Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1837-01-04
4, o. S. MURRAY. EDITOR AND PRorR1EroR.

eleanIy, generally more profitable, and
can be performed in all weathers and sea,
sons. 's1., ~ o IS 9r..~.-I.-
The committee are respectfully referred
to the following extract Of letter Just re-
ceived from DR.. John Bell Of Philadelphia,
editor Of the Journal of Health:
80" Is agricultural or. mechanical labor
most healthful for students ~ My reply
Is, that the former, or agricultural labor,
should, if we can choose, be Preferred
Employed in this way, the whole body is
more or less called into action; since, in
most kinds of field and farm-yard labor,
there is successive and alternate move
ments Of the upper and lower limbs the
attitude is either erect, or readily becomes
so, between the frequently repeated fits of
muscular effort; and the chest has, in con-
sequence, greater freedom of expansion
and the Inhalation of air, which moreover
is purer, more vitifying, and cordially
stimulating in the fields than in doors. By
agricultural labor a person becomes also
Injured to vicissitudes of the atmosphere,
in respect to temperature, and hygromet-
rical and barometrical states, and is thus
saved the many discomfons, and actual
disadvantages, to which the mere student
and habitually sedentary man are liable,
from occasional exposure, to extremes and
inclemencies Of the weather.
In advocating this kind of employment,
Of course suppose that student will not
confne himself to one OF the many varie-
ties Of field and farm-yard labor Were
he to do so, the benefits which l have Just
stated would not be obtained. A man who
should do nothing but plough, would in
deed become strong; but he would be
awkward, and not unlikely acquire a rails
ed shoulder, and deviation of his spine
from the right line, Similar inconven-
fences would follow mere moving and
grading grain.
Digging and hoeing, on occasions ex-
cellent exercises, might, if the exclusive
ones, give an ugly stoopto the individual,
and interfere with the dilatation Of the
chest and freedom Of respiration. All
these kinds Of exercise together, with har-
rowing, sowing grain by broadcast, cut
ting down and splitting timber, ought to
Oe ndu TeCOuTSc 10 III uuo SUCCESSION, ana
with a reference to the strength of the
student, or to the bodily infTmity from
which he wishes either to entirely escape,
or if a sufferer under it to be cured.
Most varieties of mechanical labor are
attended with the disadvantages of only
allowing Of the exercise of particular parts
Of The body. Commonly it is the upper
limbs which are in motion, and they with
equal force, whilst the lower limbs are
entirely quiescent; the posture is either
standing or sitting, and too often leaning
forward or on one side. The lungs are
more apt to suffer, both from the impedi
ment to suitable dilatation ofthe chest, ant
the want of fresh, pure air, and likewise
from the fine particles given off from TIT
various matters used in the mechanical
arts. Most Of these objections may, it il
true, be obviated by preventing many per
sons from being at work in the same
room; by the constant introduction o
fresh pure air from without; by a change
in the labor, SO as to require, in differen
days, different postures, and varieties o
muscular movement"