I  WILl  PRAISE THEE.
"GOOD UNDERSTANDING (UVKTll FAA'OR ,  HUT THE AVAY



        OF TUK TRANSGRESSORS IS HARD," 
 
OV TUK Tin NERVOUS  1S UAUD'' 
PHILOSOPHY OF  HEALTH:
NATURAL PRINCIPLES
HEALTH  AND  CURE;
              OR,





   HEALTH AND CURE WITHOUT DRUGS.





             ALSO, THE





MORAL BEARINGS OF ERRONEOUS APPETITES









       By L. B. COLES, M. D.,


   FELLOTV OF THE MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SOCIETY, AND

     MEMBEK OF THE BOSTON MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.
THLUTV NINTH
TICKNOIP; HEED''
jUBiiAiCsT'l
     JAN-9 1300

     /67  $73
BOSTON:
>-sr~
mdcccliv. 
QTA
  Entered according to Act of C'->r.crre«?, in the year 1351,
                BA'   L. B.  COLES,
In the Clerk's OlEce of the District Court for the District a
                     Massachusetts.
        O.  C.  RAND,
PftlNTKR AND  AVlIOLBSAI.K AGENT,
       No. 3 Cornhill.
              STEHEOTYPED BY
        no BART &  ROB BINS,
NEW ENGLAND TVI'I. AND STKltKOTYI'K F0UNDE1IY,
                Tl O S T O N . 
PREFACE TO,THIRTY-SEVENTH EDITION.
  A former  treatise on  this  general subject,  of
smaller size, was written as an experiment, to prove
whether the people in  general  were willing to be
informed on the science  of right  living;  and whether
they would appreciate truth in its warfare  against
their much-loved and destructive appetites and habits.
In proof of the  success of that experiment, it may
suffice to say, that the work has, in six years, passed
into Thirty-seven  Editions, and the  demand  for
it still continues.  It has, therefore, been thought best
to revise and  enlarge it, so that it may contain much
more instruction upon matters of such vital importance
in practical life.
   It was  originally written,  and is  now re-written,
under the most  hearty sympathy with the  sufferings
of humanity.   The recollections  of great ill health in
early life, have ever called forth  and  kept alive that
sympathy to the present  hour.  Hence, from the time
of entering the medical  profession, nearly  30 years
since, much attention has been given to the study of
facts  relating to the laws of life and  health, and  the
destructive nature of various popular appetites and
practices which  are  working ruin to  the  physical,
intellectual, and moral welfare of this generation. 
IV
PREFACE.
  These facts,  compared  and  associated with other
facts which have been developed by the researches of
other men, are here set forth in a plain and simple style.
to be adapted to the  reading of all  classes of people,
and the benefit of every one who wishes to be informed
upon that which belongs to his highest  earthly good.
  There is no cause  of human  suffering so great as
the want of intelligence among the people on this sub-
ject.   There  are comparatively few who  have even
read the  first word  on  this important matter;  and
therefore few who know any more about the structure
and functions of their own bodies, or the natural laws
which  govern their healthy condition and the preven-
tion  of disease,  than  they know about  the inhabitants
of the  moon.   Those who think  themselves  wise on
this  subject, without reading, are of all persons the
most ignorant of it.
  How, without reading, can   any  one  tell  how his
blood is formed —how it circulates, or by what  pro-
cess  his bread becomes his flesh and bones ?  How can
he know wherefore he  respires through his lungs and
his skin, and  how diseases of those  organs are engen-
dered ?  How can he know the  seat  and circulation of
his electric forces in the brain and nerves, which form
the bond of union between his soul and body ?  Let
every individual wake up on this matter, and avail him
self of Nature's health-insurance policy, — for Nature
always goes for health and long life.
                                    The Author.
  Boston,  September, 1851. 
CONTENTS.
                                                 Page
Vital Organs,........9
    The Nervous System,......9
    The Circulating System,.....14
    The Respiratory System,......17
    The Digestive System,......21

Digestive Process,   ........  25
    Mastication of Food,......25
    Foi-mation of Chyme,.......27
    Formation of  Chyle,    •.....28
    Evacuation of Bowels,......29

Dietetic Laws,........33
    Time taken for Eating,......33
    Time taken for Digesting,.....35
    Time taken for Exercise,......42
    Time taken for Labor,......45

Food and Drinks,........51
    Quality'of Food,.......51
    Quantity of Food,.......62
    Stimulating Drinks,......72
    Nourishing Drinks,.......85

Particular Directions,......88
    To Parents and Guardians......88
    To Literary Institutions,.....99
    To Professional Men,.......107
    To Laboring Men,.......113

General Directions,.......116
    On Sleeping,........116
    On Bathing,........118
    On Amusements,.......123
    On Indulgences,........124
             1* 
VI
contents.
Mental Affections,
    Cheerfulness,
    Melancholy,
    Benevolence,     .
    Malevolence,

Obligations to Law,
    Physical Obligations,
    Moral Obligations,
    Personal Obligations,
    Social Obligations,

Healthy Reproduction,
    Paternal Principle,
    Paternal Responsibility,
    Maternal Principle,
    Maternal Responsibility,
Cure of Diseases,
    By Removing Causes,   .
    By Temporary Abstinence,
    By Systematic Discipline,
    By Remedial Agents, .

Erroneous Appetites, .
    On Moral Accountability,
    On Intellectual Character,
    On Moral Character, .
    On Christian Character,

Psychology  of  Man,
    In Human Character,
    In Human Origin,
    In Self control,
    In Controlling Others, .
Conclusion,
283
Appendix,
269 
INTRODUCTION.
   There is  scarcely any subject so universally neg-
lected as a knowledge of  the  laws of health and life.
All  people love to be well, and  dread to be sick;
yet take little or no pains to economize their health or
to ward off disease.   They indulge their appetites and
inclinations in violation of the laws of health,  until
they are overtaken  with the penalty which the Great
Author of our being has affixed to them, in the form
of disease; and then know not why or wherefore they
are ill, or how to recover.
   It  may, with propriety, be said, that nineteen cases
out of twenty, if not ninety-nine out of a hundred, of
the ills which annoy mankind,  especially those of a
chronic character, might  be avoided.   We  might as
well enjoy health,  as a general rule, as to be groan-
ing under pains and  diseases.  Though  we might
not be able to repel measles, small-pox, scarlet fever,
and many other  contagious or epidemic diseases, yet
nearly all chronic diseases, and a very large proportion
of those which  are acute, might be prevented; and
even those which could not be avoided, — for instance,
that fearful  malady, the  cholera, — by habitual  obe-
dience to law, would be made of much milder form.
  Very little is  known  by the people at large on this
subject, and what is known is very lightly appreciated. 
8                  introduction.

Scarcely any subject can  be presented to  the commu-
nity in which they take so little interest as that which
immediately concerns their health, until they are over-
taken  with disease.   Scarcely any  subject is  more
unwelcome than this, especially to those who love their
appetites  more than  health.   They  create  a very
large majority of their diseases by ignorance of their
own organic laws — inform themselves on every sub-
ject but this — treat  health as a matter of no account
till destroyed — charge their sufferings to Providence,
and DRUG THEMSELVES TO  DEATH.
   These  few pages  are  intended for those who  are
willing to know what  course is best in order to retain,
or  to  regain,  a healthy  constitution;  for those  who
have more regard for their own ultimate good than for
their  present  gratification ;  for those who prefer  the
right way to that which fosters unlawful indulgence.
   It  is not only a  matter of  expediency that  we
obey law in this  respect,  but a matter of  duty.   The
laws which  govern our constitutions  are divine:  and
to their violation there  is  affixed a penalty,  which
must sooner or later be met.  And it is as truly a sin
to violate one of these laws, as it is to violate  one of
the ten commandments.  Many seem to think that
they have a right to treat their  own bodies as they
please; forgetting  that God will hold  them  under
obligation to physical  as  well  as moral law, and that
every infringement will meet with its legitimate and
appropriate reward.                     L.  B. G. 
PHILOSOPHY   OF   HEALTH.
            THE  VITAL  ORGANS.

  Under this  head,  those  organs of  the body are
referred  to, which  are concerned most intimately in
sustaining animal life, — without the action of which,
death must inevitably ensue, — organs which form the
basis of all beings possessing organic vitality.

               THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
  The Brain is the seat and origin of all the nervous
forces.  It is made up of bundles of nerves.  It is the
seat  of mental  action.  Its organic  conformation is
affected by the action and growth of the different char-
acteristics of mind.  Demonstrations in the science of
phrenology prove this beyond a doubt.   Man, in his
original state, was  created, doubtless, with a  perfect
balance in the size and activity of the different phre-
nological organs.   But since the fall a want of proper
balance has characterized the whole human race.   All
the organs of  the brain subserve important purposes,
while their action is kept within the limits originally
intended  for them.  Even since their first derangement
and perversion, they are never so extravagant in  their
action as to  be  absolutely ungovernable, so  as to
destroy the accountability of their possessor. 
10
THE  VITAL ORGANS.
   Sometimes those  phrenological  tendencies are so
strong that it requires great firmness and determina-
tion to control  them.   These  tendencies are partly
congenital, and  partly the growth of habit.   For the
existence  of  those  which  are  strictly inborn, no one
himself is responsible ; but for those tendencies which
are the result of habit, every one  possessing them  is
answerable.  And  as there are no inborn  tendencies
which cannot be governed, and as no one is responsible
for their  existence, there  is no sin in  their abstract
being;  but the sin  lies  in allowing  them any inor-
dinate action.   If  they  are originally  extravagant,
they can be governed ;  and if governed, there will be
no  increase, but rather  a decrease, in the  proportion
of their action.  So that, on the whole, it is not the
phrenology which gives habitual character, but habitual
charaoter which makes phrenology.   A man's phreno-
logical character will mainly  be the product  of his
own habits of thinking, feeling, and acting.
   Hence  the importance of every one's  knowing his
own phrenological  tendencies, and  essentially modify-
ing them, by suppressing what  is bad, and cultivating
what is right.   A knowledge of one's own phrenology
helps a  man to analyze  himself.    Hence, too, the
importance of mothers'  having a  practical idea of
the  peculiar phrenological  tendencies. of each  child;
that they may know hoAV to apply physical  and moral
discipline to  the best possible  advantage to  the  chil-
dren under their care; for it is in the power of mothers,
in a great degree, to give a correct phrenological char- 
PLATE I.   NERVOUS SYSTEM.
NO. 1  BRAIN  CEREBRAL PORTION.
NO. 2. BRAIN : PERPENDICULAR SECTION.



        (See Appendix, p 289.) 
 
               THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.            11

acter to each child under their tuition.  Every mother
should have a phrenological  chart  of each  child, and
make herself acquainted  also with the fundamental
principles of physiology, that she may be able to give
such  a  physico-moral discipline to  each, as  will  do
honor to  herself as a faithful mother, and work out
the physical and moral salvation of her child.
   The Nerves, proceeding as they do from the brain,
carry out  its influences and commands into all the
functions of the animal  economy.   From  it  go out
various branches of nerves, to transmit, like so many
telegraphic wires, the electric fluid which is insepara-
bly connected with  the vital action of every part of the
body.   The nerves generally run in pairs from the
brain and spinal cord, — the great nerve of the back-
bone, — to all parts of the  body.   A pair of nerves
are  contained in one cord.  One of this pair  is the
medium of sensation, and  the other of motive power.
The one communicates feeling to  and from  the brain
and all other parts of the body; the other gives the
power and the command  of motion of  every part of
the muscular system.
   These nerves are, so to  speak, the telegraphic wires
by which every part of the body, in regard to its sens-
ations and motions, holds intercourse with every other
part.  They form  the medium  through  which the
brain receives  intelligence from other parts, and gov-
erns  and controls  all the  organs of voluntary motion.
If, in the  darkness of night, the  end of the finger of
the extended arm should  touch  a burning iron,  a mes« 
12
THE  VITAL ORGANS.
 sage by sensation would be  forthwith  sent  from the
 burning end of the finger along the electric line to the
 brain, the general telegraph office, and  immediately
 a command would be sent back, through the nerve of
 motion, commanding the  removal of the finger.   In
 this way, despatches  are continually sent, during the
 active hours of life, on matters pertaining to  motion
 and sensation, to all parts of the system.
   Sometimes  the  nerves, by  some injury,  cease to
 operate, — cease to transmit their  electric fluid fur-
 nished from  the great  galvanic battery, the  brain, —
 by  which  the  brain, or the  will through the brain,
 ceases to command and control motion,  and by which
 sensation is destroyed.   "We sometimes  find a limb in
 what is called a sleep.   This  condition is caused by
 cutting off the circulating  electricity in its course, by
 pressure on  the nerve of  the part.   The  pressure
 being  removed, the electric fluid flows  on, and sensa-
 tion and power of motion gradually return.
  Sensation and voluntary motion are not only depend-
 ent  on a right electric circulation, but also those func-
 tions which involve involuntary action.   Digestion in
 the stomach and the pulsation of the heart are carried
 on  by electric  forces.   Cut the nerve communicating
 with the stomach, and  digestion  ceases;  apply an
 electric battery, and digestion  progresses again.   The
circulation of blood, through  the  heart and  arteries,
is doubtless kept up by the attractive  and  repulsive
forces of electric currents.   All the forces of nature,
in the  circulating  system, are greatly  dependent on 
PLATE  II.  NERVOUS  SYSTEM.
THE NERVES IN GENERAL



  (See Appendix, p. 292.) 
 
THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM.
13
this  electric  agency.  The wounds  of palsied limbs
are far slower in healing than of other  parts.  No
vital function can  be properly carried on, without a
right performance of the electric forces.
   In view of these facts, great pains should be taken,
by those who care for health, to preserve the  nervous
system in  a perfectly healthy  state.    Everything
which tends to impair its tone,  impairs the tone of the
vital forces of every function of the body.  And not
only are these physical functions injured, but the men-
tal forces also;  for  the nervous system is the  connect-
ing medium — the  medium of sympathy between mind
 and  matter.  Hence  the  wretched economy of  all
 stimulants  and  narcotics  on the nerves.   The injury
 done to the electric forces by the use of such agents as
 the  habitual use of tea, coffee, alcohol,  opium,  and
 tobacco, and especially the latter, is far greater than is
 generally supposed.  Of all those, alcohol, to  the same
 degree of  stimulation, injures the electric circulation
 the least.   The influence of the  other articles is more
 permanent and irretrievable;  yet their influences are
 so deceptive to their lovers, that few have understood
 their  destructive  power.   Their  exhilarating  force,
 felt on taking them, blinds the mind to their reacting
 influence which  must follow.   Alcohol burns up the
 system by its  carbon-and inflammable  gases, so  that
  spontaneous combustion of the whole body sometimes
  takes place: but the nerves are less permanently dis-
  turbed by it, when used to the same extent, than by
  tea, or coffee, or tobacco.
                 2 
14
THE  VITAL ORGANS.
              THE CIRCULATING SYSTEM.
   The Heart,  Arteries, Veins,  and Capillaries,
are the principal organs through which the circulation
of the blood is carried on.  In the  circulation of this
fluid through these vessels, the heart receives into  its
right ventricle the  blood conveyed  to it through the
veins.   This  is called venous blood, and  is of a dark
color, on account of the amount of carbon  contained in
it.   From the heart it is thrown into vessels contained
in the lungs, by which it comes  in contact with the
air.   Here it undergoes a change, and is  returned  to
the left ventricle of the  heart.   Thence it is carried,
by the  pulsating  forces of   the heart and arteries,
throughout the whole body.   It is first  thrown into
large arteries, which divide themselves off into smaller
ones, till they are reduced to  the  smallest  conceivable
ramification  of vessels, called capillaries,  for the dis-
tribution  of the  blood to every part of the solids  of
the whole body.  This object being  accomplished, the
remaining matter of the blood is returned by the veins
to the heart.
   In this way matter is carried to all parts of the sys-
tem, for the supply of the waste that  is constantly going
on.  In the young there is not only waste of matter
to be replaced, but matter is  needed for  the growth
and the perfection  of the body.  In persons of ripe
growth  there  is  matter  constantly given  off by the
surface of the body, the  lungs, and the organs of secre-
tion and excretion, Avhich must be replaced with fresh 
PLATE III.   CIRCULATING SYSTEM.
NO. 1. THE HEART DETACHED.
NO. 2. THE HEART AND LUNGS.



     (See Appendix, p. 292.) 
 
THE  CIRCULATING  SYSTEM.
15
matter, or the body would soon perish.   In this way
there is a constant change going  on in the system, by
which, once in about seven years, all the matter com-
posing the body shall have  been given off, and new
matter supplied ; so that now we possess none of the
matter which  composed  our bodies seven years ago.
We  are  identically the same persons, but the matter
composing " the  house we live in" has been wholly
changed.
   In view of these facts, a pure  and healthy state of
the blood is of vast importance.   If we create impu-
rities in the blood, they are carried to all parts of the
fluids and solids of  the whole body, and must, in some
way, sooner or later, develop their fruits.  Hence the
importance  of having our food and drinks free from
all tendencies toward such impurities;  for the blood
is supplied, as will soon be seen, from our food.  If we
use food adapted to  create cancerous, scrofulous, or any
other humors, we run the risk of having such humors
develop  themselves, sooner or  later, in  some part of
the system.  It may require a series of years for them
to be exhibited, when it may be too late  ever  to eradi-
cate them from the strong hold they have gained.
   After the blood of the arteries  through the capillary
vessels has given off its nutritive matter, as described,
to every minute portion of the body, which nutritive
matter consists  in  the  red globules contained in it,
made red by the oxygen with which they are impreg-
nated, it is taken up by the veins  which are distributed
through  all parts of the  body,  and  returned  back 
16
THE  VITAL ORGANS.
to the  heart.   While  on its way to the  heart, just
before reaching that organ, it  is met by the  great duct,
called the thoracic duct, which conveys into  the return-
ing blood the nutritive properties of the food, extracted
from  it by the  digestive organs.   With this  new
supply  of  nutritious matter, the blood goes  to  the
heart, and  then to the  lungs, to receive a  change by
contact  with the air, and continues its routine  of  cir-
culation.
   The speed of action in the heart and arteries varies
according to age, exertion, and excitement.  The num-
ber of  pulsations  per  minute, in  the unborn child,
varies from 135 to 175 ; after birth, from 100 to 120 ;
in adult persons, from 70 to 75.  As age advances,
pulsation grows slower.   At the age  of  60  to 70
years, it becomes reduced to  60, or a pulsation every
second.   The pulse of females is quicker than that of
men.   Motion and exertion increase the number of the
pulse.  Standing up, instead  of laying down, increases
it.  Mental excitement greatly accelerates  its motion.
Stimulants, which produce a morbid excitement of the
nervous  system, increase  the  action of the  heart and
arteries.   A draught of alcohol, a quid of  tobacco, or
cigar, will  increase the pulse.   A single cigar,  by the
fever  it  excites, will add from  15  to  20 beats  per
minute.   These stimulants produce a diseased  action
and excitement of the heart and arteries, and thus
induce a feverish motion in the pulse.
  It  is calculated that  the blood of  an ordinary man
will  weigh  about thi;ty-five pounds; and that  the 
PLATE IV.  CIRCULATING  SYSTEM.
NO. 1.  ARTERIES.              NO. 2. VEINS.
             (See Appendix, p. 295.) 
 
THE  RESPIRATORY  SYSTEM.          17
whole blood passes through the entire circulation in
about two and a half minutes.

             THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.
   Respiration  essentially consists in the interchanging
of certain elementary principles contained in the blood,
for those contained in  atmospheric air.  The Lun^s,
and  the Skin,  form the medium  through which  this
interchange is made.
   The  Lungs consist of an infinite number of small
cells.   Connected with these are small tubes, branch-
ing out from  the bronchial  tubes, and these tubes
branching from the trachea, or Avindpipe.  At every
inspiration of air,  these cells become filled.  At every
expiration  of  air, these cells  are  nearly  emptied.
When air is received into  the lungs, the blood sent
from  the right  ventricle of the heart meets it.  Here
the carbon of the  blood  is thrown  off in  the form of
carbonic acid gas; while the oxygen of the air taken
into  the lungs, is  taken into  the  circulation of the
blood, and carried to every part of the body.  Together
with receiving  oxygen, electricity is also received and
distributed throughout the body.
   The amount  of nourishment derived from food bears
a close relation to  the amount of oxygen received into
the circulation.  The oxygen is also  essential in giv-
ing heat to the  body.   The carbon of the blood becomes
united with the oxygen, the oxygen consuming the car-
bon and forming carbonic acid gas; therefore the amount
of natural heat depends on the amount of  oxygen
               2* 
 
THE  RESPIRATORY  SYSTEM.          19
body.  If we are shut up in a close room, especially
for the night, where the occasional opening of the door
cannot be depended on for relief, we use up all the
vital properties of the air in the room, consume all the
oxygen, and  give off  carbonic  acid gas; so that  it
becomes very offensive to one just entering the room,
and  very unhealthy to breathe over and over by the
individual occupying it.   We cannot be too careful  to
have a free  circulation of air  in  our sleeping apart-
ment.   Every school-room should have a ventilator  at
the top of the room,  where the bad air which rises
can pass off,  and give room for a fresh supply.
  If we are compelled to breathe air that is hurtful,
it weakens the lungs, exposes them to disease engen-
dered  in  their own cavities, or to  disease  carried  to
them from  abroad.   Many cases  of bleeding at the
lungs and of consumption have been induced by pro-
tracted causes  of  this  kind.  Whenever  we find a
sleeping-room  whose effluvia is unpleasant,  avo may
know that its occupant is subjecting  not only his lungs,
but his whole system, to influences that are destructive
to health, and ultimately  to  life itself.   No air  is
fit  to  be  breathed  that has parted with its due pro-
portion of oxygen, or  is unduly charged with carbonic
acid gas.  Unless the  air to be  breathed  retains  its
natural equilibrium of elements, it is  unfit for the
healthy purposes of respiration.
   Consumption  of the  lungs has several  different
causes.   One  consists of those things which  directly
prostrate  the vital  forces:  such as bad air, already

                                             0 
 
THE  DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.
21
the destiny of the body.   If the action of the skin be
retarded by having its pores and capillaries obstructed,
there  will  at  once  be disturbance  throughout the
whole system.
   There is great sympathy between the skin and the
internal organs.   When the functions of the skin are
deranged,  there  is disturbance in the action of the
kidneys, which secrete  from arterial blood elements
which are not  further needed.  It also influences the
liver, whose office is,  the secreting and carrying off of
matter collected from  the blood circulating  in the
veins.  The lungs, too, hold a close sympathy with the
action of the skin.  The whole system feels, when the
skin suffers.  Hence  the importance *to be attached to
keeping the pores unclogged, by suitable washing, and
unembarrassed  by wrong sleeping arrangements.  There
should be needful bathing, but not excessive : the pores
kept open, but not stimulated beyond  their due action :
and entire abstinence from the false and hurtful luxury
of feather beds.

               THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.
   There is no part of the  human system which has
such  controlling  influence  over the  whole body, as
respects health or disease,  as  the Digestive  Organs.
Any  derangement in these, especially the stomach,
calls up a sympathy of action from the whole animal
economy.   Nearly all the morbid actions found in the
general system are produced from causes first operat-
ing on the stomach.  Hence, keeping the digestive 
22
THE  VITAL ORGANS.
system in a healthy state  secures, as a general rule, a
healthy  action  in every  other part of the  physical
organization.  Therefore, to  know something of the
anatomy and  physiology  of the digestive  organs,  to-
gether with the laws of digestion,  seems indispensable
for every individual who would know how to take care
of his health.
    By  the term digestive  organs, are  meant the
Mouth,  Stomach, Liver, and Bowels, including the
whole alimentary canal, commencing with the mouth
and terminating  with the extremity of the  bowels.
Extending through the whole length of this canal is a
lining membrane, called mucous membrane, continuous
throughout, from  the lips  to the  opposite extremity.
This membrane is filled, throughout its whole distance,
with minute blood-vessels, and in some parts abundantly
supplied with fine filaments of nerves.
   The Mouth, with its teeth and glands, commences
the digestive process.   The teeth are to.masticate the
food.  The salivary glands give important aid, too, in
digestion.   There are three pairs of glands which pour
the fluid which they secrete into the mouth.  This
fluid is called saliva.   The effort  of chewing excites
these glands,  and promotes  the  secretion of saliva,
which is essential to the  healthy ingestiATe process.
It is this fluid which is so lavishly secreted  and cast
away by tobacco-chewers.   That  which  Nature  re-
quires for the welfare of the digestive process is wan-
tonly  and  foolishly  thrown  away.  The object  for
which  the  Creator  made  these  glands, is perverted. 
PLATE  VII.   DIGESTIVE  SYSTEM.
STOMACH, LIVER, AND BOWELS.
     (Sec Appendix, p. 297.) 
 
THE  DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.
23
They are overtaxed in the amount  they are made to
secrete; and this constant over-draft, of itself* tends
to lessen the vigor of the system.
  The saliva is formed from the blood ; and an  excess-
ive  flow of it gradually diminishes  the necessary
quantity of this  vital fluid.   This  being  thrown off,
the digestive organs are deprived of their due quantity
to sustain properly the divine economy of animal life.
Hence, sometimes tobacco-chewers have found that, on
swallowing its juices, they have made themselves in
better condition than  when spitting  it off.   Although
by this process they get  more of  the  narcotic poison
of tobacco, yet the saving of that important fluid, the
saliva, has more than compensated them.   How much
better  that men  who profess to be above brutes, put
away a habit  so low and unnatural that brutes will
not descend to it; and cease to  pervert this order and
law of Nature, on Avhich ultimate health and the nat-
ural duration of life depend !
  The Stomach  is the most  important organ of diges-
tion.   It has three coats : that  which has most to do
with  digestion is the  mucous coat, which lines it.
This coat is supposed  to  furnish by its glands what is
called gastric  juice, which is the principal agent of
digestion in the  stomach.  This organ is  abundantly
supplied with nerves,  and holds  a very powerful sway
over the whole  nervous  system;  so  that, when the
stomach is under  the influence of disease, either acute
or chronic,  the whole  system is immediately in a  state 
24
the  vital organs.
of suffering.   To secure, then, a  healthy system, the
stomach must be kept in health.
   The  Liver has to do with digestion.  This organ
furnishes the bile.  It is the largest gland in the body.
Its office seems to be, to gather from and carry out of
the system, substances which, if retained, would prove
hurtful.  When the  liver is inactive, we have what is
called jaundice ;  the  liver failing  to take up from the
system  that substance which forms  the  bile.   When
this is  the case, a yellow substance is  found  diffused
throughout the entire system ; the white of the eyes,
and sometimes the surface of the whole body, exhibit a
yellow  tinge.
   The  bile,  when properly secreted and discharged,
meets the contents of the stomach  as discharged into
that  part of  the  bowels  nearest the  stomach,  and
is there supposed to assist in the  process of separating
the nutritious  part of  that  contents from the refuse
which is to pass  off by the bowels; but its  more im-
portant office, doubtless, is to  aid the  passage of the
refuse,  or the feces, by  evacuation.   The bile seems to
be nature's appropriate stimulus to the  bowels, without
which, costiveness and other irregularities are likely to
ensue.
   The  Bowels  contain the absorbent vessels, called
lacteals, which take up  the nutritious part of food, and
carry it into the  circulation of the blood for the support
of the system.  They consist of small tubes distributed
along the course of  the bowels, especially  the  small
intestines, whose mouths suck up  the chyle, conveying 
PLATE VIII.  DIGESTIVE  SYSTEM.
SPLEEN PANCREAS, AND BLADDER



      (See Appendix, p. 297.) 
 
THE  digestive process.
25
   it into the thoracic duct, and thence into the venous
-  blood, before it reaches  the  heart.   The  bowels  then
   convey the refuse part of the food out of the body.
     The whole length of the intestines is  from six to
   eight times that of the whole body.   The mucous mem-
   brane which lines them, as before stated, is continuous
   from the  mouth to their extremity; and such is the
   sympathy of one part with  another,  that  an  injury to
   that portion which lines the mouth  and stomach may
   manifest itself  upon its other extremity.  Tobacco, by
   its poisonous power in the mouth, has sometimes pro-
   duced the most inveterate piles.
         THE  DIGESTIVE PROCESS.
               MASTICATION OF FOOD.
  Mastication, or chewing, is the  first step  in  the
process of digestion.  When food is taken, it  should
be thoroughly masticated before it is suffered  to pass
into the stomach.   Without chewing, the food is too
coarse and  gross for the stomach, and  is unprepared
for the action of the gastric juice.   Besides this, the
action of chewing causes the food to be mixed with the
saliva, which is an important item in the preparation
of it for the action of the throat* in swalloAving.  The
food should therefore be  finely broken up, and thor-
oughly  moistened with  saliva.   In  order to  accom-
plish this end, it is highly necessary  that food should
1)0 taken with sufficient  moderation   to give time for
               3 
20
THE  DIGESTIVE PROCESS.
the process of mastication, and the discharge of saliva
from the glands of the mouth.  Eating fast, or even
talking Avhile chewing,  besides  its incongruity with
politeness and good  breeding, is directly at war with
thorough mastication.
   Many persons  seem  to  think that  hurrying their
meals to save time, is economy;  their  business drives
them, and  they drive their  time of meals  into the
smallest possible'cVrhpfiss.   This  is miserable economy;
for when they hurry down their food, half chewed and
half, moistened with saliva, it deranges the process of.
digestion throughout; and, as a  consequence, the  food
not only sets bad on  the  stomach, and  in  time causes
dyspepsia,  but it fails to accomplish the sole object of
taking it — the nourishment of the body.  In order to
derive nourishment from food, it  must be well digested;
hence it must be well  masticated.   When, therefore,
we hurry our eating, we hasten our steps on the wrong
road.   Time  curtailed in eating, is worse  than hiring
money  at  three per cent, a  month.   If we cannot
spare time to eat. we had better not eat at all.   This
i.K:i cannot  be  too deeply impressed;  thousands, by
this kind of careless,  reckless  eating, have found them-
selves the victims  of dyspepsia  and  all its  attendant
train of evils.  The  digestive organs  may  bear  the
abuso a while without giving many signs  of trouble;
but the penalty of that broken law must, sooner  or
later, come;  and it may come in  the form of a broken
constitution. 
               formation of  chyme.             27


               formation of  chyme.
  Chymifaction,  or the transformation of food  into
chyme, is the next  important  step in  the  process of
digestion.  The food, after mastication, passes into the
stomach ; here it is formed into a homogeneous mass,
partly fluid and partly solid, which is called  chyme.
What is the exact philosophy of this process, has been
a matter of some  discussion, into which it is not neces-
sary now to enter; nor is it  yet satisfactorily settled,
so as to admit of  ary definite instruction being given.
  The theory which is now generally received, respect-
ing the  manner in which  the stomach  acts upon food
is, that  the gastric juice possesses a solvent power, by
which the  food becomes  reduced  to a uniform mass.
The solvent power of the  gastric juice is very great in
healthy, vigorous  stomachs,   but varies  in  strength
according to the  energy of that organ.
   The solvent power of the  gastric juice  is evidently
controlled  by the vital principle, or principle of life.
 While the gastric juice of a healthy stomach acts vig-
orously upon the hardest  kind  of food, yet  sometimes,
when it comes into contact with anything possessed of
the  principle of life, its power is stayed.  Worms,
while living, are not affected by it, but, Avhen destroyed,
are often digested.
   The gastric juice possesses the property also of coag-
ulating  liquid albuminous  substances.  The  stomach
 of the calf is used for this purpose by the dairy-women,
 in  making cheese.   When  the infant throws up  its 
 28           THE DIGESTIVE PROCESS.

 milk because the stomach is too full, that milk will
 be more or less curdled; and, instead of considering
 this curdling an  indication of disease, it should be
 considered a symptom of a healthy stomach.
   The  time ordinarily  occupied  in the process of
 chymifaction, when food has  been properly masti-
 cated, is on an average about three  and a  quarter
 hours.  The first hour  of this period is  occupied in the
 process of intermixing  the food,  after it enters the
 stomach, with the gastrie juice. After this is accom-
 plished, an alternation of contraction and expansion
 of the stomach, or a kind of revolving motion, takes
 place,# and continues till the whole mass is converted
 into chyme, and is conveyed to the first intestine, the
 duodenum,  or  second stomach, to  undergo  another
 change.

               FORMATION OF CHYLE.
   Chylifaction, or the  formation of chyle, is the next
 great step in the  process of digestion.   This takes
 place in the duodenum.  The chyme from the stomach
 is let into this intestine little  by little.   A valve at
 the lower opening or outlet of the stomach prevents it
 from passing any faster than it can be disposed of in
 the formation of chyle.   This  fluid is a thin, milky
 liquid, extracted from  the chyme,  and then taken up
by absorbent vessels, called lacteals, and carried to tho
blood.   This requires about an hour and a half.
  The chyle passes slowly through  the duodenum,  and
in doing so becomes mixed with another  fluid furnished
from the pancreas or sweet-bread, and  the bile from 
EVACUATION OF  BOWELS.
29
the liver.   Passing thus  slowly through  this largo
intestine, ample time is given for the lacteals to take
up all that is valuable, to be carried into the circulation
for the nourishment and support of the system.   This
chyle, taken up  by the lacteals, is directly converted
into blood;  and in many of its characteristics  it very
closely  resembles blood.   The process by which  this
conversion  is carried  on  is called absorption.   That
class of absorbent vessels  called lacteals are not only
found in the lower part of the first intestine, the duo-
denum, but are distributed  freely  along  the small
intestines, and considerably along the large intestines,
for the purpose, as before  stated,  of conducting the
chyle in its appropriate  course for the formation of
blood.
               EVACUATION  OF BOWELS.
   Evacuation, or the discharge  of the  refuse  part of
 food through the bowels,  is another, and the last step
 in the process of digestion.   This part of the subject
 has a very important bearing upon the  condition of
 health.   It is impossible for any one to enjoy  good
 health  while this  office  of the bowels is imperfectly
 performed.                                         .
   If the bowels are relaxed and  irritable, the food  is
 borne along too soon  and too rapidly:  this causes the
 process of chylifaction to be imperfect;  the chyle  is
 imperfectly formed, and the lacteals have not sufficient
 time to absorb it from the mass.   This  prevents the
 food from nourishing the system.  Hence, those who
                 3# 
30
THE  DIGESTIVE PROCES3.
suffer from chronic diarrhoea may eat largely, and yet
grow weaker and weaker; their food does not nourish
them; the nutritious part of it passes off through the
bowels, instead of being taken into the blood.
   If the bowels, on  the other hand, are constipated,
the consequences  are  no less unhappy.   No one can
possibly be  well with costive  bowels.   The free  and
easy action of the bowels is as truly essential to health,
as the free circulation of the blood.   When the bowels
are sluggish, the process of absorption of the chyle is
retarded, and what chyle is absorbed is less pure and
healthy; so the quality of the blood is impaired.
   Besides the evils already mentioned, a costive state
of bowels often causes a pressure of blood on the brain;
also derangement of the nervous system — excitability
of  the nerves, nervous headache, depression of spirits,
and a long  catalogue of sufferings,  too  numerous  for
detail.  Habitual  costiveness impairs  the tone of the
stomach, and prevents its healthy action.  Piles, also,
with  various  degrees of severity,  are  often  caused,
directly or indirectly, by constipated bowels.
   The causes of costiveness are various; and  to point
them out in detail would be, perhaps,  a fruitless  toil.
But there is one cause, and a very common one, which
claims attention here, — it is the habit of inattention
to and neglect of the natural promptings of the bowels
to  evacuate  themselves.   Thousands  on  thousands,
especially females, by a habit of checking the natural
inclinations of the bowels to throw off their  contents,
have brought upon themselves an habitual costiveness, 
EVACUATION OF  BOWELS.           81
which, in time, has cost  them immense  suffering and
wretchedness.
   No one should ever hold his bowels in check, if it bo
possible to avoid it.  It can be readily perceived, that
doing this would tend to diminish the natural effort of
the bowels,  and to collect their contents  into a solid
mass.   Then the  exertion  required to  empty  the
bowels, or the physic taken to aid  and make  effectual
that exertion, tends also to increase the difficulty.
   A habit of costiveness should  always be removed, if
possible; and the best way of doing this is by a course
of discipline.  Those articles of food should be selected
which  have an influence  to keep  the  bowels open.
Bread made of flour has a tendency to constipate them.
But brown bread, and bread made of wheat meal, have
a tendency  to open them;  also molasses taken with
food has  an  additional tendency.  Fruits and greens,
if the stomach can bear them, are adapted to relieve
costiveness.
   The influence of the mind  should also be brought to
bear upon this difficulty.  The operation of  the mind
on  the physical system is always great, especially in
chronic complaints.   A person with costive bowels
should have a mental determination to have a natural
evacuation of the bowels at some regular hour in the
morning; just after  breakfast  should  be preferred.
By a mental calculation—by bearing the subject in
mind — by  thinking  and  desiring — by electrifying
the bowels  into action  by the force of  thought — by
intending to have  them  move about  that  hour,— 
32
THE  DIGESTIVE PROCESS.
very much may be done by way of facilitating such a
result.
   But if, instead of attending to a favorable diet, and
of thinking on the subject at the proper time, we treat
the difficulty with medicines alone, we do harm rather
than good; for the more alteratives we take, the more
is the trouble increased.   The physic only overcomes
the constipation  for the time, and afterwards  leaves
the bowels in a more torpid  state.   Still, rather than
endure the consequences of costiveness, it is better to
take alteratives, in conjunction with other means, until
the difficulty can be overcome.   When alteratives are
used in conjunction with discipline, they should be of
the mildest kind.   No proper pains should be spared
in overcoming this derangement of nature, till a habitual
and voluntary movement of the bowels, once  in twenty-
four hours, is secured.
   In this account of the digestive system, we see how
our food  is converted into blood for  the nutrition of
the body.  The food is to be masticated  in the mouth,
formed into chyme in the stomach, separated into chyle
in the duodenum, taken up by the lacteals, and  con-
veyed to the veins.  Then passing through the lungs,
and receiving oxygen from the air, which gives to it its
crimson color, it  becomes  prepared  to nourish every
part of  the body, by supplying  it with matter for its
growth, or to meet its waste.   The purpose of eating
should be to accomplish this object.   And  we should
confine ourselves to the eating and drinking of  those
tilings which  answer  this end.   That  the digestive 
DIETETIC LAWS.
83
organs may  never be burdened with articles  which
cannot be converted  into blood;  and that  the blood
may never be adulterated with foreign substances, which
can never be assimilated  into flesh.   The  essences of
tea, and coffee, and alcohol, and tobacco, can never be
converted into blood, or  assimilated  into flesh;  but
they are taken into the blood as foreign substances, in
their unconverted state ; so that they not only produce
a morbid excitability  of the nervous system, but adul-
terate all the fluids of the whole body, and even show
their effects in the complexion.
               DIETETIC LAWS.
             TIME TAKEN FOR  EATING.
  Time for eating has claims for attention.  If persons
intend to have health, their meals should be  regularly
timed and distanced.  There is much importance to be
attached to the kind of  food which we allow ourselves
to take ; but the time of taking it, together with the
proper  intervals  between meals, has a much more
important bearing on our health.  Therefore, as just
stated, meals should be regularly divided and distanced.
A good common  rule, for the time of meals for the
laboring classes, is, breakfast at  seven o'clock, dinner
at one, and supper at seven.  But, at different seasons
of the year, and with different classes and occupations
in society, the time of meals must vary.
  But, whatever hours may be selected as most con- 
34                DIETETIC  LAWS.
vcnicnt for meals, they should be uniform ; and for this
reason :  at the hour when  the stomach is accustomed
to receive  food, the appetite  is generally sharper, and
the gastric juices more copious, than they are immedi-
ately before or after that time.  If food be taken before
the accustomed hour, the stomach  is, as it were, taken
by surprise, and is not found in perfect readiness  to
receive it; if the meal is delayed  beyond  the accus-
tomed time, common experience teaches that the appe-
tite  is  liable to lose  it's  sharpness, — there  is, for a
while, less inclination  to take food.   The objection,
however,  against  delaying a meal beyond the usual
time, is very small compared with the objections against
eating  too soon;  because, when a meal or  luncheon
is taken soon after a previous one,  the stomach has not
had sufficient time to  go  through with the  digestive
process, and to recruit its energies for another effort.
But when a meal is delayed longer than usual, though
the appetite may lose  its sharpness for a short time,
yet it will return  again; and the digestive power  of
the stomach will  not  have been impaired, unless the
period of abstinence should be of long continuance.
   In the arrangement  of regular meals, regard should
be had to the  hour of rest at night.   Ten o'clock  as
will  hereafter be  considered, is a  favorable  hour for
retirement; and no food should be  previously taken, in
all ordinary  cases, within the space of two  or three
hours.  If food be taken too near the  time of sleep,  so
as to leave no chance for the more  active parts of the
digostivc process to be performed, there will be found 
TIME  TAKEN  FOR DIGESTING.
35
generally a dull, heavy pain in the head on the follow-
ing morning, with diminished  appetite.   The food has
laid  comparatively undigested through the night, be-
cause, when we sleep, the whole system is in a quiescent
state;  the nerves which are called into action  in the
process of digestion are, during healthy sleep, inactive.
A late supper  generally  occasions deranged and dis-
turbed sleep;  there is an effort on the part of the
nerves to be quiet, while the burdened  stomach makes
an effort to  call them into action; and between  these
two contending efforts, there is disturbance — a sort
of gastric  riot — during  the  whole  night.   This dis-
turbance has sometimes terminated in a fit of apoplexy,
and in death.

             TIME TAKEN FOR DIGESTING.
   Time for digesting what  is eaten  demands of  every
one who values health a most serious consideration.
Ignorance on this topic, and  inattention to its  import-
ance even when  understood, have involved  thousands
and millions in untold suffering and premature death.
If it were possible so to impress  the mind of commu-
nity on  this subject that they  would obey nature's
laws, — the  laws which  the Great Author  of nature
has given to our digestive systems, — we  should  see a
very obvious change taking place in the  standard  of
general health.   The larger  portion of people  have
no rules  for eating, but to eat, as  they say, " when
they are hungry;" having no regard to  the time of
eating, or to time for digesting;  but, like the short- 
56
DIETETIC LAWS.
 fed beasts, take a little here and there, whenever and
 wherever  they can  get it.   They think their own
 stomachs  are a sufficient guide, in spite of facts and
 philosophy.   Therefore, they eat  whenever they feel
 inclined.
    Their stomachs would, perhaps, guide them  in  the
 right way, if a morbid action of that organ had never
 been  induced by previous irregularities  and indul-
 gences.   But when  irregularities have deranged nat-
 ural  appetite, and placed in its  stead a morbid one,
 then appetite is no longer a safe  guide.   In any pro-
 pensity  of the body, there is a wide difference between
 the demands of healthy nature  and  morbid  nature.
 Yielding to any demand from the  latter, is wrong  in
 principle,  and bad in economy.  This is not only true
 in relation to eating and drinking, but in regard to any
 other propensities of the body.
    Three meals a day are sufficient for all classes of
 persons, under all circumstances, and of all ages.  For
 persons  having weak stomachs, and  many persons of
 sedentary  habits, two meals a day, rightly distanced;
 might be  preferable.  But no individual, whatever
 may be  his  age, his  occupation, or his health, should
 take solid food more than three times in one day.  No
 person can do more  than this  without transgressing
 nature's  laws.   The reasons for this rule will soon be
 given.
   An argument against taking food at regular  inter-
 vals is often attempted from the fact that many dumb
animals  have no regular times of eating; and it  is 
            TIME TAKEN FOR DIGESTING           37

urged that these animals have no other guide than the
dictates of nature.  In answer to.this, it may be said,
that the habits of dumb beasts, since the introduction
of sin into the world, under the weight of which " the
whole  creation," or, rather,  as the original signifies,
every  creature, " groaneth, being burdened," are not
always in exact accordance with  nature's rules.   For
instance, cattle are put into a lean  pasture, and they
are  unable  to gather a full meal at once; they are
obliged, perhaps, to graze all day long to obtain  suffi-
cient subsistence.  In such  cases, to allow intervals
between meals, would be to undergo  gradual  starva-
tion.   But put dumb  animals into Rill  feed,  and
what do  they  do?   They  deliberately eat  a full
meal, and then cease eating  till  that meal  is  fully
digested.    Hence, the  testimony  taken  from  this
source, when  we make  a  fair test, is unequivocally
and uniformly in favor of eating at intervals sufficient
for digestion.
   Eating at  intervals sufficiently long to allow the
full  digestion of a meal before another is taken, is  as
truly essential to the  good constitution and health of
beasts,  as of  human  beings.   The time  was,  even
within  the limits of fifteen  or twenty years, when  it
was  customary, on driving a  horse on  the road,  to
feed him about every ten miles.  This was enough  to
kill  the poor  animal; he had no  time  to digest his
food, and derive nourishment from it; and it  is well
that such a system has been abandoned ;  and it would
bo better still, if intelligent beings would adopt a sim-
               4 
38
DIETETIC LAWS.
ilar rule of diet for themselves, and those under their
care.   Those who  drive horses for pleasure-riding or
in teaming, at this day, having proved the folly of the
old system, feed regularly three times a day.
   Under this rule, the animals eat, on the whole, less in
quantity, are found in better order, and endure much
more:  and why ?  because they  derive, by obedience
to natural  law, more  nourishment from the same food,
and do not  break  down  the digestive  organs  by op-
pressing them with too  oft-repeated meals.  But when
individuals live as they list, and eat when they please,
in disregard  of  right  rules  of diet,  they commit  a
crime against'nature.   They sin against God, by treat-
ing with contempt his  laws;  they  sin  against their
own bodies, by committing gradual suicide;  and the
penalty of those violated laws must be met — there is
no escape ;  the  punishment will,  in some way,  sooner
or later come; Nature will,  without  a  single failure,
take this matter  in hand, and sustain the validity of
her own laws.
   Now for  the whys and wherefores of these  direc-
tions.   In  the first  place, food must be thoroughly
masticated.    This requires  some  length of  time;
especially at dinner, which is, generally and properly,
the principal meal for  the day.  Inattention to  and
curtailment of time  necessary for mastication,  is  a
violation of physical  law at  the  very  outset of the
digestive  process; and  one  which,  more  or less,
deranges all  the  other  steps.   In the  second  place,
when  food  is lodged in the stomach, it requires orJi« 
            TIME TAKEN FOR DIGESTING.          39

narily about three hours and a half before the entire
meal  is prepared for and carried into the duodenum,
or second  stomach.  Here  are, then, at least three
hours and a half generally required for the process
thus far.   Then about one hour and a half is needed
for forming the chyle, and for its absorption.
  Therefore, no  two meals  or  luncheons should be
allowed to come  nearer to each  other than a distance
of at  least five hours ; because, as any one can see,
there  is a regular routine of steps, in the process of
digestion, to be gone through with in this space of five
hours.  And if a second meal or lunch be taken short
of that  period, it produces confusion ; the process with
the first meal is  interrupted;  the organs are obliged
to stop their course, and begin a neAv process with the
second meal; there will be probably a struggle between
the two processes, and both be imperfectly performed.
By this course, the organs are weakened, and the amount
of nutrition, from the same quantity and quality of
food, is  much less.
   To illustrate  this method of  proceeding  and its
effects, suppose an  omnibus, running between Boston
and Cambridge,  should set  out  from  Brattle-street
with  passengers,  and, after  passing half of the dis-
tance, the driver should recollect  that  there were
several  other   passengers  whom  he had forgotten;
and, instead of  finishing his present route, and  taking
those  left behind  at the next regular trip, he wheels
about, brings his load back, takes  in  the rest, and
again proceeds.  Precisely  analogous to this, is  the 
40
DIETETIC LAWS.
 course which multitudes take in respect to their eating;
 one meal is half digested, and another is crowded upon
 it.  The organs are kept continually at work, without
 systematic order, and without chance to rest and recruit
 their  energies.
    The good effects of regular and simple diet  may be
 seen  by visiting our prisons.   There the inmates are
 generally in possession of good health, notwithstanding
 their  confinement and close air.   Some have gone there
 greatly afflicted with dyspepsia, but have obtained a
 complete cure, and become robust; and this at the time
 there must unavoidably have  been a great  and con-
 stant  mental oppression.   This is incontrovertible testi-
 mony in  favor of plain and regular living.
    Besides the  positive  injury  done to the digestive
 organs themselves, by eating  too often, and a sympa-
 thetic injury to the whole system, there is  a sort  of
 negative  injury done  to  the  entire  system  by  the
 interruption of the process of nutrition.  After break-
 fast has been taken, let a lunch be eaten about eleven
 o'clock, and the process of forming chyle is injured by
 the digestive energies being attracted  too soon to  the
 work of disposing of the eleven o'clock lunch ; and so
 on  in the  same manner, so long as meals and lunches
 succeed each other without giving at least five hours
 space for digestion.  Hence, the  system receives less
 nourishment from about twice the quantity of food per
day, than it would receive under a regular, systematic
diet, with a regular quantity.
  It is argued by some, as just stated, that the inclin- 
            TIME TAKEN FOR  DIGESTING.          41

ation  to  eat is a proper guide to the  time and fre-
quency of eating.   But  if we eat ten times  a day
habitually, the stomach is obliged to undergo such a
change in its action, that we shall think we are hun-
gry as many times.  There comes  up a disordered
action of the stomach, and a morbid appetite ensues.
What sort of a guide is a man's inclination to eat, who
is just emerging from the prostrating power of a typhus
fever  ?  And why is it that those who are always eat-
ing are always hungry, while  those who live on three
meals a day are  not inclined  to  eat  till  the regular
meal-time comes ?
   But why contend against facts established by  the
researches of learned physiologists ?  They have given
us the time required for digestion ; wo know that, this
being correctly ascertained, we cannot interrupt that
process  without detriment.   And who is willing to
sacrifice  justice  to  himself, and to the Author of his
being, for  the  paltry  gratification  of  a  moment?
Thousands do it;  but it  seems too uncharitable to
suppose they would do it with their eyes open, though
it is to be feared too many are willingly blind.
   Whoever knows no law but the fearful dictates of
wrong appetites, is  like a ship, driven by fierce winds
coastward, without  anchor.   If we would do right —
if we would act  upon principle — we must obey every
righteous law.   That is a safe and prosperous govern-
ment where obedience to law is  sustained; that is a
well  regulated physical system whose physical  law is
obeyed.   But how sadly this law is  trampled  under
               4* 
42
DIETETIC LAWS.
 foot!   How many there are who reverse  one of the
 best rules of life!   While all should eat to live, they,
 impiously and wantonly, live to  eat.   In this way,
 they destroy the very foundation of all true enjoyment
 from temporal sources, and  prejudice the prospect for
 the future life.  The old heathen adage, " Let us eat
 and drink, for to-morrow we die," is the sum and sub-
 stance of  their  theology;  they know no God  but
 their belly.
              time taken for  exercise.
    Time for  exercise  has  an important connection
 with digestion, and is indispensable to  health.  It is
 important to the  healthy state  of body and  mind.
 Bodily health cannot  be secured without due attention
 to exercise.   Persons of sedentary habits, especially,
 should give  particular attention to this subject.  Per-
 sons of  active or  laborious habits can  make their
 business subserve the  purpose of exercise, while those
 whose daily task requires little physical exertion need
 some  other  exercise.   By  such,  let this  part of the
 subject be particularly heeded.   To illustrate  what is
 meant, take the case of the shoemaker.   His business
 chains him to the bench ; it gives him insufficient bod-
 ily exercise;  he is too much confined.
   The shoemaker, then, or the man of similar  occupa-
 tion, should endeavor to have a garden to culti\rate, if
 in the  country, because  this is one of  the very best
 kinds of employment for exercise; it affords physical
 motion  and  exertion;   it gives  amusement  to the
mind, and it secures healthful influences from the earth. 
            TIME TAKEN FOR  EXERCISE.          43

If this means cannot be secured, then resort should bo
had to cutting wood, or some other useful exertion; if
this cannot be obtained, then he must  resort to some
artificial exercise;  at  all events,  some kind of brisk
and smart exercise should be had early in the morning,
before breakfast.   This gives activity  and energy to
the body, greatly invigorates the  appetite, and  exhil-
arates the mind.  This rule applies to all sedentary
habits.
   Merchant-men and counting-room clerks should  ac-
custom  themselves  to  considerable daily exercise  of
body, in order to preserve a balance of  muscular and
nervous energy.   A great tax is laid  on this class of
men for the expenditure  of nervous forces.  To pre-
serve these, the muscular energies must be  kept  awake
by some timely means.  Each secular day should have
its portion of time for this purpose.   A short space
each  day might save  many a  broken  constitution or
premature age.
   Persons  devoted to the  mental labor of study and
writing claim a  share of attention.   Their principal
physical exercise should be taken on an empty stom-
ach, i. e., just preceding a meal.  Just after a meal,
they should be at leisure, or amusement which requires
no mental or physical  exertion, for at least one hour.
Then they are prepared for close study until near  the
time of the next meal;  leaving a little space for relax-
ation ; as also, when bodily exercise precedes a meal, a
few minutes' relaxation before eating should be had,
that the nerves may regain their equilibrium. 
a
DIETETIC LAWS.
   But when exercise is  spoken of in relation to this
 class, that which would agitate or exhaust  the body is
 not meant.   Such  exercise would be decidedly detri-
 mental.  If they would give time for eating and for
 digesting, they could perform a large amount of men-
 tal  labor with far  less time devoted to mere exercise,
 and  that exercise of a milder  character,  than would
 otherwise be required.  But every one should accustom
 himself to some brisk, lively, cheerful  daily exercise,
 if he values  his health.   The same rule applies with
 equal force to all,whatever maybe their calling,whose
 labors  are of a mental character.   Under  these rules,
 three hours of close study would be worth  more than
 six in the ordinary way.
    If students and professional men would preserve
 health, they must keep an equable balance between the
 physical  and mental systems.  This cannot be done
 without a portion of time devoted to some systematic
 physical discipline.   That discipline should consist of
 something which not only gives exercise to the body,
 but amusement and exhilaration to the fatigued mind.
 If this can be gained  by the use of mechanical  skill
 which can give a small income, it will add to the pecu-
 niary resources of those whose means  are limited.   But
 if the only practicable means of muscular exercise and
 mental exhilaration  must consist of  something that is
of no pecuniary advantage, it is still of vast import-
ance ; for, though  it can furnisli no money, it  will
secure that which can nowhere be bought with money.
A ten-pin alley, aside from  its bad moral odor,  is one 
             TIME TAKEN FOR LABOR.            40

of the best modes of exercise.  The gymnasium fur-
nishes the very best plan, doubtless, on the whole, for
giving bodily vigor.  Both of these call into labor tho
muscles of the arms, chest, and abdomen.

