Analysis of Articles of Food in their Natural State. CLEANLINESS. To keep the body in a cleanly condition is the third important requisite for health. This becomes necessary in consequence of a very important process which is constantly going on near and upon the surface of the body. none all carbonates One of the most notable checks which perspiration experiences is that produced by a current of cold air upon the skin, in which case the pores instantly contract and close, and the individual is seized with some ailment either in one or the other of the organs of waste, The process in question is that of perspira- whichever is in him the weakest, or in the intion. The matter here concerned is a watery ternal lining of some part of the body, all of secretion produced by glands near the surface which is sympathetic with the condition of the of the body, and sent up through the skin by skin. A result of the nature of that last channels imperceptibly minute and wonderfully described is usually recognized as a cold or numerous. From one to two pounds of this catarrh. We are not at present called on parsecretion is believed to exude through these channels, or pores, in the course of twenty-four hours, being, in fact, the chief form taken by what is called the waste of the system, the remainder passing off by the bowels, kidneys, and lungs. To promote the egress of this fluid is of great consequence to health; for, when it is suppressed, disease is apt to fall upon some of the other organs concerned in the discharge of waste, ticularly to notice such effects of checked perspiration, but others of a less immediately hurtful or dangerous nature. The fluid alluded to is composed, besides water, of certain salts and animal matters, which, being solid, do not pass away in vapor, as does the watery part of the compound, but rest on the surface where they have been discharged. There, if not removed by some artificial means, they form a layer of hard stuff, Ablution or washing is the best means of attaining this end; and accordingly it is well for us to wash or bathe the body very frequently. Many leave by far the greater part of their bodies unwashed, except, perhaps, on rare occasions, thinking it enough if the parts exIf posed to common view be in decent trim. the object of cleaning were solely to preserve fair appearances, this might be sufficient; but the great end, it must be clearly seen, is to keep the skin in a fit state for its peculiar and very important functions. Frequent change of the clothing next to the skin is of course a great aid to cleanliness, and may partly be esteemed as a substitute for bathing, seeing that the clothes absorb much of the impurities, and, when changed, may be said to carry these off. But still this will not serve the end nearly so well as frequent ablution of the whole person. Anyone will be convinced of this, who goes into a bath, and uses the fleshbrush in cleansing his body. The quantity of scurf and impurity which he will then remove, from even a body which has changes of linen once a day, will surprise him. and unavoidably impede the egress of the cur- the palpable effect of exercise upon the skin; but rent perspiration. By cleanliness is merely many are not aware that the sensible perspirameant the taking proper means to prevent this tion is but an increase of an insensible peror any other matter accumulating on the sur-spiration which is unceasingly poured out from face, to the production of certain hurtful con- myriads of little pores-the mouths of the sweat glands and the oil glands of the skin. sequences. The ordinary insensible perspiration is continually freeing us from a mass of impurity which cannot be retained in our system without inConvert the insensible perspiration into jury. sensible, by exercise, and produce moderate sweating, and if the clothing be rational, you will give off to the winds the cause of many a headache and gloomy thoughts. Now this increased skin secretion must come from somewhere; and so it does, for the increased exertion causes increased wear and tear of system; every step works up tissue; and muscles, blood vessels, nerves, are all used quicker than when there is no action. Off go these used-up matters, probably the worst first, through lungs and skin, as fast as they can, and the man begins to feel this waste, for from all sides there are telegraphs to the stomach for supplies, and he finds himself getting excessively hungry, the dinner hour very welcome, and the formerly capricious stomach ready for anything; and so new supplies go in to supply the place of the old used-up works, and the physical man is greatly renovated taken to pieces, as it were, and built up again. 1. In order that exercise may be truly advantageous, the parts must be in a state of sufficient health to endure the exertion. In no case must exercise be carried beyond what the parts are capable of bearing with ease; otherwise a loss of energy, instead of a gain, will be the consequence. EXERCISE. Bodily exercise is absolutely essential to the The human body maintenance of good health. may be regarded as a complex machine, the so beautifully various parts of which are adapted to each other, that, if one be disThe bones and musturbed, all must suffer. cles are the portions of the frame on which motion most depends. There are four hundred muscles in the body, each of which has certain functions to perform that cannot be disturbed without danger to the whole, and it is a wise provision of nature that the more these muscles are exercised the stronger do they become; hence it is that laborers