1 90 PHYSICAL SCIENCE BK. iv 



dipped in their special sauce are crammed down 

 the throat almost boiling, and the heat has to be 

 allayed by draughts chilled in snow. One may see, 

 I tell you, slender youths, rigged out in cloaks and 

 mufflers, pale and sickly, not merely sipping the 

 snow, but actually eating it, throwing little pieces 

 of it into their glasses to prevent them from getting 

 warm during the intervals of drinking. Do you 

 10 call that honest thirst ? It is fever, the more acute 

 too as it cannot be detected by the pulse or the 

 wonted heat that overspreads the skin. The very 

 heart is dried up by that incurable malady, luxury, 

 whose habitual weakness and unsteadiness are 

 turned into endurance and obstinacy. Don't you 

 know that habit dulls the force of everything ? The 

 snow in which you are now, so to speak, swimming l 

 has through custom and the daily slavery of the 

 stomach come to occupy the place of water. You 

 must now search for something colder still ; for a 

 stimulant that is habitual is no stimulant at all. 



1 Which you now use in your baths. 



