopted in
the surgical  wards  of the Edinburgh Infirmary ?
  What is Mr. Perkins's invention for the warming and ventilation
of houses and buildings ? 
382
QUESTIONS.
   How does this admirably succeed  in Mr. Cadell's establish
 ment?
   How can the benefit of Mr. Perkins's apparatus be carried to any
 extent 7
   Whac are the chief merits of his plan?   How is it safe and ef-
 ficient under all circumstances?   How does the attention paid
 by the Russians  to warmth and ventilation compare with other
 nations?
   What subject for consideration does the intimate relation be-
 tween the functions of the skin and those of the  lungs introduce ?
   What are the true sources of animal heat ?  Of what importance
 is its regular production ?   Why ?   In winter 7   In summer 7 In
 cholera ?
   What relation has the production of animal heat with the state
 of the respiratory functions ?   How is this evinced 7
   By  what rule and in what  case is  animal heat the highest 7
 How is the rule carried out in other instances ?
   What next condition affects the production of animal heat ?  Il-
 lustrate the case in depression of mind. In exhalation.
   What are other important conditions?   What appropriate ex-
 ample is  mentioned by Franklin, Parry, and  Richardson?  How
 may this proposition be evinced ?   What phenomena may this ex-
 plain ?
   What else produces and what obstructs the development of an
 imal heat 7   How does exercise produce it 7
   What rule ought we to observe  in  attempting to increase the
 power of resistance to cold? How does the power of this resist-
 ance vary ?  What influence has the want or supply of adequate
 food on this resistance ?  Exemplify.
  What influence has clothing in producing animal heat ?  To
 what is its failure in producing the desired warmth attributable ?
 What are sometimes the effects of feather beds on animal heat ?
 How should a feather bed be used 7
  What sufferings are produced by confining young people for any
 length of time in rooms insufficiently heated?  What rules ought
 to be observed to afford them comfortable warmth ?  What plea
is set up in defence of an opposite practice ?   Show its fallacy.
  What caution should be observed in heating rooms and public
 halls ? For what reason ?   What is the  practice on Continental
 Europe ?
  What subject  with respect  to the  lungs remains now to be
 treated ?
  In what respect is a judicious exercise of the lungs necessary 7
 How should it be governed ?
  By what two methods may the lungs be exorcised ?  What ex-
 ercises are most serviceable when the object is their improvement 7
  How should these be practised  when the chest is unusally
 weak from hereditary predisposition 7
  Show how habitual exercise  in a hilly country has a powerful 
QUESTIONS.
383
tendency to improve  the wind and strengthen the lungs?  How
was this fact experienced in the case of the author ?
  With what cautions is the foregoing exercise to be undertaken 7
In what case is it particularly advantageous ?
  How far may these exercises be carried with profit ?   What ef-
fects do they produce ?  What is the evidence of Jackson on the
subject, and how far is it to be received ?
  What position of the body is unfavourable to the expansion of
the lungs ?                                   .             .
  In what does direct exercise of the lungs consist ?  How tar is
it of value in these cases ?  Under what circumstances may it be
highly beneficial ?  What preventive  measure is recommended by
Dr. Clark ?                                 L            ,_,.
   What effect have crying and laughing on the system?  Why
should the latter be encouraged ?  What is an incident before re-
lated ?  How does it bear on the present occasion ?
   What farther influence does the direct exercise of the lungs ex-
ert upon the anatomy of the human  structure ?  Relate the whole
process according to the figure.  How do the other functions of
the body suffer when this exercise is neglected ?
   In what light are we to view the practice of loud recitations in
schools and of singing in infant schools ?  How may the efficacy
of these exercises be improved?
   What precautions are to be observed m the  practice or direct
exercise of the lungs ?  How is the system to be prepared for it ?
What inconvenience frequently occurs to young preachers from
neglect of these preparations?            ■  ■„,.*••>  m *
   What is said of the illustrious Cuvier  in illustration ?  What
conditions  must not be overlooked in the  appUcation of  these

PrlTo what other obvious rule does the same principle lead?  Il-
 lustrate.  In  what cases ought not the lungs  to be exercised?
 When is it  difficult to convince the  patient of this ?  Relate an in-
 stance in point.                    .
   Why should violent exercise be avoided during the active stages
 of cold?  What apparent inconsistency is explained on  this  prin-

 C1?ln what stage of recovery from disease is  exercise to be bene-
 ficially resumed ?  What is the error of parents in this respect I
   Why should sudden transitions to a different state of  atmo-
  sphere be avoided 7  By what expedient?  Why?
    Which is the most important time of life to a person predisposed
  to consumption?  For what reasons ? Why ought the health of
  the physical  system to be then attended to ?  What mental phe-
  nomena occur during this period?  How is the deficiency after-
  ward compensated ?                       .               _,
    What course should be pursued under such circumstances'.   I o
  prevent what effects ?               ...   ,, .     ■ i  r uf~i
    What has been too much neglected during this period ot lile f
  What would be the results of proper care 7 
384
QUESTIONS.
   What evils arise to the young from their being left in entire ig-
 norance of the structure and uses of the different organs of their
 own bodies ?
   What is the character of the age between seventeen and twen-
 ty-four ?  How is the accuracy of these statements incontroverti-
 bly established ?  Give some results from Count Chabrol's Sta-
 tistical Researches for the year 1819.
   Give similar results for the years 1820 and 1821.
   What do the above  results prove, and what useful lessons do
 they teach ?   What ought the combined testimony deduced from
 the changes in a  million of people to establish 7
   How is the earlier maximum of mortality in the male sex, espe-
 cially in cities, to be explained?  Where is the means of their
 destruction first learned 7
   What course of management may be observed with regard to
 those who are predisposed to consumption or weakness of chest 7
 What is the consequence of too much attention being paid to mere
 intellectual education 7
   What work may be satisfactorily consulted with regard to con-
 sumption and scrofula ?

                      CHAPTER  VIII.

