NATURAL THEOLOGY. 135 



hours out of the four-and-twenty. Two very 

 common observations favour this opinion : one is, 

 that remissions of pain call forth, from those v^4io 

 experience them, stronger expressions of satisfac- 

 tion and of gratitude towards both the author and 

 the instruments of their relief, than are excited by 

 advantages of any other kind : the second is, that 

 the spirits of sick men do not sink in proportion to 

 the acuteness of their sufferings ; but rather ap- 

 pear to be roused and supported, not by pain, but 

 by the high degree of comfort which they derive 

 from its cessation, or even its subsidency, when- 

 ever that occurs ; and which they taste with a 

 relish, that diffuses some portion of mental com- 

 placency over the whole of that mixed state of 

 sensations in which disease has placed them. 



In connexion with bodily pain may be consi- 

 dered bodily disease, whether painful or not. Few 

 diseases are fatal. I have before me the account 

 of a dispensary in the neighbourhood, which states 

 six years' experience as follows : — 



Admitted - - - 6,420 



Cured ... - 5,476 



Dead - - - - 234 " 



And this I suppose nearly to agree with what 

 other similar institutions exhibit. Now, in all 

 these cases, some disorder must have been felt, or 

 the patients would not have applied for a remedy; 

 yet we see how large a proportion of the maladies 

 which were brought forward have either yielded 



