Chapter VIII: Part I (3)

We shall only observe, with regard to those kinds of exercise which are most proper for the studious, that they should not be too violent, nor ever carried to the degree of excessive fatigue. They ought likewise to be frequently varied so as to give action to all the different parts of the body; and should, as often as possible, be taken in the open air. In general, riding on horseback, walking, working in a garden, or playing at some active diversions, are the best.

We would likewise recommend the use of the cold bath to the studious. It will, in some measure, supply the place of exercise, and should not be neglected by persons of a relaxed habit, especially in the warm season.

No person ought either to take violent exercise, or to study immediately after a full meal.

CHAP. III.
OF ALIMENT.

Unwholesome food, and irregularities in diet, occasion many diseases. There is no doubt but the whole constitution of body may be changed by diet alone. The fluids may be thereby attenuated or condensed, rendered mild or acrimonious, coagulated or diluted, to almost any degree. Nor are its effects upon the solids less considerable. They may be braced or relaxed, have their sensibility, motions, &c. greatly increased or diminished, by different kinds of aliment. A very small attention to these things will be sufficient to shew, how much the preservation of health depends upon a proper regimen of the diet.

Nor is an attention to diet necessary for the preservation of health only: it is likewise of importance in the cure of diseases. Every intention in the cure of many diseases, may be answered by diet alone. Its effects, indeed, are not always so quick as those of medicine, but they are generally more lasting: besides, it is neither so disagreeable to the patient, nor so dangerous as medicine, and is always more easily obtained.

Our intention here is not to inquire minutely into the nature and properties of the various kinds of aliment in use among mankind; nor to shew their effects upon the different constitutions of the human body; but to mark some of the most pernicious errors which people are apt to fall into, with respect both to the quantity and qualities of their food, and to point out their influence upon health.

It is not indeed an easy matter to ascertain the exact quantity of food proper for every age, sex, and constitution: but a scrupulous nicety here is by no means necessary. The best rule is to avoid all extremes. Mankind were never intended to weigh and measure their food. Nature teaches every creature when it has enough; and the calls of thirst and hunger are sufficient to inform them when more is necessary.

Though _moderation_ is the chief rule with regard to the quantity, yet the quality of food merits a farther consideration. There are many ways by which provisions may be rendered unwholesome. Bad seasons may either prevent the ripening of grain, or damage it afterwards. These, indeed, are acts of Providence, and we must submit to them; but surely no punishment can be too severe for those who suffer provisions to spoil by hoarding them, on purpose to raise the price, or who promote their own interest by adulterating the necessaries of life[27].

Animal, as well as vegetable food, may be rendered unwholesome, by being kept too long. All animal substances have a constant tendency to putrefaction; and, when that has proceeded too far, they not only become offensive to the senses, but hurtful to health. Diseased animals, and such as die of themselves, ought never to be eaten. It is a common practice, however, in some grazing countries, for servants and poor people to eat such animals as die of any disease, or are killed by accident. Poverty, indeed, may oblige people to do this; but they had better eat a smaller quantity of what is sound and wholesome: it would both afford a better nourishment, and be attended with less danger.

The injunctions given to the Jews, not to eat any creature which died of itself, seem to have a strict regard to health; and ought to be observed by Christians as well as Jews. Animals never die themselves without some previous disease; but how a diseased animal should be wholesome food, is inconceivable: even those which die by accident must be hurtful, as their blood is mixed with the flesh, and soon turns putrid.

Animals which feed grossly, as tame ducks, hogs, &c. are neither so easily digested, nor afford such wholesome nourishment as others. No animal can be wholesome which does not take sufficient exercise. Most of our stalled cattle are crammed with gross food, but not allowed exercise nor free air; by which means they indeed grow fat, but their juices not being properly prepared or assimilated, remain crude, and occasion indigestions, gross humours, and oppression of the spirits, in those who feed upon them.

Animals are often rendered unwholesome by being overheated. Excessive heat causes a fever, exalts the animal salts, and mixes the blood so intimately with the flesh, that it cannot be separated. For this reason, butchers should be severely punished who over-drive their cattle. No person would chuse to eat the flesh of an animal which had died in a high fever; yet that is the case with all over-drove cattle; and the fever is often raised even to the degree of madness.

But this is not the only way by which butchers render meat unwholesome. The abominable custom of filling the cellular membrane of animals with air, in order to make them appear fat, is every day practised. This not only spoils the meat, and renders it unfit for keeping, but is such a dirty trick, that the very idea of it is sufficient to disgust a person of any delicacy at every thing which comes from the shambles. Who can bear the thought of eating meat which has been blown up with air from the lungs of a dirty fellow, perhaps labouring under the very worst of diseases?

Butchers have likewise a method of filling the cellular membranes of animals with blood. This makes the meat seem fatter, and likewise weigh more, but is notwithstanding a very pernicious custom, as it both renders the meat unwholesome and unfit for keeping. I seldom see a piece of meat from the shambles, where the blood is not diffused through the cellular texture. I shall not say that this is always the effect of design; but I am certain it is not the case with animals that are killed for domestic use, and properly blooded. Veal seems to be most frequently spoilt in this way. Perhaps that may in some measure be owing to the practice of carrying calves from a great distance to market, by which means their tender flesh is bruised, and many of their vessels burst.

