AND ANIMAL LIFE. 10? 



the blood arid its general diffusion, or they are 

 characterized by the buoyant or highly stimulat- 

 ing sensations of the mind, which accelerate the 

 function of respiration, or at least tend to main- 

 tain it in an equable and vigorous condition. 

 The child is subject to griefs, but the expression 

 of these is not indicated by thoughtful tacitur- 

 nity, by retirement from ordinary amusements, 

 or by those deep inspirations which deteriorate the 

 properties of the vital fluid at a later period of 

 life, but are indicated by those very acts which 

 tend, even more than its usual sports and feel- 

 ings, to diffuse new life and energy throughout 

 its system, and to maintain that external circula- 

 tion of which we have spoken. 



CIII. The influence of the mind in the child 

 is almost invariably beneficial to its constitutional 

 necessities, while the agency or exercise of this 

 principle is too often injurious in its effects at a 

 later period. The cultivation of intellect, inde- 

 pendently of the mortifications and disappoint, 

 ments almost inseparable from it, is pursued at 

 the expense of many moments that would be bet- 

 ter devoted to sleep or amusement ; but even 

 if we suppose the mind to be passive from the 

 indolence of its possessor, it is still necessarily 

 exposed to a variety of sensations that are disa- 

 greeable or painful, and the universal tendency 

 of these is to bring the blood from the surface of 



