Human Physiology. 32? 



harmonious body. And the nutritive system must be perfectly 

 adapted to the requirements of brain and body. No organ can 

 be spared. The smallest instrument out of tune brings discord 

 into the harmony of life. 



The energy of life displays itself in a constant activity. We 

 see this in the rapid growth of vegetables, in the restless move- 

 ments of young animals and children in all their waking hours, 

 and in the movements of the bodily organs. A healthy child 

 is full of play, a healthy man is equally full of work either of 

 brain or body. Indolence is a sign of a low original vitality, 01 

 a symptom of disease. Health is the cause, and also the re- 

 sult, of activity of life. The vital energy needs to expend its 

 force in action, and it is renewed by exercise. The action of 

 the brain promotes the circulation of the blood by which it is 

 nourished. 



Health is to every creature a condition of happiness. No 

 one who watches the sports of insects, birds, and animals can 

 doubt that they have great enjoyment of life. Healthy chil- 

 dren are very happy. When the body is free from pain, and the 

 mind is also free from anxiety or remorse, mere existence is a 

 pleasure, and we enjoy all the beauties of nature with an exqui- 

 site enjoyment. Sunshine, a fresh breeze,, green grass, waving 

 trees, the beauty and odours of flowers, the flight and songs of 

 birds, the glory of the ever changing sky, fill the healthy mind 

 with ecstasy. Add to these the pleasures of the intellect and 

 the heart, and, if we could shut out the sense of the evil, and 

 sorrow, and sin around us, the earth would be a paradise. 

 There can be no perfect happiness for any until all are happy; 

 still, health is the condition of such as we can attain ; health of 

 body for physical enjoyment; health of mind for intellectual 

 pleasures; health of heart health of soul for the highest 

 spiritual enjoyments. Health of mind is to a considerable de- 

 gree dependent upon health of body; especially upon that of 

 the nutritive and purifying organs. Some diseases are a cause 



