LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 287 



viz. that portion which has been consumed in the 

 secretion of those juices necessary for the conver- 

 sion of the supper into blood. When, therefore, 

 the hour of rising arrives, it finds the body still 

 unrepaired and unrefreshed ; and the individual still 

 overpowered with sleep, and disinclined to rise. 



To conclude : If you would preserve your health, 

 therefore, exercise, severe exercise proportioned, 

 however, to your strength is the only means which 

 can avail you. Recollect, the body must be dis- 

 organized, wasted, sweated, before it can be nou- 

 rished; recollect the tale of the Dervish and the 

 Sultan ; recollect the mode of training horses for 

 the course, and men for the prize-ring. With 

 plentiful bodily exertion, you can scarcely be ill ; 

 without bodily exertion, you cannot possibly be 

 well. By "well," I mean the enjoying as much 

 strength as your system is capable of: and if you 

 are in search of some charm, some talisman, which 

 will enable you to indulge considerably in the 

 pleasures of the table with comparative impunity, 

 you will find it in bodily exertion, and in bodily 

 exertion only. 



But by exertion or exercise, I do not mean the 



