HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.

exigencies of ordinary life. In disease, the vital energies are absorbed in remedial efforts, which render it especially important that the

feeble and diseased should have plenty of sleep. This postulate, I adopt without the fear of sucHealth is a good thing to have in the family. Sleeplessness, though generally dependent upon cessful contradiction, but for the benefit of some other lesion, may become a disease of itself. When habitual, or frequent in recur- boast its skeptics-I venture an argument. skeptics on this point-and what point can not rence, it is fraught with more or less danger. It is the precursor of insanity, and should it not ultimate in that, it soon prepares the system for the easy invasion of other intractable and dangerous affections.

There are many remedies for vigilance known to physicians, which are more or less effective,

That happiness is a good thing to have, both in and out of the family, will not be disputed by any sane person; if, then, I can prove health and happiness to be identical, my proposition will be established.

condition is attainable without health. Perfect

be no such thing as perfect happiness. Whether I contend. then, that without, health, there can but the mention of them here would be of little happiness consists of mere contentment or benefit to the general reader, for their exhib ition would be unsafe unless under the doctor's something more active, matters little, as neither direction. As domestic measures I would sug; physical ease and absolute mental placidity, as a gest the following: Keep the stomach in as good habit, are conditions that can not by any possia condition as possible by the use of digestible, nutritious food, regularity of meals and delibe- bility find lodgment in a diseased body or mind. This is self evident, since the slightest departure rate mastication. Have a regular time for from ease of body or mind, is evidence of morretiring, for rising, for evacuating the bowels, bid activity in some part of the economy. It is for everything. Be active, hopeful, cheerful, no true, that an individual who, by common assent, matter what trials may fall to your lot. Some is healthy and contented, may frequently, owing will object that these directions sound very to his external relations suffer mental disquiepretty, but that they are impracticable. Not so tude, or even anguish. This concession I make -habit is a powerful thing; it is second nature, under protest, however, for it is a question with and it is possible for us to cultivate almost any me whether, if an individual is properly conhabit, no difference what may be our tempera- stituted and perfectly developed in every part, it ment or disposition. If we make cheerfulness is possible for him to really suffer in body or a duty-a principle, and address ourselves to mind on account of the acts or conditions of its cultivation earnestly and energetically, we others. Unfortunate occurrences in his social will sooner or later be habitually jolly. circle may give play to certain legitimate passions Perhaps there are no greater sleep-breakers or impulses of his nature, the existence of than anger, despondency and mental disturbance which, in the popular mind, is the presence of -that is why I put so much stress upon cheer-"trouble." But are we justified in the conclufulness.

sion, that the passions and affections of a norEat light suppers, and never retire within mally endowed human being can, by external three hours after supping. If your feet are influences, become inimical to his well being? cold, toast them awhile before going to bed. It will be remembered that a perfectly developed When in bed, do not toss from side to side, no man possesses such an evenly balanced set of matter how much you feel inclined to-force faculties as to be capable of adapting himself to yourself to lie still, think about nothing prin- almost any conceivable condition or conditions. cipally and go to sleep. Some procure a night's The utter absence of pain, or nervous derangerest by sprinkling a little capsicum and ginger ment, and the consequent clearness of his judgin their stockings, and sleeping with them on. ment, and freedom of his fancy, give him a Others will take a stiff draught of skullcap recuperative energy that precludes the possibility tea, and still others will strip, and let some of depression, and disposes him to realize the member of the family give them a dry hard sentiment embodied in the song, rub. When vigilance is owing to cerebral congestion (fullness of the head), it is a good plan to bathe the feet in hot water and the head in

"And now let the world wag on as it will
I'll be free and easy still" &c.

