Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1836-10-26

cIeTelSe. The want OF It produces also
a feebIeness Of will which is as fatal to
moral attainment as it is to intellectual
progress. ".-PTesident WayI0nd, Brow"
University.
That mental activity is promoted by
bodily motion, is a matter Of universal
consciousness Who has not felt the
current Of thought becoming motionless,
and its fountain lightning to stagnate, af-
ter thinking closely for hours, and pre-
serving the same posture OF body! And
who upon calling his muscles into active
play, has not felt new fountains break
out within him, and fresh thought pour
over the soul its living waters'
The active habits of Demos,henes,
Pericles, SophocIes, Xenophon, Caesar,
and many other eminent ancients, will at
once occur to the general reader. Aris-
totIe, Socrates, and Plato, delivered their
lectures while walking. Cicero dictated
many of his works in the same way
Among the modens John Locke, John
Wesley, Thomas Scott, Bonaparte, Rous-
seau, and Gibbon, happily illustrate the
principle. One Of the biographers Of
Burns tells us, that his happiest efforts
were made when he was in rapid motion.
At such times be seemed instinct with the
soul Of poetry. The late Mr.. Pinckney,
Of Baltimore, used TO arrange his argu-
ments while pacing his room This is
the well known custom of many of the
most eminent men now living. The
late DR.. Mtchill, of New ork, was once
asked how he acquired knowledge with
such facility. He replied, Il keep stir
ring my stumps, SIR He then remark
ed that when studying at European
university, he used 10 procure, if possible,
a quarto or folio edition Of the various
works used for text books, and study
while walking his room, and carrving
his book before him. The habits of the
Petpatetics in this respect were strictly
philosophical.
All the powers of the mind are refresh
ed and renovated by bodily exercise but
perhaps none Of them more than the pow
er of suggestion or association-that pow
er which strikes out analogies, and calls
up illustrations that which suggested TO
Calico the pendulum principle, from the
vibratory motion of a chandelier before
him; that which conducted Newton from
the falling Of an apple to the wheeling Of
a planet, and unveiled that omnipresent
law, which binds alike the mote and the
sun.
The inrentire po1cer, which is a modi-
ication Of the same principle, is greatly
invigo:ated by that heaithfuI energy of
the circulation, which is produced BY bod
lily exercise.
1t is a well known fact, that large
proportion Of the most Important inven-
tions, and the most valuable discoveries
in the application of science to practical
purposes, have originated with men re-
markG6ls for habits of todily actirity.-
In our own country, Franklin, Rltten-
house, Count Rumford, Whitney, the in
ventor Of the cotton gin, Fulton, and Per-
kins, stand pre-eminent in this department.
The active habits and physical energy Of
! the first four and the last are known as
far as their names.
Fulton, though inferior to the others
in strength Of constitution, was in his hab-
its at an equal remove from bodil Y mac
tivity. The general fact that has been
stated, is not peculiar to this country
Two or three years since, the editor Of an
English periodical made the same re:
mark with reference to the inventions and
discoveries in Great Britain and on the
continent
1t is not contended that bodily exercise
creates mind but it is asserted that exer-
else is indispensable TO summon out the
utaost possibility of mental effort. The
most powerful extemporaneous speakers
in every eye ofthe world have with few
exceptions been men of active bodily hab-
its. From Demosthenes and Paul, to Pc
ter the Hermit, and Bernard 4; from John
Knox and Richard Baxter, to Wesley
White6eld, and Patrick Henry, the record
of history bears witness to the general
, fact.
The same Ef1y be said of those in ou'
own age and country, who can rise uPor
the heaSing exigencies ofthe moment, anc
: at whose bidding instant creations and
! mighty embodyings oGthought and argu
t ment, sublime conceptions, glowing anaio
gies, and living imagery, burst as by mir
acle from the deep Of mind in oVcrshadow
: ing forms of majesty and power
E The general principle which has beer
: stated and illustrated, is forcibiy presented
: in the following extracts from letters re
0 Gently received:
My own experience and observation
: have convinced me, that even moderate
e but stated exercise, invigorates the mem
e DRY, strengthens the power of thought
81 quickeus the perceptive faculty, animate
IT the fancy, puri6es the taste, and impart
1t trss4 Getsvity totLe principle Of assOei0
u t'"a; 10 q word, such habit creates
" greater capacity Tor mental labor, mor
n enduring energy, 1ofier enthusiasm,
more perfect harmony in the whole sys