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the water and died. So essential is it that physicians themselves should be guided by the habits of their patients; and upon this is grounded the maxim of those who assert that they will not have any physician, who is not acquainted with the nature of their constitution. This nature is made up chiefly of their habits; so that Celsus was perfectly right when he observed, that no physician could be so serviceable to a patient as one who was at the same time his intimate friend.

So much for general rules! Let us now consider the principal and the most common things over which habit can acquire dominion, and we shall be astonished what it is capable of effecting, when it determines to violate all the laws of medicine.

Every one knows what dangers they have to apprehend who live in an unwholesome air. Habit, however, can enable people to endure it. Sanctorius relates, that a man, who had lived twenty years in a close dungeon, became sickly as soon as he was liberated, and that he never could regain his health, though he had the best medical advice, till he furnished occasion for his being once more confined in the same prison. I knew a female myself, who had lived so many years shut up in her apartment, that even in the finest weather she durst not open her window, because the fresh air made her faint away. Birds that have been long confined in close rooms, become sickly and die as soon as they are exposed to the air. There are people so habituated to a dry, and others to a damp air, that they cannot endure any other. How many travellers fall sick when they quit their own country and breathe a foreign air! How the unfortunate armies engaged in the crusades were thinned as soon as they reached the distant theatre of operations! Observations of this kind induced Paul Zacchias to advise patients to seek the air of their native country, to which they were accustomed, though it were even bad in comparison with that in which they actually were. Habit enables the hunter, as Cicero says, to pass the night upon the snow, and in the daytime to brave the scorching heat of the

sun upon the mountains. Soldiers afford instances of the same kind. Vegetius remarks that the most experienced generals have exercised their troops in snow and rain, in consequence of which they have remained healthy while in camp, and been rendered vigorous and persevering in battle. I might also deduce in evidence our stage-coachmen who travel day and night in all weathers: nay, our labourers, our farming-men, and in particular the trampers, some of whom scarcely know what it is to lodge in a house, prove every day by their example, that the most inclement weather has no effect upon them. In their case, however, a few circumstances are to be considered. Most of these persons are the offspring of robust parents, and from their infancy have been exposed to all the vicissitudes of the seasons. Such as have perished in their apprenticeship, if I may so term it, are not taken into the account; and even those who are most inured to hardships are often suddenly attacked by diseases which consign them to the grave. If, therefore, people are to be so brought up as to be rendered extremely hardy, a large proportion of them must be expected to perish in the attempt. The Ostiaks, who rove about in the northern parts of Siberia, and can withstand all weathers, would no doubt be more numerous, if they were not so hardly bred. It is easy to imagine how many of them must perish, if the women, according to Weber's account, bring forth their children during their excursions, in the open air, and immediately after their birth sometimes plunge them into the snow, at others put them into their warm bosoms, and in this manner pursue their route with them. Such as survive this treatment, indeed, are so much the more hardy. A Tartar infant which has stood the test of being plunged, just after its birth, into water, through a hole made in the ice, an Ostiak, or a Russian, will afterwards experience no inconvenience, when, on arriving at manhood, he runs naked out of the hot bath and leaps into the river which is full of floating ice: on the contrary, this is to him an agreeable refrigerant. All the hardy persons

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who triumph over Nature, have laid the foundation of their robust constitution in the first years of infancy, when nobody cared whether they lived or died. From being thus hardily brought up, the Laplanders, the Swiss, and the peasantry of almost every country, can defy the vicissitudes of the weather, scarcely feel the severest cold, and are rendered capable of enduring the fatigues of war. Hence it is evident that these people are not fit models for the imitation of persons descended from less hardy progenitors, and who have been more delicately reared.

The most offensive effluvia, which delicate persons cannot endure, are frequently a refreshment to those who are accustomed to them. Vega cured a seaman who was thrown into an almost fatal swoon by the savoury smells of a grand entertainment, by causing him to be laid on the beach and covered with mire and sea-weed, by which means he came to himself again in about four hours. Lemnius relates of a peasant who fainted at the smell of the drugs in an apothecary's shop, that he recovered on being carried to a dunghill. Strabo has remarked that the Sabæans, who swooned at perfumes, were revived by means of burnt rosin and goats' hair. Such persons resemble the Karusches, who live in mud, as in their proper element; and yet we find that such hardy people are sometimes suddenly deprived of life by a violent stench.