No people in the world eat such quantities of animal food as the English, which is one reason why they are so generally tainted with the scurvy and its numerous train of consequences, indigestion, low spirits, hypochondriacism, &c. Animal food was surely designed for man, and, with a proper mixture of vegetables, it will be found the most wholesome; but to gorge beef, mutton, pork, fish, and fowl, twice or thrice a day, is certainly too much. All who value health ought to be contented with making one meal of flesh in the twenty-four hours, and this ought to consist of one kind only.

The most obstinate scurvy has often been cured by a vegetable diet; nay, milk alone will frequently do more in that disease than any medicine. Hence it is evident, that if vegetables and milk were more used in diet, we should have less scurvy, and likewise fewer putrid and inflammatory fevers. Fresh vegetables, indeed, come to be daily more used in diet; this laudable practice we hope will continue to gain ground.

Our aliment ought neither to be too moist nor too dry. Moist aliment relaxes the solids, and renders the body feeble. Thus we see females, who live much on tea and other watery diet, generally become weak, and unable to digest solid food: hence proceed hysterics, and all their dreadful consequences. On the other hand, food that is too dry, renders the solids in a manner rigid, and the humours viscid, which disposes the body to inflammatory fevers, scurvies, and the like.

Much has been said on the ill effects of tea in diet. They are, no doubt, numerous; but they proceed rather from the imprudent use of it, than from any bad qualities in the tea itself. Tea is now the universal breakfast in this part of the world; but the morning is surely the most improper time of the day for drinking it. Most delicate persons, who, by the bye, are the greatest tea-drinkers, cannot eat any thing in the morning. If such persons, after fasting ten or twelve hours, drink four or five cups of tea without eating almost any bread, it must hurt them. Good tea, taken in moderate quantity, not too strong, nor too hot, nor drank upon an empty stomach, will seldom do harm; but if it be bad, which is often the case, or substituted in the room of solid food, it must have many ill effects.

The arts of cookery render many things unwholesome, which are not so in their own nature. By jumbling together a number of different ingredients, in order to make a poignant sauce or rich soup, the composition proves almost a poison. All high seasoning, pickles, &c. are only incentives to luxury, and never fail to hurt the stomach. It were well for mankind, if cookery, as an art, were entirely prohibited. Plain roasting or boiling is all that the stomach requires. These alone are sufficient for people in health, and the sick have still less need of a cook.

The liquid part of our aliment likewise claims our attention. Water is not only the basis of most liquors, but also composes a great part of our solid food. Good water must therefore be of the greatest importance in diet. The best water is that which is most pure, and free from any mixture of foreign bodies. Water takes up parts of most bodies with which it comes into contact; by this means it is often impregnated with metals or minerals of a hurtful or poisonous nature. Hence the inhabitants of some hilly countries have peculiar diseases, which in all probability proceed from the water. Thus the people who live near the Alps in Switzerland, and the inhabitants of the Peak of Derby in England, have large tumours or wens on their necks. This disease is generally imputed to the snow water; but there is more reason to believe it is owing to the minerals in the mountains through which the waters pass.

When water is impregnated with foreign bodies, it generally appears by its weight, colour, taste, smell, heat, or some other sensible quality. Our business therefore is to chuse such water, for common use, as is lightest, and without any particular colour, taste, or smell. In most places of Britain the inhabitants have it in their power to make choice of their water; and few things would contribute more to health than a due attention to this article. But mere indolence often induces people to make use of the water that is nearest to them, without considering its qualities.

Before water is brought into great towns, the strictest attention ought to be paid to its qualities, as many diseases may be occasioned or aggravated by bad water; and when once it has been procured at a great expence, people are unwilling to give it up.

The common methods of rendering water clear by filtration, or soft, by exposing it to the sun and air, &c. are so generally known, that it is unnecessary to spend time in explaining them. We shall only, in general, advise all to avoid waters which stagnate long in small lakes, ponds, or the like, as such waters often become putrid, by the corruption of animal and vegetable bodies with which they abound. Even cattle frequently suffer by drinking, in dry seasons, water which has stood long in small reservoirs, without being supplied by springs, or freshened with showers. All wells ought to be kept clean, and to have a free communication with the air.

As fermented liquors, notwithstanding they have been exclaimed against by many writers, still continue to be the common drink of almost every person who can afford them; we shall rather endeavour to assist people in the choice of these liquors, than pretend to condemn what custom has so firmly established. It is not the moderate use of sound fermented liquors which hurts mankind: it is excess, and using such as are ill prepared or vitiated.

Fermented liquors, which are too strong, hurt digestion; and the body is so far from being strengthened by them, that it is weakened and relaxed. Many imagine that hard labour could not be supported without drinking strong liquors: this is a very erroneous notion. Men who never taste strong liquors are not only able to endure more fatigue, but also live much longer, than those who use them daily. But, suppose strong liquors did enable a man to do more work, they must nevertheless waste the powers of life, and occasion premature old age. They keep up a constant fever, which exhausts the spirits, inflames the blood, and disposes the body to numberless diseases.