              TIME  TAKEN FOR LABOR.
   Severe exertion of body or mind, immediately after
a full meal, should be avoided.  No man should put
himself to the severe exertion of mowing grass, pitch-
ing hay, planing boards, or severe exercise of muscular
system  of any kind, for about  an  hour after eating;
and  especially  after dinner, which  is generally the
largest meal.  Every man can generally avoid it, if he
choose.   " Where there is a will, there is a way," is a
vulgar, but a true proverb in such  a case.  The daily
business of some men is not  of  a kind to require such
exertion as would need to be suspended on this ac-
count ;  but where  it is,  this  law must be observed, or
damage will finally be felt.   A man will sooner wear
himself into old age and the  grave, for neglect of this
natural law.  The same rule  applies equally to mental
labor.   No  man should  put himself to close study
immediately after a full meal, neither to close counting-
room labor, or teaching, or public speaking.   In  the
latter, there is not only too great mental, but also phys-
ical exertion.
   Now for a reason for  this  rule;  let the dinner bo
taken for an illustration: why should we rest from
much exertion after taking our dinner ?  And this rule
applies with  equal force  to all  classes of persons and 
46
DIETETIC LAWS.
 all kinds of business, which require severe muscular or
 mental exertion.  The reason is this :  while the food
 is  being mixed with and broken up by the gastric
 juice, which process  generally occupies, in the case of a
 dinner,  full one hour, the  nervous energies — electric
 forces — of the whole system are drawn into  sympathy
 with the stomach, and  made tributary to this part of
 the digestive  process:  their aid is needed: this is a
 law which the Author of Nature has established, and
 it should be obeyed; i. e., nothing should be allowed
 to interrupt  this natural arrangement.   But, if we
 allow ourselves to make much bodily or mental  exer-
 tion  during  the  hour mentioned, we  distract this
 arrangement;  because, when bodily exertion is made,
 the nervous energies are required and drawn in that
 direction, in aid of the muscular forces;  or, if the mind
 is made to labor, then the  nervous energies  are called
 in that direction.  Hence, when body or mind is taxed
 considerably immediately after  eating, the process of
 digestion is much disturbed and interrupted.
   Everybody's  experience corroborates  the  truthful-
 ness of this theory.   We know that after a  full meal,
 especially a dinner, there  is  a disinclination  to much
 bodily action or mental effort; so strong is  the  draft
 upon the nervous energy, or nervous fluid, or animal
 electricity, AvhichevTer it may be called, that  it is with
 difficulty we can call  it in any other direction.  There-
 fore, to make much  exertion  of body or  mind imme-
 liatcly after a  meal,  is to violate a law of the animal
.--sononiy.  To  attempt  hard  work, or study, within 
TIME TAKEN  FOR LABOR,
47
one hour after eating, will induce in any one, except
the most vigorous  system, with  a cast-iron stomach,
derangement in the functions of the digestive organs;
the food will not digest so well, and the  system will
not be as well  nourished from the same quantity of
food.   Hence, the whole system is  impaired, its vigor
and durability are diminished, and life is shortened.
   It  is in vain that we contend that nature has  no
rules — the Maker of these bodies no laws — violated
law no penalty.   It is worse than idle to say, Here are
A, B, and  C, — they have lived to a  great  age —
have been robust, and have never observed  these rules.
The general rule is one thing, and the exceptions are
another.   These instances appear to be the exceptions
to a general  rule.  But are  they really  and in  all
respects  exceptions ?   Because some who have kept
their  bodies and souls in a gradual steeping of alco-
holic  liquor, have  been apparently  robust, and  have
Jived to old  age, is it proved that alcohol has  never
done them  injury ?   But, while one has  lived a long
life in violation of law with seeming impunity, a hun-
dred and one, especially of those who  have followed
sedentary habits, literary men in particular, have grad-
ually ruined their constitutions.
   Whoever  has intelligence enough to know that na-
ture has laws, is in duty bound to obey them, and not
ran the hazard of laying temptations for disease.   And
whoever will take  the safe  side of this  matter, will
always find it for his  good.   Even the farmer, in the
most driving season of the year, will find obedience to 
48
DIETETIC LAWS.
law to be for  his  interest.   Let  him conform — and
his men with him — to the old maxim, " after dinner
sit a while," even one hour,—or, what might be better,
instead of sitting idle, let all hands do some light mat-
ter, such as arranging and preparing tools, — and he
will find, in the long run, more work accomplished, with
less expenditure of strength.
    Let  them work  lightly for   an  hour, —just as
they  would treat a valuable  horse after a full meal,
— and  then  closely task their  energies  until  the
time   of another meal.   This   light   exercise,  im-
mediately after eating, if  it  be  something  artificial,
i. e.,  got up  simply for  exercise, should not only be
light, so  as not to require  real muscular exertion, but
it  should be something that  is adapted to amuse and
exhilarate the mind.  The state of the mind  has much
to do with  the health of the body, and  especially the
healthy and free action of the digestive organs.  Hence,
it  is exceedingly important, in all efforts  at exercise,
that  the mind be  interested in whatever the hands
undertake.   Anything that is a piece of drudgery to
the imagination, would be of little service to  the body.
   The fact that the nervous energies are attracted in
the direction of the digestive process immediately after
a  meal, which  renders  any  considerable  physical or
mental exertion at that time particularly burdensome,
is proved true in the conduct of dumb animals.  When
the ox or the  horse has grazed a full meal, he imme-
diately becomes indisposed for exertion or  activity.
And the same rule should be observed, in regard to bis 
              TIME TAKEN FOR LABOR            49

labor, that has been recommended for human beings,
he should never be forced into hard labor short of one
hour after he  has eaten his meal.  The ferocious  ani-
mals, when they have taken a full meal, lose for a time
their fierceness, and are comparatively harmless.  And
so it is Avith men: if it be necessary to ask a favor of
a  morose or  tigerish  man, seek  an  interview  imme-
diately  after  dinner;  if a charity is  to  be solicited
from a creature who carries a miser's  soul within  his
encasement of flesh, see him immediately after dinner.
At any other  time  than after a full, meal, he would
resist, and succeed, probably,  in warding off' every mo-
tive ; but while the nervous energies are  taxed with
the digestive effort, he cannot rouse himself so well to
meet the  emergency.   He will rather grant the favor
asked, than annoy himself with the effort necessary to
repel the invader.
   If a  laborer commence hard work immediately after
eating,  the action of his nervous energies is distracted;
partly drawn  toward the stomach, and partly forced in
the direction of the muscular system.   By this  unnat-
ural forced  action of the nerves, the digestive  process
is impaired: the food is not thoroughly broken  up by
and mixed  with, the gastric  juice.   By  this  unlaw-
ful operation,  the food  is comparatively  unprepared
for all the rest of the process.   The chyme and chyle
must be imperfectly formed, and the  system, so far as
each such meal is concerned, imperfectly nourished.
Besides this,  the  forcing of the  muscles  to exertion
against  the natural inclination of the nerves to  supply
                5 
50
DIETETIC LAWS.
the necessary power, gradually impairs the power and
activity of the muscular system.
   The  man who disregards this law will  grow old
faster — other things being equal — than the man who
allows time for the thorough digestion of his food.  It
is his food which  sustains him in labor;  therefore, he
is in duty bound to  give that food the  best possible
opportunity to give him support.   The same law pre-
vails in dumb  animals as in man.   Whoever works his
oxen or drives his horses immediately after  their eat-
ing, will find,  in the course of an experience sufficient
to test the point, that his beasts, under such a manage-
ment, will  soon wear out;  while his neighbor's beast,
under a  treatment which  accords with nature's  law,
will be  robust and endure.   It  is economy, then, as
well as health, to yield obedience to this natural law.
   Mental labor should never be attempted within one
hour after a meal is finished.   If a close mental ap-
plication be made immediately after eating, whether it
be a merchant casting accounts, or a student getting
his lesson, the digestive process is impaired; the  ner-
vous energies are drawn, in a measure, away from the
direction of the stomach to the brain.   This  unnatural
action  frequently causes an increased quantity of blood
to be lodged on  that organ, occasioning a dull, heavy
headache.   Sometimes  it will bring on a nervous head-
ache.  The influence of this  course is also Arery inju-
rious to  the stomach.   Hundreds and  thousands of
students  and professional men have in this way brought
upon themselves dyspepsia, Avith its long train of untold
Byniptoms and  suflerinfw> 
FOOD  AND DRINKS.
51
   Many a one has in this way broken irremediably his
constitution.  With too little physical exercise at the
right time, and with  mental labor at the wrong time,
he has ruined himself for life, or brought himself to a
premature graAre.   Many a one has gone through a
regular course of education, — prepared  his  mind for
usefulness, — but, by having neglected the laws of his
body, — neglected to  keep up a  proper balance  of ac-
tion  between his physical and intellectual powers,—
be has rendered himself disqualified for  much execu-
tion  in the callings of life.   His  mind, though well
disciplined, cannot act in this life without a body;  the
bodily energies  are  so deranged and weakened as  to
hold the intellectual faculties in a state of comparative
imbecility.
             FOOD AND  DRINKS.
               THE QUALITY  OF FOOD.
   All our nutrition comes primarily from the vegeta-
ble kingdom.   If we eat flesh, the nourishment which
made that flesh came from vegetables.  The nutrition
from  the corn on which  the hog  is fatted becomes
assimilated into his flesh; and, by eating that pork, we
get the nutrition  of the corn, animalized, after  pass-
ing through, and   having  been  incorporated into, his
system; or, if we eat pork that has been fatted on dead
animal matter, we get our  vegetable nutrition after its
having  passed through  two processes of assimilation.
But it  is proposed to speak  here of taking vegetable
nutrition in its original state. 
52
FOOD  AND DRINKS.
   This was unquestionably the original method adopted
by the Creator for the nourishment of man.   Man, in
his original, holy state, was provided for from the veg-
etables of that happy garden which was  given him to
prune.   The Creator gaATe to Adam charge of the gar-
den, filled with  fruits " good for food," which he was
to dress, saying, " To you it shall be for meat."  This
was  the  Creator's  original plan ;  one animal was not
to devour another animal for food.   The eating of flesh
was  suffered, as one of the consequences of the fall.
   It is  generally admitted, however, that no animal
food was used till after the flood;  and its permission
then may be put down with other  things  allowed and
pro\Tided for  by  law, " because of  the  hardness  of
men's hearts," some  of  which  were abrogated and
repealed by the Saviour.   Swine's flesh — that worst
of all flesh  for  eating—was  even then prohibited.
While it is not my object, however, to insist on entire
abstinence from meats, it is due to show to Americans,
who are  eating more flesh than any other civilized na-
tion,  the English as a body not excepted, that the pro-
portion of  their meats to their breadstuffs is enormous
and detrimental.   Living on the bread-stuffs, and other
productions of  the vegetable kingdom, is undoubtedly
the most natural  and healthy method of subsistence
for man.
   There never was probably an  erroneous notion  of
such  universal prevalence as the  idea that  muscular
strength  and endurance depend on  animal diet.  Sci-
ence  and facts are  both at war with this error.  What 
               THE QUALITY  OF FOOD.            53

 is it which makes blood and flesh, and gives perma-
 nent  force to muscular fibre ?  It  is the nutritive
 properties of food.   The breadstuffs  contain a much
 larger proportion of nutritive matter than the meats.
 More  and better blood can  be made of the grains,
 than of  the same quantity of animal food.  In other
 words, the elements of nutrition  essentially forming
 the chemical ingredients of  the blood, out of which
 all the solids of the  body are made, are contained
 more largely in the breadstuff's than in flesh.  These
 elements are Fibrine,  Albumen, and Caseine.
   These elementary principles, found largely  in  the
 gluten of wheat,  are indispensable to the maintenance
 of life — the supply of material through the blood for
 the formation  of muscular  fibre,  and the  constant
 waste  of organized  substance.  When this supply is
 cut  off,  the body begins to Avaste,  and finally dies.
 But there  is no intelligent chemist or physiologist who
 will deny that, where the breadstuffs form  the princi-
 pal food, without the use of flesh,  the  system  is  as
 thoroughly furnished with material for its supply of
 organized substance,  as when  meats  are used.  Arti-
 cles embracing these'  elements  are called azotized
 substances, because they contain azote—an element
 essential to the formation of muscular fibre.
   There  are other  elements  essential  to  the vita.1
 process of respiration, which, though they have noth-
 ing directly to do with  the formation of muscular fibre,
are nevertheless  indispensable to the maintenance of
life.   Articles containing these elements  are called
              5* 
54
FOOD ANT DRINKS.
non-azotized substances.   The principal ingredient in
these is carbon.   The un:on of carbon and oxygen, by
respiration and the consequent chemical changes which
occur, generates the heat by which the body is kept in
an equable temperature in all kinds of weather and cli-
mate.   The carbon  is burned, as it were, by the oxy-
gen, and heat is evolved.   Where there is a deficiency
of one or the other of these two, there consequently is
a diminution of healthy animal heat.
   Here we meet  another  popular error  in  regard to
the  indispensable necessity of animal food, viz., that,
without meats, sufficient animal heat  cannot be main-
tained for cold weather.   This,  however, is a kind of
faithless theory in the mind of those who adA-ocate it;
for they eat the  same quantity of meat in  the hottest
weather that they are accustomed to use in the very
coldest;  and at the south they use meats, especially
the  fat of pork, altogether more largely than at  the
north.   But what is the scientific basis of this conclu-
sion ?   It has none.  The carbon, which is essential to
the  production  of animal   heat, is  contained  more
largely in the breadstuff  than  in the  meats.   The
wheat and other breadstuffs  contain  not only gluten,
the  basis of animal fibre, but starch, containing car-
bon, the  basis of animal  heat.   Hence, bread  may,
with scientific exactness, be called " the staff of life."
   A much larger proportion of carbon is contained in
starch than in flesh.  According  to Dr.  Carpenter, an
English physiologist, four  pounds of starch contain as
much carbon as fifteen pounds of flesh.  How, then, is 
PLATE IX.  MUSCULAR SYSTEM.
FRONT SECTION OF MUSCLES.



    (■See Appendix, p. 298.) 
 
THE QUALITY OF FOOD.
55
the eating of flesh to favor the generation of heat morfl
than bread ?   Here this notion meets an overthrow at
once.   An inhabitant of  the frigid  zone may live  on
oil, and tallow, and fat, which largely contain carbon,
and dispose  of it, if to no advantage  more than that
from the carbon of bread, yet without the damage he
would experience from its use in a temperate  or  hot
climate.   But that the carbon of bread could not sus-
tain him in Greenland, remains to be proved.  Science
says he could be sustained on bread.   Facts, too, so
far as  tested, are stubborn  things, both in regard to
the influence of bread on muscular fibre and on animal
heat.
   Among the enormous flesh-eaters of America, few
have given  this  matter a  fair  test.   A few years
since, quite a  large number not only left off meat,  but
undertook to live on nothing ; and, finding themselves
starving to death, returned to their former diet.  But
there are a few who have found  themselves well able
to live on a generous supply of bread,  with other veg-
etable products, with advantage.  Dr. Muzzey, of Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, wrote me, a few months since, that  he
still continued living exclusively  on the fruits  of  the
vegetable kingdom, — which kind of living he adopted
some twenty years since, — and found  himself healthy
and vigorous.   A gentleman of my acquaintance, who
has spent forty years in seafaring  life, now aged nearly
eighty-five,  says  that  in all the hardships and  ex-
posures  incident  to sailing  on  seas  and coasts,  his
health  has always been firm, could endure cold better 
56              FOOD AND  DRINKS.
than the most hardy of his crew;  and yet he has never
from childhood ate of meat the amount of one ordinary
meal per week.
  Another gentleman, belonging  to  this city, a dealer
in wood and coal, aged  about forty years,  informed
me, some  three days  since, that  he never saw a sick
day — had always been accustomed to muscular  labor
— knew no weather too cold for comfort — could bear
great fatigue — and yet had never tasted of meat from
his infancy.  A more perfect specimen of manly vigor
and  soundness could  not well be found.   Hayward's
History of Massachusetts gives account of  a  man, liv-
ing in Worcester county, who, at the age of  one hun-
dred  and  sixteen years, was able to go out into the
hay-field  and mow.  He had never  ate  meat from
early childhood.  The author  of this work  has tried
this  experiment for the last twelve years,  and finds
himself in more vigorous health, better able to  bear
changes in weather, and performing more wearing labor,
than at any former period in life.
   The Hindoos, with a climate decidedly unfriendly to
English and American people, live almost entirely  on
rice.   They enjoy uniform health, and are  able to per-
form the most enduring muscular exertions.  While
the flesh-eating foreigner is afraid of heat and  night
air, and is groaning perhaps under an inflamed  liver,
the Hindoo can carry him upon his shoulders over hills
and  through streams, under a scorching sun by day,
and sleeping on the bare ground at night.  The natives
of Sierra Leone live in the worst climate in the world, 
PLATE  X.   MUSCULAR SYSTEM.
BACK SECTION OF MUSCLES
   (See Appendix, p. 299.) 
 
THE  QUALITY  OF FOOD.            57
 subsisting entirely on boiled rice, with a small quantity
 of fruits, and are strong, healthy, and long-lived.  The
 laborers on the coast of Africa perform great  manual
 labor, with a muscular power which is considered won-
 derful,  having giant  strength  and perfect health, and
 live entirely on vegetable products.
   If we were to consult the instincts of our nature
 strictly, we should hardly be able to consider meat the
 most congenial diet; for there are few  places more
 uncongenial to. the untutored nasal organs than a shop
 of fresh meats.   Besides the unpleasant sight of slain
 beasts  to  a reflecting  mind, — beasts slain for  our
 devouring, — the smell of their raAV flesh  is repulsive
 to all, except those whose natural sense is blunted by
 the culture and indulgence of a voracious  appetite for
 flesh.   It seems to  me, also, that flesh-eating is  not
 only unnatural  to our  instincts, but to our physical
 organization.  The following extract contains testimony
 on this  point which seems appropriate: —
  " Flesh-Eating and Vegetable-Eating. — To con-
sider  man anatomically,  he  is decidedly a vegetable-
eating animal.   He is constructed like no  flesh-eating
animal,  but like all vegetable-eating animals.   He has
not claws, like the lion, the tiger, or the cat;  but  his
teeth are short and smooth, like those of the horse, the
cow, and the  fruit-eating animals; and his  hand is
evidently  intended to pluck the  fruit, not  seize his
fellow-animals.   What animals does man most resem-
ble m e-ery respect? The  ape tribes:   frugiverous
animals.   Doves  and sheep, by being fed on animal 
 58              FOOD AND  DRINKS.

 food (and they may be, as has been fully proved), will
 come to refuse  their  natural food: thus has it been
 with man.  On the contrary, even cats may be brought
 up to live  on vegetable food, so  they will not touch
 any sort of flesh, and be quite  vigorous and  sleek.
 Such cats will kill their natural prey just as other cats,
 but Avill refuse them as food.  Man is naturally a veo--
 etable-eatiug  animal: how, then,  could  he possibly be
 injured by abstinence from flesh ?   A man, by way of
 experiment, was made to live entirely on animal food;
 after having  persevered ten days, symptoms of incip-
 ient putrefaction began to manifest themselves.   Dr.
 Lamb, of London, has lived for  the last thirty years
 on a diet of vegetable food.   He commenced when he
 was about fifty years of age; so he is now about eighty,
 — rather more, I believe, — and  is still healthy and
 vigorous.  The  writer of the Oriental  Annual men-
 tions that the Hindoos, among whom he travelled, were
 so free from any tendency to inflammation, that he has
 seen compound fractures of the skull among them, yet
 the patient to be at  his work, as if nothing ailed him,
 at  the end of three days.   How  different is it  with
 our flesh-eating, porter-swilling London brewers!  A
 scratch  is almost death  to them." —  Floivers and
 Fruits, by J.  E. Dawson.

   It is not intended, in this small work, to dwell so
particularly upon the  kind of vegetable eating most
conducive to health, as upon the manner and regularity  .
of eating.  There are, however,'  some  vegetables in 
THE  QUALITY OF  FOOD.            59
 common use, which ought promptly and forever to be
 rejected.   Cucumbers, though  considered  a luxury,
 should never be eaten.  They are  cold, indigestible
 things.  True,  some  stomachs  can  seem  to  digest
 them with apparent impunity : so, too, some stomachs
 have digested steel;  but this  does not prove that
 it  should be  used for food.   The  condiments with
 which they are usually prepared do not assist in their
 digestion;  except  by  over-stimulating the  stomach,
 which stimulating process always tends to weaken
 that organ.   Condiments aid in digestion in the same
 way that alcoholic liquor aids a laborer in performing
 an extra task; which process always tends to weaken
 the system.   There are other articles which might be
 mentioned  as inappropriate for the human  stomach;
 but a little common sense and observation will gener-
 ally decide what is proper and what improper.
   It is suitable and  needful  thatWinual  sameness
 in diet should be avoided.  It is better that there
 should be considerable sameness in each individual
 meal;  but the kind of articles of which different meals
 are composed may with benefit be varied.  The more
 simple  the  diet,  on the whole, the better!   Compli-
cated food, especially that which is compounded with
various kinds  of  condiments, is bad; such as very
nch  puddings,  cake,  and  pastry  of various sorts.
Mince-pies, wedding-cake, and plum-puddings, as they
are generally made, should never be  introduced into
the human stomach-and the prohibition need never
extend beyond the human stomach, for dumb animal, 
60
FOOD  AND  DRINKS.
could not be compelled to eat them.   Hot bread, just
from the oven, should never be  ate  till it has cooled
and parted with its heated gases, which are hurtful to
the stomach.   Bread which is perfectly cold is  more
healthy for  debilitated digestive  organs.   Cold bread
toasted is not objectionable.
   Food should be simple, yet nutritious; and so pre-
pared — though  not with stimulating ingredients — as
to be palatable,  — inviting to the  appetite.  If the
food  be  poor, or poorly prepared,  the  stomach will
loathe it.   Here is found one cause why some  have
 not  been successful  in their  efforts to simplify their
 diet; they  have reduced  their living to a poverty-
 stricken  quality, by which their whole systems  have
 become weakened.   Food should  be  palatable  and
 nutritious.   It is not best that that kind of food should
 be constantly used  which embraces within a  given
 quantity the  greatest amount of nutrition;  but the
 nutritious and comparatively innutritious kinds should
 be used together : for instance, sugar is too nutritious,
 i. e., too much  nutrition  in  a  given quantity, to be
 used alone as a  meal; the digestive  organs would soon
 break down with such an encumbrance.   But sugar is
 a good article of diet, when used in conjunction with
 articles containing less nutrition in the same quantity.
   Simplicity  of diet, i.  e., living  on  simple,  plain
 food, is exceedingly important in securing good  health
 and  a sound constitution.  The great cause  of the
 difference between the present standard  of health and
 that of puritan  times  consists in the difference in the 
THE  QUALITY OF FOOD.
61
manner of- living.   Then, the people lived naturally;
now, they live artificially.   Then, their food was plain,
homely, and simple ;  now, it is rich, delicate, and com-
plicated.  Then, the  bean-porridge  was the  luxury;
now, the highly-seasoned  meats and the rich pastry.
The children were brought up on plainer food than even
their parents; now,  the little ones are invited to all
the unnatural luxuries in which the  parents indulge.
Then, a plain brown  crust, even  without' butter, was
ate with relish; now, nothing but  the richest dainties
will meet the demand.
   Fruits of  various  kinds are proper  articles of diet
in connection with other food.  Apples, pears, plums,
cherries, oranges, pine-apples, &c, may properly be
made articles of diet, and come under the same  rules
and restrictions as other articles of food.  They may
be treated as mere luxuries, to be eaten at any and all
times; because they require very little  effort of the
digestive organs  to  dissolve them, and  extract  their
uutrition.   It  is undoubtedly better, however,  that
fruit should  be taken as other articles of diet, at the
regular time of  eating, as  a part of  the  meal.   As a
general rule, fruit  should  be taken  as a part of the
regular dinner.   Good,  ripe fruit, taken in this  way,
is beneficial  to health, by way of variety; and, if the"
bowels are at all sluggish, fruits are adapted to remove
that difficulty.
              6 
62
FOOD  AND  DRINKS.
              THE QUANTITY OF  FOOD.
   The quantity of food which  it is necessary to take
at each meal is not a matter of so much importance as
the  regularity and simplicity of  diet.   Some writers
on diet have undertaken to prescribe certain limits to
the  quantity of  food  to be taken, by weight.   This
would seem to be a difficult task.   To measure out to
each one a quantity suited to all the different circum-
stances in which  he may be placed, and to all persona
according to  their great variety of ages and constitu
iions, would be a laborious undertaking, indeed: and
 it seems to be  unnecessary.   Whoever  will govern
 himself by dietetic law — eat plain food — only three
 times a  day — give time  for  food  to digest — take
 proper exercise — will find  little difficulty in settling
 the  question, how much he  ought  to  eat.  Whoever
 will live  right, need not ask his cook to weigh out his
 quantum of food: only gi\'e her  a chance, and Dame
 Nature will settle that matter,  and  relieATe him of all
such burden of mind.   A person with morbid appe-
tite  may eat too much ;  and he should limit himself:
but  a perfectly  healthy stomach will  easily decide
when it is sufficiently supplied.
   Many have been much injured by too  rigidly lim-
iting themselves  in  their  quantity  of  food; so  that
their systems were not sufficiently nourished.   In the
effort to change  their  course  of living  from great
luxury to  temperance, they ran  over the line, into the
opposite extreme.  They reduced the  quantity and 
THE  QUANTITY OF I00D.
63
the quality of their food too low.   By this course, they
reduced their  health  and  strength, and finally, per-
haps, concluded that their former way of living was the
best.   The  system must have nourishment, and the
quantity must be varied according to circumstances;
and  a  perfectly healthy  stomach will furnish the best
index to the quantity demanded.
   It is a misfortune for any one, especially for one
whose health has become deranged, to keep his mind
continually dwelling on  the questions, what he shall
eat,  how much, &c.;  because  this continued mental
anxiety tends to  embarrass the  free action of  the
digestive functions, and increase the difficulty.   Still,
he must give  some attention to the subject in some
way: he must not be reckless  in regard to the laws
of his existence.   The  better  way  is, let him  make
himself intelligent  on the  subject  of  the laws of his
nature, and then  he can keep  himself  within  the
limits of those laws without"  mental effort,  as well as
he can keep himself within the limits of civil law when
once understood.
   The rule in regard to  quantity often mentioned, to
"eat until satisfied," is  a  bad one.   The  rule often
given, too, in regard to the frequency  of  eating, to
"eat when  hungry," is  also erroneous.   When the
digestive organs are in a perfectly healthy state, their
instinctive demand for food, and their entire satisfac-
tion as to quantity, would be a safe rule ; but when we
know that a large portion of the appetites of this  day
are not healthy  and natural, but morbid and destruc- 
64
FOOD  AND  DRINKS.
tive, mere  appetite ceases to be a safe  guide.   If a
man would have his stomach be a safe guide, he must
be sure to let it have a chance to act naturally.   In-
stinct would guide us  right;  but instinct has been
perverted and oppressed, till its voice cannot  be dis-
tinctly uttered.

   No strenuousness is intended on the subject of ani-
mal food :  it is better to let  each one choose for him-
self.   Yet it may not  be improper that some sugges-
tions should be  made, some facts  stated, and  the
results of experience shown, for the benefit of any who
may be willing  to heed  them.   Flesh-eating  is  cer-
tainly not  necessary to health or strength, as eATery
candid mind must see.   If it  be used,  it must be
used as a matter of fancy, and not of necessity.   If
the vegetable world did not furnish all the elements
from which health and strength are derived, the sturdy
horse and ox would find themsehTes sadly unfurnished.
They  need the  same elementary principles in their
food which are needed  for man.   Flesh evidently, as
already intimated, composed no  part of the food pro-
vided for man  in his  primeATal state:  its use came to
be suffered in  consequence of the fall.  And if, as
argued by some, the food obtained only  from the veg-
etable kingdom is not  adequate to the sustenance of
man, the Creator must have  made a  mistake in his
first arrangement for the support of his creatures.
   Some naturalists have classified man as in part a
carnivorous animal; but  this would not prove it his 
PLATE XL  FORMS  OF TEETH.
NO 1. HIMAN TEETH
NO. 2. COW'S TEETH.



 (Sse Appendix, p. 304.) 
 
             THE QUANTITY  OF FOOD.            00

duty to cat flesh :  because either the indications of his
classification are the result of his habits of flesh-eatiug,
or they existed before the fall, and mean nothing  as
relates to  his mode of living.   The teeth of the car-
nivorous animals have either conformed to their habicS,
or they existed in  the present form before the fall, and
consequently have  nothing to  do with  their eating
flesh;  for it cannot be supposed that animals devoured
one another in  their primeval state.   My effort now,
however, is not so much to persuade any into an entire
disuse of meats,  as to  show the impropriety of an
over-proportion of them.
   One objection to eating  so large  a proportion of
animal food lies in  the fact that it increases the pro-
portion of our animalism.    When the  nutrition of
vegetation comes to us through  the flesh of an animal,
it has undergone a sort of animalization; and, as it
passes into our circulation,  the  proportion of the ani-
malism in our natures is increased by it.   A serious
objection  would seem to lie against such a result; for
man  is quite sufficiently animal, without taking this
kind of stimulation to make him more so.
   The facts supporting the  above statement are these :
it is well known  that, when  hunters wish  to prepare
their hounds for the chase, they confine the diet  of
those animals to flesh; and that  this course does in-
crease the savageness  of their dispositions.  By  its
stimulating, animalizing properties, it excites the ani-
mal propensities  to increased  activity and ferocity.
It gives  no more  strength  than that derived from
               6* 
 
THE  QUANTITY  OF FOOD.
67
than our carnality.  We are naturally savage enough
in our dispositions, and  fleshly enough in our appe-
tites, without taking a course that will increase those
qualities.   There can  be no question but that the use
of flesh tends to create a grossness of body and spirit.
A reference to the history and character of different
nations alone would prove this.   There is certainly a
grossness in the idea  of  one  dumb animal's making
food of another animal;  and the idea of an intelligent
being's  devouring the flesh of another  animate crea-
ture is grosser still.   And will the advocate  of true
refinement — will the advocate  of  moral purity and
religion—indulge in such luxuries?
   Another objection to animal food is, it vitiates the
fluids of  the system.  Practical demonstration  has
often substantiated this  statement.   Take the great
mass of cases which require  treatment for  a humor,
and it  will generally be found  that the individuals
thus affected were, themselves or their immediate pre-
decessors, large eaters of flesh.    Even the cancer can
generally be traced back, either mediately or immedi-
ately, to such an origin.  And what  has been found
to be the  most effectual remedy  in cases of  common
humor?   Abstinence, from eating  flesh.   When we
feed on flesh, we not only eat the muscular fibres, but
the  juices  or fluids of  the animal;  and these fluids
pass into  our own circulation — become our blood —
our fluids and our flesh.
   However  pure may be the flesh of the animals we
eat, their fluids  tend to  engender in us a humorous 
68
FOOD AND DRINKS.
state of the blood.  But the meat that is given us in
the markets  is very far  from  being pure.   The very
process taken to fit the animals for market, tends to
produce a diseased state of their fluids.  The  process
of stall-feeding  is  a  forced  and unnatural one,  by
which  the fluids become  diseased; and  then we eat.
those diseased fluids.   Some of our meat is fatted in
country pastures; but, by the time  it reaches  us, the
process of driving to market  has produced a diseased
action of the fluids.
   If it be argued that these objections may lie  against
raw  meat, but not against it when  cooked, it  may be
answered, that  if meat  can be cooked so severely as
to remove its juices entirely, it might be comparatively
harmless; but  just in  proportion to those juices will
be  its nutrition, and also  its injurious qualities; be-
sides, if the  juices could be  entirely removed,  who
would eat the  meat?  and  how much  nourishment
could be obtained from  it V
   Animal food exposes the system  more  effectually to
the causes of acute disease.   Where the fluids are in
a diseased state, the ordinary causes of disease find a
more easy prey.   Thousands on thousands of those
who have been afflicted with, or have  died  of fevers,
small-pox, cholera,  &c, might probably  have  escaped
their deadly influence, if  their fluids had not been
vitiated by animal food.  In cases of inoculation for
small-pox, a  dieting process  is  recommended, which
very much mitigates  the  malignant character of the
disease.   But let an individual be inoculated who has 
             THE QUANTITY OF FOOD.            69

been accustomed to simplicity and regularity of diet,
and especially who has been accustomed to abstinence
from animal food, and  he is already dieted; he need
not change  his course;  he is  prepared to have the
disease with comparative  safety.  The use of meat is
undoubtedly a fruitful source of disease, and a  means
of enhancing those diseases which are unavoidable.
The  sovcrest cases of  worms in  children  may, as a
general rule,  be  found   among  the greatest  meat-
eaters.
   The vitiated  state of  the fluids is often  seen in
the character of wounds.   In those whose fluids are
pure, wounds heal  readily.  Smooth-cut  wounds, if
rightly treated,  will heal  by what is called "the first
intention," or the first effort of nature : while in those
whose fluids are vitiated,  there  is a liability to  exten-
sive  inflammation and ulceration.   In cases of  rough
wounds and bruises, where the  fluids are pure, nature
gets  up a cure with remarkable  speed; but in those
whose fluids are corrupted, the  process of cure is gen-
erally  long  protracted,  and sometimes  exceedingly
obstinate and unmanageable.
   In Humboldt's description of the Indians of  Peru,
Mexico, Quito,  and New  Grenada, they  are  repre-
sented as peaceful cultivators of the soil,  remarkably
exempt from disease, and free from physical deformi-
ties.   They live almost  entirely  on  vegetable nour-
ishment.   Tn his  narrative of  himself, he  gives the
same decided testimony as to the character and habits
of various other South  American  tribes.   Our  Amer- 
10
FOOD  AND DRINKS.
ican Indians, who, in their savage state, live entirely
on  flesh, are short-lived, and greatly subject to epi-
demic  and  contagious  diseases.   Whole  tribes  are
sometimes swept off by measles, smalbpox, and other
maladies.   In Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, in
17G4, a fever appeared among the Indians dwelling
there, which swept off 202 out of 340, in the course
of six months.   Its fatality was  confined to those of
entire Indian blood, and Indian dietetic habits.
   The inhabitants  of  the  Pacific  islands,  in  their
heathen state, were well built, fine featured, mild and
pleasant;  and their physical  strength and activity was
such that  Captain Cook's  men  stood no chance with
them in boxing and  wrestling.   Their diet was almost
entirely of  vegetables.  The  Hottentots  and New
Hollanders, on the other hand, are ill-formed, stinted,
sickly and short-lived.   Their living consists  almost
entirely of  animal  food.   They  live on lizards,  ser-
pents, frogs, and other reptiles, and are without intel-
lect, or a sense of right and  wrong.
   Eating  largely of meats  tends,  undoubtedly,  not
only to  engender disease, but to make a demand for
stimulating drinks.   As before stated, Americans are
the greatest meat-eaters in  the civilized world;  and
they drink more liquor, considering the-light they have,
and the  means  put  forth for its  suppression, than
any other nation.   The stimulus of the  meats  and
their  condiments leads  to  a demand for  additional
simulation in the form  of drinks. 
             TU.E QUANTITY OF FOOD.           71

  The objections, then, against meat-eating are three-
fold, — intellectual, moral, and physical.  Its tendency
is to  check intellectual activity, to depreciate moral
Beutiment, and to derange the fluids of the body.   It
is a consequent of the fall, and is adapted  to enhance
its evils.   It is not essential to physical energy and
strength:  if  it is, then the Creator, as before stated,
made a mistake when he  originally gave to  man for
his  nourishment simply the fruits of Eden.
  Animal food is also too stimulating.   Simple stim-
ulus mixed with nutrition is what we not only do  not
need, but its tendency is injurious.   Take two labor-
ing men — one lives on meat, the other on vegetables;
— the meat-eater may at first be able to excel in the
amount of labor  performed in a given time, just as
that man will excel who takes brandy with his.meal;
but, in the long run, the man who  depends  on nutri-
tion  that is simple and  unstimulating, will endure
longer and perform more.   Those who choose to eat
flesh  should  take  it only at dinner, and be satisfied
with only one kind at a time.   Those who are inclined
to obesity would be far  better without  any  meat;  but,
if they use it, they should  avoid  the fat  meats,  and
content themselves with that which is lean.  All con-
diments  should  be avoided with  meats, as  so many
drugs, which have no place in the healthy  stomach.
   The objections against  eating  flesh  are,  however,
less forcible  in the case of laborers than of those of
intellectual and sedentary habits.    While the laborer
works off  a measure  of the evil influence exerted on 
72
FOOD  AND  DRINKS
his intellectual,  moral  and  physical  systems,  the
sedentary man retains them.
   In speaking of the  objections to meat-eating,  all
kinds of flesh are not meant:  fish may be excepted;
and fowls are altogether less objectionable than the gen-
eral run of quadrupeds.   And the objections to meat-
eating in general are not  meant to be urged with the
same strenuousness  which is  intended  to be used in
regard  to other matters presented in this work:  for,
while these may strictly be resolved into rules of nat-
ural law, those may, perhaps, with propriety, come under
rules of expediency.   Matters of fact have been stated,
deductions philosophically drawn, and practical dem-
onstrations presented;  and every  candid  reader —
unbiased by a flesh-loving appetite — can  easily come
to the conclusion for himself, whether it be better to
eat, or to dispense with flesh in his diet.

               STIMULATING DRINKS.
   If we would enjoy health, all stimulants  should be
avoided as common  drinks.   They may be  useful as
medicines, when nature falters and droops, and cannot
resuscitate herself;   but,  as a beverage,  stimulating
drinks should be strenuously avoided.   When stimu-
lants  are taken, the  machinery of the system is hur-
ried and driven too fast.  And although by this means
its activity and power may seem to be increased, yet a
reaction must follow; a corresponding  debility must
ensue ;  then another stimulating draught is called for,
to bring the system up again, and then another reac- 
/
               STIMULATING DRINKS.              73

tion must follow.   By this course of things, the real,
natural vigor  of the constitution becomes gradually,
and oftentimes imperceptibly impaired.   Hence, if we
would  preserve a healthy system, instead of provoking
nature to unnatural action, we must furnish her with
sufficient healthy  nourishment, and let  her  regulate
her own mode and speed of action.   Give her nour-
ishment, and she will furnish her own stimulus, which
will be far preferable to any promptings which art can
imrent.  Sustain  her  in her natural action, and  not
force  her to unnatural speed, which must result in
weakening  her innate powers.   To  live naturally, is
to live healthily;  but  to live artificially, is to  tempt
and foster disease.
   Let  us  suppose a  case  for  illustration:  a  man
undertakes a  long journey; his  horse  naturally and
easily  travels  at the rate of five  miles the hour;  he
can do this day after.day, with  proper care and feed-
ing, and come out bright  at the end of the  journey
But the foolish rider is not satisfied with this  steady
speed; it would be more to his gratification to travel
much faster; so  he goads up the poor  animal  to an
unnatural speed—say eight miles  an  hour.   He
intends that forty miles  shall be each  day's  travel;
and by going five  miles the hour, eight hours  on  the
road would be required for its accomplishment. - But,
by means of whip  and • spur, he performs  the  allotted
distance in five hours, provided the abused beast  do
not give out before the day's work is finished.   Now,
any one of common sense can  at once  judge of the
              7 
74
FOOD AND DRINKS.
 ability of the  animal to perform a  loi.g  journey, and
 of his condition at the end of it, under such a system
 of driving.   Every time his  goading urges  his animal
 faster than  his natural speed, a reaction ensues; Avhich
 continued process wears fast upon his natural strength.
   Precisely in this way do those whose rule of living
 is their  present  gratification, treat  their  own animal
 systems.  Instead of allowing nature to take her own
 speed, they  goad her on to unwonted  action, and  con-
 sequently lessen  her  power to perform her  functions.
 and her ability  to endure her labor.  Why  not let
 nature alone ?  Why interfere and  jostle her  natural
 operations ?   Why spur on the noble  steed to unnatu-
 ral fastness, break down his constitution,  and  disable
 him for reaching the  end  of his journey ?  Besides all
 the  wrong  in  the  case, it  is  bad  economy; what  is
 gained temporarily, is  lost, and much more with it,
 ultimately.   Let nature alone, and she will temper her
 speed  to  the  laws  of health  and  endurance;  she
 needs no whips and spurs — she asks no help.  While
 she is  able to do  her  own work, all  help is hindrance.
 The animal that is driven beyond  his five  miles the
hour  by the Avhipping  process, becomes so exhausted
and dull, that even the five miles' speed cannot be per-
formed without increasing the stimulus of  the whip.
So  nature, by  continued  stimulus, becomes  dull  and
lifeless in her operations, and cannot be kept  up to the
mark without goading her up more and more.
  Let the difference be well understood between stim-
ulants and  nutriments.   The  former term  embraces 
STIMULATING DRINKS.              75
those things Avhich give unnatural speed of action, but
furnish no support, produce  no blood, and make no
flesh.  The latter term  embraces those things which
support vital action in its natural course, by furnishing
material for digestion or respiration, to be converted
into blood, and assimilated into flesh.  Pure stimulants
furnish no  blood ; they cannot be digested.  They may
contain some of the  chemical elements found in nutri-
tious  substances, but which, in their present chemical
unions, cannot be  digested  or  assimilated,  and  are
therefore poisonous to the system.   The grains contain
nutriment — contain  substances which, in  their  pres-
ent union, can be digested and converted into blood.
But  put these grains into the process of fermentation,
and,  by chemical changes, a  new substance is formed, .
of such  chemical constitution that  it cannot be di-
gested.
   Alcoholic  Liquors  of all  kinds, whether strong
beer,  cider, wine, or  brandy,  should never be taken
except as  drugs; because, besides the danger of a
drunkard's grave, they are  all stimulants;  they im-
part  no nourishment to the system, but  force its action
to an unnatural degree.   The idea that these liquors
promote digestion is  all  a delusion.   They give to  '.he
stomach an unnatural and forced action, which,  while
in health, it does not need;  and the longer it is  sub-
jected to this driving process, the more will it depend
on stimulants.   When the stomach is excited in this
way,  the brain also is excited;  and  whoever uses alco-
holic  drinks as a beverage, is  so far a drunkard; for 
76
FOOD AND DRINKS.
no dividing-line can be drawn — no transition bound-
ary can be made — between him  who  drinks moder-
ately, and him who drinks excessiA^ely.  It is all Avrong,
and  only wrong.  It  is all intoxicating, and only in-
toxicating.  He who drinks a little is a little drunk ;
he who drinks  largely is largely drunk.  To be tem-
perate in the use  of good things  in their place, is to
use them  with proper moderation.  To be temperate
in the  use of bad  things, or things out of place, is to
let them alone.  The way to be temperate in religion,
is to have  a zeal which is according to knowledge.   The
way to be temperate in  fanaticism, is to let it alone.
Temperance in eating bread is moderation ; temperance
in regard to  stimulants  and  narcotics is total absti-
nence.
  Coffee is objectionable for a similar reason;  it is a
stimulant — a kind of narcotic stimulant, bearing some
resemblance to opium;  and so powerful  is its action,
that  it is considered and used as a most certain anti-
dote to poisoning from  opium.   And it can readily be
seen, that unless it was an article of much power itself,
it could never overpower such a poison.  Coffee should
never  be placed on  any other  list than that of medi-
cines ;  it should never  be drank  as a luxury or bev-
erage.   Mothers should  never be so tender and affec-
tionate toward their  children as to give them such an
article for their drink.   That mother is insane who
will value the immediate gratification of her child more
than its future enjoyment of health  and soundness.
Her  child will  desire  no such indulgence, if it has 
STIMULATING DRINKS.
77
never been accustomed to it.  If the habit has been
formed, let  it be at once  abolished.  There are few
things over which my very soul has groaned so deeply,
as seeing mothers  so  ignorantly or carelessly under-
mining the constitutions of those whom they love, and
for whose welfare, moral and physical, they are greatly
responsible.   Yet, if they are  determined  to  gratify
their  tender ones ;!t all  hazards of their constitutions,
they are, of  course, at liberty to do so ; or,  if any are
disposed to treat themselves in  the same  way, there  is
no civil law against it;  but they break another law,
which must be met, — a law of nature written by Jeho-
vah on every nerve of the  human body.
   A French writer, Mens. A.  Richard, says:  " This
liquor, taken warm, is an energetic  stimulant;  it has
all the advantages of spirituous drinks, without any of
their  bad results;  that is to say, it produces  neither
drunkenness  nor all the accidents that accompany it."
This  is true to the very  letter;  it produces all the
injurious  stimulant  effects of alcoholic liquor, except
taking away men's senses, and making  them stagger
and fall.
   Dr. Colet thus describes the effect of coffee, when
taken in a large quantity  for a length of time:  " To
gastralgia"—acute pain  in  the  stomach—"that  it
occasions,  is  united, after  a variable space  of time, a
kind of shivering, a trembling  in the left side of the
breast, an uncomfortable stitch  in front of  this region,
accompanied by pain in breathing; and, in addition, a
general  excitemerrt, the  characteristics  of  which  are
               7* 
78
FOOD  AND DRINKS.
analogous to those of incipient intoxication ''   He tells
us, also, that if this  course  is persevered in, spasms
and convulsions are sometimes produced.
  Dr. Cottereau says:  " I have seen some young per-
sons, who have taken  excessive doses of coffee to excite
them to labor, fall into a state of stupidity, lose their
appetite, and grow thin in an astonishing manner."
  A. Saint-Arroman, to whom credit is due for fur-
nishing the above extracts, says : " According to these
counsels, given by men of skill, it  is  easy to compre-
hend that coffee is sometimes more injurious  than the
great consumption of it would seem to indicate.  Thus,
how many persons are  there who would know the
cause of a disease not  understood, and would be less
disordered, if they thoroughly knew the effects  of this
liquor, and  the  circumstances in which  it cannot fail
to be injurious! "
  It needs only to be added, that, in the estimation of
'he writer  of this  little work, — after having used it
for  several  years, and since having abstained from it
for  some fifteen years, — coffee, in all  cases, and under
ill circumstances, is bad ; that its stimulating qualities
 ire decidedly injurious to the system,  and ought never
 o be used, except when required as an antidote  to
poison, or  for  some  other  medicinal purpose.   And,
what makes it to  be dreaded more than many other
injurious things is, its evil  working is so unseen and
delusive.   While it  does not show itself like alcohol,
yet  its evil work  is more  certainly undermining  the
nervous system; and while it tempts us to believe that 
STIMULATING DRINKS.
79
it  strengthens and supports,  because it excites, yet
it  slowly enervates.   It affects the whole system, and
especially  the nervous  system, by its effects on the
stomach.  But, besides  this, it creates a morbid action
of the liver, especially  where there  is a tendency  to
bilious  affections.   It  affects the circulation of the
blood, and  the  quality  of the blood  itself, so that a
great coffee-drinker  can generally be known by his
complexion ;  it  gives to the skin a dead, dull, sallow
appearance.
   Coffee affects not only the body to its  injury, but
also  the mind.  It  has been called  an " intellectual
drink," because it  excites the mind temporarily to un-
wonted activity.    "But,  unfortunately," says  the
French writer last quoted, "it  is not without great
prejudice to  mind and body that man procures such
over-excitements.  After them come prostration, sad-
ness, and exhaustion of the moral and physical forces ;
the  mind  becomes  enervated,  the  body languishes.
To a rich imagination succeeds a penury of ideas; and,
if the consumer does not stop,  genius will soon give
place to stupidity."
   The longevity of some  coffee-drinkers  has been
sometimes  urged  as  proof  that  coffee does no harm.
But Ave might just as well bring forward the fact that
some great alcohol-drinkers, or some  great  opium-eat-
ers,  have  lived  sometimes  to old age, in  proof that
alcohol and opium  are harmless luxuries.   It is impos-
Bible to judge always of the evil effects of an article
Ave are using by ar.y immediate perceptible result.  We 
80
FOODS AND DRINKS.
must inquire what is its nature ; and then draw our
conclusions as to what will be its ultimate effect.   The
most  violent poisons may be  used, after a  habit  is
established,  with apparent impunity; such as tobacco,
opium, and arsenic;  and yet no intelligent man would
dare to say these are  harmless luxuries.  They are
not harmless;  they expose their consumers to prema-
ture sickness, old age, and death.   And they see not
the breakers until they  are dashed upon  them.
   Tea  is another objectionable article, because of its
stimulating properties.   This is a direct, diffusible, and
active stimulant.  Its effects are very similar to those
of alcoholic drinks, except that of drunkenness. _  Like
alcohol, it gives, for a time, increased vivacity of spirits.
Like alcohol, it increases, beyond its healthy  and nat-
ural action,  the whole animal and mental machinery;
after which  there comes a reaction — a  corresponding
languor and debility.   The Avash-woman becomes ex-
hausted, and must have her bowl of tea  to recruit her
energies, instead of giving nature a chance  to recover
herself.  She  depends  upon art rather than  nature,
and each time lowers the standard of her own perma-
nent  strength.   She accomplishes  more in a  short
time, while her strength is artificial instead of natural;
but is gradually, though perhaps imperceptibly, wear-
ing herself out  before her time.   The nurse keeps her-
self awake nights by this  artificial process; and  each
time, by imperceptible steps, lessens her natural strength.
She thinks,  with the wash-woman, that tea does her
good — strengthens her, because, like the rum-drinker. 
STIMULATING DRINKS.
81
she feels  better  under  its immediately stimulating
effects.
  The time  was  when ministers,  instead of  being
largely inspired with the Holy Ghost, wrote and deliv-
ered their  sermons under  the inspiration of ardent
spirits;  but now, seeing that to be morally and phys-
ically Avrong, they not unfrequently labor under  that
artificial  inspiration, which is  quite  as  effectual, con-
tained in tea.   By this process, they gradually impair
their own natural energy of body and mind;  for, when
we drive up and overtax the forces of nature by stim-
ulus, they ultimately fall in the rear of their original
process of  action.   The  green teas  are much  more
powerful stimulants than the black.   The Chinese do
not use the  green  teas.   Not long  since, meeting a
young Chinese, the  inquiry Avas  made why they did
not drink their green  teas.   Putting his hands up to
his head, he said, " They burn  all the hair off."  They
were too stimulating to the brain and nerves.
   Some  have endeavored to understand from Liebig
that one of the elementary principles of tea — theine
— and of  coffee — caffeine —  which are the same in
their primary elements, is important in the formation
of bile.   But it seems very plain  that he only shows
their medicinal properties to be appropriate in morbid
conditions  of the liver.  In the same  connection he
shows  that  opium  and cinchona contain elements
which go into the formation of the substance  of brain
and nenrous  matter.  He certainly does not  mean to
recommend these last-named drugs as articles of diet. 
82              FOODS  AND  DRINKS.
Black  tea  will  favorably  affect a torpid liver; but
when used, it should be taken like  other  medicines,
and relinquished when its object is answered.   But, if
taken  in  health, 'it would  only tend to weaken that
organ  by  over  excitement, and ultimately  produce
the disease which  it  otherwise might  be adapted to
cure.  So it is in  regard to the use of any other drug,
if used habitually.  In  all cases its stimulus  is tem-
porary, and followed by  proportionate  reaction and
debility.  It  as truly intoxicates the nerves  as alco-
hol ; and  its effects in strong doses are quite analo-
gous.
   See a party of  ladies  met to spend an afternoon, in
a sewing-circle,  it may be.  Toward the close of  the
afternoon, their fund of conversationals becomes some-
what exhausted ;  but soon come* the tea and eatables;
and, notwithstanding the opposing influences of a full
stomach, the drooping mind becomes  greatly animated,
the  tongue is  let loose, and  the words come flowing
forth like the falling drops of a great shower.  What
does all this mean ?   Whence the cause of such  a
change ?   It is the inspiration of the strong  cups of
tea.   Then  is the time  for small thoughts and  many
words ; or, it may be, the sending forth of fire-brands
of gossip and slander; or if, perchance, religion be the
topic,  the inspiring power  of tea will create an excited
feeling very  closely resembling  that  produced Avhen
religious rum-drinkers shed alcoholic tears.
   Tea, in  large  doses, produces  convulsive  motions,
and a kind of  ntoxication.   It enters into the circu- 
STIMULATING DRINKS.
83
 lation, and affoots the complexion ;  it is not difficult to
 detect a great tea-drinker by looking at his skin, which
 loses  its bright and lively cast, and puts on a deadly
 lifeless, dried, and sometimes sallow appearance.   It i/
 Baid that in China the great tea-drinkers  are thin and
 weak, their complexion leaden, their teeth black, and
 themselves  affected with diabetes.   Cases  have  not
 unfrequently come  under the immediate inspection of
 the writer, where tea  had  for years almost literally
 been  the  food  and drink, especially of seamstresses,
 who would  sit up late nights.   In  such   cases, about
 the only remedy  would be, to prohibit the further use
 of it.   But generally this  prohibition would be no
 longer  heeded  than while  being  uttered;  for  their
 dependence on it, and love  for it, could not be easily
 broken up; and but small compensation, in some cases,
 would seem  to  be  gained  by its discontinuance;  for
 tea had almost eaten them up; leaving little more than
 bone and sinew, and a few scraps of dried flesh.
   In  short, all stimulants are so many internal  fires,
 which gradually burn up the machinery of organic life.
 Consequently, whoever uses tea or coffee as a common
 drink, spends his  money for that which  not only does
 him no good, but evil, and  that continually.  They ■
 are both innutritious, and stimulating to  a degree which
 it  is difficult for  their devotees to  calculate.  Now,
which shall we do  ?  Abstain, and  bring under this
evil appetite, or  will  we gratify it ?   Will we deny
ourselves,  and derive the incalculable benefit as a com-
pensation, or recklessly  go  on,  and take the conse- 
84
FOOD  AND DRINKS.
 quences ?  Will  young ladies  and  gentlemen treat
 their physical and mental systems  lawfully, and save
 to themselves a good  constitution,  or will they, at all
 hazards,  indulge themselves in unlawful appetites, and
 have no principle by  which to govern  themselves, but
 their  own  gratification ?  Will they  have regard to
 their own benefit, and that of coming generations, or
 will  they, like the devotee  to  the intoxicating bowl,
 live for to-day, and let to-morrow provide for itself?
    Tobacco  can scarcely be  reckoned  a  drink,  but it
 comes properly on the list of stimulants, and therefore
 receives  some attention here.  It  is one  of the most
 powerful narcotic stimulants which vegetation pro-
 duces.   It  is classed by Linnaeus with Foxglove, Hen-
 bane, and other poisons, under the name Atropa, —
 one of the Fates, — whose duty was to take life.  Its
 first influence is  felt upon  the nervous  system.   It
 excites and  then deadens nervous susceptibility.  When
 first  taken,  it acts with great  and very perceptible
 power;  but,  after the habit of its  use has been long
 continued, the nerves lose  their sensibility to it in a
 great measure;  they become deadened and blunted to
 its apparent effects.   Still, the poison is there,  and is
 gradually undermining the vital forces of the system.
•  Besides affecting the nervous system, it carries its
 essence into the circulation of the blood, which can be
 detected  in the blood drawn from   the veins of those
 who use it.   It enters not only into the fluids, but into
 the solids of the body;  so that the Cannibals,  when
 they meet with the  body of a tobacco-user, detect  its 
NOURISHING DRINKS.              85
presence in his flesh,  and throw it away.    Its es-
sence is  also given  off  continually  by the  skin in
the sensible and insensible perspiration.   In this way
it is carrying gradually its deadly influences into every
portion of the body.   The water in which a chewer or
smoker  bathes  himself, when he stays in the warm
water till perspiration takes place, is so strongly im-
pregnated  with its poison, that it will kill  flies and
/ermin.
   Tobacco creates, at first, a feverish action;  a single
cigar, as before stated, increases the pulse from fifteen
to twenty strokes in  a minute.   Its secondary effect is
to deaden  the vital  action of body and mind;  which
influence  can be easily  felt, if  its stimulus be  sus-
pended  forty-eight  hours.   In  this way it gradually
wears out vitality, and shortens life; so that those who
indulge  this ungentlemanly and contemptible  habit
arc  probably cutting  off, by degrees, twenty-five per
cent, of their natural existence.   There is more dam-
age done  at  present to the health and  soundness of
the  men of this generation, by this waste of some
30,000,000 of dollars annually in these United States,
than is done by the use of alcoholic liquor.  Those who
would know more of this matter  must read  my work
on " The Beauties  and Deformities  of Tobacco-
csing."
                NOURISHING drinks.
   As it has been said before, so let it be repeated, —
which should be, at all times in health, a standing rule,
— give to nature a sufficient nutrition, and she will fur- 
FOOD AND DRINKS.
 nish her own stimulus, far better than anything which
 art can do.   Support  nature, and let art  go begging.
 Live naturally, and not artificially.   The natural in-
 quiry will now be, What shall we drink ?
   Cocoa is  a healthy drink.   That which comes in
 pound and half-pound  papers makes a very good drink;
 but, on account of its  oily  nature, which is objectiona-
 ble, the  cracked  nut of cocoa is preferable :  but cau-
 tion is necessary  not to make  it too  strong, because it
 contains a large  amount of nutrition in a small  com-
 pass, and may oppress  the stomach and  produce head-
 ache.   The  cracked nuts  and  shells, which come in
 bags of about thirty pounds, make the most convenient
 form for use.  This mixture, made in moderate strength,
 say according to the following proportion and rule, is a
 nutritious, healthy  drink.   Take half a common  tea-
 cupful of this cocoa-mixture, and add one quart of
 cold water;  boil  moderately for about six hours, add-
 ing more water  to supply the portion  wdiich  boils
 away; it is fit then for use, by adding milk, or cream,
 and sugar.  This makes a good substitute for coffee in
 the morning, and  the same  or simple shells in place of
 tea in the evening.   There  are  various  nourishing,
healthy drinks, of a domestic character, such as bread-
coffee, and others, which  it  is not important to describe
 or recommend.
   A cup half filled with  hot  water, sweetened  and
filled  up with milk, makes a  warm drink, fit for the
most fastidious appetite.  Hot drinks of any kind are
objectionable.  They excite the pores of the skin, and 
NOURISHING DRINKS.
87
expose the system to take  cold  by sudden changes.
They excite by the force of heat, and then debilitate
the stomach.   They should only be taken about blood-
warmth.   Moderately warm water, of itself,  without
considerable milk or cream, if taken to much extent, is
also weakening to the stomach.
   Large  quantities of any kind of drinks should be
avoided.   Even cold water may be taken too  largely.
Much depends upon habit: if we accustom ourselves
to drinking much, we shall want much ; if we accus-
tom ourselves to drink  but little, we  shall want but
little.   The objection to a large  quantity  is this :  it
distends  the  stomach beyond its natural  dimensions,
and therefore weakens it; it also dilutes  the gastric
juice,  and therefore weakens that fluid. One  or two
common tea-cups of any kind of drink, taken with our
meals, is sufficient.   If we take more, it injures the
digestive process.   Laborers, at their  meals, and be-
tween meals, are inclined to drink far too much.  Their
thirst, on the whole, is no  less for drinking so largely,
and they weaken themselves  by it.   Besides, in hot
weather, many are seriously injured, and  even some-
times destroyed, by too large quantities of cold water.
If they want to drink often, they must confine them-
selves to very small quantities at a time.
   Unfermented beers — root, hop, and  ginger beers —
are healthy drinks, if not taken too largely.   Soda drinks,
in the form of soda powders, or from soda fountains, are
also healthy, if used with  moderation.  The  carbonic
acid gas  which they impart to the stomach does not
excite, but is a moderately tonic and cooling beverage. 
88
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS
         PARTICULAR  DIRECTIONS
            TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS.
   Parents have  a responsibility in  regard to their
offspring originating prior to their birth.   Their own
state of health — the health of father and  mother —
has a very important bearing upon the constitutions of
their yet unborn children.  If a father's nervous sys-
tem has been marred and broken by habits which  are
at war with nature's  law, the  children following him
will be more or less unhappily affected.  While, then,
he  is doing wrong to himself, he is doing wrong and
bringing suffering to his posterity.  If a mother's sys-
tem has been weakened by violations of laAV, her chil-
dren will  be obliged to participate with her  in  suffer-
ing the penalty.   And, having received the inherit-
ance of disease or debility before birth, they must, more
or less, be the  partakers of it through life.  Parents
have also a heavy  responsibility on them, touching the
moral  character given to their children before birth.
If parents are accustomed to undue indulgence  in any
of the natural propensities, — in eating or drinking, or
any other animal  appetite, — their children may in-
herit  appetites of the same kind, possessing  a  similar
degree of undue activity and moral tendency.
   In the same way children are affected in  their dis-
positions.   A child,  after  birth,  and  more or less
through life, will give a living illustration of the feel-
ings and immediate character of his mother during the
period of her pregnancy.  If the mother, during that 
TO PARENTS  AND  GUARDIANS.
89
period,  especially the  latter  part  of it,  indulge a
gloomy, evil-foreboding state  of mind, her child will
give proof of it in after life.   If she indulge a peevish,
or fretful, or crying disposition, her child will give her
ample testimony to the fact after birth.   Some have
inherited, directly from a mother, an  almost uncon-
querable appetite for strong drink; some for tobacco;
others, an  almost uncontrollable inclination to theft;
not because their mothers, in all cases, were habitual
drinkers or thieves, but because they suffered strange
appetites  and feelings to affect  them  strongly  some
time during their pregnancy.   Some physicians would
deny the  truth of these statements; but no  one who
has taken the pains of observing facts touching this
matter, will be found in that category; for facts are
unconquerable things.   The  inspired  proverb, —
 "Train up a child  in the way he  should  go, and
whea he is old he will not depart from it," — contains
a great practical truth as a general rule ; but, under
the  most judicious discipline, the  child will bear, in
greater or less degree, the moral complexion and  phys-
ical appetites  which his mother  gave him before she
gave him birth.
   Fathers, as well as mothers, and  all  those  with
whom a mother  may associate,  are  involved in this
responsibility.  The  father should remember that his
manner and  treatment of  his wife during her preg-
nancy has much to  do with  the disposition she may
possess during that period.   He should be careful to
remove, so far as possible, every source, real or imag-
               8* 
90            PARTICl'i.AK  DUiiiCTIONS

