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blood. A brisk circulation animates the whole man; even the phlegmatic is exhilarated, when anything sets his blood in commotion; and when this takes place in an immoderate degree, the man is agitated even to delirium. These effects are well known. Continued rest weakens the circulation, till at length the blood feebly creeps through its vessels, for the heart is not of itself sufficient to give it due motion. For this, muscular movement is likewise requisite. But rest of body relaxes the muscles, diminishes the vital heat, checks perspiration, injures digestion, sickens the whole frame, and thus numberless diseases are introduced. There is not a single part of the human machine which a sedentary mode of life does not debilitate, and the nerves more especially suffer by it."

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"Generally speaking," says Ackermann,* a seden tary life is the source of all those diseases which physicians term cachectic, the number of which is considerable. Among them are jaundice, atrophy, worms, dropsy, &c., &c." For these exercise is the best remedy. strengthens the vessels," says Tissot, " preserves the fluids in a healthy state, quickens the appetite, facilitates the excretions, invigorates the spirits, and excites pleasing sensations throughout the whole nervous system." "Thus far the philosophic Plato," (quoting his eulogies of gymnastic exercises.) And Rousseau must have thought much in the same manner, when he wrote:

"The grand secret of education is to contrive that the exercise of the body and that of the mind may always serve as relaxations to each other."+-Treatise on Physical Education, by Louis Huguenin, Professor of Gymnastics. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 1839.

Monsieur Huguenin's little book is well worthy of attentive perusal, and people would do well to follow

*On the Diseases of the Learned.

† Emilius.

out the recommendations contained therein practically. The author of these "Hints" can, from personal experience, testify to the mental and corporeal benefits to be derived from a course of gymnastics. The vigour and tone imparted to the mind are surprising and delightful. Gymnastics are of benefit to the weak and the strong: the due exercise of all the voluntary, and by sympathy, or contiguity of relation, of the involuntary class of muscles, as they are called, is the better half of physic for the slighter forms of ill health; it is all but an unmixed good if common sense and discretion are only taken as guides.

Hear him further, in "giving the substance of the seven first paragraphs of Hoffman's work" (De Motu Corp. Opt. Med.-Bodily Exercise the best Medicine):

"The support of the body requires not nourishment alone, but the separation of what cannot be converted into blood; and what is daily thrown off from the blood is of this kind. This, according to Sanctorius, amounts to more than is discharged by all the other emunctories. Perspiration, then, is the principal way in which this can be effected. Consequently, all the means that are capable of promoting this, should be employed; and of these the most natural, and therefore the best, are bodily motion and exercise. Perspiration depends on the circulation of the blood. The skin is the seat of a number of small glands, which receive from the blood the particles that are to be discharged. These particles are conveyed from the glands to the pores of the skin, through which they are expelled from the system. Care must be taken, therefore, that abundance of blood be conveyed to those glands, in order to which its circulation must be promoted. This is accomplished by means of motion, one chief use of which this is. Another is the assisting of digestion, the promotion of the appetite,

the exhilaration and refreshment of body and mind. A third consists in the expulsion of pernicious humours, whence people who are accustomed to much exercise are little troubled with severe diseases, with stone, gout, ague, cachexy, dropsy, or hypochondriacism. For, to say the truth, an idle way of life, particularly where but a small portion of fluid is taken into the stomach, is the true parent of all diseases that arise from an impurity and thickness of the blood, and have obstruction of the internal parts for their basis. On the other hand, nothing in the world is a more certain and efficacious preservative, than a sufficiency of bodily motion. It excels every medicine that can be recommended for the preservation of health, and prevention of diseases; and in this view may justly be called a panacea, as it not only removes the cause of disorders, but is an effectual means of strengthening the body and keeping it in a proper tone." (Huguenin.)

Corporeal exercise, to be health-promotive in the largest degree," remarks Davis, "must not only be cheerful, and partaken of under exhilarating circumstances, not like that taken in the most solemn of all processions,' as Dr. Combe happily designates the public promenade of a ladies' boarding-school, but should be allowed to combine the various faculties in an unlaborious, easy, and somewhat playful display of agility.

The mind should be unbent and occupied with no pressing care or intense thought during the hours of exercise, which, in this way, should truly be hours of relaxation. Health has much more to do with unrestrained freedom, and a cheerfulness approaching to gaiety,-with

"Sport that wrinkled Care derides,

And Laughter, holding both his sides,'

than is generally conceived.

(L'Allegro,)

66 But, to render bodily exercise productive of the greatest benefit, another element is necessary, there must be a sufficient motive for it. A walk without an object seldom tends to the refreshment of either mind or body. It is true, in some cases, the benefit expected to be derived from the walk may itself be a sufficient stimulus to sustain the continuance of the effort without flagging; still the agreeable conversation of a friend is enough to double the benefits derived from the exercise, by maintaining a pleasing excitation in the mind, and thus administering to the instinctive desire for activity before alluded to. Those pent up in close cities, and engaged in sedentary pursuits, have a hidden treasure in the kingdoms of nature of inestimable value to them, that, like the treasure concealed in the vineyard left by the old man in the fable to his sons, only requires to be sought for in order to be enjoyed. A taste for natural beauties is within the attainment of all; and the more systematic study of natural objects will be found of the easiest acquirement where the desire for it is once lighted up in the mind. That such is the case is proved by the fact, that many of the most extensive collections of natural productions, such as birds, insects, plants, and minerals, have been made by working men during their hours of relaxation: and it is well known that it is amongst this class that gardening is, in one sense, carried to its highest perfection. There is a charm in the contemplation of Ñature of exquisite sweetness. The skill, beauties, and adaptation everywhere displayed in her productions, excite the keenest admiration; and the habitual study of them imparts to the mind such soothing sensations, such a peacefulness of thought and feeling, such a harmony of soul, as is derived from no other source. Indeed, viewing nature in this light, its capabilities, and the boundless extent and variety of its

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objects, which no mind even confined to a narrow sphere of earth can ever exhaust in its own field alone, seem to point it out as designed to be the grand corrective of the errors and excesses of civilized life, as a shoreless sea of delight, ever at hand, and ever suited for civilized man to lave his weary powers in, and thus to be continually refreshed and reinvigorated.

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"It is one of M. Fellenberg's admirable principles, that there is no health, no vigour of mind, no virtue, without bodily exertion'; and his plans of instruction are founded upon this just axiom."

"The effects of muscular activity must be to call up into action all other parts-the heart, the lungs, the brain and nervous system, the stomach, and digestive system, and every organ of the body. It is in this way that muscular exercise serves to strengthen the entire œconomy. Organic action is not only augmented in the parts immediately put in exercise, but every other receives by reflection a fresh impulse. Digestion is promoted, the absorption of the chyle and its further assimilation is facilitated, respiration is excited, the circulation is quickened, the heart itself being strengthened by the same means that invigorate every other organ; for although the circulation through the tissue of the heart is distinct from that of the system in general, it is so arranged as to take place simultaneously with the latter. Lastly, the great function of nutrition, which builds up every structure of the frame, is carried on with such alacrity that every part acquires an increase of size and strength. The heaving of the chest, and alternate contraction and relaxation of the muscles of the belly too, which assist in the act of respiration, promotes the peristaltic motions of the intestinal canal, and in this natural way supersedes the use of that host of pills and potions with which the seden

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