LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 227 



In all, life is the same; more or less complex, but 

 still the same; consisting, in all, of a number of 

 effects, resulting from, and depending upon, the 

 four grand conditions of matter, before mentioned ; 



viz. ORGANISM, CONTRACTILITY, SENSIBILITY, and 

 STIMULI. 



To shew that the "discomforts" of life, or hard- 

 ships, as they are called, have no influence in pro- 

 ducing disease, but, on the contrary, serve only to 

 harden the system against it, Dr. J. Johnson has 

 most aptly quoted some remarkable historical illus- 

 trations. " One of the earliest and most memo- 

 rable illustrations," says he, " will be found in the 

 celebrated retreat of the TEN THOUSAND GREEKS, 

 under Xenophon and Cheirisophus, after the fall of 

 Cyrus on the plains of Cunaxa. This band of 

 auxiliaries were left without commanders, money, 

 or provisions, to traverse a space of twelve hundred 

 leagues, under constant alarms from the attacks of 

 barbarous and successive swarms of enemies. They 

 had to cross rapid rivers, penetrate gloomy forests, 

 drag their weary way over vast and burning 

 deserts, scale the summits of rugged mountains, 

 and wade through deep snows and pestilent mo- 

 rasses, in continual danger of death or capture, 

 which was far worse than death. This retreat is 