But fermented liquors may be too weak as well as too strong: when that is the case, they must either be drank new, or they become sour and dead: when such liquors are drank new, the fermentation not being over, they generate air in the bowels, and occasion flatulencies; and, when kept till stale, they turn sour on the stomach, and hurt digestion. For this reason all malt liquors, cider, &c. ought to be of such strength as to keep till they be ripe, and then they should be used. When such liquors are kept too long, though they should not become sour, yet they generally contract a hardness, which renders them unwholesome.

All families, who can, ought to prepare their own liquors. Since preparing and vending of liquors became one of the most general branches of business, every method has been tried to adulterate them. The great object both to the makers and venders of liquor is, to render it intoxicating, and give it the appearance of age. But it is well known that this may be done by other ingredients than those which ought to be used for making it strong. It would be imprudent even to name those things which are daily made use of to render liquors heady. Suffice it to say, that the practice is very common, and that all the ingredients used for this purpose are of a narcotic or stupefactive quality. But as all opiates are poisonous, it is easy to see what must be the consequence of their general use. Though they do not kill suddenly, yet they hurt the nerves, relax and weaken the stomach, and spoil the digestion.

Were fermented liquors faithfully prepared, kept to a proper age, and used in moderation, they would prove real blessings to mankind. But, while they are ill prepared, various ways adulterated, and taken to excess, they must have many pernicious effects.

We would recommend it to families, not only to prepare their own liquors, but likewise their bread. Bread is so necessary a part of diet, that too much care cannot be bestowed in order to have it sound and wholesome. For this purpose, it is not only necessary that it be made of good grain, but likewise properly prepared, and kept free from all unwholesome ingredients. This, however, we have reason to believe is not always the case with bread prepared by those who make a trade of vending it. Their object is rather to please the eye, than to consult the health. The best bread is that which is neither too coarse nor too fine; well fermented and made of wheat flour, or rather of wheat and rye mixed together.

To specify the different kinds of aliment, to explain their nature and properties, and to point out their effects in different constitutions, would far exceed the limits of our design. Instead of a detail of this kind, which would not be generally understood, and of course little attended to, we shall only mention the following easy rules with respect to the choice of aliment.

Persons, whose solids are weak and relaxed, ought to avoid all viscid food, or such things as are hard of digestion. Their diet, however, ought to be nourishing; and they should take sufficient exercise in the open air.

Such as abound with blood should be sparing in the use of every thing that is highly nourishing, as fat meat, rich wines, strong ale, and such like. Their food should consist chiefly of bread and other vegetable substances; and their drink ought to be water, whey, or small beer.

Fat people should not eat freely of oily nourishing diet. They ought frequently to use raddish, garlic, spices, or such things as are heating and promote perspiration and urine. Their drink should be water, coffee, tea, or the like; and they ought to take much exercise and little sleep.

Those who are too lean must follow an opposite course.

Such as are troubled with acidities, or whose food is apt to sour on the stomach, should live much on animal food; and those who are afflicted with hot alkaline eructations, ought to use a diet consisting chiefly of acid vegetables.

People who are affected with the gout, low spirits, hypochondriac or hysteric disorders, ought to avoid all flatulent food, every thing that is viscid, or hard of digestion, all salted or smoke-dried provisions, and whatever is austere, acid, or apt to turn sour on the stomach. Their food should be light, spare, cool, and of an opening nature.

The diet ought not only to be suited to the age and constitution, but also to the manner of life: a sedentary or studious person should live more sparingly than one who labours hard without doors. Many kinds of food will nourish a peasant very well which would be almost indigestible to a citizen; and the latter will live upon a diet on which the former would starve.

Diet ought not to be too uniform. The constant use of one kind of food might have some bad effects. Nature teaches us this, by the great variety of aliment which she has provided for man, and likewise by giving him an appetite for different kinds of food.

Those who labour under any particular disease, ought to avoid such aliments as have a tendency to increase it: for example, a gouty person should not indulge in rich wines, strong soups, or gravies, and should avoid all acids. One who is troubled with the gravel ought to shun all austere and astringent aliments; and those who are scorbutic should be sparing in the use of salted provisions, &c.

In the first period of life, our food ought to be light, but nourishing, and frequently taken. Food that is solid, with a sufficient degree of tenacity, is most proper for the state of manhood. The diet suited to the last period of life, when nature is upon the decline, approaches nearly to that of the first. It should be lighter and more succulent than that of vigorous age, and likewise more frequently taken.

It is not only necessary for health that our diet be wholesome, but also that it be taken at regular periods. Some imagine long fasting will atone for excess; but this, instead of mending the matter, generally makes it worse. When the stomach and intestines are over-distended with food, they lose their proper tone, and, by long fasting, they become weak, and inflated with wind. Thus, either gluttony or fasting destroys the powers of digestion.