are stronger and more muscular than persons whose lives are passed in easy or sedentary occupations. Besides strengthening the limbs, muscular exercise has a most beneficial influence on respiration and the circulation of the blood. "ExerSays a distinguished medical writer: cise tells by inciting both heart and lungs to increased action and energy, and this, done in a pure air, is great gain to the purification of the blood; but exercise does much more, for not only are the lungs, with their large capacity for air, great purifiers, but the skin is little All know less effective towards the same end. 2. Exercise to be efficacious, even in a healthy subject, must be excited, sustained, and directed by that nervous stimulus which gives the muscles the principal part of their strength, and contributes so much to the nutrition of parts in a state of activity. 3. The waste occasioned by exercise must be duly replaced by food; as, if there be any deficiency in that important requisite, the blood will soon cease to give that invigoration to the parts upon which increased health and strength depend. Kinds of Bodily Exercise.-- Exercise is usually considered as of two kinds-active and passive. The active consists in walking, running, leaping, riding, fencing, rowing, skating, swimming, dancing, and various exercises, such as those with the poles, ropes, etc., prescribed in gymnastic institutions. The passive consists in carriage-riding, sailing, friction, swinging, etc. Walking is perhaps the readiest mode of tak ing exercise, and the one most extensively resorted to. If it brought the upper part of the body as thoroughly into exertion as the lower, it would be perfect, for it is gentle and safe with nearly all except the much debilitated. To render it the more effectual in the upper part of the body it were well to walk at all times, when convenient, singly and allow the arms and trunk free play. It is best to walk with a companion, or for some definite object, as the flow of nervous energy will be by these means promoted, and the exercise be rendered, as has been already explained, the more serviceable. Very long or rapid walks should not be attempted by individuals of sedentary habits, nor by weakly persons. Their frames are totally unprepared for such violent exertion. Running as an Exercise.— Among the means which nature has bestowed on animals in general for the preservation and enjoyment of life, running is the most important. Since, then, it is pointed out to us by nature, it must be in a high degree innocent. It is very singular that we should apparently do all we can which, fortunately, is not much to make our children unlearn the art of running. Our earliest physical treatment of them seems calculated to destroy their aptitude for it; in a little time, it is too often the case that the city boy scarcely dares look as if he wished to run, we prohibit it so strongly as vulgar, and when he is more grown up gentility steps in and prohibits it altogether. Medical prejudices and our own convenience contribute likewise their share, and never allow our children, boys and girls, to acquire an art innocent of itself and necessary to all. It is possible that a person may get injury from running, but the fault is not in the exercise, but in the person who runs without having had proper training and practice. Running should only be practiced in cool weather; as, for instance, in the late fall, winter, and early spring months. The clothing should be light, the head bare, and the neck uncovered. As soon as the exercise is finished, warm clothing should be put on and gentle exercise continued for some time. It is not necessary to have a race course. The teacher of a school may take his pupils into the fields and find suitable ground for them. Then his pupils may exercise their bodies in other ways, acquire strength, agility, health, and the capacity of continued exertion; the will is brought into play vigorously, which is a great aid in the battle of life. Care must be taken not to overdo, and thus, perhaps for life, weaken or injure the heart. The race, at first, should be short and fre quently repeated, rather than long, and full speed should not be attempted for some time. Running is well adapted to young and middle aged persons, but not to those who are fat. Sedentary persons may find great benefit in it after the day's work is ended. If they live in cities, a quiet spot in the park may be selected, and short trials adapted to the strength entered into. Invalids may do the same thing, only they must be more careful than the robust never to over-exert themselves. Girls may run as well as boys, and, while they cannot go so fast, they can race much more gracefully and beautifully. Indeed, there can be few more attractive sights than that of a race between beautiful girls from ten to twelve years of age. After maturity, the change in the formation of the bones of the pelvis in girls renders running less easy and graceful. In ancient Greece girls were trained to run races as well as boys, and to their superb physical culture was in great part due the grandeur and beauty of Greek life during the years of their ascendency. The modern style of dress for young women is also entirely unsuited to running. Fencing is of all active exercises that which is the most commendable, inasmuch as it throws open the chest, and at the same time calls into action the muscles both of the upper and lower extremities. Add to this that it improves very much the carriage of the body; for which reason it may be reckoned a branch of polite education. Dancing is exhilarating and healthful, and seems to be almost the only active exercise which the despotic laws of fashion permit young ladies to enjoy. Rope Jumping. As the cool weather approaches the jumping rope may be more and more in the hands of girls. Properly used it is not an objectionable plaything. But children cannot be too frequently cautioned against jumping against time or competing to see who can jump the greatest number of times without stopping. Repose a Condition Demanded by Exercise.