Imatges de pàgina
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remedies are to be found in a rigid degree of personal cleanliness, especially avoiding the taking of food with unwashed hands; in washing the hands, &c. with a largely diluted mixture of sulphuric acid and water; and in the use of such means of ventilation, and such efficient flues, as may obviate, as far as possible, the inhalation of its deleterious emanations.

In the instance of the trades where risk is incurred from the inhalation, or introduction through the skin, of mercury, or its fumes, a more particular degree of cleanliness, a more studious ventilation, and a more scrupulous use of an efficient flueage, are needful, in proportion to the greater injury, or the more immediate injury, that is risked from this remarkable agent. Great debility of the nervous system, partial paralysis, broken health, and shortened life, are the fearful consequences of such introduction of mercury into the human system.

The fumes of arsenic, of iodine, of chlorine, of the mineral acids, &c., are sometimes the causes of injury to the health and life-expectancy of artisans, and others. The degree of their influence may be always much reduced, if not so much so as to render them virtually inoperative, by carrying away such fumes from the workshops, by means of appropriate and efficient flues. Druggists often suffer much in health, by the odour of narcotic drugs, or by the frequent handling of the mineral poisons. Ventilation and scrupulous cleanliness, might generally do much to lessen such risk.

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Due attention to clothing,-efficient ventilation,the carrying away dust, or poisonous fumes, by means of flues,—and habitual temperance,—are among the great means of diminishing the unhealthy character of different occupations. Scrupulous cleanliness of the persons and the clothing of the artisans, are of more importance in such occupations than in others; and to promote it, all work-shops, or work-rooms, should be provided with convenient means of ablution, as to soap, water, and towelling.

Such muscular exercise as involves the due use of all the muscles of the trunk and extremities, while it leads people into the open air, is a needful promoter of health in the cases of the sedentary; but it is little less important in the instances of such artisans as use the muscles unequally, even although it may be laboriously, in their occupations. Grounds for the more active sports and exercises should be scattered, at convenient distances, in different parts of the larger towns; and those whose wealth depends upon the toils of the labouring classes, could confer few greater boons, than in affording means and encouragement to out-of-door sports; separating them from the contiguity, influence, and temptations of gin-palaces or beer-shops. In cases where there may be convenient and sufficiently high walls, the old game of tennis might be wisely revived,—as in the yards of factories and other places of work; in other cases, the game of nine-pins, or that of bowls, or that of throwing the quoits, might prove to be best adapted to the situation. In cases where sufficient space could be

obtained, and in suitable seasons of the year, cricket, or golf, seem to be so far preferable, inasmuch as they afford more exercise of the lower extremities, and usually a greater degree of mental stimulus.

There is no doubt of the great value of open spaces for all such purposes, and for that of furnishing walks and ornamental grounds, in different parts of the larger cities and towns. These may not only be valuable as great natural ventilators of the air in "close-built cities pent;" not only useful, as supplying an incentive to walking; not only useful, as giving space and opportunity to the cricketers, or the golfers, or the players at bowls, or the throwers of the quoits; not only important, as affording the means of listening to music in the open air; not only important, as giving the opportunity of passing the summer evenings in dancing, to gladden and interrupt the duller routinism of the life's daily drudgery; not only useful, in supplying the means of studying the different trees, shrubs, plants, and flowers; but useful, in diffusing an acquaintance with Nature, an appreciation of her beauties, a love of her simpler and purer pleasures,-in lessening the temptations offered by the lower sensual indulgences, by teaching the greater value and the superiority of such higher means of happiness. It is certain, that to give the artisan and his wife and children the means of enjoying the open air, in the midst of plants and flowers, surrounded by the families of his equals and superiors in life, while some of his mates may be dancing, and others playing at manly sports, is to

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elevate his moral nature; is to impart so much of an honest pride, as to encourage self-denial in order to procure suitable clothing, &c., for himself and those dependent upon him; is to diminish selfishness,-to foster the love for wife and children,—to make him a better citizen and a wiser man; as well as to promote his health and prolong his life, to diminish the chances of widowhood and orphanage, to lessen the amount of pauperism, and improve the condition and prospects of the whole community.

CHAPTER X.

On Mental Culture.-Classification and Relative Development of the Mental Faculties. - Automatic, Motor, Sentient, and Mental Powers.-Propensities, Sentiments, and Intellectual Faculties. -Early Self-culture of the Mind.-Precocity.-Physiological and Hygienic Effects of Mental Culture.-Relative Effect of the Deficient, the Just, or the Excessive Use of the Propensities, Sentiments, and Intellectual Faculties, severally.Conclusion.

THAT human health and the duration of human life are greatly dependent on physical circumstances, may hardly require additional proof or illustration. It is proved, that the inhabitants of the larger towns are shorter lived than those of agricultural districts; that those who live in close, ill-ventilated districts, have a shorter duration of life than those who live in open situations, and well-ventilated houses; that those whose occupations are strictly sedentary, have shorter lives than those whose employments involve some degree of muscular exercise; that those who pass most of their time in the open air, live longer than those who are confined to a workroom or workshop; and that those who work exposed to the light of day, live longer than those who work in feebly lighted situations, or where artificial light is needed. It is a further step on the same path, to find it

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