The frequent repetition of aliment is not only necessary for repairing the continual waste of our bodies, but likewise to keep the fluids sound and sweet. Our humours, even in the most healthy state, have a constant tendency to putrefaction, which can only be prevented by frequent supplies of fresh nourishment: when that is wanting too long, the putrefaction often proceeds so far as to occasion very dangerous fevers. From hence we may learn the necessity of regular meals. No person can enjoy a good state of health, whose vessels are either frequently overcharged, or the humours long deprived of fresh supplies of chyle.

Long fasting is extremely hurtful to young people; it not only vitiates their humours, but prevents their growth. Nor is it less injurious to the aged. Most persons, in the decline of life, are afflicted with wind: this complaint is not only increased, but even rendered dangerous, and often fatal, by long fasting. Old people, when their stomachs are empty, are frequently seized with giddiness, head-achs, and faintness. These complaints may generally be removed by a piece of bread and a glass of wine, or taking any other solid food; which plainly points out the method of preventing them.

It is more than probable, that many of the sudden deaths, which happen in the advanced periods of life, are occasioned by fasting too long, as it exhausts the spirits, and fills the bowels with wind; we would therefore advise people, in the decline of life, never to allow their stomachs to be too long empty. Many people take nothing but a few cups of tea and a little bread, from nine o’clock at night till two or three next afternoon. Such may be said to fast almost three-fourths of their time. This can hardly fail to ruin the appetite, vitiate the humours, and fill the bowels with wind; all which might be prevented by a solid breakfast.

It is a very common practice to eat a light breakfast and a heavy supper. This custom ought to be reversed. When people sup late, their supper should be very light; but the breakfast ought always to be solid. If any one eats a light supper, goes soon to bed, and rises betimes in the morning, he will be sure to find an appetite for his breakfast, and he may freely indulge it.

The strong and healthy do not indeed suffer so much from fasting as the weak and delicate; but they run great hazard from its opposite, _viz._ repletion. Many diseases, especially fevers, are the effect of a plethora, or too great fulness of the vessels. Strong people, in high health, have generally a great quantity of blood and other humours. When these are suddenly increased, by an overcharge of rich and nourishing diet, the vessels become too much distended, and obstructions and inflammations ensue. Hence so many people are seized with inflammatory and eruptive fevers after a feast or debauch.

All great and sudden changes in diet are dangerous. What the stomach has been long accustomed to digest, though less wholesome, will agree better with it than food of a more salutary nature which it has not been used to. When therefore a change becomes necessary, it ought always to be made gradually; a sudden transition from a poor and low, to a rich and luxurious diet, or the contrary, might so disturb the functions of the body as to endanger health, or even to occasion death itself.

When we recommend regularity in diet, we would not be understood as condemning every small deviation from it. It is next to impossible for people at all times to avoid some degree of excess, and living too much by rule might make even the smallest deviation dangerous. It may therefore be prudent to vary a little, sometimes taking more, sometimes less, than the usual quantity of meat and drink, provided always that a due regard be had to moderation.

CHAP. IV.
OF AIR.

Unwholesome air is a very common cause of diseases. Few are aware of the danger arising from it. People generally pay some attention to what they eat and drink, but seldom regard what goes into the lungs, though the latter proves often more suddenly fatal than the former.

Air, as well as water, takes up parts of most bodies with which it comes in contact, and is often so replenished with those of a noxious quality, as to occasion immediate death. But such violent effects seldom happen, as people are generally on their guard against them. The less perceptible influences of bad air prove more generally hurtful to mankind; we shall therefore endeavour to point out some of these, and to shew from whence the danger chiefly arises.

Air may become noxious many ways. Whatever greatly alters its degree of heat, cold, moisture, &c. renders it unwholesome: for example, that which is too hot dissipates the watry parts of the blood, exalts the bile, and renders the whole humour adust and thick. Hence proceed bilious and inflammatory fevers, cholera morbus, &c. Very cold air obstructs the perspiration, constringes the solids, and condenses the fluids. It occasions rheumatisms, coughs, and catarrhs, with other diseases of the throat and breast. Air that is too moist destroys the elasticity or spring of the solids, induces phlegmatic or lax constitutions, and disposes the body to agues, or intermitting fevers, dropsies, &c.

Wherever great numbers of people are crowded into one place, if the air has not a free circulation, it soon becomes unwholesome. Hence it is that delicate persons are so apt to turn sick or faint in crowded churches, assemblies, or any place where the air is injured by breathing, fires, candles, or the like.

In great cities so many things tend to contaminate the air, that it is no wonder it proves so fatal to the inhabitants. The air in cities is not only breathed repeatedly over, but is likewise loaded with sulphur, smoke, and other exhalations, besides the vapours continually arising from innumerable putrid substances, as dunghills, slaughterhouses, &c. All possible care should be taken to keep the streets of large towns open and wide, that the air may have a free current through them. They ought likewise to be kept very clean. Nothing tends more to pollute and contaminate the air of a city than dirty streets.