- Exercise demands occasional periods of repose, and, in particular, that a certain part of every twenty-four hours be spent in sleep. After having been engaged in daily occupations for fourteen or sixteen hours, a general feeling of fatigue and weakness is induced; the motions of the body become difficult, the senses confused, the power of volition or will suspended, and the rest of the mental faculties, becoming more and more inactive, sink at length into a state of unconsciousness. The sense of sight first ceases to act by the closing of the eyelids; then the senses of taste and smell become dormant; and then those of hearing and touch. The muscles, also, dispose themselves with a certain reference to ease of position, those of the limbs having grown indolent before those that support the head, and those that support the head before those of the trunk. In proportion as these phenomena proceed, the respiration becomes slower and more deep, the circulation diminishes in impetus, the blood proceeds in great quantity toward the head, and all the functions of the internal organs become retarded. In this state, shut out as it were from the external world, the mind still retains its wonted activity, deprived, however, of the guidance of judgment and the power of distinct recollection; in consequence of which, it does not perceive the monstrous incongruities of the imagery which sweeps before it, and takes but faint cognizance of the time which elapses. It may be laid down as an axiom, that the more uninterrupted sleep is, the more refreshing and salutary will be its effects; for during this period, the body undoubtedly acquires an accession of nervous energy, which restlessness, however induced, must disturb; and therefore the state of the body before going to sleep, the kind of bed, and the manner of clothing, require especial attention. As the functions of the body are performed more slowly during our sleeping than our waking hours, a full meal or supper, taken immediately before going to bed, imposes a load on the stomach which it is not in a condition to digest, and the unpleasant consequence of oppressive and harassing dreams is almost, certain to ensue. When the sleeper lies on his back, the heart pressing, while pulsating, on the lungs, gives rise to a sense of intolerable oppression on the chest, which seems to bear down upon the whole body, so that in this painful state not a muscle will obey the impulse of the will, and every effort to move appears to be altogether unavailing. This constitutes incubus or nightmare; and it may be observed, that, as acidity on the stomach, or indigestion, gives rise to such dreams, so all dreams of this disturbed character are converse indications of indigestion; for which reason the great physiologist Haller considered dreaming to be a symptom of disease. The kind of bed on which we repose requires attention. Some are advocates for soft, others for hard, beds; hence some accustom themselves to feather beds, others to mattresses. The only difference between a soft and a hard bed is this that the weight of the body in a soft bed presses on a larger surface than on a hard bed, and thereby a greater degree of comfort is enjoyed. Parents err in fancying that a very hard bed contributes to harden the constitution of their children; for which reason they lay them down on mattresses, or beds with boarded bottoms. A, bed for young children cannot be too soft, provided the child does not sink into it in such a manner that the surrounding parts of the bed bend over and cover the body. The too great hardness of beds, says Dr. Darwin, frequently proves injurious to the shape of infants, by causing them to rest on too few parts at a time; it also causes their sleep to be uneasy and unrefreshing. Whatever be the time chosen for sleep, it is evident that no person can with impunity convert day into night. Eight o'clock for children, and eleven for adults, may be recommended as good hours for retiring to rest. It is well known that children require more sleep than adults; and more sleep is requisite in winter than in summer. The average duration of sleep which may be recommended for adults is eight hours; but much depends upon habit, and many persons require only six. It is scarcely necessary to observe that, on rising in the morning, the strictest attention should be paid to washing the face, neck, and hands; the mouth and teeth should also be well cleansed. The most simple powder for the teeth is finely brayed charcoal, a little of which will clear away all impurities, and preserve the teeth. On leaving the bedroom, the windows should be opened, and the clothes of the bed turned down, in order that the exhalations of the body during sleep may be dissipated. If, instead of this, the bed be made immediately after we have risen, these exhalations are again folded up with the clothes — a practice which is not consonant either with cleanliness or health. Re Overworking the Undeveloped Brain. "Overwork," properly so-called, can only occur when the organ upon which the stress of the labor falls is as yet immature, and, therefore, in