176 CONDITIONS REQUIRED FOR 



engaged in play is another powerful tonic, the influ- 

 ence of which on the general health ought not to be 

 overlooked; for the nervous influence is as indis- 

 pensable to the right performance of respiration, as 

 it is to the action of the muscles or to the digestion 

 of food. 



This latter principle explains the reason why the 

 depressing passions predispose to pulmonary con 

 sumption, a fact which has been remarked from a 

 very early period. When the mind is in a state of 

 depression, the whole nervous functions become 

 enfeebled; and the stimulus to the other organs, on 

 which so much of their vital power depends, is im- 

 paired, and a general want of tone pervades the 

 system, rendering the principal organs of the body, 

 and the lungs among the rest, unusually susceptible 

 of disease. Here, again, we may perceive the beau- 

 tiful adaptation of all the functions to each other, 

 and the exquisite harmony of design which has pre- 

 sided over the'original construction of the "body. 



It is curious indeed to trace the relations in which 

 the animal functions stand to each other. Grief, 

 sorrow, fear, and other depressing passions of the 

 mind, diminish the activity of the circulation, im- 

 pair respiration, lower vitality, and consequently 

 render the organization more than usually suscep- 

 tible of diseases arising from diminished action. 

 Anger, joy, and the other exhilarating passions, on 

 the other hand, stimulate the circulation, quicken 

 respiration, increase the vital powers, and create a 

 proneness to inflammatory or excited action. At 

 first sight, it may seem strange that such should be 

 the results of different kinds of mental emotion. On 

 examination, however, we perceive evident design, 

 in the arrangement. The tendency of grief, despond- 

 ency, and sorrow is to produce meditative inaction. 

 These emotions require no exertion of the bodily 

 powers, and no unusual expenditure of vital energy : 

 but rather the reverse. This, it will be observed, 