In regard to food, it is very certain that habit can raise us above the standard of ordinary men. "Meat and drink to which we are accustomed," says Hippocrates, "agree with us, though naturally pernicious: but not those aliments to which we are unaccustomed, though naturally wholesome:" and hence he concludes, that it is more beneficial to adhere to the same sorts of food than to change them abruptly, even though we substitute better in their stead. Alexander the Great, when in India, found it necessary to forbid his army the use of whole some food, because it carried off his men, owing to their not being accustomed to it. So true is the observation 33 ATHENEUM VOL. 14.

of Celsus, that "whatever is contrary to our habits, whether it be hard or soft, is prejudicial to health.”

Excess in eating and drinking may even become habitual. When Dionysius, the Sicilian tyrant, was prevented by a siege from indulging in this kind of excess, he wasted away till he was enabled to resume his habits of intemperance. Drunkards, in the morning, when sober, can scarcely stand upon their legs; but when they return home at night intoxicated, they walk with as firm a step as the most sober of us all. Many of them continue to swill till the moment of their death, and even prolong their lives by so doing; for to deprive them by force of their liquor would, in reality, but accelerate their end. Sanctorius advised a Hungarian nobleman to give up drinking strong wines; but he was reduced so low by confining himself to lighter sorts, that he was absolutely obliged to return to the strong. Such habits ought not to induce any one to imitate them; for the very practice by which they are acquired injures the constitution to such a degree, that no sooner have we gained the desired habit than we perceive how near it has brought us to a premature grave. Wepfer saw a person who could swallow melted butter by spoonfuls without injury; and I myself knew an old man, whose veracity I had no reason to doubt, who declared that he had often drunk at once a pint of melted fat without sustaining any inconvenience. Pechlin states, that some one had so accustomed himself to putrid water in Holland, that when, on account of debility of the stomach, he was advised to relinquish that beverage, he found it impossible to dispense with it, at least boiled and mixed with spice. Wine, on the other hand, was so disgusting to him, that he never could take it otherwise than diluted with water. But what person could be so mad as to accustom himself to drink melted fat and putrid water? We ought not to accustom ourselves to any thing to which we cannot become habituated but to the injury of our health and the peril of our lives.

To this class belong particularly me

dicines and poisons; especially as many seek either fame or benefit in habituating themselves to them. I have frequently condemned the unlucky mania of many healthy persons for taking physic; the very habit which is thus acquired is the strongest reason for desisting from the practice. According to the laws of habit, the more frequently medicines are employed, the weaker is their operation; and to what remedies shall the sick have recourse, when they have already accustomed themselves to their use in health. Experience proves these pernicious effects from all species of medicines and poisons. A cathartic frequently repeated ceases to produce any efect. Theophrastus knew a person who ate black hellebore by handfuls, without vomiting or purging. The common use of mercury renders that remedy inefficacious in the veneral disease. The men who are obliged to work in quicksilver mines are thrown in the first days into violent salivation; when they are afterwards compelled by blows to resume this dangerous occupation, that effect ceases, and no sooner has habit enabled them to withstand the influence of the metallic effluvia than death carries them off. Of opium I shall here say nothing, as I intend to make it the subject of a distinct paper.-A woman who had brought a consumption on herself by the immoderate use of spirits, when reduced to the last extremity, sent for a physician; she was in a lectic fever, quite emaciated, swollen, and completely exhausted. She had been previously accustomed to drink a bottle of French brandy every day, and the physician actually found her intoxicated. He exhorted her to discontinue this practice, and her attendants were strictly forbidden to give her any spirituous liquors. She had scarcely passed a day in this forced abstinence, when all about her prepared for her speedy dissolution. She became delirious; her eyes were fixed; her cough almost choaked her; she could not sleep a wink; excessive perspiration at night, and diarrhoea in the day, exhausted her small remains of strength: she seemed no longer to see, to hear, or to feel. The doctor, who exerted all

