"On his bare breast, the chilling dews descend; Many kinds of brute animals are slenderly guarded from the cold, and yet they will remain in the open air, on the damp ground, throughout a frosty night. We are continually willing to go beyond our previous enjoyments; and thus we add to our comforts while we weaken our capabilities. In the reign of Henry II., the floors, even in the houses of nobles, were covered only with straw or hay, and in summer with rushes or green leaves. The custom of strewing flowers at a coronation was derived from this practice. But now a room is supplied with every thing calculated to produce softness and ease. He that has accustomed himself to many indulgences can hardly live without them; but the effects are exceedingly injurious. "Luxury," says Hugo, "is an enticing pleasure, which hath honey in her mouth, gall in her heart, and a sting in her tail." A few simple precepts are necessary for the preservation of health. The feet should be kept dry. "The head cool, and the feet warm," has been an axiom among physicians in all ages. The North American Indians, when they lie around their fires in the woods at night, place their feet towards the burning fuel. The wearing of thin shoes, and cool stockings in the winter, is injurious. Hose were formerly made of cloth. Silk and cotton, for this purpose, are only of recent introduction, and these are allowable only in the summer. Above all things, a person should be cautious of putting on damp linen, or sleeping in damp sheets. The best method of detecting the latter is to have the bed warmed, and then to introduce a lookingglass, which, if the sheets be damp, will be immediately covered with vapour. It is usual with many persons to wear flannel within their other garments. This is beneficial for an aged or a weakly person, but it is rather too great an indulgence for a young and healthy man; however, if it have been adopted, it should not be discontinued, Flannel should be worn only in the day, otherwise it will be perpetually damp; and besides this, flannel is not required at night. In the day we are exposed to heat and cold; we use exercise, or we are inactive; flannel keeps the temperature of the body during these changes comparatively even. As the summer's clothing should be as scanty as possible, that a larger quantity may be enjoyed in the winter, so the spring of life should be attended with few indulgences, that the autumn may be favoured with additional comforts. Many evils have arisen from the practice of wearing tight and inappropriate clothing. The Chinese exhibit an example of this sort. They compress the feet of the female children, and this affects the muscles and tendons of the leg, and the circulation of the whole body; so that the health and lives of these unfortunate persons are considerably abridged. It is equally unreasonable to bind or restrict any other part of the body. Shall a man be considered a better workman than nature? Is he a better judge of proportion? The fact is, that if one part be compressed, it will occasion a protrusion in some other part. And thus the practice of tight lacing distorts the vertebræ, oppresses the lungs and the kidneys, the stomach and the intestines. It occasions, very frequently, indigestion, cough, consumption, deformity, and 'sometimes sudden death. The Lacedæmonian women would never allow a bandage to be put about their children; consequently their families grew up in vigour and good proportion. If, in any case, the Supreme Being should not have made the human frame symmetrical, men can do little towards improving it. Nature should be left alone, and then there will be (except in cases of accidents) but very few defects. Beauty of proportion does not require the form of the female to resemble that of a bag of down tied tightly in the middle! And for the male to assume this form is still more ridiculous. A stiffened, tight-laced dandy is, of all things, the most disgusting. It ought to be expelled from the society of civilised beings! A large and stiff cravat, or, as some persons are accustomed to wear, a bundle of neckcloths, is very injurious; it keeps the blood-vessels of the head in a state of distention. This is dangerous for persons disposed to apoplexy, and disadvantageous in all cases; for it clogs the brain, and deadens the mental powers. The arteries, being within, are not so much affected by the pressure; consequently they carry up a large quantity of blood to the head; but the veins, being without, are partially closed; the return of the blood, therefore, is retarded in the same proportion. Lord Byron was accustomed to wear a cravat, but he discovered that it affected his intellectual powers, and he abandoned it altogether. It will be proper, then, to avoid great and unnecessary exposure, but not to occasion delicacy. We must not burden ourselves with clothing in the heat of summer, nor shiver in scanty garments among frost and snow. We must not contract or oppress the body. We must follow, not oppose, nature; and these rules we must put in practice, if we would preserve our health. CHAP. VI. THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. AIR, ETC. THE atmosphere by which we are surrounded, and on which our lives are dependent, being invisible, is too frequently forgotten. We seldom reflect, that a trifling alteration in the proportion of its gases would occasion a serious inconvenience. If the quantity of air were lessened we should gasp for life, and if it were withdrawn we should die. The fact is, we must either respire or expire. The snail and the chameleon will live without food for many months; but if they be placed in a vacuum they will instantly die. The oxygen of the atmosphere, which is received by the lungs, is extracted and united with the blood. It is, therefore, on the quality of the air that the purity of the blood depends. From the blood are derived the other fluids of the body, and from the fluids are formed the solids; consequently, an impure atmosphere operates as a poison throughout all the system. The atmosphere usually consists of twenty-two parts of oxygen, and seventy-eight of nitrogen or azote. This proportion does not essentially vary; for experiments which have been made on mountains and in valleys, on the ocean and on plains, have exhibited nearly the same result. This |