d J /* r i/ KJFU^ATE. College of P^sicians; OP PHILADELPHIA. 1 } SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE I i Section, J JVo.ll(,IZ °^-**J^^*® LKJ P LIFE, HEALTH, DISEASE. BY EDWARD JOHNSON. M.D. lTJTHOR of "hydropathy," "nuces philosophic je," etc. "The pith of nearly all that has been written on the prevention of disease might be included under two heads, almost in two words—temperance and exercise."—Dr. James Johnson. NEW YORK: JOHN WILEY, 161 BROADWAY, AND 13 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 1850. WBA 366 L 1250 \ CONTENTS. • Page Preface to the Ninth Edition,........vii Preface to the First Edition,.........ix LETTER I. Nature and Object of the Work.........13 The several Systems of which Man is composed......14 Principal Difference between the Animal Man and the Inferior Ani- mals, ............. 18 Argument resulting from the Slightness of this Difference, . . .20 Man's natural Weapons of Offence and Defence—Speech, . . .21 Man owes his Superiority over other Animals to the Faculty of Speech, 22 He does not owe it to a larger Brain,.......23 Ancient Opinions relative to the Process of Digestion—Absurd Use of the words Digestion, Indigestion, and Dyspepsia—How these Words came to be used—Proper Words substituted for them,.....24 Stomach and Bowels not the only Organs concerned in Nutrition, . . 26 The different Courses and Functions performed by Arteries and Veins— The very great Difference between the Blood circulating in the Veins and that circulating in the Arteries,.......27 Ultimate Tissue of the Body,.........28 Cellular Substance,...........28 Important Operations carried on within the secret Chambers of the Ulti- mate Tissue,............29 Moral Character depends on Physical Structure,.....29 • Duelling no Proof of Courage, but of Moral Cowardice, . . .30 Characters of Richard I. and John,.......31 Instances of daring Courage in the Weak accounted for, . . .31 Both the Body and the Character constructed in the Ultimate Tissue, . 31 Folly of beginning the Education of Children too early, . . .32 The Course of the Arteries and Veins continued......32 Other Distinctions between Arteries and Veins,.....33 Immense Preponderance of the Fluids over the Solids—Nearly the whole IV CONTENTS. LETTER II. Page Recapitulation,......... . .35 Description and Distribution of the Absorbents,.....35 The Offices they perform,.........36 The Manner how we live,.........38 We are Dying every Hour—Difference between this Hourly Death, and the Final Consummation of Life, ....... 38 Hourly Reproduction of the Body out of our daily Food, . . .39 Why we grow in Youth, and cease to grow in Manhood, . . .39 Office of a Secretory Gland,.........40 Formation of a Secretory Gland,........40 Description and Distribution of the Nerves,......40 An easy Method of enabling one to conceive how Vessels and Nerves and Cellular Substances may be so arranged as to present the Appear- ance of the different Solid Structures of the Body, . . . .43 Recapitulation of the Uses of the Absorbents, Arteries, Veins, and Nerves,.............44 LETTER III. Death..............47 Organism,............47 Contractility—essential to Life,........48 Sensibility,!'............49 Stimuli,.........:... 49 Vitality not Life............50 What is Life 1............51 Organized Matter compared with a Musical Instrument.....52 What is Health 1...........52 Tremendous Importance of Contractility and Sensibility to Health and Strength,............52 Recapitulation of the Offices of Organism, Contractility, Sensibility, and Stimuli,............53 Health and Strength must be in Proportion to the Contractile Power, . 55 The Laws of Contractility, and the Reason of these Laws, . .55 LETTER IV. Sensibility—jts Laws,..........58 To injure one Organ is to injure the whole,......01 Last and most important Law of Sensibility,......G3 Pleasure and Pain depend upon Sensibility.......63 We cannot increase our natural Amount of Sensibility without Suffering, 64 High Degree of Sensibility incompatible with Energetic Contractility, and therefore with Health—Proofs of this,.......64 CONTENTS. V Page Reason why Acute Sensibility is incompatible with energetic Contrac- tility, .............66 Energetic Contractility depends on Energetic Circulation, . . .68 Moral Sensibility,...........69 LETTER V. Circulation of the Blood, . . ........70 Passage of the Blood from the Heart to the Lungs, and back from the Lungs to the Heart, called the " Lesser Circle of Circulation," . . 72 Changes wrought on the Blood in its Passage through the Lungs, . . 73 Further Offices performed by the Lungs, ....... 74 The Function of Assimilation (vulgarly called Digestion) explained by tracing a Mouthful of Food from the Mouth through all the Changes which it undergoes, until it has become Part and Parcel of the Living Body,.............74 Changes wrought on the Food by means of the Fluids of the Body called Secretions—Vigorous Circulation necessary to Assimilation, . . 84 Mischievous Effects of what are called Comforts, . . . .> . 85 Energy of Circulation essential to Energy of Character, . . .85 Folly of Quacking, .......... 88 The Reasoning adopted by a Medical Man in examining his Patient, . 