It appear’d to me at first sight, that on so copious a subject it would be easy to make an oration; but upon maturer deliberation I began to think quite otherwise; and so, having laid down a burthen too heavy for my shoulders, and left it to more sublime geniuses, I kept to my practice, my labour is here engaged, and not my eloquence; and, having resigned the hopes of declaiming like an able orator, or soothing your ears with the allurement of words, I have chosen this subject, as capable of pleasing you by its own force; and as it is sufficient barely to lay it before you, it requires no ornaments:
De tauris dicit arator, navita de ventis.
Quod medicorum est promittunt medici.
The plowman talks of oxen, the sailor of the wind.
Physicians offer what belongs to their profession.
And addressing myself to learned men as a physician, I shall treat of the health of studious men; and here again I must request your indulgence:
Dira per incautum serpunt contagia vulgus.
A dire contagion through the vulgar spreads.
But whilst I was hurried about to attend a crowd of patients, I had no leisure to polish my work; therefore I have without method thrown together my thoughts and observations on this useful topic.
It is an old complaint, that study, though essentially necessary to the mind, is hurtful to the body; and Celsus has intimated the necessity of a remedy. Those that are of weak constitutions, says he, as most studious men are, should take greater care than others, that what is impaired by application to their studies may be repair’d by attention to their constitutions. And Plutarch, an admirable judge of what is right and becoming, declares it to be a shame, that the learned should spend days and nights in useless investigations, and at the same time neglect the art of preserving their health; being, doubtless, ignorant that the healing science was formerly look’d upon as a part of wisdom, and that those chiefly requir’d medical assistance, who have impair’d their bodily strength by anxious thought and watchfulness.