his skill for her relief, could not prevent her becoming daily worse; and though the patient earnestly solicited the indulgence of brandy, he forbade it for that reason the more strictly. She passed nine days in this state between life and death. At length her maidservant took pity on her and gave her a bottle of brandy. She drank about

a third of it at once, and the remainder in the course of the day. Her evident improvement induced her attendants to supply her, unknown to the physician, with her usual quantity of spirits. Her delirium subsided; she recovered her senses, and talked rationally as long as she was furnished with the means of intoxication. Her cough became less troublesome; she slept well, and was able to sit up a considerable time. In this amended state she remained about a month, at the expiration of which she became insensible, and expired in two days. There are numerous instances of this kind, from which a physician may learn that, in diseases arising from habit, it is proper to relax a little in the severity of his principles. Some of these facts are related by Monro.-A man-sook, whose nose was nearly cut off, had lost a great deal of blood. He was allowed to take wine in barley-water or whey, but he remained very weak, frequently fainted, and was troubled with head-ache. He had been accustomed to drink daily a considerable quantity of ale, wine, and spirits. At his request some ale, with a quartern of brandy, was given him, and from that time he began to mend, and continued to improve by the daily repetition of this allowance.-A man had broken his leg, and the physician confined him to milk and water and slops. He slept badly at night; his pulse was weak and quick; and he complained of thirst and head-ache. On the third day, upon a continuance of this diet, he was still sleepless and delirious; got out of bed, tore away the cradle in which the leg was laid, and knew nobody. At the same time his weak pulse intermitted. The physician was informed that this man had been for many years a drunkard: he therefore permitted him to drink ale and brandy. He slept the next night,

and his fever and delirium were gone. He had drunk, the preceding day, a Scotch quart of ale and a quarter of a pint of brandy; and continuing to do the same daily, he recovered without farther accident.-A distiller fell into a vat containing hot spirits, and scalded his legs, thighs, and belly so dreadfully, that the skin of those parts soon turned quite hard and black. As his pulse was very quick he was let blood, and a strict diet was recommended. Next day he was a great deal weaker, with much anxiety and a low quick pulse. The third day he was very ill and insensible. His wife begged that she might be allowed to give him some brandy. Her request was complied with, and her husband grew better; the skin of the injured parts began to suppurate, and he completely recovered.

His wife then confessed that she had given him a pint of brandy a day. To such a degree can habit weaken the effect of so strong a liquor as brandy.

Libau informs us, that the Ethiopians eat scorpions, and Mercurilis states, that the West Indians eat toads: neither of these facts is without a parallel in Europe. At Padua and Rome, there were two children who ate scorpions, and a girl took great pleasure in eating frogs, lizards, serpents, mice, and all sorts of insects. Another ate live lizards and caterpillars with pepper and vinegar. Of spider-eaters, who grew fat upon those disgusting insects, I could easily collect have a dozen instances from different writers. Galen relates of an old woman, that she had gradually habituated herself to make a meal of hemlock: and Sextus Empiricus assures us, that there have been persons who have taken thirty drams of that poison without injury. A student at Halle accustomed himself on purpose to arsenick, which he took with his food, from a boy; and though it at first occasioned vomiting, yet in time he could bear a considerable quantity.

Hence it is evident, how one who habituates himself needlessly to physic, breaks down the bridges which, in case of emergency, might carry him in safety over the abysses of disease.

Tul

Even the use of our limbs, walking, standing, dancing,riding, speaking, singing, swimming, the ready use of the right or left hand, and a thousand other actions and movements, depend on practice; and this is the foundation of all the corporeal talents which excite the astonishment of mankind. pius makes mention of a woman who could thread a needle, tie firm knots, and write with her tongue. Ropedancers, and people who have grown up in a savage state, display equally extraordinary feats. We may therefore easily infer, that strength also, and capability of enduring fatigue, may be acquired by practice. A robust young fellow, just sent to the galleys, is surprised at the fatigue which his older and much weaker companions can go through. The ancient physicians were aware of the reason of this. "An infirm old man," says Hippocrates, "can perform hard labour to which he is accustomed, with greater ease than a young man who is ever so strong but unaccustomed to it ;" and Celsus has an observation to the same effect.