   Of what is the nervous system composed  in man and the higher
 order of animals ?  What is the subject of the present chapter ?
   What is the brain ?   Of what is it the seat and centre 7
   What is the structure of the brain ?  What are its principal di-
 visions?  What is  the dura  mater?  The  cerebrum?  The convo-
 lutions ?  How are these represented in the figure 7  What does
 G G represent?  What are  the two hemispheres of  the brain?
 What is the/air or falciform process ?  What is its chief purpose 7
   How is  each hemisphere divided?  Where is  the  anterior lobe
 situated ?  The middle lobe ?  The posterior lobe 7
   What  is the tentorium ?   The cerebellum ?  What  is the pia
 mater ?  What is its appearance when a little inflamed 7 Of what
 use is this minute subdivision?
   What is the arachnoid membrane ?
  What may be observed of the convolutions of different brains ?
 Of the  same brain ?   Exemplify.  What is the medulla oblongata ?
 What has been considered the connexion between the brain and
spinal marrow?  What is the true connexion?
   Describe the character and position of the nerves of the brain.
The olfactory nerve. The optic nerve.   The  motor nerve.  The
Pons Varolii.   What is  the use  of this?   Describe  the auditory
nerve.   The  pneumogastric nerve.  What is its importance and
influence ?
  What other nerves are there, and how do they arise ?
  What is said of the blood of the brain and its circulation ?
  What is agreed upon by most physiologists with regard to the
functions of the different parts of the brain?  In what do  they 
QUESTIONS.
385
disagree ?  What is  the opinion of all physiologists and philoso.
phers 7  What  is the anterior lobe  considered to be by a large
majority 7  What is the brain, by nearly universal consent, con-
sidered  to be the seat of?
  How  do many animals stand  in relation to man with respect to
their nervous system?  What is the property of  a  single organ?
What is the doctrine of the Edinburgh Review with regard to the
multiplication of the nervous mass?
  What does the constant relation between mental power  and
development of brain explain ?   Give an example.   Another.   To
what laws is every mental operation subject?  Give an instance.
Its  practical application in opposite cases.   What is the state of
the ignorance of teachers on the subject of physiology?
  What has been said in answer to the above practical application
of the organic laws?  How  far is this true, and yet no exception
to the general statement of the case ?  Give the reasons.
  How  may the necessity for a long vacation of idleness be obvia-
ted?  Give  an  illustration.  How would absence of exertion be
irksome in both cases?
  How  must mind and brain be distinguished 7   Illustrate this in
the case of the  eye.
  How  are they inseparable 7   Show how the mind and brain re-
ciprocate their influences.
  If the mind and brain are thus closely associated, what becomes
the object of primary importance in education 7
  What is the first condition  of the healthy action of the brain,
and why 7  Illustrate the case.
  In what case of minor importance may this  hereditary influ-
ence be evinced ?  If the defect be on the mother's side ?  When
both parents are descended from tainted parents ?  Why is hered-
itary predisposition a more usual cause of nervous  disease among
the aristocratic families of the old countries 7
  Why is hereditary predisposition  more particularly to be dread-
ed  7  How  is safety to be found, and the rule to be practically ap-
plied 7
  What else besides hereditary predisposition exerts an influence
on  the  mental character and health of offspring ?  What is the
testimony of M. Esquirol 7  In the case  of the French revolution?
In  one  remarkable instance ?  In the case of James VI. ?  In the
case of a young lady 7
  What is Dr.  Caldwell's testimony and advice 7  What precau-
tions ought to be taken 7  What is the evil of a contrary custom ?
What are the observations of the Margravine of Anspach?
   What is  the second condition  required for the health of the
brain ?   What are the extreme effects arising from differences in
the quality of the blood ?   Give instances of two opposite extremes.
   What effects are produced by slighter variations in the quality
 of  the  blood 7  In what instances are these commonly evinced 7
 Why is the operation of the principle in these cases indisputable ?
 Why is it not  real debility which  produces them 7  What ongi-
                             Kk 
386
QUESTIONS.
 nates nervous disease and delicacy of constitution more common-
 ly than is imagined ?
   Why are the beneficial results from intermissions in school hours
 to be ascribed to the same principles ?  See note.
   What condition requisite for the health of the brain is implied
 in the preceding?  How does starvation or inadequate nutrition
 affect the brain ?   What does defective nutrition often depend on 7
 What  is the frequent consequence of insufficient food among the
 poor?
  What is the third condition of health in the brain and nervous
 system?
  How does the brain compare with other organs of the body in
 respect to exercise ?  If it be doomed to inactivity ?  If it be deeply
 exercised 7  If it be overtasked ?
  What is to be first explained ?
  What is the consequence of disuse in other organs already men-
 tioned ?  How does the same principle apply  to the brain ?  Why
 is this not surprising ?
  What renders  solitary confinement so severe a punishment to
 the most daring minds 7   How is this also the case in continuous
 seclusion from society 7   Mention the hard position of governesses
 in families, and its effects upon them.  The case of those who
 are cut off from  social  converse  by any bodily infirmity.  For
 what reason 7  What is  the inevitable result 7
  How is this fact particularly observed among the deaf and blind 7
 What is Andral's  testimony  to this fact ?   How does he depict
 the situation and character of the deaf and dumb ?  Are the deaf
 and dumb to be considered inferior in mind to other men 7   What
 are the cautions of Miss Harriet  Martineau to her  deaf fellow-
 sufferers 7
  To what conclusion may we reasonably come from the  above
 facts ?   What demonstrative evidence have we of this position ?
  What examples of mental and nervous debility may we find in
 society, arising from want of objects of interest upon which  to ex-
 ercise the mental faculties ?   What are the specific effects on the
 tone of the brain and mind 7   Why does the  mind shrink within
 itself, and centre all its exertions in home?
  How is the mind called out from such a state of things ?   What
 is the effect of the change 7  What is the real cause of this effect 7
  What example may be adduced  in confirmation of these views?
Mention a particular instance  of a  young military officer.
  Who are the most frequent victims of this kind of predisposition
to derangement ?  From what causes?  How do their opinions be-
come affected ? What is the  result to the brain ?  Ultimately to
the mind ?
  What diseases arise from  irritability of the brain ?   How 7  In
what manner is this provided? Give a common instance.  Apply
the principle.   What other instance may be adduced?
  Give an additional illustration.
  What is one great evil attending the absence of some  impera- 
QUESTIONS.
387
live employment to exercise the mind and brain?   To what in
stability and kind of indulgences does it give rise ?  What defence
is set up for these indulgences7  In what is its fallacy evident?
  What is  the true remedy for these  evils ?  To what does the
patient have recourse ?  What should  be his proper resource ?
  From what other cause do evils arise to the brain 7  By what
may this be exemplified?
  What analogy do these phenomena  bear to the brain ?   What
is the only difference ?  In what particular cases has even this
difference been removed and the analogy been verified ?  Relate
the case detailed by Sir Astley Cooper.  That of Dr. Caldwell.
  What expedient might be adopted to invigorate the mental op-
erations?   What proof have we of this effect. 7  What confirms
it ?   State  the case of a senator at Washington. Of a member of
the House.   Of a member of the law of Transylvania.  How may
the cases of Whitbread, Romilly, Castlereagh, and Canning be
explained ?
  At what particular time of life is excessive and continued men-
tal  exertion hurtful?  In what  is the analogy here  complete?
What is the case of scrofulous  and rickety children?  What is
the cause of their early promise and their subsequent disappoint-
ment ?  How should they be treated?
  What guide do the necessities of the constitution advise in re-
gard to precocious and dull children ?   What is the usual course 7
What is the consequence of the error?
  What is Dr. Brigham's testimony on the subject ?
  To what does he ascribe the error of the infant school system 1
Where is this more especially prevalent?   In what  may it be ex-
hibited ?
  What facts in American schools does  Dr. Brigham adduce in
illustration of his arguments 7
  What is the state of the  case in Great Britain ?  What relation
does physical  there bear to mental exercise ?   Adduce a case in
proof of the fatal results.
  How has it been customary to treat the fatal effects produced
by  this pernicious  system ?  What is the case mentioned  by Dr.
 Brigham ?  What purpose ought it to serve ?  What would ren-
der infant schools excellent institutions?   What  is Wilderspin's
plan ?   What is the state of some schools 7
   What is the source of much mischief in schools 7  Why should
 the occupations of the young  be varied, and frequent intervals of
 active exercise be allowed in  the open air 7  How does the pres-
 ent system fail 7   What other besides mental operations has  the
 body to perform 7
   To what lamentable effects of excessive mental activity in young
 men has ignorance of the organic laws given rise 7
   Adduce  instances from  the American Annals of  Education, of
 the evils arising from the unnatural union of sedentary with stu-
 dious habits.
   What better system of training has been introduced  to remedj 
388
QUESTIONS.
 these evils!  Describe its plan.   What have been the results?
 What is the remarkable language of the Report 7  What is Dr.
 Fellenburg's plan 7
   What is a common case and consequence of an excessive and
 continued excitement  >\  the brain ?   What  is the case  of Sir
 Humphrey Davy ?  What were his extraordinary habits and in-
 dulgences ?
   To what predisposing causes are fever and death often  the ef-
 fect, more than the intensity of the fever itself?
   Under what other form does nervous  disease from excessive
 mental labour and exaltation of feeling sometimes show itself?
   Why should  moderation in mental exertion be more observed
 as age advances?
   How does the fate of Sir Walter Scott occur as an illustration
 of this truth?
   What takes place from excessive mental exertion where a pre-
 disposition to insanity  exists? Mention  the case  recorded  by
 Pinel.
   In whom, according to Tissot, do disorders produced by the ef-
 forts of the mind fall the soonest ?  What is his reason 7   What
 was the case of Boerhaave ?
   What field lies open for examples  in this case 7  Who may be
 adduced as an  instance in addition to Davy and  Scott?   What
 reasons may be assigned ?   Upon what classes of persons do ner-
 vous disorders  most frequently fall?  What  is said of Gretrv?
 Of Weber ?                                               J
   What is the  reason that even educated people cannot assign
 the real  causes of their nervous diseases 7  Relate the case of a
 young Christian.  With what reflections  and  course of conduct
 ought his case to be improved by ministers of the Word ?