inary,  of uneasiness,  unhappiness, peevishness,  or
gloominess,  from her way.   lie should take pains to
make  her happy and  cheerful;  and see  that  every
appetite which comes up is, if possible, forthwith grat-
ified.   If that appetite should be for strong drink, it
had better be gratified  to the full, rather than that she
give, by that continued longing, an indelible imprint
of that kind upon her offspring.
   In  the  light of  these  truths,  what tremendous
responsibilities are evidently laid upon parents !   The
physical  appetites,  mental  inclinations,  and  moral
feelings, in a very large degree, are enstamped on the
character of children so deeply in this way, that they
may remain visible  in  all  after life.   If, through the
moroseness of the father, the mother be driven  into a
desponding, discouraged and lifeless state of feeling,
her child may bear traces of the same features of feel-
ing for life.  If she indulge in an irritable or ill-tem-
pered disposition, she will  probably mark these char-
acteristics on her offspring.    If, on the other hand, she
indulge a habit of great levity, trifling or recklessness,
 she will probably see more or less of her own likeness
 in her child.
    Responsibilities of unmeasured extent also are laid
 on parents, in regard to the influence of a right phys-
 ical training of their children for the security of health,
 during childhood and  youth.   One great cause of the
 feebleness  of constitution with which the great body of
 community is at this day afflicted, may be found in the
 total ignorance or recklessness of parents and guardians 
TO PARENTS  AND  GUARDIANS.
91
of the laws of  health, as applied to those under their
care.   To  look  in  upon  many domestic circles, and
see how the children are managed, is enough to move a
heart  of marble with sorrow  for the  children,  and
with indignation towards their parents.   The children
may bo seen, about  every hour in  the day, with  a
lunch  of bread,  or pie,  or  cake,  in  hand.   Their
young and tender stomachs are  kept in continual con-
fusion and  toil.   Consequently, a deranged tone and
action of  that organ  must exist, which  prepays the
way for other unnatural habits of eating and drinking,
and lowers the  tone of  mental  sprightliness and
moral feeling.
   Children should  eat only three times a day.   They
should be brought under the  same dietetic rules which
are laid down for all persons.    It  requires about as
much time for their organs to digest food as is required
for grown  persons.    And, if the digestive process be
hurried and confused, their food does not nourish them
as well, and they cannot grow as strong and robust.
Little new-born  infants' constitutions are  not  unfre-
quently ruined for  life, by mismanagement.  Because
the child cries a little, it must  be dosed with a little
 peppermint, or anise-essence,  or paregoric, or  so ne
 other stimulating article, which begins at  once to Gj-
 range its stomach;  and through its  stomach, its whole
 Bystem is injured, and perhaps for  life.  And if the
 inquiry should be  made, in  after years, what can be
 the cause  of such  a feeble, slender constitution ?  an
 enlightened observer might  be able  to  reveal the 
92
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS
secret, by showing  the  treatment it  received  in  in-
fancy.
   A  systematic  diet  should always  be adopted  by
mothers  and nurses at the very dawn of the child's
existence.   In the first place, after birth, a little cold
water only should  be put  into  the  child's mouth.
The habit of beginning  to  give  some  stimulant, as
though the Creator of  the child had given it only half
life enough, is perfectly murderous : instead of giving
it a cl^nce to live of itself, a course is taken which is
adapted to kill it; or,  if not kill it, to maim its little
constitution for  life.   If the writer of  this could be
heard, he would "cry aloud, and spare not," in the
ear of every nurse, with the little  being in her arms,
Let that child  live !   The Creator gave it natural
life : he made it to live : and it will live, if not killed.
If it be necessary to give the child any nourishment
before it can obtain it  from the mother, it  might take
a little slippery-elm water, or something of that mild
and simple nature :  but,  if it can draw its first nour-
ishment from the fountain which  the Author  of its
being has provided,  it  is better.
   Babes  should  be nursed but three  times a day.
7 lis may seem a preposterous rule ; but let us reason
together  upon  it.   The food which nature has pro-
vided for the child is adapted to its age and capacity
for digesting; and it requires about the same length
of time for the infant to digest its meal  as it does
the man of ripe  age  to  digest his; and  the various
steps in the  digestive  process are  the same in both 
           TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS.          93

cases.  Then, if five  hours are required to complete
the process well, why disturb it  till it is finished ?  By
letting the child have only its  regular breakfast, din-
ner,  and supper, it  digests its  food well, and is well
nourished  by it.   But, adopt the course usually taken,
and the little one's stomach is kept confused and op-
pressed, and its system is but half nourished from the
same quantity of food which would be requisite under
a  regular system.  As infants are  usually treated,
they are subject to  repeated vomiting, colic, and, not
unfrequently, fits;  and the cause  is  obvious:  the
Btomach  has  been  overloaded.   Only  feed  infants
right, and  there is  no reason why they should vomit,
any more  than grown persons.   What  danger  can
there be of a child's suffering from want of food before
the  expiration of the  five hours between meals, when
they not unfrequently go  from twelve to twenty-four
hours, and  sometimes longer, after birth, before they
take any substantial  nourishment?   The idea  that a
child will suffer hunger, if it do not take food oftener
than once in five hours during the day, is all nonsense ;
and, worse  than this, great injury is done  by such a
notion.  The "little  and often" system is destructi\re
— contrary to the  laws of health — contrary to true
 philosophy  and reason; and should forever be aban-
doned.
   As infants are now treated, they have but a small
 chance for  life.   By  confusing and  fretting their
 stomachs, they have wind, and colic, and heart-burn,
 and other distresses: then, if they cry,  they arc put to 
94
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS
 the breast, and nursed so full that they cannot  cry.
 They become so oppressed as to produce stupefaction
 of  brain and  nerves; and  then,  if  at all  restless,
 they are put into the cradle  and rocked from  side
 to side, till they have no senses left.   Then the child,
 from extreme pressure of the  stomach,  vomits — Na-
 ture's  kind  effort to  save  it from  fits  and death.
 Then  the mother or  nurse  exclaims, — "What  a
 healthy child !   See how it vomits ! "
   Why  does the  child vomit ?   Because the  abused
 stomach  rebels  against its ill-treatment, and tries to
 save itself.   What sort of symptom of health would it
 be in an adult  to go along the  street  vomiting up his
 dinner ?   Would the old  ladies put their heads out of
 their windows, and exclaim, — " 0,  what  a healthy
 man that is ! "   The stomach  of the  child should be
 so well treated  that there should be  no occasion for
 its vomiting.   It should have a full breast on which it
 can depend  for  a full meal, three times during the
 day, and never be nursed during the night.   If the
 breast  be scanty in its allowance, the child must nurse
 what it can get, and have its meal finished by a little
 diluted sweetened new cow's  milk.   Then let it be
 gently  moved about for a while,  and finally go to sleep.
  In this way the stomach has  time to digest its food,
and time to  gather up  its forces  for another regu-
lar meal.  Its meals should be about the time  of reg-
ular meals for adults.   Under this course, there would
be little  occasion  for  using  those   rocking  brain-
destroyers/   Cradles  could  then  be  broken up  for 
TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS.          95
fuel — a much better purpose than their present use.
If any old ladies think they ha\re  more  wisdom, let
them attend the school  of natural  law another term :
let them study Nature,  and demonstrable facts.  This
matter has been tested.   Since entering the medical
profession, nearly thirty years ago, it has  been my
determination  to  examine  and test these and  other
matters  pertaining to this general subject.  And these
truths, as  demonstrated by myself and  others of my
acquaintance, fully sustain and justify my position.
   The most healthy and robust children which have
ever come under my  observation, were brought up
in the way here advised.   No failure in  this experi-
ment  has  ever come   under my  knowledge.   Let
those  mothers try it who really wish for healthy chil-
dren.    Let the child have all it wants  three times  a
day.  Do not half nurse or feed it, and thus starve  it
to death, and then cry  out condemnation: but give  it
a full  breast, or make up a full meal by feeding:  keep
it awake an hour, and  then let it  sleep, if it choose,
till within a short space of another meal.  Keep  it
clothed  in accordance with the weather and the season,
and give it free air to breathe; and not keep it stived
up in a room hot enough to roast beef, where the
oxygen  is  all consumed by the fire and  respiration,
and no fresh air is admitted.
  If infants from the  first were treated in this way,
they would not only be  more  healthy, but altogether
more quiet, and easy to be taken care of.   Then, in-
stead of putting the child to the breast to stop its mouth 
         96            PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS

         and get rid of its crying, it would feel better, and be
         far less likely to cry.  And generally, instead of wor-
         risome nights, — usually caused by a disturbed  stom-
         ach, — it would sleep quietly till morning;  and the
         mother with it.  The food of the infant, taken just
         before it sleeps, or in the  night,  interferes with  its
 i        quiet rest;  just as the rest of  an adult person is dis-
         turbed from a similar cause.   This method has been
 j        tried, and proved successful: let others try it.
 I          A gentleman recently informed me of a test he had
         made in  this matter.   A child fell into his hands who
         lost its mother at its birth.   He found himself obliged
         to bring  it up by hand.   He began and continued his
 i        undertaking, by giving the child as much milk,  prop-
         erly prepared, as it would  receive  three times a day,
         and no more.  He  said, — "A more healthy,  thriv-
         ing, robust child  I never  saw.   It was subject to none
         of the  ordinary illnesses of children, has continued in
         perfect health  up  to the present  time, and is now
         twelve years of age."  A relative informs me that his
 j        family physician in Vermont is  .bringing up his chil-
         dren in this way, from  their birth; and that they are
         unusually healthy and vigorous.

 i          When children are old  enough to  take solid food,
 ,        they should have only three meals a day.  If they eat
         oftener,  their stomachs  will be  deranged, and their
         food will not so well nourish them.   If any mother
         will take pains to look at the laws of digestion, she
         will at once see that  no  child can  take food oftener
H 
TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS.
97
than once in five hours, without interfering with a pre«
vious meal, and injuring the healthful operation of the
digestive organs.   Those young people who have been
brought up on  the  exclusive  system  of eating but
three times a day, have  been  found  to be  more than
ordinarily  strong and  healthy.   While  others have
been afflicted with worms, colic, cholera-morbus, and
a host of other ailments common to the young in gen-
eral, they have usually escaped.
   Why, then, will  mothers  suffer their  children  to
violate  the laws of  their natures, and expose them-
selves  to  suffer  the  penalty  of those violated laws ?
Will  a mother  have such  a tender concern  for her
offspring's gratification, as to suffer  it to  destroy its
 own comfort and health, and perhaps life ?  It is often
 paid, '-My child has no appetite for  breakfast; there-
 fore it must  have a  lunch before dinner."  But this
 is a  sure way of prolonging the difficulty; the child
will never be likely to have an appetite for breakfast, as
l"iig as this irregular and unlawful course is indulged;
and especially as  long as the child knows  that he
may depend on the precious lunch.   Let the child go
from breakfast-time till dinner,  and it will not  be long
before  he will eat his regular breakfast.   If parents
would secure for their children  a healthy appetite and
a sound constitution, let them  rigidly insist  on their
eating but three  times  a day, using simple food, and
having  other things  in keeping  with  nature's laws;
and, so  far as  all human means  are concerned, they
may be  sure of accomplishing their purpose.
              9 
 98            PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS

   The  almost continual hankering  for  food  which
 ma ly children have, arises wholly from a habit of con
 stant eating.   If their eating were  reduced to a regu-
 lar habit, their appetite would become regular.   This
 irregular appetite is  not natural;  it is created, and
 unhealthy.   If we get into a habit  of eating seven
 times  a day, we shall hanker after food as many times.
 If we once establish a habit of eating but three times
 a day, we shall want food only as many times.  Now,
 what will mothers and nurses do ?   Will they begin
 with the infant by a regular system, and continue it?
 or will  they  go  on in the  old beaten path, to the
 injury of those they  profess to love  and  cherish?
 Will they make a mock of parental  love and fondness,
 by unrestrained and unlimited indulgence ? or wilj they
 love so sincerely as to keep the child from every hurt-
 ful thing?  That pretended love, which, knowing the
 evil  consequences, at all hazards, seeks only to gratify,
 proA'es its own falseness.   Shame  — shame on that
 mother's  love which passes  heedlessly by her child's
 chief and ultimate good, to indulge  it  in a momentary
 gratification,  or to save herself the trouble of control-
 ling  its  solicitations !   Shame  on  that mother's hu-
 manity,  even,  whose  refined  and  tender  sympathy
 cannot refuse  indulgence where health, and, it may
 be, life are at stake !   If  mothers and fathers have  a
 substantial affection for their offspring, let them man-
ifest  it under the dictates of reason and common sense
— let  them  seek their permanent  good.   If those
having the care  of children would be able to give  a 
TO LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.          99
final account of their guardianship in peace, let them,
next to their morals, seek, for those under their charge,
soundness of constitution.  And, in doing  this, they
do perhaps as much for theii morals as could be done
through any  other  means; for physical and moral
health are closely allied.

            TO LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.
   There is no class  of persons who are under higher
obligations to  observe the  laws  of  health, than those
who are  connected, whether  as teachers or pupils,
with  literary  institutions.'   Thousands  haA^e  been
ruined for life, so far as the  enjoyment  of health is
concerned, and lost to the world, with all their native
 talents and acquired abilities,  by violating those laws.
 Whereas, by  attention and jjbedience to them, a bal-
 ance between the  healthy action  of body and mind
 might have been preserved, and themselves  and the
 world would have enjoyed the avails of their existence.
 Young men and  young ladies enter upon a course of
education  with good  health,  and, long before  that
course  is finished,  their constitutions give way, and
they are obliged to retire from  study;  or,  if able to
finish  their education,  they  have  scarcely  physical
energy  enough left to apply their mental  resources to
any practical  purpose.   To  effect a  change  which
shall obviate this evil, will require the attention both
of teachers and students.
   Students should live  on simple food; and remem-
ber to " eat to live, and not live to eat,"  To gor- 
100
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS
mandize i>: beneath the dignity of one who has mind
enough to make it worth while to submit it to a pro-
cess of culture :  indeed; a man who has the soul of an
intellectual being will  neArcr do it.   Students should
avoid those  things which are hard to digest.   They
should have food that  is palatable, and well, yet with
simplicity,  prepared.  The less  animal food-—even
none  at  all — the better.   They should  rigidly  and
scrupulously confine themselves to three;—if not to
two — meals a  day ;  and  for reasons given explicitly
under Dietetic Rules.   They should never apply their
minds to study or reading at least for one hour after
their  meal  is finished : but  they should make  them-
selves amused and cheerful in some way which neither
requires the effort of body or mind : they should be
at  leisure, and  endeavor  to  enjoy themselves.    The
reason for this course, as before  stated,  is, that if the
nervous  energies, required in the digestive process,
are called away to some physical or intellectual effort,
great injury is  done  to  the digestive department.
From this cause, and  perhaps mainly this, thousands
on thousands  have  entirely broken  down, and  ren-
dered themselves sufferers for life.
    After one hour from the time the meal is finished,
they may with  safety set themselves down  to study;
i. e., if  they have eaten with such moderation as all
Students ought to use ; if not, they should wait longer;
— rather, if they will not eat properly, let them retire
 from the institution,  which is no  place for gluttons,
 and  devote  themselves  to corporeal labor — labor at 
TO LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.
101
the anvil, or in the western wilds, felling trees, Avhere
they could practise engorgement with comparative im-
punity.  After  spending nearly a half-hour in thor-
oughly masticating their meal, — being careful not  to
spend that  time in too much talking, which not  only
interferes with mastication, but may agitate the mind,
as would be the case in all argumentative conversation,
— and then one hour in gentle amusement or  cheerful
leisure, they are ready  to bend their whole mental
force to study.   Under this arrangement, six hours a
day of study will accomplish more, in the long run,
 than  twelve hours in the ordinary way.
    Exercise ia another duty of students.  It is exceed-
 ingly important that a balance between the mental and
 physical energies should be maintained ;  otherwise  the
 body withers  under its  superincumbent Aveight.  To
 preserve this  balance while the mind  is laboring,  and
 the  body untasked, artificial exercise  must  be insti-
 tuted ; for bodily strength cannot be promoted without
 simie kind of  bodily exertion.  If the  electric  forces
 of the nervous  system  are all kept under tribute to
 the  intellectual  faculties, the  rest of the  system  be-
 comes weakened  from want of use, and  the mind soon
 wears out the whole body.
    The best time for exercise for students is about an
 hour before meal-times;  so as to give  about three-
 fourths of an hour for hard labor, and a quarter of an
 hour to rest, before eating.  Exercise in this Avay can
 be taken once, twice, or three times a day,  as circum-
 stances  may require.  The leDgth. of time devoted to
               9* 
102
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS
exercise, and the severity of the effort which each one
requires, cannot be  defined by certain rules :  the con-
stitution and  circumstances of each individual, aided
by common sense, must  determine.   But every indi-
vidual student requires some exercise ; and it should
be taken sufficiently prior to a following meal to give
a little respite from  exertion just previous to sitting
down to eat.  A division of time, between each meal,
sometimes like the following, may do as a general rule:
Spend half  an hour in eating, one hour in leisure, two
and a half hours in close study, and one hour in labor,
leaving off  in season to get  the system calm before the
next meal. ■ One hour each day, however, will gener-
ally be found sufficient, if all other habits are right.
   The kind of exercise to be taken may properly be a
matter of inquiry.   To settle upon any one kind  for
universal application, may be difficult.  A mechanic's
shop exercise may be  very beneficial for body and
mind.   At any rate, it  should be something which is
adapted to  give not only exercise  to the muscular sys-
tem, but,  if  possible, at  the same time, a source of
amusement.  Making trunks  and  boxes  may secure
 this object.   Sawing or  chopping wood, however prof-
 itable it may be, may require too severe exertion, and
 may not prove to be very much amusement to the mind.
 The bowling-alley, aside  from the odium of its general
 character, its bewitching charms, and its tendencies to
 various  kinds of dissipation, might afford a most desira-
 ble method of promoting muscular strength and mental
 exhilaration.   Exercise  in  the  line of  agricultural 
TO LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.
103
pursuits, when it can be  had, is, perhaps, everything
considered, the best kind.   In the use of this, there is
the advantage of the open air, the smell of vegetation,
the effluvia from the  ground, and the vigorous  action
of the nuscles of the arms and chest.   This last ben-
efit — one which may be had in other modes of exer-
cise also — is very important generally, and especially
where there  is any tendency to falling in of the chest
and  lung affection.  Gymnasium  is an exercise of
very excellent influence.
   Walking  is another kind of exercise usually em-
ployed ; but it is one of very little service  generally.
It is better than  nothing, but very  insufficient.   It
only calls into exertion  the lower limbs, which least
 need exercise, while the muscles of the chest and abdo-
 men, which require it most, are not called into exer-
 tion.  Horse-back exercise has the same deficiency.  At
 female schools some method should be chosen for exer-
cise which combines the three important considerations
above  mentioned, namely, general muscular  exertion,
adapted to their strength, mental exhilaration, and the
fecial action of the arms and  trunk.  Jumping  the
rope is too exciting and severe.   A  bowling-alley for
young ladies — who, of course, would never allow them-
selves to  become dissipated— would be an excellent
exercise and amusement for them.   Let all students
remember that,  if they would  preserve good  health,
they  must  exercise; and that, in  doing  this, they
also give vigor and vivacity to the intellect, as well as
energy and health to the b^dy. 
104
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS
  The managers of literary institutions have a great
responsibility" in this matter.  If  they would secure
the physical and  intellectual welfare of those under
their care, — which doubtless they would,— they must
put themselves to the trouble of providing for and regu-
lating means to accomplish that object.   One of their
first duties consists in  passing a careful scrutiny upon
the habits  of those proposing to enter  an institution.
No pupil should be admitted of known vicious habits;
for he is not only in the way of ruin himself, but his
influence will  be detrimental  to  others.   Does his
breath give proof that his whole circulating system  is
impregnated with the  essential  properties of alcohol ?
He ought not to be admitted.   If  the institution has
any regard for  the physical,  intellectual and  moral
character of its young  men, regard for the influence
of  the  institution upon the world, regard for  the ul-
timate  reputation which it may sustain among moral
and Christian men, or regard for  the approbation of
Heaven, let them admit no young  man with the taint
of  alcohol  in his breath  and upon his soul.
   Tobacco-using,  by chewing,  smoking, or snuffing,
is a vice of more  powerful  influence on the nervous
system, and the physical functions  in general, than the
drinking of alcohol in the same proportion.  It more ef-
fectually enslaves its victim.  It binds him with stronger
bands to its degrading service.  It  is a habit  almost
infinitely more  difficult  to abolish,  than to give up the
intoxicating cup.   It more effectually intoxicates the
body and mind.  The  word  " intoxicate," from the 
TO LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.          105
Greek, Toxon, literally means to poison.  Tobacco is
a more powerful poison.   It makes  greater inroad
upon the natural functions of the body.   It is doing a
worse work on the physical welfare of the men of this
generation.  Hence, when its influence is suspended,
there is a feeling of greater loss; so that men will far
sooner relinquish the bottle, than their tobacco.   And
while it is working with such power upon the body, it
affects mind and moral feeling.   The same progress in
intellectual  and moral  culture  can  never be made,
other  things equal, in those  devoted  to  this vicious
habit.  Hence, let it be written upon the moral ensign
of every college and seminary, "  No smoking allowed
I1EUE."
   Provision should be made for the  exercise of stu-
 dents. Means for agricultural exercise should be pro-
 vided, if  possible,  for that portion of the year in which
 it is practicable.  A mechanic's shop, or something to
 subserve  the same purpose, should be provided for the
winter season; and a requirement on every student to
attend  on this important duty,  should be established;
so that no loafer should find an  easy passport through
any  literary institution.
   Kecitations should be so arranged  as to accommo-
date the periods allotted to eating and digesting food,
and those  devoted to labor and  relaxation.   A recita-
tion  should never be required just preceding or just
succeeding a meal.   If  it immediately precede a meal,
the nervous energies have been drawn  so intently to
the mental effort, that they cannot at once be diverted 
106          PARTICULAR  DIRECTIONS

and drawn toward the digestive effort.  Therefore a
short space should be granted for relaxation from any
active employment of the nervous system, immediately
preceding a meal.   If the recitation immediately suc-
ceed a meal, the process of digestion is interrupted.  It
would  be far better that recitations  should be so  ar-
ranged as to come  somewhere within the period allotted
to close study.   Then there would be no interference
with the natural action of the system.  But, to go into
a  recitation-room  just after a meal, is a violation of
law which is perfectly suicidal; and to be forced there
by academic law, is gradual manslaughter.
   And now the  important question is, will the man-
agers of literary institutions regulate this matter so as
not to stand  in the way of their students' obeying the
laws of their being ?   Will they hinder, or will they
facilitate, their employing the proper method of secur-
ing health of body  and mind ?   Will they aid in
keeping up such a balance between mental and physical
power, that there  may be  a prospect that the  world
will be  benefited by the existence of their institu-
tions ?
    The food and drinks,'  also, which are  furnished,
should  be adapted to the best  interests  of their stu-
dents.  If meats be set  aside, pains should be  taken
to furnish a palatable and wholesome vegetable diet;
and as coffee and tea shoidd never see the inside of any
apartment of a literary institution, nourishing drinks
should be furniehed in their place.   Every institution's
guardians  should most  earnestly  recommend, if not 
TO PROFESSIONAL MEN.            107
require, ten o'clock to  be the hour for  closing study
and for  retiring to  rest;  for there  is nothing gained,
but much lost, by studying after that hour of night.
It is generally admitted,' by medical men, that sleep is
worth more before than  after midnight, — that two
hours' good sleep before twelve o'clock is worth more
than four after that hour.

               TO' PROFESSIONAL  MEN.
   Those who accustom themselves to intellectual labor
require habits of living somewhat different from those
who are engaged in pursuits of a physical  character.
Though all should  strictly obey the laws of their na-
tures, physical  and intellectual, yet, while some habits
of living may be lawful, they may not be, under cer-
tain conditions  of  life, expedient; and, indeed, what
may be  lawful  for one, under certain circumstances,
may not be lawful  for  another, under other circum-
stances.    For  instance,  as  before stated, a  person
engaged in farming, can bear the evil effects of animal
food better than one of sedentary and literary habits.
Since  meat-eating,  according  to  general  admission,
tends to oppress and check  mental  development, it
becomes inexpedient,  if  not  unlawful, for persons
devoted strictly to intellectual pursuits,  to practise it.
It is doubtless inexpedient for any to use it;  but, in the
case of  those whose skill  and  usefulness depend upon
an unclouded  and active intellect,  this inexpediency
comes near the range of moral obliquity.
   In proof of the effects of flesh-eating on the intel 
108          PARTICULAR  DIRECTIONS
lectual faculties, see the difference between the French
habits and character, and those of that portion of the
English who live largely on animal food.  The Eng-
lish nobility are great meat-eaters, using it largely at
each of their principal meals, and especially at their late
suppers.  What is the  effect of  this  long-established
habit upon their physical  and intellectual character ?
They are generally inclined toward the lymphatic tem-
perament — a consequence of habitual  stuffing  with
roast-beef, and other high-seasoned meats;  And while
we find a very few high-toned  geniuses  among  them,
the mass  are  indolent, stupid, and unintelligent.  As
a general rule, their great men have arisen from among
the middle  class, and  from  under different dietetic
habits.
   The French  live principally on vegetables.  They
•generally possess the nervous temperament, — a tem-
perament  adapted to  literary and intellectual habits.
They have quick and energetic minds.  They have a
large flow of spirits, great vivacity and cheerfulness,
and are remarkably effective and productive in  their
mental character.  It is well known that a very large
proportion of various  scientific works  have originated
from France.   The science of  medicine, with various
collateral sciences, is  highly indebted to the wakeful
genius and indefatigable zeal of French intellect for its
advancement.
   Professional and literary men should live on simple,
nutritious, and  regular  diet.  The less exciting their
food, the  better; in short,  they should observe all the 
TO PROFESSIONAL MEN.
109
rules of diet  previously laid  down.   They should by
no means use stimulating drinks.   Their nervous sys-
tems are more severely taxed than many other classes
of men.  Hence the absolute necessity of economizing
the nervous  strength;  and, if they would  preserve
that, they must not suffer their  nerves to be artifi-
cially and  unnaturally excited.   They  should have
wholesome  nourishment, and then let nature herself
supply her own well-balanced excitement.
   Of all excitants in the world, in popular use, tobacco
should be avoided.   Its effects on mind, though gen-
erally unperceived, are  great.  Its  first most deadly
blow on physical welfare, is given through the nervous
system, which forms the bond  of union  between  the
body and  the soul.   And whatever deadly  influence
strikes here, affects the mental forces.  Men who have
long used it, depend on its influence  in the  perform-
ance  of every extra mental  effort.   The greater  the
mental  care or anxiety, the larger the dose of tobacco.
And when this narcotic stimulant is wholly gone, their
mental  powers are in  perfect Avreck.  They  can do
 nothing until this fleshly lust is supplied.   Even their
 religious devotions cannot be  performed  without it.
 If we would have mind endure, it must not be goaded
 up with such unnatural and powerful poisons.
   The  clergymen of this country, in days  prior to
 the temperance reformation, were accustomed to prepare
 and preach their  sermons  under,  and in demonstration
 of ardent  spirit.   Now,  among us, this  method  is
 abandoned;  but  there is a  substitute which answers
               10 
110
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS
precisely the same purpose,  and is even better; for
when the  ardent  was used  too  freely, — which not
unfrequently occurred, — the subject would reel under
the Aveiirht of his  accumulated ideas;  while the sub-
                                                 1*
stitute equally inspires  the  brain, without  entirely
capsizing  it.  That  substitute may be tea, coffee, or
tobacco.
   The writer, several years  since,  was accustomed to
have, on entering  his study,  extreme  nervous depres-
sion, — sinking of the nervous energies, — insomuch
that it was impossible to make any  mental effort Avhile
in that  state ; a bowl of tea, therefore, — in accord-
ance with  previous  habits, — would be ordered;  on
taking which, the extreme  depression would imme-
diately pass away,  and a  most cheerful and happy flow
of spirits would take  its place.   Under this a sermon
could easily be prepared;  and on the Sabbath, under the
same kind of stimulus, it could be preached.   But a
little time of such violation of law  developed the fear-
ful fact that nervous debility and depression were rap-
idly increasing — that  the  more  stimulus  that was
taken, the  more must be taken to  meet the  demand.
Hence, the tea was abandoned entirely, and very soon
the complaint disappeared, and has returned no more.
   This is  an illustration only of facts which always
will exist in every instance of tea-drinking under sim-
ilar circumstances, whether they be readily perceived
or not.   How much  better in every case, and  espec-
ially in that of ministers, that they depend, in  all
their intellectual  labors, on  the  real,  substantial, and 
TO PROFESSIONAL .MEN.           HI
uniform inspiration of nature, than upon the spurious,
fitful, debilitating excitement of some foreign stimu-
lant !   How much better that the  ministers of Christ,
under such  solemn and awful responsibilities as the
preaching of the Gospel  involves,  lean  on the divine
enercy of the Holy Ghost, than  on the transient en-
ergy of some artificial excitement; — nay, how profane
and wicked is such a departure from nature and from
nature's God!
   How  can a clergyman advocate  temperance in all
things, while he himself is intoxicating his brain and
nerves with one of the most powerful narcotics which
ever grew upon the earth ?   How can he plead  that
men should  deny themselves  of  all ungodly lusts, —
" abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,"
— while he is indulging a lust which is emphatically
" earthly, sensual, devilish " ?  How would Paul, and
Peter, and John, have looked in primitive times, preach-
ing with a plug or a cigar of  tobacco in their mouths ?
How would they have looked, and the whole primitive
church,  spending individually from fifteen  to thirty
dollars annually of their stinted income for such gross
indecencies — for indulgences which destroy the body,
blunt mental activity, and resist  the Holy  Ghost?
Such doings would have scandalized the name of Chris-
tianity ;  and the fact that the church in  the United
States is now consuming annually 85,000,000 for such
gross  idolatry, is a living, burning  scandal on modern
Zion.
   Tobacco has been  sometimes foolishly advised  for a 
112           PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS

medicine, in  that popular  clerical disease — Bron-
chitis.   But in this, as in all other cases recommended
for the mouth, it is injudicious.  Instead of prevent-
ing or curing this  malady, it often  creates or encour-
ages it.   If ministers Avould stand  erect while speak-
ing, instead of doubling over the vocal avenue to read
their prosy sermons — if they would preach in an
off-hand, apostolic style, — a style not only preventive
of bronchitis, but  more effective on those whom  they
address, — they would prevent many  a  lame throat.
Tying  up the  neck and face with  extra cravats and
shawls, is another  fruitful source of bronchital affec-
tions.
   The injurious effects of tea, coffee, and tobacco, can-
not be counteracted by the habits of professional men,
as much as by the habits of the laboring classes.  They
must either abandon them altogether, or bow down as
slaves to appetite,  and take  the consequences.   They
must abandon them, or consent to have less health of body
and mind, and die  sooner.  See the sallow complexion
and trembling  hand of the barrister, especially as he
advances  in life, who, instead of living naturally, has
lived artificially all his days, — will he continue to
barter his highest earthly good for such pottage ?  He
may live  to old age, and so may the drunkard;  but,
after  all, he will die  of gradual suicide.   He would
have  lived longer and better without  those artificial
promptings which wear out the vital principle. 
TO LABORING MEN.
113
                TO  LABORING MEN.
  If working men Avould endure long and accomplish
much, they must work temperately and  live  rightly.
Some men work too hard, and by this means violate a
law of  their physical  nature.   This is poor economy.
Though for a day a man accomplish more, yet, in  the
end, he is certainly a loser.   But temperate labor is
both healthy and curative in its effects on the animal
system.  If the hosts of dyspeptics and consumptives
could turn farmers,  they might dispense  with drugs
and doctors, and recover their health.   But even farm-
ers  themselves  may  utterly destroy their health and
constitutions by excessive and ill-managed labor.   To
subject  one's self to a  severity of labor  which  the
strength and constitution cannot endure, is a violation
of physical law, which, sooner or later, will bring in
its train a penalty apportioned to the amount of trans-
gression.
  Another way in which labor may be  made injurious,
is by inattention to the laws of digestion.   Take  the
case of the farmer  for  an illustration.  Though  the
amount of daily labor performed by him is not suffi-
cient of itself to injure him, yet, by ignorance or  dis-
regard of the nature of the digestive process, he may
do  himself great injury.   One way of injuring him-
self may be by  rapid eating, so that his food is  no more
than half masticated and half mixed with saliva.  That
food can comparatively do  him  but very little good.
Or, if he take  sufficient time to eat, and then imme-
               10* 
114
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS
diately set  himself about  hard labor, the process  of
digestion in the stomach becomes deranged and imper-
fect.'
  Hence, his system is  not nourished  and sustained,
or else he is obliged to overload his stomach with food
in order to get sufficient support.  But let him take
ample time for eating, and then spend one  hour  on
light matters before he shall put himself down to severe
labor, and he will soon find himself a gainer in health,
and in the amount of labor ultimately performed. Take
the farmer, with his dozen hands, in  haying-time, it
may be.   They hurry down a heavy dinner,  then  go
out immediately  to  mowing grass  or  pitching hay.
While all  their nervous energies are  needed  in the
digestive process, they  are forcing  them away from
their duty to the muscular system.  The  men and
their work move heavily, and at the  close of day they
feel exhausted and overdone.
   Let  this same  farmer,  with his  men, change  his
course ;  they eat deliberately, they spend one  hour in
doing  some light matter, and then  apply themselves
closely to work until the next meal.  In this way they
give  time  to masticate, time for the stomach  to act,
and then  they  work  with  ease, and despatch their
task with much greater energy and  speed; and at the
close of the day they find themselves much  less ex-
hausted.   Every  man  who knows  how to  manage
 beasts of burden, and studies economy, takes  the same
 eourse  with them which  is here  recommended  for
 laboring men.   When men or  horses live and labor in 
TO LABORING MEN.
115
this way, they ordinarily eat less, are in better con-
dition, do more work, and endure longer.  No man of
common sense will  push his horse to severe draft or
travelling, immediately after a  full meal.   Let him
consider his own body Avorth as much  as that of his
horse.
  Laboring  men  should  also eat temperately.   They
arc under no necessity for  using animal food, unless
they choose  it as a mere  matter of fancy.   They can
be amply  nourished on vegetable diet, else  the  pro-
vision made for Adam and  Eve, before the fall, was a
failure.   It  has already been shown that all the ele-
ments of nutrition  are contained  in  the breadstuffs.
But whatever  they eat should be simple, nourishing,
and palatable.   If they eat too largely, the stomach is
oppressed, and requires a longer time  to perform its
functions.   Some  are in the habit of taking luncheons
between meals.   They often say they want a full stom-
ach to lean over.  This is bad philosophy, for reasons
which  need not here be repeated.   If  they lunch
habitually, of course, when luncheon-time comes,  they
feel a faintness at the stomach.   And  so it would be
if they were to eat  ten times a day.   If they habitu-
ate themselves  to only three  meals a day, they will
suffer no more, nor  even as much.   Three meals a day
is as much as they can lawfully dispose of;  and when
they take more, they are obliged to violate an impoit-
ant law of the animal economy.   They should be care-
ful that they do not allow their supper to come near
bed-time; supper should come in season for digestion. 
116
GENERAL DIRECTIONS.
Then, on rising in the morning, the head and body feel
clear and active.   Let laboring men adopt these  sug-
gestions, and they will find them much to their inter-
est and happiness.
          GENERAL  DIRECTIONS.
                   ON  SLEEPING.
   Sleep is as important to body and mind as food is
for the general system.   Without  it, the health of the
most  robust would fail, and  even life  itself in time
wither away.   Some need more sleep than others, per-
haps,  under .the same circumstances.   But  those who
are destined to labor  in body or in  mind, need more
sleep  than those who are not  exposed to fatigue.
   Laboring men should give themselves ample time
for sleep.  They should retire to  rest  about  nine or
ten o'clock at night.  Nine, perhaps, is the best hour,
but never, in any ordinary  case, should they sit up
later  than ten.  They need, as a  general  rule, seven
or eight  hours of  sleep; and sleep before midnight is
generally considered  worth  more  than  sleep for  the
same length of time afte*1 midnight.  They should rise
in the morning about five o'clock.
   Professional,  literary, and mercantile men, should
give   themselves time  to rest the  mind.  They ought
never to  allow themselves to be awake  after ten o'clock
at night.  Many may suppose  that, by laboring over
their  books, or other  business, till  eleven or twelve
o'clock at night, they gain time and money; but  this 
ON SLEEPING.
117
is a great  mistake.   When men undertake to cheat
themselves, they  always get a  bad bargain.  Dame
Nature is  jealous of her rights ; and whoever will be
so unwise as to trample them under their feet, will,
sooner or later, be made to pay  the damages.  If we
want health and ability to  endure, we must obey law,
by  giving  sufficient  time, and  the  right time, for
sleep.  If any would shorten his time of sleep, let
him not  put off the hour of  retirement,  but  rise
earlier than the ordinary hour in the morning.
  Sleep, to be quiet  and refreshing,  should be on an
empty stomach; that is, the first steps in the process
of digestion should be accomplished before retirement.
Supper should  be the lightest  meal of the  day, and
should be taken at  least two  hours  before bed-time.
Some are in the habit of eating fruit  after supper, and
frequently late  in the evening.   Strong stomachs may
dispose of fruit under such circumstances without ap-
parent injury,  but weak ones will suffer  more or  less
from such a course.   The  better way  is  not to  take
anything, even  the  mildest fruit, after  supper.   The
stomach  should be allowed the privilege  of rest, as
well as the rest of the body.  Dreams  are generally
the result of luncheons and suppers late in the evening.
The revelations of night visions are doubtless, in many
instances, the  result of  late suppers, producing invol-
untary somnambulism.
   Another rule, indispensable to good health, is, never
to sleep on feather-beds.  They  are non-conductors of
the electrical  currents  which naturally communicate 
118
GENERAL DIRECTIONS.
between the surface of the  body and the atmosphere.
They obstruct the passing of gases given off by sensi-
ble and insensible perspiration.   They check that part
of respiration which is naturally carried on  through
the skin.   They  retain those gaseous substances given
off, and send back upon the body their  hurtful agen-
cies.    The tendencies  of  some of these gases are
adapted,  among other  evils, to generate fevejrs.  Ow-
ing to the non-conducting quality of these beds,  these
gases accumulate, and become very detrimental to the
system.  Another  objection to  them is, they are the
general reservoir of the various exhalations of the dif-
ferent persons who have lodged on them.  They retain
the effluvia and humors Avhich may have been gathered
in this way.   Hence, for those who love health  more
than soft beds, feather-beds should be  rejected;  and
husk, palm-leaf,  or  hair mattresses, adopted  in  their
place, for all seasons in the  year.

                    ON BATHING.
   Cleanliness  is a very important means  of health.
Some persons in low life, and some foreigners, are  prac-
tically great lovers of dirt, and at the same time  seem
to have good health and sound constitutions :  but they
are none  the better for their filthiness.  Their  good
health may be the result alone  of their plain living;
while those in higher  life, with  all their  cleanliness
and ventilation, destroy themselves with their luxuries.
But  when  the cholera and other violent epidemics 
                   ON BATHING.                 119

appear, their moBt fearful footsteps are traced in those
districts and families where filth abounds.
  Every person  ought to be accustomed to periodical,
or, at least, occasional bathing.  The pores of  the skin
are likely to become chocked and impervious, without
it.  The surface of the body becomes covered with a
substance which  prevents the action of the cutaneous
■wssbls.   Washing the surface from  such an accumu-
lation is very important  both for  the flavor  and the
health of the body; for, when the  skin is thus coated,
the whole system is affected by it.  The natural exhala-
tions, which are adapted to purify the blood and fluids
generally, are thrown back upon the system; then some,
or all of the internal organs become oppressed, and
cease their healthy functions.
   An obstructed skin  is frequently produced  by a
sudden  cold, by Avhioh the  internal system  becomes
oppressed, and a fever ensues, unless the obstruction
be speedily removed.   A bath  to meet such an emer-
gency is necessary.   A warm bath should  be chosen
when the action  of the system is feeble, possessing but
little power of reaction;  but where the system is more
vigorous, promising to react so as  to bring  up a glow
of warmth and  a gentle  perspiration, a cold bath may
be preferable.
   The kind of  water to  be used is of some moment.
Sea water  may  be the best for those in  general who
have been accustomed to the  atmosphere of  the sea-
shore.   It may be the best  for any whose surface is
too cold, lax, and flaccid, throwing off perspiration too 
120           GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

profusely, or that which is clammy and morbid.  Sea-
bathing, cold  or warm, as the  individual may be able
to bear  it, accompanied with dry friction, in such cases
may proATe  very beneficial.  A  fresh-water  bath  is
unquestionably the  best where a fever, or a tendency
to a fever exists.
   A cold or warm bath should be  selected in accord-
ance with circumstances relating to the state of the
general constitution, present strength, or  the nature
of an existing morbid  affection.   As before remarked,
as a general rule, a warm bath may be the better  one
when the general strength is too feeble to  admit of a
reaction of the system under  the influence  of cold
water ;  while a cold one may be better, where a toler-
ably vigorous habit exists.   A cold bath  may also be
preferable, as a general thing, when resorted to as a
luxury, or for the purpose of preserving health.  The
cold itself is a tonic to the skin, and through the skin
to the entire system;  while the  general tendency of
warm water upon the surface is weakening.   When a
limb is  inflamed, we often bathe it in Avarm water to
reduce its action;  i. e., to weaken the present excited
action of its vessels.
   The frequency of bathing is a matter of some inter-
est.  This depends much upon the constitution, health,
habits,  and employment  of each individual.   Those
who live on meats and oily substances have much more
occasion for  frequent baths than those of different hab-
its.  If persons would so  regulate  their habits of  liv-
ing as to keep the fluids of their  systems pure, they 
ON BATHING.
121
would have much less occasion  for frequent bathing.
Hence, no specific rule can be given for its use, either
as a  preservative, restorative, or a  luxury;  common
sense and circumstances must determine its frequency.
  Too  frequent  bathing, however,  is  decidedly inju-
rious.  Although hundreds perhaps suffer for want of
it, while  even one is injured by its  frequency,  yet
there is such a thing as making too free use of  a good
thing.  A person may bathe so often as materially to
weaken himself, in the course of time.  Any one must
be very filthy to need a bath every  day.   And if a
bath be used every day by one who only needs one once
or twice a week,  and this course be  persisted in for a
great length of time, much damage to the  system must
accrue.   Very many,  doubtless, have been greatly
injured in this Avay,- though that injury may not have
been attributed to such a cause.
  Too frequent bathing does injury by  stimulating  the
pores of the skin too much.  When the skin acts nat-
urally,  it constantly throws off, by insensible perspira-
tion or exhalation, a substance Avhich  it  is necessary
the system should part with for the continuance of  life
and health.   When, from any cause, that  exhalation
is impeded, the system suffers by being oppressed with
that which should be thrown off.  But if the skin be
made too active,  it throws off too much, — more than
is required, and  more than the  system can afford to
spare:  hence  the body is gradually weakened.  And
though years  may pass before this undue waste  be per-
ceived, yet it  will sooner or later discover itself.   Not
              11 
122           GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

unfrequently has the writer been called  to prescribe
for debilitated children,  when  little  else  could  or
needed to be done except to proscribe the use of too
frequent baths and washings.   Some mothers are so
excessively afraid of their little ones being dirty,  they
will bathe and wash  them several times a  day.   Such
a course is liable to be very disastrous, especially when
warm water is used.   When children arc washed for
cleanliness, cold water should  generally be used ;  but
even that should not  be  applied to the whole body so
often as every day, if the strength and health of the
child be an object.
   A letter was received from the much honored John
Quincy  Adams, a few months prior to  his  decease,
answering some inquiries in relation to his experience on
bathing, in which he  says he has practised it in a variety
of forms and ways, "from first to second  childhood,"
— an "experience during more than threescore years
and ten."  He says, — "I continued it until within the
last four or  five years,  when I found it no  longer
agreeing with my health, but operating  rather unfa-
vorably  to  it.  Medical  friends,  and particularlv my
very ancient friend, the late Dr. Waterhousc, advised
me to disuse it;  and my experience  confirming his
admonitions, I have, with great reluctance, entirely
renounced it."  He  adds, — " And I parted from it
as from a dear and deeply regretted friend.   Though
no longer able to enjoy it myself, I can very cheer-
fully recommend it, —not only the practice of bathing, 
ON  AMUSEMENTS.
123
but of swimming, — to all my friends under the age
when  King David could get no heat."
  There can be little doubt  but that the fascinating
luxury of bathing has sometimes led to such an undue
use of it, as gradually to waste the physical energies,
and induce  premature old age.  While  the  system
possesses the vigor of youth  and manhood, the too
great  waste of the body can be supplied by its recrea-
tive force so effectually,  that  the debilitating effect is
not noticed; but when that power  of recreation be-
comes much  diminished, the loss becomes more per-
manent and apparent.  Let the young he admonished
lest this useful luxury be used intemperately.  Other
cases  have come  under  observation, where  bathing
had been extensively practised for years,  but, as age
came  on, the system was  not able longer  to bear the
excessive exhalations by insensible perspiration which
the practice  occasioned.   Several persons have con-
firmed this opinion by relating their own experience.

