AN ADDRESS TO STUDENTS. 
(J()L 
unprofitable; what is read is not remembered. It is, therefore, 
at this period of the evening that a little relaxation, in the shape 
of a lighter reading, may be resorted to. Even the most earnest 
student may often, with actual benefit to himself, lay aside his 
medical books at ten o’clock, and devote the remaining hour of 
the evening to general literature. Another important feature in 
the life of a hard-working student is, the nearly absolute necessity 
of abstaining from stimulant liquids. We do not allude to stimu- 
lants taken in excess, but even to the use of stimulants taken as a 
beverage, unless used in very great moderation. A very limited 
quantity of wine, or strong malt liquor, will re-act so far on the 
nervous centres as to render mental labour, for some hours, diffi- 
cult, if not impossible. This is the reason why so many persons 
say they cannot read or write at all after dinner. It is not so 
much the food they eat which oppresses them, as what they drink. 
Were they to make a moderate meal, and only drink water, so far 
from feeling incapacitated for study, they would, on the contrary, 
feel invigorated, and, by the time half an hour or an hour had 
elapsed, be able to study with greater ease even than before dinner. 
Many literary characters entirely ruin their health from ignorance 
of this fact. They dine at five or six, taking strong stimulants, 
and are thus thrown into a state of excited somnolence for several 
hours, during which they find themselves incapable of mental 
labour. At nine or ten, when the effects of the stimulants have 
disappeared, effects which they attribute to the dinner generally, 
they sit down to study, at which labour they remain until one or 
two o’clock in the morning, thus laying a foundation for dyspepsia 
and a host of other complaints. The nutrition of a young adult is 
quite capable of being supported in its most perfect state by a good 
substantial diet, without tha use of stimulants of any description, 
provided sufficient and regular rest be obtained. We conse- 
quently strongly advise hard-working students to confine them- 
selves as much as possible to water, as a beverage, unless they 
spend a considerable portion of their time in the dissecting-room, 
in which case it may, perhaps, be prudent to take small quantities 
of weak stimulants. 
Some of our young readers may think that we attach too much 
importance to these hygienic rules. We assure them, however, 
that such is not the case : they are the keystones to the successful 
and pleasant pursuance of their necessary duties ; and it is because 
they are often, indeed generally, neglected by students of all kinds 
that we have thus brought them prominently forward. Of how 
many instances do we know, where strong constitutions have been 
injured, and weak constitutions irreparably broken up, not to speak 
