BY REV. H. WINSLOW. [For the Journal of Health.---Continued from page 100.] CAUSES. THE causes of premature old age in this country, especially with females, may be mainly refered to an abuse of the nervous system. It is not an overdoing of the muscular, or the intellectual, or the moral, that so soon robs woman of her youthful charms; —it is a premature and unequal outlay of nervous excitement. This point, so little understood, practically, merits particular attention. The power of excitability lies in the nervous system; the power of endurance, in the muscular. Hence a person of sinewy and well developed muscles, in connection with nerves of little excitability, is the person to endure long. If the nervous person can for a time put forth paroxysms of more brilliant achievement, the person of less nervousness and more muscle will live to walk in green and growing strength over his ashes. A very important fact here to be noticed, in connection with the human economy, is this, that while the muscular, the intellectual, the moral, is rendered healthy and strong, mainly by exercise, the nervous system is rendered so, mainly by rest. It is undoubtedly true that the nerves follow the general analogy of nature, in requiring exercise up to a certain point; but that point is far below what is demanded of the muscular, intellectual, and moral powers; for the obvious reason, that they were not divine ly intended to be so much called into use. Moreover, a large part of the demand made upon the nervous system, in this country, is not in the form of healthful exercise, but of feverish and wasting excitement. In confirmation of this physiological law, I quote the following from a recent work, on Anatomy and Physiology, by Calvin Cutter, M.D. The same sentiments, in substance, are found in the writings of Bichat, Combe, Broussais, and other eminent physiologists. "Men having large nerves leading to the muscles, with the brain active, will perform feats of strength and agility, that other men, of the same size, cannot effect. Rope dancers, harlequins, and other performers of feats, are persons thus constituted. Persons with small muscles, and largely developed nervous system, will sometimes exhibit very great muscular power for a time, but it will not be of long continuance, except the brain is functionally diseased, as in hysteria. Men of large muscles and small nerves, can never perform feats of great strength, but they have the power of endurance, and are better capacitated for continued labor. Thus we cannot judge of the ability of a person to make exertions and continue them, by stature alone. Strength, and the power of endurance, are the result of the combination of well developed muscles, large nerves, and a full sized, healthy, and active brain." To prepare the way for the following remarks, it must be premised, that the nervous system may be injured by unwholesome or immoderate stimulus applied to it not only through the brain, but also through the stomach. The nerves are covered with an extremely delicate membrane, called the neurilema, of the same nature with the mucous membranes of the stomach and other internal organs of digestion. All the membranes of the human body are so one in their nature, contact, and sympathies, as to constitute one system. The penetrating genius and surpassing diligence of Bichat, have discovered and luminously exposed this general doctrine of systems, as applied to the various departments of the animal economy, and thus introduced the strictly scientific school of modern anatomy and physiology. No man can attentively read the Anatomy and Physiology of this great Frenchman, without pronouncing him one of the rare geniuses of the present age at once equally removed from the everlasting rounds of the bark mill, on the one hand, and the wanderings of unbridled imagination on the other. Every step is onward, but onward in the path of severe induction; every step is bold, but bold in invincible demonstration. Nor have we failed to realize what was anticipated of the effects of his investigations on the views and practice of the medical profession. But to our point. Let such authorities as I have cited, without going farther into the philosophy of the subject, serve to settle the principle, that the nervous system may be injured both through the brain and the stomach; and that all such injuries react upon the digestive, the muscular, and the intellectual functions, producing premature debility, early age, and an untimely end. The causes inducing premature old age, are then to be considered under two general heads, physical and mental. I. PHYSICAL. In enumerating the physical causes in question, we must notice, first, the nature and quality of our food. This is a hackneyed topic, nevertheless important. The vast quantities of sour, heavy, half-baked bread, with which the American stomach is daily insulted, cannot fail of retribution from that sensitive and unforgiving organ. How often is the "staff of life," in America, converted into the cudgel of death! No person can subsist on that doughy, leathery, obstinate mass improperly called bread, that so often comes upon the table from the domestic stove, smoking and reeking with salæratus, or that chaffy, tasteless substance of the same name, from the baker's cart, without being at the age of forty, if indeed he lives so long, some twenty years too old. There is recent improvement, but we are still at a great remove from England in this matter. Travel where you will, there, in city or country, and you everywhere see the great, plump, sweet loaf, thoroughly baked, some two or three days old, inviting a healthy appetite and setting like a charm