                 ON  AMUSEMENTS.
   All amusements for recreation should of  course be
innocent, and free from a  tendency to any kind of dis-
sipation.  The periods  daily allotted to exercise and
 relaxation  may be more  or  less occupied in amuse-
 ments ; but generally there should be, aside from this,
 some  time  occasionally spent  exclusively  in  simple
 recreations.  There  should be occasional  hunting and
 fishing excursions,  temperance picnics,  sleigh-rides,
 and  other pleasure  parties and amusements.   Occa- 
 124           GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

 sional plays and games which have no evil tendency,
 may bo made  profitable to  health.   Some may think
 that such  recommendations  are  giving  too great
 license ;  but if they are properly chosen and managed,
 there can be no harm from  them,  but great food.
   These occasional amusements arc recommended not
 for the  sake of the  mere  pleasure they arc  adapted
 to give, but purely for the  purpose of recreating  and
 preserving a healthy state  of body and  mind ; which
 cannot always be done  without  these  aids.  Those
 persons especially, avIio are  devoted to constant, mental
 labor, must have resort to some kind of  mental relax-
 ation, or their  constitutions  will suffer loss : the mind
 cannot bear to be kept constantly on  the stretch of
 exertion; it will  soon lose its elasticity and  power,
 and  the  body give  way.    Clergymen  should   bo
 allowed the privilege of such amusements as are essen-
 tial to health  of  body and mind.  Their labors  are
 very wearing to the powers of life.  They should be
 relieved  occasionally  from  the monotony of  mental
 toil which is constantly pressing on  them.  A little
merriment now and  then, short of levity, should not
be considered  derogatory to the  saeredness of their
calling.   Without this, their systems may too early
wear out, and  their labors be cut short.

                 ON INDULGENCES.
   Under this head  it is intended to speak of things
which are inexpedient and  unlawful.   While  honest
and innocent  amusements,  used with judgment  and 
ON  INDULGENCES.
125
temperance, are very important by way of giving elas-
ticity and strength to the mind and body, unlawful
and intemperate indulgences  injure and often  ruin
both.   There are amusements which  are innocent and
harmless in their nature, that may used internperately
and unlawfully.  Amusements should be used, not as
means  of mere pleasure, but  of actual utility:  and
while  kept under such  a rule, all is well; but  the
moment they shall be used for  the simple gratification
they give, they are likely to engross  too much of time
and thought, and lead to ruinous results.  But when
persons resort to measures for their gratification which
are unlawful when used  in  any degree,  the  danger is
greatly increased.
   Private indulgences  claim  attention  here.    In-
dulgences which belong  to  married life, when used
with moderation, are conducive  to health;  the mar-
ried,  all  other  things  being equal,  enjoy  better
health  and live longer than  the  single;  but when
these  are  allowed  in excess,  they  reduce  the vital
energies,  and diminish the powers of body and mind.
All licentiousness, aside from its moral evils and  deg-
radation,  is destructive to the  human system.   Many
a young man has not only ruined his reputation  and
moral  character, by licentious  practices,   but  has
spoiled his constitution  for life.   He  has,  early in
life, planted  in his  system  the  seeds of misery and
premature death.   One who has early in life given him-
self to such habits, has unfitted himself for  the future
*njoymcnt of domestic happiness.   The degradation of
               11* 
126
GENERAL DIRECTIONS.
his mind, and the vitiation of his appetite, have made
him  unfit to  become  the companion  of virtue  and
refinement,  and he  is very likely  to continue the
indulgence of  his corrupted  passions  in after  life,
whatever may be the sacrifice to his moral and phys-
ical character.
   Self-indulgence is another degrading, contemptible
vice, which has destroyed its  thousands and tens of
thousands annually,  both of males and females.   Set-
ting aside a comparison  of its  sinfulness, it  is doing
more injury to society than  all other  forms  of  licen-
tiousness  put  together.   Boys, and  even girls, of
respectable origin, of  splendid original  talents, have,
by this unnatural practice, not only  destroyed  their
physical systems, but have reduced  their minds to
comparative imbecility, and, in many cases, to complete
idiotism.   It would seem as though, if one were lost to
all sense of  moral accountability  on this  subject, the
 idea of making one's self an idiot,  to be a walking
 monument of self-destruction, would  be enough, of
 itself, to deter the most inveterate devotee to his pas-
 sions, from such habits.
   The bodily diseases  produced  in this way arc fre-
 quently very formidable, and baffle the most profound
 skill.  Sometimes they appear in the form  of spinal
 affections,   which  send  distress  and  wretchedness
 throughout  the  whole  nervous  system.   Accompa-
 nying this, will  often  be found  a morose disposition,
 dejection of mind,  and melancholy.   These affections
 are  common  to  males and females.    And  added to 
MENTAL AFFECTIONS.
127
these, there will not unfrequently appear  in  males,
seminal incontinence, wasting away the vital energies,
by the excessive and unnatural  draft which it makes
on the electric forces of the brain and nerves.
          MENTAL  AFFECTIONS.
  The sympathy existing between the mind and the
body is so great, that when one is affected, both are af-
fected.   If a person imagine even that he  is sick, he is
pretty sure to be sick.  If, while in health, he be told,
and made  to believe, that his countenance indicates ill-
ness, in a  short time his whole system will become af-
fected.  Medicines have sometimes been known to pro-
duce their specific effect by a mere dread of taking
them.   Let the imagination be inspired with confidence
that a certain medicine, or course of treatment, is going
to perform a cure, and the cure is likely to follow.   It
is on this principle, that simple bread pills have some-
times performed great  cures; and on  this principle,
doubtless, depends,  to a very considerable extent, the
success of any practitioner.

                  CHEERFULNESS.
  This  state of mind has much to do with the healthy
action of the physical system.   A cheerful and happy
mind gives a free and easy circulation in the nervous
system; it aids in the circulation of animal electricity
or nervous fluid, which gives support to the vital ener- 
r=~"

         ll>8           MENTAL AFFECTIONS.

         efics of the whole body.   Cheerfulness, by its effect
         on  the  nervous system, contributes  much  toward a
         healthy and free circulation of tho  blood.   It has to
         do, indeed, with the formation of tho  blood, by virtue
         of its influence on the process of digestion.   A cheer-
         ful mind,  especially during the hour set apart  particu-
         larly for the first  effort of tho stomach after a  meal, is
         very important to an easy,  thorough digestive  process.
         If the  mind  be attacked with grief, the food is  not
         digested as well; and consequently the system is not
         as  well nourished.   How commonly  does  leanness
         of body follow  continued  grief!  Why thisV    Be-
         cause grief hinders the process of  nutrition.   It does it
         in two ways: it hinders the thorough digestion of tho
         food, so that nourishment cannot  as well be drawn
         from it, and it retards the action  of the  absorbent  ves-
         sels, which take up the nutritive  part of the food,  and
         convey it into the blood.
            Whatever, then,  may be an individual's condition
         or  circumstances in life, it will be  great economy for
         him to make himself cheerful  and  happy.   However
         bitter may be the cause of his grief,  let him cultivate
         a  spirit of resignation;  however painful may be his
         condition in life, let him endeavor to be  content
         with such things  as he has;  however dark his pros-
         pects,  let  him  hope  for  good.    While  nothing is
         gained  by despondency,  much is lost.   While cheer-
         fulness helps others to be healthy and happy, it is of
         great benefit to one's self.
            Some have  thought that much cheerfulness  was 
MELANCHOLY.             *  129
contrary to  true  dignity and Christianity.   But  this
is taking a  narrow-minded  ?iew of things.  It is no
more a sin nor a breach of dignity to indulge  in real
cheerfulness,  than  it  is  to take  wholesome  food.
There is  a distinction to  be made  between cheerful-
ness and levity.   While  levity may be  undignified
and unchristian, genuine  cheerfulness may be a part
of "dignity  and Christianity both.   Ministers have
been  sometimes  charged  with a want of  spirituality,
because at some of their social meetings they indulge
in sonic degree of merriment; but all this is in keep-
ing with nature's law, and is absolutely essential to
health.   Their  situation  and calling  ordinarily  cir-
cumscribe them in relation  to sources of  amusement,
and their responsibilities  are adapted to induce solem-
nity of mind; and  if this condition could not now
 and then be  relieved, they could  scarcely endure it.
 If we would be benefited by their ministrations, we
 must give them a chance to live.

                   MELANCHOLY.
   This affection of mind has an opposite effect on  the
 general health, to  that of cheerfulness.   Melancholy
 deadens the circulation in the blood-vessels and nerves;
 and also retards the  action  of the liver.   It hinders
 the process of digestion and of nutrition,  and tends to
 dry up the fluids of the  whole system.
    A state of despondency and  melancholy is a fre-
 quent accompaniment of deranged  digestive organs.
 It sometimes is found to be both cause and effect.   It 
130
MENTAL AFFECTIONS.
often causes dyspepsia, and whether it cause! it or not,
it generally follows it;  and  then operates  both as
cause and effect.   When melancholy, or a despairing
statu of mind, once exists, whether as connected with
deranged  digestive organs, or any other state of ill
health, the cure becomes very much more difficult and
doubtful; and nothing comparatively can be effected
by way of medication, for the benefit of  tho patient,
till something be done for the mental affection.   Some
method must bo had at once to attract the attention
of the  patient away from himself and his complaints.
Hence, in  selecting a method  of cure, some  exercise
or employment must be chosen,  which  will interest
and  engage the thoughts,  and  prevent their  being
absorbed  in himself; and  those  associated with him
must put on the most cheerful  aspect.

                   BENEVOLENCE.
   Human sympathy is a quality of our natures which
the Creator has implanted  in  us; and whoever culti-
vates and exercises it, yields  to a law of his social
character — obeys  a law of his nature;  and whoever
cherishes a due spirit of obedience to any law of his
being,  is doing that which is promotive of  his health.
In willing good  to others, — which necessarily  in-
volves  all practicable benefactions, — there is a pleas-
urable  feeling passes over the  mind, which vibrates
over  the whole body; and this heaven-born vibration.
of human  sympathy and good-will, gives  a glow of
health to the whole mental and animal system.  Hence, 
MALEVOLENCE.
131
the  fact, that in times of the prevalence  of pesti-
lential  diseases, those Avho devote  themselves to the
self-sacrificing effort of nursing and watching the sick
and dying, while  the victims of the  malady are fast
falling  on their right and  left, seldom become a prey
to that malignant  disease themselves.   The great phi-
lanthropist, John Howard, could never have endured so
long his labors amidst the  varied death-damps of pris-
ons and dungeons, and appalling  scenes of wretched-
ness to which he  exposed  himself, had  not the desire
and the pleasure of doing good, for the sake of human-
ity and of God, given  to his system unwonted power
of resistance to disease and endurance of toil.
   He who wills good to his fel4ow-beings, and, so far
as able, gives  practical demonstration  of  his benevo-
lence, is not  only relieving the ills of human life  in
others, but is at the same time contributing largely to
his own health of soul  and body.   The Great Teacher
of practical benevolence fully appreciated  the personal
benefit to be derived from  the exercise of a  spirit  of
benevolence, when he said," It is more blessed to give
than to receive."  Let those who have never  made the
experiment, begin at once to yield obedience to this law
of their social being, and they will find that in so doing
they will receive their reward.

                   MALEVOLENCE.
   This affection of  mind  is contrary to  every law of
our social being.  Willing evil to our fellow-beings is
contrary to the moral law of God, to the law of human 
132             MENTAL  AFFECTIONS.
brotherhood, and the law of our mental  constitution.
Whoever indulges this spirit, has sunk out of himself
as he was constituted by the hand of his Maker, and
become a fit subject for the companionship of demons ;
where no other feelings than malice and revenge, crim-
ination and recrimination, ever find a dwelling-place.
A spirit of revenge for injuries, finds a resting-place
only in the bosom of fools; who defy the right of the
Almighty to declare, " Vengeance  is  mine — I will
repay:"  much  less will a  malicious spirit,  without
provocation, find a place in his breast in which any of
the milk of human kindness  dwells.
   Whoever indulges this  cold, misanthropic temper
of mind,  chokes the natural  current of his soul; and
while that soul is thus constrained,  and its social sym-
pathies are becoming dried and withered, the  whole
physical organization feels  its unnatural action, and
becomes partaker of its uncommon depravity.   This is
to be seen in the very countenance.  While  the face
of the benevolent man shines with the lustre of moral
and  physical  health, that of the misanthropist  is de-
jected, downcast, and sullen.   Why this difference  in
the physical conformation of the countenance ?  Be-
cause the soul acts  upon the whole  animal economy,
and enstamps  its own  image upon the outward man.
One who  is versed  at all in reading human character,
can easily distinguish a benevolent man from one of a
malevolent spirit, by the expression  of his face. 
OBLIGATIONS TO  LAW.            133
          OBLIGATIONS  TO LAW.
              PHYSICAL OBLIGATIONS.
   He  who  would  enjoy perfect  health is obliged
to obey organic  law ;  and from  this absolute  obliga-
tion he cannot free himself;  for if he transgress phys-
ical law, he  must endure  the infliction of a physical
penalty.  While the  violator of human law  may
escape the punishment due to his  crimes, by keeping
them out of sight,  or by fleeing from the reach of
justice, he who  is guilty of transgressing  the laws of
his own animal  economy, cannot escape with impunity
— his sin is  sure to find him out.   Though he may
pass on for a while without arrest, yet, sooner or later,
he will find  himself overtaken, tried before Nature's
court, and condemned.
  If we stand in the range of the tornado as it sweeps
along its course, can we resist its power ?  When the
engine has  accumulated a fierce velocity, can we cast
ourselves before it with impunity?   Can  we stand
beneath the  weight  of the spile-driver  as it is loosed
from its fastenings, and escape the fatal power of the
law of gravitation ?   Can we cast ourselves from the
towering precipice, and not be dashed in pieces ?  Yes,
we may  do  all this, when nature has so changed that
we can violate a single law of our physical being and
not  suffer  damage.   Yes, we  may,  when the  God
of  nature  shall  repeal  the laws which he has  set
to physical  life; or when material things shall cease
               12 
134           OBLIGATIONS TO  LAW.
to be governed by Deity, and be let  .oose upon the
mere contingencies of chance.
   The man who, by gradual steps, deviates from the
pathway of physical law, may seem to pass on unin-
jured for a length of time, yet, by and by, he will  be
sure to  feel the  rod of punishment.  He Avho disre-
gards dietetic law may not at first discover any  injury,
or, should he experience suffering, he may not dis-
cover the relation  of the cause and the effect, yet the
consequences of his unlawful  course  will,  sooner  or
later, follow, and he  cannot  escape.  The man who
habitually steeps  himself in alcoholic liquor,  or the
more deadly essence of tobacco,  may  possibly  live to
threescore  years  and  ten,  and seem  to be tolerably
well; yet he has made himself liable to fall suddenly
dead, in consequence of the unseen fires that have for
years been consuming his-internal organs.   The man
who disobeys law in any other way may not now see
that his  system is injured;  yet when some outward
cause of disease shall approach him, he is overcome  by
it, simply because his  previous habits  have weakened
the power of resistance in his constitution.
   The standard of general health is probably lower in
the Ur.ited States than in any other civilized portion
of the  world.   The  average age  is probably less
than half what it ought to be.  And the  standard of
health and longevity is constantly degenerating.  The
physical habits of Americans are more in conflict with
natural  law, than  those of any other civilized  nation.
The greater part of those who are uncivilized — savage 
PHYSICAL  OBLIGATIONS.            135
and heathen — are living in less rebellion against their
own physical being than are  Americans.   Very few
die a natural death.  The vast majority die of gradual
suicide.   If the tomb-stones of our grave-yards could
bear witness, what would be their testimony ?   Upon
a tomb-stone in  New  Jersey there is written under
the name of a young lady— " Died of thin shoes ; "
a declaration which might be truthfully written upon
many others. Could they generally speak out as plainly,
we should find here, " Died of stimulants," " Died of
narcotics," — and there,  "Died  of an abused stom-
ach,"— and almost  everywhere,  '.'Died of  gradual
suicide."
   The Author of our  being has given to the human
 constitution a natural  period of existence.  But when
 we commit violence on our  own vitality, we shorten
 its  duration.   We bring on premature old  age,  or
 create, by gradual steps, fatal disease.  To die of  dis-
 ease is not, as a general  rule, the way to die.   We
 should die of age, and not of sickness.  We should
 die as  the much-venerated John Quincy Adams died
 — at his post, in the service of God and humanity,—
 not  of disease,  but  of  age —not because  the  vital
 powers had been violated, but because vitality had worn
 itself out.   The men of this generation die by the vio-
 lence of their own hands.  Their lamp of life goes out,
 not because the oil  is exhausted, but because it has
 become so adulterated by the admixture of foreign
 and incongruous elements, that it can no longer burn
     If the term of threescore years and ten ought to be 
134
OBLIGATIONS TO  LAW.
to be governed by Deity, and be let  .oose upon the
mere contingencies of chance.
   The man who, by gradual  steps, deviates from the
pathway of physical law, may seem to pass on unin-
jured for a length of time, yet, by and by, he will  be
sure to feel the rod of punishment.  He who disre-
gards dietetic law may not at first discover any  injury,
or, should he experience suffering, he may not dis-
cover the relation of the cause and the effect, yet the
consequences of his unlawful  course  will,  sooner  or
later, follow, and  he cannot escape.  The man who
habitually steeps himself in alcoholic liquor,  or the
more deadly essence of tobacco,  may possibly live to
threescore  years  and ten, and seem  to  be tolerably
well; yet  he has made himself liable to fall suddenly
dead, in consequence of the unseen fires that have for
years been consuming his-internal organs.   The man
who disobeys  law in any other way may not  now see
that  his  system is injured;  yet when some outward
cause of disease shall approach him, he is overcome  by
it, simply because  his previous habits have weakened
the power of resistance in his constitution.
   The standard  of general health is probably lower in
the  Ur.ited States than in any other civilized  portion
of  the  world.   The average age  is  probably less
than half what it ought to be.  And the standard of
health and longevity is constantly degenerating.  The
physical habits of Americans are more in conflict with
natural law, than those of any other civilized nation.
The greater part of those who are uncivilized — savage 
PHYSICAL  OBLIGATIONS.            135
and heathen — are living in less rebellion against their
own physical being than are  Americans.   Very few
die a natural death.   The vast majority die of gradual
suicide.  If the  tomb-stones of our grave-yards could
bear witness, what would be their testimony ?   Upon
a tomb-stone in  New Jersey  there is written  under
the name of a young  lady— " Died of thin shoes; "
a declaration which might be truthfully written upon
many others. Could they generally speak out as plainly,
we should find here, " Died of stimulants," " Died of
narcotics," —and  there, "Died of an abused stom-
ach,"—and almost  everywhere, '.'Died  of gradual
suicide."
  The Author of our  being has  given to  the human
constitution a natural period of existence.   But when
we  commit violence  on our own vitality, we  shorten
its  duration.    We bring on  premature  old  age,  or
create, by gradual steps, fatal disease.  To die of dis-
ease is not, as  a general rule, the  way to  die.  We
should die  of age, and not of sickness.   We should
die as the much-venerated John Quincy Adams died
— at his post, in the service of God and humanity, —
not of  disease, but  of age — not  because the  vital
powers had been violated, but because vitality had worn
itself out.   The men of this generation die by the vio-
lence of their own hands.   Their lamp of life goes out,
not because the oil  is exhausted, but because it has
become  so  adulterated by the admixture of  foreign
and incongruous elements, that it can no longer burn.
   If the term of threescore years and ten ought to be 
136           OBLIGATIONS  TO LAAV.

considered the proper average of healthy human life,
we have greatly fallen from  that standard.  At all
events,  our average of American life is evidently not
one-half what it ought to be.   It is said — though wc
have no very definite data on this point — to be a frac-
tion less than twenty-seven years.  And it is evidently
growing  shorter.   The dietetic habits of Americans, in
some respects,  are growing worse and worse.  Notwith-
standing all temperance light and labors, there  is  at
present an increase of liquor-drinking throughout the
land; and tobacco-using  is a  vice which is becoming
more and more deep-rootod and devastating, especially
among the young men, and even the boys, of this gen-
eration.  And unless there shall come a revolution  in
our American  habits, which are forming the basis of
physical and moral character, our race will soon come
to a physical and moral ruin.

                MORAL OBLIGATIONS.
   Next to our obligations to God, are our obligations
to ourselves.   If we  are in duty bound to  treat our
Creator right,  we are also, next to him, in duty bound
to treat  ourselves  right.  This becomes a matter of
moral  obligation toward him who made us, "whose
we are, and whom  we ought to serve."
   The second  table  of the moral  law, comprehended
in this, " Thou shalt love  thy neighbor  as thyself,"
implies the preexistence  of the  law of self-love; and
the law of self- ove involves the obligation of self-pro-
tection.  What right have we to abuse, or even to 
MORAL OBLIGATIONS            137
neglect ourselves ?  To do that which will injure our
constitution or health, is sinful in the sight of Heaven.
To transgress physical law is transgressing God's law;
for he is as truly the Author of  physical  law as  he is
the Author of  the  moral law.   Whoever,  therefore,
violates the laws of life and health, sins against God as
truly  as  though  he break the  ten  commandments.
Every man is under obligation  to obey  those  laws;
and whoever  dares  violate them  will  find " the way
of transgressors is hard."
   The moral sense of community is exceedingly obtuse
on this subject.   With the great  majority, appetite is
the only law  which  governs;  and in  spite of all that
can  be said,  it  will probably,  in  a great  degree,  con-
tinue to be so: and those who  choose  to have it so,
must bear the consequences.   But some  may possibly
be induced to examine their obligations and responsi-
 bilities in the case.   Where is the consistency of being
 governed by  principle instead  of appetite, in regard to
 the  demands of the moral law,  and  yet let appetite
 rule  instead of principle in regard to physical law ?
 for, as before stated, when we violate physical law, we
 do truly violate moral obligation.  Whoever will let
 appetite  govern in one  thing, is in a fair way to let  it
 govern in all things.   Whoever, through appetite, will
 allow himself  to eat  too much or too  often, is very
 likely to give license to all other appetites and passions
 in proportion to their strength and activity.
    When men  will  let  moral  principle  govern  their
 eating and drinking, they will  greatly advance  their
                12* 
138
OBLIGATIONS TO  LAW.
physical and  moral welfare.  Every effort made for
the physical salvation of community, should be  based
on moral principle.   If the advocates of temperance
had  always stood on this platform, they Avould have
accomplished vastly  more than they  now have  done.
They have made the cause too much a matter of indi-
vidual and public expediency.   Instead of laboring
sufficiently to show  that every drop  of  liquor,  taken
as a luxury, is so  much  direct  and  tangible  sin
against  God, their  efforts have been to show,  more
particularly,  that, inasmuch as by the  general and
extensive use  made  of it, vast damage was done, we
were bound, as a matter of expediency, or of moral
obligation based upon general expediency,  to entirely
abandon its use; that although the evils  growing  out
of its use were very great, and, therefore, for the sake
of example, we were bound  to abandon it, yet it was
not  so  much  an evil per se ; that if there were no
danger of an increased appetite, or of injury by exam-
ple, a little might not be wrong.
  When the advocates of reform will  plant their feet
firmly upon the principle, that drinking a drop of that
burning  poison is a  violation  of  physical law  which
God has instituted in our physical being, and therefore
a violation of moral  obligation to  him — laying  the
axe  first at the  root of the  tree — they  will  stand
where Heaven will give them  moral  power to  move
the world.   They will then have the lever of Archi-
medes,  with its  fulcrum,   and  the  place to  stand
which he desired, by which  to lift the earth from its 
PERSONAL OBLIGATIONS.
139
base.   When  men will stand  on this  foundation, in
advocating temperance, they will be likely to maintain
consistency in  their OAvn habits.  They  will not bring
upon themselves the  too just  charge of  hypocrisy in
pleading temperance over a plug of tobacco; of draw-
ing their eloquence from the  sensual  inspiration  of
the smoking Aveed; of pleading abstinence from the
Aveaker bane,  and  indulging  lusts  for the stronger
poison.   No man can preach the Gospel  or plead  its
moral  reforms wdth eloquence, while sinning  against
God Avith this idol in his mouth.  If he would utter
his Avords with moral force, they must proceed from
a PURE BREATH, AND FROM CLEAN LIPS.

               PERSONAL OBLIGATIONS.
   When conversing Avith  men  on the consequences of
want of intelligence and practical interest in the laws
of physical life, and  the importance of waking up to
our responsibility in the matter, they will often apolo-
gize for their neglect and disregard for the  subject
during the past,  and their indifference  and  apathy
toward any future improvement, by a  wholesale,  un-
meaning condemnation of the conduct of  the world on
this subject.   They  say, "We" — meaning  all the
world — " avc know a great deal better than we do —
if we were more enlightened, we would not  regard it."
This subterfuge,  miserable as it  is,  sums up their
excuse for a further neglect of the subject.  Because
the mass of the people are destroying the  true basis of
 their highest earthly interests,  they feel justified in 
140            OBLIGATIONS TO  LAW.
letting themselves  and children suffer on, under the
penalties of ignorance and neglect of organic law.
  If the majority of men were steeping themselves in
alcoholic liquors,  would this afford a valid reason why
my feet should tread the same beaten path ?   The main
question is not, what will the world do in this matter ?
but, what is our duty and our  interest, as  single indi-
viduals — what will we ourselves do in this case ?  Will
we  act in accordance with our  highest temporal good,
and receive the reward,  which is as sure as the promise
of salvation to the righteous, or will we recklessly pass
on and be punished ?  These are questions for every
man and woman and child to  settle according  to the
law of self-love  and self-protection, written upon the
tablet  of every human  soul.   If we are suffering the
ills of violated law, we suffer for ourselves, — a suffer-
ing world cannot relieve a single pain ; and if we die,
we die for ourselves, and the  death of others cannot
save us.   Will we also, as individuals,  attend on the
duty of taking care of those whom Heaven has com-
mitted to our  charge ?   Or will we  say, because the
rest of the world take  no interest in the  welfare  of
their children, we will  also let our own  go on in the
way of suffering  and ruin ?
    Obedience  to  the laws of health should  be made a
 matter of individual and personal  duty.    It is every
 individual's duty to study the laws of his being and to
 conform  to  them.  Ignorance or inattention on this
 subject is sin; and the injurious consequences.of such
 a course make it a case of gradual suicide.   The idea 
PERSONAL OBLIGATIONS.
141
that we may do what we please with ourselves, is not
only bad policy, and bad economy, but to do so is pos-
itively wrong:  it  is sin against the Author of our
being.  And  when persons knowingly or  Avantonly
expose 'themselves  to  disease and death, by violating
the laws of life and health, instead of calling the result
a visitation of Providence, it should be called an act
of suicide.
   If a man chew  or smoke tobacco till the electric
forces of his  nervous  system are undermined, or the
vital  properties of his  blood  are  corrupted, or the
secreting  energies  of his  liver  and kidneys are de-
stroyed, and he consequently be laid upon a premature
dying couch, Avould his sickness and death be properly
considered visitations of Providence ?   To send a note
to church in such a case, as it  is the custom to do,  if
the  nature of the  case were understood, would  be in-
sulting to Heaven.   And  there are thousands of sim-
 ilar notes  offered at church, where the disease that has
 become  the burden of prayer is no more a matter  of
 Providence  than  is the State-prison for highway rob-
 bery, or the hangman's rope for murder.
    If a  man has gormandized on meats for a series  of
 years, till his blood and flesh are filled  with cancerous
 or scrofulous humor, shall this infliction of penalty be
 called a Providence ? As well might we call delirium
 tremens a dispensation  of  Heaven  for  the  sanctifica-
 tion of the soul.   If men  will sin  against themselves,
 they must meet the punishment made due by the laws
 of their own organization.   If they will rebel against 
142
OBLIGATIONS TO  LAW.
nature, they must abide the righteous decisions of na-
ture's court;  and  from these decisions  there  is no
appeal.   The  Almighty himself, without a miracle,
cannot save a man from burning his flesh when it comes
in contact with living fire.   If he Avould trust in Prov-
idence to save him from suffering, he must himself
keep  Avithin the  limits  of divine law Avritten on  the
human constitution.
   If  the  path of duty  pass through a region of dan-
ger, we may trust in Providence; but when we  reck-
lessly throw ourselves under  the car of Juggernaut, we
must  be crushed.   An American gentleman was suf-
fering severely from ill health.  He had consulted  the
most  skilful of American physicians, some of whom
told him  his sufferings were  occasioned by tobacco, and
he became himself  satisfied that this opinion was cor-
rect ;  but, unwilling to relinquish this enslaving habit,
he went  to  Paris, France, to  take  the advice of
Dr. Broussais, to see if he could not institute some
method of recovery which would  allow him to continue
this habit.  0, what folly !  Why did he not get up  a
petition, — for a long list of signers  could have been
obtained, — and send  it to the court of Heaven, pray-
ing that  law, touching this indulgence, might  be
repealed?   Such a  step was the  only one  which
could  possibly have afforded the slightest hope; for,
while  law remains  as it is,  the transgressor  must
suffer.
   The laboring man who eats q-uck and works imme-
diately after, is not only pursuing a course  of bad econ- 
PERSONAL OBLIGATIONS.
143
omy, but is doing wrong to himself and to his Creator.
He is diminishing his power and durability for doing
good.  When a man of intellectual habits neglects to
live in accordance with the laws of mind and body, he
pursues not only a bad policy, but secures for himself
the punishment due  to  his criminal  conduct.  The
man who  lives unnaturally instead of naturally, who
allows his system to come under the influence of stim-
ulating drinks, or narcotic and poisonous  drugs, does a
material  and  important  wrong  to himself,  and must
expect to give account for his criminal conduct on the
day of final judgment.
   The strange  abandonment of principle which char-
acterizes this  generation in their  treatment of them-
selves, is  almost enough  to dishearten the  most san-
guine hopes of reform.   Instead of seeking after a
true knowledge of themselves, — the laws which sus-
tain  and govern their own  animal  existence, — and
what course of living they ought to adopt to secure for
themselves a sound state of health and long life, they
foolishly and Avickedly inquire, " What shall I eat, and
wherewithal shall I enjoy the present hour ? "
   If we tell the devotee to the alcoholic draught, or the
more poisonous and  filthy  narcotic, tobacco, that his
daily potations, or the essences of the deadly weed, are
secretly gnawing the tender cords that bind his soul
and body together, he heeds us not.  He will probably
acknowledge the facts in the case, and, at the same
time, with most perfect  indifference to  consequences,
and insensibility to personal obligations, will answer, 
1-14
OBLIGATIONS TO  LAW.
that he chooses rather to enjoy life while he does live,
than to prolong life by curtailing present gratification.
   But what is duty — Avhat  is right — in the case ?
Have we a right  to prefer  present gratification to
permanent good?   Have we any right  to open an
artery,  and  let the blood gradually run away, because
we are delighted with the crimson stream ?  We have
just as much right to do this, as we have to use  rum,
tobacco,  tea, coffee,  or any other hurtful agent, for
mere gratification, against the highest earthly interests
of our own life.   If we would reach a high attainment
in morals or in piety, we must live for it.  So, too,
if we would have firm and  enduring health, we  must
live for it.
                SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS.
   In addition to our own personal obligations to phys-
ical  law, we are under high accountability in  conse-
quence of our relations  to society.  We are under
obligations to law for the sake of posterity.  Parents,
and those who may expect to be  parents, are called
upon to take care of their health and constitution for
the sake of generations to  come.  If parents are of
weakly or diseased constitution,  the children must suf-
fer, to  more or less extent, the consequences.   By the
unlawful course of parents in regard to themselves, the
children suffer disease and premature death.
    Parents are also under obligation  to  teach  and
oblige  their children to conform to physical  law for
their own sakes.   The mother who suffers her children
to eat irregularly, or violate the laws of their systems 
SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS.
145
in any other way, commits a  crime against  her off-
spring,  against  humanity, and  against  Heaven, for
which God will hold her responsible.  She commits a
crime against the  dearest objects of her affections the
evil consequences of which, time may never  be able
wholly to remove, and eternity alone reveal to her under-
standing.   How strange and unaccountable, that moth-
ers should love their, children so tenderly as to indulge
them in what they have  occasion to know may injure
their constitutions and impair their happiness for life!
 May many children be delivered from  such  mothers,
 and from such cruel kindnesses !
    The managers  and  teachers of schools and  literary
 institutions are under  obligations to secure such facili-
 ties  for  exercise and  regulations in regard to  the
 observance of dietetic law, as are adapted to preserve
 the health,  promote the  literary progress, and secure
 to the world the  usefulness of their pupils.   And stu-
 dents owe it to the world that they so walk in obedience
 to law, as to render their existence and advantages a
 blessing  to society.
    Professional men cannot disregard  the laws of their
  own health, without  infringing upon their obligations
  to community whom they serve.   If  their services are
  required, they are bound to  make the  most of their
  ability to meet the demand.   The labors of any pro-
  fessional man, engaged in the  active business of his
  calling,  whether he  be a clergyman, a physician, or a
  lawyer, make a  severe draft upon the nervous system,
              13 
146
OBLIGATIONS TO  LAW.
 which will require ail the strength that it can possibly
 command.
   Working men have a responsibility in this matter
 These who employ  laborers are in  duty  bound, not
 only for their own interests, but for the interests  of
 those who serve them, so to regulate the hours of each
 day's labor, as to give their men a chance to live, en-
 joy the blessings of life, and  sustain those who may
 fall  into their charge.   Those who are employed to
 labor, are under obligation to  live in such a manner
 as to make  themselves  of  service to  their  employers,
 and meet the demands of society at large.
   All who desire the  welfare  and  improvement  of
 society, are under obligation to exert an influence over
 others on this subject, by  example  and precept.   No
 man can live entirely isolated from his fellow-beings:
 his influence by  word or deed is constantly  telling pro
 or con the well-being of the world.   Let him see to it
 that it be • such, touching this matter, as shall  make
 mankind the better  and the happier for  his having
lived in it.   Let him be at least a drop in  the bucket
of that great wheel which  moves the vast  machinery
of human improvement  in its onward course 
HEALTHY  REPRODUCTION
                      OF
            HUMAN  LIFE.
  The attention of the public has of late been  called
to this subject, and a consilerable amount of informa-
tion, in the form of books and  lectures, has  been dis-
seminated.   And certainly that must be a very fastid-
ious taste  and  a narrow mind  which would, object to
giving to the people, in a judicious  style, such a prac-
tical  knowledge  of themselves  as  is essential to tho
healthy reproduction of the species.   Who should not
know enough of the natural origin of  human  life to
perceive his own obligations respecting it, and  to be
able to see  in what way he is liable  to be a curse, or in
what way a blessing, to his own  immediate posterity,
and to generations to come ?
   All information,  however, given on this subject for
mere mercenary purposes, or to pamper an idle and
vicious curiosity, should be  most  sternly repudiated.
Nor is it best, even for laudable  intentions, to go fur-
ther into detail on these delicate matters, than is really
necessary for the  practical  purposes of life.  But  so
far  as these do  require information  to be  given, all
whimpering delicacy and superfluous niceness  should 
148
HEALTHY REPRODUCTION.
be looked out of countenance by the firm and steadfast
eye of common sense.   Let every individual so inves-
tigate and know himself, as  to be able in this matter
to discharge his  responsibilities  to  humanity and to
God.
               PATERNAL  PRINCIPLE.
   Tins  consists  in  the  germinating  element, which
contains probably the entire infinitesimal rudiment of
the future being.   This germ, when examined by the
aid of the microscope,  is found to contain anhnalcula.
Their form bears  a striking resemblance to the human
brain  and spinal  column.  Those which proceed from
a  robust  constitution  manifest  great vital energy;
while those from a constitution  of  an opposite kind
exhibit an opposite character.   In conjunction with its
appropriate and tributary maternal element, this germ
ultimately becomes developed  into perfectly organized
vitality.
   This  germinating principle has  its origin unques-
tionably in the brain and nervous system, particularly
that portion of the brain called cerebellum.   To this
part belongs the organ of amativeness, on the exist-
ence of  which the propagation of the species depends.
On the healthy development  and  action of this organ,
under the balancing  and regulating power of intellect
and moral sentiment, together with the vital  qualities
of a sound  physical system, depend, in a very large
degree,  the physical and mental  force which  shall
belong to the future offspring.
   Let it be remembered, the vital energy of the ani- 
PATERNAL RESPONSIBILITY.
149
malcula  depends  on the  healthy nervous  forces of
the  paternal  system.   Numerous  experiments of
learned physiologists show this  statement to be cor-
rect.   The legitimate conclusion, therefore, must inev-
itably be, that the innate constitution of the offspring
must bear an  immediate and necessary relation to the
vital power of that system from which the germ pro-
ceeds.
   In proof that the brain and  nerves have a direct
and positive agency in this matter, it is a well-attested
fact, that in all cases of excess of  amative indulgence,
— a condition most injurious to  the parent and  the
offspring, — there is found a peculiar and enervating
sensation in the head, especially in the  region of the
cerebellum, accompanied  with a degree of general  nerv-
ous  prostration.   In some instances there will be a
periodical or protracted  headache, which can only be
removed when  the cause ceases to be, and the  imme-
diate effects have passed away.   That the quality of
the  paternal system, especially the brain and nerves,
determines the character of the offspring, is,  therefore,
a tangible matter of fact.

             PATERNAL  RESPONSIBILITY.
   In view of these facts just adduced, the responsibil-
ities which fall on those  who are now liable, or may at
some future  period  become  liable, to be  fathers, are
incalculable.  That  man  who  practically disregards
his obligations touching  this  matter, is not fit for the
society of intelligent beings.  While he lives  as he
             13* 
150
HEALTHY REPRODUCTION.
lists, following out his depraved and self-created appe-
tites, regardless of his obligations to himself, his gen-
eration, and  his  God, he  is only  fit to  herd among
swine  and grovel  in the mire of his  own sensuality.
We see that the rudiment of  the  future  being is of
paternal  origin, and  that  the quality of  constitution
possessed  by- the parent determines, in a great degree,
the character of that future  being.   Hence the  con-
clusion is  legitimate, that inattention to such responsi-
bilities is in  a  high  degree  reprehensible, and  even
criminal in the sight of Heaven.
   Any departure from  strict obedience  to  nature's
laws tends to weaken  the  system.   And  any process
which, in  any degree, produces this result, proportion-
ably disables an individual for meeting his obligations
to his  race.   The  man who  uses  alcoholic  liquor, is
steeping  his  brain and nerves  in that poison.   He is
taking one of the most deadly enemies to human  life
into  the very citadel of his  being.   His  brain, from
whence the germ of a future  being  proceeds, is steam-
ing and  fuming  by the alcoholic  fires which  he  has
there kindled.  Can this man suppose that he can take
his daily,  or  even occasional  dram, and his children
escape  the consequences ?  Ay,  they cannot  escape.
As a general rule, — which  may have exceptions, —
there will be found physical or moral defects, and per-
haps both, in their character.
   A case  in proof is at hand : a father of nine chil-
dren became  by degrees a confirmed drunkard.  When
first married, and until after his fourth child was born, 
PATERNAL RESPONSIBILITY.
151
he  remained  temperate :  but,  being unfortunate in
business, he suddenly became, and continued, addicted
to his cups, during Avhich time  his other five children
were  born.   One of these Avas  convicted  of robbery,
and served an  apprenticeship in the State-prison ; an-
other of theft;  another of larceny ;  another, of slen-
der constitution, became a drunkard ;  the fifth was an
idiot.   The mother of  all  these  was  an  excellent
woman, and her first four children were intelligent and
upright.   These facts are not alone;  there are  many
cases of a similar character which testify to the same
 general truth.
    That man who chews and smokes his tobacco, is the
 individual  to be  addressed  on. this  subject.  He is
 doing that to himself which should be called gradual
 suicide;  and that for his future offspring which should
 be denominated manslaughter.   It is  to him that truth
 would direct her finger/saying, " Thou art the man! "
 His brain and nerves are tinctured with that foul  and
 loathsome  thing.   Its first deadly blow is felt in the
 nerA'ous system.   Its essences are carried into, and are
 corrupting the blood, and flesh, and  all the  solid sub-
 stance of the body.   He is daily taking into his  sys-
 tem an  amount of the real essence  of that wretched
 poison sufficient to destroy at once the lives of  two or
 three men whose native  sensibilities had never been
  deadened by its narcotic power.  His nervous suscep-
  tibilities to its immediate effects are blunted; but  the
  genuine  poison,  which,  under  other circumstances,
  would kill him, and many others with him, is, never- 
152          HEALTHY REPRODUCTION.

theless, lodged  daily in his system, and must sooner
or later cause him and his posterity to pay the penalty
of violated laAV.
   And where,  principally,  has  this  poison  lodged
itself?   On  the brain and  nerves.    It is through
this medium making  gradual  inroads  upon his own
physical  and mental  systems, and those of  his imme-
diate posterity.  His  brain, which is to give origin to
other beings, is saturated Avith the poison.   A poison,
too, which affects  not only his brain and nerves, but
every gland, every membrane, and every tissue of his
body.  His children cannot escape being sharers in its
hurtful agency.  In view of this undeniable fact, will
our young men, for fashion's sake, or for a depraved, un-
natural appetite's sake, continue this wicked gratifica-
tion ?  Will  they, in spite  of consequences,  and in
defiance  of solemn  obligation,  go  on,  puffing  their
cigars, or chewing the deadly weed ?  Do they lack
for moral courage to face and defend themselves against
that created, depraved, and infernal appetite ?  Are
they beyond the reach of  recovery — drawn down the
current of-an enslaving and overpowering propensity?
Do they give  it up ? — or has tobacco so deadened
their moral sensibilities — which it is capable of doing
— that they can look upon this whole  subject with a
dogged indifference ?
   People are apt to think that because a certain habit
— which they perhaps in theory admit to  be bad —
does not  immediately  destroy  life, or  make them
invalids,  they are  getting no harm,  and are under no 
PATERNAL RESPONSIBILITY.
153
obligation to change their course.  They judge of their
obligations to physical law, as they do of their obliga-
tions to moral law; that because judgment against an
evil-doer  is not  executed  speedily, they may sin on
with impunity.   But punishment for violated physical
law will sooner or later come;  and if they who offend
could bear the rod  alone, their crime against nature's
gOA'ernment would seem  to be of  less consequence.
But when we know that their  innocent offspring must
bear a share  in tlic punishment due  to their parents,
their offence seems to swell to a tenfold magnitude.
   Tobacco is  one of  the  most deadly narcotics found
upon the .list of poisons.   A very few drops of its con-
densed properties will  destroy  life.   Indeed, a single
drop  of  its  nicotine7 oil will kill  the stoutest  dog.
It is sometimes used  as a medicine, though  rarely, in
extreme cases, where nothing else will meet the indica-
tions  in the case.  When  used, it is generally given
by injection, in cases of lock-jaw, convulsions, and  so
on; but is never given by those who understand its
properties, but with the utmost caution.   A little im-
prudence might prove fatal.  It should never be ■ used
as a medicine except  by a judicious physician, even by
external application ;  for  so powerful are its poisonous
 jmalities^that a small quantity laid upon the skin may
prove  fatal by mere absorption.   If any doubt can be
indulged in regard to its  power, let any one who has
neA'er used it, chew  a small  piece, and the  genuine
effect  of the  article  will  soon manifest itself.   And
though the  habitual use of it  stupefies  the  nervous 
154
HEALTHY REPRODUCTION.
susceptibilities, yet the  real power of the  article is
daily absorbed into the  system, and  is doing by de-
grees,  and  perhaps  by  imperceptible  progress, its
deadly work.   And now returns the momentous  ques-
tion, in view of all the consequences, shall  this demon-
idol be longer worshipped, or trodden  under foot ?
   All forms of licentiousness are destructive; not only
to those  who  indulge it,  but those who may have the
sad  misfortune  to  inherit its  poisonous fruits.   This
vice prostrates the whole  nervous system, and  is de-
structive to the right quality of that  principle which
becomes  the origin of life.  If those who have ruined
their constitutions by habits of this kind  should ever
become fathers, their children will probably  give them
sufficient proof  that  such a paternal relationship is
never to be coveted.   Another vile and vicious habit,
no less ruinous to posterity, is  self-indulgence.   This
secret  sin is all but ruining the whole race.   It  often
begins very early in life,  and continues till its Avork of
destruction has so enfeebled the reproductive power, as
to render marriage inexpedient, and even  improper.
   Any  course  of conduct, or  habit  of living,  which
tends to lower the standard of nervous strength, or to
vitiate  the fluids of the  system, is deleterious to the
constitution of the offspring.   Large eaters of meats
will transmit a portion of the morbid influences which
their habit of living has given to their own bodies, and
these influences may pass on into the third  and  fourth
generation.   Every one, therefore, who ever expects to
 become  a parent, should obey his own physical laws in 
PATERNAL  RESPONSIBILITY.
155
all things, not merely for himself, but for the sake of
his immediate posterity.
   Mental health, also, is essential to healthy reproduc-
tion.   Great mental exertion  and application — that
which tends, temporarily, to diminish the animal force
of amative feeling — is injurious for the time being to
the  reproductive  power.  This may account for  the
fact — in part at least — that great men seldom leave
sons who are able to fill the  places of their fathers.
The talent of the child may not so much depend upon
the degree of talent  possessed by the parent, as upon
the immediate equilibrity of his physical, mental, and
moral forces.  A healthy physical  system, with well-
balanced brain and nerves, and a well-cultivated moral
and  intellectual character, make up, then, the  great
leading qualifications to meet our responsibilities touch-
ing this subject.
   There is  another  idea connected  with this subject
which may  be important.  There should be,  in all
cases, particularly in  men of  studious  habits, a suffi-
ciency of mental  exhilaration, as well  as bodily exer-
cise, to  maintain an equilibrium of nervous circula-
 tion.  The  clerical  profession are  in special need of
care touching this matter.  Their calling involves the
 general  idea, especially in the mind of a scrutinizing
 community, of great  and uniform sedateness of deport-
 ment.   Hence, partly from the nature of their calling,
 and partly from the  expectations of the people, they
 are accustomed to suppress  that natural buoyancy of
 spirit, and that letting off of  the electricity of mirth- 
156          HEALTHY REPRODUCTION.

fulness, which are common to all  persons, and which,
for health's  sake, shotdd, in some proper  way, find
opportunity to vent itself.
   This suppression of nature's promptings must  cause
a  kind of continual or occasional  desire  for mirth,
which  is kept pent up in the cloisters of the soul.   It
is the same feeling  in kind which the boy felt, and
could not suppress, when, by spontaneous impulse,  he
whistled  aloud  during the hours of school.   Being
asked, "Did you whistle, John ? "  he promptly an-
swered in  the  negative.  "George,  did not  John
whistle?"   "Yes, sir."   "John, how  is that — did
you not whistle ? "    " No, sir — it whistled itself."
This same kind  of would-if-it-could feeling must inev-
itably exist  Avithin  those  who  are  comparatively de-
prived of the privilege of sufficient mental recreation.
This  may very  philosophically account  for  that pro-
verbial saying, which certainly has some foundation in
fact,  that  the  sons of clergymen  are the greatest
rogues.   They have this  same would-if-it-could  dispo-
sition  inborn in  their mental  constitutions,  derived
from the father.  This feeling, finding no proper vent
in him, was transmitted to the child.   This, with the
too rigid discipline often applied, may correctly account
for this peculiarity in this class of persons.