It is very common in this country to have church-yards in the middle of populous cities. Whether this be the effect of ancient superstition, or owing to the increase of such towns, is a matter of no consequence. Whatever gave rise to the custom, it is a bad one. It is habit alone which reconciles us to these things; by means of which the most ridiculous, nay pernicious customs, often become sacred. Certain it is, that thousands of putrid carcasses, so near the surface of the earth, in a place where the air is confined, cannot fail to taint it; and that such air, when breathed into the lungs, must occasion diseases[28].

Burying within churches is a practice still more detestable. The air in churches is seldom good, and the effluvia from putrid carcasses must render it still worse. Churches are commonly old buildings with arched roofs. They are seldom open above once a week, are never ventilated by fires nor open windows, and rarely kept clean. This occasions that damp, musty, unwholesome smell which one feels upon entering a church, and renders it a very unsafe place for the weak and valetudinary. These inconveniences might, in a great measure, be obviated, by prohibiting all persons from burying within churches, by keeping them clean, and permitting a stream of fresh air to pass frequently through them, by opening opposite doors and windows[29].

Wherever air stagnates long, it becomes unwholesome. Hence the unhappy persons confined in jails not only contract malignant fevers themselves, but often communicate them to others. Nor are many of the holes, for we cannot call them houses, possessed by the poor in great towns, much better than jails. These low dirty habitations are the very lurking-places of bad air and contagious diseases. Such as live in them seldom enjoy good health; and their children commonly die young. In the choice of a house, those who have it in their power ought always to pay the greatest attention to open free air.

The various methods which luxury has invented to make houses close and warm, contribute not a little to render them unwholesome. No house can be wholesome unless the air has a free passage through it. For which reason houses ought daily to be ventilated, by opening opposite windows, and admitting a current of fresh air into every room. Beds, instead of being made up as soon as people rise out of them, ought to be turned down, and exposed to the fresh air from the open windows through the day. This would expel any noxious vapour, and could not fail to promote the health of the inhabitants.

In hospitals, jails, ships, &c. where that cannot be conveniently done, ventilators should be used. The method of expelling foul, and introducing fresh air, by means of ventilators, is a most salutary invention, and is indeed the most useful of all our modern medical improvements. It is capable of universal application, and is fraught with numerous advantages, both to those in health and sickness. In all places, where numbers of people are crowded together, ventilation becomes absolutely necessary.

Air which stagnates in mines, wells, cellars, &c. is extremely noxious. That kind of air is to be avoided as the most deadly poison. It often kills almost as quickly as lightning. For this reason, people should be very cautious in opening cellars that have been long shut, or going down into deep wells or pits, especially if they have been kept close covered[30].

Many people who have splendid houses, chuse to sleep in small apartments. This conduct is very imprudent. A bed-chamber ought always to be well-aired; as it is generally occupied in the night only, when all doors and windows are shut. If a fire be kept in it, the danger from a small room becomes still greater. Numbers have been stifled when asleep by a fire in a small apartment, which is always hurtful.

Those who are obliged, on account of business, to spend the day in close towns, ought, if possible, to sleep in the country. Breathing free air in the night will, in some measure, make up for the want of it through the day. This practice would have a greater effect in preserving the health of citizens than is commonly imagined.

Delicate persons ought, as much as possible, to avoid the air of great towns. It is peculiarly hurtful to the asthmatic and consumptive. Such persons should avoid cities as they would the plague. The hypochondriac are likewise much hurt by it. I have often seen persons so much afflicted with this malady while in town, that it seemed impossible for them to live, who, upon being removed to the country, were immediately relieved. The same observation holds with regard to nervous and hysteric women. Many people, indeed, have it not in their power to change their situation in quest of better air. All we can say to such persons is, that they should go as often abroad into the open air as they can, that they should admit fresh air frequently into their houses, and take care to keep them very clean.

It was necessary in former times, for safety, to surround cities, colleges, and even single houses, with high walls. These, by obstructing the free current of air, never fail to render such places damp and unwholesome. As such walls are now, in most parts of this country, become useless, they ought to be pulled down, and every method taken to admit a free passage to the air. Proper attention to AIR and CLEANLINESS would tend more to preserve the health of mankind, than all the endeavours of the faculty.

Surrounding houses too closely with planting, or thick woods, likewise tends to render the air unwholesome. Wood not only obstructs the free current of the air, but sends forth great quantities of moist exhalations, which render it constantly damp. Wood is very agreeable at a proper distance from a house, but should never be planted too near it, especially in a flat country. Many of the gentlemen’s seats in England are rendered very unwholesome from the great quantity of wood which surrounds them.

Houses situated in low marshy countries, or near large lakes of stagnating water, are likewise unwholesome. Waters which stagnate not only render the air damp, but load it with putrid exhalations, which produce the most dangerous and fatal diseases. Those who are obliged to inhabit marshy countries, ought to make choice of the dryest situations they can find, to live generously, and to pay the strictest regard to cleanliness.