88 Fatal Errors frequently committed by those who are fond of Quacking themselves,............89 If Experience be the Mother of Wisdom, she is also the Mother of Mis- chief, .............90 LETTER VI. Causes and Sources of Disease,.......92-104 LETTER VII. The Influence of Civilization and Refinement of Manners on the Health and Happiness of Mankind,.......105-115 LETTER VIII. Cause and Nature of that Condition of the Body produced by what is denominated Indigestion,....... . 116-127 LETTER IX. Great Mischief arising from an Indulgence in the so-called "Comforts of Life"—Privations (as they are called) a part of the Natural Scheme of Man's Terrestrial Existence, and therefore necessary to his Health and Strength,..........128-136 vi CONTENTS. LETTER X. Page 1st, The Inutility, and 2dly, the Mischief of Eating too much—Strength does not depend on the Quantity eaten.......137 Nature has supplied us with infallible Means of Knowing, not only when we ought to eat, but how much,........141 Genuine Hunger scarcely known in polished Life,.....145 We eat, not to allay Hunger, but for the Sake of the Excitement which highly-seasoned Food affords.........145 Absolutely necessary to distinguish between true Hunger and that Lan- guor and Sensation of Want, which only indicates a distressed Condi- tion of the Nervous System,........146 Stimulants—Spirit, Wine, Beer—are they Necessary, or are they Mis- chievous 1 ........... 147-153 LETTER XI. Exercise the Talismanic Agent—the Philosopher's Stone—the true Elixir VitsB, in all that regards Health and Strength, . . . . 154-168 Appendix, 169-172 PREFACE TO THE NINTH EDITION. Since the publication of the earlier editions of this work, several im- portant discoveries have been made in the sciences of physiology, animal chemistry, and minute anatomy. The necessary corrections, consequent upon these new discoveries, have been made in this edition. These, however, do not, in the slightest degree, affect any of the great general principles laid down in this work —excepting as so many additional proofs of their accuracy. The doc- trines indeed lately promulgated by Liebig are singularly in accordance with, and confirmatory of, all that I have here said on the subject of al- coholic stimulants, as well as on the subject of the causes of health and strength. The following passages will put this in a striking light. "The cause of waste of matter is the chemical action of oxygen. The act of waste of matter is called the change of matter; it occurs in con- sequence of the absorption of oxygen into the substance of living parts." " By the absorption of oxygen into the substance of the living tissues, these lose their condition of life, and are separated as lifeless, unorganized (disorganized) compounds." " All experience proves that there is, in the organism, only one source of mechanical power ; and this source is the conversion of living parts into lifeless, amorphous com- pounds"—(in plain language, by the waste of the old body). " Proceed- ing from this truth, which is independent of all theory, animal life may be viewed as determined by the mutual action of opposed forces; of which one class may be considered as causes of increase (of supply of matter) and the other as causes of diminution (of waste of matter)." " All vital activity arises from the mutual action of the oxygen of the atmosphere and the elements of the food"—that is, waste and supply. " That condition of the body which is called health includes the con- ception of an equilibrium among all the causes of waste and supply; and thus animal life is recognized as the mutual action of both ; and ap- pears as an alternating destruction and restoration of the state of equilib- rium."* Thus Liebig makes waste—the disorganization of the body— to be the first of the two causes which constitute the sole source of all vital activity and all animal mechanical power. The first cause is waste, * Liebig's Animal Chemistry. Vlll PREFACE. the second, supply. Precisely the same doctrines are taught in the fol- lowing passages from " Life, Health, and Disease." " Health and strength depend upon energetic contractility—energetic contractility de- pends upon rapid re-organization—rapid re-organization depends upon rapid disorganization—therefore health and strength depend upon rapid disorganization"—that is, waste of matter. Again: " The operation by which life is supported may be illustrated by the operation by which motion is supported and communicated by two cog-wheels acting upon each other. Keep your eye steadily fixed upon the point at which the cogs of the two are interlocked. What do you observe ? Why, that at every instant, the empt^ space which is pre- sented by one wheel is instantly filled by a tooth or cog of the other wheel, to be almost immediately emptied again, and again refilled. Thus it is that at every point of the body, and at every instant, little empty spaces are made which are immediately filled by the nutritive arteries, to be again emptied and again filled." This is intended to illustrate the mode in which the all-important process of waste and supply—" sole source of all vital activity, and all mechanical power" in the body—is carried on. And seeing that this process depends upon the presence of oxygen in the ultimate tissues of the organism, and that oxygen can only be carried thither through the medium of an active and vigorous circulation; and seeing further that the circulation can only be impelled to activity and vigor by virtue of bodily exertion, the immense importance of exercise as a hygienic and remedial agent, must be