process of development. When an organ has reached the maturity of its growth it can only work up to the level of its capacity or faculty for work! Fatigue may produce exhaustion, but that exhaustion will come soon enough to save the organ. peated "efforts " may, under abnormal conditions, follow each other too rapidly to allow of recuperation in the intervals of actual exertion, and as the starting point will, in each successive instance, be lower than the previous state, there may be a gradual abasement; but even this process should not seriously injure a healthy and well developed organ. In short, a great deal of nonsense has been said and written about the "overwork" of mature brains, and there are grounds for believing that tion to each other. As with the bodily powers, the mental are to be increased in magnitude and energy by a degree of exercise measured with a just regard to their ordinary health and native or habitual energies. Corresponding, moreover, to the influence which the mind has in giving the nervous stimulus so useful in bodily exercise, is the dependence of the mind upon the body for supplies of healthy nutriment; and, in like manner with the bodily functions, each mental faculty is only to be strengthened by the exercise of itself in particular. The excessive use of an immature organ arrests its development by diverting the energy which should be appropriated to its growth, and consuming it in work. What happens to horses which are allowed to run races too early happens to boys and girls who are overworked It ought to be universally known, that the at school. The competitive system as applied uses of our intellectual nature are not to be to youths has produced a most ruinous effect properly realized without a just regard to on the mental constitution which this genera- the laws of that perishable frame with which tion has to hand down to the next, and it is connected; that, in cultivating the mind, particularly the next but one ensuing. School we must neither overtask nor undertask the work should be purely and exclusively directed to development. "Cramming" the young for examination purposes is like compelling an infant in arms to sit up before the muscles of its back are strong enough to support it in the upright position, or to sustain the weight of its body on its legs by standing while as yet the limbs are unable to bear the burden imposed on them. A crooked spine or weak or contorted legs is the inevitable penalty of such folly. Another blunder is committed when one of the organs of the body to wit, the brain is worked at the expense of other parts of the organism, in face of the fact that the measure of general health is proportioned to the integrity of development, and the functional activity of the body as a whole in the harmony of its component systems. No one organ can be developed at the expense of the rest without a corresponding weakening of the whole. body, neither push it to too great a speed, nor leave it neglected; and that, notwithstanding this intimate connection and mutual dependence, the highest merits on the part of the mind will not compensate for muscles mistreated, or soothe a nervous system which severe study has tortured into insanity. To come to detail, it ought to be impressed on all, that to spend more than a moderate number of hours in mental exercise diminishes insensibly the powers of future application, and tends to abbreviate life; that no mental exercise should be attempted immediately after meals, as the processes of thought and of digestion cannot be safely prosecuted together; and that, without a due share of exercise to the whole of the mental faculties, there can be no soundness in any, while the whole corporeal system will give way beneath a severe pressure upon any one in particular. These are truths completely established with physiologists, and upon which it is undeniable that a great portion of human happiness depends. Mental Exercise. The same rules and regulations by which exercise may be serviceable to the physical system, hold good respecting the mental faculties. These, as is gener- THE HUMAN PULSE. ally allowed, however immaterial in one sense, The phenomenon known as the arterial are connected organically with the brain- a pulse or arterial pulsation is due to the distenportion of the animal system nourished by the | tion of the arteries consequent upon the inter- ! same blood, and regulated by the same vital mittent injection of blood into their trunks, laws, as the muscles, bones, and nerves. As, and the subsequent contraction which results by disuse, muscle becomes emaciated, bone softens, blood vessels are obliterated, and nerves lose their natural structure, so, by disuse, does the brain fall out of its proper state, and create misery to its possessor; and as, by over-exertion, the waste of the animal system exceeds the supply, and debility and unsoundness are produced, so, by over-exertion, are the functions of the brain liable to be deranged and destroyed. The processes are physiologically the same, and the effects bear an exact rela from the elasticity of their walls. It is perceptible to the touch in all excepting very minute arteries, and, in exposed positions, is visible to the eye. The pulse is usually examined at the radial artery at the wrist, the advantages of that position being that the artery is very superficial, and that it is easily compressed against the bone. It is usual and convenient, though not quite accurate, to include under the term the conditions observed between the beats, as well as those produced by them. |