228 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



nearly unparalleled in the annals of war, for diffi- 

 culties and perils. During two hundred and fifteen 

 days of almost uninterrupted and toilsome march, 

 often in the face of the enemy, often between two 

 enemies, and engaged in front and rear at the same 

 moment, the army lost an uncertain, but not a great 

 number of men; partly by the darts and arrows 

 of the barbarians ; partly by desertion ; partly by 

 drowning in rivers, or sinking in morasses ; partly 

 by perishing in the snows of the Armenian moun- 

 tains ; but not ONE BY SICKNESS ! " He mentions, 

 also, the case of Byron and his crew : " Although 

 nine-tenths of the original crew appear to have 

 perished by drowning or starvation, Byron makes 

 no mention of sickness, during any period of the 

 long and unparalleled series of sufferings to which 

 that ill-fated ship's company was doomed." The 

 retreat of Sir John Moore through the mountains of 

 Spain the sufferings of the crew of the " Bounty," 

 under Capt. Bligh and the retreat of the French 

 from Moscow are also quoted, in proof of the 

 same principle. 



Another prevalent cause of indigestion is the 

 depressing influence of anxiety. In the present 

 day, with men engaged in business, the mind is 

 scarcely ever free from care : for business is not 