If fresh air be necessary for those in health, it is still more so for the sick, who often lose their lives for want of it. The notion that sick people must be kept very hot, is so common, that one can hardly enter the chamber where a patient lies, without being ready to faint, by reason of the hot suffocating smell. How this must affect the sick any one may judge. No medicine is so beneficial to the sick as fresh air. It is the most reviving of all cordials, if it be administered with prudence. We are not, however, to throw open doors and windows at random upon the sick. Fresh air is to be let into the chamber gradually, and, if possible, by opening the windows of some other apartment.

The air of a sick person’s chamber may be greatly freshened, and the patient much revived, by sprinkling the floor, bed, &c. frequently with vinegar, juice of lemon, or any other strong vegetable acid.

In places where numbers of sick are crowded into the same house, or, which is often the case, into the same apartment, the frequent admission of fresh air becomes absolutely necessary. Infirmaries, hospitals, &c. are often rendered so noxious, for want of proper ventilation, that the sick run more hazard from them than from the disease. This is particularly the case when putrid fevers, dysenteries, and other infectious diseases prevail.

Physicians, surgeons, and others who attend hospitals, ought, for their own safety, to take care that they be properly ventilated. Such persons as are obliged to spend most of their time amongst the sick, run great hazard of being themselves infected when the air is bad. All hospitals, and places of reception for the sick, ought to have an open situation, at some distance from any great town, and such patients as labour under any infectious disease ought never to be suffered to come near the rest[31].

CHAP. V.
OF EXERCISE.

Many people look upon the necessity man is under of earning his bread by labour, as a curse. Be this as it may, it is evident from the structure of the body, that exercise is not less necessary than food for the preservation of health: those whom poverty obliges to labour for daily bread, are not only the most healthy, but generally the most happy part of mankind. Industry seldom fails to place them above want, and activity serves them instead of physic. This is peculiarly the case with those who live by the culture of the ground. The great increase of inhabitants in infant colonies, and the longevity of such as follow agriculture every where, evidently prove it to be the most healthful as well as the most useful employment.

The love of activity shews itself very early in man. So strong is this principle, that a healthy youth cannot be restrained from exercise, even by the fear of punishment. Our love of motion is surely a strong proof of its utility. Nature implants no disposition in vain. It seems to be a catholic law throughout the whole animal creation, that no creature, without exercise, should enjoy health, or be able to find subsistence. Every creature, except man, takes as much of it as is necessary. He alone, and such animals as are under his direction, deviate from this original law, and they suffer accordingly.

Inactivity never fails to induce an universal relaxation of the solids, which disposes the body to innumerable diseases. When the solids are relaxed, neither the digestion, nor any of the secretions, can be duly performed. In this case, the worst consequences must ensue. How can persons who loll all day in easy chairs, and sleep all night on beds of down, fail to be relaxed? Nor do such greatly mend the matter, who never stir abroad but in a coach, sedan, or such like. These elegant pieces of luxury are become so common, that the inhabitants of great towns seem to be in some danger of losing the use of their limbs altogether. It is now below any one to walk, who can afford to be carried. How ridiculous would it seem, to a person unacquainted with modern luxury, to behold the young and healthy swinging along on the shoulders of their fellow-creatures! or to see a fat carcase, over-run with diseases occasioned by inactivity, dragged through the streets by half a dozen horses[32]!

Glandular obstructions, now so common, generally proceed from inactivity. These are the most obstinate of maladies. So long as the liver, kidnies, and other glands, duly perform their functions, health is seldom impaired; but, when they fail, nothing can restore it. Exercise is almost the only cure we know for glandular obstructions; indeed, it does not always succeed as a remedy; but there is reason to believe that it would seldom fail to prevent these complaints, were it used in due time. One thing is certain, that, amongst those who take sufficient exercise, glandular diseases are very little known; whereas the indolent and inactive are seldom free from them.

Weak nerves are the constant companions of inactivity. Nothing but exercise and open air can brace and strengthen the nerves, or prevent the endless train of diseases which proceed from a relaxed state of these organs. We seldom hear the active or laborious complain of nervous diseases; these are reserved for the sons of ease and affluence. Many have been completely cured of these disorders by being reduced, from a stare of opulence, to labour for their daily bread. This plainly points out the sources from whence nervous diseases flow, and the means by which they may be prevented.

It is absolutely impossible to enjoy health, where the perspiration is not duly carried on; but that can never be the case where exercise is neglected. When the matter which ought to be thrown off by perspiration is retained in the body, it vitiates the humours, and occasions the gout, fevers, rheumatism, &c. Exercise alone would prevent many of those diseases which cannot be cured, and would remove others where medicine proves ineffectual.

A late author[33], in his excellent treatise on health, says, that the weak and valetudinary ought to make exercise a part of their religion. We would recommend this, not only to the weak and valetudinary, but to all whose business does not oblige them to take sufficient exercise, as sedentary artificers[34], shop-keepers, studious persons, &c. Such ought to use exercise as regularly as they take food. This might generally be done without any interruption to business or real loss of time.

