He drag his jaded limbs, and burst his wind.
Francis’s Horace, lib. 1. ep. 1.
But it grieves me, respectable auditors, that you should be obliged to hear of so many disorders, and I to give an account of them; so I shall say no more of so melancholy a subject, but proceed to treat of the remedies for the several diseases.
What lover ever had eyes to see the blemishes of his mistress? What lover ever ceas’d to admire his mistress’s beauty? This is another pernicious effect of learning; it occasions a sourness of temper. Philosophers think themselves wise in every thing; ’tis a difficult matter to persuade them that they every day injure their health by their manner of living; you may advise, intreat, and even scold them, it will be all to no purpose; they impose upon themselves a thousand different ways; some by too great a confidence in their strength, others by the hopes of impunity from the punishments being delayed; others again by the deceitful defence of the power of habit, and others again by the still more deceitful example of other men’s good luck; others by other motives; and all, by that steady adherence to their purpose, which they think becoming in a man of virtue, are so blinded, that they are not affected by future sufferings, and hardly even by those they have already incurred. I shall not however neglect my duty as a monitor, and if I should fail of success, it will be at least some merit to have attempted in a design of so much utility. Preservatives are to be offered to such of the studious as are still in health, and remedies to those who have impair’d their constitutions.
The sure and only preservative is for the mind to be often unemploy’d, and the body to labour. This does not hold with regard to all men of learning; there are some whose meditations should be disturb’d upon no account whatever. Descartes frames a world, Newton revolves the whole system of the universe in his mind, Montesquieu makes laws for all nations; let no body interrupt them, let all nature be silent, they labour for us, let the good of the people be the supreme law; they were born to cultivate those studies. But how few are there, whose labours are of such consequence? Most studious men lose their time, and break their constitutions to no purpose; one makes a collection of common-place topicks, another embellishes such as are threadbare, a third anxiously investigates matters of no utility, others make trifles the subject of laborious researches, and all are equally unmindful of the unprofitableness and danger of their pursuits. But be vigilant for their good; knock at their doors; rouse them from their lethargy; make them, whether they will or no, lay aside their studies for hours together, and let their minds not be totally abandoned to idleness, but recreated by gentle ease, whilst their strength is restored by exercise. At the beginning of my discourse I displayed the advantages of exercise: let it therefore be observed as an inviolable rule by the learned, to dedicate an hour or two every day to walking, that the lungs may be recreated by a free use of the air, that the stagnant humours may be thrown off, perspiration renewed, the limbs strengthened, and the nerves repaired. Boerhaave chose for this purpose the hour before dinner. Nor is walking alone sufficient. I would likewise recommend riding, which acts admirably upon the head and lungs, and above all upon the abdominal viscera, by repeatedly agitating them; as likewise all the other exercises, which were carefully cultivated both by the ancients and our ancestors; but which we, to our great detriment, have neglected. Let us not forget Herodicus, a man of learning, endowed with extraordinary intellectual faculties, but the most infirm of all mortals, who by exercise alone so confirmed his health, that he lived entirely free from disorders to a hundred years of age, and composed a treatise upon the gymnastic art. Let us not forget Socrates, the wisest of mankind, who thought it worth his while to learn this art. Strato, being troubled with the spleen, had recourse to exercise, which cured him. Hysmonæus, being afflicted with a weakness of the nerves, had recourse to the olympic games, and by that exercise overcame the disorder. Sailing should have its share of praise, amongst other sorts of exercise, whose power in removing the obstructions of the viscera, throwing off the bile, restoring the lungs, renewing perspiration, and strengthening the fibres, the ancients were well acquainted with: and it has lately been demonstrated by the illustrious Gilchrist, and was likewise preferred to all other sorts of carriage by Augustus Cæsar, who, when he had any occasion to travel, chose rather to go by sea than otherwise, if it was possible. Augustus Cæsar may in many respects be compared to the studious and learned; “eloquentiam enim studiaque liberaliora ab ætate prima & cupide & laboriosissime exercuit; & graves valetudines per omnem vitam expertus est; & distillationibus, & rheumaticis doloribus, & calculo obnoxius vixit, & præcordiorum inflatione aliquoties tentabatur; litteratis vero sapientior;” “for he cultivated eloquence and the liberal arts from his early youth with taste and diligence, and was during his whole life a valetudinarian; he was troubled with catarrhs, rheumatic pains, and the stone, and was sometimes likewise attacked with an inflammation of the parts about the heart; but, being more prudent than most men of learning, he took great care of his valetudinary constitution[37].” Riding in an easy chariot is of little service; of still less the easy succussions of the several machines which have been invented by modern industry for moving the sick about in their chambers; but I set a high value upon all those plays or diversions which oblige a man to exercise both his arms; such, for example, are shuttle-cock, and others of the like nature.
