LUNGS DISEASES OF THE LUNGS. 393 



and healthy. We find many examples of this metamorphosis among the boys in our 

 training-ships for seamen. The over-fed, short-winded pugilist, rower, or cricketer, 

 may in a few weeks be changed by training alone to the firm-fleshed, clear-skinned, 

 long-winded winner of the fight, the foot-race, or the rowing-match. It is quite 

 within our power to direct the physical training of young persons so that the 

 apparently sickly and short-winded may in time be developed into the wiry, active 

 young man, long in the wind, sound in body, and lithe of limb ; but this result can 

 be attained only by judicious feeding, careful exercise, throughout the whole course 

 of the development of the body, and by the gradual nursing of the breathing 

 powers. For feeble people the first attempt at exercise may be made at home by 

 reading aloud, singing, and the practice of sustaining a note preceded by a deep 

 inspiration, and of course followed by one. Taking a good deep breath so as to 

 thoroughly expand the chest is highly beneficial to those who are weak on the lungs, 

 or who come of a consumptive stock. It is not by any means to be considered a 

 substitute for out-door exercise, although it is a valuable adjunct. Playing wind 

 instruments often does more harm than good, for it tends to induce congestion of 

 the lungs, and not unfrequently gives rise to a blood-spitting. Smoking, except 

 in the strictest moderation, is likely to prove injurious. 



The great advantage of out-door exercise is that it increases the appetite, and it 

 is far better that the assimilating processes should be quickened in this way than by 

 the use of tonics or other artificial provocatives. A great point in the treatment of 

 the weak-chested is to get them to take plenty of nutritive material in an easily 

 assimilated form. Bread with milk, eggs, and fresh meat twice a day, with a due 

 admixture of vegetables, will constitute the ordinary diet. In many cases large 

 quantities of milk may be given with decided advantage. Most people can take 

 two or three pints without trouble, but in exceptional cases twice or three times 

 that quantity may be consumed within the twenty -four hours with benefit. Should 

 it seem cold and heavy on the chest it may be taken tepid. Some people, although 

 they cannot assfmilate milk alone, digest it without the slightest trouble if diluted 

 with an equal quantity of soda water or lime water. There is no objection to the 

 addition of a tea-spoonful or even a table-spoonful of rum or brandy to the tumbler- 

 ful of milk, as an occasional relish, but we must be careful not to run to excess in 

 the matter of stimulants, especially with young people. The habitual use of stimu- 

 lants should be avoided by those with a tendency to weekness of the chest. For the 

 general improvement of nutrition their effects are too evanescent, and the resulting 

 reaction too debilitating. 



Mental over-work is a frequent cause of deterioration of the health, and this 

 condition is by no means confined to those in advanced or middle life. It is by no 

 means uncommon in schoolboys. It is even said to occur in babies whose precocious 

 intellects have been unduly stimulated by an injudicious parent or ignorant nurse. 

 When a boy is over-worked, one of the earliest symptoms is sick-headache, nervous- 

 ness, and a Disinclination or unwillingness to take part in the games of his school- 

 fellows. He not only finds a difficulty in concentrating his attention, but learns his 

 lessons unwillingly ; the attempts to do so being not only very irksome, but in- 

 variably bringing on the headache. A vacant stare is often seen upon his face, and 