                      CHAPTER IX.

  What is to be taken into consideration in this chapter7
  What is a law of the animal economy ?  What is hence the rule ?
Give an illustration   What are the worst forms of indigestion and
nervous depression ?  What are the circumstances of the  case i
In whom is this fact experienced?   Why are  they insensible to
it ?  How is this organic law observed in dogs and horses i
  What is the practice observed by some classes of people and in
the United States?  How is the objection, arising from this  prac-
tice,  answered ?  When do the bad effects of indigestion  show
themselves?  To what  is  the extreme prevalence of dyspeptic
complaints among Americans  partly owing?  What is Dr Cald
well's testimony ?
  What are the evils arising from studious application  towards
the period of night?  At what separate times should the severer
and lighter studies be engaged in ?  For what reason f  To whom
is  this rule especially important?  What was  Sir W  Scott's
practice ? 
QUESTIONS.
389
  Who may be exceptions to the general rule, and what may be
observed with regard to them ?
  What is periodicity, and what is it the characteristic of?  What
does it hence require ?  What examples have we of this periodi-
city ?  What is its tendency 7
  What  organic law is brought into operation in our acquiring
readiness and forming  habits ?   By what change is this effected ?
How does the organ of mind compare with the organs of motion?
  What  is  little adverted to in mental and moral  education?
Why ?   What is necessary to induce facility of action in the or-
gans of  the mind?  In what manner?  How does this apply to
servants ?  To reading ?
  How ought the principle of repetition to regulate the continua-
tion of our studies ?  In schools ?
  How is this principle familiar to us in physical education?  To
what should it hence be applied 7
  How does the same principle apply in the cultivation of our
manners  ?  How should  parents be governed in respect to  their
children?
   How does the same principle apply to the cultivation of morals ?
 Give an illustration.   Another in an opposite case.
   What differences arise from this source 7  In the case of the
 negro ?
   What is  the next rule to be observed in the cultivation of the
 brain and mental faculties ?  Illustrate.
   What ought not to be forgotten as to the subject of education?
 How is this readily admitted in the external senses, but altogether
 denied or neglected in the internal ?   In what is the inconsistency
 manifest ?
    What reformation would a general acquaintance with the laws
 of organization effect ?  In what would the merest savage surpass
 the philosopher ?   Give a full illustration.
    How are we to turn to account the physical and mental organs
 which God has given us ?
    What occurred  to the author after the publication  of the third
 edition  of his work ?  What important question was  put to him,
 and what did it elicit?
    Why is physiology  first among the subjects which  is important
 for teachers, as professional men, to be acquainted with?
    Why is the muscular system an example ?
    Apply this principle to the exercise of a bodily power ?
    How does the same principle precisely hold for the training of
  the mental powers ?
    How does it apply  to moral education ?
    What are the instances in which the love of approbation exem-
  plifies this principle ?
    How might it also be exemplified in the case of  our sense of
  justice, if exercised in its proper organ?
    In the case of religion ?
                             Kk2 
390
QUESTIONS.
   Why should one or several faculties not be cultivated to the ex-
 clusion of the rest 7
   What is the proper course to be taken to produce moral excel-
 lence in the young?
   How does the training of the moral and religious compare with
 that of the intellectual faculties in the best directed establishments
 and private families, and  for what  reasons?   What is its condi-
 tion therein ?  How do sentiments act, and even in a stupid child ?
 What is one of the most effectual methods of  cultivating and ex-
 citing  the moral feelings  of children 7  By  what considerations
 may this  rule be enforced, or, rather, on what  occasions has this
 rule been inconsistently violated ?
   With what qualifications are the preceding strictures on teach-
 ers and conducters of boarding-schools to be received ?
   What other delinquencies have come to the notice of the author,
 on the part of boarding school keepers, which have operated preju-
 dicially to the moral training in the young?  .
   With what feelings are these practices met in the first instance 7
 What plea has been set up  in defence of them 7  How is  it an-
 swered ?
   What other immoral  and disgraceful practice exists in  many
 seminaries?   Why is it so ?
   What excuse has been sometimes offered in justification of this
 practice 7  How is it answered ?
   Give some specimen of the above practice.   See note.
   What similar practice  once existed  between physicians and
 apothecaries ?
   To what, are such delinquencies in teachers to be attributed, and
 how may they be remedied ?
   With what  limitations is the above censure  to be received?
   What is necessary to be kept in mind with regard to the  moral
 sentiments ?   How is benevolence strongly excited ?  How should
 it be ordinarily exercised ?  How  does the cultivation of this fac-
 ulty compare with the cultivation  of some intellectual or physical
 faculties ?  How should the attention paid to the latter be extend-
 ed to higher sentiments?  What are the objects of benevolence,
 and what should be its extent ?
   What other moral principle should be cultivated ?   What is its
 nature, value,  and use?
   How far are these illustrations sufficient?
   Why is the exclusive use of book-education as a means of con-
 veying instruction unnatural and inefficient?   How is this exem-
 plified ?
   What is M.  Duppa's testimony  on this subject?  What  habit
 renders a  man intelligent and judicious?  What is the evidence
 of a contrary state of mind being generally prevalent ?  What is
 the reason ?   Why have they not the habit ?
   How are the observing powers to be directly cultivated 7   What
 is the contrary opinion ?
   What is therefore wanted in a system of education  in harmony
with the mental constitution? 
QUESTIONS.
391
  What serious obstacle to entering upon the exercise here rec-
ommended presents itself 7  How is it often injudiciously treated 7
With what proper remedy should it be immediately met?  How

b Why'have'the doctrines of phrenology not been alluded to in the
orecedmcr pages ?   What is the author's opinion upon that subject ?
P wSlmportant influence has been already noticed, and now

dTh"%^°pnhenomena and nature. «f -the = ^or^
fluence ?  What is all that can be said of it ?  Give an illustration

°f What effect have the changes in the quality or amount of the
nervous Lfluence on any organ?  Give some instances of these

CwfaL"dlogou?tS                             . for
  When is the quality of the nervous influence the best, and for
what reason"  What ought to be our great aim, and why7
  How doThe efforts of the nervous influence vary 7 When is it
the mosfgrateM and efficient ?  From what wise arrangement of

^WheTrs'the sttmulus far from beneficial? Why?   What is

^Howdoes over-exercise of the intellect and inactivity of the
feehnls effecUheVame I  What is the case of persons so situated ?

^it S^oftS ESsudden emotions ope,











 g"8f^T^J^&f^s in curative measures?  What

 is the reason?                    f   •  d on t^e health exem-

 ^iSzSS^Sntt5" M«sta,1's -"-'•




 proved bv regular practitioners >  vv nai are oagu
    Give another.remarkable instance.        aiieviate the sick ?
    How does the  kind vis.t of  a friendIota a^ate ^

  WHrdtr in=ce oK^guS and wel.-educated activ 
 392                   QUESTIONS.

 jty in the moral and intellectual faculties on the health compare
 with that of active and boisterous passions ?  How is this illus-
 trated by Dr. Caldwell in the case of the signers of the Declara-
 tion of Independence ?  In the case of mathematicians?  Ofpoets?
   From what causes does a visit to a watering-place or a journey
 through an interesting country tend to the healthy excitement of
 the bodily functions?  What attention has been paid to this prin-
 ciple in the medical departments of  the army and navy ?  In the
 exploring expeditions to the northern regions 7
   What  important  practical rule does  this naturally suggest?
 Where are other apposite illustrations to be met with 7

                      CHAPTER X.

