294 PHYSIOLOGY AND HEALTH. 



ing, raking, hoeing, and digging, call into play the muscles 

 of the arms, shoulders, and back. Working with the car- 

 penter's and cabinet-maker's tools has the same effect, and 

 when either of these can be combined with walking, the 

 best effects upon the health are obtained. 



678. Dancing, when practised at proper hours, and in 

 sufficiently ventilated rooms, is an excellent exercise. It 

 brings many muscles into action, and it is usually attended 

 with cheerful exhilaration, -that quickens the flow of blood 

 and increases respiration. But the mere practising of atti- 

 tudes, or the walking quietly through the figures, gives no 

 exercise; and the late hours, crowded rooms, and night 

 suppers, too often connected with this amusement, render 

 it of very doubtful utility, if not certainly injurious. 



679. To the hardy and laborious, it may seem a matter 

 of indifference whether we take exercise at one or another 

 hour of the day; and, for those who work from morning 

 till night, all hours are alike in this respect. Still, for the 

 invalid, and for those who only exercise for a short period, 

 and for the maintenance of health, all hours are not equally 

 advantageous. It is common to recommend the morning as 

 the time to walk. The freshness of the morning air has been 

 the song of the poet, the therne of the moralist, the faith of 

 the philosopher. All have conspired in its praise, and in 

 urging upon the feeble and the sedentary the beauty and 

 advantage of early action abroad. 



680. The morning may be the time for exercise of some, 

 but it is not the best time for all. After the long fasting of 

 the night, .the body requires nourishment before it labors. 

 ( 113, p. 56.) It is apt 'to faint if it works before break- 

 fast. Beside, the dews and dampness of the night, and the 

 exhalations which have arisen from the earth, are upon the 

 morning air, and must enter the lungs of those who are then 

 abroad, and prevent their receiving the refreshing invigo- 

 ration which a walk at another hour would give them. The 

 same objection applies to evening and the night, and the 

 sedentary should not then take their excursions in the 

 open air. 



