[28] In high Health seven or eight hours will complete this refreshment, and hence arises the false inference drawn from an observation probably just, that long-lived persons are always early risers: not that early rising makes them long-lived, but that people in the highest vigour of Health are naturally early risers—- because they sleep more soundly, and all that repose can do for them, is done in less time, than with those who sleep less soundly. A disposition to lie in Bed beyond the usual hour, generally arises from some derangement of the Digestive Organs.—Hints for the Preservation of Health, p. 32.
[29] The best Fire-feeder is a pair of Steak Tongs.
[30] The method taken to tame unruly Colts, &c. is to walk them about the whole of the night previous to attempting to break them:—want of Sleep speedily subdues the spirit of the wildest, and the strength of the strongest creatures, and renders savage animals tame and tractable.
[31] In Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and London, the twentieth or twenty-third person dies annually; while, in the Country around them, the proportion is only one in thirty or forty; in remote country villages, from one in forty to one in fifty—the smallest degree of human mortality on record is one in sixty.
“When warm with Hope, in Life’s aspiring morn,
The Tints of Fancy every scene adorn,
The glowing landscape charms the poet’s view,
And Youth believes the fairy prospect true.
But soon, Experience proves his Eye betray’d,
And all the picture darkens into shade.”
Fitzgerald.
Beautifully Set to Music by Shield,
and printed in his Cento.
[33] “Above all,—it is of essential importance to Health, to preserve the tranquillity of the mind,—and not to sink under the disappointments of life, to which all, but particularly the old, are frequently exposed.—Nothing ought to disturb the mind of an individual who is conscious of having done all the good in his power.”—Sinclair’s Code of Health, p. 459.
“Nothing hurts more the nervous System, and particularly the concoctive powers, than fear, grief, or anxiety.”—Whytt on Nerves, p. 349.
“I shall add to my list, as the eighth deadly sin, that of Anxiety of Mind; and resolve not to be pining and miserable, when I ought to be grateful and happy.”—Sir Thomas Barnard, Bt. on the Comforts of Old Age, p. 135.