300 PHYSIOLOGY AND HEALTH. 



protract that life and its full working power to the natural 

 period. For this end, he must attend to the first sensation 

 of. weariness, and never permit it to increase to exhaustion; 

 and, whenever he begins to feel this, he may understand that 

 the waste of life has reached the measure of the nutrition ; 

 and, if he then stops and rests, this last will go on, and he will 

 in due time be refreshed and ready again for labor. In this 

 way, he will always work at the full flow of his strength, and 

 be able to perform the greatest amount of labor. 



693. There is a common and mistaken notion, that man 

 has an indefinite power of endurance, and may work until 

 fatigue or exhaustion compels him to stop ; and that whatever 

 strength is riot used in the hour and in the day, and is car- 

 ried to the bed at night, is so much lost. Therefore some 

 weak men labor as long as their strength holds out, and some 

 strong men labor as long as the day will permit them. In 

 consequence of this daily fatigue and exhaustion, they are 

 never in full vigor, they are always reduced somewha', below 

 their natural standard, and commence each day with a lower 

 energy, and work upon a lower tide of power, than they 

 otherwise might have done. 



694. By this excess of labor, a man expends more strength 

 in the day than he recovers in the night, and rises unrefreshed 

 in the morning. He is wasting his constitution, and, if he per- 

 severes, he reduces himself to a lower standard, and then he 

 is compelled to limit his exertions and perform lighter labors. 

 In this reduced and weakened condition, he may, by proper 

 management of his diminished strength, lead a life of con- 

 siderable action, and perhaps regain his original vigor. Or 

 he may, by still overworking, reduce himself below the 

 power of labor, and, becoming decrepit, suffer the pains and 

 debilities of old age long before his time. 



695. Those overworked and exhausted men, completely 

 broken down and unable to labor, are not very common, yet 

 they may be found. A farmer, within my observation, began 

 his life with small means, but with great energy and large 

 hope. He seemed to think there could be no end to his 



