148 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



benefit occasionally derived from these remedies 

 depended upon any power which they possess of 

 strengthening the stomach. If we are weak, nothing 

 but a copious supply of blood, furnished to all our 

 organs, can strengthen us. I tell you, nature has 

 appointed but that one source from which we can 

 derive strength ; and in order that that source 

 might never fail us in order that sufficient blood 

 might always be derived from the food we eat she 

 placed us in a situation favourable to the conversion 

 of our food into blood : she established a fixed re- 

 lation between ourselves and the rest of the world : 

 she taught us, by the very manner in which she 

 fashioned us, what were the habits proper to our 

 nature : she said, " Here shall you stand, and thus 

 shall you do ; and while you are content to remain 

 thus, all will be well : disobey, and you will surely 

 suffer." But we have quitted the position ap- 

 pointed us ; we have forsaken the habits which she 

 allotted to us ; we have disregarded her tokens, de- 

 rided her counsel, broken her laws, overleaped her 

 boundaries : and, now that we are paying the penalty 

 of our frolic, we stand gaping at each other, like 

 fools, and wonder what is the matter. The matter ! 

 why, we are like Rabelais' wooden-pegs we are 

 like square men, who have thrust ourselves into 