   What is to he considered in this chapter ?
   In how many different lights may bad health be regarded?
 What is the first 7  What  is the second 7  What is the third ?
   What are the practical  results, if the first be the truth ?   If the
 second be true ?  If the third be true ?
   How far does the strictest observance of the moral laws and the
 purest devotion contribute to the preservation of  health ?   What
 proof have we of this position ?
   How far is the second proposition tenable 7  How far untenable 7
   How far is the third view in accordance with observation and
 past experience 7
   What facts with regard to mortality among infants may be ex-
 hibited in proof of the truth of this view ?   State them.
   How do the different rates of mortality in  crowded cities and
 country villages equally demonstrate its truth ?
  How has the  progress of knowledge and the increasing ascen-
dency of reason tended to show the same truth 7
   How has it been shown in the case of the smallpox ?
   How in the case of ague 7
   How does the present condition of seamen in maritime expedi-
tions, when compared with their former lot, show it?
   Relate the case of Commodore Anson in  illustration.   What
 does it show?
   What took place afterward on the voyage ?
   What is particularly to be observed in the above case, as cor-
roborative of the  author's views ?  How was  the distemper, ac-
cording to the testimony of the writer, considerably augmented ?
   What is the case of the Spanish squadron which sailed nearly
 at the same time 7  How does  this  compare with some  late ex-
peditions ?
   What case may admit of a fairer comparison with that of Anson 7
 What wholesome precautions did Captain Cook take for the health
 of h is men ?
   Show the beneficial results of  these precautions to the health
 of his men in the course of the  narrative.
   How are the cases of the Resolution and Adventure  to  be com-
 pared With that of the Centurion ? 
QUESTIONS.
393
  What was the success of Captain Cook's admirable care and
unwearied watchfulness ?  What is said of Lord Nelson ?
  How is the case of the Fury and ffectem point?
  In what particularities were all the conditions of health attend-
ed to in these Northern Expeditions?
  To what three causes may the extraordinary prevalence of dis-
ease at the Penitentiary of Milbank be attributed ?            .
  How far are these causes proved by subsequent changes and in-

qUWhat is Dr. Latham's testimony in the case 7
  What would probably have been the fate of the crews of Cook,
or Ross ^d Parry, if they had been left to undergo the ordinary
vicissitudes of life at home 7  To what practical reflections does

thXe other case is adduced by Dr. James Johnson  which il-
lustrates those fatal effects of ignorance, which a little knowledge
in nhvsiolo<>-v would have frustrated ?            ....
  Whal where the fatal maladies brought on, and to what were

th WhafdsetSiaes  the lungs suffered in this case 7
  What would easily have prevented these disastrous results 7
  What beneficial effects has increased attention to the organic
laws proceed?  In  England and Wales ?   In London? In Man-

^fffoiri.!  Russia?  UnitedStates?  InSouth

AThatamaynbePorbserved of the great disparity of results obtained

inH^hSriSp£Thowe«r, established even by many of the
Continental  returns?   What  do  these  statements sufficiently

Pr0VVhat error has been common with regard to the simple food
   , f  /TiitVnf  the Door'   How  s the reverse actually the
catS^n France°?  In Con?   What is Mr. Marshall's  tes-

li wKI imnortant considerations does the corresponding dispro-
   What important com-i           ,it  m the  dlfferent classes of







 ™&£ ElSonof ehokm to the Bri.ish Mes be c«. 
394
QUESTIONS.
Providence, nevertheless act as if the Creator intended the health
of the race to depend on the laws of organization ?
   What cases are there in which many individuals suffer from
nearly unavoidable causes?  How do the number of these com-
pare with those whose health has been ruined by causes capable
of removal or modification ?  What important truth is here stated ?
What important remark repeated?
  How far may the influence of habit, in rendering situations and
causes comparatively innocuous, which were at first dangerous,
operate 7
  How do sudden and gradual changes respectively  influence the
system ?  What is the consequence of a sudden transition from a
hot to a cold climate, or vice versa?
  What of a change from a healthy situation to one only a little
less favourable ?  In what axiom do these facts terminate 7
  How ought the argument for the adaptation of the constitution
to circumstances be turned?
  How far have advances in  physiological knowledge and prac-
tice of late years been successful or deficient ?  In what does the
difficulty of illustration in the latter case consist ?
  What practice observed  in the army may be adduced in illus-
tration ?
  How is it physiologically irrational ?  What are the statements
of Mr. Finlayson and  Count Chabrol?
  How are these results to be viewed in connexion with the laws
of animal economy iu  time of peace?  What is Mr. Marshall's
testimony ?  What is that of Coche 7
  How are these results to be viewed in time of war ?  How does
this apply  in the case of the  army in Spain, according to Sir
James Mac Grigor?
  What is the evidence of Marshall in the case of a French army ?
What is the testimony of Bonaparte 7
  How is this circumstance illustrated in the East India service ?
What is Sir George Ballingal's evidence ?
  How does Mr. Marshall support his positions?
  What is Dr. Davies's asseverations ?   Why should recruits not
be enlisted  at so early an age ?  What is the cause of this erro-
neous practice 7
  Why has this topic been so long dwelt upon by the author 7
  Why is the author compelled to pass over other practices in
which public or private health is concerned ?

                      CHAPTER  XI.

  What has been the  design of the preceding chapters 7 What n
the design of this? Why do this class of sufferers stand in need
of attention 7
  What is the condition of the nervous and insane? What are
the consequences of proper attention not being paid to the subject 
QUESTIONS.
395
of insanity?  What similar treatment has the nervous disease met
with 7  What  prevents the correction of these evils?
  What is deficient on physiological principles in the state and
condition of public and private asylums?   How far are they ser-
viceable i.   What is said of their active moral treatment ?  Why
is it necessary 7   What is hence an object of extreme importance
in establishments for the insane ?
  Why is the importance of mental and bodily occupation not ex-
aggerated 7  Yet what is the case in the majority of asylums?
  What becomes indispensable in the treatment of this unhappy
class of persons?  From  what considerations  arising from  our
knowledge of the muscular structure 7 Of the structure of the
skin?  Of the functions of the lungs?  Of the nature of the mind?
What hence are the inevitable demands of the case ?
  By what qualifications are these strictures to be limited 7
  What is a deplorable mistake with regard  to the feelings of the
insane ?  What rarely fail  in the treatment  of the insane when
calmly persevered  in?  What hence becomes of inconceivable
importance ?  What has been the general  remark with regard to
keepers of  asylums?  What does this suggest?   What maxim
has become every day more evident ?
  How do  the above observations apply to the several stages of
the disease ?  How should these be respectively treated ?
  What should then be our grand  aim in the construction and
management of public and private asylums ?
  How should the means of mental and bodily exercise be planned
for the insane ?  What would render it more pleasant, more per-
severed in, and more salubrious to the individual ?  What would
this latter condition tend  greatly to effect ?  What employment
would be  best adapted to produce the desired effect, and why
would not walking or riding be sufficient ?
  What should form part of an insane establishment m order to-
further these views ?  How have such additions  to the asylums
for the insane proved beneficial ?                          .
   What is the particular  character of man as a social being 7
How far does disease operate upon this character 7   How far may
this be turned to advantage in lunatic asylums ?
   How may the patients of a higher class be profitably employed?
 How ought the talents of the patient to be made available ?
    What is a great desideratum in asylums dedicated to the middle
 and higher classes of society ?  What benefits  would accrue from
 this plan?  What may be an obstacle to its adoption?   Through
 what kind of channels might this obstacle be removed 7  Illustrate