apparent to the most superficial thinker. With regard to Liebig's opinion of the evil influence of alcohol on the human system, it is extremely gratifying to me to observe that they also are confirmative of my own views on the same subject. After dwelling, in various passages, on the fundamental importance of the " change of matter." as being the sole source of health and strength, he declares that alcohol has the direct effect of putting a stop to the " change of matter." " It is, consequently, obvious," says he, " that by the use of alcohol a limit must rapidly be put to the change of matter in certain parts of the body. The oxygen of the arterial blood which, in the absence of alcohol, would have combined with the matter of the tissues, or with that formed by the metamorphosis of these tissues, now combines with the elements of alcohol. The arterial blood becomes venous, without the substance of the muscles having taken any share in the transforma- tion." In the new view which I have taken of the source and mode of for- mation of the alvine evacuations, I am also supported by the doctrines of Liebig. E. J. Umberslade Hall, near Birmingham. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Sometime since I received a letter from a very near relative, in which he stated, that he had been, for a considerable time, an invalid, laboring under a combination of the most dissimilar symptoms, all of which, he was assured, are represented by the term " indigestion." He complained bitterly that he could not obtain any satisfactory information as to the real nature of this Protean malady; nor as to the probability of his per- fect and permanent recovery. When he questioned his medical attend- ants on the subject, they evinced every disposition to satisfy him; but they could not avoid making use of phrases which were to him words without meaning. These phrases were, nevertheless, only such as are in common and daily use among all classes—phrases which he himself had frequently used, and supposed he fully understood; but which he now found, when he strictly examined them, really conveyed no definite idea to his mind. He was told that his " digestion was impaired." He asked, what was meant by that; and was told, his " digestive apparatus was deranged in its economy." My brother was still no nearer the mark; and his medical attendant, observing his puzzled look, proceeded to explain and make the matter perfectly clear, by telling him that his " secretions were depraved, his gastric juice deficient, his nutritive func- tions feebly performed, and that the tone, the energy, the nisus forma- tivus—in fact, the vis vitae—was fully twenty per cent, below par." The enlightened patient bowed his gratitude for this luminous explanation, and sadly re-seated himself in his chair of sickness—as wise, perhaps, but certainly no wiser, than he was before. Now, my brother is neither a profound scholar in mathematics, nor pro- ficient in astronomy, nor an adept in chemistry ; but he possesses what may be called a gentlemanly acquaintance with all these. That is to say, he understands the great general and fundamental laws which govern them; and therefore, if he were asked a question in any one of these sciences, although he might not be able to answer it, yet he would readily understand its nature and purport; and if the problem involved in that question were explained to him, he would have no difficulty in compre- hending it. But not so with the science of health and disease, or rather that which teaches the nature of health and disease :—and the reason 1* X PREFACE. clearly is, because he knows nothing whatever of the fundamental laws upon which life depends—nothing whatever of the several actions which constitute life—nothing whatever of the intimate structure of the living organs. He knows neither how he lives, nor how he moves, nor how he breathes. The very language of the science is a dead letter to him; being borrowed, I verily believe, from every tongue that was ever spoken, and, for aught I know, from some that were never spoken at all. It is true he has some notion of the general appearance of a few of the larger organs, because he has seen similar organs in dead animals. For in- stance, he has seen a great reddish mass of flesh, and has heard it called a liver; and he has been told, that in the liver the bile is made ; but beyond this vague and meagre notion he knows literally nothing. As to how it is made—by what, and from what—or what are the several steps and stages of the operation—as to all this, which constitutes the very kernel of the nut, and without which the shell is nought, he is in worse Cimmerian darkness. Having read my brother's letter, and digested its contents, I was forci- bly struck with the truth of his remarks, and felt that he really had just cause for lamentation. I then conceived that a small concise work, clearly explaining, in common language, the nature of the animal economy—the mechanics of the internal man—the mechanism of life—detailing, step by step, what actually takes place in the performance of each of the func- tions concerned in the preservation of life and health, and how, and by what causes, life is sustained—it struck me, I say, that such a work would be highly acceptable to the public, and would supply a desideratum in the elementary scientific literature of the country. There is no mystery into which mankind