                MATERNAL PRINCIPLE.
   This  consists in what  is called the  ovum, or egg,
which bears a close resemblance  in character to that
of the oviparous or  egg-bearing animals.   This is the 
MATERNAL PRINCIPLE.
157
natural element for the reception of the primary prin-
ciple  er germ  which is of  paternal origin.   It  is
located, not in the interior, as  is  generally supposed,
but is on  the  exterior, upper, and lateral part of the
uterus.   The  regular lunar period prepares the ovum,
as well as .the rest of the uterine  system, for impreg-
nation ; and, as a general rule, — a rule with but few
exceptions, if any,-—it  will  not receive that impres-
sion after about eight days from .the finishing of that
period.  When about eight days  have expired since
the closing of this lunar preparation, the  ovum loses
its  susceptibility to impregnate, till  another lunar
period shall arrive.
   The whole course of  the reproductive process, after
 impregnation, is, in many  of   its essential features,
 analogous to that of  oviparous reproduction.   Soon
 after this  process  is formed,  the ovum  changes its
 location from the exterior to  the interior of the uterus,
 where it  undergoes a  full fcetal development.   The
 uterine system is concerned in the nutrition and  per-
 fection of the foetus until it is brought  to the  birth;
 and great care should -be  taken that  nothing, at any
 stage of early life,  shall transpire to derange its func-
 tionary powers,  and disable it for the purposes for
 which it was originally designed.
    The  uterine system  is liable to derangements  of
 various kinds.   One is displacement.  This may be
 brought about  by severe lifting ; jumping, and striking
 hard upon the feet; long-protracted standing; severe
 exercise in jumping rope ; severe exercise in dancing;
                14 
158
HEALTnY REPRODUCTION.
tight lacing ; weight of skirts, and other causes.  Any
cause, too, which tends to weaken the  general  system
will greatly promote this derangement.  Irregularities
of lunar periods often become matters of serious  mo-
ment.   Where daughters have been brought up under
proper physical training, — if their discipline in respect
to diet, open air, exercise, and other things, has been
what  it should  be, —there will  be  little difficulty
of this kind.   But if parents have been guilty of neg-
lecting these obligations, have brought up their daugh-
ters too delicately, have  not  given  sufficient attention
to the development of their  physical poAvers, or have
allowed them to have irregular habits of diet, by which
their digestive apparatus has  become disordered, serious
results  of this kind  may follow.   If they have not
given them precautions against such causes as sudden
colds, exposure of the feet by thin shoes, long-contin-
ued cold feet, close dressing, costive bowels, and other
hurtful  influences, they may find  occasion for repent-
ance when it is too late to make amends.
   Mothers often suffer  from being brought under the
burden of pregnancy too soon, after marriage — before
they  have  become  sufficiently acquainted with the
changes incident to married life, new associates, new
duties, and  new cares.   The  thousand  ill  feelings
which  generally attend the bearing of the first  child,
are too early thrown upon them, and they  become op-
pressed, discouraged, and heart-sick.  And their real
ills are magnified in their own mind, till they give  up
in utter despondency;  and  this desponding feeling is 
MATERNAL  PRINCIPLE.
159
often so impressed upon the spirit of the child, as  to
give to it a distinct feature of character, perhaps for
life.
  Again:  mothers often suffer from being overtasked
with bearing too many children — more than the con-
stitution can endure.    The  idea  that the  Creator
requires a mother to have as many children as can  be
begotten, is insulting to common sense.   We might as
well say that no  one  law of  nature should ever  be
modified by any other law of nature, or  have  its pro-
ductive forces limited.   We might as well argue that
inasmuch as vinous fermentation Avas a natural process,
therefore  it  was  our duty to  put  all  the materials
together which were capable of producing alcohol, into
such contact that this chemical  result should be real-
ized.   The  truth  is, a law of  nature may be misap-
plied, and  bad ends  accomplished.  When we  see a
natural law likely to apply its force  too far, it is due
that we  repress its course, or avail ourselves of some
other natural law  which  is able to modify its bearings.
   It is right that we indulge the promptings of nature
in  the  use of delicious  fruits, when such  indulgence
will not do  any  violence to other  laws of life and
health;  but when  appetite is likely to  infringe  on
other physical laws, it must be repressed until its in-
dulgence will be in harmony with other departments of
our nature.  Married life is a  dictate of nature  insti-
tuted by Heaven,  — a means of  health and longevity,
— but its sole object is not the producing of children.
This is only one object;  and no parents should have 
160
HEALTHY REPRODUCTION.
more children than they are able, by divine counsel and
aid, to bring up for the service of God and humanity;
they should have no more children than the strength and
constitution of the mother are able to boar.   If she  be
overtasked in this  respect, she  is driven  to needless
Buffering herself, brings her  offspring into  life to bear
inherited  ills, and sends out into the world perhaps
half a score of children unfitted, through her inability to
train them,  to answer any good end  in life ;  whereas,
if she had only borne a few,  she could have saved her
own and her children's health, and, by the  blessing  of
Heaven, prepared them for usefulness.
   Although  the Creator has made  a law  adapted  to
the continuance of the human species, he has appended
to it some limitations, and exceptional  clauses for our
instruction and benefit; and it is right and  proper that
people who are concerned in them, should know them,
and avail themsehres of the  end for which they  were
divinely instituted.   There  is not  probably a single
medical man, of much experience, who will deny that
there are many women, in married life, who ought  to
be excused  altogether from having  more children,  or
from  having any at  all.   And Avhat  shall be done ?
Shall they divorce themselves from the duties of  mar-
ried life ?   Certainly not; there is  a proviso  in the
natural  laAV  of reproduction,  which  Heaven,  for be-
nevolent purposes, has introduced — which  arrange-
ment we are not to despise, or exclude from the prac-
tical purposes of life.
   The  fact, therefore, that, as  a  general  rule,  no 
MATERNAL  PRINCIPLE.
161
woman  is  susceptible  of  impregnation,  after  about
eight days from finishing her  lunar  period until an-
other comes, is one which needs to be understood for
important practical  purposes  of life; and all foolish
and  bigoted  fastidiousness  against  its  promulgation
should be frowned down  by all  sensible  people; for,
if a knowledge of this law of Deity were brought to
a general practical bearing, under the dictates of intel-
ligent reason and conscience, the world would be saved
from immense physical suffering and moral devasta-
tion.   Instead of there being  so few born who are of
any importance to  the world  or to  themselves, com
pared with the hosts of real and half-blood vagabonds,
who are only degrading themselves and mankind, a far
larger proportion would be rightly trained and edu-
cated, and sent forth to elevate the sinking standard of
humanity,  and promote  the physical, intellectual, and
moral redemption of the world.
   There is great sympathy between the female  mind
and her own reproductive system.  The offspring,
while in its fcetal state, receives an  imprint from the
maternal mind, which, though it may afterward be mod-
ified, can never be wholly eradicated.  It there receives
a mental and moral mould, the great outlines of which
can never be obliterated.  We go into a family, and
find some very different traits of character among the
different children.   Trace the history of these back to
their fcetal state, and the influences to which they were
then exposed by the immediate operations of the moth-
er's mind, and the causes of these differences will then
               14* 
162
HEALTHY REPRODUCTION.
appear.  While the paternal influences give the firsi
great  outlines  of character, the  immediate  maternal
influences give  the smaller peculiarities.
   This sympathy is also manifested in the effects  of
sudden emotions and particular appetites.   Deformi
ties  of physical structure are not unfrequently pro
duced  by  a  sudden impression  being made on  the
mother's mind by the unexpected appearance of some
frightful or disagreeable  object.   A case Avhich  baa
come under the observation of the Avriter, was of this
sort.   The mother,  during  her  pregnancy, — some-
where  about the sixth  month,—indulged a  great
desire for partridge-meat.  The husband went in search
for the fowl, but finding none, killed a ground-squirrel,
and  brought  it home.   She  saw him at  a  distance,
thought  the partridge was coming, and prepared  her
cooking apparatus for its reception.   She saw no more
of her husband till  he, with astonishing imprudence,
threw  the dead animal at her feet.   She was shocked
at-the  sight, and sadly disappointed.   When  the child
was born, it presented, in  a striking manner,  the feat-
ures of the dead squirrel, as it lay  prostrate  before
her.   The  arms could  never  be raised above an angle
of forty-five degrees from the body.   The hands  re-
sembled  the  animal's claws;  the  elbow and knee
joints were almost immovable, and bent in the opposite
way from  the  natural direction.   He lived to  ripe
manhood, but with  the same degree  of malformation
and disability.   Many illustrations of this kind might
be adduced, together with cases of mother's marks, in 
MATERNAL  RESPONSIBILITY.
163
proof of the  great  sympathy  between the  mother's
reproductive system  and the state of her mind.

            MATERNAL  RESPONSIBILITY.
   In anticipation of  coming  responsibilities,  every
young woman is bound  to look well to herself.  She
can but know that the grand arrangement of nature is
that she shall become a mother.   Let her also know
that her own  state of constitution will, in a great de-
gree, be the type of  that of her future  offspring.  The
talent, the moral tone, and tho physical health of that
offspring will very  much depend  on her.   Let her
weigh this matter well, and prepare  herself to  meet
 approaching obligations.   Let her be  prepared to give
 the  right stamp of  character to that  living immortal
 being that may hereafter be committed to her  charge.
   She should look  well to her physical system.   Let
 her diet and  exercise  be such as to secure a sound
 and well-balanced nervous system.   Let  her strenu-
 ously and scrupulously avoid all  stimulating  drinks
 and condiments which conflict with nature's laws, and
 do great mischief to the brain and nerves: that she
■ live  naturally, and not artificially.   Her avocations
 or exercise  should  be such  as give expansion and
 strength to  her whole muscular  system.   Let her
 take  special  pains to expand her  chest,  that her
 breathing apparatus may be free in the exercise of its
 vital functions;  for without a full  chest,  she may
 plant the seeds of  consumption in the constitution of
 her  offspring before its  birth.   She should adopt a 
164          nEALTHY REPRODUCTION.

course of living which secures  purity of blood.   A
large proportion of humors are transmitted from  gen-
eration to generation.   Scrofula is a disease which is
inborn, through father or mother, in  the  constitution
of thousands.   This is chiefly the product of exten-
sive  meat-eating in their progenitors.   It may be ac-
cumulating  its forces  for two  or three  generations
before its complete development.
  Let her  look well  to  the  character  of her  own
moral constitution.   She should  choose dietetic habits
which favor moral culture;  and which will tend  to
give a preponderance to the moral sentiment over the
animal system.  For the sake of her  posterity, if for
no other  purpose, let her make herself an intellectual
being.  Let her not live for the  mere purpose of mer-
cenary and selfish  gratifications, but  for  God and
humanity.   She should not live  to  eat, drink, and
sleep, but to answer  the great purposes of her being.
  She should  also look well to  the  character of him
who may become her matrimonial associate.  Is he an
intellectual being,  or a mere animal ?   Has he a good
physical system, and has he a soul?   Is he a  sensual
being, living for no other  purpose than to fill up the
measure of his appetites and passions ?   Has he cor-
rupted his body and soul by dissolute habits ?   Are
his  habits of life  adapted to secure to him" a sound
physical  system ?  for if his course of life is weaken-
ing and vitiating his bodily nature, a  degree of moral
imbecility will be likely to follow in  its wake.   Is  he
cultivating a sound nervous system, or is he wantonly 
MATERNAL  RESPONSIBILITY.
165
pursuing a course  that is diminishing the natural en-
ergy of his brain and nerves, which will unfit him  to
meet his responsibility to his posterity ?
   She should  examine well  his  temperance habits.
Docs he  appreciate the cause of temperance ? if not,
there is  prima facie  evidence, in these days of  light,
of  a laxness of  moral principle, which  endangers
moral  rectitude.   Is he a young man  of total  absti-
nence habits 'i or does he now and  then take  a  pleas-
urable draft ?  If so, he is dealing with  that  which
may, sooner or later, " bite  like a serpent  and sting
like an  adder."   Trust him not.   He is  gradually
stepping forward and onward in that path which has
conducted millions to ruin.   Think of the unmeasured
woes of  the drunkard's family; then stand aloof and
be excused from  such a destiny.   Is the  number  of
tho pure  small?  then prefer  single  blessedness  to
double  misery.   Nay;  let the young men of this
generation  know that they must quit their occasional
drams, or go forever wifeless.  Let them  know that
the young women of this generation cannot consent
 to share with them  so fearful a responsibility as that
 of having a family of children whose only inheritance
 must be the hereditary taint of a drunken father.
    Let her see whether  there is  any other  hurtful
 habit of which ho is  the slave.  If he be free from
 the corrupting and debasing  power of alcohol, is  he
 free from that slower, surer, and  more deadly poison,
 tobacco ?■   Let every young lady who  sets any value
 upon herself,  look well  to this  matter.   When  she 
166
HEALTHY REPRODUCTION.
 sees a young man so lacking in the essential qualities
 of a gentleman that he needs a cigar to finish him, let
 her be determined  that she will  prefer the acquaint-
 ance  of those who do  not require this appendage.
 And  let her never suffer herself  to be courted by one
 of corrupted breath and tobacconized  brain.   Let
 her never marry one whose  habits will ever annoy
 her, and whose system is under  a poison that is en-
 ervating the vital and moral  energies of his whole
 nervous constitution,  and that will affect her posterity.
   Will any one say this is a matter of fancy and not
 of facts ?  How comes it that the  general  idea that
 the physical  condition of parents has a bearing upon
 the physical character of children,  is universally ad-
 mitted,  and yet Ibere are  no individual instances in
 which it is practically true ?   The  truth is, there are
 individual instances the world  over, and everywhere;
 but nobody  seems to realize  it.   In every instance
 where either of the  parents'  habits are  contrary to
 physical  law, they are doing an injury which  will be
 more  or less felt in the generations following them.
   Let every young woman, and every young man,
 bring common sense and  reason to bear upon this
 great  and momentous subject.   Let them so take care
 of themselves as to be prepared for the sober realities
 of life.   Let them so fulfil their responsibilities, as
 that, when years shall have passed away, and their
family circle  is gathered around  them, they may not
have cause  to look  back with sorrow upon  the past,
and with fearful forebodings toward the future.   Let 
            MATERNAL RESPONSIBILITY.         167

them be so careful in the selection of connubial asso-
ciates,  that they may prove a mutual comfort to each
other,  and a blessing to  the generations yet to come.
   Let  them beforehand  count the cost of  indulgence
in  intemperate  appetites  and sensual dispositions,
which must inevitably tend to enstamp upon their off-
spring the grossness of their own physical and moral
character.   Let them not in this way make themselves
responsible  for  the  evil  conduct of  their  children,
which  may bring their gray hairs with sorrow to  the
grave.  But let them, by their  physical,  moral, and
intellectual culture  of themselves, be  prepared  to
bring into existence  a class of  beings whose  physical,
moral, and intellectual  character shall enable them to
enjoy life, be  an ornament  to society, and a blessing
to the world.

   What shall be said of him who will go on  in known
hurtful indulgences — feeding unnatural appetites, or
crowding his  natural  ones by unnatural  burdens?
 Shall  he be  reckoned  among  intelligent  beings —
beings endowed with a  soul ?  Inspiration  calls that
man a fool who seeks only worldly good, and neglects
 his higher destiny.   And is a man any less a fool who
knows no higher rule of life than the mere gratifica-
 tion of a depraved appetite ; indulgence which hazards
 health and life, and lowers  the standard of  his intel-
lectual and moral being ?  In doing this he  puts him-
 self on a level with the  soulless brute!   Nay;  he
 puts  himself  far below the brute!  He cherishes ap- 
168
HEALTHY REPRODUCTION.
petites so low, vulgar, and unnatural, that brutes will
not stoop to  be  his  associates.  Brutes will not sip
the drunkard's drink; they will not chew the tobacco-
eater's cud.
   How would the ox, or tho horse, tho dog, or  even
the swine, degrade his nature, were ho to use tobacco
-— that deadly thing which is working greater physical
devastation to this generation than even alcohol itself!
What would a man think to find his horse eating tho
poisonous  stuff?   "Would he not be alarmed for its
effects on his strength and durability ? — for CA'ery one
of much intelligence  knows it to be injurious to animal
life.   Let that same  man ask himself whether his own
body is worth less than that of his beast; and  inas-
much as he has a higher nature, let it be saved  from
the benumbing influence of  the deadly weed.
   If he is endowed with reason, let him govern him-
self; let him study to understand, and resolve to obey
the laws of his  being, which are  the laavs of God.
Let each one resolve to do what he can to turn  back
the mighty current of physical and moral declension
which now threatens  the extinction of the noble qual-
ities of human nature, improve his higher  being, and
live for God and Humanity. 
NATURAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  CURE;
                      OR,
     CURE WITHOUT  DRUGS.
  Among  the common  people,  the wide distinction
betAveen Prevention and  Cure has not been generally
recognized.   They  are apt  to think -that all  books,
relating to the laws of life and health, must of  course
be treatises on diseases and cures by drugs.  They are,
at least, often more eager to obtain reading matter in
some contemptible quack-doctor book, which  professes
to teach them how to doctor themselves, than they are
to get books to show how they destroy health and life,
and hoAV to prevent diseases, broken constitutions, and
premature death.   They regard Clue  infinitely more
important than Prevention.  As a general rule, they
more highly value a physician who, instead of warning
them  against the evils of violated law, will  let them
go on  unmolested  till they  have ruined themseWes,
and  then  will be on hand to drug  them  thoroughly,
even unto death, than they will that man who has the
moral  courage, in the cause of humanity, to peril his
reputation to prevent them from encountering needless
suffering and an early grave.
                15 
170
CURE  of diseases
   They want their false appetites and  ruinous  indul-
 gences to be let alone;  and, Avhen health is gone  as a
 consequence, they  Avant a  doctor, or  doctor  book, to
 prescribe  drugs which  promise to restore  health, in
 spite of their continuing the indulgence which caused
 it.   Or, if  they set aside the cause for a short  space,
 they want to be so thoroughly drugged  that Nature
 may never  dare make  such another outcry, so  that
 they may return to their sins Avith  hopeful  impunity.
 At all events, they  consider health a secondary matter
 — a matter comparatively of small importance until it
 is ruined, and then  mourn  over their pains and  suf-
 ferings, when it is too late to make amends.  They prac-
 tically consider the old proverb to be obsolete, "An ounce
 of prevention is worth  more than a pound  of cure."
 They go on with their  unnatural indulgences, under-
 mining their physical vitality, until Nature, unable to
 bear abuse any longer, gives signs of Avoe;  then they
 resort, perhaps, to cures Avhich only cure by death.
 The first step toward the cure of diseases is  effected

               BY  REMOVING CAUSES.
   Unless  the original cause of any given disease bo
 removed, there  is no - successful way of obtaining a
 permanent cure; and by the removal  of the original
 cause, perhaps in  more than nine cases out of  ten,
 Nature  will  remove the difficulty  Avithout  the  aid
of any kind of medicine.  It is the most consummate
quackery to  prescribe medicine to cure a disease, while
 the  cause that produced it is  not  abandoned.   If a 
BY  REM0VINO CAUSES.
171
liver  complaint,  or kidney complaint,  or any  other
glandular derangement  shall occur, which has been
produced  by tobacco, coffee, tea, or any other narcotic
or stimulant, it is an outrage on all common sense, as
well as science, to prescribe remedies while indulgence
in these false  luxuries  is continued.  They must  be
abandoned,  or health given  up;  and  it  is folly to
inquire which  should be relinquished, for they are  all
hurtful, and should be rejected.
   Here comes a lady with prostrated nervous system;
and from this arises a diversity of complaints, — dys-
pepsia in its ATarious forms and its hundreds of attend-
ant sufferings, sick  headaches and  nervous headaches,
 with their periodical visits,  goneness at the stomach
 and  palpitation of  the heart; —any and all of these,
 and many more, have grown out of the  long-continued
 use of stimulating  drinks.   Her dear wicked luxuries
 of coffee and teas, — especially  the green teas, —by
 their intoxicating power on the nerves, have gradually
 and imperceptibly worn out  their healthy tone; they
 are now in a morbid and irritable state, laying a broad
 foundation for ill health in a variety of  forms.   H  '
 liver is  the  point to which her  illegal livng  nas
 dirocted its force,' and  her immediate sufferings arise
 from a  torpid  condition of that gland, accompanied
 with its usual attendant, a sluggish condition of bowels,
 she runs after some nostrum in the form of anti-bilious
 pills, or other quackery.  She takes her pills, which
 force a temporary  action that is generally followed by
 greater  prostration of nervous force, giving the liver 
172
CURE  OF DISEASES
greater  torpidity, and still continues  her luxuries of
coffee and tea.
  This is like a man's holding his hand in the fire till
the skin  is removed, calling on  the doctor for a salvo,
while he is still holding his hand in the flame.  If he
wants the burned skin to be  removed and a new one
to take its place, he must  take the hand out of the fire;
he  must put away the original  cause.  When he will
do  this,  Nature will want little help to bring  things
again to  their right bearings.   But if he continues the
cause, he  may tax  the  skill  of the whole medical
world, and find no relief.   If he will continue  to vio-
late law, he  must meet the damages.  But if he will
cease rebelling  against Nature, put away his weapons
of warfare, desist from destroying her vital forces, and
let her have her own Avay, she will put forth her very
best  efforts to set everything right.  Nature  always
goes  for  health ; and so  zealous is she in her  under-
takinL's  and so certain of the best possible issue, that
we may  rest assured that on her part no pains will  be
soared, and on our part no risk is run.
    \s oefore remarked, probably in  nine cases  out of
ten "oi. all the diseases  in the world, especially those
of  chronic form, when the primary cause is  removed,
Nature  requires no  help from medicinal agents, and
will perform her work of  cure better without than with
them.   Where medicines are not really needed, they
do harm instead of good; for all medicinal agents are
unnatural to the laws of healthy life.  The philosophy
of allopathic cure consists  in  creating an unnatural 
BY REMOVING CAUSES.
173
condition of the animal economy, in  opposition to the
existing one.  A morbid condition now exists; another
morbid condition is instituted in order to overcome and
expel it.   And if the medicine  succeed in removing
it, still Nature must remove the  unnatural condition
produced  by the medicine ;  and if Nature alone can
remove any existing disease by having  its cause put
 iway, she will come  out better in the end, than she
 /fill if two morbid conditions, instead of one, are thrown
 m her way.
   My own department of the medical profession has
 been, in many instances, deficient  in attention  to the
 laws which belong to health.   They study  Pathology,
 or  the laws which govern diseased  life, but  do not,
 as  a general rule, direct sufficient attention  to laws
 which govern healthy life.   The  llomceopathists and
 Hydropathists give much attention to this subject.  If
 a man  comes to them for medical aid, they look into
 the history of the case.   They inquire into his habits
 of eating and drinking; carefully  note all his physical
 errors, and proscribe everything which is in  conflict
 with the laws of  health.  In  this way they put their
 patients  upon the resources of Nature.   While their
 medicines, to  say the least of them, are not drugging
 the patients to death, they are giving the powers  of
 Nature an opportunity to  exert  their healing forces;
 and this fact  probably forms the principal basis  of
 their success.  Nature gets a chance to put forth heal-
 ing energies, which drugging has sometimes, nay, often,
 prevented.
 V                 15* 
174
CURE OF DISEASES
   Cases have often come under observation where per-
sons affected with chronic diseases have  been taking
drugs prescribed by their physician, while at the same
time they were indulging unnatural appetites in suffi-
cient degree to account for all the attendant morbid
symptoms.  Several cases of prostrated  health, from
the  use  of tobacco, have  fallen  under notice, where
several  members of the faculty have been  consulted,
each recommending his remedies, but not one of thcra
so much as intimating that tobacco  possessed deadly
properties.  Even those who have noticed  its deadly
effects at all, have generally only half-condemned the
practice, and merely recommended the lessening of the
quantity,  instead of entire and eternal abstinence from
it.   The  prescribing  of  medicine to cure  a disease
which is  the product  of  an unnatural habit unrelin-
quished, is of all  kinds of quackery in the  world the
most enormous and inexcusable.
   More than  nineteen twentieths,  probably,  of  all
the diseases of which  complaint is made, are created,
directly or indirectly, by the people who suffer from
them; and. as a general  rule, if  they will  cease cre-
ating the disturbance, Nature  will recover  herself
better without medicines  than with them.   A portion
of their diseases  they create directly, by interference
with natural law, without any other agency.   Another
portion of diseases are created indirectly.   There are
morbid conditions of  the  atmosphere, and  also conta-
gions, which cannot always be wholly avoided;  but, as
a very general rule, these would touch us lightly, if at 
BY REMOVING  CAUSES.
175
all, if we would not, by impairing the tone of natural
vitality, open the door of the " house we* live in," and
invite them in.   As fearful  as are the ravages of the
cholera, it  is  comparatively  little to be feared, if we
will continually pay  obedience  to  all the  laws of
organic life.   But if  we will abuse the powers of our
own vitality, we may expect  cholera, or any  other epi-
demic or contagious disease, to walk in and take such
a possession as may prove fatal.
   The great majority of fatal  cases  of cholera were
made  so by the intemperance of its victims.   Many
who used  no spirituous liquors, used tobacco.   Many
who used no tobacco, had destroyed the equilibrium of
their electric forces, circulating in the nervous system,
by strong  teas  and coffees.  Perhaps  they had  eaten
luncheons  and  late suppers, or  had taken largely of
meats  and condiments.
   If we take such a natural course of habitual living
as to  secure a  healthy and  cvcn-balanccd circulation
of the blood, and especially of the electric currents of
the body,  we shall be in comparatively little danger
from hurtful atmospheric influences.   Neither cholera
or any other morbid  agency can find much  chance  to
prey upon  us.   But if we derange the functions of our
organism, though we  may seem to do so with impunity
to-day, yet  to-morrow other destructive  causes may
enter  with deadly weapons.
    Hence  we can  see, if those  who  are  suffering  ill
health will read and inform themselves on the natural
 laws of healthy life, and cease violating them  alto- 
170
CURE  OF DISEASES
gether, Nature will generally perform a cure.   If we
create a majority of all our  diseases by intemperate
habits, we certainly can quit  those habits and let tho
system recover  itself.  Seeking  for remedies short of
this, is the very worst of  folly.   It is spending time
and  money to no purpose, and wasting the  vital ener-
gies  by medicines which, when they cannot effect good,
are only increasing disease and  hastening  premature
death.   If,  instead  of resorting to  drug-shops and
quack-doctor books, men would see  that all violations
of natural law were put away, so that  no  embarrass-
ment should oppress Nature, they would not only save
themselves from a vast Avaste of money, but  from many
a ruined constitution and loss  of  life, which silver and
gold cannot replace.
   Oh, what consummate fools some  people are!  If
we recommend  them a book  on the laws of health,
they will call it quackery, a catchpenny, or  a humbug.
Or, if we tell them at the bedside, that all they really
need  is abstinence  from disobedience to some law of
health — that they  do not need drugs — they will
think us ignoramuses, and probably send for some doc-
tor, so destitute of skill or of honesty, that  he will
abundantly gratify them with medicines.   The efforts
of an honest man they  cannot appreciate;  but  the
man who will furnish them with a doctor book, prom-
ising to show them how to cure themselves  with medi-
cines — the man who will really humbug for money —
they will regard as a benefactor to the race.   The man
who will make a display of powders  and drops which 
BY REMOVING  CAUSES.
177
are only preparing  them to drop into the grave, is at
once reckoned one of the most skilful doctors of the
age.
   The  man who has not  moral courage enough to
repel the temptations which such  ignorance furnishes,
is not fit for the  profession.  The man who will seek
a reputation at the  peril of community, has not that
degree  of  honesty which could  prepare him for a sta-
tion of such  responsibility.   He is obtaining money
under false pretences, and even bartering the life that
has been intrusted to his hands,  for paltry gain.  Nay :
he is worse than  a highway robber and murderer.   He
meets  you not in the bold, frank attitude of his  real
character,  as docs the highwayman, letting you under-
stand  at once your danger and  need  of preparation
for defence, but  comes to you in the  meanest hypoc-
 risy ; pretending to be deAToted  to the cause of human-
 ity and the  relief  of human  suffering, while  he is
 willing to  let you go on in  your course of self-destruc-
 tion ; and  then, instead of seeking to show you wherein
 you have  departed from Nature's path, and turn  you
 back into  it  again, will  deal out needless drugs, for
 money and a reputation, which push  you  into  the
 grave.
    Considering the ignorance of the people  and their
 fondness for drugs — the abundance of  quackery and
 the contingencies attending the  administration  of all
 medicinal agents —the  increased indifference of the
 people toward the  laws of health because there are
  plenty of doctors and medicines at hand — it is pretty 
178
CURE  OF DISEASES
 safe to conclude, setting  aside the benefits  of skilful
 surgery, that the  standard of health and  longevity
 would be far above its present position, if no medic lies
 had ever been known  in the land, and not a physician
 had ever set foot upon its soil.   The existence of med-
 icines and physicians will  probably continue to do more
 harm than  good, until the  friends of humanity Avill
 take more  interest  in diffusing  among the people a
 knowledge  of the laws of the human system which
 relate to practical life, and the people themselves shall
 wake up to  their own  highest earthly  interests in this
 matter, and those of their rising posterity.   Then, and
 not  till  then, probably,  Avill doctors  and medicines
 become, on the whole,  blessings to community.
   The second step toward  the cure of disease is effected

             BY  TEMPORARY  ABSTINENCE.
   As a general rule, keep the stomach in  right action,
 and the whole  system will be right.   This organ is
 very much  exposed  to hurtful  influences, some  of
 which cannot always be avoided.  Although, as a very
 general rule, — a rule  with few exceptions, — its mal-
 adies can be avoided by a knowledge of its peculiar
 functions and laws, yet it  may possibly, by the strict-
 est care, become deranged, and the whole system  be
put  into liability to suffering.   Its  lining membrane
may become  coated with a viscid  mucous  secretion, or
its  nervous  tone may be  temporarily prostrated,  so
that a healthy appetite may be  gone, and  the whole
system brought under some form of fever    If, on the 
BY TEMPORARY ABSTINENCE.
179
approach of the disturbance, abstinence from ordinary
food be rigidly adhered to for a day or two, the stom-
ach may free itself from its causes of oppression.   If,
instead of resorting  to emetics  and cathartics, as  is
frequently done, the  person affected would cease all
ordinary eating, and live on mere Indian gruel, till the
stomach could have time to clear  itself from its mucous
coating, or gather up its electric  vigor,  the Avhole diffi-
culty might  come  to an end; a protracted sickness,
severe drugging, a large bill, and perhaps a premature
grave, might be avoided.
   A popular idea exists,  that wdien the stomach gets
deranged, the bile has entered  it, and must be dis-
lodged.   Hence, they will take emetics, throw up bile
in the course of vomiting, and thus seem to prove their
notions correct.   Whereas, the  bile rarely comes up
hill  into the stomach except by the effort of vomiting.
The bile they sec is brought up  from below, from the
second stomach, or duodenum, by  the severe  reverted
action of the stomach, calling into  its sympathy its
associated organs.  The stomach would not much bet-
ter bear bile introduced into it, without vomiting, than
it would bear a decoction of tobacco on its first intro-
duction.  It would  set up rebellion against  it, and
throw it off with almost  as much earnestness, as it
would against a solution of tartar emetic.
   Whenever the stomach  has  lost its tone or become
oppressed  by wrong eating, the only cure that can
suffice, consists in temporary abstinence   from  food.
Hundreds and thousands  have sick headache, nervous 
180              CURE OF DISEASES
headache, heartburn, sour stomach, and other ailments
Avhich are, if not caused, greatly enhanced  by bolting
down the food without  stopping to masticate it;  and
the poor foolish  sufferers will swallow quarts of pills,
neutralizing salts, emetics, syrups, and a host of other
things, in hope of cure ; — and they make about the
same progress  that a  man  would to  drink himself
drunk every day, and sleep himself sober every night.
As long as they will  swallow their food whole, they
may expect  to suffer.   When they will  cease insulting
their stomachs by their swinish eating, they will  find
by short fasting, that organ to  regain its strength.
   But fast  eating is not the only promoter of gastric
disturbance.  The taking of condiments with meats is
a crime against the stomach.   Instead of leaving  that
organ free  to carry on  its own  vital  functions, they
throw in  pepper and ginger and  spice  and mustard.
All  these  are as  truly destructive*  to its tone, and
healthy action, as is alcohol.  They produce unnatural
excitement, and weaken natural strength.  The'taking
of mustard with meats is a very popular  habit, and
one  that is directly against health.  If any one would
inquire which he had better take, mustard or pulver-
ized Spanish blistering flies, let  him test their strength.
Put a poultice  of mustard on  one arm, and a plaster
of flies on the other, and see which  can be borne  the
longest.   This test will prove  that the use  of flies on
meats would be  less hurtful than the mustard.   If
these stomach complaints are produced by these unnat-
ural and unnecessary  agents, and a cure  is desired, 
BY TEMPORARY ABSTINENCE.
181
Jet them dismiss these things at once, and fast  until
Nature can perform a cure.
  Vast disturbance is the direct effect of various  stim-
ulants.   There are ladies suffering from various forms
of dyspepsia and its often accompaniment, consumptiAre
cough, Avhich  has  been, to say the least, greatly in-
creased by  stimulating  drinks.  They have created
great fondness for their favorites, coffee and tea.   They
love their intoxicating power, as truly as the drunkard
loves his liquors,  and  for precisely the same reason;
because  they spur up Nature — quicken  a mind that
is drooping under the reaction of a former excitement
— produce a cheering sensation on the jaded nervous
system.  Tell them about abandoning such a habit, and,
as in the case of the  rum or tobacco  drunkard, you
might sooner succeed in  persuading them to abandon
the Christian  faith.  They will be found more firmly
wedded to this worldly lust, than they are to a healthy
body, a sound mind, or a sanctified heart.  An unnatural
animal  passion  rules  the day, over better judgment,
reason, conscience, and all the higher powers of nature.
Health, with all its attendant  blessings on the soul,  is
worth something,  but  their gratified  passion is ATalued
more.
   But  they cannot have this  and health too,  after
symptoms of  suffering show themselves.   They must
be  content to suffer on, or put away their idol  appe-
tites.  The best cure for periodical or protracted head-
ache, is ceasing to create  or foster the complaint. The
best drops for. consumptive  cough consists in dropping
                10 
182
CURE  OF DISEASES
the foolish  habits which produce it, or keep it in ex-
istence.  Let them cease destroying  the tone of the
nervous system, from which arise a host of complaints,
and these complaints Avill soon disappear.  While this
portion of our being is kept in tune, there is but little
danger of much derangement.  But get this out of tunc,
and there is  scarcely any trouble that may not  arise.
Treat the neiwous  system right, and Nature will then
be able,  not  only to  ward off outward causes, but to
cure those  Avhich have originated  in  her OAvn abused
and  weakened powers.   And when medical  men in
general shall study out primary and  original causes,
and  proscribe them, as carefully as they now study
immediate symptoms and the  modus operandi of drugs,
they may be  able to  save many a patient which they
now hurry  into the grave.
   When every physician will  be as faithful to the true
principles on which the profession  is nominally based,
as was the  great  surgeon of  New Hampshire, Dr.
Amos Twitchell, whose memoirs have been published,
and with whom it was my pleasure to be acquainted,
much of human life will be  saved.  A man called to
bring him grain;  saying that it was the last he should
be able  to  bring: he Avas going  with consumption.
The  Dr. regretted to learn that;  and inquired what
he would give him to cure  him.   The  man  had no
confidence in any  method of  relief, but agreed to try
his advice if  he would give it.   His prescription was
the proscription of tobacco.   The  man  had  pledged
himself to  follow  the advice or forfeit fifty dollars 
BY TEMPORARY ABSTINENCE.
183
Therefore, rather than lose that sum, he  quit  his to-
bacco.   The  next time the  Dr. met him, two years,
he was Avell and sound.  The putting away of tobacco
was  the only medicine he took.   Many physicians
would  have said nothing of  the  tobacco, but if re-
quested, would  have poured  in the drugs.   Where
liver complaint, kidney complaint, or  any other glan-
dular disease, is the  product of tobacco, the question
comes, Avhich is to be valued most, a healthy, sound
body, or a plug of tobacco.
   A case has this moment,  while  writing, presented
itself.   A gentleman, with one  side  of  his  mouth
SAVclled out with  a quid of  tobacco,  has called and
taken advice.  The complaint is, turns of colic in the
night.  The  advice  given was, take no medicine, but
cease drugging with  that  potent enemy of the sound
digestive organs, tobacco.   He consented to the advice,
and has signed the  anti-tobacco pledge.   Nightmare
is a frequent complaint of tobacco-users.   It so para-
lyzes the nerves of in\-oluntary motion, that  the lungs
cease to operate, and death during the hours of  sleep
often ensues.   The  electric forces  cease  to  circulate,
and nightmare, and sometimes death occurs.   Palpita-
tion of the heart is another common complaint among
tobacco-users, originating  in  a  derangement of the
neiwous forces. "What in these cases must be the mode
of cure ? Shall we giA'e drugs, or put away drugging ?
   Every medical  man  knows what ought to be done,
but will he do it ? will he search out the predispos-
ing, and, it may be,  the exciting cause, and insist on 
184
CURE  OF DISEASES
its removal ?  It may be he too is guilty of this un-
godly practice.   The medical  professor with Avhom
my profession was studied, was an inveterate taker of
snuff. Early in life his loAver limbs suffered from par-
tial  paralysis.  He  also had  turns of  epileptic  fits.
At length mental imbecility and insanity came on, of
which  he died.  Here were  palsy, epilepsy, mental
imbecility, and insanity,  the evident product of snuff.
And what would have been  the proper remedy ?   Ab-
staining from  the eause.   Indeed, a disease from  any
cause is increased by an impaired state of the nervous
system.   And if we would  have Nature seek a cure,
we must not only abandon its cause, but abstain from
every other violation of her laws, that  she may be in
the best possible state to  war with disease.
  In all cases of disease from a humor in the circulat-
ing fluids, in order to obtain a cure, there must be ab-
stinence from  everything that can have  any influence
in producing  it,  or  keeping  it alive.   Every habit
which may be guilty in the first  degree, or which may
aid   and abet — everything operating  principally or
incidentally as a cause, — must be suspended.  Meat-
eating — especially the eating of fat meats — tends to
produce  a morbid state of the fluids.  And  in every
case of humor of any kind,  meats should be set aside,
at least until Nature has  had time to cleanse the fluids
of the system.  If the meats  have probably been the
original cause, they should  be dismissed forever.   If
they only increase the difficulty,  or if they only hinder
the restorative energies of the system, they should be 
            BY  TEMPORARY ABSTINENCE.         185

set aside at least  a sufficient  time to let the system
cleanse itself from this morbid condition.  A diet prin-
cipally of breadstuffs,  in  the  simplest form — not by
starvation, but in moderation — will greatly facilitate
a cure.
   A case has just come to mind, which shows the ulti-
mate  effect  of protracted meat-eating.  An  elderly
gentleman Avas stopping at the same hotel Avith me in
Nashville, Tennessee, Avho was being doctored by some
quack for cancer.   He had a running  cancer on his
hand, and was  suffering immensely Avith it.   He  had
another coming  on his nose, and still another on  the
other band.   His whole body  was saturated with can-
cerous humor.   Inquiry was  made, " What has been
your  habitual diet — have you ate meats largely?"
lie  answered  that  meat had been almost the  only
article of his diet from early life ; he relished nothing
else in comparison with it: could not live without it.
My reply Avas, " You have been an extravagant meat-
eater, and here are the consequences ; abstinence from
flesh-eating  can alone give you any permanent relief."
This was a  true cause  of  his malady ;  if not the  sole
one,  it was a sure  and important cause of all his can-
cerous humour.
   While in St.  Louis, Missouri, a case of swelled  and
ulcerated leg came  under observation.  A man fifty
years old had one limb greatly swollen and much ulcer-
ated  about  the ankle.   He was a moderate  user of
alcohol and  tobacco,  and excessively fond of the fattest
of meat — especially fat bacon — it was his living. The
               10* 
ISO
CURE  OF DISEASES
limb had hitherto baffled all medical skill.  His physi-
cians had  tried their utmost skill at drugs internally
and externally;  but no relief Avas gained.   The man
was finally induced to quit his rum, and tobacco, and
meat:  to apply simple cooling lotions to the limb, live
on simple, generous, farinaceous diet,  and let Nature
perform a cure.   Alter a few weeks the limb had put
on an aspect decidedly promising a complete cure.  In
this  case  the  meats had doubtless  the  far greater
agency than any other, in producing  this derangement.
   All derangements of  health which are increased by,
or grow out of, an impaired  tone  of the  nervous sys-
tem, are dependent for cure on abstinence from every-
thing that produces excitement and irritability of that
system.  In all cases of dyspepsia,  periodical headache,
palpitation of the  heart, nervous prostration, and gen-
eral  debility, there should be total abstinence from all
stimulating drinks and irritating condiments.  If the
coffees,  teas, and condiments, which  have  increased, if
not wholly procured the disease, be continued, no cure
can,  of course, be  reasonably or possibly expected.
   Indeed,  whatever may be the kind of ill health suf-
fered, there should  be  a careful  search made to see
whether there are  any violations of natural law, direct-
ly or indirectly, affecting the nervous system.  For in
all cases, a single  violation will retard, if not prevent
a cure.   Treat  Nature right in  all  respects, and
she  will abundantly reward the  effort,  by her very
best exertion to restore and maintain health.
   In all  cases of mental derangement, the  same rule 
             BY SYSTEMATIC DISCIPLINE.         187

should be adopted.  Depression of spirits and melan-
choly are greatly increased, if not wholly produced,
by  unnatural stimulants  on  the   nervous system
Whether  produced by them or not, no cure can well
be obtained without abstinence from them.   Let the
nerves be in an undisturbed and healthy condition, and
Nature will make successful  war against almost any
disease that attacks  the system, whether it be purely
physical, or physico-niental.   It has grieved memuch
to find that, as a general rule, stimulating drinks are
allowed the inmates of  insane asylums.   Insanity  is
emphatically a disease of the  nervous system.  Every
drop, therefore, of tea or coffee should be strictly pro-
hibited.   Cool,  nourishing drinks, and simple, gener-
ous food,  should be the living of those affected with
this malady. Abstinence from meat, also, is important.
Meats are too stimulating to be used in such cases.
   A third step toward  the cure of disease is effected

             BY  SYSTEMATIC  DISCIPLINE.
   Lung affections are very much under the control of
discipline.  A contracted  chest,  Avhether hereditary,
or produced after birth,  is  a general precursor and ac-
companiment of  consumption.   This difficulty can bo
greatly, if not entirely, removed.   A contracted  chest
can  be expanded.  Indeed, we  may almost  make our
own lungs.   When the  chest is deficient  in space, the
lungs are compressed and  irritated;  and  they are un-
able to inspire as much air as is  necessary to properly
oxydize the blood and prepare it for arterial circulation. 
188
CURE  OF DISEASES
 When the blood which comes into  the heart from the
 veins, is thrown from the heart into the lungs, it con-
 tains a surplus of  carbon — the  basis of  charcoal.
 Here it comes in  contact with the air inhaled by the
 lungs, takes a portion of oxygen from the atmosphere,
 and gives  off its excess of carbon.   Here, then, the
 blood,  by  becoming  oxygenized  and  decarbonized,
 changes its color; and, returning to the heart, it is car-
 ried to every part of the system to supply its nutrition.
 It is then returned again through the veins, to the heart
 and lungs.   Before entering the heart, however, it
 meets  with  the  nourishment of  our  food,  carried
 through the  thoracic duct  into the  circulation.   This
 being added,  the blood again enters the heart.
   In this way the whole system is furnished Avith nu-
 trition.   The oxygen  taken in through  the lungs, to-
 gether with  a portion of  electricity,  is  carried and
 distributed to all  parts of the body, to maintain its
 substance and vitality. Hence the importance of hav-
 ing not only wholesome  and  well  oxygenized air to
breathe, but  a good full  set of lungs to perform the
 process of breathing.  If the chest is  contracted, the
lungs have not room to expand and  receive a sufficient
amount of  air; and the vital powers become impaired.
The blood is returned to the arteries imperfectly oxy-
genized and electrified, and the whole  system suffers.
General health becomes impaired, the lungs themselves
then often become irritated and inflamed, and death by
consumption ensues.
   A full chest therefore becomes an important matter. 
PLATE XIIL   POSITION  OF THE  CHEST
NO. 1. POSTURE IN SITTING
NO. 2. POSTURE AT TABLE
   ,*... in,u,,1iv p. 3060
^ 
 
BY SYSTEMATIC DISCIPLINE.         189
If the chest  is too narrow and flat, a discipline must
be gone into,  in  order  to expand it.   With proper
effort, the chest and the compass of the lungs may bo
greatly enlarged.  In  this way consumption  may be
prevented.-  Even if it  has  already reached  its pre-
monitory symptoms,  it may  be averted; or  even in
any stage short of ulceration, it can be cured.
  The manner of doing  this consists first in standing
erect.   Persons with weak lungs are inclined to bend
over their chest, letting  the  spine curve betAveen  the
shoulders, till the lungs become flattened and depressed.
Let every such person bring his  mind immediately to
bear upon the consequences of  this state of  things,
and determine  to  stand  erect; let the front  side of
his  body measure as much from  the  highest point on
the head  to his feet, as  the  back side from the same
point.   Let him also lay straight in bed ; with shoul-
ders  elevated  by inclined  plane,  and  head lying
on the  same line  of elevation, with a single  pilloAV.
This unvarying erectness of posture  will of itself ac-
complish much in relieving oppressed lungs.
  A second step to be taken  consists  in often inhaling
large draughts of air; distending the lungs as much
as practicable.   By continued practice the lungs will
be made to contain more and more air: the air cells
become expanded.  This should be done many times a
day until relief can be obtained.
  A third step consists in repeatedly — many times a
day — throwing the arms and shoulders back.  This
may be aided by weights in the hands — the dumb- 
190
CURE  OF DISEASES
 bells, or something equivalent.   The shoulders should
 be kept  back, and not permitted to curve  round the
 lungs.   If such be the degree  of debility that the
 shoulders cannot be kept back, or in cases of children
 who cannot remember  to  do so, put on a shoulder
 brace.   But where  Nature is able  to sustain herself
 in this process, she will ultimately do better Avithout a
 brace, than with it.  Those who use  them  are apt to
 depend  on them, without  trying to discipline them-
 selves.  If people will  bear this matter in  mind, and
 can possibly support the effort, let it  be done without
 a brace : do the same in respect to this, as ought to be
 done in respect to medicines; use them as the last re-
 sort, where Nature cannot  perform  her   own work
 alone.
   Where  a cough exists, this will  demand attention.
 One of the very best cures for cough, is to stop cough-
 ing.   Instead  of allowing it to  have full  sway, in-
 creasing the irritation of the lungs and bronchial tubes,
 let it  be suppressed as far as practicable.   This  will
 diminish the irritation of the lining membrane of the
 bronchial tubes and  the substances'of the lungs.  The
 less  the  coughing allowed, the less  the inclination to
 cough.   Where this effort  cannot succeed, then some
 resort must be had to palliatives in the form of reme-
 dial agents.  When this shall be done,  let the mildest
 palliatives be used which are able to  give relief  and
a? few opiates as possible.  If a homoeopathic medicine
will operate, so much the better.   In  all cases where
a cough is the result of consumptive lungs induced by 
PLATE XIV  POSITION  OF THE BODY
NO  1  STANDING POSTURE
 
 
            BY SYSTEMATIC DISCIPLINE.         191

dyspepsia — and  such cases are not few — the best
cough-drops in all the world are  made of dropping
the habits in which the cause originated.
  Another important matter, is living and sleeping in
apartments well ventilated.   This  is important  as  a
means of health, or the relief from any form or kind
of disease.  Every apartment of a house, and  every
school-room and public hall, should have a ventilator
at  the  top of the wall.   This allows the air in the
room to keep itself pure.   A portion of the oxygen
being taken up by the lungs, and carbon being given
off  by them, the  air becomes devitalized and unfit for
being received  again into the lungs.  This impure air
being lighter than healthy air, rises to the top of the
room, and will pass  off if it can find vent, leaving
room for pure air to come in.  In  this way the lungs
arc receiving new and healthy air by every inspiration.
   Eor the same  reason, no  one should sleep without
free access to a change of air.  The offensive smell of
sleeping rooms in the morning is owing to the  re-
peated  breathing  of the same air, till its vitality has
become destroyed, and the impure exhalations from the
body pent up  in a close room, where the air cannot
renovate itself.   It is all folly for people to talk of
being so feeble that  they cannot bear a Avindow open,
especially  in summer, in the  night.   Every one can
bear air enough to sustain healthy breathing ;  and all
notions  to the contrary are foolish and wicked.  In
small rooms,  a window, or  door, or both, should be
opened in winter,  as well as in summer.  If we breathe 
192
CURE  OF DISEASES
the same air twice, it cannot the second time furnish
sufficient oxygen for  the blood.   If people would give
heed to these facts, they would prevent and even cure
a large proportion of consumptive cases which appear
among us.   The strength and endurance of the whole
system depend, in a very great degree, on the amount
of healthy air that is breathed.
   Tight  lacing — compressing the lungs wdth ropes,
and boards, and steel — is now nearly abandoned;  but
still dresses are made too tight in the waist, and too
much filled with whalebone.  The chest should have
free room to expand  itself, and allow the  lungs to fill
with air.   The breathing should  meet no  resistance
from dress.
   There is great damage done  at  the present day to
the health of females by hanging mnder-dresses upon
the bowels.   This  unnatural  weight  dislocates  the
bowels and all  the  other  viscera of  the  abdomen.
It drags  them downward from  their proper  location
and connection with the  stomach,  diaphragm and
lungs.  This leaves a space between these organs Avhich
gives a sensation of faintness and sinking at  the pit of
the stomach, which is often called a " goneness." This
leads often to  a bending over of the chest and flatten-
ing of the lungs!   Other  organs  also  suffer.   The
liver is pushed downward and rendered torpid.   The
bile, Avhich-is the appropriate stimulus for the bowels,
becomes  deficient;  the bowels  become sluggish and
costive; and the blood is left impure because the bile is
not properly taken up, as is shown in the countenance. 
PLATE XV.   TIGHT  LACING.
NO 1.  ON  EXTERNAL FORM.



