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supply my deficiencies, rectify my errors, and pursue the subject to its end.
I shall proceed then, first, to inquire what is the habitual state of mind most conducive to the preservation of health? The answer to this is obvious, namely, that which will ensure, under all circumstances, the largest portion of tranquillity.
The more highly civilized a country becomes, the more liable its inhabitants are to the operation of disturbing forces on the balance of their minds.
The activity which is excited by the desire of wealth, or the thirst for power, is only salutary within certain limits; and the various and conflicting passions which are too often its attendants, increase its danger.
The body may be considered as the carriage of the mind; and, in pursuing this metaphor, we may aptly say that the carriage will last a long time in repair, if the mind sits quietly in it; but if, on the contrary, the mind is anxious and restless, the lining of the carriage will soon be worn out.
Health is a blessing which can hardly be prized too highly, and yet mental anxiety on this subject is a frequent source of bodily disorder.
Although there is reason to believe that some functional derangement of the body, in most instances, precedes the sombre cast of mind, and watchful solicitude, of the miserable hypochondriac, there can be little doubt but that such a state of mind, fostered and encouraged, reacts, banefuUy, upon almost every bodily function; inducing, first, vascular inactivity; then, sanguineous congest ions; and, consequently, diminished and depraved secre-
