Page images
PDF
EPUB

other will be exhausted in half an hour, and yet the constitutional disposition to health may be the same in both.

It is true that we are in the habit of considering an athletic form as indicative of robust health, and there is certainly a greater appearance of vital energy in a strong, muscular frame than in one more delicately formed. But, upon speaking of health in the abstract, we find that it often accompanies a person of delicate form through a period of eighty or ninety years. Existence is rendered quite as agreeable, in this case, as in that of the athletic form.

When all the humors and solids of a system are thus well balanced—no preponderance of blood, bile, lymph, or adipose matter-the brain, partaking equally of this happy distribution of organic pabulum is, of course, in a healthy state likewise. It is in this diathesis that we may hope to see that rare and beautiful combination,― good temper, good nature, and good humor. In young children, of perfectly healthy diathesis there is no ill-temper nor fretfulness; if they are peevish or cross, as the term is, it is entirely owing to some visceral or dental disturbance, and their temper would always remain in this equitable state were it not for injudicious treatment. Dr. Combe has some admirable suggestions on this head.

To be perfectly free from pain is of itself great enjoyment, and in addition to this blessing come all the minor pleasures of which a body free from disease enablesus to partake, -innocent pleasures to which a vitiated diathesis is insensible. To a person in good health the most trifling object and circumstance in nature are capable of exerting agreeable ideas, and surely, if the mind is filled with pleasant thoughts, it is of no importance whether they arise from the sound of a waterfall, the song of a bird, the whistle of a ploughman, the laugh of a child, the dashing of oars on the water, or from the possession of all the luxuries which unbounded wealth can bestow.

It may be said that perfect health does not render a man less liable to commit crime or folly. Of course not; but we are speaking now of temper, not morals. We speak of a disposition to be pleased with objects within our reach, which costs nothing, and the gratification of which annoys no one. A hardworking man, who gets nothing but his day-wages, if he have health, can enjoy the same agreeable thoughts as the rich man, who has a million in his coffers. After all that

has been said and written on this subject, what is happiness but a mind filled with agreeable ideas; if no carking care lurks there, and intrudes every now and then, so as to break up this pleasant association, a poor man is as happy as a king. If happiness is purchased at so cheap a rate, the poor man has it in his power to dispense it to those around him; and, on the score of charity alone, he does as much good with the pittance he bestows, as the man who can afford to give largely.

A healthy diathesis shows itself at once in the sparkle of the eye, the expression of the face, the erectness of the body, and the elasticity of the step. The pulse is not a good criterion of this diathesis, it does not inform us of the actual state of the system, for it may be quick or slow, and yet the constitution perfectly sound. How many there are who could be exempt from disease if they would not tamper with good health. If they would only eat and drink moderately, and take exercise on every fair occasion, they could enjoy life doubly, for where a disordered constitution has one agreeable moment, the healthy one enjoys a thousand. With a healthy diathesis a man needs no physician, medicine cannot make it better, and it is best to let very well alone.

Those persons refine too much who advise us not to keep such a vigilant guard over the health of our body. There are others, also, who strongly urge us to turn all our attention to the welfare of our souls. To neglect the latter is to prove ourselves viciously idiotic; but, there is no doubt of the fact, that he who has a gnawing pain, or a constantly irritating disease, or even one of a trifling nature, which is sufficiently active to make the mind aware of its presence, is not half so sensible of its spiritual wants and obligations, as if the system were in perfect health. There are examples, and bright ones too, where great bodily suffering has purified the soul; but surely, in the great majority of cases, the pains of the body drag the thoughts earthward. We think of little else but to obtain relief from the intensity of suffering, for the mind is incapable of admitting thoughts of a purely spiritual or exalted nature, while the paroxysm of pain is upon us.

If the man in perfect health does not keep his eye heavenward, he will be less entitled to mercy for his faults than those that are bowed down with disease. God will certainly look with greater pity on a poor creature who has been suffering for a whole life-time under a painful and loathsome

disease. The very light of heaven, the tenderness of friends, the endearments of children, are all distasteful to a man who is in anguish of body. He can enjoy nothing. He is only alive to the misery of his situation. If, under such afflicting circumstances, he can preserve his integrity and his equanimity, he accomplishes more than the mightiest conqueror, for he has conquered himself.

To be virtuous, therefore, is comparatively easy to the man in sound health, for the care of his body does not constantly occupy his mind. He is not called off from some patriotic, or benevolent, or other great purpose, to watch the state of his stomach. He is only too happy in forgetting that he has a stomach at all. Thousands and thousands of useful and agreeable things a healthy person can do without any drawback; rains do not annoy him, damps do not chill him, heat does not oppress him, nor cold depress him, dews do not bring on asthma nor rheumatism, for there is a power of resistance within him which wards off all external atmospheric

annoyances.

