EXERCISE OF THE LUNGS. 199 



which they find it difficult to remove by any kind of 

 medicine. 



I need hardly say, that when wishing to favour 

 the development of the mugs, we ought to be scru- 

 pulous in avoiding such positions of the body as 

 hinder their full expansion. Tailors, shoemakers, 

 clerks at a writing-desk, and the like, are unfavour- 

 ably situated in this respect, as their bent position 

 constrains the chest, and impedes the breathing and 

 circulation. 



Direct exercise of the lungs, in speaking, reciting, 

 singing, and playing on wind instruments, is very 

 influential for good or for evil, according as it is in- 

 dulged in with or without due reference to the con- 

 stitution of the individual. If it is, nothing tends 

 more to expand and give tone and health to these 

 important organs ; but if either ill-timed or carried 

 to excess, nothing can be more detrimental. 



The crying and sobbing of children contribute 

 much to their future health, unless they are caused 

 by disease, and carried to a very unusual extent. 

 The loud laugh and noisy exclamations attending 

 the sports of the young have an evident relation to 

 the same beneficial end ; and ought therefore to be 

 encouraged instead of being repressed, as they are 

 often sought to be, by those who, having forgotten 

 that they themselves were once young, seek in 

 childhood the gravity and decorum of more advanced 

 age. I have already noticed, at page 109, an in- 

 stance on a large scale, in which the inmates of an 

 institution were, for the purpose of preserving their 

 health, shut up within the limits of their hall for six 

 months, and not allowed to indulge in any noisy and 

 romping sports. The aim of the directors was un- 

 doubtedly the purest benevolence, but from their 

 want of knowledge, their object was defeated, 

 and the arrangement itself became the instrument 

 of evil. 



Beneficial as the direct exercise of the lungs is 



