302 PHYSIOLOGY. 



then gives out, and can travel no further till the store is re- 

 plenished by rest and food.* 



14. (Tumours, wens, and other morbid growths are the con- 

 sequence of an error in nutrition^) The nutritious vessels de- 

 posite/oJ where it is not wanted, and occasionally bony mat- 

 ter, where fibrin should be left or something else. In this 

 way only can we account for the bony concretions and 

 scales which are sometimes met with about the heart and 

 blood-vessels ; for the chalky deposits about the joints, in 

 cases of gout and rheumatism, and even for horny projec. 

 tions, which have in a few cases been known to sprout out 

 from the head. A few years ago, there were exhibited in 

 London, several individuals called the porcupine family, who 

 were all covered with dark colored horny excrescences ; which 

 they shed annually in the autumn or winter. These curious 

 organic peculiarities, resembled the quills of the porcupine, 

 and were two or three inches in length. But these are only 

 exceptions to the usual regularity of nature's operations, and 

 ought, instead of lessening, to increase our admiration at the 

 admirable symmetry and uniformity that prevail, through 

 every department of organized being. 



15. (The activity of muscular nutrition, depends much on 

 exercise) The arm of a blacksmith, or a stone-cutter, for 

 instance, is generally large and brawny, because their mus- 

 cles are almost in constant use. The same is true of the 

 muscles of the leg, in rope-dancers and tumblers, also in 

 great walkers. Let any one examine the muscles of the Ra- 

 vel Family, so celebrated for strength and agility in all gym- 

 nastic exercises, and he will find them not only unusually de- 

 veloped, but also hard and firm. If a person meet with an 

 accident so that he is unable to walk, although his appetite 

 remains, his muscles dwindle away for want of exercise. If 

 then, a person who leads a sedentary life be corpulent, the 

 excess is not to be considered sound muscle or flesh, but fat, 

 which, I have before stated, is a sign of weakness. 



* Burkhardt's travels. 