Do not be concerned, my worthy auditors; the time which you devote to recreation is not lost to learning; you will presently apply to your studies with renewed alacrity, and, whilst your strength and health are preserved, a long life will abundantly recompense the hours dedicated to the care of the body. In leisure likewise those sublime ideas may rise, which the obscurity of your musæum would for ever have suppressed, for lively and vigorous geniuses make the more noble efforts, the more intervals of leisure they allow themselves[38]. I have a particular friend, who, in his walks in the country, has composed books that will immortalize his name; for the souls of those who walk under the canopy of heaven are exalted: and Pliny the younger observes, that it is surprizing to what a degree the soul is rous’d by the agitation and motion of the body: close confinement contracts the body, the oil of the lamp, as it were, infects the thoughts by its smell, and by too intense study we become incapable of application. Plutarch has an ingenious observation, that as plants are nourished by moderate watering, but overwhelmed by too much, so the soul is improved by moderate studies, but overpowered by excessive studies[39]. Take my advice therefore, you men of learning; you will one day repent your austere retirement; but it will be too late to look for a remedy when the danger is at hand; and foresight becomes the wise man: don’t think to excuse your dangerous errors; the experiment is not made upon a vulgar soul, the life of a man of learning is at stake; neither alledge, in excuse for yourselves, the examples of others; nor your own strength, which you break every day; nor vain custom, for we can never use ourselves to a disease; nor the impunity of your early years, for reiterated strokes will break what one alone could not. Lay aside, therefore, the agitations of your minds, and exercise your bodies; for exercise is of so much service to the mind, that Hoffman[40] has by its means made stupid men attain to a degree of understanding; and do not despise the health of the body, with the assistance of which the labour of the mind will become more supportable; for the powers of the mind grow dull, if the strength of the body is in a wavering unsettled state. Physicians have power over souls; and Descartes has justly observed, “Animum adeo a temperamento & organorum corporis dispositione pendere, ut si ratio aliqua possit inveniri, quæ homines sapientiores & ingeniosiores reddat quam hactenus fuerit, credendum sit illam in medicina quæri debere.” “That the soul depends so much upon the constitution and disposition of the corporeal organs, that, if there could be a method found to render men wise and ingenious, it seems probable that it should be sought in physick[41].” There is a regimen calculated for the studious, of which I shall now give a succinct account[42].
Hippocrates in three words expresses the whole alimentary diet of all ages, all ranks of men, and all conditions, ὡς ὁ πονος εστι και ἡ τροφη, food should be as labour; for, as he says elsewhere, if the aliments are overcome, that is, if they are subdued by the powers of the body, they invigorate it; if they overcome it, that is, when they get the better of the digestive powers, they give rise to many bad effects: and Plutarch justly observes from Hippocrates, that health arises from the exact equality of bodily exercise and the aliments taken. The reason is, the body by its own force makes its own juices and humours out of the aliments it uses: nor is its state the same in the robust ploughman and enfeebled doctor. Whilst the former, by incessant exercise, by breathing every day the wholesome country air, by a chearful and vacant mind, unembarrassed by perplexing meditations, and by soft slumbers continually repairs his strength, he can bear any sort of food; the salival, gastric, intestinal, and bilious liquors, elaborated to the highest perfection, thoroughly dissolve the most glutinous fat, and even salt pork hardened by smoke; the strength of the muscles of the stomach and intestines is unimpaired; they suffer nothing to stay beyond its time in their cavities; and as the aliments are digested, their remains are thrown out. How different from this is the case of the man debilitated by study! The hard bowels of the mower can digest any thing, the soft viscera of the learned or indolent are incapable of digestion; the latter therefore should maturely deliberate, what his powers are equal to, and what not.
Give the labouring man thin broth, small cabbage, jellies, pullet’s flesh, or white bread; the force of the viscera and constant labour will soon digest these, he will immediately grow hungry, sweat all over, and in a short time his strength will fail him, if it be not soon repaired with fat bacon, hard cheese, and black bread. But let this food, or food of the like nature, be eaten by the weak inhabitants of cities, who are unequal to the labour of digesting it, dreadful diseases will soon arise from thence, the aliments being converted into poison. These are golden words of Boerhaave: “Eruditi viri (inquit) nolunt gulæ temperare, & audent eadem edere quæ rustici, verum non ferunt hunc victum; optent, aut feriari a studiis, aut a duris cibis.” “Men of learning, says he, will not live temperately; but are so indiscreet as to eat the same food that labouring men do, and which they are not able to bear; so they should wish either to be exempted from the necessity of studying, or from that of eating strong food[43],” which if they continue to live upon, there arise obstinate obstructions in the abdominal viscera.