58 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



self at twenty-eight becoming sleepless. At thirty-five "the mis- 

 chief had been done." " His nervous system finally gave way." A 

 night of sound sleep became unknown to him, while distress in the 

 head and dyspepsia kept him company the remaining days of his life. 

 Still, it must be kept in mind that even at sixty he writes, " My vigour 

 is pretty well shown by the fact that I found myself running up stairs 

 two steps at a time" and "it seems remarkable, considering my fre- 

 quent bouts of dyspepsia and perpetual bad nights, I should have re- 

 tained so much vitality." It was only between sixty -two and sixty-nine 

 that he could truly be called an invalid with a capacity of only a few 

 lines of work per day. 



The work of science has often been carried on by men in not the 

 best of health, nor of especial vigor. It has also so fascinated many 

 of its disciples as to lead to bodily unbalancing from over-application 

 to a sedentary calling. Galileo did an enormous amount of work, but 

 his health was sometimes indifferent and he suffered from a number of 

 illnesses. Darwin inherited a strong constitution and up to his voyage 

 on the Beagle was " well, and vigorous and passionately fond of out- 

 door sport." His chronic nervous weakness seems to have been brought 

 on by the privations and over-exertions of the five years' journey of 

 exploration. By careful limitation of work and removal of unnecessary 

 distractions, he lived to a good age, and accomplished a large amount 

 of work. 



Sir Isaac Newton was in fair health most of his days, though, from 

 excessive mental work and absent-mindedness about eating, he had a 

 nervous breakdown at fifty-four from which he was some months in 

 recovering. 



Franklin was proud of his physical attainments. " He was as tem- 

 perate as it was possible to be in that age." He was an expert swimmer 

 and at eighty he was fond of displaying his strength. He nearly died 

 from attacks of pleurisy, and late in life he fell a victim to the diseases 

 of the age — gout and stone. On the whole, Franklin throughout a 

 long life may be considered an unusually vigorous and healthy person. 



Huxley, strong and vigorous, worked at a terrible pressure and wore 

 out before his time, but there have been many other scientists of note 

 whose health was more constant, as Faraday, Tyndall, Agassiz and 

 Lord Kelvin. 



When it comes to men of letters, it would seem that health and 

 vigor might be less frequent. The conventional poet, like his verses, 

 seems a part of the world immaterial, until we become intimately 

 acquainted with him and find that he too lives on bread and butter, 

 beefsteak and onions. 



Of the dramatists, Shakespeare, for aught we know, was reasonably 

 healthy and vigorous. Moliere led a busy, combative existence. Play- 