upon the digestive organs. We used to see such glorious loaves here, when our grandmothers were living; but, alas! the days of brick ovens (used) and good old English loaves, are now mostly among the things that were. The present generation has much more experience of Brandreth's pills and Swaim's panacea, than grandmother's loaves. Nor is the manner of preparing and serving our meat, much less reprehensible. The whole process through which it passes, from butcher to carver, to say nothing of the treatment preceding, in its living condition, would often seem to be with direct reference to the most vexatious assault possible upon the stomach. Sluggishly fat and diseased, or laboriously lean and tough, killed in a state of fatigue or fever, hurried half ripe to the spit, and to the table half cooked or half burnt, almost as juiceless and unsavory as a cut from an Egyptian mummy, and, to complete the process, hacked by a dull knife into solid junks, lest by some possibility the carver's knife might help the faltering teeth in their fearful odds-it is not very strange, that meat thus served should at last induce the jaded and fevered stomach to cry loudly for panaceas. Nor can much less be said in favor of the preparation and use of many of our vegetables, pastries, pies, sweetmeats, &c. That all these may be so served as to be, within certain limits, conducive to health and longevity, we believe as firmly as we believe that civilization and refinement are more conducive to health than the savage state. Potatoes, rice, beans, and all other vegetables, when served up in a light and delicate form, are ordinarily friendly to sound and protracted health; but how totally another thing are they, both in their nature and effects, when served up in the heavy, soggy, gross forms, in which they so often appear upon our tables. Pastries and pies, when tender, light, and delicately seasoned, may be used with moderation, advantageously to health; but how seldom do we see these luxuries prepared with that nice delicacy, and used with that temperance, which insures a favorable reception with the sensitive membranes to which they are commissioned. As to sweetmeats, candies, and the like, the frequent and abundant use of them is attended with such a concentration of saccharine and acidulous matter upon the membranous system, that probably not one in a hundred can indulge it, without greatly limiting the period of his youthfulness, and even of his life. The girl who indulges freely and habitually in candy and sweetmeats, may lay her account heavily with the cruel irons of the dentist, the unenviable pangs of neuralgia, and the mortification of withered beauty at an early age. How sad, then, that every street and corner in our cities has its one or more confectionary shops, inviting our wives and daughters, every time they go shopping or promenading, to poison their stomachs, enfeeble their nerves, and spoil their beauty! To take sweetmeats, candies, confectionary cakes and the like, into the stomach, at the hours of eleven to two, is virtual suicide. No person can do it, without shortening his life. We do not make indiscriminate war on all confectionary. It has its place a very rare and limited one, however. As to ices, if purely made, he is a poor pupil who has not learned that, used with moderation, they are ordinarily, at almost any hour, a refreshing and healthful beverage. In London, the confectionary shops are one to ten less than in Boston. There, if a lady wants refreshment near mid-day, she takes a sandwich, or a piece of ham and bread or a cracker, with a glass of beer or water. The apology for even this, is found in the fact that they dine as late as five or six o'clock. It is practically understood, there, that if such concentrated substances as sweetmeats, jellies, candies, rich cakes, &c. are to be taken with impunity, they must be largely diluted with other substances, as at dinner; and hence that is the occasion on which, if ever, they are indulged in. Let us not be accused, in thus investigating the causes of English and American relative youthfulness, of an undue bias towards English customs;-we propose to follow them only so far as they are good. [To be continued.] EDUCATION, SCHOOL-TEACHING, &c. THE Supreme Ruler of the universe has so constituted man, that he is a creature of circumstances. Every sound that vibrates on his ear, every object that meets his eye, assists in forming his character. Hence we see the importance of early education. It is this, which makes the man. Education forms the Jew, the Mahometan, the Pagan, the man of savage ferocity and of civilized society. Early instruction trains to his rugged life and deleterious course the superstitious Hindoo, the wandering Tartar and the plundering Arab. The mind of the infant when first embarking on the voyage of life, is almost a blank. From this, its faculties increase, its powers expand, till it becomes the depository, the store-house of all the treasures of science. Were not this the case, no philosopher would ever have entered the Arcana of nature and brought forth to general observation her hidden treasures. Were not the faculties of the mind progressive, a Stewart never would have investigated those faculties, or a Locke have scrutinized the human understanding; for where would have been the faculties of the mind? Where a human understanding? In the mind of the infant no vestige of reason or understanding exists. Were not the faculties of the mind progressive, a Newton never would have discovered those laws that bind the universe together; that retain the sun in his system, and the planets in their orbits. "That very law which moulds a tear, |