society, as will excite men to reflect upon the inevitable consequences of their present course of living, through which their constitutions are gradually mouldering away. If such reflections impel them to check the impetuosity of their sensual desires, there will he some hope of their becoming sensible how much influence, received custom, or rooted habit, possess in blinding the judgment, and disabling it from distinguishing between what is, and what is not, according to those laws, obedience to which can alone insure sound health and length of life. CAUSES OF HEALTH AND DISEASE. "For this the watchful appetite was given, Daily with fresh materials to repair This unavoidable expense of life, This necessary waste of flesh and blood.”—ARMSTRONG. THE material point for consideration appears to be, What constitutes the difficulty of obtaining sound health and length of life? Those who have a knowledge of the structure of the human frame, cannot be strangers to the fact, that life proceeds by a constant wasting of the body, and a and a constant reparation out of the blood; the former occasioned by bodily exertion, the latter by eating and drinking. The exciting powers used in replenishing the body, should therefore be called into exercise to such a degree as to supply the waste, acting neither too feebly nor too powerfully; for so closely are the various functions of the body connected with each other, that, if any one of them be disturbed, the rest will be injuriously affected. If our mode of living were agreeable to nature, all the functional organs would partake of the benefit, which would be at once recognized by their healthy and concordant action. The liability of the human frame, therefore, to alternate depression and excitement, and consequent derangement of its functional powers, rests entirely with ourselves, and arises solely from causes under our own control. These causes may be arranged under the following heads :— 1. Excess and defect of diet. 4. The various affections of the mind, from the influence of the passions. All these tend to disturb that equability of action so essential to the preservation of health. From the disturbance of this equability of action by these means, arise disease, and with it death, which often takes place long before the period assigned by nature. On the contrary, the preservation of this equability of action, by such a manner of living as will daily restore to the blood the exact amount of its waste, will infallibly secure health, and health's natural consequence, length of life. Few will deny that disease and premature death formed no part of the Deity's design in the creation of man. It has nevertheless been represented to be almost impossible to preserve this equability of action for any length of time. To this opinion, unfortunately, some of the faculty have subscribed, asserting that there exist many adverse influences, from which we can never depend upon being protected, thus affording injurious encouragement to the indolence of our nature, and confirming in indifference those who otherwise might be disposed to make some effort for the amelioration of their physical condition. The causes which are fatal to the attainment of perpetual health and length of life, are, by these "blind leaders of the blind," declared to be beyond the control of man! It is not necessary to enter into an elaborate examination of the merits of such a doctrine; I will simply put it to the good sense of my readers, whether they can give a moment's credence to a position so directly at variance with the dictates of their understandings? Is it not within the power of man to observe and judge of the quantity and quality of his diet? To consume no more at his meals than nature demands? To avoid inhaling a confined, impure, or otherwise unwholesome air? To take daily active exercise? To rise early in the morning, and to retire to rest early at night? To insure the proper discharge of sensible and insensible perspiration, by exercise and daily ablutions of the body? To refrain from taking deleterious medicine? and to pay strict regard to the alvine exonerations? If these things are within his control (as most assuredly they are,) then the position, that continued health is not maintainable, falls at once to the ground; for, in the whole catalogue of diseases, there is scarcely one, (if we except epidemics, contagion, and hereditary constitutional tendencies,) that is not occasioned by the non-observance of these cardinal rules. The diseases arising from accidental causes, are of so slight a nature, that, if proper means be adopted, the consequent derangement will speedily cease, and the health essentially remain undisturbed. Now, to shut one's eyes against the light of evidences so irresistible, and that in a matter of such vital concern, is, I maintain, little short of criminal; and certainly he who does not believe that health and length of life are within our reach, when following the strict, though simple, line of living prescribed by C |