more in hot than in cold weather, more in irritable

than in inert temperaments. Children suffer from Yet too sudden and too

being kept too warm.

great changes of temperature produce in them, as well as in adult persons, catarrhal affections, coughing, inflammation, diarrhoeas, &c.

The skin ought to be kept clean, exposed to the air, and thus rendered less sensible to external impressions. With respect to clothing, the general rule is, that no part of the body ought to be pressed. Weak organs may be supported, and the whole body defended against cold, but all the movements of the body ought to be free and easy. It is a false taste to hurt the health with a view to increase beauty.

A sedentary life is adverse to health in general, particularly to that of children. They require more bodily exercise, and more sleep than adults.

During childhood, as well as in infancy, the regulation of the vegetative functions is the most important point of education. A good and healthy organization is the basis of all employment and of all enjoyment. Many parents, however, are anxious to cultivate the mind at the expense of the body. They think that they cannot instruct

their offspring early enough to read and to write, whilst their bodily constitution and health are overlooked. Children are shut up, forced to sit quiet, and to breathe a confined air. This error is the greater, the more delicate the children are, and the more premature their mental powers. The bodily powers of such children are sooner exhausted, their brain is liable to inflammation and serous effusion; and a premature death is frequently the consequence of such a violation of nature. It is indeed to be lamented, that the. influence of the physical on the moral part of man is not sufficiently understood. There are parents who will pay masters very dearly, in hope of giving excellency to their children, but who will hesitate to spend the tenth part to procure them bodily health. They, by an absurd infatuation, take their own constitutions as a measure of those of their children, and because they themselves in advanced life can support confinement and intense application with little injury to health, they conclude that their young and delicate children can do the same. Such notions are altogether erroneous. The advantages of a sound body are incalculable for the individuals themselves, their friends, and their posterity. Body and mind ought to be cultivated in harmony, and neither of them at the expense of the other. Health should

be the basis, and instruction the ornament of education. The developement of the body will assist the manifestations of the mind, and a good moral education will contribute to bodily health. The organs of the mental operations, when they are too soon and too much exercised, suffer and become unfit for their functions. This explains the reason why young geniuses often descend at a later age into the class of common men. Indeed, experience shows, that among children of almost equal dispositions, those who are brought up without particular care, and begin to read and to write, when their bodily constitution has acquired some solidity, soon overtake those who are dragged early to their spelling-books. No school education, strictly speaking, ought to begin before seven years of age. We shall, however, see in the following chapter, on the laws of exercise, that many ideas and notions may be communicated to children by other means than books, as it is done in infant schools. When education shall become practical and applicable to the future destination of individuals, children will be less plagued with nothings, but they will be made answerable not only for their natural gifts, but also for the preservation and cultivation of their bodily constitution, since vigour in it is indispensable to enjoyment and usefulness. They will be made acquainted

with the natural laws of nutrition, and with their influence on health. This knowledge will be of greater use than to forbid eating meat on certain days. Teachers, indeed, ought to know, that nothing is unclean or an abomination in itself, but becomes so by being ill used. Man must eat and drink to live, but he ought to avoid all unwholesome food, and whatever disturbs his health.

The influence of the laws of the vegetative functions is so great, that those who direct mankind, ought to be permitted to regulate them in many respects. The Mosaic law may serve as a fine specimen. All ancient legislators paid great attention to these laws, as well as to those of hereditary descent.

The submission of man to the laws of the vegetative functions is necessary during his whole life, but particularly from birth to the age of complete developement, since the time of growth is preparatory for the rest of life.

An additional observation concerning the vegetative functions is, that they, like all others, admit of great modifications, nay, even of idiosyncrasies. Some persons succeed under all circumstances: they digest whatever they eat; others suffer

from particular aliments, such as mutton, pigeon, veal, cauliflower, &c. These, and all other particularities can only be observed, but can never be explained. In regard to them, every one must be his own physician. DEMOSTHENES and HALLER were kept in a state of regular excitement by drinking nothing but water. Coffee was the favourite stimulus of VOLTAIRE, and tea that of Dr. JOHNSON. Sir ISAAC NEWTON lived upon vegetables when he was employed in composing his famous treatise on Optics. HOBBES sat in his study, enveloped in the smoke of tobacco, &c.

During the age of preparation, that is, from birth to the state of full growth, a third kind of laws is to be kept in view, and these shall be considered in the following pages.

THESE laws embrace what is called Education in a more limited sense, but in this respect many errors are caused by the true meaning of the word Exercise not being sufficiently understood. I em