Imatges de pàgina
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as a means of accounting for them. It is probable, indeed, that the important action of a sea-voyage on the glandular system, and its beneficial effects on the many forms of scrofula, and even more particularly in pulmonary cases, is mainly due to the absorption of iodine from the sea air, and the steady introduction of this great agent into the system, in a form little likely to derange the organs of assimilation, or irritate the mucous passages. And, accordingly, a sea-voyage has prolonged many a life, and even brought back health and vigour to many a system, that had appeared beyond all reach of remedy, and out of the pale of earthly hope. It is a question for careful consideration and judgment, whether the general strength, or the local malady, may not have become so far impaired, or have attained so extreme a stage, as to render the chances of benefit less than the risk is great, of injury, and the aggravation of suffering, and the shortening of life, from the fatigues, and the primary derangements, of so great a change of life or circumstances as a sea-voyage involves.

There is one kind of exercise, that has not often been mentioned, nor even been thought of, as a means of expenditure and of health, as a means of giving tone to the parts made use of, and of diminishing the risk of their becoming enfeebled, and therefore by so much more prone to take on morbid action: I mean, exercise of the lungs and the muscles of the chest and windpipe, in speaking, singing, reading aloud, &c. Such exercise may, however, be

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made a very important means of health, a considerable source of expenditure, and a valuable agent in developing and giving strength to structures of the first value to health, which are largely susceptible of morbid action, and the direct or indirect diseases of which constitute a fearful item in the mortality of most nations. "Whatever kind of employment or mode of life," says Dr. Carswell, in his valuable article on Tubercle, in the Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine, "necessitates or facilitates an active and ample display of the respiratory function, is generally admitted as a powerful means of preventing the occurrence of tubercular phthisis." After mentioning the fact, that children are much less often the victims of pulmonary consumption than adults, Dr. Carswell says, that he is disposed to attribute this "to the much greater activity of the lungs in children than in adults; we mean that kind of activity of these organs in children, which is the consequence of almost continued change of place and position of the body. Running, leaping, tumbling, wrestling, and the numerous little gesticulations, in which the upper extremities and muscles of the chest, shoulders, and neck, are called into play in every possible direction, and to the utmost of their extent, demand of necessity the most active co-operation of the lungs; thereby rendering the accumulation of the tuberculous matter in the air-cells and bronchi much less likely to take place in children than in adults, placed as the latter are, both by habit and

occupation, in opposite circumstances." This is a valuable opinion; but it will be observed, that I am arguing in behalf of a more direct use of the voice, as a means of expenditure and of strength to the system, and to the organs of respiration. One of the greatest things to be attended to in every kind of exercise, is to proportion it to the strength and the constitution of individuals. So proportioned, the exercise of the voice is no mean auxiliary to the exercise of the muscles concerned in the movements of the limbs; and, as has been said, may be fairly regarded as being a remarkably efficient means of giving additional strength to the respiratory organs, and of diminishing the risk of pulmonary disease. So important and so great do I consider this influence to be, that I think it would be well if it were made a prominent feature in the physical education of youth. It would be well, if children were encouraged in their vocal ebullitions of boisterous merriment. But I think it would be particularly well, if they were early exercised in the great art of reading aloud, not merely to the extent that may be at present practised in schools, but for longer periods of every day,-periods proportioned in length to the individual powers, and to the age,—and repeated at longer or shorter intervals, according to these circumstances,-and with the defined object of giving tone to the respiratory organs, and of adding to the development and capacity of the chest. It needs no pointing out, that this might be so managed, as to be in little or no degree looked upon

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as an irksome task; that the subjects selected for such exercise, might be as much varied in their character, and be as amusing, as might be necessary to relieve it from such a possible consequence. Were young people, in their days of childhood, allowed to laugh, shout, &c., at proper times, without restraint; were they, in their days of girlhood or boyhood, made to read aloud, for such periods, and at such intervals of time, as could be done without undue expenditure, and perceptible fatigue,-not only would a good use be made of the precious hours of life's morning, in storing the mind with valuable matter, and strengthening it with soundest exercise, but the delicate tissue of the lungs would acquire a degree of firmness, the respiration an amount of freedom, and the voice a capacity, that would be a great means of averting the pulmonary complaints, with all their fatal consequences, that are so fearfully rife from the age of puberty upwards. In the later years of girlhood or boyhood, say from twelve years old upwards, prepared for it by such previous exercise, the lungs might with propriety be still further used, in singing, &c.; while, without such preparation, this severer exercise of the respiratory organs is but too often followed by such marks of pulmonary derangement, as are only the harbingers of confirmed phthisis. In truth, accustomed to speak low as children, and but little used to reading aloud as girls and boys, the lungs are then often, for the first time, actively exercised; and the result is, irritation and consequent inflammation of their substance or

their membranes, and the development of latent tubercles,-which might never have been formed, or never have been allowed to accumulate, had the exercise of the respiratory organs been efficient and regular from the earlier periods of life.

In the years of growth, the due development of the different parts of the body, a development to be mainly secured or aided by the exercise of the different parts, is the great object to be aimed at; the expenditure of the system is almost necessarily adequate to the ingesta; the additional supplies being used for the purposes of growth. But when the body and its several parts have attained their full size, and acquired the maturity of firmness and volume, the expenditure is no longer duly secured; and can only be so by regular and efficient exercise, which fulfils this valuable intention, in addition to that of promoting the power and healthiness of the part exercised, provided the exercise be not greater than the structure can endure without undue exhaustion. Thus, however feeble the organs of respiration may be, and, consequently, however desirable additional tone might be as a means of health and longevity, the degree of the exercise must be apportioned to the degree of the local power, or it becomes hurtful instead of beneficial. And, however valuable as a means of expenditure to the system, exercise of the lungs, by speaking, reading aloud, or singing, might be, the usefulness, and even safety of this depends, of course, necessarily, on the power, and the development, and

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