   1
NO. a. ON  INTERNAL FORM.



    |S,«- Apivmlix, p. 309)
"\ 
 
BY SYSTEMATIC DISCIPLINE.
103
  If ladies would have health and a pure, clear skin,
they must allow their lungs to receive  the air freely,
their  liver a chance to cleanse the blood, and their
bowels an  opportunity to clear themselves.   Unless
they will do  (his, they cannot long maintain  a clear
skin and a healthful feeling.   Costive bowels alone are
ruinous to a healthy body and a cheerful mind.  This
Btate of bowels is produced, not  only by a sluggish
liver, but by the whole viscera being pressed downward
upon the lower  intestine, and preventing its proper
action by  mechanical  pressure.   All other kinds of
costiveness can be  greatly overcome by discipline in
mind and diet; but that which is caused  by mechan-
ical pressure cannot be cured till the pressure shall be
removed.
   The use of  physio  in  such  a case would be as un-
philosophical as  taking an  emetic to get  rid of tight
boots.  The bowels and  other organs which are fallen
down upon the lower  bowel, must  be pressed upward.
 Every  weight should be removed from them,  the
dresses suspended from the shoulders,  and the Ixnvels
repeatedly pressed upward.   If their drooping cannot
 be overcome in this way, a supporter should  be worn
 till their native strength has accumulated.   But where
 costiveness depends alone on the sluggish action of the
 bowels themselves, it can be overcome by mental dis-
 cipline.  The  mind should be brought to bear  every
 morning on their  action.  They should be  brought
 under the magnetism of thought.   Let the mind elec-
 trify the bowels till they will move.   A regular,-sys- 
194
CURE  OF DISEASES
tematic discipline  in  this way has  overcome  many s
case of obstinate costive  habit.  A mental determina-
tion, persevered in, will  sometimes effect that which
never can be done with medicine.   Indeed, medicines
should never be taken for costiveness, if it be possible
to do  without  them.  Alteratives only increase the
difficulty in the long run, as a general rule.
  Another  complaint prevalent ■ at  the present  day
among ladies, is depression of the uterus.   This may
be caused by a weakness in the ligaments which  sus-
pend  it, or  by  a  falling  and  pressure,  as already de-
scribed, of the  bowels.  Where  it is  produced by the
latter cause, the remedy is obvious.   Baise the bowels
up to their place, and  keep  them  there.  When  this
cannot be done  without mechanical support, an abdom-
inal  supporter should be used, till Nature  shall again
be able to support herself;  for, without this kind of
relief in the case, there can be no cure of this uterine
derangement.   Here  let every young female  see how
liable she is to  incur immense suffering  by the weight
of heavy skirts hung upon the bowels, and resolve never
to run the risk of ruining herself for life  in this reckless
way.   The Bloomer costume  is certainly to be  com-
mended for one of its characteristics, — all  the  skirt-
ings are hung upon the body of the dress.   This  lets1
the shoulders carry the weight of the  whole dress, and
the bowels and other organs are left free from pressure.
  Where depression of the  uterus  is owing to debil-
ity of the ligaments sustaining it, some  means must be
resorted to for the restoration of tone.   This may gen- 
             BY SYSTEMATIC DISCIPLINE.         195

erally be done by giving tont to the muscular  system
in general;  for these difficulties  are generally found
in those  of feeble physical forces.  Hence,  restoring
the general  tone of the muscular system will  give tone
generally to this part.  That part  of the system which
can be exercised with the greatest advantage in these
cases, is  the arms and chest.  Instances have often
occurred Avhere females laboring  under this form of
complaint were  so feeble  that they were  almost, and
sometimes quite, unable  to  walk.  Many such have
been cured  by a process of exercise which only called
into exertion the muscles of the arms and chest.  By
Bitting  and  lifting  weights, tossing balls,  and such
other  measures of discipline as were proportioned  to
their strength,  many have been  restored to  perfect
health and soundness.
   Millions of females are  suffering for want of some
vigorous  employment of their physical energies.  They
do not go out enough and exercise in the open air,
expand  their lungs, and exercise their limbs.  The
English ladies generally,  could almost take one of our
puny, pale-faced American  ladies in  their  hand, and
carry them through town in their fingers.  But walking
is not sufficient exercise; it only uses the muscles of the
loAver limbs.  The most  important part of the system
 to be exercised, in any one of sedentary habits, is the
 arms  and  chest. . An  editor  once said, " The  best
 board for  dyspeptic ladies,  is a washboard."   This
 remark  contains  sound philosophy.   They  need, not
 only for dyspepsia,  but  for the  complaints just de- 
196
CURE  OF DISEASES
 scribed, as well as others, some vigorous exercise  for
 the  muscles of the arms, chest, and abdomen.  Rais-
 ing the tone here, will by sympathy raise the tone in
 other  parts.   There ought  to  be a boAvling-alley or
 gymnasium-hall in every Avard of our cities;  and our
 ladies  and  misses should feel compelled  to spend an
 hour in them each day; till they should put  off their
 dingy  white faces, and  put on Nature's crimson dye.
   A fourth step  towards the cure of disease is effected

               BY REMEDIAL ACENTS.
   By  the term " remedial  agents," it is not intended
 to say much on the giving of medicines.   These, though
 sometimes  necessary,  are  never  to be given  where
 any other practicable method of cure is at hand.   If
 the use of medicine was confined to this rule, drug-
 shops would  be seen  retiring from the corners of the
 streets, and  the sick would remain to pay their doctor's
 bills themselves, instead of leaving the matter to their
 mourning friends.
   Water is one important remedial agent.  This is
 both a means  of prevention and cure.  Bathing, to
 keep the skin right, is treated of in another  part  of
 this work.   The  use of water, as a curative ao-ent, is
in some  respects quite another matter.  The decree
of its application for  cure, often found necessary, would
be exceedingly injudicious in health.   It would pros-
trate the physical forces.   It would cause  too  much
matter to be thrown off in a given time.   But when
the system is full of morbid matter, then the sooner it 
BY REMEDIAL AGENTS.
197
is parted with the better.   And though the system be
somewhat prostrated at first,  it will soon gather  a
more healthy supply.
  Water  may be used in all  feverish actions of  the
general system, or  of parts of it.  In general fever-
ishness of the body, — hot, dry skin, — wrapping  the
patient up in a cold, wet, folded sheet, with a thick
dry  blanket  outside, will  soon  lessen  the fever,
moisten  the  skin  by perspiration,  and  reduce  the
pulse.   Bepeating this may entirely break up a feATer.
So of a local  inflammation.  While stopping at a ho-
tel, the landlord's little son had his hand badly bruised
with the falling of  a stone.  He came home in  great
agony; hand badly swollen, and inflammation running
high.  They were  going  to  put on  rum  and worm-
Avood,  and so on.  My prescription was, put on nothing
of the kind;  wrap  up the hand in a wet, folded  nap-
kin, and put  a flannel outside.  In a short  time the
boy was asleep; and when  he waked, his hand  was
nearly free from pain.  The water  extracts the extra
heat, changes electric action,  and opens  the pores.
This gives the natural functions of the part, or of the
Avhole  body to which  it  may be applied, a chance to
equalize and harmonize their action.
   For tumors, and  general swellings, with  inflamma-
tion, water  is applicable in any stage short of the
formation of matter.   After matter  has formed,  then
emollient poulticing and lancing become the only means
of relief.  But if local inflammations are treated right
at first, they  will generally be subdued without  the
               17* 
198
CURE  OF DISEASES
formation of an abscess.   Pleurisy, inflammation of the
lungs, liver, or kidneys, may be cured by this method.
Croup in children  may be conquered by Avrapping up
the part affected in Avater as described.   When  these
diseases can be met  in this way, it is infinitely better
than resorting to bleeding, purging,  and  vomiting.
This course, in connection Avith treating the stomach
with abstinence, gives Nature a chance to conquer dis-
ease, instead of breaking it up by the power of drugs,
and  leaving  Nature, with her enfeebled  forces, to
throw off the  effect of drugs.  In  conquering disease
with drugs, too, we run  the risk of destroying the ad
equate forces of Nature,  and making a fatal case.
   There are many  diseases which  originate in  tho
existence of morbid matter in the stomach and bowels.
In all  cases of illness, the condition of these organs
should be a matter of inquiry.  Vomiting may some-
times be indicated.  If so, this can often be effected, and
made sufficient by large draughts of blood-warm water.
The bowels may be maved with large injections of cold
or warm water, accompanied perhaps by a cold sitting
bath, and a large  draught of cold  water on an empty
stomach.   Every medical  man, with  common intelli-
gence in the healing art, knows that there  is remedial
virtue in the use of water in such and similar cases, —
that a  good physician must  be, in a good degree, a
hydropathist.
   Electricity is another means of remedial agency.
This wonderful principle  in nature is an  element in
human vitality.  Though it may not be called vitality 
*
               BY  reaiedial agents.            199

itself, yet it is so closely related and connected with it,
that vital action cannot be maintained without it.  Take
electricity from the human body, and not a vital func-
tion couhl be performed.   Health depends greatly on
an equilibrium of action in the electric forces.   Many
diseases — those which have close connection with  the
nervous  system — seem dependent on a morbid  con-
dition  of the  electric  currents  of  the  body.   In
these cases particularly, if not in all others, electricity,
as a remedial agent, may be serviceable.   It may ren-
der service by furnishing a supply of this fluid where
the disease  may bo  attended  by  a deficiency, or by
equalizing its  action where its distribution  is dis-
turbed by excess.
   There  are different  mediums through which  this
principle can be applied.  One medium is the living
human system.   This may be called animal electricity,
or, as  it  is  now called, Animal  Magnetism,  or, more
recently, Electro-Psychology and  Biology.   All these
terms are used to refer fundamentally to the same thing,
but  differ in regard to their modes of development.
The former   relates to influences which are carried  to
the point of  producing the magnetic sleep; the latter,
to a degree of the same kind of influence, controlling
muscular motion and nervous sensation, while the sub-
ject is perfectly conscious and wakeful.   In either of
these ways, great good may be done;  and it would be
well if every individual would learn the  process by
which  electricity can be personally applied.   Every 
200
CURE  OF DISEASES
father, if not  mother, of a  family, should  be able to
practise this art in some degree.
  It is not necessary, nor is it best in al' cases, to go
through the labor of producing the electric sleep.   In
most  cases, where any influence can be gained, that
which is  able to control  motion  is sufficient.   If all
diseased persons could  be brought thus far under elec-
tric  influence, vast  good  could be  accomplished in
relieving  human  suffering.   Almost  every disease,
especially among  those of the chronic form, could be
cured or essentially relieved.  Many cases of the worst
form  of  paralytic  affections  have been  cured in  this
way.   Some cases where the patient had been confined
to the bed for many years — some cases of complete
paraplegia, or palsy of a part of  the body — have been
cured as  though by charm.  It was done by simply
supplying the part with a natural current of electric-
ity.   So, wherever palsy exists to any extent, there is
a deficiency, or a destitution of electric force; and if
that force can be supplied, the disease is cured.
  Deficiencies in seeing and hearing,  where the ocular
and  auditory  nerves are at fault, may be  relieved or
cured by this means.  Neuralgia  and  chronic rheu-
matism can  be treated with  great success when their
subjects can be brought under electric control.  Swollen
limbs, stiff joints,  and contracted tendons, have borne
testimony to the  practicability of this  kind of relief.
Many cases of cure — cures which seemed incredible
— could be detailed, if time and space would allow.
  Sometimes  persons have unconsciously electrified 
BY REMEDIAL  AGENTS.
201
themselves into a cure.  A case  under the care of
Dr. J. C. Warren illustrates this truth.   A lady had
a tumor on her neck which  the doctor was about  to
amputate.  He called for that purpose;  but she had
just previously heard that a dead man's hand rubbed
upon it would cure it.  She plead with the doctor to let
her try it.   To indulge her, he consented.  She  ob-
tained the dead hand and applied it.   The  tumor soon
began  to diminish,  and finally disappeared.   "What
was the philosophy of this cure ?  Most evidently her
mind became so strongly impressed with the certainty
of a cure, that it electrified the  part so powerfully as
to set the absorbents at  work, and  the tumor was car-
ried off.   Warts are often removed in a similar way.
   By  the same kind of influence, bread pills and other
supposed medicinal agents have produced a wonderful
effect.   AY bile in New Orleans, a French barber wished
me to  see his wife, avIio  had  scarcely left her bed for
several days.  After due examination of  the case, it
was found she  had had no movement of bowels for
nearly a week.  The first indication was  to get them
free.   She had procured for herself a monstrous dose
of physic, and was about to  take  it.' This was post-
poned, and a vial was called for, three fourths full  of
water.   Taking a small porte monnaie from my pocket,
turning  round and rapping its steel edging on the vial,
as though making a solution of some  poAverful ingre-
dient, the vial, after due shaking,  Avas given in charge
of  the patient, with very specific directions as to its
use.   Tho exact number of drops, the precise interval 
202
CURE  OF DISEASES
between  doses, the sensations to be expected from it,
and  the  final effect to be  produced, were given with
emphatic  tone  and  apparent faith.   After the time
had  elapsed  Avhich  was  set  for its operation, it was
found on inquiry that a full and free evacuation of the
bowels had taken place.
   Here was a strong impression made  upon the pa-
tient's mind, with which she had actually electrified
her  constipated  bowels  into  a  free evacuation;  and
this  with no  visible agency  but  fifteen  drops,  cau-
tiously taken, of cold Avater.   Great good can often be
done, in a similar  way, through  the mind of the pa-
tient, in  the removal  of his disease.   This may be
called  imagination.  Very well.  When the objector
will  exactly define what  the imagination is, perhaps
there will be left no desire for controversy.  Let it be
called  imagination, or  anything else.  The name does
not alter the fact, that mental electricity has produced
a new and healthy action in the  diseased part on which
it was brought to bear.
   If all physicians would act on the eclectic principle,
selecting valuable facts from all sources — embracing
truth for truth's sake — picking it up in the streets,
even though fallen from  the devil's budget of  lies —
the healing art would be honored, and the relief of the
suffering  promoted.  But so  long as  they shall cloak
themselves up so closely  in their own orthodoxy, as  to
reject truth,  or refuse  to examine the merits of a new
idea, because it did  not originate within the limite of 
BY  REMEDIAL AQENTS.
203
the regular faculty, they will do damage to the pro-
fession and the world.
   Personal electricity may be used with  great advan-
tage without even trying to obtain the electric control,
and Avithout  producing any specific  impression on the
mind of the patient.  This is done by personal contact
with the part affected, and by bringing the forces of
the will of the operator to bear upon the removal of
the complaint.   At the same time,  it is well to keep
the patient's  mind under promise of cure.   There is a
physician in this city, of quite extensive notoriety in
the cure of diseased limbs and stiff joints, who actually
performs striking cures in this way.    He sits doAvn to
the stiff and  swollen  limb of his patient, and applies
downward friction with perseverance and a determina-
tion to conquer the difficulty;  and he succeeds where
scores of physicians, with ordinary means, have found
themselves entirely baffled.   Some  of  the  severest
cases of  rheumatic  lameness  and   neuralgic  pains,
which have  come under my care, have been signally
cured in this way.
   Personal  electricity  may be  successfully used in
removing  mental disturbances.   A  single case may
illustrate this.   A lady had become  attached to a gen-
tleman who had solicited her hand in matrimony ; but,
on learning  some facts which reflected  on his  moral
character, she decidedly refused his offer.  Her mind,
in consequence, became seriously depressed, and  her
health failed.  Being  promised  relief by  producing
on her  the  electric sleep, she  consented  to give it 
204             cure of diseases

a test.  After  producing the  sleep,  the  mind  of the
operator, accompanied with manipulations, was brought
to bear upon her brain and mental feelings.  After the
first operation, she expressed decided  relief; and  in a
few days, by repeating the effort, her mind and  health
seemed to be perfectly recovered, and have remained
so since.
   A  case of partial  and periodical insanity,  which
might be  related, was cured in the same way.   There
is no doubt but that a large portion of the inmates  of
our insane asylums could be cured by this means, pro-
vided  the electric  influence could be produced suffi-
ciently to  bring on  the  electric sleep.  Several cases
of  insanity have been known to be cured, taken  in
hand  in their incipient  stages, through the efforts  of
an acquaintance.   An effort  should  be made  to pro-
duce this influence, in all cases of ordinary insanity;
because, if the sleep can be  produced, there remains
little doubt of giving relief.
   Mechanical and chemical electricity can sometimes
be applied with  much utility.  Electric shocks  from
the galvanic battery, or from machines which accumu-
late electricity by friction, made  to pass  through dis-
eased parts, may restore  the equilibrium of electric
action, on which alone a healthy action  can be based.
It  is more difficult to bring this electric influence to so
perfect a bearing upon diseased parts in  this way, as
by personal electricity, when such  an influence can
be produced.   Under personal electricity, a well joint
or other  part  may be  put into agony of pain  by 
BY REMEDIAL  AGENTS.
205
the will and touch of the operator.   So, on the same
philosophic principle, a limb or other part under suf-
fering from disease, may be set right.  These changes
are produced  by disturbing the electric forces in  one
case, and by equalizing them  in the other.   Where
such personal  influences cannot be produced, the bat-
tery may gradually reach  and remove the difficulty.
Every practising physician, if not every family, should _
have an  electrifying instrument.   The magneto-electric  ,
battery  is perhaps  the most  convenient  instrument.
 But in the use of this  kind of remedy, a skilful phy-
 sician should advise.
    Medicines,  if used at all, should be the last resort,
 If homoeopathic remedies  can be made  to reach  the
 disease, —and as to their efficacy it is not proper for
 mc to speak decidedly, not  having given them a suffi-
 cient test, —they certainly are  to be preferred; for
 they are sure  to produce no unfavorable  influence  of
 themselves in any case.   They  may be insufficient,  in
 some instances, but they poison no one to death.  Even
 if they  effect no good, they do no harm of themselves.
 But this cannot be said of ordinary drugs.  If they
 do not  effect good, they do harm.   If the morbid  in-
 fluences which they always produce, do not  meet and
 counteract the disease, they add  another  morbid and
 injurious influence to  that already existing.   In gen-
 eral, especially  in chronic diseases,  everything should
  be tried which can give  any promise of relief before
  resortin" to  medicines.   Indeed, as a general rule,
  dru^in* in chronic cases  is the worst thing that  can
                  18 
206
CURE  of diseases
 be done.   If removing causes, proper abstinence, judi-
 cious discipline, and other means short of drugs, can-
 not avail, the patient had better, as a general rule, make
 up his mind  to die honorably, than to drug himself to
 death.   To this, every practitioner of long  experience
 will agree.   There is  scarcely a tithe of the medicine
 used now which was formerly given.
   In recent  and acute diseases, medicines may some-
 times be of service.   Where  they may be needed, fai
 be it from me to lay down rules  for persons uneducated
 in the profession, by which  they may hope  to practise
 medicine on  themselves.  We have  quacks  enough
 now, without trying to make all the people turn quack-
 doctors.   Begular physicians  do not like to prescribe
 in any difficult case on themselves or families.   Much
 less  let  the  people turn doctors  on themselves and
 families.   In some small matters the people can take,
 without  advice, some simple  remedies;  but for this
 they do  not  need a book.  If a child  should be in
 distress from an engorged stomach, they could give a
 tea of ipecac, or tincture of lobelia;  or, what might be
better, a large draught of blood-warm water,  until
vomiting shall give relief.
   But when  people will study to  know the laws of
health and prevention  with  one  half  the eagerness
with  which  they grasp  and  devour some  infernal
quack-doctor  book, and will  obey those  laws,__put
away their rebellions against  Nature, by which nine-
teen twentieths of their infirmities originate, — there
will  be but little sickness left to be prescribed for by 
               BY  REMEDIAL AGENTS.           207

any one.  When, too, they  use for the few  diseases
left, all other  means of cure, there will  be but little
room  for  the  use  of medicines.   But when  any one
has got into so deep trouble that nothing short of drugs
can save him,  let him have the best  physician that he
can find — one that has been well educated in his pro-
fession — to sit down  by his bedside and  prescribe
remedies  adapted  to the case.   Let him not  try to
tamper Avith himself, for physic is quite sufficiently a
" conjectural art" in the hands of the most thoroughly
educated  men, without being made infinitely' more so
in untutored hands.
   It  has  been my settled conviction, for many years,
as  before  stated,   that there is  more  damage than
good done Avith  medicine; and that, owing to the ig-
norance of the  people, together with their reckless-
ness  on  matters  pertaining  to the  laws  of physical
life, their consequent misuse of the medical faculty,
and their  readiness in embracing all kinds of quackery
— considering all  this, it has been, for many years,  my
belief that the standard of health and longevity of our
land would now be far above its present position, if
there  had never  been a  single physician or a single
drug  in it.  The opinion  of Dr. James Johnson, editor
of the Medical Chirurgical  lleview, has strengthened
this conviction.
   Dr.  Johnson says:  "I declare  my conscientious
opinion, formed on long observTation and reflection, that
if there were  not  a single physician, surgeon, apoth-
ecary, chemist,  druggist,  or  drug, on the  face  of the 
2*08  CURE OF DISEASES BY  REMEDIAL AGENTS.

earth, there would be less sickness and  less mortality
than now.   When we reflect that physic is a ' conjec-
tural art,' that the best physicians make  mistakes, that
medicine is administered by hosts of quacks, that  it
is swallowed by multitudes of people without any pro-
fessional advice, and that the world would be infinitely
more careful of themselves if they were  conscious that
they had no remedy from drugs, — these, and many
other facts, will show  that the proposition I have made
is more startling than untrue."
  Let  it be remembered by all, that of all the cures
that can ever  be found, there is none that can be  so
valuable as prevention.   Nature is always  right in her
action,  and she always goes for health.   Disease is the
result of unnatural agencies which generally may be
resisted.   Let Nature have her own way, and she will
generally carry us safely through the voyage  of life
without wreck or founder, and allow us  to die,  not of
disease, but of age.   Notwithstanding  the  fall, the
laws of physical life  are perfect;  and if obeyed, they
will defend us to  the last.  The fall  deranged our
moral being, but not  directly our physical.   Physical
nature  will operate  right, if left to itself.   In this
fallen world there are  various  external agencies for
whose injurious influences we are not responsible. But
if Nature is not interrupted in her course  by our own
doings, she  will always do  her best to overcome  all
obstacles, and  maintain a healthy action to the last;
and her voice can ever be heard, saying to every intel-
ligent listener, Prevention is better than Cure. 
ERRONEOUS APPETITES           209
      THE  MORAL  BEARINGS
                       OF

ERRONEOUS  PHYSICAL  APPETITES.
  Tins  is a subject rarely discussed, either  by phys-
iologists, philanthropists, or theologians.   Yet is it one
of vast importance, and ought to draw forth  the intel-
lectual and  moral  energies of those who are devoted
to the elevation and salvation of the human race.   It
is one which ought especially to come from the pulpit,
as a part of  that Gospel which was  instituted for the
eternal well-being of men;  one which  every minister
of the Gospel should make familiar to his own  mind,
and givo with clearness and force to the people.
  Every Gospel preacher ought evidently so to study
the laws of physical life, and their bearings on the soul,
that he may be able to speak on this subject correctly;
and, by an example of obedience to physical law, to
preach it forcibly to his people.  He should urge them,
by precept and example, to " abstain from fleshly lusts
which Avar against the soul."  It has fallen  to me, in
tho Providence  of God, to present this subject, during
               18* 
210           ERRONEOUS APPETITES
three years past, on almost every Sabbath, in different
churches throughout  the  Union.   And  many  have
seemed  ready to awake from  the  lethargy of uncon-
scious  sensualism,  and  free  themselves from  the
despotic reign of unnatural animal appetites.

 ERRONEOUS APPETITES ON MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY.
  Every indulgence of any unnatural appetite pro-
duces a morbid state of the physical system.  Every
indulgence at war with natural instinct, is at Avar with
the healthy condition of every function  of organic life.
Appetites which the Author of our being  never insti-
tuted, are so many violations of natural law, which is
the'law  of  God; and they secure for the. offender,
sooner or later to be  administered, a certain and un-
aAToidable penalty.   Every such violation  of law is a
sin against physical life, exposing us to  physical suffer-
ing ; and, when it is done consciously, it is a sin against
moral obligation toward Cod, to be mot on the day of
final judgment.   Hence  the importance of trying  to
knoAV the difference between the instinctive  attributes
of our  bejng,  and the destructive  lusts which are
made by habit; that we may neither be found sinning
against  our own bodies or the  Maker of them.
   God, the Creator of our  bodies, has arranged the
condition of their every fibre and function, and has
pledged himself to  maintain their right action, unless
disturbed by some foreign agency, till age shall wear
out the cords that bind us to life.   Every law govern-
ing the human system is as trulv livine in origin, and 
            L)N MORAL  ACCOUNTABILITY.        211

character, and authority, as are the teachings of the
Bible.   And every unnecessary and wanton deviation
from obedience to this laAV, is as certainly a sin, as a
violation of Gospel precept.  Hence we are as  truly
under obligation to know and obey the former, as we
are the latter.  There are  instances in which it may
be necessary to transgress the laws of health, to answer
the demand of some higher  obligation, as in cases of
illness in  the family, where loss of sleep and  other
privations  are unavoidable  in the discharge of obvious
duty;  but when  wo  intelligently violate law for no
justifiable  end, we commit sin against God, as cer-
tainly as though we commit robbery.
   All the kingdoms of Nature  reveal the law of God ;
but nowhere is this command  " so fearfully  and won-
derfully made" to speak out to an intelligent mind,
 as in our own physical structure.   Here has Jehovah
 written his law, not by amanuenses, or inspired men,
 neither on parchment or on tables of stone ; but by his
 own Almighty finger, upon every living fibre  and
 function  of the  human body.   To needlessly  trans-
 gress a law of life, is therefore a violation of the  law
 of God ;  and from the physical punishment of that sin
 there is no escape and no redemption.  No propitiatory
 sacrifice has been made for this form of transgression.
 In some way, sooner  or later, the suffering must come.
 Every transgression  of physical law, committed con-
 sciously  or unconsciously,  unavoidably or wantonly,
 will receive  the  penalty  made due  in natural law;
 and, as just stated,  if it  be one which is committed 
212
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
under light, and for no worthy object, it becomes not
only a sin against  ourselves, but a sin against God.
The physical penalty may appear in the form of  sick-
ness, broken constitution, premature decay and death,
or in all  these forms  conjoined.   The  violation  of
moral obligation, Avith all its evils of a moral bearing,
must be met when God shall call us to a final account.
  Whoever  indulges in any unnatural luxury, pro-
duces a morbid action in the system, disturbs  the
equilibrium  of organic vitality, and lessens its native
vigor and  durability.   And this disturbing process is
generally  so insidious in its course, and so unrecog-
nized in its final developments, — for  nature will bear
abuse silently as long as she can, —that the offender
does not perceive the cloud of wrath that is gathering
over him  till he  is  pelted by the  storm; and  even
then he may bo so  ignorant of the  laws of organic
life and their penal code, that he knows not where-
fore  he  is punished.  He groans  under pains and
prostration which he cannot account for, and  calls
it the common lot of mankind, or  the providence  of
God, when it is only the final  issue of a long warfare
between nature  and his own habits.
  If a man  would seek to live for no  higher purpose
than his own personal  enjoyment,  let  him know and
obey the  laws of his own physical being.  He who
says,  "Let  me live while I do live," and seeks en-
joyment by indulgence in  morbid appetites, is  com-
mitting a mighty mistake.   Ho is practising the very
worst kind of humbuggery, deception, and knavery 
ON MORAL  ACCOUNTABILITY.
213
upon himself.   While he expects gain, he experiences
loss; and one which perhaps cannot be measured  by
any ordinary medium of computation.   Whoever ex-
pects  to gain by stepping out of nature's  path — a
path which Deity has marked out for him — into one
of his own designing, cheats himself egregiously.
   He who tries to be wiser than God, makes himself
a fool.   Nature's  path is wide  enough for any man's
footsteps.   And a benevolent Providence has strewed
it  richly with varied luxuries for his sustenance and
enjoyment.   Deity  has  given us  natural  appetites
which, if rightly indulged, will secure  physical hap-
piness and longevity.  But, if  we use those appetites
wrongly, or create unnatural  ones, and  indulge  them
in any  degree, we pervert nature, and take  all the
responsibility of painful consequences upon ourselves.
We contemn the arrangement of Heaven for our wel-
fare and safety, and cast ourselves upon  the boisterous
sea of life, without compass or rudder,  to bo  tossed,
and driven, and dashed upon  bars and reefs which
stand  thick outside of nature's  channel.
   The Creator has given us these bodies to  be our
habitation — a dwelling adapted to our highest comfort
and welfare.   Our individual identity does not consist
in the body.   The body is not the  man.   The man is
really an invisible  being; and his body is the house
in which he lives.   The eye is no part of the man ; -it
is only tho window  of the house through which he looks
out upon the world.   The ear is no part of the man;
it is only tho earthly medium through which sound is 
214
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
conveyed  to  the  dweller within.   When  the  house
decays, he will live elsewhere.   It is now a habitation
fitted  up by  the  Creator, of which he should be  a
faithful  steward and tenant, till called hence to give
account.   But if he wantonly destroy that dwelling,
suddenly or gradually, by setting it on  fire  to enjoy
the splendor  of the  flames, or the  grandeur of the
lighted clouds of smoke, or by gradually digging away
the foundation on which the vital structure is based,
he stands charged with the crime  of suicide before
Heaven, and must answer to it in the day of judgment.
   Hence  the importance which attaches to a knowl-
edge of the structure  and functions  of organic life.
People comparatively are intelligent upon every sub-
ject but this.   They know nothing of their habitation,
or how  to  take care of 'it.   They have never even
looked in upon many of its apartments, and especially
upon those which  are the most elevated and important.
They seem content  with living forever  in the very
lowest room — the  underground, basement  story —
satisfied with  grovelling in mere  earthly and sensual
things;  to the entire neglect  of the  vacant  and un-
furnished  higher portions  of   their physical  being,
built  by the  Creator for the  residence  of the soul.
They are content with living as menial servants, rather
than walk up into a higher apartment, and be the
prince of the palace.  They choose rather to be the
brute portion of  human nature,  than to rise  to the
honor of being the soul of humanity, to dwell at a
height which  is but a little lower than the angels. 
ON  MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY.        215
   Deity has put every man under  obligation to his
own being to take care of his habitation;  and under
bonds  to Infinite Benevolence to take care of it for
the purpose of his service  and  glory.  His body is
not his own; it belongs to Him who made it.  Hence
it becomes the duty of every individual, for his  own
sake, and the sake of  God, to inform  himself on the
laws of organized life,  and  religiously obey them.   It
is  as truly a duty to  read  and  be  informed on this
subject, as it  is to study the precepts of the Bible.
The study of the  Bible first, and  the study of the
laws of life next.  There is nowhere to be  found so
great a cause of human suffering as  that of ignorance
on this subject.   Intelligence is  the first step toward
improvement.  If we  shut  our eyes to light, for fear
of its showing sins which we are  unwilling to forsake,
our criminality will not diminish.   There are, perhaps,
none so guilty as those who can  see, yet will not see.
When we shut our eyes to hide our  sins, we not  only
admit the truth of our criminality, but take a course
adapted to harden the  heart.
   Whoever turns away from light  in one  case, pre-
pares the way to disregard  light in another.  Who-
ever violates moral obligation in one way,  prepares
himself for violating it in another.  If we treat our
OAvn highest earthly  interests with wantonness, we
violate principle,  which prepares  the way for a trans-
gression of it in any other case where  temptation
assails.   He who will be reckless  of his own interests,
will be likely to be regardless of those  of others.    He 
210
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
who will defraud himself for false gain, will be more
likely to cheat others under similar'temptations.   He
who will knowingly  murder  himself, even  by de-
grees, is more  likely  to sacrifice the lives of others.
Like  progress  in  the. commission  of .crime  against
society,  every  violation of principle in  eating  and
drinking blunts the perceptions and admonitions of
conscience.   He who  will  smother conscience, because
that monitor speaks the truth, to gratify some sensual
passion which  he  knows  is ruining  himself, will be
more  likely, from desire of some selfish end, to  sacri-
fice the peace and  welfare of  others.
   As before remarked, it is  as  truly a sin against
Heaven, to violate a law of life, as  to break one of
the ten commandments.   In this  statement, no com-
parison  was attempted in the  magnitude of crimes.
This  is a matter which no  finite mind can fully meas-
ure.   Yet, not only is a violation of physiological law
as  truly a sin as theft or robbery, but some comparison
may be made  in  the magnitude  of the  two crimes.
Let us  take the  sin of highway robbery on  the one
hand, and that of—gluttony? — this is considered a
Bin of no small magnitude ; — alcoholic  intoxication ?
this,  now, is also  considered a notable  crime; — to-
bacco-using, a  habit as yet uncriminated by public sen-
 timent, may represent the  other side of the antithesis.
    A man goes out into the highway, and robs his neigh-
 bor to the amount often thousand dollars.   He violates
 that law which says,  " Thou shalt love thy neighbor  as
 thyself," by taking the money of his  neighbor, and 
ON  MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY.
217
appropriating it to himself.   The magnitude of his
crime, so far as its outward practical bearings are con-
cerned, amounted to the sum of  ten thousand dollars.
Let us put this sum upon  one  page in the  account.
Upon the other page we will note, so far as practicable,
the amount of damage done by the tobacco habit, and
see which is the heavier crime.  And while this habit
is singled out, it is intended to illustrate,  in a degree,
the  criminality of every other vice  which enters  the
enclosure of the soul through the  mouth.
   The  tobacco  devotee  is  every hour  of the day un-
dermining his vitality.  He is creating a morbid action
of his  nervous system, increasing  the speed of tho
circulation, adding  from fifteen to twenty strokes  per
 minute  to  the' pulse by  a single  cigar, taking tho
 essence of the  weed into  the blood, and producing a
 morbid' state of all the  fluids and solids  of the whole
 body, and at the same time spitting off that from his
 mouth which was designed by the Creator,  in its pure
 state, to be carried with the food  into  the stomach.
 By this process he  is probably  cutting off twenty-five
 per cent, of his natural period of existence.   He is
 cutting off from fifteen  to twenty years from his natu-
 ral life.  How much is this to be reckoned in  dollars
 and cents?   How much would  he give, when  laid,
  conscious of the facts in the case, upon his premature
  dying bod, to have life continued to its  natural term-
  inus?   If the sum can be named, we will set it down.
    How much are his services  in the  world  to bo
  reckoned worth for the same period of time, provided
                19 
218            ERRONEOUS APPETITES
he is living for some purpose worthy of a man ?  Then
too, while living, he  has been constantly diminishing
the natural developments  of mind  and soul, by im-
pairing  the body, the  only  medium through  Avhich
they speak out  to the world.   Hoav much is this loss
to be reckoned in dollars and cents ?  He is also  car-
rying morbid influences beyond himself into his  pos-
terity.  He is not only robbing himself and the Avorld
of a part of his natural lifetime, and a part of his en-
ergies, but Is robbing  his own  sons  and daughters of
that which is beyond all price — that which millions
of gold cannot buy.  For no one can keep up a morbid
action  in  his  own  person, and that  especially which
directly assails  the nervous system, without transmit-
ting a measure of that  morbid  influence into his pos-
terity,— an influence which may reach even to the third
and fourth generation.  There is, indeed, no such thing
as describing the boundary of its agencies.  Like the
stone cast into the sea, it moves  the waters  of the
ocean.  How much is this damage in dollars and cents ?
   Then, again, every man  guilty of such a habit, is,
on an  ave.age,  leading  probably  some  half-dozen
young men and boys in the same sensual and ungodly
course, by his example, to  incur  all the damages and
the guilt which are filling up the measure  of his OAvn
accountability.   Now, what  is  the magnitude of this
man's crime  as it will  probably appear in  the day of
judgment ?  What  is the amount Avhen put into dol-
lars and  cents ?  What the amount of robbery com-
mitted, when all the bearings of his  course are reck- 
           ON  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.        219

oncd up ?  Will it  amount to ten thousand dollars ?
— or will it be  an amount  beyond all computation?
Who, then, is  the greater sinner  in the light of eter-
nal  truth, the  man who destroys  himself and others,
by sensualities, or the  man who committed this high-
way robbery of ten thousand dollars ?

 ERRONEOUS  APPETITES ON INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER.
  The right balance of the  mental organs very much
depends on a right condition and action of the physical
system.   If such a course be taken as will excite  un-
duly the animal portion of our being, the standard of
intellect is depressed.  The sure tendency of any un-
natural stimulant or narcotic,  is to degrade the stand-
ard of our  physical nature,  and lower the tone of
intellect.   Any undue excitement of the nervous  sys-
tem jostles the mental forces;  and this process  rontin-
ued, weakens  and  prostrates them.  After a while
they come to  depend on the physical stimulus to keep
them from torpidity, and rouse them to life and action.
   Those Avho  have been accustomed  to indulgence in
artificial stimulants,  as a general  rule, have only given
signs of mental  power upon  exciting occasions.   In-
stead of being always alive to the ready appreciation
of  everything  that is  passing, and the immediate aid
of  every enterprise and  every call of humanity, they
only now and then wake up to feel and act, Avhen the
 unusually exciting nature of the subject, or a large
 dose of some stimulating  drug, breaks  through the
 cloud  that  has  darkened  their  mental  vision.   We 
220
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
sometimes meet with statesmen possessing great breadth
and depth of intellect, but whose physical habits have
been so at war Avith  nature, that  their  talents have
become comparatively buried up in  the mire of sensual
indulgences;  and it noAV requires a power of stimulus,
sufficient under other  circumstances to produce a men-
tal earthquake, to bring out their buried  resources.
  Those Avho havTe become long accustomed to excitants
and narcotics, have found themselves unable to perform
much  mental labor without them.  When one steam
of stimulus  has become exhausted, another  must  be
got up;  and  especially when some  extra aveight  of
care, anxiety or labor is to  be borne, then a fuller
draught of alcoholic drink, or a stronger cup of coffee
or green  tea, or a larger  plug of tobacco,  must  be
taken to bring out and goad up the Aveakened energies
of mind to their required bearings.  If we would,  on
all occasions, have our mental forces  awake and ready
for  action, we must preserve  the nervous system free
from  all stimulants.   Give to the system  healthful
nutrition, but no artificial excitement.
  Depression of spirits is no uncommon result of con-
tinued stimulants and narcotics.   Gloominess of mind
is closely connected with prostrated nervous energies;
and more or less will  every nervous system suffer, per-
ceived or unperceived, that is fretted with stimulants.
Where there is extra excitement and its  inevitable
reaction, continually alternating each other, there must
be some degree  of damage done  to  the nervous and
mental forces; and when that damage becomes  con 
ON INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER.       221
siderable, a  degree of melancholy is very  liable to
ensue.  This  is  true  in regard  to all  stimulants,
whether alcohol, coffee,  tea,  opium, or  tobacco;  and
especially is it true of the latter.
   One  writer, relating his own experience in tobacco,
says : " At times I had feelings which seemed to border
on mental derangement.   I  felt that everybody hated
me, and I,  in turn,  hated  everybody.   I often  lay
awake  nights under  tho  most distressing forebodings.
I have often arisen in fitful and half-delirious slumbers,
and smoked  my  pipe to obtain  temporary relief from
these sufferings.   I have often thought of suicide,  but
was  deterred by a  dread of a hereafter.   In a  few
Avecks after entirely relinquishing  this habit, all these
things  Avcre  gone,  and  my health  fully  restored."
Many cases of a similar character, from the same  and
from  a  similar cause, have come under my professional
observation during the last twenty-five years.
   An irritable temper is  another  evil consequent  on
tho use of stimulants and poisons.   Excitants of all
kinds, and  especially narcotics, disturb the  electrical
currents of the  nervous system.  Electricity is con-
stantly  circulating  in the nerves  of the Avhole body;
and  on the healthy condition of this circulating sub-
stance depends, not only  the vigorous  and  healthful
state  of the whole body, but especially  a happy  and
quiet disposition.  A disturbed  state of the electric
circulation is not only constantly  tending toward ill
health,  but  to a fretful, dissatisfied, and  peevish tem-
per.  If, therefore, any one  would cultiA^ate  a quiet
              19* 
222
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
and unruffled temper  of mind, let him carefully ab-
stain  from every  unnatural appetite.   Let him  be
satisfied with the instincts  which God  has made, and
the plentiful  means he has  furnished for the gratifica-
tion of them in the varied fruits of the earth, which
are palatable to the taste,  nutritious  to the digestive
system, and unoffending to the  vital principle.
   Mental  imbecility, in perceiving and  determining
against the Avrong, is still another result  of wrong
physical appetites.   There  is  often found  want  of
courage, when a wrong habit is seen,  to take up arms
against it with a determination  to conquer or die.  The
indulgence  practised  so enslaves  the  mind  that  its
power to  govern  itself is comparatively destroyed.
The reins of  self-government  have  fallen from the
hands of  the  higher man into those  of the  lower.
The higher faculties in human nature have become
slaves to the despotism of lust.   Instead of judgment,
reason  and  conscience, holding sway,  appetites, even
lower  than  those of the  brute, have gained the
ascendency, and they now  sway the  sceptre, — appe-
tites contrary to instinct, and such  as no brute can be
compelled  to create.   The mental attributes of him
who was created  a little lower than  the angels, are
down-trodden and  buried  in the dust, under the iron
heel of  despotic  lust.  He who  bows to this foul
slavery is  no longer a man, but has descended  below
the standard of the beasts  of the field.
   The people — especially the  American people — do
not apply philosophy to their eating  and drinking. 
ON INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.        223
They do not  take principle to enforce that self-denial
which ought  to distinguish them as moral beings; and,
failing to use  principle here, shows shzns of too little of
it  anywhere.  He  who will not,  under  light, apply
principle to his eating and drinking,  will not be likely
to be very tenacious of its application anyAvhere.   If
animalism bears sway in  one case, it is  more likely to
govern  in another.   If there be a want of regard for
God's law in our physical  nature, there  will be  less
respect for  it Avrittcn  anywhere else.   If there  be a
disposition to disregard  duty in  this, there will  be a
tendency  toward nullifying moral  obligation in  any
 Dthcr direction.  If men will avoid light shining upon
one point of duty, they will probably try  to shun it in
 others.   If  they will bury a living conscience to avoid
 its rebukes on their self-destruction, they will be likely
 '■jo stifle  its warning voice  on other vices  and other
 jrimes.  He Avho would have a clear mind to po-ceivo
 these things, must have  a body Avith right habits.
    Intemperance of any kind will deaden  the native
 acuteness of the perceptive organs.   Over-eating will
 not only blunt the vigor of bodily health, but stupefy
 the  intellect.  Even  a  moderate  degree of habitual
 gluttony, will turn  the purest genius into mere animal
 lustings,Avhich war  against God and humanity.  There
 arc  few men of real genius who will make a god of
 their belly,  because elevated intellect will generally be
 disgusted with such low and  grovelling temptations.
  A high range of thought  cannot come  down to  such
 sordid things.  But  there are  a few  of strange and 
224
ERRONEOUS APPETIIES
incongruous compound, — where elevated genius seems
surrounded with grovelling sensualities, — where, like
an oasis in the midst of the desert, mind has no adequate
chance for development and expansion ;  and  Avhere,
though it may sometimes  show its  original gigantic
strength, there is still  no soul to guide  it;  where
things purely philosophic can be deeply fathomed, but
where the perception of the  right and the wrong, is
weak, vague, and erratic.
  Intemperance is of two kinds.  One consists in the
over-indulgence  of natural appetites;  the other,  in
creating and  indulging those  which have no origin  in
nature.   The Creator has given us an inclination for
food adapted to the nourishment of the body.   Mod-
eration in its use is  temperance; immoderate indul-
gence is intemperance.  But even moderation  in the
use of things as  luxuries which God never made for
such a purpose, and things  for which he never author-
ized a taste, is intemperance.   To be temperate in the
use of natural  appetites, is to indulge them rightly;
but  to be  temperate in regard to unnatural  indul-
gences, is to let them  entirely alone.  " Touch not,
taste not, handle not."  Temperance is total absti-
nence  from wrong things, and moderation  in right
things.   Either  kind of intemperance is  at war Avith
the progress and prosperity of mind.
  If we would keep the digestive poAvers of mind free
and  vigorous, we must preserve a  healthy state  of
physical digestion.  There  are  few things that will so
derange  and oppress mental efficiency as a deranged 
           ON  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.        225

stomach.   Gloominess, and a  foreboding of all  imag-
inary evils, are common  attendants.   Deranged phys-
ical organs produce a morbid state of mind;  and then
a morbid state of mind  increases the deranged action
of the body; so that, when this wrong action is once
established, the evil consequences increase by constant
action and reaction.  The origin of the whole difficultv
may be in  either species  of intemperance.  It may be
I >y pushing the indulgence  of natural appetites beyond
their right^ boundary in  respect  to  quantity, quality,
or frequency; or it may be by the most moderate in-
dulgence in things which the  Creator  never  intended
for such a  purpose.
  The  use of meats  tends to lessen mental activity.
Those especially Avho  are devoting themselves to intel-
lectual pursuits, would gain great advantage by total
abstinence  from them.  Their being  required for the
maintenance of a vigorous  muscular system, which is
a very popular idea, is a  perfect delusion.   The bread-
stuffs, and  other products from the Aregetable kingdom
of nature, as shown in a former part  of this work, con-
tain  all  the elements necessary for the replenishing of
the body;  and some of  them  more  largely  than the
meats.  Facts are stubborn things touching  this mat-
ter.   The laboring Irish, who  literally use no meat till
they come  to this country,  are among the most hardy
men  found in the world.   They have constitutions as
unyielding as brick-bats,  and can withstand the  hard-
est knockings like sledge-hammers.  But after  being
here a few years, they often become  infirm, and die in
early life from adopting American habits. 
226
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
  If meats were essential to the sustenance of a vig
orous body, then a due proportion might be necessary
for  mental vigor, because of the dependence of mental
development on physical soundness.   But if meats are
not essential to bodily energy, then  we can safely put
away that which will embarrass the mental powers.
In the course of  my travels, several cases  have come
under observation where individuals, for different  rea-
sons, had abstained for a considerable time from the
use of meats, and they uniformly have said that they
had just  as much bodily vigor, and a far larger amount
of mental activity and force, during that period.
   But it must be remembered that  Avhen we leave our
meats, we must not cease eating.  When some  of the
followers  of  Mr. Graham relinquished  animal food,
they  undertook  to live  on  comparatively  nothing.
They went from  one extreme to another.   The body
must have sufficient  nourishment.   We cannot liATe
upon mere air.   But  the more simple and unstimu-
lating  the food which sustains  the body in its healthy
and vigorous state, the more active and forcible  will be
the mental system; while that which deadens the elas-
ticity of muscular fibre, stupefies the  intellectual forces.

    ERRONEOUS APPETITES ON MORAL CHARACTER.
   Great sympathy exists between the physical and the
moral  nature.  Physical habits have greatly to do with
the general  standard of virtue.  Habits which create
a morbid action  of the bodily  functions, have a tend-
ency to  produce  a morbid  state  of moral  feeling. 
ON MORAL  CHARACTER.
227
Any habit wdiich lowers  the  standard of healthy ac-
tion in the human system, tends to degrade the powers
of the higher nature.   Habitual stimulants and nar-
cotics  applied to the nervous  system, not only drive
the body into an early grave, but insidiously produce a
torpid state of  moral sense.  The creation and indul-
gence  of  unnatural appetites disturbs the  balance
which the Creator originally gave to the organs of the
brain.  By  their action  on  those portions  of brain
which relate to the  animal propensities, they produce
unwonted activity in them, by which  their influences
become disproportioned  to  those  that relate  to our
moral nature.
   Recklessness in bodily habits tends to  recklessness
in moral character.   Those things which fret  and de-
range the  stomach, tend to corrode  the finer  feelings
of  the heart.   The stomach is an organ of vast con-
trolling poAver.   If this organ is right in its functions.,
generally all is  right that pertains to the health of the
body.  It' it is wrong, then all is Avrong.   So, too, it
has vastly to  do Avith  the right formation of moral
character.  Such is its strong sympathy with the brain
and nerves, which form the bond of union  between soul
and  body, that it bears  a powerful  SAvay over  moral
sentiment.   Hence, erroneous  eating  and  drinking
inevitably conduce to erroneous thinking and  acting.
 Licentiousness in food and drinks leads to licentiousness
 in matters of moral feeling.   A licentious body begets
 a licentious soul.
   Pampering false animal appetites, or pushing natural 
228
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
ones beyond their proper boundary, gives a balance of
power to the animal propensities over the moral senti-
ments ;  and this process continued, tends to animalize
the m'ind and degrade all the higher powers of the man.
It is now  he  ceases to goA'ern himself, and becomes a
servile captive to the sway of his own grovelling, sensual
passions.   Then all the attributes of  the soul, like the
Hungarian exiles under  Austrian barbarity,  become
slaves to the despotism of animal lust.

   Depraved physical appetites greatly obstruct moral
culture  in the rising generation.   Unnatural luxuries,
and irregular eating and drinking, by depraving the
mind and  corrupting the heart, greatly retard moral
and religious instruction bestowed on  the young.  The
mother  Avho would instil  virtuous principles into the
mind of her child, must begin by establishing  in that
child right physical habits — right habits of eating
and drinking.   She must insist  on  a  proper  use of
natural  luxuries, and  the utter  refusal of unnatural
ones.  Every mother,  therefore, who  would secure the
physical welfare, and through it the moral and eternal
well-being  of her children, should be herself a practi-
cal physiologist, that she may know what are, and what
are not, correct physical habits.   She should acquaint
herself with the laws that govern physical life, and the
nature of the  popular sensual indulgences of the day,
which war against physical and moral health.
   It is  a most lamentable fact, that  scarcely one to  a
hundred of the  mothers,  having  such  tremendous 
ON MORAL  CHARACTER.
229
responsibilities on them, has ever  read the fiist word
on practical physiology.   The great mass of them are
as ignorant of  the proper physical training to be be-
stowed on children for their physical and moral sound-
ness, as are the herds and flocks on the hills.   A vast
amount of the crimes of the age is chargeable to the
ignorance and indifference on this  subject of the moth-
ers of this generation.   Even  some of those who have
read, do not appreciate its importance to themselves and
others; and are not prepared to enforce its teachings
on those under their charge, because their example  is
wanting.   0, Avhen will they wake up to this matter,
and  cease  exposing   themselves  to a  most  fearful
accountability ?
   If the mothers would have their sons  become men
with  healthful bodies and hearts,  they must guard
them with special care against the gross and engross-
ing sensualities of the men of this age.  They  must
guard  them against the indulgence of every appetite
that can  injure the  stomach  and nervous system,
especially against the use of stimulants and narcotics.
Not only alcohol, but  other stimulants,  should  be
avoided.   The coffees and  the  teas,  especially the
green teas, as well as  that most deadly of all poisons
in popular  use, tobacco,  should be  rejected.  These
sensualities, and  especially the  tobacco lust,  all  have
their bearings on moral character ; and  the earlier in
life these habits begin, the more powerfully will  they
lower the standard of  moral feeling.
   Sabbath-school superintendents  and teachers have a
            20  . 
230
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
responsibility in this matter.   Pupils, with bad eating
and drinking habits, are less susceptible to Bible  in-
struction.   No one at the present day would think of
receiving a boy into  Sabbath-school  Avho was a habit-
ual  user of strong drink.   Every one feels that  alco-
hol so encases the soul that it cannot comparatively be
reached with  religious  instruction,  nor  even  by the
Spirit of God.  There  are other wrong habits which
oppose themselves to divine  instruction.   If a pupil
should offer himself for  membership of a  Sabbath-
school class, whose  breath and  lips,  though free  from
the debasing influences  of strong drink, were, never-
theless, corrupted with the taint  and defiled with the
stain of tobacco, he  should be received only on the
condition that he will abandon  the vile habit.  The
truths of God cannot be so  readily  instilled into his
mind,  till his mouth is Avashed from  the defilement of
this great agent of Satan.
   Meat-eating, especially  in the  excessive  proportion
of its present use, has also its moral bearings.   By its
stimulating properties, it acts on the  animal organs of
the brain, increasing the activity of the animal  pro-
pensities.   While it gives  no additional strength  and
durability to the muscular  system, but renders it more
clumsy and torpid, it does give an  undue degree  of
ferocity to our animal propensities.   It makes us more
animal, and  less  intellectual  and moral.   This  is a
matter, not of opinion, but of well attested  and  gen-
erally acknowledged fact.  This brings us up squarely
to the  question,  whether  the  indulgence of  this less 
ON MORAL  CHARACTER.
231
natural and  not  essential form  of nutrition, shall be
considered worth more  than all the moral considera-
tions connected with it.   It is a habit not to be put
upon the  same list with the poisonous drugs, opium,
alcohol, and  tobacco;  but it is  one that  is doing its
own Avork  of injury to  the  tone of human sympathy
and of moral  feeling, — especially in the excess  to
Avhich  it  is  pushed in the United States, and  more
particularly at the South.
   The  slaughtering of  animals has a tendency, on
those enframed  in the business, to lower their estimate
of  life  in  general, and blunt the  terror of shedding
blood.   If my life were to be put  into the hands of
jurors, Avhere the decision of the case depended in any
considerable degree upon their due apprehension of hu-
man sympathy, and their right appreciation of human.
life, let me have  any class  of enlightened citizens  to
sit on  that jury-bench;  rather than men from the
slaughter-house.
   The surgeon is not subject to  influences of this sort.
He takes  his knife in  hand, not with  any feeling of
wantonness toward his fellow-being; but, with a heart
deeply stirred  with human sympathy, he severs the
morbid portion of the sufferer's flesh, that he may save
him from ultimate suffering  and  premature death. He
deadens not the flame of fellow-feeling burning in his
breast, but keeps  it the more alive by its fresh and oft-
repeated  kindlings, as  case after  case comes to his
hands  for  counsel and relief.  Not so with the slaugh-
tov-nian.   With wanton hands  and indifferent heart, 
232
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
he strikes the fatal blow upon the head of the helpless,
unoffending fellow-being,  fells  him at his feet, and
spills his blood upon the ground; and this, simply
because he hankers for his flesh !
   My heart was agonized, a few months since, at wit-
nessing a  scene of slaughter.   The poor brute Avas
pursued by men and dogs ; the latter  seizing him  by
the ears, and the former, Avithout compunction, apply-
ing the head of the axe to his brain.  The poor crea-
ture ran for life, and bellowed for help.  His cries for
aid,  and his struggles for escape, seemed enough to
wake up heaven and earth to his  sympathy;  but men
and dogs, with like carnivorous zeal, pursued till blow
after blow brought  him to the ground, and the deadly
stab was  given to the  current  of life.  My heart
silently exclaimed, If ever the disposal of  my  life
shall be throAvn  into the hands of men,  let it not fall
into the hands of those who butcher life ! If ever that
statute, requiring  blood  for blood, and life for life,
shall cease to disgrace our civil institutions, we must
not put butcher-men in our legislative halls.