No piece of indolence hurts the health more than the modern custom of lying a-bed too long in a morning. This is the general practice in great towns. The inhabitants of cities seldom rise before eight or nine o’clock; but the morning is undoubtedly the best time for exercise, while the stomach is empty, and the body refreshed with sleep. Besides, the morning air braces and strengthens the nerves, and, in some measure, answers the purpose of a cold bath. Let any one who has been accustomed to lie a-bed till eight or nine o’clock, rise by six or seven, spend a couple of hours in walking, riding, or any active diversion without doors, and he will find his spirits cheerful and serene through the day, his appetite keen, and his body braced and strengthened. Custom soon renders early rising agreeable, and nothing contributes more to the preservation of health.

The inactive are continually complaining of pains of the stomach, flatulencies, indigestions, &c. These complaints, which pave the way to many others, are not to be removed by medicines. They can only be cured by a vigorous course of exercise, to which indeed they seldom fail to yield.

Exercise, if possible, ought always to be taken in the open air. When that cannot be done, various methods may be contrived for exercising the body within doors, as the dumb bell, dancing, fencing, &c. It is not necessary to adhere strictly to any particular kind of exercise. The best way is to take them by turns, and to use that longest which is most suitable to the strength and constitution. Those kinds of exercise which give action to most of the bodily organs, are always to be preferred, as walking, running, riding, digging, swimming, and such like.

It is much to be regretted, that active and manly diversions are now so little practised. Diversions make people take more exercise than they otherwise would do, and are of the greatest service to such as are not under the necessity of labouring for their bread. As active diversions lose ground, those of a sedentary kind seem to prevail. Sedentary diversions are of no other use but to consume time. Instead of relieving the mind, they often require more thought than either study or business. Every thing that induces people to sit still, unless it be some necessary employment, ought to be avoided.

The diversions which afford the best exercise are, hunting, shooting, playing at cricket, handball, golf[35], &c. These exercise the limbs, promote perspiration, and the other secretions. They likewise strengthen the lungs, and give firmness and agility to the whole body.

Such as can, ought to spend two or three hours a-day on horseback; those who cannot ride, should employ the same time in walking. Exercise should never be continued too long. Over-fatigue prevents the benefit of exercise, and instead of strengthening the body tends to weaken it.

Every man should lay himself under some sort of necessity to take exercise. Indolence, like other vices when indulged, gains ground, and at length becomes agreeable. Hence many who were fond of exercise in the early part of life, become quite averse from it afterwards. This is the case of most hypochondriac and gouty people, which renders their diseases in a great measure incurable.

In some countries laws have been made, obliging every man, of whatever rank, to learn some mechanical employment. Whether such laws were designed for the preservation of health, or the encouragement of manufacture, is a question of no importance, Certain it is, that if gentlemen were frequently to amuse and exercise themselves in this way, it might have many good effects. They would at least derive as much honour from a few masterly specimens of their own workmanship, as from the character of having ruined most of their companions by gaming or drinking. Besides, men of leisure, by applying themselves to the mechanical arts, might improve them, to the great benefit of society.

Indolence not only occasions diseases, and renders men useless to society, but promotes all manner of vice. To say a man is idle, is little better than to call him vicious. The mind, if not engaged in some useful pursuit, is constantly in quest of ideal pleasures, or impressed with the apprehension of some imaginary evil. From these sources proceed most of the miseries of mankind. Certainly man was never intended to be idle. Inactivity frustrates the very design of his creation; whereas an active life is the best guardian of virtue, and the greatest preservative of health.

CHAP. VI.
OF SLEEP AND CLOTHING.

Sleep, as well as diet, ought to be duly regulated. Too little sleep weakens the nerves, exhausts the spirits, and occasions diseases; and too much renders the mind dull, the body gross, and disposes to apoplexies, lethargies, and other complaints of a similar nature. A medium ought therefore to be observed; but this is not easy to fix. Children require more sleep than grown persons, the laborious than the idle, and such as eat and drink freely, than those who live abstemiously. Besides, the real quantity of sleep cannot be measured by time; as one person will be more refreshed by five or six hours sleep, than another by eight or ten.

Children may always be allowed to take as much sleep as they please; but, for adults, six or seven hours is certainly sufficient, and no one ought to exceed eight. Those who lie a-bed more than eight hours may slumber, but they can hardly be said to sleep; such generally toss and dream away the fore-part of the night, sink to rest towards morning, and dose till noon. The best way to make sleep sound and refreshing is to rise betimes. The custom of lying a-bed for nine or ten hours, not only makes the sleep less refreshing, but relaxes the solids, and greatly weakens the constitution.

Nature points out night as the proper season for sleep. Nothing more certainly destroys the constitution than night-watching. It is great pity that a practice so destructive to health should be so much in fashion. How quickly the want of rest in due season will blast the most blooming complexion, or ruin the best constitution, is evident from the ghastly countenances of those who, as the phrase is, turn day into night, and night into day.

To make sleep refreshing, the following things are requisite: First, to take sufficient exercise in the open air; to avoid strong tea or coffee; next, to eat a light supper; and lastly, to lie down with a mind as cheerful and serene as possible.