    What striking analogy has Pinel observed  with regard to the
 treatment of the insane?  What are eminently  useful in both
 situations 7   When are they productive of the fullest advantages ?
    Where is an establishment for the insane, endowed with attend-
  ants of the description desired, to be found?   How has the  fre-
  quent admission of visiters in some  measure supplied the dencien- 
396
QUESTIONS.
cy 7  What is said of the Connecticut Retreat ?  Why should the
deficiency be made known?
  Why are the higher classes of lunatics, as matters now stand,
the most unfortunate of all ? How is the deficiency very imper-
fectly supplied ?
  What is the  case of the  poorer patients ?  Why are they less
sensible of the change 7
  From what has experience shown that great benefit is derived ?
  Why is this subject of importance to the general reader as well
as to the professional man 7 Why is the knowledge on this sub-
ject, when confined to medical men, productive of no good effects ?
  How may the justness of the author's strictures be best vindi-
cated ?
  Give an illustration of the defects of the present system in the
cases of the City Asylum for the Poor in Edinburgh and the West
Church Charity Workhouse.
  Give, as a contrast, an illustration of the Middlesex County Asy-
lum at Hanwell.  Why is it to be preferred to the excellent insti-
tutions at Perth, Dundee, and Glasgow?
  In what respects does the establishment at Hanwell benefit from
the superintendence of Sir William and Lady Ellis ?  How does
Miss H. Martineau confirm the author's representations, and  in
what does she err 7  What is the real state of the case ?■  In what
condition are the twojreat institutions of Bethlem and St. Luke's ?
  What is the state of the Edinburgh Pauper Asylum ?
  How does the Hanwell Asylum compare with that of Edinburgh 7
  What is the defective state of the Edinburgh Asylum?
  What is a common condition of health to the insane as well  as
sane ?  How do the institution at  Hanwell and others similarly
managed act in subservience to this condition?
  What defects exist in many private asylums which urgently de-
mand improvement?  With regard to ventilation 7  Why is this
a serious  evil 7  With regard to cleanliness ?  With regard  to
occupation and  employment  of the mind?  What injudicious
course has been followed in this respect ?  Upon what fatal mis-
take is this treatment founded ?
  How has Esquirol, in his private establishment, acted in this
respect ?  Detail at length  the  excellence and suitableness of all
his arrangements.   Why are  the French more successful than
the English in procuring suitable attendants ?  How far,  accord-
ing to Esquirol, does gaining the confidence of the lunatic patient
go to his cure ?  What is the value of this opinion 7
  What is the progressive course of treatment which  Esquirol
adopts?  How may the necessity of adopting  influential moral
active  treatment be conclusively shown ?
  In what light are the author's strictures on the Pauper Asylum
of Edinburgh to be received ? 
INDEX.
 Absorbent power of the skin, 62 ; of the lungs, 185.
 Ague, why less prevalent in Britain now than formerly, 314.
 Air, pure, necessary for health, 26, 30, 191, et seq.   Why warm
     and moist air so oppressive and unwholesome, 60.   Effect
     of moist air  upon the Dutch, 66.  Contagion prevented by
     its warmth and dryness, 67.  Its chymical composition, 191.
 American Annals of Education quoted, 263.
 Americans deficient in cleanliness, 84.   Much troubled by indiges-
     tion from neglecting repose after meals, 273.
 Anatomy ought not to be separated from physiology, 36.
 Andral quoted on the mental condition of the deaf and dumb, 248.
 Animal heat.   See Heat.
 Animate and inanimate bodies distinguished, 21.
 Anson's voyage round the world, causes of the extraordinary dis
     ease and mortality during, 314.
 Anspach, Margravine of, quoted on the regulation of the tem
     per during pregnancy, 243.
 Architects often err from ignorance of physiology, 205, 209.
 Armstrong quoted on beneficial exercise, 125.
 Attitude ought to be frequently varied, 115.

 Baglivi quoted on the influence of the conversation of physicians
     on the health of their patients, 306.
 Ballingall, Sir George, quoted on the necessity of ventilating hos-
     pitals, 196; on the comparative health of soldiers in garrison
     and during a campaign, 304; on the mortality of young re-
     cruits, 335.
Barlow, Dr., on the neglect of muscular exercise in boarding-
     schools, 117,118.
Bateman, Dr., quoted, 70.
Bathing, in what cases beneficial, 76.  Recommended, 83.  Warm,
    cold, and shower baths, 85.  Tepid or warm bath generally
    best, 86.   Time for  bathing, 87.  Vapour and hot-air baths,
    88, 89.  Fear of catching cold after warm bath groundless,
    88.  Warm bath not weakening, 91.  Useful in nervous dis-
    eases, 91, 92.
Bedclothes, airing of, 81.  Ventilation of bedrooms, 203.  Soft
    feather-beds improper, 216.
Bell, Sir Charles, his discoveries respecting the muscular nerves;
     112.
                              Li 
INDEX.
Belzoni's great muscular power, 111.
Benevolence, education of that sentiment, 295.
Birds, heat of their blood, 214.
Black Hole of Calcutta, 193.
Blaine, Delabere, quoted, 54.
Blistering of the hands in labour, 44.           ,„,,_, ,on   T
Blood, its circulation increased by exercise, 103,104,171,189.   In
    what manner, 131.  Its circulation described, 178.  Conditions
    of healthy state of the blood, 179.   An ample supply of good
    blood necessary for the health of the  lungs, 187.  Influence
    of its condition upon  the brain, 244.
Boarding-schools, stinted diet in some, 104.  Inadequate muscu-
    lar exercise at, 117.   Injudicious times at which exercise is
    taken at, 138.   Often insufficiently warmed, 217.  Malprac-
    tices in, 230.   Meanness of some conductors of, exemplified,
    289-294.
Boerhaave  injured his brain by intense thinking, 269.
Bones, attachment of the muscles to, 101.  Their structure, uses,
    and conditions of health, 155.  Animal and earthy constituents
    of bones, 161.   Their structure at different ages, 162.  Ves-
    sels  of the, 163.  Process of  healing of broken bones, 165.
    Accommodate themselves to the soft parts, 166.  Softened by
    some diseases, 168.  Weakened by want of exercise, 169,
    224 ; and by want of sufficient food, 171.
Bowel-complaint, how produced by chill of the skin, 52.  Not cu-
    Table in every case by the same remedy, 54.
Bowels, their sympathy with the skin, 51, 54.  Their slowness in
    sedentary persons, 134, 222.
Brain, the source of voluntary motion, 105.  Weak during rapid
    growth of the body, 227.  Described, 232.  The organ of the
    mind, ib.   Different parts  of it perform different functions,
    236. More and more complicated in animals as they ascend
    in the scale of mentality, 237.  Conditions of its healthy ac-
    tion, 240, et seq., 340.  Laws of exercise of the, 246, et seq.
    Circulation of blood  in it, quickened by mental action, 254.
    Evils arising from its excessive and premature exercise, 254,
    256. Influence of its condition on the health of the body at
    large, 300.
Breathing.  See Respiration.
Breda, cure of garrison of, 306.
Brigham, Dr., quoted on precocity of mind, 258.
Bums and  scalds often fatal by producing inflammation  of the
    bowels, 56.
Butchers almost exempt from pulmonary consumption, 188.

