Labouring the ground is every way conducive to health. It not only gives exercise to every part of the body, but the very smell of the earth and fresh herbs revives and cheers the spirits, whilst the perpetual prospect of something coming to maturity, delights and entertains the mind. We are so formed as to be always pleased with somewhat in prospect, however distant or however trivial. Hence the happiness that most men feel in planting, sowing, building, &c. These seem to have been the chief employments of the more early ages: and, when kings and conquerors cultivated the ground, there is reason to believe that they knew as well wherein true happiness consisted as we do.
It may seem romantic to recommend gardening to manufacturers in great towns; but observation proves that the plan is very practicable. In the town of Sheffield, in Yorkshire, where the great iron manufacture is carried on, there is hardly a journeyman cutler who does not possess a piece of ground, which he cultivates as a garden. This practice has many salutary effects. It not only induces these people to take exercise without doors, but also to eat many greens, roots, &c. of their own growth, which they would never think of purchasing. There can be no reason why manufacturers in any other town in Great Britain should not follow the same plan. It is indeed to be regretted, that in such a place as London a plan of this kind is not practicable; yet even there sedentary artificers may find opportunities of taking air and exercise, if they chuse to embrace them.
Mechanics are too much inclined to crowd into great towns. The situation may have some advantages; but it has likewise many disadvantages. All mechanics who live in the country have it in their power to cultivate a piece of ground; which indeed most of them do. This not only gives them exercise, but enables them to live more comfortably. So far at least as my observation extends, mechanics who live in the country are far more happy than those in great towns. They enjoy better health, live in greater affluence, and seldom fail to rear a healthy and numerous offspring.
In a word, exercise without doors, in one shape or another, is absolutely necessary to health. Those who neglect it, though they may for a while drag out life, can hardly be said to enjoy it. Weak and effeminate, they languish for a few years, and soon drop into an untimely grave.
THE STUDIOUS.
Intense thinking is so destructive to health, that few instances can be produced of studious persons who are strong and healthy. Hard study always implies a sedentary life; and when intense thinking is joined to the want of exercise, the consequences must be bad. We have frequently known even a few months of close application to study ruin an excellent constitution, by inducing a train of nervous complaints which could never be removed. Man is evidently not formed for continual thought more than for perpetual action, and would be as soon worn out by the one as by the other.
So great is the power of the mind over the body, that, by its influence, the whole vital motions may be accelerated or retarded, to almost any degree. Thus cheerfulness and mirth quicken the circulation, and promote all the secretions; whereas sadness and profound thought never fail to retard them. Hence it would appear, that even a degree of thoughtlessness is necessary to health. Indeed, the perpetual thinker seldom enjoys either health or spirits; while the person, who can hardly be said to think at all, generally enjoys both.
Perpetual thinkers, as they are called, seldom think long. In a few years they generally become quite stupid, and exhibit a melancholy proof how readily the greatest blessings may be abused. Thinking, like every thing else, when carried to extreme, becomes a vice: nor can any thing afford a greater proof of wisdom, than for a man frequently and reasonably to unbend his mind. This may generally be done by mixing in cheerful company, active diversions, or the like.
Instead of attempting to investigate the nature of that connection which subsists between the mind and body, or to inquire into the manner in which they mutually affect each other, we shall only mention those diseases to which the learned are more peculiarly liable, and endeavour to point out the means of avoiding them.
Studious persons are very subject to the gout. This painful disease in a great measure proceeds from indigestion, and an obstructed perspiration. It is impossible that the man who sits from morning till night should either digest his food, or have any of the secretions in due quantity. But when that matter, which should be thrown off by the skin, is retained in the body, and the humours are not duly prepared, diseases must ensue.