are more curious to pry than into that of their internal structure ;—and certainly there is none on earth which so nearly concerns them. There are many books written with a view to give men a general notion of the laws respecting their property ; and it seems to me astonishing that there should not be one calculated to inform them concerning those infinitely more important laws which con- cern their health. Every gentleman is supposed to know something__ the general principles, at least—of all the liberal sciences, excepting that particular one in which alone he has any really great and personal in- terest. I do think that such a work as I have attempted to describe (pro- viding it were well and plainly written, and all technicalities and unne- cessary minutiae carefully avoided) would be read with great attention and interest, and, I trust, profit by all classes. It would be read, I think by invalids, in order to acquire some notion as to their own maladies and so be better qualified to understand and practise the rules of regimen pre- scribed by their medical advisers : and it would occasionally be consulted perhaps, by those who were not invalids, in order to acquaint themselves with the best manner of preserving the blessing of which they were then PREFACE. xi in possession. I believe, also, that such a work would tend more than any other to induce men to practise those rules of conduct which are best calculated to preserve and promote health ; because .men are ever more ready to do this or that, when they can themselves clearly see and under- stand its necessity—and the manner how, and reason why, that necessity exists—than when they have no other authority than the dictum of another, however high their respect for his knowledge and judgment may be. Neither, as I think, should medical men take offence at the publica- tion of such a work ; as it would have a direct tendency to ennoble their profession—to render it purely scientific—and to divest it of that mystifi- cation by which it was formerly so much disgraced, and of which a portion still remains. If patients themselves had a clear general acquaintance with their own internal machinery—with the nature of the several offices intended to be fulfilled by the several parts of that machinery, and with the nature of disease in general; and if, with their mind's eye, they were enabled to look into themselves, and behold the complicated and delicate clock-work—every wheel in motion, every spring in operation—all acting in concert, and all tending to one purpose, yet requiring only the slightest imprudent interference to throw the whole into disorder and irreparable confusion—if, I say, they could see all this, they could not but feel and acknowledge that so beautiful, complicated, and wonderful a machine could only be regulated by the hand of a mechanician intimately acquainted with its minutest structure, and with the particular uses and manner of handling the several instruments necessary to rectify whatever derange- ment may have accidentally befallen it. It would also materially con- duce to destroy the predilection of the public mind for quacks and quack- ery : for who that knows anything at all of the animal economy, and of the nature of disease, can for one instant be gulled into a belief that any one remedy can be, at all times, good or proper, even for the same dis- ease, and for the same patient ? A bumper of brandy will cure the head- ache, providing that it be caused by a disordered stomach ; but a glass of brandy, administered for a headache arising from inflammation of the brain, would, in all human probability, destroy the patient. And how is the patient to know from which of these causes his headache arises ? Such a work I have, to the best of my ability, executed—and I have done so in a series of familiar Letters, because I thought that it would afford me the best opportunity of employing a plain and conversational style, which is the more necessary when writing for readers who have no acquaintance whatever with the subject treated. For the same reason, I have avoided all professional pedantries and learned technicalities, when- ever it could be done consistently with perspicuity ; and I have described just so much, and no more, of the structure of the body as I thought suf- ficient to give the general reader a clear idea of those parts only which are concerned in the preservation of health. Thus, in speaking of the heart, I have divided it into two cavities—a right and a left; although, in fact, each of those cavities is again divided into two others. But, as a xii PREFACE. knowledge of this fact is not at all necessary to the understanding the general functions of the heart; and, as the description of this second division into cavities would necessarily involve another description of mitral, semilunar, and tricuspid valves, fleshy columns, tendinous cords> curtains, &o.