232 On Chronic Dehilty 



2. A sedentary life. With this cause, several others 

 are often united, which not a little enliance the evil ; 

 such as great Indolence, certain mechanical employ- 

 ments, and daily exposure to an impure atmosphere. — 

 Women, who take little exercise, often suffer greatly 

 from this cause ; and many, whose daily employments 

 induce great weariness of* the legs, scarcely exercise at 

 all, out of doors. Clergymen, Lawyers and Students, gen- 

 erally, suffer from the same cause. Among the mechan- 

 ical employments injurious to health, or in other words 

 inducing nervous debility, are those of Goldsmiths, Tai- 

 lors, and Shoemakers. The t^vo latter classes are usual- 

 ly confined during the winter, in warm rooms, heated by 

 close stoves, and all, when at work, commonly sit in a 

 bent posture. Shopkeepers and Clerks, from long con- 

 finement to their shops and writing desks, often become 

 dyspeptic and sickly. There are are other mechanical 

 employments which are common in some countries, and 

 far more prejudicial, than those which have been men- 

 tioned, but which, being scarcely known here, I have not 

 thought it necessary to mention particularly ; such are 

 all those, which require a frequent exposure to metallic 

 fumes, and several of those which are carried on in 

 large manufactories. 



3. The excessive gratification of venereal desires. 



4. Intense study, or application of mind. / 



5. The indulgence of evil passions, such as jealousy, 

 envy, hatred, &c. Grief and fear, and excessive joy, are 

 also highly debilitating, and particularly to the stomach. 

 I have known some persons, possessed of great strength 

 of body, and rigid fibres, who have injured themselves, 

 not a little, by the indulgence of evil passions. Their 

 stomachs at times, become thus debilitated, to a consid- 

 erable degree, and permanently, and during a paroxyism 

 of passion, suddenly filled with wind and acid. 



We come next to consider the symptoms by which 

 Chronic Debility of the Stomach may be distinguished. 

 By the term symptoms^ we are to understand, the various 

 discernible effects, which the disease occasions in the 

 stomach and in other parts of the body. 



The symptoms of this disease are of two kinds, those 

 which affect the stomach and intestines, and which may 