He who estimates health rightly will feel how much more responsible he is, both to God and his fellow creatures, than if he were in constant pain. Seeing how much more time a man has who is not for ever called upon to keep his system in order, he should surely be willing to bestow some portion of this time and of his healthful thoughts on others who are less favored. Of what possible advantage to the community is this excess, this superfluity of health, if he reserve it solely for the purpose of pampering his own bodily senses. Where much health is given, depend upon it, much is required; and if a man be made of the right material, he will be grateful that the opportunity is given him to lighten the burthens of others less favored.

It may be conjectured that there are but few who possess this healthy diathesis; but this is not so. If we look round amongst our friends and acquaintances, we shall find whole families that scarcely ever have an hour's illness, some slight head-ache, perhaps, but no constant morbid action in the system. It is strictly correct, therefore, to class health as a diathesis; and, as it is most to be coveted, it is proper to place it the first on the list. We shall now proceed to the second, the vitiated diathesis.

2. Vitiated diathesis.-This does not arise from congenital or hereditary disturbance, neither is it brought on by atmo

[blocks in formation]

spheric or other natural causes. It arises solely from an abuse of the healthy diathesis, and, as it embraces so large a class of the community, and has a strong bearing on morals and religion, it should be examined with minute attention, and with an earnest desire to seek for a remedy.

A vitiated diathesis is not made up of derangement of one or more viscera, organ, or tissue. It is no specific disease, nor is it, as we before observed, a constitutional disturbance. All the peculiarities of the other diatheses run into this one, so that every part of the system is attacked, either separately or together.

As this diathesis arises from an abuse of the healthy one, persons of every variety of complexion, hair, and skin, are prone to it; and though a person may have originally possessed a sound constitution, yet his abuse of it renders him liable to all the diseases which exist separately in the other diatheses. He will, by turns, have gout, rheumatism, dropsy, jaundice, and scrofula, and sometimes such a complication of them as to render life truly miserable; and to all these add poverty, for a man who has run through a course of excesses so as to bring his body down to so low an ebb, generally contrives to bring his fortunes down to an equality with it.

It is generally the very young and thoughtless who make these inroads on their health and purse; and their case is truly a hard one, when we consider that by far the greater number might have been saved if they had met with judicious friends. We look back to the promising, early days of many a poor creature, who has not now a vestige of humanity left. Though broken down by poverty and disease, we remember when he rioted in health and riches-when his joyous feelings burst forth in song and anecdote. For every song, there is now a sigh; for every flash of wit, a groan. Whatever may have produced this excess of disturbance in the nervous, the bilious, or the rheumatic diathesis, we know that there was no systematic abuse of the constitution, and we are inclined to commiserate him deeply. But towards the victim of a vitiated diathesis, what can we feel but disgust and contempt? A broken-down man of this description is despised and neglected even by his own relatives, for it is the most degraded state of existence in the world. It is, in short, a diathesis which excites no sympathy, and for which the physician can do nothing, as there is a constant relapsing into vicious habits.

The most extraordinary part of the history of such persons is, their unwillingness to give up those stimulants which have vitiated the system. One man will be thrown into a nervous state of the most frightful character by the excessive use of tobacco; yet he persists in using it. Nay, there are others who inhale the smoke of this pernicious weed in such quantities that it gets into the circulation, and the exudations from the pores become so offensive as to poison the atmosphere of the room. Even the breath becomes affected, and consequently it is very unpleasant to those who are compelled to go near it. It is the duty of all to avoid every thing which may offend those who are compelled, by ties of consanguinity or friendship, to be constantly near them. Those, however, who use stimulants to excess, lose their fine sensibilities as the habit increases, and they become utterly indifferent as to the feelings of others.

But it is not smoking, alone, which injures the constitution; for chewing, although it does not produce such a baneful fetor of the breath, yet it is pernicious in its effects on the system. It vitiates the saliva, and renders it unfit for the purposes of deglutition; in consequence of which, the food is not properly prepared for the digestive process. If an habitual tobacco chewer knew the value of the secretions which he dares not swallow, he would never poison it with the extract of tobacco. In spite of all his care, a certain quantity of tobacco juice will get into the stomach; and a single drop never goes there without producing some derangement in the digestive process.

Next to alcohol, tobacco has done more towards vitiating the constitution than any other species of sensual indulgence. Women, in general, set their faces against this odious and unpleasant practice of using tobacco, and exert their influence to prevent it. Lovers sometimes make a faint show of obedience, but only until they become husbands; they then compensate themselves for the privation by throwing off all restraint. We must be excused for having dwelt so long on this disgusting topic; the practice of using tobacco, particularly in smoking, has so much increased of late, it required to be rebuked.

Because this poisonous weed does not kill instanter, we doubt of its being deleterious. We may be certain, however, that it is surely, though silently, undermining the constitution. Many are the cases of paralysis and of visceral

« PreviousContinue »