140 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
population, that influence will radiate from ten thousand centres, and dif 
fuse its effects, sooner or later, over the whole surface of society. 
Over-exertion of the mind—[In alluding to the few who enter our col¬ 
leges, &c. and engage in the “ fierce conflict for honors,” our author 
adds,]—How often is the laurel converted into the cypress, to wave over 
the tomb of talent, or over the living wreck of mind and body! How of¬ 
ten is the ship foundered, on this her first voyage, by carrying a press of 
sail that strained, bent, and sprung those masts, yards, and stays, which 
would have carried the vessel, under ordinary circumstances, through the 
various storms of life 1 To those who are not well acquainted with the 
intimate connexion between mind and matter, in this state of our exis¬ 
tence, the almost mechanical influences to which the immaterial princi¬ 
ple is subject, may appear incredible, and somewhat humiliating. Thus, 
the intellect may be, and every day is, stretched like a ligamant or muscle, 
till it snaps, or loses its elasticity and contractibility, and, for a time at 
least, becomes incapable of its ordinary functions. The human mind is 
exhausted by protracted thinking, in the same manner as the human body 
is exhausted by long-continued labor; but it is not so easily recruited by 
rest, still less by cordials. 
Classics and mathematics. —In our universities, two channels are open 
to distinction—through classics and mathematics; or, in other words, 
through the paths of literature and science. The former is the most or¬ 
namental—the latter most useful. The one expands the imagination, the 
other fortifies the judgment. A moderate combination of the two would 
appear to be preferable to a high proficiency in any one of the branches. 
* * Classical refreshes the intellect, and gives wings to the fancy, af¬ 
ter the dry problems and rigorous demonstrations of geometry; the latter, 
in turn, corrects the wanderings of the imagination among the fairy and 
fictitious scenes of poetry and mythology—brings back our thoughts to 
the sober truths of exact science, and disciplines the mind by the exercise 
of the judgment. 
The master passions. —It is in the third septenniad that some of the 
passions, and many of the propensities, dawn forth, and even take 
root. Previous to that period, when the appetite for food, drink, pastimes, 
exercise and sight-seeings are gratified, the youth falls into profound re¬ 
pose, to awake with renovated vigor for running the same round of enjoy¬ 
ments as before. But, in the third septenniad, a stranger appears upon 
the stage and soon assumes the leading character in the dramatis persons 
_a character which he often sustains till the ninth, or even the tenth 
septenniad. I need hardly say that this passion is love. It precedes 
and overrules the other master passions—as ambition, avarice, &c. which, 
at this early period of life, are represented by substitutes (emulation and 
economy) rather than actual occupants of the human microcosm. These 
three grand passions— love, ambition, and avarice —are at all times 
antagonizing powers. Love is first in the field—and generally the first to 
quit the arena of contention. Ambition is the second in action, and the 
second to relinguish the struggle. Avarice is the youngest, that is, the 
latest born, and generally survives the other two. 
Want of exercise in woman —It is in the course of the third septen¬ 
niad that the seeds of female diseases are chiefly sown—or, at least, that 
the soil is specially prepared for their reception and growth. The predis¬ 
position to infirmities and disorders of various kinds is effected by acts of 
omission and commission. In the first class, need I mention the de¬ 
ficiency of healthy exercise of the body in the open air, and of intellectu¬ 
al exercise in judicious studies? We are told by mothers, that, in towns 
and cities, it is impossible for young females to take bodily exercise. 
Where there is the will, there will generally be found the means. 
Even within the precincts of home, the hoop and the skip-rope might use¬ 
fully supersede the harp and the guitar for one hour in a day. Gymnas¬ 
tic exercises have been hastily thrown aside—partly because some enthu¬ 
siasts carried them to excess—partly because they were supposed to be 
inimical to the effeminacy of shape and features so much prized by parent 
and progeny—hut chiefly, I suspect, from that languor and disinclination 
to exertion, which characterise the higher and even the middle classes of 
female youth. This deficiency of exercise in the open air may be con¬ 
sidered the parent of one-half of female disorders, by multiplying and aug¬ 
menting the susceptibilities to all external impressions. The pallid com¬ 
plexions, the languid movements, the torpid secretions, the flaccid mus¬ 
cles, and disordered functions, (including glandular swellings,) and con¬ 
sumption itself, attest the truth of this assertion. 
Their clothing. —Insufficiency of exercise is greatly aided by scantiness 
of clothing. Among the poor, this evil is a misfortune, rather than a fault 
—among the rich it is a fault as well as a misfortune. 
Lacing. —It is hardly necessary to state, that the vital function of respi¬ 
ration can only be carried on by the alternate expansion and contraction of 
the lungs. This apparatus cannot be filled with atmospheric air, except 
by the elevation of the ribs, or the descent of the diaphragm. In health, 
and in a state of nature, both these mechanical processes are employed, 
and then the individual derives all the advantages which free breathing 
can impart to the whole economy of the constitution. In certain diseases 
respiration can only be performed by one of these processes—but then it 
is carried on imperfectly and laboriously. Thus, when ribs are fractured, 
the chest must be secured from motion by bandages, and breathing is per¬ 
formed by the descent and ascent of the diaphragm. But how is it when 
both of these mechanical processes are crippled at the same time > Thus, 
in fashionable female attire, (and often in male attire also,) the abdomen 
is so compressed by the stays, that the diaphragm can only descend in the 
slightest degree—if at all—while the whole of the middle and lower part 
of the chest is so firmly girt by the same cincture, that the ribs then are 
kept motionless! The vital function of respiration, then, is carried on by a 
violent, though inefficient, effort of the diaphragm to descend, and by an 
excessive action of the muscles, and extraordinary elevation of the ribs in 
the upper part of the chest, where it is free from the pressure of the stays. 
