Human Physiology. 



windows. A window, which is the only entrance of air for twenty 

 persons, may be closed by any draught-dreading hypochondriac. 

 We get our amusements, or say our prayers, in a state of semi- 

 asphyxia. Meanwhile, nature asserts her sovereignty, and, as 

 the first condition of health, demands pure air for every creature. 



Every dwelling should be built upon clean dry soil, or pro- 

 tected from dampness, well drained, and free from any filth 

 or nuisance. It is the right of every man, living in a village 

 or town, not to be poisoned by the bad air of filthy people, 

 or animals, or manufactories. What right has a soap-boiler to 

 fill whole populations around him, as the wind shifts from hour 

 to hour, with the stench of his abominations ? Every district 

 should have its sanitary inspector, who should watch for foul 

 air as carefully as policemen ought to watch for burglars, pick- 

 pockets, and adulterators. With such cleanliness we might 

 defy all epidemic diseases. 



Food comes next to air; and I have already spoken of the 

 proper food of infancy and childhood. The natural food of 

 man is abundantly furnished in the vegetable kingdom. Three- 

 fourths of the human race live on grains, fruits, bulbs, tubers, 

 and the leaves and stalks of plants. Wheat, rice, Indian corn, 

 rye, oats, barley, sago, tapioca, arrowroot, potatoes, yams, 

 onions, cabbages, bread-fruit, plantains, bananas, are the great 

 staples of food for man. Add to these grapes, apples, pears, 

 peaches, plums, olives, melons, berries, &c., and we have a vast 

 variety of the most healthful and delicious articles of food, 

 abundant for all our needs. To these provisions of a bountiful 

 nature we have added the milk of cows, goats, camels, sheep, 

 and, in some cases, mares and asses, with butter and cheese ; 

 and as milk is the natural food of infancy, milk and its products 

 seem not a very unnatural addition to our common stock of 

 nutriment. In the same way we appropriate the eggs of fowls, 

 finding in them a pure form of albuminous nutriment, which 

 harmonises with bread and milk. 