The senses, also, are powerfully influenced by habit. By accustoming our eyes to spectacles and glasses, we soon render them incapable of seeing without those auxiliaries. By habit, our ears gradually become insensible to the loudest noise, our nose to the most noisome stench, our palate to the most disgusting taste; and the Lacedæmonian youths were so accustomed to stripes, that, though beaten to death, they would not make a wry face. Memory, wit, presentiments, passions, may all be introduced by habit into the machine: hence it has been not unaptly remarked by a modern writer, that thought itself is but a habit. Moræus long since conceived the same idea, when he observed, "we have to ascribe life, and even wisdom itself, to nothing but habit; and that this alone, and not reason, governs our minds." Even study, otherwise so injurious, becomes innocent through habit. Many ancient philosophers, and among the moderns, Mallebranche, Cassini, Newton, Hofmann, Fontenelle, and other studious men, lived to an advanced age.

By way of conclusion, I must not omit to mention the natural evacuations, over which, habit has a powerfal influence. Many people have natural discharges of blood, which must not be stopped. There is an instance of a healthy person, who had such a constipation, as to receive one call from nature every five weeks. Many perspire naturally very abundantly,

others not at all. Whoever should attempt to alter such habits, whether hurtful or beneficial, would bring bis patients into great danger, and not accomplish any good purpose. Oh how many useful maxims does this single paper present to my readers and my colleagues! I could not exhaust the subject in as many sheets as I have here devoted pages to it.

OF

(Lit. Gaz.)

A BIT OF BRIGHTON.

F all those resorts of the Cockneys called Watering Places, there is none which presents so great a variety of character among its visitors as Brighton, particularly at this season, when the Metropolis may be truly said to be adjourned thither, its inhabitants show ing their preference for wind and seaair over fog and smoke. I was at Brighton some days ago, and could not help making a remark which I dare say has been often made before, and has yet to be often repeated, namely, that almost every third person 1 met bore the appearance of an old acquaintance. "Who is that? I know his face," was an exclamation perpetually on my tongue. I there saw visages which, in my walks in London, I had been accustomed constantly to meet in certain tracks and within certain limits, to which I then thought their peregrinations confined. The easy, loitering gait of the "West End," and the busy shuffle of the East; the well-cut frock of Pall Mall, and the thread-bare brown coat of Threadneedle-street, formed an assemblage which I cannot enumerate better than in the words of that eminent actor (or as Lord Byron would call him, that great tragedian,) Mr. Grimaldi

"Jockeys, Jews, and Parlez-vous,
Courtezans and Quakers,
Players, peers, and auctioneers,

Parsons and undertakers."

The consideration of these matters had one day, after my walk along the Marine Parade, nearly overwhelmed me in a train of thought just as I arrived at the corner of the Steine. Now

(to use the language of my friend Sterne) the worst fault that can be alleged against this quarter of the town is, that if there is but a cap full of wind in or about Brighton, it is more blasphemously condemned here than at any other corner of the whole place,— and with reason good and cogent, as I now felt; for my meditation was suddenly cut short by a gust that swept me nearly across the road, and seemed disposed to carry me over on to the beach, had I not been caught in the arms of my friend Dick Surface, who stopped my flight, with much raillery on my abstraction. So I took Dick's arm and turned back with him-for he is a good-natured fellow and a pleasant companion, and sometimes ventures on a pun, which diversifies his conversation; and though not always the happiest effort of genius, generally raises a laugh either by its excellence or its absurdity.

I told him the subject of my meditation, which rather pleased him, as it gave him an opportunity of showing his knowledge of persons and things. "Look (said he) at that fat old fellow waddling as fast as his gouty legs can get on with their enormous burdens. He is one of the wise men of the East, and considered a great man in the City. He has grown to this size by his constant attendance at City feasts. Look at that back-widened at the expense of the Corporation-ba, ha, ha! Ever since his twentieth year he has made his life one long lord Mayor's feast. He is now walking for an appetite, in which he generally succeeds

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