a slow, full, steady pulse, are tardigrade in their mental as well as their bodily operations, and but little disposed to sympathize with those who briskly enjoy the gayeties of life; not, indeed, that they are necessarily of melancholic dispositions; they may delight themselves in daydreams as habitually as a poet, but instead of a flashing and glittering paradise, full of graceful beauty, lively music, and dancing, the phantasmagoria of their visions will move with the stateliness of a solemn procession amid scenery as formal as that of an old English garden. It appears as if our feeling of time were, in some manner, measured by the pulsations of our hearts, which no doubt determine the frequency of our breathings; therefore, also, the peculiar motion of the brain, and probably the successive impulses of nerve-action on all the muscles and senses. Of course, our consciousness of existence is modified by the sensation thus induced, although it is too undefined and indistinct to be described, except in such general terms as convey a notion of individualism existing in new states; because, in fact, the sensation is not felt in connection with any special sense, or with any particular organ, but in connection with every part of the body at once, and therefore it imparts a peculiar sense of self-hood, which fits the individual for sympathy with all others in an equal state of excitement. Every sensation is both a cause and a consequence of internal action —that is, of some change taking place in the blood, under the present operation of the mind. But there are sensations which arise spontaneously from peculiar conditions of the blood, or, more correctly speaking, arising therein without any obvious connection with external influences such as impress our senses. Now such states of nerve or sensation exercise the greatest power over our conduct and thinking, and, indeed, constitute our specific temperaments. But they act the more forcibly upon us, because they act without our suspecting the con

stancy of their influence, and therefore without our endeavoring to restrain them. Hence we learn that the habitual dominion of sound moral and religious principles- that is, proper belief and right affectionscan alone secure any suitable degree of control over such riotous and susceptible bodies as ours. And thus, also, from the felt fact of our incessant dependence on causes of mental disturbance, concealed and circulating within our very blood, we are taught the wisdom and justice of mutual forbearance, and the equal rights of fraternal charity.

The blood appears to be electrical in its action; and, as it is proved that a current of warm fluid gives out electricity by the friction of its passage through small tubes, we see at once how well the circulation of the blood is calculated to maintain a constant evolution of electric power, which, however, we are not justified in supposing, according to common opinion, to be always of the same kind and character; but we are rather required by facts to conclude that it is so modified by life and mind, as to act very differently at different times, and probably so to enter into new combinations, as at different times to operate quite like different agents, just as we find the other chemical elements to alter their actions according to their combinations. Venous and arterial blood widely differ as to their electrical conditions; and there seems to be little doubt that the blood of different individuals is also in different states, and that the opposite sexes are in this respect peculiarly affected, giving rise to influences which permeate the nervous system in an especial manner, in subservience to the grand objects for which man and woman were constituted as associates in the holiness of uniting affection and oneness of life. During the successive stages of our progress to maturity and subsequent decay, the blood also evidently varies as to the degrees of vital electricity evolved from

it; not only because the vessels themselves, and the rate of velocity in the action of the heart alter, but also from the chemical state of the blood varying with the different periods of life. From this circumstance we may probably account for the strikingly injurious effects to children and youth in their being allowed to sleep with aged persons. They seem to experience what Dr. Copland calls "a gradual blight," which can not be cured but by the removal of the cause and the cautious use of restoratives. The ancient physicians of the Hebrew nation, if we may judge from their advice in the case of King David, appear to have been fully aware of the vital power imparted to the infirm by the proximity of a person in vigorous health; but their authority will scarcely excuse the bewildered selfishness of those hoary remnants of manhood who would endeavor to prolong their infirmities by obtaining vigor in a conjugal incongruity. That the nervous susceptibility or impressibility is a condition of nerve which highly favors vividness of mental perception, and is intimately connected with a peculiar state of blood, and with galvanic action, or something nearly allied to it, appears to me to be evinced by the remarkable history of Casper Hauser, who from his birth, until about his eighteenth year, was confined in a dark, narrow cell, and fed only on coarse bread with pure water. When at first removed from his prison-world, his faculties were scarcely more developed than those of a new-born babe. Having been so long confined in darkness, daylight was intolerable to his eyes, and excited universal spasms; and substances which to others were inodorous, produced violent effects on him by their powerful smell. That of wine caused severe headache; that of meat excited sickness; and that of certain flowers, peculiarly painful sensations. In passing a churchyard, the smell thence arising, and which could not be detected by his friend, produced a shuddering in him,

which terminated in violent fever and perspiration, like an ague. For a long time, in consequence of his delicate taste and smell, he retained an utter aversion to all aliment except bread and water. From this circumstance, there can be no doubt that his blood was in a peculiar state; but what I wish more particularly to notice is, the fact of his nervous susceptibility in consequence of that state of blood, and that this susceptibility was remarkably evinced in connection with magnetism. Thus, when the north pole of a magnet was held near him, he felt a drawing sensation, as if a current of air went from him; while the south pole seemed to blow upon him. Professor Daumer and Hermann tried all kinds of experiments on him, to determine how far fancy might influence his feelings, but they always found that his sensations correctly indicated which pole of the magnet was directed toward him, even at considerable distances. He detected metals placed under oil-cloth, etc., as they produced the sensation of drawing and a feeling of chill, which affected the arm directed toward them, and caused the veins of the exposed hand visibly to swell. These experiments always produced indisposition. Another incident in the psychological history of this individual is especially indicative of the influence of the blood on the mind after he had by frequent endeavors surmounted the difficulty of eating animal food, and when he began to take it regularly, his mental activity began to diminish, the expressive brilliancy of his eyes departed, he became absent and indifferent, and an intellectual obtuseness took the place of excessive sensibility, but this perhaps the more readily, from the preceding delicacy of his perceptions, and the excitement to which he was thence incessantly exposed.

The facts related on the subject of this chapter afford us an important lesson, and are sufficient to prove the necessity of preserving the blood in a pure and healthy

state, if we would continue in the full possession and happy exercise of our intellectual faculties, and hence, also, in the proper enjoyment of our affections. We shall, therefore, now proceed to consider some of the means by which this most desirable end may be accomplished. A strict regard to the choice of food and drink is certainly among the most direct means conducive to purity of blood, and therefore the regulation of appetite is among the chief of our daily duties, and the due management of the stomach a large part of morality; for as Abernethy says, “I tell you honestly what is the cause of the complicated madness of the human race: it is their gormandizing and stuffing, and stimulating the digestive organs to excess, thereby producing nervous disorder and irritation."