316 DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



and progressive generation with peculiar force. It is, " Know 

 thyself." To understand our moral, intellectual, and physical 

 natures and tendencies should be the business of every one. The 

 cultivation of, and proper direction given to, the former, bring us 

 within the hale of health, purity, and peace. A knowledge of the 

 physical or physiological laws of life, and in practicing fidelity to 

 what they teach, places us on the high road to health and long life. 

 Anatomical and physiological acquirements are needed by every 

 one, in order that we may know ourselves, and thus be able to 

 preserve our wondrous mechanism, "the harp of a thousand 

 strings," in its normal condition; for without health we can not 

 enjoy life, nor answer the purposes for which we were created. 



We have the testimony of learned men, and our own reflective 

 minds confirm the facts, that an alarming number of premature 

 deaths, and an untold amount of physical infirmities, are the result 

 of either our ignorance of, or indifference to, the uncompromising 

 laws of Nature. The rational being, free from hereditary taint, 

 of mental or physical deformities, comes into the world with all 

 that is essential to his future life and happiness. He has within 

 his organization a radiant volume of intellectuality, organized, 

 compiled, and bound by the Divine hand, the first glimmer of 

 which reveals something adapted to present and future wants and 

 necessities. The intellectual spark, once ignited, is capable of an 

 endless increase. We can add ray to ray, power on power, until 

 the God-like man acquires the mental greatness of a Webster, or 

 the mechanical skill and distinction of a Fulton. We do not 

 expect that all can become Websters and Fultons, because we do 

 not all practice that invariable perseverance and stern energy 

 characteristic of giant intellect and mechanical skill. We are not 

 all willing to toil, mentally or physically, with that perseverance 

 and industry so necessary to success; and if we were willing, after 

 having attained maturity or manhood, our minds and bodies being 

 trained and molded for station and circumstances, are then not so 

 well adapted, as in youth, for increase and power. Still, at this 

 period of life, we are not destitute of the means of self-culture. 



We are living illustrations of progressive mental capacities 

 which often transpire in men past the meridian of life, who. 

 before that period, never considered themselves favored in this 

 line. How unfortunate it is, therefore, that the generality of 

 mankind should be so indifferent about the science of life, and bo 



