MEANS OF PRESERVING HEALTH. 1077 



disease, than all the drugs of the materia medica, 

 which would be reduced to a very small compass ; 

 for we have seen that many of the heroic reme- 

 dies, as they are called, impair the vital properties 

 of the blood, and operate as morbific agents. 



It may be received as an axiom, that so long 

 as respiration is properly maintained by pure air, 

 nutritious aliment, and a cheerful state of mind, 

 while the temperature of the body is kept at the 

 natural standard by avoiding damp night air, 

 showers of rain, wet feet, chilling winds, cold 

 rooms, over exertion, intemperance, &c. there 

 could be no serious aberration from the healthy 

 state. But men have yet to learn that all their 

 vital functions are more or less modified by every 

 change of their temperature, and the latter by 

 everything which operates upon them, whether 

 for good or evil : that " a single excess blurs 

 and confuses the music written on our minds, 

 that an untimely vigil weakens and bewilders the 

 delicate minister to our inner temple." (Willis.) 



To remove the causes of disease when prac- 

 ticable, and to assist nature when unable to relieve 

 herself, is the province of the enlightened phy- 

 sician, whose title is derived from the word tyvmq, 

 and implies that he is the priest or servant of 

 nature, without which he can perform no cures. 

 The salutary agency of heat is implied in the 

 words health and healing, which may be traced 

 to Helios, which signified the sun among the 



