The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-02-04

oaded. The bed should not be too
oft, and, ifpossible, the head should
ie to the north, the feet to the south.
Che head should never be covered by
he clothes, but there should be more
,uter clothing at night than in the day
inc the temperature of the body not
being so high. 1t is good thing, IN
aking off ones day clothes, to lay
lside all thoughts of the past. 1t is
'aid that an adult is always slightly
.aller on waking up than on going to
bed. The cartilages of the vertebra
expand in the horizontal position, and
contract under the weight of the body.
1t is not necessary to dilate upon
the importance of cleanliness and flee
to health. ''Old age"
said Sanctorius, lis an illness. We
can prolong it if we only know how
to restore the powers of Transportation
10 the body" ~Without the action of
the skim" said Hufeland, 1--WE can
neither hope for health nor long life"
Cleanliness is not merely useful to the
body, it conduces to the love OF order,
to self-respect, to regularity of COLI
duct, and to decency Of manners ;and
it even influcn "es the intelligence. If
Moses and Mohammed constituted
additions religious duties, SO the bath
is in our own times one of the essen
tials OF civilized life. So also of con-
Thence and incontinence. 1t is al
most needless to point out that the one
is as conducive to longevity as the
other is opposed to it. It's law APP
plicable to all created things, that
those which cngender and multiply
early enjoy but a brief existence.
Marriage prolongs life by moderating
the passions, and yet supplying their
healthful qualification. We have ex-
amples of longevity among anchOrites
as in the cases ofSaint Anthony, The
OdOsius the Cenobite, Paul the An.
chorite, and others; but DIR. Noirot
SAYS, "men WHO have attained great
age have almost all been married."
Passions are inherent in our nature,
and have been given to us for our hap.
pincss. But it is with passions as it is
with riches. They make good ser.
wants, but very bad masters. No one
who does not study to restrain his
passions from early life can expect to
live to very old age. Hoffman used
to say, "more men perish through the
mind than by the body" and Button
thought that most men died of grief
LAYING aside, then, what Plato Justly
designated as the ''fevers of the soul.
there are other more moderate moral
conditions which are cminently con-
ducive to health and longevity. Such
is 'hope." which Pindar designated
as the nurse of old age. Plutarch us
ed also to say that nothing tended
more to uphold lie than hope for its
prolongation. Everything that con-
duces to gayeiy and liveliness is also
conducive to health and longevity.
Democritcs, who was always laughing
lived to one hundred and nine years
of age. "Be happy, take exercise, and
indulge in no excuses, and you may
laugh at me, said an old physician.
Laughter if sometimes a sovereign
remedy. 1t is related that a pope was
on the point of dying, when a pet
monkey took up the coveted tiara aud
placed it OIL his head. suiting his ac-
tons to his newly-acquired dignity.
The pope laughed SO heartily that his
life was saved. Erasmus wrote in
praise of folly, in consequence of his
life being saved by The breaking of an
abcess by laughter. Habitual good
temper, contented spirit, and cheer
fulness of disposition, are eminently
to long life. Envy, anxiety
and grief, have precisely an opposite
tendency. Excessive joy or grief
may, it is we'll known, alike entail
death.
.'Ennui' is enumerated by DR.. Moi
rot among things eminently destruc-
tive of life. We have scarcely its
in the English language,
but il is idleness in youth, surfeit in
the adult. wcariness and despair in old
a.e. Whatever induces moral de-
pI ession is as baneful TO existence as
that which induces physical depres-
sion. Firmness of will is, therefore,
one of the most powerful sanitary
means. The seven cardinal virtues
were faith, hope, charity, temperance.
Justice, and force. The seven mortal
sins, pride, avarice, idleness, luxury,
envy, anger and gluttony. The one
are favorable to long life, tho other
fatal to it. The force of the will, by
giving a high tone to the more noble
faculties of the soul, strengthens the
principle of life, and enables both
mind and body to resist all that is
permicious and hurtful to it. Fear OF
INDIGESTION, OH the other hand, delivers
it up helpless to the enemy. Energy
in doing good is still more sustaining
than even strength of will devoted to
mere selfish ends. 1t is the feeling
which enables a medical man TO per-
form his duties with cheerfulness and
impunity in time of pcstilence and
plague, Fabrizzi, afflicted with fatal
complaint, withdrew to the country
to die. A family of peasants suppli-
Gated his aid in the case OF disas-
trous accident, and their gratitude
was so lively and sincere for the cure
effected, that the physician felt that il
his life IVES not utterly Useless, he had
no right to abstract it from that OF
others. He resumed his labOrs, re-
covered his health, and lived 10 a good
old age. Bcrthez, Foderc, and Hufe-
land. all believed that great power OF
will could induce prolongation of life.
1t is certainly powerful to relieve.
Kant used to say that most nervous
are due to idleness and NEIL
tai inertia. Many conditions of de-
bility, discomfort, distress, and sick
ness arise, indeed, from mere fretful
and cowardly giving way to corporal
The great French RevO-
luton reused many poor, sickly and
and languishing persons to health and
With respect to the intellectual fac
ulties, the solid quality of the mind :
that is TO say, good common sense-is
more conducive to health and lOngevi-
ty than great talents or brilliant gifts.
John Sinclair used to declare that out
ola hundred centenarians only ore,
Fontenclle. was man of lively imag-
ination. This is scarcely correct tho
use OF the brain is lurtful
to health, but liveIiness is beneficial.
So. on the other hand, is inactivity OF
the brain prejudicial. If man lives
longer than other animals, it is because
he is a thinking animal. The useful
of.the intellectual pow
crs is one among the golden rules OF
health and longevity laid down at the
of this article. Moth
ing has been given to us i'll vain, o.
than for our happiness and
canca