peare who thus holds up the mirror to the

face of Nature.

"Reafon thus with Life;

If I do lofe thee, I lose a thing

"That none but fools would reck; a breath thou art, "Servile to all the skyey Influences;

"That do this habitation, where thou keep'ft, "Hourly afflict; merely, thou art Death's fool;

For him thou labour'ft by thy flight to fhun,

" And yet run'st tow'rd him ftill. Thou art not noble ; "For all th' accommodations that thou bear'st

"Are nurs❜d by bafenefs. Thou art by no means valiant ;

"For thou doft fear the soft and tender fork

"Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is Sleep,

"And that thou oft provok'st, yet grofly fear'st

Thy Death, which is no more. Thou'rt not thyself; "For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains,

That iffue out of duft. Happy thou art not;

"For what thou haft not, ftill thou ftriv'ft to get;

And what thou haft, forgetteft. Thou art not certain;

"For thy Complexion shifts to strange effects,

After the Moon. If thou art rich, thou'rt poor; "For, like an Afs, whofe back with Ingots bows, "Thou bear'ft thy heavy Riches but a journey, "And Death unloads thee. Friend thou haft none, "For thine own bowels, which do call thee Sire, "The mere effufion of thy proper loins,

"Do curfe the Gout, Serpigo, and the Rheum,

For

"For ending thee no fooner. Thou haft not

youth, nor age;

But as it were an after-dinner's-fleep,

Dreaming on both; for all thy bleffed youth "Becomes as aged, and doth beg the Alms

"Of palfied Eld; and when thou'rt old and rich,
"Thou'st neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty
To make thy riches pleafant !"

قامة

SECTION XV.

The Salutary Power of Air, Diet, Exercife, and Simple Medicines, in the Prevention, and Cure of Chronic Difeafes.

WE

E fhall now proceed more particu larly to confider the nature and qualities of Air, Diet and Exercife, as well as their falutary effects in the prevention and cure of Chronic Difeafes in both fexes; efpecially when affifted by mild and fimple Medicines.

Fresh, pure Air is more effential to life, even than food taken into the body for its fubfiftence; for animals will live a long time without nourishment, but when depriv❜d of air, they perifh in a few moments.

It is not neceffary to enter into a minute difquifition of all the properties of air: Its lightness, and gravity; its compreffibility, and power to expand, have all been accurately

Cc 4

rately defcribed by natural Philofophers, and fatisfactorily demonftrated on the AirPump and Barometer.

This element is always found to partake of the nature of the neighbouring foil and water, and is more or lefs healthy according to the fituation of particular places, The human conftitution will therefore be vari ously affected by its qualities, whether good or bad; for it is not only continually taken into the lungs by breathing, and largely mixed with our food, fo as to make a part of the animal fyftem, but is alfo continually preffing on the furface of our bodies, accord ing to its different degrees of gravity,

The steam proceeding from fresh, pure earth turned up by the plough or fpade, has been found extremely refreshing to those of weak lungs, and confumptive habits; and on the contrary, mineral exhalations where mines abound, have been observed to blight the contiguous grafs and vegetables; confequently, it must be highly noxious to ani mal bodies.

of

Of all metallic fubstances, that we know, Iron feems the leaft injurious to vegetable or animal Bodies, for it enters largely into the compofition of the firft, and the laft contain a fmall quantity of it, as appears by the attraction of the load-ftone, when ap plied to their afhes.

Some liquors can only be brewed to perfection in particular places, which local pe culiarity equally contributes to the produc tion of bright and vivid colours, in the art of dying; and even the high temper of Steel derives much of its excellence from the

lities of Air and Water in certain places.

qua

It is not lefs extraordinary, that liquors in a state of fermentation, are immediately turned four from the fulphureous effluviat with which the air is impregnated by Lightning and if fuch are the effects of

air on fluids in general, we need not wonder that, by altering the blood and juices, they should become the cause or cure of Lifeafes

By