—all of which would be " caviare to the general :"—I have thought it best to confine myself to the first grand division—the only one necessary to be known, in order to acquire a lucid notion of the course pursued by the blood. I pretend not herein to teach the anatomical structure of our organs generally ; but only to exhibit the several changes necessary to nutrition, which are wrought upon our food within the ultimate tissue of those organs—and to show how those changes are effected. Such are the nature and objects of the work which I now present to the public. Whether I have succeeded in achieving those objects, or not, must be left to the decision of the reader. LIFE, HEALTH, AND DISEASE, LETTER I. Umberslade Hall, near Birmingham. My dear John, In reply to your Letter, wherein you complain that you cannot gather any clear notion of the nature of your malady, because you cannot attach, in your own mind, any distinct idea to the terms which your medical attendants seem obliged to use in their en- deavors to explain it to you; I am about to give you, in a series of Letters, a plain and familiar description of the mechanism of your internal man ; together with a brief history of tliose internal motions and actions which constitute animal life, and any disturb- ance in the harmony of which constitutes disease. Thus, I think, I shall enable you easily to surmount the difficulty of which you complain. There is another benefit which I intend should result from these Letters. They will, I hope, enable you to understand what are the habits of life which are most likely to conduce to a sound mind and a sound body. For if I were requested to teach a man how to regulate and repair his watch so as to make it keep true time, I should think the best way to enable him to do this, would be to make him acquainted with the internal mechanism of a watch —showing him the uses of the several wheels and springs which keep his watch going. So, I believe, the best plan to teach men how to regulate their diet and habits of life, so as to make their health keep true time, is to make them acquainted with the me- chanism of their internal selves—showing them the uses of the several organs and fluids which keep life going. But, before we descend to particulars, it will be as well to take a rapid and brief, but general survey of the several parts which go to the composition of the animal, man. I say, the animal— because here we have nothing whatever to do with the higher 14 LIFE, HEALTH, AND DISEASE. attributes of his nature*—attributes which have no connection with physical structure, and the phenomena of which are wholly independent of all physical laws. We are here wholly and solely concerned simply with the physical animal. The method I shall adopt, in order to exhibit the principal sys- tems of which the whole scheme of man is made up, and to show the relation which exists between them, and the dependence of one upon another, may be considered as fanciful. Perhaps it is so. But it struck me as one well calculated to render what I wish to say, easily comprehensible; and that circumstance alone is.a good recommendation: for I am not ambitious of fine writing, either as it regards accurate arrangement, philosophical speculation, or learned and elegant diction. I am only anxious to be understood. If man had been the work of any being less than Omniscient, the several single ideas composing the one complex idea of man must have occurred in succession; and the first must have been the idea of his figure. The first idea could only have been, as I shall presently prove, merely that of an image or statue of the particular form and appearance which man presents. I am, of course, for the present, supposing man to have been the first ani- mal produced, and that his artificer was some being of inferior wisdom to that of Him who is, in truth, his real Author. Having conceived the idea of a particular figure, and deter- mined to realize it, the next point to be settled would be the kind of materials of which to fashion it. Having chosen bone, and shaped his image according to his preconceived idea, the first of a series of single ideas forming the one complex idea would be realized; and a solid statue of bone would have been the result— a mere image of the human form. Contemplating the work of his hands, the desire of endowing it with powers of locomotion might then occur to him. In order to accomplish this, the artificer would find it necessary, first, to di- vide the statue into parts (re-uniting these parts by means of joints), and then to contrive a number of motive instruments which, being attached to the jointed statue, would enable it to move—as the mechanic who wishes to move a heavy weight must first construct his instruments of motion, such as wheels, pullevs levers, &c. Having effected this contrivance, the second idea of the series would be realized—the idea of the muscular system * By which I mean—not the mind—not the reasoning faculties • but the soul, its immortality, &c. LIFE, HEALTH, AND DISEASE. 15 But when he had contrived and attached his muscles, he would find that the particular shape and general appearance, which he had predetermined his work should bear, had been quite destroy- ed, and that these same muscles attached to the outside of the statue were a terrible disfigurement of its external beauty and symmetry. To remedy this evil, it would be necessaiy to scoop and pare down, and hollow out, different parts of the image, and then to fill up these hollows with his muscles ; and thus restore those parts, which had been so cut down, to their original size, and again bring his image to its former shape and dimensions, by taking away a bulk of bone equal to the bulk of muscle which he wanted to add. But still he would find, notwithstanding his muscles, that his statue could not yet move, any more than a steam-engine can move merely