INFLUENCE O* THE BRAIN ON HEALTH. 263 



scamps and skulkers, who then fancy their game the 

 surest. These fellows certainly succeed in working 

 as little as possible, and in making those about them 

 unhappy ; but, after all, without any great accession 

 to their own comfort." 



" This system," continues Captain Hall, " dis- 

 courages the cheerful and willing workers by the 

 oppression of its injustice a feeling which speedily 

 takes away or deadens some of the best motives to 

 improvement. Such a captain, unwilling to see 

 that he himself is in fault, ascribes the evil to 

 others ; and, " by his unfair censure of those who, in 

 fact, are the most deserving of commendation, he 

 scatters the seeds of discouragement over all the dif- 

 ferent classes exposed to his unskilful handling, and 

 every thing falls into confusion worse confounded." 

 (p. 10.) The loss of the French frigate Medusa, on 

 the coast of Africa, in 1817, and the tremendous suf- 

 fering which instantly ensued from the state of an- 

 archy and uproar which took place among the crew, 

 are well known to have arisen entirely from the in- 

 sufficiency and headstrong conceit of a weak and ig- 

 norant commander, and afford a strong contrast to 

 the admirable coolness and high-toned moral feeling 

 displayed on the similar occasion of the wreck of 

 the Alceste, on her return from China with Lord 

 Amherst, and which also made a deep impression, 

 but of a widely different description, on the public 

 mind. 



From the above quotations, the influence which 

 he qualities of the commander may exert on the 

 health, as well as the discipline, of those under his 

 orders, may easily be inferred. So important, in- 

 deed, are cheerfulness and confidence, as conditions 

 of health, that if two ships were to be sent out to 

 circumnavigate the globe, each equal to the other in 

 every respect, except the one being under the di- 

 rection of a humane, vivacious, and considerate man, 

 and the other of a lymphatic, selfish, and tyrannical 