Caldwell, Dr., quoted on the influence of the condition of mothers
    during pregnancy upon their children, 243.  Case of  expo-
    sure of the braip quoted from, 255.   Quoted on the quickened
    circulation in  the brain during mental exercise, 255.   His
    Thoughts on  Physical Education recommended, 262, note. 
INDEX.
    Quoteo. on the prevalence of indigestion in the United States,
    274; on the beneficial influence of well-regulated passions on
    health, 307.
Callisthenic exercises, 146.
Carib children, why robust and well-made, 140.
Carmichael, Mr., on the production of scrofula by want of mus-
    cular exercise, 119, and by impure air, 198.
Cerebellum, 233.
Character modified by habit, 277.
Cheerfulness conducive to health, 305.
Children ought to indulge largely in active muscular exercise, 121,
    139-141,150,151.  Ought to be well fed, 171.  Ought not to be
    made to walk too soon, 172. Noisy sports beneficial to them,
    221.  Their  brains ought not  to be overtasked, 256.   Ought
    not to be sent too early to school, 259.  Precocious children,
    186, 257.  See Infants.
Cholera, benefits resulting from the late visitation of, 328.
Churches often ill-ventilated, and evils thence arising, 206, 208.
Circulation of the blood described, 178.  See Blood.
Clark,  Dr. James, on  hereditary tendency  of scrofula and con-
    sumption, 187.  Quoted on the  importance of ventilating
    manufactories, 203;  and  on  the  means  of improving the
    chest, 221.   His work on Consumption and Scrofula recom-
    mended, 231.
Cleanliness, necessity of, 64, 76, 83, 315, 316.
Clergymen ought to  train and strengthen  their lungs. 223, 224.
    Often destroy their health  in youth by excessive study, 263.
Climate, change of, in consumption,  230.  Its influence on the
    health, 330.
Clothing ought  to be porous,  64.  . Woollen clothing, 64, 65, 79.
    Ought not to be  too warm or too cold, 75, et seq.  Errors in
    female dress, 78, 139, 188.
Cold destroys the sensibility of the skin, 69.  When intense, im-
    pairs the mental faculties, 71.   Cold feet how productive of
    disease, 78.   Sensibility of consumptive patients to cold, 214.
     Coldness of the extremities produced by mental depression,
    215.
 Colds, how produced by chill  of the  skin, 52, 89.   Speaking and •
     violent exercise improper during, 224.
 Colour of the skin, 45.
 Conscientiousness, education of that sentiment, 296.
 Consumption, pulmonary, 77.  Bathing useful in, 87,90.   Sailing
     and riding on horseback powerful remedies, 94.  Illustrative
     case, ib.   How it causes death, 181. Importance of physio-
     logical knowledge to persons subject to  it, ib.  Hereditary
     transmission of, 185.   Produced bv inadequate nutrition, 187;
     by the pressure of stays, &c, 188; by the depressing pas-
     sions, 189.   Consumptive  patients very sensible to cold, 214.
     Means of warding off consumption, 218, et seq.  Liability  to
     it greatest  during the period of growth, 227.   Dr. Clark's 
                          INDEX.

    Treatise on Consumption recommended, 231.  Causes of, in
    the fleet, 323.   See Lungs.
Contagion, how prevented by dryness and warmth of the air, 66.
    Fear conducive to, 304.
Conversation of intelligent friends favourable to health, 305-307.
Convulsions, 110, 111.
Cook's second voyage, excellent health of the sailors during, 316.
Cooper, Sir Astley, case of exposure of the brain quoted from, 254.
Corbaux quoted on mortality at different ages, 228.
Corion or true skin, 46.
Corsets, their use extremely injurious, 139, 188.
Costiveness of sedentary persons, 134, 222.
Coughing, utility of, 53.
Crabbe nearly suffocated in his youth, 194.
Cramp, 111.
Cuticle or scarf-skin, 42.
Cutis or true skin, 46.
Cuvier, his  lungs strengthened by  lecturing, 150, 224.   Quoted
    on the relation between the size of the cerebral lobes and the
    intelligence of animals, 236, note.

Dancing, 145.
Davies, Dr., quoted on the preservation of the health of soldiers,
    17.
Davy, Sir Humphrey, seized with fever in  consequence of over-
    exertion of mind, 265.
Deaf and dumb, deterioration of their minds by seclusion, 247.
Dermis  or true  skin, 46.
Diabetes, 62.
Digestion promoted by free cutaneous perspiration, 97.   Retarded
    by active exercise of body or mind immediately after eating,
    137,272.  Injured by impure air, 200.  Influence of its condi-
    tion upon the heat of the body, 215.   Promoted  by muscular
    exercise, 222.   Influencedfiy the state of the brain, 300. See
    Stomach.
Disease, study  of, improper except by medical  men, 18.  Acute
    and chronic distinguished,  32.  The same disease  requires
    different remedies according to its cause, 54.  Hereditary,
    185, 240.  Often occasioned by slight causes operating silent-
    ly for  a long period,  200, 327,  329.  Causes of, considered,
    309.  See Health.
Dog, its frothy mouth in warm  weather, 59.
Donne, Mons., his opinion of the secretions of the skin and diges-
    tive canal, 98.
Dress, 64.  See Clothing.
Drunkenness not harmless, although some drunkards enjoy good
    health, 14.
Dumb-bells, 149, 176.
Duppa,  Mr., quoted on the error of confining education to words
    297. 
INDEX.
Edinburgh Review quoted on the brains of animals, 237.
Edinburgh pauper lunatic asylum, its defects, 351.
Education, muscular exercise neglected in that of girls, 116.  Ne-
    cessity of attending to the laws of exercise of the brain in, 238.
    Ought not to  be too early commenced, 257.  Importance oi
    repetition in, 276.  Education of the moral and religious sen-
    timents, 288, 295.  Children ought to study things as well
    as words, 296.  See Boarding-schools.   Brain.  Children.  In-
    fants.   Schools.
Enlisting of soldiers, 332.  See Recruits.
Epidermis or scarf-skin, 44.
Esquirol's lunatic asylum, 356.
Excretion from the skin, 48.
Exercise, muscular, dissipates dullness of the skin, 70,78.  Ben-
    eficial effects of, on the body  in  general,  103, 131.  Condi-
    tions necessary for rendering it useful, 103, et seq.  Neglected
    in the education of girls, 116.  Scrofula produced by want of,
    119.  Most beneficial when we have an interesting aim, 124,
    345.   Its effects in strengthening  the muscles, 127, 128, and
    lungs, 218.   Rules for its regulation, 128.   Quickens the cir-
    culation of the  blood, 131, 254, and the breathing, 133, 189.
    Time at which  it should be taken, 135.  Different kinds of,
    namely, walking, 141 ; riding, 145  ; dancing, \b.; gymnastics,
    ib.; fencing,  149; shuttlecock, ib.; dumb-bells, ib., 176; read-
    ing  aloud, 149, 223.   Ought to  be taken by mothers during
    gestation,  243.  Bad effects of too violent or protracted exer-
    cise, 142, et seq.  Illustrative cases, 144, 151.  Prevents cos-
    tiveness, 134, 222.   Muscular exercise of the insane condu-
    cive to recovery, 345.   See Muscles.  The bones weakened
    by want of exercise, 169.
 Exercise of the lungs recommended, 218, et seq.  Improper when
    lungs are diseased, 224, and during colds, 225.
 ___---- of the  brain, 238, 246, et  seq.  Too much  hurtful, 254,
    Rules  for mental exercise,  272.  Improper immediately af
    ter  meals, ib., and late  in the evening, 274.  Importance ot
    regularity in mental  exercise, 275.   Each  cerebral organ
    must be exercised on its own objects, 279.
 Exhalation, pulmonary,  184.