because it has wheels, unless there be some power to set those wheels in motion. Hence would arise the third idea of the series—that of a nervous system, whose office it is to afford motive power to the muscles, which are of them- selves only motive instruments. This motive power is to the muscles—which are, in fact, only so many pulleys, ropes, &c— what the mechanic's hand is to the pulleys, wheels, &c.: it sets them in motion, and keeps them moving. And here, again, he would be obliged to hollow out another portion of the bone, in order to make room for the brain and spinal marrow (from which nearly all the nerves arise), so that their attachment might not destroy the symmetry of his image. The nerves which arise from the brain and spinal marrow, and whose office it is to carry the motive power to the muscles, he would of course distribute and conceal among the numberless little bundles of fibres of which the muscles are composed. And this he might easily do, seeing that the nerves are merely small threads, and therefore easily concealed and embedded in the soft parts, without producing any disfigurement or much apparent increase of bulk. Again contemplating his production, it would occur to him, that the materials of which he had found it necessary to construct it, were liable to decomposition and decay—putrefaction. To sur- mount this new difficulty, it would be incumbent upon him to contrive a conservative system: and hence he would arrive at the fourth idea—that of a system of nutrition. As the organs of this system *re large and numerous, he would be compelled to hollow out the whole body of the statue, in order to make room for them, and put them out of sight; leaving no more of solid 16 LIFE, HEALTH, AND DISEASE. image than just sufficient to support and give attachment to the several new contrivances which, in improving upon his original idea, he had been obliged to add. Once mpre contemplating his work, he would now be delighted to see his new, animated, and improved statue moving from place to place, without assistance. His satisfaction, however, would be somewhat disturbed, by observing the grotesque, awkward, and uncertain manner in which it proceeded or rather zigzagged ; and very soon all his joy would be suddenly turned'into consternation, by beholding his unhappy automaton all at once break its head against a post, or hop into a river, and vanish beneath the waters. Having fished it up from the stream, or mended its broken head, it would now be tolerably clear to him that his new creation was not yet perfect. He would see that it was absolutely necessary to its safety that it should know when its path was obstructed by a post or a pond. This would suggest the idea of the organs of the senses; being the fifth idea, and completing that series, of which the complex one, represented by the words " animal man," is composed. By the organs of the senses, his object would be, to establish a certain relation between it and the rest of the world— to enable it to acquire ideas (by means of the experiences of these senses) of whatever was likely to inflict injury or afford pleasure, that it might seek the one and avoid the other. In considering what senses were necessary, he would find that five were required. Having scooped away another portion of what little of the bony statue yet remained, and so introduced the eye and ear; and having found proper places for the addition of the organs of taste and smell; and thus, having disposed of four out of the five senses required, he might be supposed to pause, from sud- denly observing that there was yet an imperfection which had escaped his notice: for he would see that the external surface of his image was very unequal, from the many scoopings and hollow- ings which it had undergone—that, though these had been filled up by muscles, vats Ktparn Tavpots, 'OaXaj <5' tiiOKtv iir7roi{, TloSaxiriv Xay&joif, Atoixri xavit' olovrbiv, Tots ijfdvaiv to vtiktov, Toiy opveoi; rreraaOat, Tois avSpaai $PONHMA. " Nature hath given (for their weapons of offence and defence) horns to bulls, hoofs to horses, swiftness to hares, a cavern of teeth to lions; to fishes, the power of swimming; to birds, the power of flying ;—to man she has given wisdom." " Man," says Geoffrey Crayon, " is naturally more prone to sub- tlety than open valor, owing to his physical weakness, in comparison with other animals. They are endowed with natural weapons of defence—with horns, with tusks, with hoofs, and talons; but man has to depend on his superior sagacity." I hope it is not necessary to tell you, who know me so well, that I consider the reasoning faculty as quite distinct from the soul, which I believe to be a portion of the divine essence, " divinam particulars aura?," inhabiting the body, but not subservient to any of its functions—Ou Xoyoc, a).la xi xqbitxov, "Not reason, but something better." I have mentioned the reasoning powers of brutes. No one, I think, of the present day, who is accustomed to read, and think, and take note of the habits of animals, will deny their possession of this faculty. Everything which remembers, and regulates its conduct by this remembrance, performs an act of reason. Why should they not reason ? And that man owes his superiority of reasoning power to his faculty of speech, is most strikingly and irresistibly proved by the effect of the press. What is printing, but an extension of the powers of speaking ? Enabling a man, without moving from his native soil, to put his antipodes in pos- session of every new idea he acquires ; so that what one acquires is acquired by all; thus multiplying the still newer ideas to which this newly-acquired one may give rise, by nearly the whole num- ber of the reading inhabitants of the world: for almost every man will probably derive, from the combination of this new idea with LIFE, HEALTH, AND DISEASE. 