220 INSUFFICIENT CEREBRAL EXERCISE. 



unvaried round of life takes strong possession of 

 the mind ; because to come forth into society re- 

 quires an exertion of faculties which have been long 

 dormant, and cannot be awakened without pain, 

 and which are felt to be feeble when called into 

 action. In such a state, home and its immediate 

 interests become not only the centre which they 

 ought to be, but also the boundary of life ; and the 

 mind originally constituted to embrace a much 

 wider sphere is thus shorn of its powers, and the 

 tone of mental and bodily health is lowered, till a 

 total inaptitude for the business of life and the ordi- 

 nary intercourse of society comes on, and often in- 

 creases till it becomes a positive malady. 



But let the situation of such persons be changed ; 

 bring them, for instance, from the listlessness of re- 

 tirement to the business and bustle of a town, give 

 them a variety of imperative employments, and 

 place them in society so as to supply to their cere- 

 bral organs that extent of exercise which gives them 

 health and vivacity of action, and, in a few months, 

 the change produced will be surprising. Health, 

 animation, and acuteness will take the place of 

 former insipidity and dulness. In such instances it 

 would be absurd to suppose that it is the mind itself 

 which becomes heavy and feeble, and again revives 

 into energy by these changes in external circum- 

 stances : the effects arise entirely from changes in 

 the state of the brain; and the mental manifesta- 

 tions and the bodily health have been improved 

 solely by the improvement of its condition. 



Examples of this kind are not rare among retired 

 officers, annuitants, merchants, and other persons 

 living on certain incomes, without fixed occupations 

 to interest them ; and a curious enough instance oc- 

 curred lately in a young military officer, who spent 

 three years in Canada, commanding a small detach- 

 ment, in a remote station, where he was completely 

 separated from all society of his own rank. During 