   Furthermore: one  bad physical habit prepares  the
way for another of  a similar kind.   Alcoholic drinks,
by the morbid influences they produce on the mucous
and  nervous membranes of the mouth  and  stomach,
create a demand  for some  other unnatural thin"1.
Thus, alcohol prepares the way for tobacco, and tobacco
for alcohol.   Hence, as a general rule, these two arti-
cles have been found  associated  in the  same mouth. 
ON MORAL  CHARACTER.
233
They are  twin sons of that  Demon who goeth  about
seeking whom he may devour.   They are two  great
agents of him who is seeking to destroy both soul and
body.
   Bad physical  habits lead also  to bad moral habits.
Bad physical and bad moral practices move in clusters,
and  abide  together  in  families.   Hence, it is  found
that the veriest vagabonds on the earth are literally
saturated  with the  combined  essences of alcohol and
tobacco.   The red  nose, the filthy lips, and the Sty-
gian  breath, are the standing ensigns of their calling,
and the undisguised badges of the association to  Avhich
they belong.   Nature has fixed her mark of condem-
nation upon them.   She has  branded them as  culprits
aAvaiting the final issues of their varied and  associated
crimes.
   Liquor-drinking, tobacco-using, gambling, and pro-
fane swearing, form a common brotherhood of  vices.
Let this entire land  be sur\royed, and very rarely will
there be found  a profane  oath  proceeding from any
other than  an impure breath and from defiled lips.
Barely will a man be found  insulting Jehovah to his
face by profaning his name, among those  of uncontam-
inated lungs and  unstained mouth.  These and  other
kindred habits may at any time  be found in tippling
and  gambling recesses, mutually congratulating each
other, "Hail  fellows, well  met!"  They are unwil-
ling to be apart; and will, probably,  when once their
acquaintance is  established, continue their  associated
revelh'ngs till they shall be arrested and held to bail
              20* 
234
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
for the day of judgment.   And such is the similarity
of their tastes and their tenacity for their social grat-
ifications, that, if it Avere practicable, they would wish
to indulge their  lusts together, even for a dark eter-
nity.   There can scarcely be  a doubt, if it be pos-
sible, but  that among  those who will have  lost their
souls  through  the  benumbing influences  of strong
drinks and  narcotics,  there Avill be  Availings in hell
after rum and tobacco.
  Considering the inevitable brotherhood of different
morbid appetites, if we would promote temperance in
respect to alcoholic drinks, we must put away its twin
— tobacco.  Those who plead the cause of temperance
with tobacco in their  mouths,  make  themselves con-
temptible  in the  eyes of all Avho have  any general
light  on the  nature of kindred and associated  appe-
tites.   While they profess to deny themselves of hurt-
ful lusts, and are putting them away in one form, they
are holding on upon them in another.  They quit al-
cohol and make up its loss by putting into the mouth
a larger plug  of tobacco.  They deny themselves of
the lesser, and continue  the stronger poison.  They
put away the  less filthy  sin, and supply its lustings
with a more enslaving and brutish indulgence, — one
whose  power to create morbid  results is greater than
that  of the worst kind  of liquor, when taken with
equal excess.
  In  this matter, temperance men manifest a degrading
cowardice.   Professing open warfare with a great phys-
ical and moral evil, they are still  ardently embracing 
O'.f MORAL  CHARACTER.
235
another evil that is doing a worse and more secret work
of ruin to the physical, and  also an extensive  injury
to the  moral welfare of the  men  of this. generation.
While  they are turning the devil out at one door, they
are inviting him in at another.  They are wanting in
the moral courage  necessary to meet the foe in genera]
combat at every avenue, determined to conquer or die.
While the  man signs the pledge and keeps tobacco  in
his mouth, he is scarcely half rmveried to the tem-
perance  principle.   "While he holds on to this  accom-
paniment and substitute for  alcohol, he is more liable
than though he Avould abolish both, to return again to
his cups.
   If we would  elevate the moral  standard  in any
country or  community, we must  begin by correcting
their physical habits.  The people must put away from
themselves  and the  rising generation the practice of
unnatural  eating  and drinking,  and other physical
vices.   Is  there. not a serious declension in the stand-
ard of virtue in our own favored America?   And is
not  that declension  still moving in its onward and
downward  course?   Look at  the  character  of  the
young  men of the day.   Are they as uniformly  at-
tentive to their obligations to  parental goA-ernmeut, and
to moral and religious principle in general, as were the
young  men through whose fidelity and moral courage
our  country wTas   released from the British  yoke,  and
made to shine forth  in the glorious  light of religious
freedom?   Can we  look  for  such  men  as  George
Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John  Quincy 
236           ERRONEOUS  APPETITES

Adams to come forth from the ranks of the young men
of our own day ?  If we would see such patriots ripen-
ing into public life, we must look for them among men
whose early habits are like  those of the young Wash-
ington, the young Franklin, and the young Adams.
   No one who appreciates  moral rectitude can  take
observation  upon  the demonstrations  of  immorality
that now are  given  by young  men, especially those
residing  in our large te-Ayns and cities, without agony
of spirit.  Let any man spend a Sabbath four or five
miles out of  the city, and see the  carriage-loads of
young men from town, riding as though in chase  for
life; racing horses;  profaning the  name  of  Deity;
and disturbing even  the quietness of the house of God.
 And what are the seals that perfect the bond of union
 among these  associated violators of God's holy day?
 The social glass, and the inspiring cigar.   They drink
 to rouse them to great  hilarity, and smoke to stupefy
 conscience  and becloud its moral vision.   Shall we
 look for high  moral worth ever to be developed in such
 young men?
   Is not the  standard of moral principle lower among
 business men than it was  in the  early history of  our
 country ?   And is not the standard of moral feeling
 among them  growing lower and lower ?  Where  can
 be  found  God's  noblest work — an  honest man ?
 Where  the man whose  integrity can bear, in  all the
 departments  of his sphere  in life, the  scrutiny of
 Heaven ?   Where the man that can be trusted out of
 sight ?  Is not tin same amount of business transacted 
ON  MORAL CHARACTER.
237
now with almost infini ely less adherence to principle
than in earlier times?
  In political life, where are the men of strictly moral
and political integrity ?  Where the men who serve
their country for their country's good, —who are de-
termined,  whether friends are gained or  lost, always
to act  from  principle ?   Where the men who do not
care infinitely more for their own promotion in honor,
than for all the highest interests of the land?  Where
the men, if  our country  should be invaded, who, like
our fathers,  would lay freely on their  country's  altar
" their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honors " ?
Where the men who would  come to the rescue to save
our standard of civil and religious freedom from being
laid prostrate by some foreign power,  pnmded  their
own personal  safety or  aggrandizement was not con-
cerned ?  Where  the  men who, if our  country was
inA'adcd, could shed as pure and philanthropic blood
as did our fathers in the  Be volution ?  Where those of
like holy patriotism ? — and  '' echo answers, where ? "
   There are men  enough, in case of war, who would
enlist for  the battle-field;  no matter whether the war
were right or wrong; whether it were based on  correct
principle, or on the basest seltishness ; whether  it were
called  for in self-defence, or a war of vile aggression.
They are  ready for the  fight, because  their physical
habits  have  provoked undue activity  of the  animal
propensities; the combati\Te and destructiA7e attributes
of the mind have  gained ascendency over conscience
and human   sympathy; the lov er man prevails over 
238
ERRONEOUS APPETITES.
the higher, till brutn ferocity has supplanted that true
moral courage which  always controls  human wrath,
and  suffers death for human  good and the  honor
of God.
   Look at the politico-moral aspect which our country
now  presents, North and South.   See the party feuds
and sectional factions which are engendering strife and
discontent.  A few officious and  office-seeking men,
void of  true patriotism, are endeavoring to  promote
their own popularity, by means adapted to undermine
the fundamental principles of a truly republican gov-
ernment, the real basis of human sympathy, and the
genuine standard of moral rectitude.  There are men
North and South, who, though professedly zealous for
the authority of the constitution, are  infinitely more
concerned for their own notoriety and elevation, than
they are for the safety of the Union and the interests
of the people.   There are men North and South, who,
though they cry aloud and spare not for the safety of
the Union, are so deficient in true patriotism, human
sympathy, and moral integrity,  that they are become
the heaviest brakes to the car of American freedom.
   Intelligence and virtue are the  two main pillars for
the support of a republic.   Without these  no demo-
cratic government can be permanent.  General knowl-
edge and moral principle alone can prepare any people
to govern themselves.   One of those pillars in our re-
public is sound and firm.   Intelligence is wide spread.
and  increasing in all  the  departments of American
society.   Let our vi.tue be equal, and our Union can 
               ON CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.        239

 never be in danger  from civil commotion.   Let this
 be wanting, and a government where the widest intel-
 ligence prevails will fall by its own hands.  And  if
 tho standard of virtue shall continue to descend in our
 own land, as it has for the last few years, our govern-
 ment will be found changed from its original character,
 to that  of anarchy and ruin.   That  principal pillar,
 virtue,  is decaying at its very foundation.
   And wherefore this decline in virtue ?  What can
 be done to  bring back the moral integrity of early
 times ?  Let the  people bring  back the physical habits
 of early times.   Let them bring  their eating and
 drinking into conformity to natural  law and moral
 obligation toward God, and they will effect a mighty
 change  in the  standard of virtue.  Let the mothers
 of this  day  train the rising generation  to  habits of
 virtuous eating and drinking,  and they will lay a sure
 basis  for virtuous thinking and acting.   Let them
 cease  to countenance stimulants and narcotics,  and
 other physical  vices which prompt undue animalism,
 and oppress tho  developments of  the  soul.   Then,
 and  not till then, will  the  decline of moral  feeling
 cease its ebbing, and virtue's saving power  begin its
 flowing tide.

  ERRONEOUS APPETITES ON  CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
   The Bible presents us with  the fearful truth, that
our physical nature is liable to be brought into warfare
with our spiritual.   11 therefore charges us to  " abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul."   If we 

240           ERRONEOUS APPETITES

obey the laws which God has given to our  physical
forces, they will perfectly harmonize with those of our
spiritual being; so that, when we touch a chord of our
physical sympathies, it will send  forth a tone in perfect
harmony with every vibration of  the heart.    When
we violate any law of organic life, we induce a morbid
organic action, by which we affect,  by mere sympathy,
the spirit.   But  when we war  directly against oral
instinct, by the culture of unnatural  appetites, we not
only jostle, by sympathy, the healthful harmony of the
flesh and spirit, but we create a lust which wars against
the soul.  Then,  instead of our physical and  spiritual
emotions being able  to  keep time and  harmony with
each other, a civil war is instituted between the lower
faculties and the higher attributes of our compound
being.
  Every unnatural  physical appetite,  therefore, be-
comes a warring  lust.  Everything that is at  enmity
with the instincts of nature, creates a  diseased con-
dition of the  soul.   Such is the  relation which the
inner and outer  man bear to each other, that every
morbid  sensation, every  indulgence by  the mouth
which Heaven has never sanctioned, embarrasses its
healthful character.   Some seem to suppose that the
only lusts which the  apostle charges with makin^ ag-
gressions on the soul, are such as violate in some way
the spirit of the seventh  commandment; whereas this
is but one among many forms of sensualism which are
preying upon the vital  forces cf  true  piety.  More
damage is done to the soul at the present day by lust- 
ON  CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.          241
ful idols which find access to the internal man through
the medium of the mouth, than  in any other way —
idol  lusts which do not come as the result of natural
appetites overreaching their true boundary, but appe-
tites which have no origin in nature.
  An objector may refer me to the saying ot Christ,
"Not  that which  entereth  into  the mouth,  but that
which  proceedeth  from it, defileth the man."  But
when the  Saviour, in reproving  the  bigotry of the
Jews in insisting on adherence to their traditions, told
them that not the eating  of bread with unwashed
hands, but rather  the words of  the mouth produced
moral defilement, he could not have intended to  teach
that the luxury of "wine which is a mocker," and
of " strong drink which is raging," could  do  no  harm
to the soul.  The  apostle declares, that he who would
make  high attainments in  godliness must be "tem-
perate in all things."  Of course he would have us
understand that temperance in  eating and drinking,
as well as temperance in every other respect, was in-
dispensable to  proficiency in piety.  He would have
us " lay aside every  weight," as well as every highly
" besetting sin," that we may be able to run without
embarrassment the  Christian race, and  obtain the
Christian victor's prize.
   Temperance, as before stated, is of two kinds :  mod-
eration in the use of right things, and total abstinence
from wrong things.   Temperance, in the use  of bread,
is moderation; temperance, in regard to strong drinkj,
is total abstinence.   To be temperate in religion is U 
242
ERRONEOUS  APPETITES
serve God with a steadfast zeal, which is according to
knowledge; to be temperate in regard to  fanaticism,
is  to let- it  alone.   We  may be  intemperate in the
quantity of  food.   Gluttony buries the soul in gross
sensualism.   Untimely  eating, through its derange-
ment of physical action, retards and diminishes spir-
itual zeal.   All irregularity in eating embarrasses our
spiritual emotions,  by disturbing vital functions.   A
dyspeptic stomach  and a torpid liA'er are the enemies
of God, and the opponents of the Holy Ghost.
  The quantity and quality of food suitable at one time,
is  unsuitable at another.  That quantity or quality
adapted to a man of active  or laborious  life, during
the  business part  of the week, would  be unsuitable
and  morally wrong on the  Sabbath.   Vast damage
is done  to the spiritual welfare  of  the church by their
Sabbath-day eating.  In many of our large cities and
towns especially, they are in  the habit of having even
the largest and richest dinner of the whole week — a
sort  of Thanksgiving dinner— every Sabbath.  While
they require less and more simple food, they take it
more largely and more complicated.   While the quan-
tity and the quality oppress the  stomach, the mind is
also  embarrassed ; the high-seasoned meats obstruct the
reception of truth and the unction of the Holy Spirit.
In the  afternoon,   especially, the minister of Christ
pours out potent truth with pathetic earnestness, but,
instead  of  preaching to   the understanding and the
heart, he is  preaching to  roast  beef.  If he also has
too grossly indulged, it is beef  preaching to beef. 
ON  CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
243
  Animal  food, at  all times, has its bearings on re-
ligious character.   It ought to compose no  part of a
Sabbath-day's diet.   But the taking of it at any time
retards the progress of the  soul in spirituality.  By
its oppressive  influence on intellect,  and by its stimu-
lating power on those animal propensities which, when
they gain ascendency, degrade the  moral feeling, it
hinders spirituality  and growth in grace.   This is not
a matter of fancy, but of facts.   Everybody acknowl-
edges that meats  increase the activity of the passions;
and if so, then it  is a matter of the plainest deduction,
that they tend to lessen the susceptibility of the soul to
tho force of truth, and to advancement in spirituality.
It requires more of the divine agency to convert a man
who lives much on  meat, —other things being equal,
— than one Avho  does not.   It requires  more sancti-
fying grace wholly to subdue the Christian's body and
soul to God, than it would if no meat* composed any
part of his diet.
   It may be said, the Bible does not prohibit the use of
animal food :  true ;  nor docs it utter any express injunc-
tion against gambling.   How then do we judge that
gambling is a sin ?   Surely not by express declaration,
but by a knowledge of facts.   What are the nature and
effects of gambling?   So, too, in regard to the eating
of meats.  What are the facts ?  What the nature and
effects of meat-eating?  Philosophical  facts reveal
God's truth with as much plainness and  authority as
though it were written in the Bible.    Now, then, it is
a, fact, as before stated, that meat-eating stimulates the 
244           ERRONEOUS APPETITES

action of the animal propensities, which, by inordinate
activity,  must oppress the soul; and this fact is no-
where among intelligent men disputed.   Let this fact
speak for itself; and let its truth bear, at least, upon
the excessive  meat-eaters of the day.   The question
is not one that should be settled by the voice of fashion
or appetite, but by the testimony of facts.
   It may be  said, furthermore, the Bible sanctions
the use  of meats.  True, it is allowed ; and so  the
eatinf of quails, with  the consequences, Avas  allowed
when  the Israelites  murmured  over  the  vegetable
nourishment  which  God  had furnished them.  So
polygamy was allowed and  legalized.   Divorce was
also allowed and arranged by law, which the Saviour
repealed; giving  the reason why such  things were
permitted : " Moses, because of the hardness of your
hearts, suffered you to put  away your wives."  So,
too, there was a law requiring a tooth for tooth, breach
for breach, eye for eye, and life for life — capital pun-
ishment.  All this the Saviour repealed, and established
a better law  in its stead.   In the times  of Moses,
laws were made which could best accomplish the ends
of law.   It avails nothing to put  forth a  law which
public  light  and  sentiment  will   not  sustain.  The
 Scriptures do not  give precepts for  every specific act,
but lay  down  general  principles which  are  appli-
 cable  to all  cases.   When a question comes that  is
 not settled by specific declaration, it must be  looked
 at in  the light of facts; and if  its facts chime with
 the spirit of  general  precept, well; if not, then the
 question demands a negative. 
              ON  CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.         245

   To another kind of intemperate habits, belongs the
 use of stimulants  and narcotics.   While they fret and
 disturb the nervous system, which is the bond of union
 between the soul and the body, they derange and blunt
 in a great degree the  affections of the heart.   The
 love of strong drink, after that thirst is once formed,
 fastens with inveterate grasp on  the spirit of the man.
 It is one of the  most enslaving of all lustful appe-
 tites.   Its enervating and deadening influences on the
 intellect  and the  heart  are such that its chains  must
 generally be broken before the Gospel and the  Spirit
 of God can convince of sin and lead to the Cross.   But
 this  is not  the only lust which finds its way to  the
 soul by the mouth.   There is  another, more potent
 and more enslaving, — the  passion  for  tobacco.   It
 is a lust,  not as noisy, but more  enticing and irresist-
 ible.  It clutches its victim with greater firmness, and
 holds him Avith a more determined  and  unyielding
 grasp.
   There is no appetite so strong as that which has no
 origin in nature.   Appetites which are wholly created,
 and  in conflict with our instincts, are the ones which
 most enslave the soul.   Among these, there is none so
 despotic and powerful as the appetite for that loathsome
 Avced which finds entertainment in almost every man's
 mouth at  the present day.   There is no  other idol god
in Christendom whieh is requiring so  large an amount
of sacrifice.  No other  idol  is requiring so much to
be laid upon  its altar, of time, of physical and moral
energies, and of pecuniary support.  It is committing
              21* 
246
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
robbery on the Saving's Bank of Christ, annually, of
not less than $5,000,000, and leaving only less than
$1,000,000 for the various missionary purposes annu-
ally sustained by the church.   It  is so  blinding the
eyes of the  professed  followers of Christ, that they
think themselves  sustaining a good evidence of piety
while  putting  short of $1,000,000  into  the  Lord's
treasury,  and laying at  the  same time  the annual
contribution  of $5,000,000 upon  its sensual  altar.
This  single  fact  shows  that  the churches, taken  in
the aggregate,  are  serving  that  "earthly, sensual,
devilish" idol  with more than five times  as  much
zeal and devotion, as they are  the Saviour of the
world  for benighted men.
   Facts developed by a church  in Texas, Avhich were
given me while in that State, testify on this point.   A
small  church, and  the  only one, in  a small village,
thought it  their duty to  obtain, if practicable, stated
preaching for that  place.  To do this, £300 were re-
quired.   They succeeded in  raising $200, but  the
remaining hundred could not be obtained; therefore
the place remained without stated  preaching.   On
examination, it was found that the  twenty male mem-
bers  of that church were expending annually $20
each for their  consumption of tobacco.   Here, then,
was the sum of $400 which they could cheerfully pay
annually to their tobacco god, but could not spare  an-
other  hundred for  the  honor of Christ, and the  sal-
vation  of men  through  the preaching  of the  Cross.
They chose to forego for themselves the privileges and 
ON CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
247
benefits of the Gospel, and to let the place  remain in
comparative  heathenism, rather than  cease,  in  any
degree, their devotion to lust, and  save  one hundred
dollars  to  add  to that  already obtained.   Would to
Heaven this was  an isolated instance!   But may God
have  mercy upon the American church, which is but
fairly represented by this  single case, — $5,000,000
for annual consumption of tobacco, and less than one
million for Christ and his cause abroad  !
   Though this  habit is so unnecessary, so foolish, so
hurtful, and so wicked, yet there is none which cannot
be given up with less sacrifice of feeling.   It gives an
appetite that is dearer to its victim than  life itself,
and its suspension brings terrors which are  stronger
than  death.   Many a  man  has testified to me that,
though he was  fully aware  that this indulgence Avas
fast killing him,  yet he could not  give it up.   A stu-
dent at Andover Theological Institute had long  been
in  the habit of  using  tobacco.  In the course of his
studies his health failed.   He was  repeatedly told that
it was  this Avhich was  killing him, and  he confessed
himself conscious of it.  He was told  that, unless he
would  quit  it, he must give up the idea of living to
preach the Gospel, and fall a sacrifice to his appetite.
With  all  this staring him in the face, he continued its
indulgence, left the institution, and soon after died.
   This article,  being  a  more  powerful pcison  than
alcohol, imprisons its victims within stronger bars and
doors.  The dram-drinker may be deterred by the
moans and tears  of a desolate wife and suffering chil- 
248
erroneous appetites
dren.  But let him who has long continued to pay his
devotions to tobacco's burning altar, find his wife and
children  houseless and destitute, if he had no  other
means for their supply of things needful,  than to give
up  his tobacco, the smoking embers  on that unholy
altar would cry out with unceasing voice, " We  must
be  gratified ! "  No  present wants of those depend-
ent on his  purse, no affection's strong appeals,  have
eloquence enough to quell the riotings of lust, and
persuade its worshipper to foreA'er cease this base idol-
atry.
  The cause of humanity would find little sympathy
in the hearts of men devoted to tobacco, if its demands
could not be met Avithout  ceasing to burn  incense to
that god.   Let twenty  tobacco-users pass before a hut
of the poor, where they found, on a  cold  mid-winter
night, a widowed mother Avith  her children  shivering
over a few dying embers, with no fuel, and suffering
from  hunger, having ate their last  morsel of bread
twelve hours  since, — and  if  their  only means of
giving relief consisted in giving up this useless  habit,
and in presenting a part of the  money saved, for  their
relief, probably nineteen out of twenty of them would
pass  on,  and  let them freeze and  starve  to death.
This is a most appalling representation, but one which
only needs putting to the  test to  prove its truthful-
ness.
   Can any man carry out Christian principle and
continue any destructive  habit with  his eyes open to
its  true character ?   Christians are called upon to lay 
             ON CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.         249

their  "bodies a living sacrifice" upon the altar  of
Christ.   The apostle used the term " bodies,' because
the living  human body is the only medium  through
,vhich the mind and  soul can now develop themselves.
If the outer man is in an impaired state, the develop-
ments of the inner man suffer.  If the physical sys-
tem  is  subjected to  habits which  are antagonistic  to
its laws, then  it wars against the soul.  If  the bodies
offered upon Christ's altar Avere examined by the scru-
tiny to  which Jewish  sacrifices were subjected, Avhat
would  be the result ?  How many would be left upon
the altar, accepted ?   No  lame sacrifice  could  there
be received ;  no injured or diseased sacrifice could  be
tolerated.  It must  be a sound and valuable offering.
1 low many such bodies are the professed people of God
now offering  as living sacrifices ?   How many bodies,
possessing all their native vigor and strength, are given
to Christ?  How  many, whose minds and hearts are
uninjured by weaknesses of physical nature ?
   Many are kept from the house of God on the  Sab-
bath by their bodily infirmities.  Others come to church
in  such  physical feebleness that they can enjoy little,
and  be little profited.  And yet ninetecn-twentieths
of those infirmities are the products of  their own wil-
ling  ignorance and  disregard of the laws  of health.
"Where God has established a law, and affixed a penalty
to  its transgression, can he reverse that law, or  avert
its punishment ?   It  is required of us  that we " glo-
rify God in our bodies and spirits which are  his."
Can we glorify God in the Spirit while living in the 
250
ERRONEOUS APPETITES
known violation of  the laws that belong to our spirit-
ual being set forth in Scripture ?  Certainly not.   Nor
can we, in any possibility, suitably glorify God in our
bodies, while we violate the laws which God  has at-
tached to them.   If, too, the body sin, it sins always by
the consent and dictation of the mind.   The body acts
not alone.   Some of its strongest natural passions  are
awakened into  excess by the agency of thought; and
when the passion  ripens into action, the mind still
assents.   All  our  unnatural  appetites  originate and
continue by erroneous promptings of  mind.   If we
would to the uttermost glorify God, therefore, Ave must
keep body and spirit in conformity to law.
   When we wage  war with our bodies, we war also
against our  souls, — not only because a  healthy soul is
dependent on a healthy body as its medium of  devel-
opment, but because of their mutual sympathy.   A
pious soul cannot prosper in  an impious body.  The
heart cannot  maintain consecration  to Christ, while
the body is serving its  lusts.  The  inner man can-
not faithfully  serve God, while  the  outer  man is
serving the devil.  The spirit of God  cannot  secure
our growth in  grace while the spirit  of  stimulants
and narcotics is spreading its leaven through all the
functions  of the flesh.  To preserve a wholly sancti-
fied soul and  spirit, we must  have a wholly sanctified
body.   There must be harmony between the body and
spirit, in order  that the Spirit  of God dwell  in us.   A
discordant condition  of  the outer and  inner nature,
grieves the  Divine  Spirit.   An  irritated stomach  and 
ON CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.         251
 a deranged liver, resist the Holy Ghost.   A morbid
 nervous system and a disordered brain, obstruct  the
' workings of sanctifying grace, and endanger the final
 salvation of the soul.
   In view  of these truths, the apostle lays great stress
 on the right condition of our physical nature; and he
 gave us  in himself a  practical  demonstration  of his
 faith concerning them.  He says : "I keep under my
 body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means,
 when  I have preached to others,  I myself should be a
 castaway."   He calls on us not to let sin reign  in  our
 bodies, that we should  obey it  in the  lusts thereof.
 Neither to  yield our members as instruments of  un-
 righteousness unto sin.   He asks us to put  away  the
 service of  the flesh, and  make   no  provision for its
 lusts;  and to " cleanse ourselves  from all filthiness of
 the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness  in the fear of
 God."   He encourages  us,  also, when he declares
 " There is  therefore now no  condemnation to  them
 which  are  in  Christ Jesus, who walk  not  after  the
 flesh, but after the Spirit."
   The same apostle charges the Galatians  to " walk
 in the  Spirit, and  not fulfil the lusts of the flesh;"  for
 the  flesh  lusteth  against  the  spirit, and   the spirit
 against the flesh.   He then enumerates some of  the
 forms  of fleshly lusts;  among  which, are  "idolatry
 drunkenness, and  such  like."  And, after mentioning
 some of the fruits of the Spirit, among which is " tem-
 perance," he adds: " And they that are Christ's, have
 crucified the flesh with the  affections and lusts."  Iu 
252           ERRONEOUS APPETITES

addressing Timothy he  says :  "But they that will be
rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many
foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruc-
tion and perdition."   And yet, probably among all the
lusts of that day into which wealth tempted the  peo-
ple, there was no one making its ingress upon the soul
through the mouth, that was so " foolish and hurtful "
as are  some of the idolatrous appetites of the present
times.
   While the mind  occupies its earthly tabernacle, its
vigor and activity depend much upon the healthy con-
dition  of  the   vital  forces.   Whatever,   therefore,
depresses  these,  depresses the  forces  of  the soul.
The most deadly thrusts of tobacco are hurled at the
very seat  of physical  life — the vital forces of the ner-
vous system.  Here is its chief work of destruction to
the body; and while  doing this, it  is also jostling  the
equilibrium and force of the immortal part.
   After  long  devotion to this narcotic, or to any
other powerful  unnatural agent,  the mental  and spir-
itual forces are  lost without  it.  A social  religious
meeting, composed of those  who had long  degraded
their bodies and depraved  the nervous system by such
agents,  and who had  been deprived of them for forty-
eight hours, would be a gloomy affair.   No signs of emo-
tion would be found there, except  the internal moanings
of denied lust,—little  desire for  anything but  the
refreshing of agonized appetite with  its gratification.
A fresh unction of the poisonous essence would be far
dearer than the divine unction from Heaven. 
             ON CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER.         253

   Tobacco, upon an enlightened mind, is as truly an
obstacle to the  inspiring agency of the  Divine Spirit,
as is alcoholic liquor.  It as  certainly encases the soul
with  its dense  incrustations over  its susceptibilities.
It blunts the arrows of divine  conviction of sin.  It
resists sanctifying grace bestowed upon  the Christian.
It destroys a sense of moral responsibility, and leads
its devotees  to  spend money more cheerfully for its
debasing sensualism, than for the glory of God.
   If the apostle had found tobacco-using to be a habit
of  those  times,  especially in the church,  requiring
more than five  times  as much money as AATas giAren to
Christ and his cause, he doubtless would not only have
called it a " foolish and hurtful  " lust, but one that he
would have  pronounced and denounced as " earthly,
sensual, devilish."  He would have felt  constrained to
say to Timothy," flee  youthful  lusts,." and especially
that most enslaving one, the lo\re  of tobacco.   He would
have called upon the churches in general to cease burn-
ing  incense on  such a filthy, unholy, and expensive
altar.  He would have earnestly entreated  them to
cease defiling the body, Avhich  is  the temple  of the
Holy Ghost; to cease ensnaring the soul set free by the
blood of atonement; and cease  annually robbing the
church, the banking-house of Christ, of $5,000,000
of money.   O, when — when will the  church  wake
up to see her great besetting-sin of the present day ?
  There must come a revolution on this subject; and
the question to  be answered  is,  Will the church come
up to her duty in such a moral reform ?   She ought 
254        ERRONEOUS APPETITES, ETC.
to take the lead in all reforms adapted to promote true
religion  and the extension of  the Gospel  message to
the world.  Will she enlist as pioneer in this moral
enterprise ?  Will  her ministers come to the rescue ?
Or will they, as  too many ministers and churches did
in the temperance effort, display an ungodly cowardice,
fearing to ply their moral forces to the car  of reform,
till they see it well in motion ;  then, fearing to be left
behind  in disgrace, jump aboard on  the very last end
of the train, and ride in their glory to the summit of
triumph, by the  momentum  gained by the exertions
of those who profess  no allegiance to Christ, but are
mere friends of  humanity ?
   If we  would  elevate the piety of the  church, we
must persuade its members to put away various sensu-
alities which nullify the force of truth, and neutralize
their spirituality.  The church must act upon princi-
ple, in eating and drinking, as well as in preaching and
praying.  When she  shall be governed by principle in
all things, then will her standard of piety rise, — then
will  she be emphatically the light of the world.  When
she shall turn the channel through which $5,000,000
flow for  that which not only is a needless waste, but
which crowns the  climax of  her idolatries, — when
Bhe shall turn this channel into  the Lord's treasury, for
Bibles, and tracts, and Sabbath-school  books, and the
preaching of the  Gospel  at home  and  abroad, — then
will  she appear  in the ' brightness of the morning,
fairness of the moon, clearness of the sun, and terrible
in strength as an army with banners.' 
         PSYCHOLOGY  OF  MAN.

   Psychology is a  term derived  from two Greek
words :  Psuche, vital spirit,  and Logos, discourse ;
meaning,  primarily,  the  science of  the  vital
spirit.
   Man, in his present form  of existence, is a com-
pound  being.   He possesses a three-fold nature, —
a  human trinity, — not inaptly analogous  to  the
Trinity Divine.  He  possesses, first, a physical na-
ture, — a body " fearfully and wonderfully made;"
fitted to its animal functions ; secondly, he possesses
a vital principle, — a spirit of natural life, adapted
to govern all the voluntary and involuntary move-
ments of organized  existence; thirdly, he  possesses
a moral nature, — a  rational  soul,  capable of recog-
nizing  the moral quality of action, and susceptible
of moral culture.
   This  three-fold nature  in  man  is  recognized in
Scripture.  Paul says, Thess. 5: 23, " I pray  God
your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved
blameless."   He here  uses  three Greek  terms:
Pneuma, Psuche, Soma, to express the entire man,
— his rational, and vital, and organic  nature.  The
distinction between  the rational and  vital spirit is
often made in the Old and New Testaments.  The
terms Pneuma and Psuche are  frequently used  in 
256
PSYCHOLOGY
the New Testament without  discrimination, to ex-
press  the rational  nature.  But  generally  in the
Septuagint.and in several passages in the New Tes-
tament, they are distinctly  applied  to the rational
soul and the vital  spirit:  Pneuma  to the former,
and Psuche to the latter.   Whenever the Spirit of
God, in either  person of the trinity, is spoken  of,
Pneuma is the word  used.  The ancient Grecians
used  these terms  in  the  same  distinction.  The
Psuche, in  the Pythagorean  and  Platonic philoso-
phy, was  the vital  spirit, — the seat of the senses
and appetites  common  to  man  and  beast.   The
Pneuma Avas the rational nature, belonging to man
alone.   This distinction, as already intimated, is gen-
erally kept up in the Scptuagint, and in several pas-
sages in the Greek New Testament.
   In this  treatise the terms soul  and spirit Avill  be
used in their ordinary popular sense, to denote  the
rational and moral nature.  In  speaking of, man's
middle or  psychical nature, it will be convenient to
denote it  the Vital  Principle, the  Electric  Force,
the Nerve Power,  or by some corresponding phrase.
These terms may express to  many somewhat  differ-
ent ideas ;  and it is not intended to use them f^r the
purpose of philosophical precision, but for the want
 of terms Avhich might perhaps be considered less ob-
jectionable.  If  the  term electric force be  thought
objectionable, it should be recollected that electricity
 has evidently much to do Avith  the functions of  ani-
 mal life.   It  may be in a much  more subtle form 
                OF HUMAN  CHARACTER.         257

 than that  contained  in  inanimate substances.   Vi-
 talized electricity may be of a much higher quality
 than that found anywhere else in  nature.
   If vitalized electricity and the  vital principle are
 different, they are  so  intimately connected that the
 latter cannot be maintained without the former.   It
 seems identical with that which has been called ner-
 vous fluid.   It is plainly the medium through which,
 not only the voluntary and  involuntary forces  of
 animal life are carried on,  but the medium through
 which our mental and organic forces act and reiict
 upon  each  other.  This refined  electric  substance
 may possibly be, for aught  we  yet know, the  very
 Psuche, not only of the Grecian  philosophers, but
 of the Author of the Holy Word.  The points now
 to be considered  are, the bearings of Psychology in
 Human Character, in  Human  Origin, in  Self-Con-
 trol, and in Controlling Others.

     PSYCHOLOGY IN HUMAN  CHAKACTER

   The seat of the psychical principle is located  in
 the  brain.   Here is  the basis of the nerve power
 which controls all physical motion, and is the source
 of all sensation.   The nerve spirit  is not  only seated
 in the cerebral organ, especially in  its  base, but  it
pervades the whole range of the  nervous system.
The brute creation possess also an intangible electric
spirit, with which are connected certain  faculties of
perception and volition, Avhich are susceptible of edu- 
253
PSYCHOLOGY.
cation.   They have a two-fold character, — organic
and sentient, — but  are without  the  rational and
moral nature.  " The spirit of man goeth upward,
the spirit of the beast goeth downward to the earth."
   Viewing man as a psychological being, as well as
moral and organic,  would  seem  to  settle forever
the controversy long  entertained between those who
consider  him, at  death, as entering at once into a
state of conscious existence, and those who hold that
he sleeps in the grave until the resurrection.   As a
rational being, he unquestionably enters immediately
into conscious spiritual existence when the body dies.
But the spirit of animal life doubtless sleeps in the
grave with the dust of  its own  former  tabernacle,
until the  resurrection.   In this vital spirit our per-
sonal identity seems to  consist.  And  by virtue of
this identity,  we maintain for a long life a uniform-
ity of  physical conformation, — the  same general
form  and  proportion of  body, and  the same individ-
uality of  face.
   Our personal  identity cannot consist at all in our
material  organism.   If  it did, then we  should en-
tirely lose our identity once  in about sevTen years ;
for all the elementary substances  composing our bod-
ies are  constantly  undergoing change.   The matter
of which  we consist  to-day is being given off, and
other matter taken in to  supply its  place.    Once in
about seven years, by this continued process, the en-
tire matter composing our frame is  exchanged.   No
one of us  is composed of the same material which he 
              OP HUMAN  CHARACTER.           259

was  about seven years ago.  In another period of
the same length Ave shall each cne of us become ma-
terially a new being.   Yet, during all these physical
changes Avhich we  go through during a  long life,
being taken first from the  earth, and passing through
ten material transmutations  in seventy years, we are
each really the same individual, — our  identity con-
sisting, as just stated, not in the material  man, but
in the spirit of his animal life.
   In this spirit of life will  consist  also our identity
in the resurrection.   When  the soul leaves its  tene-
ment and returns  to  God  who  gave  it, the  body
returns to its original dust, by giving off its elements
to become the component  parts of other  material
substances.  At the resurrection these elements could
not, by any known  law of  nature, be  gathered up
again, to become  the same material  bodies which
were  laid in the  grave.   The vital  spirit which
sleeps in  the grave, will  come forth in  the resurrec-
tion, clothed in a body, not of the same material as
that which entered  the grave, but with a body such
as shall be given it.   Paul happily illustrates  this
subject by referring to the grain sown in the' field.
The planted kernel decays, and gives off its element-
ary principles.   These same elements do  not enter
into the  new kernel;  but the vital principle  con-
tained in  the germ, which dies not, clothes itself in
other elementary principles  of the same kind, and
comes forth in a new kernel.   So  the  mortal  body
dies, dispersing its  material substances never  more 
260
PSYCHOLOGY
to be united as before ; but its germ, the vital spirit,
conies forth clothed  in a body not made of the same
material, — " but God  giveth  it a body as it hath
pleased him."   He  will then clothe that spirit with
a body of finer  materials than those which now in-
vest it.   " It is sown a natural body;  it is raised a
spiritual body."

        PSYCHOLOGY IN  HUMAN  ORIGIN.

   In the  origin of life and its  reproduction, the
psychological  principle  is deeply involved.  In the
beginning man was formed of dust;  that is, the ele-
ments composing his  physical constitution were taken
from materials  already created ;  his formation de-
pending on the same philosophical principles as the
formation of any other living body in after time, —
the  elements forming  him  being  gathered at once,
and  the elements forming other bodies being gath-
ered by degrees.   "And the Lord God formed man
of the  dust of  the  ground."   All  the bones,  soft
solids, brain  and nerves, heart,  arteries, veins,  and
the  blood  filling them, and every other part, were
now ready for motion;  but,  as  yet, the machinery
had  no power, because  there was no  spirit of  life.
Now, it is added,"and breathed  into his nostrils the
breath'of life, and man became a living soul."   The
primary meaning of  " living  soul" is,  living being;
— one  that has the spirit  of animal   life.  When
the action  of  the  nerve  power  and the process of 
in human  origin.            261
breathing commenced, he  became a fully developed
living being.   The evidence contained in this gen-
eral  account of the origin of man, of his having a
higher nature  than that of  other  animals,  is not
found in  the passage just quoted ; but in the fact so
distinctly stated, after all other animals  had re-
ceived their origin, that he was made " in God's own
image," and " after his likeness."
   The philosophy of  reproduction  of beings  is, as
already intimated, identical with  that of man's pri-
mary origin;  except that, in the latter, the  action
of the nerve  power and the process of breathing
must have  been  nearly  or quite  simultaneous;
while in the  former the  action  of  nerve  power  is
earlier than the process of receiving air  into the
lungs. The life, or nerve power, commences with the
first act  in reproduction.   The  sympathy  between
the sexes is electric; and  the orgasm produced by
their union is that electric sympathy brought to a
crisis.  This process gathers from the paternal brain
and  nerves concentrated nervous fluid, or  vitalized
electricity.  This  germ  of the  future being, when
subjected to microscopic examination, manifests life ;
and when produced from a healthy, vigorous  body,
exhibits great  activity.
   When  this  life principle, or  spirit substance,  is
received  by  absorption  into the maternal ovum, there
commences the process of gathering material  for the
formation and the development of its corporeal char-
acter.  This material, prior to its birth, is gathered 
262               PSYCHOLOGY
from the mother.   Its corporeal substance is a part
and  parcel of herself.   Its spirit  substance  origin-
ates in the father ; its corporeal substance originates
in the mother.   The father's psychological character
communicates health, or disease, prior to conception.
The mother's psychologic nature communicates health
or disease, after conception.   They both, during the
period  of gestation, — the  mother  directly,  the
father indirectly, — exert influences psychologically
upon  their coming offspring, which, during all after
life, will  show themselves in its physical, psychical,
and moral character.
   If  the father, by violating a law of his own or-
ganic life, produce  an  abnormal  condition  of his
electric forces, —if, by the habitual use of alcohol,
or opium, or that stronger poison, tobacco, he send a
morbid  thrill through his electric  spirit, pervading
all the nerves of his body, — the concentrated nervous
substance, which is the germ of the future being and
forms  the basis of its future constitution, must be,
in a greater  or  less  degree, in an  abnormal state.
If he be a great user of flesh-meats, and thereby, as
must be true in all cases, give  greater  grossness to
his physical,  intellectual and moral nature, he trans-
mits a measure of that influence to the child Avhich
proceeds from his  loins.   If the mother live at war-
fare with her own being, by the  use of stimulating
drinks,  such as tea and coffee,  or by stimulating
food, and thereby induce a morbid state of nerve,
manifested in unhealthy excitability, or in drooping 
I\ SELF-CONTROL.
263
 energy and premature age,  she may be  sure her
 child, — made of her own organic material, — must
 share with her  the  penalty of  violated law.  Her
 habits of thinking and feeling — which will  always
 be affected  by her habits of eating and  drinking —
 will, even during her gestation, aid in giving a stamp
 of character to the being she shall bear, never to be
 wholly eradicated.

        PSYCHOLOGY IN  SELF-CONTROL.
   The wili --that faculty by which sentient beings
 of every grade decide to do, or not to do—evidently
 belongs to the middle or psychologic nature.  The will
 is a faculty belonging to all sentient beings.   In the
 brute, it always  decides according to instinctive and
 natural impulse.  In man, it always decides according
 to animal impulses, or according to motives from the
 rational  and moral  nature.  When it is guided by
 normal  animal appetites within the limits of moral
 law, its decisions are right.   When it yields to abnor-
 mal  appetites, its decisions are wrong.  Where it is
 under the guidance of the soul, it may decide right or
 wrong, according to the moral condition of the soul,
 and the motives suggested by it.
   The human will, however, is  not  a slave to  any
 certain motive from  any quarter.   If it were, then
 man's moral agency and accountability  are  moon-
shine, and  all moral law a nullity.   Man, in  the
exercise of  this  faculty, with proper light, is ever
able  to  choose the good or the  evil.   A  corrupt 
264                PSYCHOLOGY
heart, or  a depraved appetite,  may  urge  its peti-
tions on the one hand, and enlightened reason and a
healthy conscience  may present their claims on  the
other; but it is for the will to  decide which shall
prevail.   In this consists the freedom of the will —
the power of choice between motives.  With this free-
flow — the basis of all moral responsibility, — man
is able to  lay hold of the means of  self-culture for
the present life, and the richest gifts of heaven for
the life that is to come;  or to yield to other motives,
and tread  the path of ruin.  He is able to say to the
strongest  tempter, " Get  thee  hence,  Satan," or to
the most  powerful  appeals of Holy  Moral Suasion,
" Go thy way."
   No intelligent man is possessed of such an inborn
character  that it cannot be governed  and  modified.
And no habit of morbid appetite can acquire  such
strength  that a sane man cannot overcome it.  But
there is often a long warfare, on the  subject, between
the animal  and the  rational  forces of his being.
Here  is a man devoted  to  the false and  irrational
indulgences of  alcohol, opium,  or tobacco.   Beason
says this is a vile practice; killing to the body, ener-
vating to  the mind, and paralyzing to the soul: a
habit which no  rational or moral man ought to in-
dulge for a moment.  But the cravings of the lips
 cry for continual sacrifices to be laid upon  the altar.
 Conscience says this is sin, — let it alone ; but  the
 defiled mouth says, " Give, give."   Is that vice so
 powerful  that it cannot  be overcome ?   Let  that 
IN SELF-CONTROL.             265
powerful agent, the will, dwelling in the citadel of
the electric forces, send out its telegraphic  message
to each hand, commanding it never more to degrade
the mouth, and insult the soul.   When the sordid
love of gold tempts the hand to take from the bank-
ing vault a pilfered treasure, let  the will heed the
monitions of moral precept, and give that hand com-
mand to touch it not;  and it will obey.
   Man's moral constitution does not consist of nicely-
arranged  machinery, carried by the steam of influ-
ences of Avhich he has no control.   He is not sailing
on seas  of chance, without ballast or  rudder.   He
has the  power of choice between good and evil;
the power of self-government; he can conquer him-
self.  And, " lie that ruleth his own spirit is better
than he that taketh a city."   He  can  be, in a large
degree, the former of his own character, and  the con-
troller of his own  destiny.   He  may be born with
hereditary predispositions  and unbalanced  tenden-
cies ;  he  may labor  under educational  embarrass-
ments and ill-favoring circumstances ; yet,  through
the promised aid of Heaven,  by a determined will,
in the warfare of self-culture, he can triumph.  But,
to accomplish this, there  are  two things to be ob-
served.  One is, keeping the avenues to the soul open
for the  reception of truth.  The  other is, allowing
truth its practical bearings.
   The first  step in self-culture is, keeping the ave-
nues of  the  soul  open for the reception of truth.
Wo often form prejudices  against a new truth, or a 
266               PSYCHOLOGY
new application  of an old truth, which comes from
early habits of thinking ; these are often great bar-
riers in  the way of human progress.   Great  hin-
drances are found, too, in long-indulged appetites,
which truth and duty require to be  sacrificed on the
altar of self-denial.   A man, long addicted to rum
or tobacco, is  not often open to conviction of its de-
structive properties.  It takes a lover of strong meats
a long time, with abundant facts and science beforo
him, to be convinced  that  this kind of diet tends
to lower the tone of the mental and moral character.
These prejudices of appetite must be long enough
laid aside to allow the eye of mind to see clearly the
facts and evidences in  the case.  There  must  be i
willingness  to let truth and facts speak for* them
selves.
   The avenues to the inner  man  more particularly
referred  to here, howeArer, are those  found  in the
nerve spirit and  its  sympathies.   These form the
main-spring in human life.   The nervous system —
the dwelling-place of the nerve-power — is  the bond
of union between the living body and the soul;  it is
the medium through  which the physical and the ra-
tional natures communicate with each other.  What-
ever  mars  the  healthy circulation  of the  electric
currents  in the nervous system, lessens the  strength
of the vital forces ; and, through them, deadens the
native susceptibilities of the soul.  The nervous sys-
tem is the  only medium through which truth can
reach the  interior man.   Divinity  himself uses no 
IN SELF-CONTROL.
267
other medium  through which to reach  the  human
heart.   No light  from earth or heaven, can affect
the interior life, except through this great medium.
The nervous senses are so many avenues through the
tabernacle  to  the dweller within ;  the nerves  of
sense arc so many telegraphic wires communicating
to the soul.
   No message of  moral worth from earth or heaven
can forcibly impress the drunkard's heart. The elec-
tric wires have lost, by morbid  excitation, their nat-
ural vibratory tone.   Every  stimulant, or narcotic,
by producing an abnormal condition of electric force,
lessens the practicability of reaching  effectually the
inner man.  The  opium-eater as truly shuts in his
heart from the  reach  of  moral  improvement, as  he
who sips the  contents  of the  bowl.   The tobacco-
user as certainly  wars against  the progress  of his
soul, as he who  worships at the bacchanalian  altar.
  The young  man who chews, or smokes, or snuffs
tobacco, for the unnatural  exhilaration which it gives
to the nerve spirit, or to soothe an agitated or uneasy
mind by its narcotism, lowers the tone  of his sus-
ceptibility to  moral improvement.  No  moral and
holy impulses can  now reach his interior nature, as
when this  medium was in a healthy state.   Besides
this, vulgar physical habits lead to vulgar  words;
and  these,  conjoined, lower the standard of moral
feeling and refinement.   There is no surer  indica-
tion of want of true mental refinement, and no surer
way of increasing  that deficiency, than  a resort to 
268                psychology
such a sordid  habit for mental  enjoyment.  Young
lads who adopt such  practices while  the vital  spirit
is  so  tender,  will never  become  fully  and rightly
deATeloped men, either in physical,  intellectual,  or
moral character.
   Another  thing to be observed in self-government
is, allowing truth its full practical  force  when its
messages are  understood.  There are very few per-
sons who really hold proper  government over them-
seh'es;  very  few  govern  themselves where  public
opinion, or  fashion, happens  not to condemn them ;
very few deny themselves for the sake of mere moral
obligations.  Moral principle, when it conflicts with
long-established appetite, is  generally exceeding
weak.   And there is no appetite so enslaving to the
higher principles of  man's  being, as that  which is
strictly created and abnormal. Men often seem fully
convinced that tobacco-using is  a violation of divine
organic law, and a sin  against its Author;  and yet,
in spite of all moral and  physical obligations, they
foolishly say they cannot  overcome  it.   Why is it
they feel so unable  to control such a low and loath-
some  habit ?  It is  because  the animal portion of
their  being has gained ascendency  over  all  their
higher nature.
   Here is the difficulty with  thousands.   Thousands
drag out an unprincipled life; thousands sink into ir-
retrievable ruin; because they have so pampered their
natural  appetites by  undue  indulgence, or so long
have yielded  to unnatural ones, that their  govern- 
IN SELF-CONTROL.
269
ing force has  become perverted; the unnatural pas-
sions of the lower nature have taken, by brute force,
the guiding reins; "that governing power, which was
originally,  and ought e\rer  to be, the agent  of the
rational  man, has become the  menial servant  of
brute  appetite.   Sensuality has now cast a  cloud
over the prosperity of the soul.   Instead of being
governed by  enlightened reason, refined taste, or a
sensitive conscience, brute appetites — and those even
below  the  range of brutes — hold  the soul  in  the
lowest bondage.   Now, instead of being ruled strictly
by moral principle in all things, the man is led cap-
tive  by licentious liberty.   And, when this licentious
liberty becomes  able  to  stem the current of moral
obligation  in  one form, it  accumulates strength to
resist and repel  the plea of virtue in any other form.
Therefore, moral principle in  all  things, whatever
may be their magnitude, — moral  principle, sternly
adhered to, becomes the only safeguard of the soul.
Moral  principle  requires that we reject the  use  of
all stimulants, and all narcotics, as luxuries.  Why ?
Because these in all cases produce a morbid condition
of the vital force; and  this state, except for occa-
sional  remedial  purposes,  is  always  injurious  to
every  department of our  being.  Therefore, their
use as  luxuries is a violation of moral principle.
  Every man is morally bound to know and obey  all
the laws of Deity revealed in  his physical being.
Such a course of living should  be adopted  as will
secure  to  him tho highest ultimate welfare  of the
               23* 
270
PSYCHOLOGY n
body, mind, and soul.   The unnatural pleasure of a
wrong indulgence should be set aside for that higher
and  natural enjoyment, which is always  the imme-
diate or the ultimate result of obedience to nature.
Nature is right; the Author of nature has made a
wise and perfect arrangement; and whoever thinks
of bettering his condition by warring with that ar-
rangement, is guilty of the grossest folly.   Let every
man, therefore, gather  up  moral courage, not only
to be open to  the  conviction  of truth, but to meet
its demands.  For there is no moral being who  really
cannot govern himself,
   We are bound, also, to allow truth its full practi-
cal force in the  management  of  those committed to
our  charge.  It is  our prerogative to decide Avhat is
best for  our children; for they, as yet, in respect
to moral obligation, are a part of ourselves.  Thou-
sands, instead of being governed by any fixed princi-
ple in this matter, only study their present gratifi-
cations,  without looking forward to its future and
final  bearings.   They  should always  be  indulged
when that indulgence will not militate  against their
present or future well-being.  And when  it is neces-
sary to refuse them  any desired gratification, a reason
should be given them.   They should be early taught
the nature of their being, and their moral obligation
to the laws which govern it.  In this way we  instil
into  their minds also, the  principles of self-govern-
ment and self-culture.
   The guardians of our  literary institutions have a 
IN SELF-CONTROL.
271
responsibility in this matter.   No student should be
admitted to the privileges of any institution of learn-
ing,  who  is guilty  of intemperate  and  loathsome
habits, which degrade the  standard of his physical,
and  mental, and  moral  nature.   The young, in all
conditions in life, should  be trained to those dietetic
habits which secure their highest physical and moral
welfare.   If, instead of indulging them in the mod-
ern  custom in America, of monstrous  meat-eating,
they would, bring them  up  mainly or entirely on
breadstuffs and fruits, a mighty change would be
brought about in their physical and moral standard.
Every one knows, who  has taken pains  to  inform
himself, that the meats  contain no element  of nu-
trition for the strength and vital force of the body,
Avhich is not derived from the vegetable world ;  that
the  grains, and other edible vegetables, contain all
the elements that are in animal flesh, and in a much
purer state.  If any would still doubt  this, let him
read Licbig's  Animal  Chemistry, on  this  subject.
He shows, by chemical analysis, that  the primary
elements, necessary for nutrition and vital force, con-
tained in  the  vegetable  kingdom, are  the same as
those contained in the animal. — See Liebig's Animal
Chemistry, page 22,  and  onward.
   Another fact is known to those who  are open to
conviction on the  subject, that the stimulating prop-
erty of meats, Avhich is not essential, but ultimately
detrimental  to  vital  force, so acts upon  the brain,
especially on  the lower  and posterior part of it, 
 2i2                PSYCHOLOGY

 as not only to dampen mental vigor, but to lower the
 standard of refinement and  moral feeling.   Young
 persons  brought up on meats  are more likely, other
 things being equal, to become addicted to low habits
 of  thought,  and  feeling,  and  action;   to  earlier
 developments of sexual desire;  and even to vulgar
 and  licentious  practices.  Hear the  testimony, on
 this general subject, of the Bev. Dr. Potter, before
 the Lowell Institute.
   " The mind is a reflection,  often,  of  the character
 of the food we eat.  Thus, those animals which live
 only on flesh  are furious ;  those that  live on herbs
 are gentle; while  those which are  omnivorous  are
 of different grades, from  gentle to savage, according
 to  the  quality of  their food.   Travellers have  no-
 ticed the change that a constant use of buffalo-meat,
 for several months, will make, in the trappers of the
 west, from mildness  to rudeness.   And  these facts
 may be of use, not  only in the training of the young,
 but in the efforts of adults to benefit themselves, and
 curb their dispositions."
  Is  meat  necessary  to  give force of character?
 If, by force of character, we  mean brute force, —
 savage ferocity, — meats  are  essential.  But does
 the Indian possess more energy of character than
 those  Avho  eat far  less  of  meats ?  Look  at facts
developed in past American history.  Any one who
will  candidly study  the  character  of  nations will
find, all  other things being  equal, that the more
their  living was composed of  meats, the more fero- 
IN CONTROLLING OTHERS.         273
 cious and  savage,  and the less really courageous,
 forcible and enterprising, was their general charac-
 ter.   And whoever will study facts in priA7ate life
 will find, other things equal, that those devoted to
 flesh  meats are  more  inclined  to sexual extrava-
 gances ; and that libertines and  prostitutes  are not
 only lovers of strong drinks and narcotics, but  have
 a great tenacity for the strongest meats.

    PSYCHOLOGY IN CONTROLLING  OTHERS.