 Factories, health of children in, 25,  327.
 Fatigue, a symptom that too much exercise has been taken, 128.
 Fear  injurious to health, 190,  301.  Predisposes to contagious
     diseases, 304.
 Feet, wet and cold, how productive of disease, 78,  Rendered cold
     by mental depression, 215.
 Females, errors in their dress, 78.  Bad effects of their  neglect of
     muscular exercise, 116, 139.   Frequently injured by tight
     lacing, 139,  188.  Females in easy circumstances why so lia-
     ble to unhappiness and nervous disease, 249, 251.
 Fenciug, 149
                             Li. 2 
INDEX.
Fishes, respiration of, 181.
Flannel clothing, 64, 79, 81.
Food, abundance of, necessary for muscular efficiency, 104.  Often
    deficient in boarding-schools, ib.  Deficiency of, leads to con-
    sumption, 187.  Influence of its quantity and quality on the
    heat of the  body, 215, and on  the health of the brain, 245.
    Mortality from deficiency of, 326.
Forbes, Dr., quoted on the neglect of muscular exercise in board-
    ing-schools, 117.

Gas, use of, in dwelling-houses, 206.
Governesses, causes of their unhappiness and bad health, 247.
Grief injurious to health, 190, 301, 304, 321.
Growth, abundance of food necessary during, 104.  Liability  to
    consumption at that period, 227.  Mind then weak, and ought
    not to be overworked, ib.   Body also weak, 332.
Gymnastic exercises, 146.

Habits, formation of,  275-279.  Influence of habit in disarming
    causes of disease, 329.
Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, 351.
Hawkins's Medical Statistics quoted, 324.
Health ought to be carefully preserved, as well as sought for when
    lost, 29, 35, 38, 209.  Maynwaringe's quaint description of,
    38.  How injured by grief and fear, 190, 301.   Causes of bad
    health considered, 309.  Importance of physiological knowl-
    edge for enabling individuals to preserve their health, 20,25,
    et  seq., 54, 201, 225, 227, 322.   See Disease.
Heart  an organ of circulation, 178.
Heat of the human body, how regulated, 57.  Its source, 213.
    Causes by which it is elevated and depressed, 214, et seq.
Hereditary transmission of scrofula  and consumption, 185; of dis-
    eases of the brain, 240.
Horses ought not to be put to work at a too early age, 173.
Hospitals, importance of their proper ventilation, 197, 211.
House of Commons, bad effects of its defective ventilation, 205.

Idleness productive of nervous  and other diseases, 249, 303, 340.
     Often leads to gormandizing, 253.
Infants, errors in the treatment of,  27, 73,200, 312.  Crying and
     sobbing beneficial to, 221.   Great mortality of, 28,73,200,312.
Infant-schools, 122. 223. 259, 261.
Inflammation requires rest, 224.
Insanity often occasioned by inordinate mental exertion, 268.  Ap-
     plication of the principles of physiology to the treatment of,
     338.   Hurtful ignorance of the public respecting it, 338, 339.
     Lunatic asylums, 340.  Moral treatment of the insane, ib.
     Ought not to be without regular occupation, 342.  The soci-
     ety of sane persons very conducive to their recovery, 343,347.
 Intoxication disturbs voluntary motion, 107.  See Drunkenness. 
INDEX.
Involuntary muscles, 154.
Ivry, Esquirol's lunatic asylum at, 356.

Johnson, Dr. James, quoted on the use of the bath in nervous dis-
    eases, 92; on the bad effects of too violent exercise, 143; on
    the causes of diseases in the fleet, 322.

Latham, Dr., quoted on the influence of mental depression on
    health, 321.
Light, its beneficial influence on the body, 82.
Literary men, diseases  of,  from too  intense thinking, 71.  Lon-
    gevity of different classes of them compared, 307.  See Sed-
    entary.
Living beings distinguished from inanimate, 21.
Longevity of men with well-regulated minds, 307.  See Mortality.
Lunatic asylums, 340, et seq.
Lungs, their over-exertion  hurtful, 28.  Affected by chill of the
    skin, 53, 77.   Connexion between their health and the state
    of the skin, 93.  Illustrative case, ib.  Strengthened by read
    ing aloud, 149.  Their structure, functions, and health, 178.
    Their exhalation and  absorption, 184.  Conditions of their
    nealth, 185.  Change of the blood in passing through them,
    191.  Their connexion with animal heat, 214.  Means of pro-
    moting their development, and improving their functions, 218,
    et seq.  See Consumption.
Lymphatic vessels, 62.

M'Grigor, Sir James, on the mortality of young recruits, 333.
Malaria, 61, 64.
Manufactories ought to be well ventilated. 203, 244.  See Fac-
    tories.
Marriage, evils arising from too early, or between unhealthy per-
    sons, 185, 241.
Marshall, Mr. Henry, quoted on curvature of the spine, 140; on
    the  great mortality of young recruits,  304, 333, and  of the
    chi idren of soldiers, 326.   Value and importance of his statis-
    tical researches, 335, note.
Martineau, Miss, quoted, 248, 353.
Materialism, 240.
Mathematicians long-lived, 307.
Maynwaringe's quaint description of health, 38.
Meals, exercise immediately before or after  them improper, 135-
    137.  See Food.
Medulla oblongata, 235.
Memory improved by regular exercise, 275, note.
Milbank penitentiary, disease in, 320.
Mind, effect of its emotions upon the skin, 70.   Disordered by in-
    tense cold, 71.  Its influence on the muscular system, 121,
    et seq., 300.   Mental depression  injurious  to the lungs, 189,
    and productive of coldness of the extremities, 215.   Weak 
INDEX.
      during period of rapid growth, 227.   Brain the organ of the
      mind, 232, 236.   Mental faculties can be improved only by
      improving the brain, 238,280.  Influence of mental emotions
      on the stomach, lungs, and heart,  302, 303.   See Brain.
      Passions.
  Moral sentiments, education of the, 288, 295.
  Mortality, at what age greatest, 228, 332.   Vast diminution of, in
      consequence  of  increased attention to the organic laws of
      nature, 324.   Mortality of infants, 28, 73, 200, 312, 326.
  Moscow, retreat of the French from, 123.
  Mothers, influence of their state during gestation upon the health
      of their children, 242.
  Murray, Captain, his  mode of preserving the health of sailors, 80.
  Muscles, their structure, 99 ; attachments, 101;  contractility, 102;
      and functions, ib. Requisites of healthy and vigorous mus-
      cular  exercise, ib.   The muscles  stimulated  to action,  and
      regulated, by the nervous system, 105, 112.  Their combined
      and simultaneous action, 109.  Sense of the state of the mus-
      cles, 114.  Alternate contraction and relaxation of the mus-
      cles their proper mode of action, 115.  Bad effects of long
      continuance in one attitude, 116.  Involuntary muscles, 154.
      See Exercise.

  Nails of the fingers and toes, 44.
  Natural history, study of, advantageous, 125,126.
  Negroes, colour of their skin, 45.
  Nerves of the skin, 67.   Of voluntary motion, 105, 109, et seq.
      Of the senses, 235.
  Nervous diseases, importance  of attending to  the skin  in, 91.
      Often  hereditary, 241.   Predisposition to them  sometimes
      caused by circumstances operating on mothers during ges-
      tation, 242.   Frequently arise from non-exercise of the brain,
      248, 299, and from its over-exercise, 266.  Application of the
      principles of physiology to the  treatment  of, 338. Hurtful
      ignorance of the public respecting them, ib.
  Nervous system described, 232.   Periodicity of its action, 275.
  Newton, Sir Isaac, injured his brain by inordinate study, 269.

g  Operative  population sometimes injured  by want of  light,  82.
      Bathing recommended to them, 88.   Suffer from  too much
      labour and deficient food, 104,188;  also from impure air, 202.
      See Poor.
  Orators, quickened circulation in their brains while speaking, 255,
      256.
  Organic laws of nature must be obeyed in order to  avoid disease,
      315.
  Oxygen essential to respiration, 191, and to mental vigour, 244.

