Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-07-11
BODY AND BRAIN.

When Mohammedau wishes to pass very
high eulogy upon deceased friend, he tells
you that he sshad good liver,'' which means
that the said friend was always good and plea
SAINT in body and mind. This is a most express
sive sentence, especially in climates where the
liver is easily affected, and it shows that the
sons of Islam are we'll acquainted with the fact
which we wish to enforce, namely, that the
healthy action and clear conception of the brain
depends more than is generally believed upon
sound and healthy physical organization.
No argument is required to convince every
person that, at the present time, they must
think, would they succeed in life, and that mere
plodding is scarcely required, the demand be-
ing for educated labor; and this remark ap-
plies not only to one trade, but all trades-not
to one profession, but all professions-artis
and artifcer, painter and preacher, all alike.
This being gr nted, it will be seen of what vast
national and Individual Importance it is that
the seat OF reason should be undeiled, and
that the channels of thought should be ever
clear and free. A professional humbug who
would advertise quack medicine to overcome
that brain fatigue which sleep does not seem
to conquer, and to give renewed activity to
theworn-out mind would make fortune short
ly, for the complaint is common one. Bod
lily disease, the disregard of the grand pbysi-
cal laws of cleanliness and exercise, inherited
sickness and personal intemperance, are the
great barriers to true progress which have yet
10 De FaUQulSneO ana pulIeQ QOWn.
Let us take the two first, and see how they
affect the handspring of action-the brain.
Take the illustration of watch. The main
spring may be perfectly good and sound, but
some little wheel in the train of motion being
displaced, twill not tell true time. A spring
may be clear when it bubbles forth from the
virgin soil, but an impurity in the water course
will faint the whole stream. A statue may be
graceful in form and elegant in proportion,
but when seen in an uneven mirror it becomes
distorted and out of shape. The mind may be
active, clear, and perceptive; but if some lit
tie pinon, some small disease, local or gener-
al, be in the body, it cannot act upon the out
er world with force and originality, because
the medium through which it acts is tainted
and unhealthy. Again, If the ear be out of
order, the brain obtain no true notion of
sound if the eye is diseased, perfect sight
is never taken. and the same is true of feeling,
smelling and tasting. Now, suppose that in
stead of any one sense being considerably af-
fected, all are partially so, how then is the
brain going to derive impressions correctly,
on which to base future thoughts and result
ing actions, if the courses through which those
impressions flow from the object observed to
it are tainted, impure or diseased. Thus we
see that the mind and body are so intimately
connected that we cannot seperate the two,
and the one cannot be diseased without affect
ing considerably the tone of the other. For
a mind diseased, or one that may become So
in fact, for every one of us-there is nothing
like plenty of fresh air and simple food, de-
cent modicum of exercise, the encouragement
of cleanliness by ablution with cold water, as
much of the light of heaven and as little of
the light of oil. spirits or gas as possible. If
we can but as people begin to believe this,
we shall quickly perceive the truth of the
prescription by the happy results which will
follow. Let us all, for once, learn something
from the children of the Prophet, and strive
to earn that eulogy SO full of peaceful mean
ing and pleasant thoughts of cOntented health
SHE had good liver"