cold, just before retiring. A general warm bath Mere hog contentment, though, is not a condition is excellent for promoting sleep, but the remedy to be sought after, and I felicitate myself that I have failed so signally in the above argument par excellence, is bathing the spine from one end to sustain my proposition. The reader will to the other from ten to fifteen minutes in water eagerly agree, that my attempt to establish as a hot as can be borne, just upon going to bed. fact the proposition which makes beastly passivity-otherwise, contentment-a result of per

fect physical and mental health, was a miserable closely connected with the soul, but this beneabortion, and as a whole, amounted to nothing ficent arrangement, is only an expedient to better than a puff or third rate obfuscation. secure that self-attention which is necessary to There is, though, an exalted condition of the perpetuity of our kind. Man, in exalted spiritual activity which is properly named hap- spiritual conditions, rises superior to fleshly piness, and it is now my grateful purpose to trammels, and in such cases we behold a specshow its absolute dependence upon perfect phy- tacle which enforces the awful doctrine of a sical and mental health. The relation of mind future existence. When martyrs die at the to matter is so mysterious and intricate as to stake shouting for joy, and heroes smile on beds have always been an insolvable problem to the of coals, we simply see the immortal principle brightest intellects, but this connection is known of man asserting and proving its capability of to be so intimate, that the slightest physical extra-physical existence, even in the climate of derangement always elicits a metaphysical Time. response. Happiness consists in doing good But cold-blooded philosophers will object -primarily for yourself, secondarily, for others. that there can be no perceivable limit to the That man whose discriminative sense is so nice active and reactive capacities of matter and that he can manipulate circumstances so as to mind-that if a spiritual erythism sufficiently render the greatest good to others, while best intense to ignore its material relations is attainsubserving his individual or family interests, is able, so, a physical depravity profound enough happily constituted. "Happiness consists in to quench the light of reason, is possible. If doing good," &c. It will be seen at a glance this objection should happen to be valid, then how antagonistic is the idea of doing, with a my last and most petted theory is squelched. purpose, to that of aimless passivity, and this Notwithstanding we so often see the phrase illustrates precisely the advantage happiness has "genuine happiness," I suspect the term is over mere contentment. Now activity, whether generic, and quite extensive in its applications. of body or mind, depends entirely upon the We have several kinds, not degrees, of happiness physical and mental health of the individual. between that rapt exaltation which may render Effort, to be either forcible or long sustained, the soul oblivious of physical pain, and the must emanate from a competent source. Since, humbler enjoyments of every-day life. It would therefore, happiness consists of the legitimate probably happen then, should the subject be employment of our faculties, such employment canvassed through all its ramifications, that the always looking to the accomplishment of some conclusion would be stated as follows: other laudable end, and since this use of the faculties things being equal, the healthiest man is the hapis dependent upon the possession of a "sound piest man. mind in a sound body," therefore happiness without health is an impossibility.

แ

INTERMITTENTS.

Having reviewed what I have so far written, I am puzzled to decide which of the two theories Chills and Fever" is such a common ailpropounded is the more untenable. I have frequently seen children build cob houses, and then ment, that a particular description of its knock them down. Now with all my psycho- symptoms would be supererogatory here. Very logical research-it has been somewhat immense few Westerners, there are, who can not describe -I could never quite conclude which act af- every phase of the disease, for such as have forded the child most pleasure. I can not say been fortunate enough to escape it themselves, that my views on that subject are becoming any have seen plenty of it. Its favorite haunts are more sharply defined, but I am convinced that in the vicinity of marshes, along certain river man is epitomized in the child. We build courses, and in flat undrained regions of country. a theory with immense self-satisfaction, and if There are dozens of remedies for this dissubsequently, we, or some one else discovers a truth which effectually demolishes it, it is at least our duty to be as much pleased as when rearing it.

tressing malady, patent equally to the physician and layman. It is known that Quinine forms the basis of nine-tenths of all the Ague panaceas extant, and that Arsenic plays no inconsiderable It does really seem that there is a species of part in the list of cures." But as the adminhappiness which is quite independent of physical istration of these drugs would be fraught with conditions. All along the shores of time are danger unless prescribed by an intelligent strewn moral heroisms, which illustrate the fact physician, and as there are some veteran cases that there are attainable spiritual conditions, that are Quinine proof, I propose to suggest the serenity of which is absolutely nonagitable some remedies that are accessible to, and manby the ills and vicissitudes of the flesh. It can not be denied that the mucous membrane is

ageable by all.

