204 PREVENTION OF DISEASE IN THE LUNGS. 



up from the open air during winter, with the false 

 hope of thereby warding off colds and protecting 

 their lungs. I have seen the greatest delicacy of 

 constitution thus engendered, especially where an 

 undue quantity of warm clothing was at the same 

 time employed. When tested by the principles 

 above explained, such conduct is found to be a 

 ill adapted as possible to the end in view, and ut- 

 terly at variance with all the laws of the animal 

 economy. 



Perhaps the most important time in the life of a 

 person born with a predisposition to consumption is 

 that of puberty, comprising from the commencement 

 of rapid growth to the full consolidation of the sys- 

 tem about or after the twenty-first year. In most 

 young people, the transition from adolescence to 

 maturity is so rapid, that for two or three years all 

 the animal pov/ers are tasked to enable nutrition to 

 keep pace with growth, and a corresponding debility 

 of both body and mind is often observed to co-exist, 

 indicating, in the clearest manner, the necessity of 

 a temporary remission from such studies and occu- 

 pations as require much mental exertion or confine- 

 ment within doors. The development and health 

 of the physical system ought then to be almost ex- 

 clusively attended to ; and when the bod;" has ac- 

 quired its solidity, the mental faculties will again 

 become active. I have seen instances where a 

 knowledge of the latter fact afforded substantial 

 consolation to young men who, while their bodies 

 were growing rapidly, were apt to become despond- 

 ent, on account of the unusual sluggishness and 

 inefficiency of their intellectual powers. In the 

 course of a few years, when the growth and con- 

 solidation were completed, the brain vigorously re- 

 sumed its functions. 



In such circumstances, relaxation from study, 

 residence in the country, exercise in the open air, 

 plenty of food, and no care, will often do immense 