23 one which he already possesses, another new idea;—and this other new idea is again told'to the world through the press, and its re- sults again multiplied as before. The first possession of the faculty of speech did not elevate man nearly so much above the brute, as this extension of it has lifted him above his former self. It must be remembered, also, that it is solely owing to this faculty of speech that men can consult together—an important advantage which is denied to brutes. It may be objected that man has a larger brain than other ani- mals, and that his superior ratiocinative powers may be owing to this circumstance. The objection may be answered in two ways. But I shall only answer it as though it were true ; for if it be true, it does not invalidate my argument: for if man possess a larger brain, it is only in consequence of his possessing the organs of speech. Because, that man should speak was a part of his origi- nal design; and the Creator, foreknowing (as he foreknew and provided for every other exigency) that the faculty of speech would render a larger brain necessary for the reception of that multitudinous host of ideas which his vocal organs would enable him to muster—and in order that he might reap the full advan- tage which His gift of speech was calculated to confer upon him— has given him a magnitude of brain corresponding to his necessity. If he had not done so, he would have defeated his own purpose: he would have given him the means of acquiring ideas, without the means of turning them to account; and man, as it regards his rea- son, would still have been but one remove above his neighbor, the brute. His superior magnitude of brain, therefore (if he possess it), and his superior ratiocinative faculties, are both alike the conse- quence of his vocal organs. If it be true that he possess a larger brain than other animals, this may be a second cause of his supe- rior reason; but his possession of speech still remains the first cause. But it is manifested that the power of acquiring knowledge is not in proportion to mere magnitude of brain, for my lady's poodle is just as sagacious (if not more so) as my lord's coach-horse. And sagacity is but another name for knowledge. There is a difference between the human brain and that of the brute. If an animal, having a larger brain than man, were en- dowed with the faculty of speech, although it would lift his ratio- cinative powers to an elevation nearly equal to the grandeur of man's, it would not quite equal it. But this difference is to be 24 LIFE, HEALTH, AND DISEASE. sought for, not so much in superior magnitude, as in superior del- icacy, elaborateness, and intricacy of structure—in the greater quantity of cineritious matter, and in the gi*eater size and number of its convolutions. As this superior quality, like the supposed superior magnitude of man's brain, is only the consequence of his possessing articulating organs, my assertion still holds, that his enunciatory apparatus is the sole cause of his superior ratiocina- tive capabilities. Now, my dear John, begging pardon for this long digression about the talking organs, and with a devout hope that your ami- able wife, when she learns how much she owes to these little in- struments, will be particularly careful never, by overtasking, to put them out of tune, and you out of temper, I will descend from generals to particulars. Many years ago, it was believed, by physicians, that our food was operated on by the stomach, pretty much in the same way as shins of beef and ox-cheeks are dealt with by Papin's digester. It was supposed to be digested : that is, simmered, concocted, or stewed. When a man, therefore, felt himself strong and active, not oppressed after meals, and altogether in excellent health and spirits, this fine state of things was thought to be all owing to the circumstance of the stewing and simmering of the stomach having been carried on merrily and well, till it was done enough ; and then, 4t was thought, the stomach handed over the stew to the bowels, thoroughly and properly cooked. But when a man with- out any one very painful symptom in particular, felt himself gen- erally indisposed, weakly, disinclined to action, low-spirited, and op- pressed after eating ; it was then said that his food had not been properly digested—in plain English, not properly stewed by the stomach ; but that it had been left by that organ very much in the same state in which the shins of beef would be found after having been stewed over a bad fire, and in a cracked digester which let out the steam. He was said to be afflicted with indigestion! which signifies the unequal distribution of particles by stewing, or simply, imperfect stewing. Or, if his physician chanced to be somewhat of a pedant, the more learned word dyspepsia was used, which signifies difficult boiling. You see, therefore, that when these queer words, digestion, indi- gestion, dyspepsia, digestive,