BY THE PKESIDEHT. 
143 
Chemical and physical science, speaking by the mouth of the 
goddess Hygieia, has little more to say respecting the laws which 
govern the clothing we wear. The voice of the goddess of ornamen¬ 
tation is much louder ; while the lungs of the votaries of fashion, 
in one century of one sex, in another of the other sex, drown the 
voices of many goddesses and ever produce a veritable Babel. 
OTHER CONTRIBUTORIES TO HEALTH. 
No allusion has been made to personal cleanliness; nor to that 
change of employment termed recreation ; nor to physical exercise ; 
nor to rest. For in these four matters, not only is there a fairly 
extended recognition of the fact that the laws of nature governing 
them cannot be disregarded with impunity, but there also does 
exist amongst people generally such a fair amount of knowledge on 
these subjects that it is now unnecessary to do more than mention 
them. Whether health will be best promoted, at any given time, 
by attention to cleanliness, recreation, more serious physical 
exercise, relaxation, or rest, must be left to the individual judg¬ 
ment. All are alluded to in the following pretty epigram from 
the Latin, (( Ona Natural Grotto near a Deep Stream ”:— 
“Health, rose-lipp’d cherub, haunts this spot, 
She slumbers oft in yonder nook: 
If in the shade you find her not, 
Plunge—and you’ll find her in the brook.” 
THE B WELLINGS WE OCCUPY. 
Into the question of healthy houses, regarded merely as dwellings, 
questions relating either to food or to clothes scarcely enter. Not 
so the question of water-supply, which is almost inseparable from 
that of the dwelling. Indeed, a full supply of pure water, a proper 
supply of pure air, and neither excess nor deficiency of warmth, 
are the chief desiderata as regards healthy habitations. 
Man almost necessarily dwells only where nature supplies animal 
and vegetable life with a fairly regular supply of water. Under 
the laws of heat water is drawn up into the atmosphere as a pure 
invisible vapour from the more or less pure stores on land or the 
more or less saline stores of the seas. That vapour condenses to 
visible cloud in the atmosphere, whence, under the laws of gravita¬ 
tion, it again is drawn to the earth. From the earth over which 
the fallen rain flows, it dissolves, under chemico-physical laws, 
certain mineral substances which do not injure and perhaps promote 
the health of persons drinking the water. From the earth also, 
especially from its cultivated portions, the water dissolves, again 
