Human Physiology. 



matter ot perspiration and the emanations of diseased bodies, 

 so that an old feather bed becomes a mass of abominations. 

 Among the comforts of the Continent, or the portions of it 

 nearest to England, are the excellent hair or woollen mattresses, 

 frequently made over, and always clean and in good order. 

 Better sleep on a bed of straw or hay than one of feathers. The 

 covering should be of blankets, clean, and porous; and health 

 requires a light and cool covering, rather than one too heavy or 

 too warm. Sheets to be well aired daily, and changed weekly. 



A health condition of high importance is work. When idle- 

 ness is not the result, it is the cause of disease. Body and 

 mind the whole system of voluntary life are paralysed by 

 lack of use. We talk of the dignity of labour ; we must recog- 

 nise its necessity. Laborare est orare. Man was made to 

 labour, and health requires that every one should fulfil the 

 objects of his existence. The proper performance of the func- 

 tions of the nutritive, secreting, and excreting organs, requires 

 the daily exercise of the brain, the nerves, and the muscles of 

 voluntary motion. But mere useless exercise that which pro- 

 duces nothing cannot satisfy the conscience. Selfish sports 

 are not sufficient. No man can feel at ease in himself can 

 enjoy the wholeness of health who consumes the result of the 

 labour of others, and renders them no equivalent. Honest 

 productive labour of body or mind, or both, is the need of 

 every one, and there can be no integral health without it. 



And there can be no full and perfect health without the 

 satisfaction of man's social nature. Man cannot truly live in 

 the free play of all his faculties without campanionship, friend- 

 ship, fraternity, and the exercise of the affections of the heart. 

 It is not enough to love mankind in general ; we need to love 

 some of them in particular. Love comforts, strengthens, invig- 

 orates, sustains. There is a circulation of life among friends, 

 comrades, companions, and those who live together in mutual 

 affection, in which each gives to all, and all to each. Love is 