It is certain that too much exercise will prevent sleep, as well as too little. We seldom however hear the active and laborious complain of restless nights. It is the indolent and slothful who generally have these complaints. Is it any wonder that a bed of down should not be refreshing to a person who sits all day in an easy chair? A great part of the pleasure of life consists in alternate rest and motion; but they who neglect the latter can never relish the former. The labourer enjoys more true luxury in plain food and sound sleep, than is to be found in sumptuous tables and downy pillows, where exercise is wanting.

That light suppers cause sound sleep, is true even to a proverb. Many persons, if they exceed the least at that meal, are sure to have uneasy nights; and, if they fall asleep, the load and oppression on their stomach and spirits occasion frightful dreams, broken and disturbed repose, the night-mare, &c. Were the same persons to go to bed with a light supper, or sit up till that meal was pretty well digested, they would enjoy sound sleep, and rise refreshed and cheerful. There are indeed some people who cannot sleep unless they have eat some solid food at night, but this does not imply the necessity of a heavy supper; besides, these are generally persons who have accustomed themselves to this method, and who do not take a sufficient quantity of solid food and exercise.

Nothing more certainly disturbs our repose than anxiety. When the mind is not at ease, one seldom enjoys sound sleep. The greatest of human blessings flies the wretched, and visits the happy, the cheerful, and the gay. This is a sufficient reason why every man should endeavour to be as easy in his mind as possible when he goes to rest. Many, by indulging grief and anxious thought, have banished sound sleep so long, that they could never afterwards enjoy it.

Sleep, when taken in the fore-part of the night, is generally reckoned most refreshing. Whether this be the effect of habit or not, is hard to say; but as most people are accustomed to go early to bed when young, it may be presumed that sleep, at this season, will prove most refreshing to them ever after. Whether the fore-part of the night be best for sleep or not, surely the fore-part of the day is fitted both for business and amusement. I hardly ever knew an early riser who did not enjoy a good state of health[36].

_Of Clothing._

The clothing ought to be suited to the climate. Custom has no doubt a very great influence in this article; but no custom can ever change the nature of things so far, as to render the same clothing fit for an inhabitant of Nova Zembla and the island of Jamaica. It is not indeed necessary to observe an exact proportion between the quantity of clothes we wear, and the degree of latitude which we inhabit; but, at the same time, proper attention ought to be paid to it, as well as to the openness of the country, the frequency and violence of storms, &c.

In youth, while the blood is hot and the perspiration free, it is less necessary to cover the body with a great quantity of clothes; but, in the decline of life, when the skin becomes rigid and the humours more cool, the clothing should be increased. Many diseases in the latter period of life proceed from a defect of perspiration: these may, in some measure, be prevented by a suitable addition to the clothing, or by wearing such as are better calculated for promoting the discharge from the skin, as clothes made of cotton, flannel, &c.

The clothing ought likewise to be suited to the season of the year. Clothing may be warm enough for summer, which is by no means sufficient for winter. The greatest caution, however, is necessary in making these changes. We ought neither to put off our winter clothes too soon, nor to wear our summer ones too long. In this country, the winter often sets in very early with great rigour, and we have frequently cold weather even after the commencement of the summer months. It would likewise be prudent not to make the change all at once, but to do it gradually; and indeed the changes of apparel in this climate ought to be very inconsiderable, especially among those who have passed the meridian of life[37].

Clothes often become hurtful by their being made subservient to the purposes of pride or vanity. Mankind in all ages seem to have considered clothes in this view; accordingly their fashion and figure have been continually varying, with very little regard either to health, the climate, or conveniency: a farthingale, for example, may be very necessary in hot southern climates, but surely nothing can be more ridiculous in the cold regions of the north.

Even the human shape is often attempted to be mended by dress, and those who know no better believe that mankind would be monsters without its assistance. All attempts of this nature are highly pernicious. The most destructive of them in this country is that of squeezing the stomach and bowels into as narrow a compass as possible, to procure, what is falsely called, a fine shape[38]. By this practice the action of the stomach and bowels, the motion of the heart and lungs, and almost all the vital functions, are obstructed. Hence proceed indigestions, syncopes, or fainting fits, coughs, consumptions of the lungs, and other complaints so common among females.

The feet likewise often suffer by pressure. How a small foot came to be reckoned genteel, I will not pretend to say; but certain it is, that this notion has made many persons lame. Almost nine-tenths of mankind are troubled with corns: a disease that is seldom or never occasioned but by strait shoes. Corns are not only very troublesome, but by rendering people unable to walk, they may likewise be considered as the remote cause of other diseases[39].

The size and figure of the shoe ought certainly to be adapted to the foot. In children the feet are as well shaped as the hands, and the motion of the toes as free and easy as that of the fingers; yet few persons in the advanced periods of life are able to make any use of their toes. They are generally, by narrow shoes, squeezed all of a heap, and often laid over one another in such a manner as to be rendered altogether incapable of motion. Nor is the high heel less hurtful than the narrow toe. A lady may seem taller for walking on her tiptoes, but she will never walk well in this manner. It strains her joints, distorts her limbs, makes her stoop, and utterly destroys all her ease and gracefulness of motion: it is entirely owing to shoes with high heels and narrow toes, that not one female in ten can be said to walk well.