Now, in this state of things, three distinct injuries are sustained, or inju¬ 
rious operations carried on. First, the too great pressure of the dia¬ 
phragm on the stomach and upper bowels, by its violent efforts to de¬ 
scend: secondly, the inaction of the lower lobes of the lungs, from want 
of space for expansion: and thirdly, the inordinate dilation of the upper 
portions of the lungs, when the ribs are free, in order to compensate for 
the compressed state of the lower portions. All these injurious effects are 
greatly increased by muscular exertion—as by dancing, singing, &c. when 
the circulation is hurried, yet impeded; and when demands are made up¬ 
on respiration which the lungs are incapable of supplying. It is at those 
times we see the upper part of the chest heaving with almost convulsive 
throes, and the countenance flushed by the impediments thrown in the 
way of the blood’s return to the heart. 
It is not a little remarkable, that, in nine-tenths of those who die of 
consumption, we find that the upper lobes of the lungs, corresponding 
with those of the chest that are most exposed to the atmosphere, least 
compressed by clothing, and more than usually strained in breathing, are 
tile seat of excavations, commonly termed ulcerations, while the lower 
| lobes of the lungs are generally found to be more or less consolidated, and 
| comparatively impervious to air. * * These are not the only evils. The 
stomach and bowels are so compressed, that it is wonderful how they are 
able to perform their important functions at all! But although the resour¬ 
ces of nature are almost inexhaustible in overcoming obstacles, yet the in¬ 
jurious effects of the habit alluded to, are numerous and potent enough to 
! swell, very materially, the long catalogue of nervous and dyspeptic com¬ 
plaints. The growth of the whole body, and the freedom of all its func¬ 
tions, so much depend upon perfect digestion of our food, and conversion 
of our nutriment into healthy blood, that any impediment to that digestion, 
and that assimilation, must inevitably derange the whole constitution. 
Matrimony .—There is one other evil, of commission, that I must ad¬ 
vert to before closing this section—the commission of matrimony. I fear 
that many of my fair young readers may think I have placed this evil under 
the wrong head, and that it ought to be considered one of omission rather 
than commission. I am unable, in an essay ol this kind, to state my reasons 
for postponing matrimony till the completion of the third septenniad in 
the female, and of the fourth septenniad in the male sex. Yet both sexes 
may safely take it for granted, that I have good reasons for advancing this 
dogma—deduced from long experience and extensive observation. To 
the male youth of modern times the admonition is hardly necessary, since 
they are growing amazingly prudent and cautious in taking this important 
step. In all matrimonial affairs they require the spur rather than the bri¬ 
dle, and therefore I may take leave of them for the present, as they are not 
likely to violate the precept I have laid down. 
Not so the young ladies—or rather their mothers. But I shall only of¬ 
fer to them one dissuasive argument against too early matrimony. It is 
this:—that for every month spent in the marriage state during the third 
septenniad, a year will be deducted from the usual duration of their 
beauty and personal attractions! I ought not to say less—and I need not 
say more. _ __ 
PRICE CURRENT. 
ARTICLES. 
Nevv-York. 
Sept. 23. 
Boston. 
Sept. 20. 
Philadel’a. 
Sept. 18. 
Baltimore. 
Sept. 19. 
Beans white, bush........ 
2 
00.. 
2 
25 
1 
37.. 
, 1 
75 
1 37. 
.1 
62 
1 25. 
.1 
50 
Beef, best, cwl. 
6 
00., 
, 7 
50 
5 
00.. 
, 6 
50 
7 00. 
.8 
00 
6 50. 
.7 
50 
Pork, per cwt............ 
7 
00.. 
, 9 
00 
7 
00.. 
. 9 
00 
8 00. 
11 
00 
6 00. 
.7 
50 
Butter, fresh, pound, ..... 
18., 
22 
20.. 
25 
13. 
14 
20. 
25 
Cheese, pound, ......... 
8.. 
13 
9., 
13 
10. 
11 
9. 
10 
Flour, best, bbl...... .... 
8 
00.. 
' 9 
2-5 
8 
00 .. 
41 
00 
8 12. 
!s 
75 
8 25. 
’.9 
37 
Grain— Wheat, bushel, .. 
1 
30.. 
1 
70 
1 60. 
.i 
80 
1 50. 
.1 
80 
Rye, do. 
91.. 
1 
00 
90.. 
. 1 
00 
80. 
65 
Oats, do. 
40.. 
50 
75., 
78 
43 
32.” 
00 
Corn, do. 
l 
01 .. 
' 1 
06 
93.. 
! i 
06 
1 00! 
4 
00 
93. 
95 
Seeds —Red Clover, lb... 
13 
13.. 
14 
9. 
11 
74. 
84 
Timothy, bushel,. 
2 
50.. 
, 2 
75 
2 
75.. 
! 3 
00 
2 00. 
25 
3 50. 
’.4 
00 
Wool— Saxony, fleece, lb. 
Merino, lb..... . 
75.. 
80 
65.. 
70 
65. 
73 
40. 
50 
50.. 
68 
40.. 
65 i 
50. 
62 
25. 
40 
1-4 and com. lb... 
40.. 
60 
40., 
45, 
40. 
44 
28. 
30 
Sheep, .. ......... 
2 
50.. 
, 5 
00 
1 
67.. 
! 3 
00 
Cows and Cal ves,... 
22 
00.. 
,42 
00 
23 
00., 
.42 
00 
30 0. 
.41 
3 0 
Cotton,............ ..... 
7.. 
12. 
9. 
12 
10. 
13 
FROM THE STEAM PRESS OF PACKARD & VAIV BENTHUYSEN. 
