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tions. Besides, the habitual watching for sensations, and directing the attention of the mind to particular parts of the bodily frame, induces augmented sensibility of those parts. I cannot better illustrate this, than by calling the attention of the reader to a curious fact, little noticed, viz.: that as every part of the external covering of the body, with the exception of the thin epidermis, hair and nails, is endued with the sense of touch, no foreign body, not even our clothes, can be in contact with this surface without our feeling it; yet, for the most part, we go through the day occupied with other sensations, and unconscious of the one alluded to; but if any person will make the experiment of sitting quietly, and directing his attention, in succession, to different parts of his surface, he will become aware of sensations otherwise overlooked. The mind's attention, therefore, augments, apparently, the sensibility of parts; and thus the hypochondriac increases local uneasiness by the working of his own mind, perpetually anxious, and intently on the watch, for every new feeling which may arise.
Another and most serious cause of bodily disturbance, is irritability of temper. This, it is true, frequently depends, in the first instance, upon pure bodily causes little suspected; but it is very often an inherited infirmity; and not infrequently the consequence of a bad system of early education. A temper which may make a person wretched for life, and which may eventually shorten his days, may be contracted, almost without hope of remedy, before he is five years of age. Bad temper in children cannot be cured too soon, either for their own