There is no doubt that obstinate cases have

trouble, but it pays. In ordinary cases, one such bath is frequently sufficient, if properly conducted, and in the worst cases I have ever known, three or four have invariably effected a permanent cure.

been overcome by a well timed front and rear for some hours under the ordinary amount of assault, in the shape of stomach-heaving, bowels-cover. scraping emeto cathartics, but the chances This is quite a process, and is considerable are, that unless the patient is a regular Hercules he will be left in a condition that can make no brags over the former one. Sévere shocks may break up morbid associations, but they are liable to create diseases that are less manageable than the ones they have replaced. Gentler measures, specifically directed, is the accepted method now-a-days, and it is fortunate for humanity that it is.

A MANUAL OF HEALTH.
CHAPTER I.

The long continued use of a particular drug, begets a systemic tolerance that wholly dissi- ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE HUMAN BODY. pates any therapeutic quality the medicine may 1. We are told in the Bible that "God created possess. That is why the alternation or rotation of medicines is so much resorted to by the skillful doctor in the treatment of chronic affections. It often happens, then, that an old victim of "chills" can take Quinine and the various cholagogues ad libitum, without any particular result beyond a ringing in the ears.

man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," and we now know that man's body is composed of the same elements that we find in the earth beneath our feet. If we take a portion of the flesh of man, and examine it chemically, we find it to consist principally of four elements which are found commonly in the things which surround

I have known such cases to be cured by drinking freely of a strong decoction of Ver- us in this world. These four elements are vain root, or Apple-tree. One is a weed that grows on every side, and the other a tree with which every body is acquainted.

called the organic elements, because they are universally found present in plants and animals which are also called organic beings, on account of the organs they possess, by means of which they carry on their life. The names given to these four elements are Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen.

but in one of its purest forms it constitutes the diamond, which is the most precious of all gems. If a portion of a plant or an animal is exposed to a slow heat, the other elements are driven off, and the carbon in the form of charcoal is left. Carbon is easily burned in the air, and by its means heat is obtained from coals, candles, gas, and other substances in which it is con

The great remedy for old intractable cases, and for children who have no decided penchant for bitter stuff, is the Sitz bath. The method of its administration is thus: Watch till you see the premonitory symptoms of a chill mani- 2. Of these four, carbon is the only one that festing themselves, and then put your patient in is solid at the ordinary temperatures of our the bath. The great object is to anticipate the atmosphere. In its impure forms we know this chill, by having your patient in a profuse per- substance by the names of charcoal and coal, spiration at the time he ought to have been shaking. Therefore, a half an hour, or an hour before the period of blue nails, cold nose and aching bones, have a tub half full of hot water, and a bucket of still hotter water in readiness. When the above-named symptoms show themselves, let your patient sit in the tub with the feet in the bucket Bathe the head in cold water before putting him into the bath. Once tained. It is very important to recollect this in, throw a blanket over him so as to exclude property of carbon, as we shall find that it plays the outside air, and keep in the steam. The an important part in heating and carrying on blanket is to be thrown over the shoulders, and the functions of the human body. Carbon, brought around in front so as to confine all the when it combines with oxygen gas, forms a gas heat. The water in the bucket must be several called carbonic acid, which is constantly being degrees hotter than that in the tub. and with thrown off from the lungs of animals. It is a some patients it is necessary to bathe the head very poisonous gas, and when retained in the frequently with cold water while in the bath. blood destroys life, and when allowed to accuGive the patient plenty of hot tea of some kind mulate in the atmosphere is injurious to life. while in the bath. Pennyroyal, peppermint, A human body weighing eleven stones, or 154 hoarhound or ginger tea, will any of them do. pounds, contains twenty-one pounds of carbon. After the patient begins to sweat freely put him 3. Hydrogen, the next element, is a gas. It into a bed between blankets, and keep up the is the lightest body known in nature. It unites perspiration for an hour by means of bed clothes with carbon, and forms the gas which is burned and plenty of hot tea. At the expiration of to light our streets and houses. Like carbon, that time, wipe him off dry, and let him lie still hydrogen is very inflammable, and burns in the

