[ 365 ] 

 LXV. Notices respecting new Books. 



Oik John Sinclair, who has long laboured for the benefit 

 of the community, has just issued a prospectus of a new- 

 work, to be entitled The Code of Health and I^ngevUif, 

 We subjoin a copy of his Sketch of the Plan. 



The medical authors who have hitherto written on health, 

 have commonly restricted their observations to six general 

 heads : i. Air ; 2. Diet ; 3. Motion and Rest ; 4. Sleepiuf 

 and Watching; .5. Retention and Excretion; and, 0. The 

 Passions of the Mind. To these they have given the sin- 

 gular name of the six non-naturals, from the idea that 

 though, if they were managed with prudence, they mi^ht 

 be entitled to the name of naturals, yet as they are much 

 oftener abused, and thence are the source of various disor- 

 ders, they are moi-e frequently acting against, than with 

 nature, and therefore may be properly "termed lum-natu- 

 rals*. ^ Some authors on healtli have also gone into the 

 discussion of what they caW non-necessaries f,^m which they 

 include clothing and the professions of life. But as such a 

 mode of explaining the doctrines ol' health and longevity is 

 in many respects defective and exceptionable, it is not pro- 

 posed to adhere to it upon the present occasion. 



The most naUn-al division of the subject under considera- 

 tion seems to be, to point cut, 



1. The circumstances which necessarily tend to promote 

 health and longevity, iniH.pendent of individual attention. 



2. The rules which, if observed by an individual, have 

 a tendency to preserve health and existence, even where 

 these independent circumstances are wanting. And, 



3. The regulations by which the general health and safety 

 of a great community are protected from the various injuries 

 to which they are likely to be exposed. 



Part I. 

 Circumstances which necessarily tend to promote liealth and 

 longevity. 

 It will hardly be disputed, that while individuals differ 



* Lynch's Guide to Health, p. fii. Mackenzie, in his History of 

 Health, Introd. p. 4,. gives a diffc-rent account of tlie compcjnd word hok- 

 notural, which, lie says, orij^inated fioin the jargon of the Ptripatttic 

 schools. U was first mentioned hy Galen, who divides things relating 

 to the human body into three classes : Things which are yiaiural lo it ; 

 Things which are >!on-natwnl ; and, Things whicii are es'ira-nafural 

 (Class. 7. lib. dc Ocul. Panic, tenia, c. 1.) From this fanraitica! di- 

 winction, the epitlict non-nataral, he says, first arose. 



t SttOthcr's Essay on Sickness and Health, p. 445. 



SO 