  Pain, its great utility, 67, 68.
  Paris,  mortality in, 228, 229, 332. 
                           INDEX

Parry's northern expeditions, health of the sailors during, 316.
Passions, their influence on health, 189, 301, 305, 321.
Pedestrian excursions, 142.
Pellico, Silvio, improvement of his memory by regular exercise,
    276, note.
Pelvis, 159.
Periodicity of action of the nervous system, 275.
Perkins's method of warming and ventilating houses, 211.
Perspiration, insensible, 49, 58.  Sensible, 50,58.  Free perspira-
    tion beneficial to the digestive and other organs, 97, 220.
Phrenology, 299.
Physicians, beneficial influence of their conversation on the health
    of their patients, 306.
Physiology, advantages of  a knowledge of, 16, 25, et seq., 54, 201,
    225, 228, 322.   Defined, 21.   Ought not to be separated from
    anatomy, 36.
Pinel, Scipio, quoted on the bad effects of over-exertion of the
    brain, 268.
Plague, 313.
Poets, why generally short-lived, 308.
Poor liable to consumption from deficiency of food,  188.  Less
    healthy and shorter-lived than  the rich, 326,328.  See Oper-
    atives.
Precocious children, 186.   Erroneous treatment of, 256.
Pregnancy, influence of mother's condition during it, on the mind
    of child, 242.
Printing-offices, ventilation of, 210.
Puberty, bodily weakness at, 227, 332, 333.  See Growth.

Reading aloud a wholesome exercise, 149,223, except when there
    is disease of the chest, 224.
Recruits, young, causes of their great mortality, 304, 332.   See
     Soldiers.
Regularity of mental exertion very  important, 275-277.
Religion ought to include the study of God's works as well as of
    his word, 270.   Disease considered in relation to, 309, 329.
Repetition, its importance  in education, 226.
Respiration quickened by muscular exercise, 133,189.  Oxygen-
    ates the blood, 179.  Conditions requisite for its healthy  per
    formance, 185.  Its connexion with animal heat, 214.   Its in
    fluence on the brain, 244.
Rete mucosum of the skin, 45.
Retirement from active life, why so frequently productive of un
     happiness and nervous disease, 252.
Ribs described, 159.
Rickety children often display precocious talent, 257.
Riding useful in the  cure of pulmonary consumption,  94,  220
     Considered as an exercise, 145.
Rome, malaria of, 64.
Rowing of boats considered as an exercise, 144. 
INDEX.
 Sailors, preservation of the health of, 80, 308, 314, 323.
 Sailing useful in the cure of pulmonary consumption, 94.
 Sanctorius, his experiments to determine the quantity of matter
     perspired by the skin, 48.
 Sanguification, 182.   See Blood.
 Savages almost never deformed, and why, 140, 141.
 Scalds often fatal, by exciting inflammation of the bowels, 56.
 Scarf-skin or cuticle, 42.
 Schools, error of restricting children for a long time to the same
     attitude in, especially on seats without  backs, 116, 119.  Of-
     ten ill-ventilated, and evils thence arising, 207,  244.  Ought
     to be well heated, 217.  Vacations at, 239.  Children should
     not be sent too early, 260.  See Education.
 Scott, Sir Walter, destroyed his health by excessive mental toil,
     268.
 Scrofula produced by want of muscular exercise, 118, and by im-
     pure air, 198.   Hereditary, 185.  Erroneous treatment of the
     brains of scrofulous children, 257.
 Sedentary persons, costiveness  of, 34, 222.   Examples of fatal ef-
     fects of sedentary habits, 263.   See Exercise.  Literary.  Stu-
     dents.
 Seguin's  experiments to  determine the quantity of matter per-
     spired by the skin, 49.
 Shampooing, how  beneficial, 134.
 Shuttlecock exercise  beneficial, 149.
 Sinclair, Sir John, quoted on training, 202.
 Sinews, 101.
 Skeleton, the, 158.
 Skin, its structure and functions, 41.   Epidermis, cuticle, or scarf-
     skin, 42.  Mucous coat, or rete mucosum, 45.  Dark skin of
     Negroes, ib.  True  skin, or dermis, 46.  Skin considered, (1)
     as an exhalant, 48 ;  (2) as a regulator of the bodily heat, 57;
     (3) as an agent of absorption, 61;  and (4) as the seat of sen-
     sation or touch,  66.  Bowel-complaint and colds produced
     by chill of the skin, 52,  89.  Sympathy  of the skin with the
     stomach and bowels, 54.   Its sensibility to pain very useful,
     66, 67, 69.  Rendered insensible by cold, 69.  Effect  of men-
    tal emotions upon it, 70.  Apt to be cold in literary men and
    invalids, 71.  Follicles or glands of the skin, 72. Health of
    the skin, and  its influence on the general system, 73.  Its
    cleanliness necessary, 64, 76, 83.   Friction and  sponging  of
    it beneficial, 86.   Attention to  it very important in nervous
    diseases, 91, 92.   Connexion of its state with the health of the
    lungs, 93.
Scull described, 157.
Sleep prevented by late study, 274.
Smallpox, vast diminution of mortality from, 313.
Smith, Dr. Southwood, quoted, 20.
Soldiers,  preservation of  the health of,  16, 80,  197,  198, 304,
     332.   Great mortality among their children, 326. 
INDEX.
Solitude injurious to the brain, 247, 251,299,304.
Speaking a beneficial exercise, 149, 223, unless there be disease
    of the chest, 224.
Spinal marrow, 235.
Spine, curvature of the, 116, 139, 176.  Such a deformity never
    found among savages, 140.   Bones of the spine, 157.
Sports, muscular, very beneficial, 121, et seq., 139,141,189.  Noisy
    sports of children ought not to be checked, 221.
Spring, why apparently an unhealthy season, 30, 201.
Starvation sometimes productive  of insanity, 245.  See Food.
Statistics, medical, 335, note.
Stays, their use extremely injurious, 139,  188.
Stomach, its sympathy with the skin, 54.  Its acidity relieved by
    cutaneous  perspiration, 97.  Disordered  by disease of the
    brain, 302.   See Digestion.
Students often destroy their health by unremitted labour, 262.  In-
    digestion of, 273, 302.   Ought to relax their exertions in the
    evening, 274.   See Brain.  Mind.   Sedentary.
Suffocation, death from, 26, 193.             "

Teachers ill remunerated, 294.
Temperature of the body, 57.  See Heat.
Tendons, 101.
Thackrah, Mr., quoted on the bad effects of tight-lacing on the
    respiration, 188.  On the injury of digestion by impure air,
    200.
Tissot quoted  on the  injury of the  brain by protracted study of
    one subject, 269.
Touch, sense of, 66.
Training, 202, 220, 221.
Travelling, low diet proper  in, 137.  Beneficial to health, 308.
    Pedestrian excursions, 142.

Vacations at schools, 239.
Vaccination, 61.  See Smallpox.
Vapour-bath, 89.
Ventilation, its necessity explained and illustrated, 26,30,82,193,
    et seq., 244.
Vertebra? of the spine, 157.

Walking considered as an exercise, 141.  Too much very preju-
    dicial, 142.   Children ought not to walk too soon, 175.
Walpole's Letters quoted, 194.
Warm bath, 86-92.
Warming of houses, 211, 217.  Of schools, ib.
Washing of the skin.  See Cleanliness.  Skin.
Watering-places, visits to, 308.
Weather, why  warm and moist so oppressive, 60.
Weber hastened his death by inordinate mental application, 270.
Wet feet, how  productive of disease, 78. 
INDEX.
Women.  See Females.
Woollen clothing, 64, 65, 79, 81, 82.
Working classes.   See Operatives.  Poor.

Yelloly, Dr., quoted, 67.                   ,..-,..   fiX.  v„j.
Youth, importance of abundant food m, 104.  Liability of the body
    to disease about puberty, 227, 332.  Baneful effects of diss*
    pation in youth, 230.  See Children.  Infants.
THE END. 
 
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