air with a flame. The flames of a coal fire and of which the various organs are formed. The the burning jets of gas are due to hydrogen. compounds thus produced are very numerous, When hydrogen burns in the air, it unites with but the principal are water, gelatine, albumen, the oxygen in the air, and the vapor of water is and fat. A body weighing 154 pounds contains formed. All water is composed of the two 111 pounds of water, fifteen pounds of gelatine, gases, hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen and four pounds and a quarter of albumen, about carbon are contained in human food, and, com- the same quantity of fibrine, and twelve pounds ing in contact with the oxygen of the air held of fat. in the blood, they are consumed, and are the great agents by which the heat of the body is maintained. In a human body weighing 154 pounds there are fourteen pounds of hydrogen. 4. The third organic element is oxygen. It is a gas, and one of the most active elements in nature. It unites with other elements, and causes them to burn. It unites with carbon and forms carbonic acid, and with hydrogen and forms water. It is one of the gases that enters into the composition of the atmosphere, and exists in the proportion of twenty-one parts in every hundred. It enters largely into all compounds in the human system; and a body weighing 154 pounds contains 111 pounds of oxygen.

A more active form of it called ozone is found in pure atmospheric air.

8. Water is a most important constituent of both plants and animals. It seems as if all organic beings were so much organized water. In the vegetable kingdom sea-weeds and waterplants are often found to consist of much more than half their bulk of water. Naturalists tell us of jelly fishes that contained not more than ten grains of solid matter to one pint of water. All the food of the higher animals is dissolved in water before it is appropriated to the use of their bodies, whilst many of the lower animals pass their entire existence in water. Just as the human body is composed of large quantities of water, so is it necessary that the food of man should contain a large proportion of water.

9. All animal bodies are composed in great measure of minute ultimate parts, which are 5. Nitrogen, the fourth of these universal called cells, and of a substance in which these elements, is by itself far less active as a chemical cells lie. These cells are little vesicles or bladagent than the other three. It is found in less ders, two or three thousand of which do not quantities in the human system; and a body measure more than an inch; the walls of these weighing 154 pounds contains but about three little sacs, and the substance between them, are pounds and a half of nitrogen gas. It is, never- composed of a jelly-like body, which is either an theless, a very important element, as it enters albumen or a gelatine-in bone and membranes into the composition of those organs, as the we find gelatine properly so called. This submuscles and nerves, which are most important stance is made up of all four of the organic eleto life. When combined with other matters it ments, and is insoluble in cold, but soluble in may give rise to very violent chemical action- hot water. When any portion of an animal is as in detonating powder. Nitrogen is an abun- boiled in water, the gelatines are dissolved. dant element in nature, as it makes up with When the water containing gelatine is allowed oxygen the bulk of the air of the atmosphere. to cool, it becomes more or less solid, and forms A hundred parts of atmospheric air contain what is called a jelly. Gelatine is more abunseventy-nine parts of nitrogen. dant in the skin and bones than any other part 6. Besides these organic elements, a human of the animal body. A coarser form of gelatine body weighing 154 pounds contains four pounds is obtained from the skin of animals, and is of other elements. These consist principally of called glue. Gelatine forms an insoluble subthe metals calcium, sodium, potassium, and stance with tannin, which is found in oak bark; iron; and the nonmetallic elements, sulphur, and the skins of animals submitted to the action phosphorus and chlorine. These elements, of a solution of tannin are converted into what though forming so small a proportion of the is called leather. composition of the whole body, are, neverthe- 10. Albumens, like gelatine, contain all the less, essential to life. For example, the bones organic elements, and constitute the principal are composed in equal parts of an animal and part of the muscles and nerves of animal bodies. earthy matter, the latter consisting chiefly of Albumens differ from gelatines in becoming the two elements, phosphorus and calcium. In more readily decomposed after death. They are the human body of the weight above stated, there are one pound twelve ounces of phosphorus, and two pounds of calcium. Calcium is the metal of which the earth lime is an oxide.

