333 APPENDIX. 



trilling cases, a mfld diet may become a useful alterative, 

 aud, by alleviating the irritation of the chylopoietic organs, 

 may subdue numerous sympathetic diseases, which accompany 

 a disordered state of the viscera. The lowering of the animal 

 actions by vegetable food has sometimes disposed me to differ 

 from those who regard animal food as equally conducive to 

 longevity, and to incline to the fanciful opinion of others, 

 who have regarded the vegetable diet of the early ages as the 

 cause of the Patriarchal longevity, as if man lived longer by 

 living slower. All reasoning of this sort must, however, be 

 very vague and conjectural. The question, whether the ani- 

 mal system wears out sooner in proportion as it is stimulated 

 to action, either by animal food or any thing else, provided 

 that stimulus does not proceed to cause actual disease, must 

 rest entirely on experience. There are some remarkable 

 instances of men, of what is commonly termed genius, that 

 were characterized by perpetual activity of thought who have 

 died prematurely ; but there are several means of accounting 

 for this. Men of genius are men of great sensibility, who 

 are frequently led into excesses in eating and drinking, 

 particularly the latter, which shortens their lives. Indeed, 

 the stimulus of wine and spirits, so uniformly destructive, 

 seems, in a great measure, conducive to the enterprizes of 

 genius. By exciting a system, already highly susceptible, 

 into violent action, it gives, for a time, a flow and vigour to 

 thought, but which is ultimately exhausting. Such persons 

 seem to keep up an habitual state of excitement, similar to 

 that which ordinary persons occasionally make use of, previous 

 to any unusual mental exertion, who take drams as a stimulus. 

 After all, notwithstanding the violence of stimuli is lessened 

 by habitual use, from the diminution of excitability, it is doubt- 

 ful whether the moderate stimulus of animal food actuallv 