   By the same attribute of our middle nature, —
 the avill, by which we control ourselves, — we bring
 others under  our influence.  On the same philo-
 sophic principle through Avhich we gOATern our volun-
 tary physical  movements, we influence the physical
 movement  of  others.   On  the same  principle by
 which we command the direction of our own thoughts,
 and thereby our emotions, and ultimately affect our
 own character and destiny— by exertion of the same
 electric  will, we affect the thoughts, and  emotions,
 and character,  and destiny of others.
  The thoughts  and emotions of  the  gestating
 mother's mind, as  already  intimated, affect  deeply
 the character and destiny of her yet unborn child.
The father's thoughts and emotions, through  natural
or articulate language, communicated to the mother,
produce  in a degree the same result.  During the
child's infancy, the parent, especially the mother, is
breathing into  its sentient nature the natural  spirit 
274
PSYCHOLOGY
of her own being.   Through her electric forces, she
is enstamping the features of her own present char-
acter upon the disposition  and immortal  soul of her
offspring.  When hushing the  little  one to quiet-
ness,  or to sleep, it feels her magnetic wish upon  its
own  electric  sympathies,  and yields to  its  poAver.
During  childhood  and  youth, when its .untutored
mind becomes fretted by uncongenial incidents, the
mother's soothing tone of self-governed feeling, sends
its sanctifying electric thrill  over the disturbed cur-
rent of its soul, saying, " Peace, be still."
   In all our associations  in  life we act  and react
upon  each other by electric impressions.   In private
and in public life, this law in social intercourse pre-
vails.  The preacher and the orator impress their
hearers, not merely with the power of abstract truth,
but with  the  electric force of their own zeal.   If
the speaker  feel, the whole  audience feels.   Hence
the importance of extemporaneous speaking.  Every
speaker should  thoroughly study his  subject, — get
his own spirit  thoroughly imbued with it, — and then,
by clothing it mainly by extemporaneous speech, his
own spirit, stirred by well-digested thought, finds its
way through the electric  sympathies of his auditors
to their  hearts.  His whole  frame feels, and sends
off its electric power in  every gesticulation.   He
may  read  his discourse, clothed  in  labored words;
but there can be little stir of electricity in his own
spirit; and what there is, is absorbed and lost in the
carefulness of reading; and his congregation feel lit- 
IN CONTROLLING  OTHERS.
275
tie else than, perhaps, an admiration of the speaker's
style of composition.
  An elderly clergyman once said that the best evi-
dence of a man's  call to preach, was  contained  in
the answer to the question, Does he preach ?   Every
educated man can avrite and  read a discourse; and
all  the inspiration he particularly needs, or can gen-
erally obtain, for its presentation, consists in having
good  eye-sight  and the power of utterance.   But
can he preach ?   If he does, there is evidence of his
call;  if not, the evidence is against him.  How does
a lawyer obtain the full force of the merits of his cli-
ent's case on the mind of the jury ?  Not by reading
a carefully Avritten essay before them, but by rousing
the  electricity  of  his own brain  with his subject
matter, and throwing  that electricity upon  the tele-
graphic wires which communicate with the very souls
of  those jurymen by extemporaneous speech.
   The  public speaker who  possesses  the  stronger
electric power, other things equal, will hold his au-
dience under the greater magnetic spell.   And  in
proportion as his own soul is baptized with the spirit
of his subject, and his gestures grow out of its  in-
spiring  power upon its own heart, will be the sway
he will  hold  over his hearers.  In proportion to the
increase of his own internal  pathos, will his words
glisten with the  lustre of true eloquence; while, from
the very ends of his fingers, are  thrown off scintil-
lations  of  electric force,  which  are taken up  by
magnetic absorption into the souls of his auditors. 
276
PSYCHOLOGY
   Animal Magnetism, or  that electric  control
which one person may have upon another who con-
sents to be a subject of it, has been proved  beyond
all  question, by a great  variety  of  experiments.
Some are so far susceptible to such influences that
they become entirely controlled'in their physical and
mental  action.  In a perfectly Avakeful  state, when
no mesmeric sleep has been induced, their physical
motions, like  those  of our own body, and  by the
same  cerebral force,  can, for  a  space of time,  be
brought entirely under our power.  The  man's hand
can be made fast to the wall;  and he himself cannot
remove it.  He cannot rise from his  chair,  though
perfectly aAvake, without  the consent of the operator.
If he take  his pen to write his name, the operator
can will him  to write some  other  name, and that
other name will be written, in spite of all his efforts
to the contrary.   The pen is in the hand of the sub-
ject, but  under the  control  of  the operator.  He
may sit, pen in hand, passively, or with the deter-
mination to write a certain sentence;  and in either
case the handwriting will be whatever  is dictated  by
the operator.   These  facts, and  numerous  similar
ones, are familiar  to  everybody whose spirit of in-
quiry has prompted their investigation.
  In the  same way in which we electrify our own
muscular  motions, we also get the electric  control
of the muscular system of others.   We obtain ac-
cess, as it  were, to the  great  office of  telegraphic
communication belonging to the subject, and get the 
IN controlling others.
277
management of his forces into our own hands.   In-
stead of his commanding  his own physical motions,
we hold the government of his system ourselves.  In
this  way Ave can, riot only command his motions, but
in a  large degree  the strength of motion.  A  mag-
netized man, by the operator's  command, can exert
twice  or three times the strength which  he could
ordinarily  exhibit.  Strength  in  the living man's
muscular fibre docs not reside  simply in  that  fibre
itself,  but  in the force  given to it  by the exertion
of electric will from his  own mind, or that of an-
other,  or from both combined.
   Electric control may  also be obtained  over the
brute  creation.   The  Lion-tamers and Lion-kings
operate on this principle.  Serpent-tainers can, in
this  way, take  the most venomous serpent in  their
hands, with  impunity.    The brutes themselves in-
stinctively charm  each other  by magnetic  power.
The  serpent charms the bird within his reach.  Un-
ruly horses and other domestic  animals can be  gov-
erned by a kind of magnetic discipline.   One  man
who  has subdued  an animal in that way, may con-
trol one which is entirely unmanageable in  the hands
of another man.   Circus-riders  so  electrify their
horses  that their sentient  nature is brought  under
the control of the rider's will.
   The  senses  can  likewise  be controlled.  After
the electric forces of the  operator have gained as-
cendency over  those of  the subject  so as to  control
muscular action, then  follows the  power  of hallu-
              21 
0
278                psychology

cinating the senses.   Give  the subject  a glass of
water, calling it brandy, and to his sense of taste it
is brandy, and produces all the apparent fruits of
deep intoxication.   Give him flour, calling it ipecac,
and to  his taste it is ipecac.   In the same way, the
operator can pelt him with a hail-storm ;.  shoot him
prostrate with a feather; or bleed him to fainting with
a straw.  Sometimes illusion is produced upon a whole
congregation.  Some feats of jugglery have doubtless
been  performed in  this manner.  A man in London
made an experiment of this kind, by placing himself
in a public square,  fixing his eyes intently and with
the gaze of surprise upon an elevated figure of a lion.
Soon  a  crowd was  gathered, with their  eyes as in-
tently fixed.  At   length the  man exclaimed, " It
moves ! — it moves ! — its  tail is waving in the
air ! " and all  around him voices responded,  " Sure
enough, — it moves! "
   Persons of  peculiar electric character, are  able
to produce the same  kind  of  influences  on them-
selves, without being conscious of doing  so.   Give
certain  persons a sponge  moistened in water, while
they suppose it to  be chloroform, and the effects of
the latter will  appear.   Give  them the vapor of
water, while they suppose it to be exhilarating  gas,
and the effects of the gas will appear.   In this way,
bread pills have often had great sanative agency.  In
this way, Dr. Warren's patient, with a tumor  on her
neck which he advised to be amputated, was removed
by her applying to  it a dead man's hand. 
IN controlling others.
279
   Clairvoyance is produced  by electric  changes,
 abstracting the  mind  from. its dependence on the
 body for its perceptions.  Put one who is susceptible
 of this change into the clairvoyant state, and all the
 senses act without organic agency.  The mind's eye
 Bees what the organic eye cannot reach.   No  mate-
 rial substance intervenes its  scope.   The electric
 Bpirit can  be  sent whither  the operator will, and
 bring back intelligence which is not in  the  mind of
 any one  present.  A good clairvoyant — an  agent
 rarely found — in a perfect state, — a condition sel-
 dom  obtained, — can read a name on a sign a hun-
 dred miles off; or, can tell the symptoms of disease
 by a lock of the patient's hair, with any  distance
 intervening  between  the subject  and  the  patient.
 But while they are often correct  and  explicit, they
 often  make egregious mistakes ;  so that their testi-
 mony can in no  case  be positively reliable.   Clair-
 voyant writings, or discourses, can be looked upon as
 curiosities, but should never be  taken as authority.
   The  clairvoyant  state is  often  self-induced,—
 sometimes designedly, and sometimes unconsciously.
 In this peculiar  state, which it may be they were
 unable  to  explain,  some have  undertaken  profes-
 sional fortune telling.   By mental  sight they some-
 times see  correctly things  that  are past, which as-
 tonish their weak customers, and inspire them with
 the confidence  that they are  able  to  prognosticate
the future.   They are frequently able, also, to read
the thoughts and feelings which  now  occupy th« 
280
PSYCHOLOGY
mind of their  inquirers, and draw deductions from
such premises  relating to  what may possibly trans-
pire.   But no  clairvoyant can abstractly foresee an
event.  He cannot  see what is not,  or  has not  yet
been, a real fact.   A  past  event, or a present fact,
may be seen;  but  no human mind, however  high-
ly  or perfectly clairvoyant, can  look  into  the  fu-
ture,  and foretell its results.
   There is, too, a kind of natural clairvoyance.  The
daughter of a  relative, aged  eight years, awoke at
nine o'clock  in the  evening, affrighted, and weeping
bitterly, saying, " Father's horse  and carriage have
gone  off  the  bridge.   See ! — do see!   Father is
dreadfully hurt."   The morning developed the facts
precisely as stated  by the child, as having occurred
at the hour of  her alarm.   Let several  persons who
are natural  or induced clairvoyants meet together,
and they may become  mediums of a degree of clair-
voyance in others in  the  same circle;  so that  the
latter  are able to see the very  same  things that
illude  the vision of  the former.
   Great commotion in electric currents is often pro-
duced  when persons of this character meet together,
not only upon susceptible persons present, but upon
inanimate  substances.   And  sometimes  these seem
to give forth, by the aid of clairvoyance, manifesta-
tions  of intelligence.  On  the po\Arer  of disturbed
currents of vitalized electricity upon inanimate 'sub-
stances, there  is evidence from  various authentic
sources.   E. C. Bogers,  Esq., in his " Philosophy 
             IN CONTROLLING OTHERS.         281

of Mysterious Agents," has given many well-authen-
ticated facts on this matter; among which  are the
scientific investigations  of M. Arago, of  France,
reported to the  Paris Academy of Sciences, concern-
ing a young factory girl, who had been supposed by
her  companions to be possessed of  a  devil.   Three
or four of these facts must here suffice.  " She can
touch no object Avithout breaking it, or throwing it
on the ground.   All the articles  of furniture which
her  garments  touch are  displaced or overthrown.
At that moment many persons  have felt, by coming
in contact Avith  her, a true electric shock.  She is
affected by jerks, unusual  movements, and a kind of
trembling which seems  to communicate itself  to
the hand which touches  her.  She  possesses, more-
over, a peculiar sensibility to the  action of the mag-
net."
   Tho  marvellous  knockings and  other noises of
haunted  houses, in  past times, have, in some cases,
been traced to some peculiar influences coming  from
the presence of certain individuals.   Sometimes ta-
bles, and other articles  of furniture, with weighty
substances upon them,  have- been  moved without
personal contact.  All know that  if simple aerial
electric  currents become  disturbed, as they often
are in  a thunder-shower, they exhibit  tremendous
power.  So, disturbed currents  of  vitalized   elec-
tricity may give loud rappings, or move heavy  sub-
stances.   And  these currents are often  influenced
by the will and thought of persons present.
               21* 
282
l'SY< IIOLOGV,  I.TC.
   All  these various developments of our  electric
 nature give  some clue to the natural  philosophy of
 those agencies called Spiritual Manifestations.  It is
 not  strange  that those Avho are unacquainted with
 this part of the science of  life should be  surprised
 by these manifestations.   But it is every one's duty
 to know the true  science of this  matter; that he
 may intelligently eschew a delusion which is sending
 scores to the insane asylum, and degrading hundreds
 from the  true  standard of Christian faith, to the
 platform of  gross infidelity.  The delusion,  in  this
 case, consists not in the manifestations being untrue,
 but  in  calling that which belongs to natural science,
 the  work  of supernatural agencies.  It  is passing
 strange, however  ignorant they be of science, that
 common-sense  men  should  be willing to leave the
 plain and positive teachings  of that Book, which has
 for ages borne the severest  tests of fire, and sword,
 and  revolution, for  the teachings of such low, and
 frivolous, and contradictory revelations  as are said
 to come from the spirits of the departed.   If it were
 admitted they are  spirits, they certainly are those
 of the lowest order; many of them having far less
 dignity and intelligence than when  they occupied the
 body.   And  they must be, at  least generally, lying
 spirits; for they not only conflict  with God's great
standard of  truth, but  greatly and essentially con-
 tradict themselves.   How much  better that we take
for our  guide the Book of Books, and rest our faith
on the Bock  that is higher than man! 
CONCLUSION.
  Tins work has  been written with  the strongest
desire  to accomplish good to the physical and moral
welfare of those into whose hands  it may fall.   The
motives which have dictated this effort and that of pro-
mulgating this  subject  by public discourses, together
with the  use that shall be made of it by those who
read or hear, will be matters  more fully developed in
the light of eternity.  This, or any other  work  on
this subject, will be of no practical use to those who
are determined, in despite of truth  and  their highest
temporal and eternal interests, to disregard it.   It is
written for those who desire their own welfare enough
to seek for it.
   Living right, and reaping the consequent reward,
is, as a general rule, within the reach of all who will
inform themselves.   Whoever defrauds himself in this,
cau have  no consolation but in the contemplation of his
own folly and deserved punishment.  Are health of
body, vigor  of intellect, and elevation  of soul, desid-
erata worth living for and securing ?  Are a feAV  grov-
elling  sensualities and degrading  vices  worth  more
than soul and body ?   Arc the depraved  gratifications
of the mouth worth more  than a sound constitution
and a  well-balanced  soul ? 
284                 CONCLUSION.
  All desire to be happy ;  and, though we live in a
fallen world, such  an end is attainable.   But  it must
be sought in the right way, and from the right source.
Some seek for it in th« deceptive glitter of gold dust,
but  are  never satisfied.   They seek it even  at  the
expense  of  physical and moral  obligation, and lose
both soul and body in its pursuit.   Some seek it in the
lustings of the mouth, and consider its demands, how-
ever unnatural they may be, of more importance than
health or life, — sacrifice themselves upon the  altar of
sensualism,  and go to the judgment charged with self-
murder.   Others  seek it  in devotion to  pride, ambi-
tion, and other earthly and hurtful propensities.  But
what does it avail ?  Though the thirst of these sensu-
alities  is seemingly quenched, yet  it burns  on with
increasing ardor;  though  their pride and ambition are
gratified, their hungerings are not  quelled;  though
they conquer  the world, they weep for a wider grasp
of power, and die intoxicated with their own folly.
   In view  of these facts, which  the eye of  every
observing and  reflecting  mind can  see, the question
instinctively arises, What is  the true source of human
happiness, and how is it to be sought ? — for such a
boon Heaven has  made  attainable.   The question is
easily  answered.  Let Wisdom utter  her  winning
vojce) — let her mark out the path: — " Her ways are
ways of pleasantness, and all her  paths are peace."
The keeping of diviae law, wherever that law may
be written, — whether relating to the body or the soul,
— " is the beginning of wisdom; " and whoever keeps 
CONCLUSION.
285
within the plain limits of that law will find, amid all
the annoyances  of a fallen  world, his way happy and
joyous;  but whoever steps  over that line, will  find
ultimately that every step thus taken has been produc-
tive of pain.  " Good understanding giveth favor, but
the way of  transgressors is hard."
   Many are the bcsetments which lurk about the foot-
steps  of young men.  Temptations are on every side
ready to ruin their prospects for time and eternity.
Let them beware, and give the  adversaries of  their
mortal and immortal being no advantage.   If a young
man would seek his highest earthly good, he must look
for it in the path of obedience to the laws of physical
life.  When he studies the divine law of his physical
being, and keeps his footsteps within its limits, he finds
a path filled with the choicest fruits for the comfort of
the body and the mind;  and while walking here, he
is more  likely to be impressed  with  the benevolent
demands of  that law  which  is  the  counterpart of
nature — the law of Bevelation.
   The Author of Scripture  is the Author of natural
law.   The path of  obedience in natural  law is in
direct line with the path which leads to heaven;  and
he who pursues carefully the former, is more suscepti-
ble to the moral suasions which Divinity has  cast upon
the latter.   A body that  is converted from  the error
of  its ways,  measurably prepares a  fallen heart to
receive renovating grace.  Then, with a body and a
soul  in harmony with  the  laws  of  Deity, — with a
sound constitution, the greatest earthly prize, — and a 
286                CONCLUSION.
soul made rich by its title to heaven, he can enjoy this
present life, and secure a foretaste of that glory which
awaits their immortal union.
   Then, with a body holding Nature's policy of health
insurance, and  a heart reposing on the promise ol final
redemption, he can cull fruits and flowers which no
frosts  can  blast, and can see, through the short vista
before him, the golden streets and Elysian fields which
wait his arrival.   Then, whether this world shall con-
tinue or cease its rotations, — whether smooth seas and
friendly winds speed him on, or all be lost by wreck and
founder, — he holds a claim — the gift  of Heaven, —
on imperishable wealth, — a claim which neither men
nor devils can nullify or wrest from his  grasp, and the
flaming elements of a burning world cannot consume.
   The main hope of accomplishing good by a reform-
ation in physical habits, rests on the rising generation.
Men  who  have long addicted themselves to  vicious
appetites, can  scarcely be reached.  They are joined
to their idols — we can  only let  them  alone.  There
are, too, many young men  who either inherit a  low
state  of moral feeling, or have,  from childhood,
indulged such a reckless, unprincipled  spirit, that no
hope  can  be entertained of them.   We must look,
then, chiefly to those just entering the stage of exist-
ence, whose characters have not had a chance to take
a wrong mould.   This main hope throws an immeas-
urable responsibility on those who have charge of the
young, —■ upon parents, upon guardians,  upon teach-
ers, and, above all, upon mothers. 
CONCLUSION.
287
   Will the mother, who is chiefly concerned in giving
 a right physical and moral character to her child, wake
 up to her Heaven-instituted responsibilities ? Will she
 bear in mind, that whatever she may have done in  giv-
 ing physical and moral tone to her offspring before its
 birth, she  owes a duty now to it, to herself, and its
 Maker, from which she cannot swerve, but on the peril
 of its temporal and  eternal destiny ?   Will  she take
 the first step that can be taken to secure its physical
 and moral welfare ?  Will she see  that nothing gains
 access  to  its  lips, which can oppress and hinder its
 right physical and moral developments ? — that noth-
 ing shall find admittance to the digestive and nervous
 forces, which may thwart  her own future efforts at
 moral culture, and resist the teachings of Heaven ?
   Let her remember that every day she  is bringing
 or  allowing influences to  bear  upon  her sons  and
 daughters, which are materially forming their charac-
 ters for weal or woe, for  time and eternity.  She is
 sustaining or impairing the tone of the stomach, which
 materially controls the physical and  moral constitu-
 tion of that son  whom God  has made for some valua-
ble purpose in  life.  It remains  for her, in a great
degree, to say whether he shall be allowed to answer
that purpose, or whether  he shall  be turned out of
Nature's path  into physical and  moral imbecility or
ruin.   Let her see that nothing shall jostle his nervous
system, and consequently his soul, — that strong drinks
and narcotics do not lead his lips and  tongue into pro-
fanity and falsehood. 
288
CONCLUSION.
  At the final issue of all human doings, that mother
and son will meet.  Has he been a low, miserable vag-
abond ? — who must bear the responsibility ?  Did the
Creator make him such ?  Nay — he was made a little
lower than  an angel.   From whence came this change?
Beside the  inherited ills of the fall, his  father who
begot  him was probably at fault ,in  character and
example ;   or  the wrong physical  training of others
into whose  hands  he  may have fallen, with his own
wicked agency, has ruined  him.   But  above all, who
was  his mother ?   What was her character  and con-
duct prior and subsequent to his birth, and during his
early life ?   All  these things, together with his own
responsibilities, will pass a revieAV in  the  light of
eternity.
  But should  he then appear as a benefactor of his
age, having done good to men and honored God, then
those who have contributed toward making him Avhat
the Creator gave him  native talent to be, instead of
alloAving him to be crushed  and buried in sensualism,
will find occasion to rejoice.  The mother of that son,
whom she,  with carefulness and  prayer, has trained,
physically, intellectually, religiously, for humanity and
God, will  have no  small  share of  rejoicing  on his
account.  Every faithful service  he has done, every
triumph of truth he has  gained, every victory over
error and sin he has achieved, eArery redeemed soul he
has won, will be so many gems in her diadem of glory
to shine for ever and ever. 
      APPENDIX.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
          Plate I.   Nervous System.
                    (Page 10.)
  No. 1.  The Brain :  Cerebral Portion.  The
upper portion of this organ, called Cerebrum, is here
exposed.  The entire  top  of the skull is removed,
and the Dura Mater — the strong outer membrane,
covering the substance of the brain — is dissected off
and suspended by a hook over the head.   The scalp
or integuments covering  the skull, are turned  down
over the  eyes and lower back part of  the  head.
The  divided rim of bone can be  seen horizontally
just above the turned-down scalp.
  Here can be seen the  convolutions, or  bundles of
brain, occupying the left side of the head, called the
left hemisphere.   No. 1 shows  the  perpendicular
section of the inside of the same hemisphere.  This
figure presents the outside of the same  division.
This exposed portion, united with its corresponding
portion  on the other, unseen side of the head, makes
that upper and larger part of the whole brain which
is  called  Cerebrum.   Another  smaller  portion,
which  lies in the back and lower  part of the skull,
is called  Cerebellum.   The  dividing line  between
                25 
290
APPENDIX.
the Cerebrum and the  Cerebellum, runs  horizon-
tally from side to side of the head, corresponding to
the line representing the section of the skull.  Each
hemisphere of the Cerebrum is subdivided into lobes,
with division lines running  from side to side of the
head.  They are called anterior, middle,- and pos-
terior lobes.
   The Cerebrum, or upper portion of the brain, seen
exposed in this figure, is about six or seven times as
large as the lower  portion, or  Cerebellum.  The
upper  portion  is the seat  of  the intellectual  and
moral  faculties; the  lower, the seat of the animal
propensities.   The  brain governs all the voluntary
motions of the whole physical economy, by  direct
volition.  The decisions of the will are communicated
to all parts of the  system, through the agency of the
nervous fluid sent through the nerves.  If a ligature
be applied to a nerve leading to any particular part,
that part is no longer controlled by volition.
   The involuntary  functions  are dependent, also,
not on the will, but on the  same  communication of
nervous fluid.   If the nerve which brings the brain
and  stomach into  sympathy, be  severed, digestion
can no longer be performed.   This is  true, also, of
the action  of the  lungs, and all  other  involuntary-
functions.    Any substance  introduced  into  the
system, which produces  a morbid condition  of the
nenTes themselves, or the electro-vital  fluid circu-
lating  in  them, is gradually undermining the dura-
bility of vital force ;  and consequently cutting off
a portion of natural longevity. 
NERVOUS  SYSTEM.
291
  No.  2.  The Brain :  Perpendicular Section.  A
section  of this  organ  is here  given,  dividing it
directly in the  centre, from front to  back, where
Nature has made a division by a fold of the strong
membrane, which surrounds the whole brain, called
Dura Mater.  These two  divisions are called right
and  left hemispheres.   This figure shows the inside
of the brain, by this perpendicular section.   Here is
exhibited  the interior of the organ of mind, and the"
locality of the soul.
   The wave-like  folds which extend from  the  neck
to the  face in this  figure, represent the outer por-
tions of brain, or the  soft substance divided into
bundles of nerves,  which are the location of the
different faculties that  make up the sum of human
character.  These have their distinct  phrenological
developments.   About four fifths of their  substance
when analyzed are found to be a liquid, called neu-
rine, or nervous fluid, or perhaps it might be called
vitalized  electric  fluid, Avhich  is  evidently  the
medium and agent of the developments of mind and
soul.
   Every  influence  of  the  will upon   our  physical
system, is  exerted  through  this  medium.    It  is
transmitted throughout the whole nervous  system,
carrying to every quarter the messages of the brain.
Like the pure electric fluid transmitted by telegraphic
wires, it carries messages back and forth through all
 parts of the human system.   It' the smallest mein'ier
 of the body be in distress, information is sent at once 
202
APPENDIX.
to head-quarters, the brain, and an order for relief
is immediately returned.

          Plate II.  Nervous System.
                     (Page 12.)
   The Nerves  in  General.   This figure gives the
nerves of the whole body, distributed to  every part
of the system, from the croAvn of the head to the sole
of the foot.  They are distributed  into very minute
ramifications, for  the purpose  of giving  power  of
motion, and for communicating  sensation, pleasurable
or painful, healthful or morbid, to every minute par-
ticle of the system.
   Upon   these  nerves,  Like  so many  telegraphic
wires, sensations are transmitted from one part  of
the body to the common  centre in  the brain, called
Sensorium Commune.  From this head-quarters  of
telegraphic communication, are  sent out the decisions
of the will to every part of the  system.   If the ner-
vous  fluid be stopped by pressure or  injury,  then
sensation and motive power cease, until the obstruc-
tion shall  be  removed.   If a  limb gets into what
we call sleep, it is  caused by this nervous fluid being
obstructed.
      Plate III.   The Circulating System.
                     (Page 14.)
   No. 1.  The Heart :  its  Auricles  and Ven-
tricles.   The  Heart is  here  presented, detached
from  its location  in the  body.  This organ is the
seat of the circulation of blood.   It is by the motion
of  this that the blood is sent throughout the whole 
                 NERVOUS SYSTEM.             293

system.  This  consists of alternate contraction and
dilation,  called  pulsation.    By these   alternate
actions the  blood is carried to the extreme parts
of the  body by the  arteries, and returned by the
veins.   This action of alternate contraction and dila-
tion, is probably the result of electric attraction and
repulsion; by which the entire circulation is carried
on.
   The  heart has  two grand divisions,  called  right
and  left  ventricles.   They  haAre sometimes  been
called  two hearts.  They are separated  by a wall  of
flesh which is impervious.   These two great divisions
are divided again : each ventricle having a chamber
divided off from its upper part, called right and left
auricles.  These four are the divisions  of the heart.
In this figure, a denotes the right auricle, b the left
auricle, c the right ventricle, d the left ventricle.
   The  principal blood-vessels of the heart are, the
great  artery rising from the  left ventricle,  called
aorta,  which  forms an arch, e,  and then passes down
in front of the  spine, and divides into two branches
— one  for each lower  limb.  An artery also rises
frolu the right  ventricle, called pulmonary  artery,/",
which  divides to each lung.   The principal veins are,
g and  h, the great ascending and descending vein,
called  vena  cava, and the pulmonary  veins, which
return the blood carried to  the lungs by the pulmon-
ary arteries,  back to the heart again.
   The  course  of  the blood is this: the nutrition of
the food, from  wdiich the blood is made, is taken up
by the lacteals in the intestines, and deposited in the 
204
APPENDIX.
thoracic duct, and is emptied  into the vein which
passes along the left arm-pit.  Thence  it is carried
into the great vena cava, and emptied into the right
auricle of the heart,  thence  into the right ventricle,
through a valve, like that of a pump,  which will not
allow it to return.   Thence this  venous,  or  dark
blood, passes through the pulmonary  artery into the
lungs on each side, where it gives off a portion of
its carbon,  and takes in oxygen from the air  we
breathe, changing its color to a bright red ;  then the
blood is returned from the  lungs by the pulmonary
vein  into the left  auricle,  and  thence, by another
valve, into the  left  ventricle,  and thence  sent
throughout the system through the aorta which rises
from  this part.
   When  this blood has reached  every part of the
body through  the  arteries, and  nourished  it,  then,
having parted with  its oxygen for the supply of all
parts, it returns, through the veins, as venous blood,
to the  great vena cava, ascending from  below the
heart and descending  from above the heart; and is
emptied into  the right auricle  of that organ, from
which it starts its round  again.   In this way, every
two  and  a  half minutes, the entire  mass  of blood
passes its round throughout the whole circulation.
   No. 2.  The Heart and Lungs.  These organs
are  here shown in their connections.   The figure
shows the exact location of the heart in relation to
each lung.  The left lung is denoted by a ; the right
 lung by b;  the  windpipe by c.  The  heart is  de-
 noted by d ;  the pulmonary artery by e ;  the  great 
               circulating system.           295

descending vena cava by/; a part of the arch of the
aorta by g.
     Plate  IV.  The Circulating System.
                     (Page 16.)
  No. 1.  Arteries and Veins.   This figure gives
a general view  of the  large  and  small arteries.
Beginning with  the  aorta  where it is divided from
the heart, we pass over its arch and follow it down-
wards till it divides  for  each lower limb.  During
its pa-*.i ie downwards it gives off various branches
to supply different internal organs.   The arteries of
the arms and other parts are also exhibited.   These
arteries pass away into minute ramifications to supply
every particle of flesh with blood.   These ramifica-
tions meet with corresponding ramifications of veins,
which are called capillaries.  At the union of these,
there are inconceivably small valves which prevent
the  blood propelled  forward by the arteries, from
returning after it enters  the veins.
  No. 2.  This figure represents the  general view
of the veins, by which the blood thrown out by the
arteries, is carried back to the heart and lungs.   At
the lungs, by the process  of respiration, the blood, as
already  stated,  meets  the  air, which  modifies  its
character.   At the surface, by the capillaries, the
blood is also affected by contact with the atmosphere,
through the skin.
   In order for a healthy circulation  of blood, the
first thing to be done is the using of such food as is
best adapted to make, pure blood.  While we create
impure  blood, it is useless to expect to cleanse that 
296
APPENDIX.
vital fluid by any artificial means.   The quadruped
meats make blood far less pure than the bread-stuffs.
This is especially true of the meats which we gene-
rally find in our markets;  and more  especially true
of all swine's flesh.   Scrofulous complaints, tubercles
on the lungs, cancerous affections, diseased liver, and
other glands, are abundantly produced by gross ani-
mal diet.
         Plate V.  Bespiratory  System.
                     (Page 18.)
   No. 1.   The Lungs ;   Bight  and Left Lobes.
The lungs  are here presented, exhibiting simply
their external appearance.   The right lung has three
divisions or lesser lobes; the left lung has only  two.
Their  substance is  of a spongy character, soft and
elastic.
   No. 2.   The  Lungs with their  Blood-vessels.
This figure  shows the connection between the spongy
portion of the  lungs, and its intermingling  ramifica-
tion of  blood-vessels.   Here are  seen the minute
branches of the right  and left pulmonary arteries,
distributing the  blood to every part, to meet the air
received into the air-cells in the process of breathing.
         Plate VI.  Bespiratory System.
                     (Page 20.)
   No. 1.   The  Lungs and their  Air-cells.   This
 figure gives the air-cells of the lungs.  The trachea
 or wind-pipe first receives the air we breathe, which
 pipe divides into two tubes, called bronchial tubes,
 and these divide and  sub-divide  till  they become
 lost in the little air-vessels here seen. 
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.            297
  No.  2.   The Lungs,  Air-cells,  and  Blood-
vessejs.  This figure  represents the air-cells in the
lungs, as connected with their corresponding arteries
and veins; the pulmonary arteries carrying the blood
to exchange its  gases with the air, in the air-cells,
there  giving off its carbon, and  taking  in from the
air its oxygen, and then the pulmonary veins return-
ing that  renovated blood back to the heart and the
general circulation.
         Plate VII.   Digestive  System.
                     (Page 22.)
  The Stomach, Liver, and Boavels.  This figure
exhibits the principal organs concerned in the process
of digestion.   The  liver is  turned up, to give the
better chance to observe the gall-bladder.  The liver
is A, A, A, and B the gall-bladder. The upper opening
of the stomach is L ;  the stomach is M.   The figure
below  gives a  more  distinct  view of  the  stomach
alone.  In this principal figure are also presented
the general course of the intestines, and the course
which the food takes after it leaves the stomach for
the nourishment of the system, and for the refuse to
bo  carried off.   In  the small  figure,  the  stomach
alone, ^1 shows the esophagus, or pipe leading  from
the mouth to its upper orifice ; B, its lower orifice ;
C, the first intestine; D, the body of the stomach.
        Plate VIII.  Digestive System.
                     (Page 21.)
  The  Si'lekn,  Pancreas,  and  Bladder.   This
figure presents  organs more remotely connected with
the digestive process.  L, L,  L, is the liver turned 
298
APPENDIX.
upward; G, the gall-bladder; P, P, the pancreas; S,
the spleen; K, K, the kidneys; B, the bladder. The
great vein, vena cava, which  returns the blood from
the lower parts of the body up to the heart, can  be
distinctly seen passing up a little to the right of the
spine;  while on  the left  of it,  the great artery,
aorta,  is seen  passing down, conveying the  blood
from the heart to the lower parts of the body.
        Plate IX.   The Muscular System.
                     (Page 54.)
   The  Front  Section  of  Muscles.   This  plate
presents a front view, of the muscular system.   The
skin and fatty substances being removed, the muscu-
lar fibres can distinctly be seen  running in different
directions.  The bony system is only the frame-work
of the man ;  the muscular is the inside covering, and
in a large degree the filling up of  that frame-Avork.
In the bony system alone there is no motive power;
the  will  cannot act directly  on  the  bones;  the
muscular system  is the only- immediate  medium
through which the mind can control their movements.
The mind acts  through  the nerves on  the muscles,
causing them to contract, and  thereby directs the
action of the bony frame.
   These muscles are attached in their origin to some
substantial fastening of  bone, and then  extend  to
some other point in the  bony system to  be  fastened
by insertion.  Thus the Sartorius, or tailor's muscle,
the longest muscle in the body, is arranged.   It has
its origin, or first fastening, in the  bone  of the hip.
It then passes over in  front of the thigh, gradually 
MUSCULAR system.
299
inclining inward as it  passes down on the inside of
the knee, to be inserted into the bone of the leg on
its  inside.   This muscle aids in bending the  thigh ;
it rolls the hip-joint, and lifts one leg over the other
as tailors sit.
        Plate X.  The Muscular System.
                     (Page 56.)
  The Back Section of Muscles. . This plate pre-
sents a back view of the muscular system; showing
the  origin of various  muscles,  which attach their
fibres in and about  the  back, and  extend to their
different insertions, according to the object for which  '
they are intended.
  These plates give a  general  idea of the muscles
and fibres of muscles, throughout the  external parts
of the body ; the internal muscles are not attempted.
It  is not  expected that  a minute  idea  of these
muscles, or their  names, can here be obtained; it is
intended only to  give a general  knowledge  of  the
subject,  for general, practical purposes.
  The two skeletons on this  and  plate  IX.  are
intended to exhibit a front and a back view of  the
bony frame of which the body is composed;  and also
some  idea  of  the depth of the  muscles- which is
rcqui.ed to cover them.
                    REMARKS.
  A word  may be  due here, on  the formation of
muscular fibre.   Substances which contain  azote, or
nitrogen, are indispensable  in the food for the crea--
tion and support of muscular strength.  It is impor-
tant  to  know something of the proportion of this 
300
APPENDIX
element contained in the different articles  used for
food.   It may be due here to  say,  also, that sub-
tances containing carbon are essential to the produc-
ing of heat, and therefore as essential to life as those
which produce only muscular fibre.
  The grains contain carbon,  the basis  of starch,
much more largely than the flesh of animals.  They
also abound in gluten, which contains  nitrogen for
the formation of  muscular  fibre.    This  is true
especially of wheat.  Hear what Dr. Carpenter, in
his  Principles  of Human  Physiology,  says on this
point.
  " The mixture of azotized and non-azotized com-
pounds, gluten and starch, that exists in wheat flour,
seems to be just  that which is most useful to man ;
and hence we see the explanation of the fact, that
from very early ages bread has been regarded as the
' staff of life.' "
  Liebig, in his Animal Chemistry, says : " Chemical
researches have shown, that all such parts of vegata-
bles as can  afford  nutriment  to animals, contain
certain  constituents which are  rich  in  nitrogen."
These azotized  or nitrogenized  forms of nutriment
found in the vegetable  kingdom, he reduces to three
elementary substances,  namely,  vegetable Fibrine,
vegetable  Albumen, and vegetable Caseine.  All
these abound in the bread-stuffs, especially the wheat.
  The amount of nutrition which we  obtain from
food depends not alone  on  the  particular kind we
take,  or on the  quantity, but on the  proportion of
nutriment which belongs- to the nature of the article. 
MUSCULAR SYSTEM.
301
  The folloAving table, made out from the highest
European authorities, will  show the proportion  of
nutrient  properties  belonging to  different articles
used  in  ordinary diet.   The figures  against each
article show the  amount of nutrition  which each
contains  in every one hundred parts.

      VEGETABLE FOOD.               ANIMAL FOOD.
Wheat, about........85
Barley,  ".........83
live,    ".........83
Oats,    ".........79
Oatmeal, ".........93
Kice,    ".........90
IViis,    ".........93
Reinw,  ".........92
Potatoes, ".........25
Beef,   about . .  . . •  ... 25
Veal,
Mutton,
Lamb,
Chickens,
Codfish,
Oysters,
                                                 25
                                                 25
                                                 25
                                                 22
                                                 20
                                                 13
                         White of Eggs,.......20
                         Yolk of Eggs,   .......46
  The readiness with which different articles can be
digested, has to do in some degree with the  readi-
ness with which life can be sustained by them.   The
following table will show the length of time required
in the  digestion of different articles, as shown by
experiments  made by Dr.  Beaumont  on Alexis St.
3Iartin, whose  stomach  was exposed  by a gun-shot
wound.   The figures  against each  article  show the
hours and minutes  required for the stomach to  per-
form its portion of the  digestive process.   This  is
as far  as the  experiment  with  St.  Martin  could
go ;  the rest of  the process of digestion, requiring
more or less time, consists in the formation of chyle
in the  Duodenum, or second  stomach, and its ab-
sorption by the lacteals.   But the difference of time
required for the whole process of digestion of differ-
ent  articles, is  doubtless  chiefly confined  to  the
stomach. 
302
APPENDIX.
       VEGETABLE FOOD.

Apples, sour, mellow,  .... 2.—
Apples, sweet, mellow,  . .  . 1.30
Beans, boiled,  .......2.30
Bread, wheat,.......3.30
Bread, corn,........3.15
Corn cake, baked,  .....3.—
Apple dumpling,......3.—
Potatoes, Irish, boiled, .... 3.30
Potatoes, Irish, baked, . • . 2.30
Rice, boiled,........1.—
Sago, boiled,........1-45
Tapioca, boiled,.......2.—
Parsnips, boiled,......2.30
Cabbage, raw,.......2.30
Cabbage, boiled,......4.30
Milk, raw,.........2.15
Cheese, raw,........3.30
        ANIMAL FOOD.

Beef, lean, fresh, rare, roasted, 3.—
Beefsteak, broiled,......3.—
Beef, salted,........3.36
Beef, fresh, lean, fried,   . . . 4.—
Beef, corned, boiled,.....4.15
Codfish, cured, boiled, .... 2.—
Chicken, fricasseed,.....2.45
Duck, domesticated,  roasted, . 4.—
Duck, wild, roasted,.....4.30
Eggs, boiled, hard,.....3.30
Eggs, boiled, soft,......3. -
Mutton, fresh, roasted,   . . .3.15
Oysters, raw,........2.55
Oysters, stewed,.......3.30
Pork, fat and lean,.....5.15
A'eal, fresh, boiled,.....4.—
Veal, fresh, fried,......4.30
   The table here introduced is an abstract from that
of Dr. Beaumont;  it was not  deemed necessary in
this  case  to give it entire.   It  is   classified into
articles of vegetable and animal food.   The articles
milk and cheese are put under the head of vegetable
food, because they  are  extracted  directly from the
vegetable kingdom, and  have  never become animal
flesh, and vitalized  with the electric currents of ani-
mal  life.
   By  comparing the  average  of time required for
forming chyme, it  will be seen  that  a little  more
time is required for animal  substances than vegeta-
ble ;  that  soups require a longer  time than  more
solid articles.   They are generally greasy substances,
which, when introduced into the stomach, cannot as
well be grappled with, and  intermixed with the gas-
tric  juice, as other  and more solid substances.   For
this  reason melted  butter should not be introduced
into the stomach. 
                      REMAKRS.                  303

   The following table, containing a few leading arti-
 cles, shows the proportion, to each one hundred parts,
 of Azote, the flesh-forming principle, of Carbon, the
 heat-forming principle, and of Alkali for the forma-
 tion of bone, contained in each article.

   100 PARTS.                   AZOTE.   CARBON.   ALKALI.
  Wh-at, about.............21 .... 62.....2
  liarl.y,  "  .............14 .... 68.....2
  Oats,   "  .............11 .... 68.....3
  lkaus,   "  .............31 .... 52.....3
  IViis,   "  .............29 .... 52.....3
  LMtaUes, "  .............2 .... 22.....I
  li>. I, Veal, Mutton...........25..........
   The lean meats contain no considerable amount of
 carbon  or alkali;  they  abound only  in azote,  the
 basis of fibrine.  The  fat of meats abounds in carbon.
 The breadstuffs and some other vegetables, abound in
 both  principles, and contain them much more largely
 than  the meats.
   The objection to quadruped  animal  flesh consists
 mainly in its stimulating  properties; which tend to
 inflame  the  blood, oppress  mental  activity, and
 enhance the grosser animal passions.   This  stimulus
 depends, probably, on the electricity which  abides
 in the flesh after its vitality becomes extinct.   It is
 electricity which keeps the constituent  elements of
 the flesh in union; as  electricity departs, these ele-
 ments gradually lose their attraction for each other,
 and entire dissolution  is the final  result.
   In  taking the meats, we take into the  system the
 electric properties of dead animal  flesh.   These elec-
 tric properties  are not pure, like those of pure atmos-
phere ; but  consist of electricity  recently the  agent 
304
APPENDIX.
 of their animal nature and developments, which still
 retains  its  animalizing  agencies;   which,  being
 received  into  the  system, becomes  incorporated
 with, and a  part  of our own nature.  How much
 better, then, that we content ourselves with  that
 bread which from the  beginning has  been correctly
 denominated the " Staff of Life " !

        Plate  XL   The Forms of  Teeth.
                      (Page 64.)
   No 1. Human Teeth.   This figure exhibits the
 teeth made  bare by removing the integuments  of the
 face and lips.  The object simply is to show that
 man cannot be properly classified, according to  any
 indications from his teeth, as a carnivorous, or flesh-
 eating animal.  His teeth, comparatively, are short
 and  broad,  for masticating fruits  and  farinaceous
 aliment; instead  of being  long  and sharp-pointed,
 for tearing the flesh of his fellow-beings.
   No. 2.  The Cow's  Teeth.   The character of
 these teeth  are  closely allied to  that  of human
 teeth.  The cow was not made  for devouring animal
 flesh for her subsistence; yet, unnatural as it is, she
 can be trained into that habit of living till she  feels,
 like many human beings who have adopted the same
 course, that she cannot dispense with it.
   If  there  is any force in arguments, drawn  from
any indications pertaining to the teeth,  as  to what
man shall eat, the proof is decidedly,  as seen in this
and the next plate, against his eating  flesh. 
THE TEETH.
305
      Plate XII.  The Form of the Teeth.
                     (Page 66.)
   No. 1. Teeth  of  the Baboon.  Here is another
fruit-eating animal, whose teeth certainly furnish no
stronger proof of his being a vegetable-eating animal
than  those belonging to  the human mouth.  When
his teeth are compared with those of the following
plate, there will be found a strongly-marked distinc-
tion.
   No.  2.  Teeth of Orang-Outang.   The teeth
of  this animal, which  closely  approximates  the
human  species, are less closely allied to the human
teeth  than those of  the  cow;  yet, instead of being
naturally an omnivorous  animal, whose food is com-
pounded of animal  and vegetable, he is decidedly
and entirely a fruit-eating animal.
   No. 3. Teeth of the Tiger.   Here are presented
the teeth of another class of animals, — the carnivo-
rous or  flesh-eating animals.  The  front teeth  are
long and sharp-pointed, adapted  to grasp and  tear
the flesh of  its fellow-animals.   The  tiger lives on
flesh alone.   Compared with his, the  teeth of  the
baboon  or  orang-outang  would be  less  unlike
them than those of the human species.   Hence, man
would be the last of  the  three to  be suspected of a
nature adapted to even a mixed diet of animal and
vegetable food.
              20* 
306
APPENDIX.
     Plate XIIL  Position of the  Chest.
                    (Page 188.)
  No.   1.  Sitting  Posture.   In  this  figure  is
described  the general  sitting  posture,  right  and
wrong.  Here are  two school-boys : one  erect in a
chair, the other crouching  on a high stool.  These
figures not only describe the position of boys, but
also girls.  They also not only describe the posture,
good and bad, of pupils  in  the  schools, but the pos-
ture of the world, while sitting in  their various call-
ings in life.
  There is too little care taken about the  arrange-
ment of seats  in school-rooms.  If they are so high
that the flat feet cannot rest on the floor, they are
inconvenient for sitting  in  a right position.   They
should have backs, reaching up nearly to the shoulder-
blades. Without this  arrangement, the back grows
weary of supporting  itself,  and  there follows an
inclination to let  the  spine  curve over  the lungs;
pressing them downward, and thereby pressing down
also the whole contents of  the  chest and  abdomen.
  The boy on the left of the reader  is giving his
chest space for full play of the lungs in the process
of breathing;  a very important matter, not only for
his bodily developments, but also for the  action of
the mental energies.  The boy on the right is adopt-
ing the opposite course.
  No. 2.  Sitting  at Table.  Here is represented
two  lads  at  a table, writing: the one occupying a
right position, and the  other a wrong  position. Per- 
POSITION  OF THE BODY.
307
sons  accustomed  to  writing  are extremely  apt  to
oppress and cripple their  chest.  This prevents the
full volume of air being received into the lungs, which
is essential to  the right  performance of respiration.
There is consequently insufficient oxygen taken  into
the circulation of blood, and insufficient opportunity
for the venous blood to throw off the surplus of
carbon which it contains.
  By this  unnatural  pressure,  the proper exchange
of these gases is not only impeded,  but the air-cells
of the lungs  are pressed together and  irritated.
Then chronic or acute  inflammation often sets in,
producing cough,  which perhaps ends  in ulceration
and  death  by consumption.   And, while this irrita-
tion  and  cough are coming on, other adjacent organs,
the heart and  liver and stomach, are often affected;
both  by pressure which comes  directly on their
nearest  neighbors, the lobes of the  lungs, and indi-
rectly on  themselves, and also  by direct  sympathy
with those organs.   The diaphragm becomes  also
pushed out of its proper  locality, and the right per-
formance of its appropriate functions.

      Plate XIV.  Position  of the Body.
                     (Page 190.)
  No.  1. The Standing Posture.   The  positions,
good and bad, while  standing, are  here seen.  The
figures may be supposed to represent two-clergymen,
with books in hand, giving out and reading the hymn
for the choir in church.   The one  on  the right of
the reader  stands  erect, as though  he  felt that the 
308
APPENDIX.
best position for his body is that in which the Cre-
ator originally  made  hinr;  as  though he  wished
to give full  chance for the exercise of lungs  and
voice in spreading gospel light;  as though  he did
not think too highly of himself, but  soberly, accord-
ing as God had given  to him his measure of grace,
and as though  he  had  also a clear conscience in an
upright soul, which needs an, upright  body for  its
present tabernacle.
   The figure  on the  reader's left  seems to present
one whose stinted  breathing  has been of such long
standing as to give to his whole body and spirit that
excessive meekness which grows out of physical and
vital imbecility.  The  meekness of his posture is
but an index to the meekness of his moral courao-e.
He seems to indulge justifiable doubts as to the prac-
ticability of  his ever  accomplishing much  in  the
world, or of leaving any strong marks in proof  of
his ever having lived  in  it.  His vocal pipes  are
curved out of their right line;  his lungs have sunk
away into comparative  insignificance, and the whole
contents of the abdomen seem to have fallen  asleep
in the basement story  of their dwelling
   No. 2. The Bight  Form of  Chest.   This figure
simply shows the compass of the chest by front view,
which the lungs occupy.  We can easily see by this
the impossibility of letting the chest fall in, without
doing violence to its external framework and all  its
contents.  The front bone in this figure is called* the
sternum.  The  ribs are attached backward to  the
spine or back-bone, and forward  to the  sternum by 
TIGHT LACING.
309
firm  cartilages.  When the sternum  or front-bone
is pressed in by bending over, the whole company
of ribs are also, pressed out  of place.
  The whole  trunk  should be  kept  habitually  so
erect, that the perpendicular measure of the body
from the centre of the neck downward should  be the
same, whether the line be placed in front of the body
or upon the back.  This erect position is of great
importance in relation to the vocal organs in  singing
or speaking.  A great many  throat  complaints  in
public  speakers  have  been  caused  by the  vocal
avenues being bent out of natural shape by stooping
over to read.  The  air  being forced through  these
crooked pipes, has produced on their lining mem-
branes chronic inflammation.  The bronchial mem-
branes, further down the chest, have also been injured
in the same  way.
           Plate XV.  Tight Lacing.
                    (Page 192.)
  No. 1.  On TnE External Form.   The external
form is greatly distorted by the fashion  of binding the
lower part of the chest with corded stays.  Though
the severity of this fashion has  subsided in  a large
degree, still there is  great fault justly to be found  in
the tightness of the present  dresses.   Many a female
has ruined herself for this life by trying to improve
the works of Deity in her form.
  In the figure on the  reader's left, is exhibited the
unnatural form produced by lacing.   The lower part
of the lobes  of the lungs, which need  the most room
for expansion in breathing, have the least chance for 
310
APPENDIX.
it.   And not  only the lungs, but the liver, and
diaphragm, and stomach, and heart, and pancreas, all
of which organs lie in  the  regions of the distorted
part, are more or less affected by this abuse.
  The figure on  the reader's  right represents  one
who wears easy dresses, which cannot distort nature's
taste in the  formation of the body.  Though its form
may not so well suit the fancy of one whose brains
might  be put into a very small space without being
compressed, yet to every sensible mind, and the mind
of Deity, it  would be considered far preferable.
   No. 2.   On  the Internal  Form.   This shows
the effect of lacing upon  the  internal framework
of the  chest.   The left  figure  shows the spine,
and ribs, and sternum,  in their natural and healthy
proportions.  The lower ribs are undisturbed, having
all their native elasticity for the purpose  of giving
expansion to the lower portions of the lungs, and
room also for other organs in the same region.
   The  right figure shows  the  compressed and  dis-
torted ribs, where, the lower part of the lungs  have
no freedom of action, and the breathing is  forced up
into upper portions of the lungs, where comparatively
little chance for expansion can be had.
   The  spine often suffers from  the compression of
 the chest.  The spinal   column has no natural elas-
 ticity for forming curves, except forward  and back-
 ward ;  all side-wise curvatures are, therefore, neces-
 sarily  unnatural and   diseased.   These   side-wise
 distortions  are often produced, directly or  indirectly,
 by these compressures  about the chest. 
REMARKS.
311
                    REMARKS.
  From the foregoing plates which have  here been
described, it can very easily be seen what must be the
inevitable consequences of wrong habits of eating and
drinking, and  other wrong indulgences of appetites.
If wo use  wrong  nourishment, — articles which,
though they contain nutriment,  also contain other
qualities  that are  injurious, — we  can  see  how
extensively those hurtful influences  are scattered
into every part of the system.
   The general influences of quadruped meats, in
deranging  the circulating fluids and  poisoning the
blood, are  distributed in every minute part  of the
system by every pulsation of the heart.  The blood
which contains that morbid  matter reaches its ex-
treme points of destination throughout the system,.
in less than two minutes after  it leaves the heart.
In this way particle after  particle is deposited  in
the flesh of the whole body.
   This  is  true, also, of all other morbid  matter
which enters the circulation.  The poisonous bite of
the rattlesnake, or of a  rabid animal, is in this  way,
by gradual deposits, lodged finally upon the  most
vital organs.   In this way, too, the juices of tobacco
 enter the  whole circulating system,  and  becomo
 lodged in all the substance which composes the body
 In like manner all poisonous drugs and drinks which
 enter tho stomach, work their way and saturate the
 entire flesh.
   There is a  somewhat popular idea in the minds of
 the  less intelligent, that some  degree of poison is 
312                 APPENDIX.

essential to life; that all our food has more or less
poison in it.   But the idea is very wide from the
truth. .  In the pure breadstuffs there is not a particle
of poison while in their natural state.  For instance,
there is no alcohol  in  the  rye or potato  while the
elements which compose it remain  in their present
condition.  A chemical change must take place be-
fore  alcohol can exist.  Suppose we take sugar, from
which alcohol is formed  by fermentation, and put
it into a fermenting state.
  The sugar is now composed of three fundamental
elements, Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Carbon :  each one
hundred pounds of sugar, contains about  thirty-nine
pounds  of carbon,  seven of hydrogen, and fifty-four
of oxygen.  In  this combination, nutrition largely
abounds.  But in fermentation, a part of the oxygen
and  carbon are thrown off together in the form of
carbonic acid gas; the hydrogen remains.   When the
process  is completed, one third of its carbon has de-
parted,  and two thirds  of its oxygen.  The hydrogen
now  bears a different relation to the oxygen and car-
bon  than before, making a new article, containing an
undue proportion  of hydrogen,  which is  one  of
the  most inflammable gases in the world.
  Let those know,  who indulge in alcoholic drinks,
or any other false, sensual and exciting luxury,
that they are receiving an article into the whole flesh
and  fluids of the  body  which  inflames the  whole
circulation of fluids, corrupts the flesh, and tends to
prostrate the native energies of the soul.