LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 197 



ing health, who remarked to me not long since, "We never have too many 

 rainy days to suit me. They are blessings to every farmer who has learned 

 how rightly to use them. I, said lie, never expose teams, men, children, or 

 myself to the rain. Such days are best used in fixing up indoors, but most 

 valuable as excellent time for brain cultivation." Let me urge upon all that 

 exposure to the damp or cold acts most energetically, through the*\ierves, to 

 disturb the circulation, and when we remember that all nourishment comes to 

 the tissues througli the blood, and that all the ashes, if we may use the 

 term, which result from vital action, and which for the most part are virulent 

 poisons, must be removed by the same circulatory system, you will see that I 

 have urged none too strongly the importance of guarding well against the 

 evils in question. To sum up I would urge all most strongly not to walk in 

 the wet without water proof boots or good rubbers. Always guard against 

 getting wet, and if you chancetogetyour clothing wet remain active, or better 

 ter still, make all haste to change for dry clothing. Put on Hannel under- 

 clothing early in the fall, and be slow to put it aside the next spring. Delay 

 the putting off of flannels till you are certain that spring has surely come, 

 though you may feel a little discomfort at times. Do not pack away the over- 

 coat till well into May or June. Be careful never to go into the cold unpro- 

 tected or sit in a draft of air when you are very warm, and thus in a state of 

 perspiration. At such times and for a similar reason it is dangerous to drink 

 very heartily of cold water. Of course many will say, *' Oh, I am not going to 

 fuss like an old maid; I'll run the risk." Remember that those unfortunates 

 that are feeble and diseased have to take these precautions most studiously to 

 live at all. Be slow to adopt and persevere in a course that has dethroned their 

 healths, and which may make you their companions in suffering ere you are 

 aware. 



I have already stated that the taste was the best guide to the kind of food 

 most desirable. In meeting this demand of the appetite, however, we must, 

 if we would avoid all nervous shock, call the judgment to our aid. When we 

 are very warm and thirsty the tissues need water. We crave drink on this 

 account. We will not be satisfied until the water is absorbed from the stom- 

 ach, and is distributed to the famished tissues. This is a quick operation, but 

 not an instantaneous one, and so a gill of water will often bring the same relief 

 that would be furnished by a quart, though for the instant we crave the whole 

 quart. On the other hand, the bathing of the vessels of the stomach in a 

 quart of ice water may give a fatal shock to the system, or produce chronic 

 inflammation, perhaps in the feet, which in the horse we denominate founder. 

 Over eating, on the other hand, is not impelled by any such vehement desire, 

 and is simply the result of gross, unrestrained gluttony. It is also because of 

 this nervous sympathy that it is dangerous and sinful to eat food that does not 

 relish. It is not simply moral obtuseness that makes one rebel against innutri- 

 tions, unwholesome, poorly cooked, and unappetizing food. Evei'y protoplas- 

 mic cell in the body cries kick, you are wronged. It is found that at the 

 imposition of untoothsome food the spittle dams up in the salivary ducts, 

 the gastric juice utters a protest by its dribbling flow, the pancreatic follicles 

 strike for better substance to work upon, and the very blood seems to call for 

 a halt as if indignant. What wonder then if in this general indignation meet- 

 ing the temper also loses its balance. If a person ever has a right to be indig- 

 nant it is when he is confronted with strong butter or sour bread. Perhaps 

 Paul had just risen from such a meal when he said, " As much as lieth in you 