more closely connected with life. One sort of albumen is found in the muscles, and another in the nerves. Albumens are also found in the products of plants. Gluten is found in wheat7. The elements above mentioned are not flour, in barley, oats, and maize. Other kinds found pure in the human body, but are united of albumen are found in smaller quantities in together, forming a number of compounds, out the same things, and are present in the blood" of

animals. Albumen constitutes that part of the egg which is known as the "white."

11. Fat is a most important constituent of all animals. Everywhere in the body of animals fatty matter is found under the skin and between the muscles. Fat differs from the three last compounds in containing no nitrogen, and but little oxygen. Although not directly aiding the functions of life, it contributes to many of its secondary functions, and is essential to the proper structure of all animal bodies. Fat, consisting almost entirely of carbon and hydrogen, is a substance readily burned. From the fat of animals candles are made; and it appears that in cold weather animals burn, as it were, the fat of their own bodies. Most animals get fat in the summer, and become thin in the winter from consuming their own fat in the process of making their bodies warm. This is remarkably the case with animals which hybernate, which enter upon their winter-sleep quite sleek and fat, but wake up in the spring meagre and thin.

The average brain-weight, between the ages of twenty and sixty, of Scotchmen, is given by Dr. Peacock at fifty ounces, and from these figures it is evident that while Simpson's brain is much 12. Besides these compounds there are a great above the average of his countrymen, it is many others found in animal and human bodies. really lower than than that of the brains of the The food which they take whilst subserving the ten distinguished men given in the preceding purposes of life, is transformed into compounds table who died between fifty and seventy. which appear in the blood, the liver, the spleen, In connection with the present subject it may the kidneys, and the various glands of the be not uninteresting to know that, some years human body. They indicate that, during the performance of the functions of life, a vast number of chemical changes go on in the body, which are essential to its health and well-being. (To be continued.)

ago, Sir James collected statistics from hatters, principally in London and Edinburgh, as to the sizes of the hats sold in those cities; and the result of his inquiries clearly proved that, on an average, a Scotchman required a larger hat than an Englishman. When the late professor related this fact to his class or in private, he frequently added that he trusted that this necessity for large hats arose from the size of the brain, and not from unusual thickness of skull.

DOES ALCOHOL WARM THE BODY?- Professor Bing has come to the following conclusions on this subject:-1st. That alcohol lowers the heat of the body, and that it preserves life in There is, no doubt, much truth in the remark febrile affections, where the temperature rises of the late Prof. Goodsir, in reference to the very high, by its antipyretic properties. 2nd. cerebral hemispheres-" Besides quantity we That extreme depression of the vital powers in must have quality."

febrile cases is most frequently dependent upon

the temperature of the blood, and passes off A MAN WITHOUT A SOUL OR BODY.-Here when it falls. 3rd. That the number and is a quaint anecdote from the biography of Dr. strength of the contractions of the heart always Marshall Hall: Dr. Wilkins had lent Dr. Hall rise under the use of alcohol. Whenever, there- the well-known book, “ Body and Soul," and, as fore, such an effect would be injurious, alcohol it was not returned in due time, he sent this would be an improper remedy. 4th. That in all note: "Dear Doctor, do send back my Body probability alcohol lowers the temperature by and Soul; I can not exist longer without them." the retarding influence it exerts over the oxidizing process.

PHYSICIANS AND DRUGGISTS IN AMERICA.Dr. A. B. Prescott, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, states that there were 55,000 physicians in this country at the last census, and 11,000 druggists. At present there are about 74,000 physicians.

The servant who received the note read it (as servants sometimes will,) and, horrorstricken, rushed into the kitchen, crying: "Cook, I can't live any longer with the Doctor!" "Why, what's the matter?"