CONCLUSION. 397 



and youth, in the selection of occupations or places of resi- 

 dence, the weak may become strong, or a part or organ that 

 cannot be strengthened will not be compelled to bear * 

 burden beyond its powers. But, owing to neglect of this 

 principle, the circumstances of life are often so used that the 

 weak organs become weaker ; the inequality is thereby in- 

 creased, and the health is impaired. The robust and the 

 feeble, the nervously-excitable and the lymphatic, obviously 

 need different employments. Those who have weak lungs, 

 and inherit predisposition to consumption or asthma, cannot 

 safely engage in the same pursuits, or inhabit the same 

 localities, which would be beneficial to one of more perfect 

 organization. Thackrah, in his valuable work on the Influ- 

 ence of Employments on Health and Longevity, says that 

 not fifty of the fifty thousand who annually die of consump- 

 tion in Great Britain, would fall by this disease, if proper 

 occupation and habits were adopted. The dyspeptic needs 

 in active, and not a sedentary avocation; and the nervous 

 suffer if the brain is called into excessive exercise by study, 

 or the anxious cares of business ; and those who are subject 

 to catarrh and asthma are made worse by working in the 

 dusty trades or places. 



943. Out of our own organization, and with the external 

 means offered to us by a generous Providence, we are to 

 sustain our health and prolong our life. For this purpose, 

 as a judicious engineer first learns the structure, and uses, 

 and power of his machine, and then supplies all its materials, 

 adapts the surrounding circumstances to its wants, and gov- 

 erns its movements, and applies its powers precisely to its 

 intended purposes, so, in the management of our vital ma- 

 chine, we must first learn its structure, powers, and wants, 

 and then supply the one and direct the other precisely 

 according to the law of life. This responsibility for the 

 care of the body and the mind comes upon every one, in 

 every condition ; and whosoever discharges it with intelli- 

 gence and faithfulness, will increase his powers and his 

 enjoyments and have length of days on earth. 

 34 



