the physical, moral, and intellectual habits, has never yet been exhibited. Many have witnessed an almost entire resuscitation of intellect, from the inspiring principle of piety, even when the mind was encompassed and clogged with the most disastrous and benumbing habits.

But love to the Creator has never yet been employed as a principle in education, but has usually been received and cherished after all the intellectual habits have been formed. If the time ever should arrive when education shall be conducted on the principle of the Bible, a developement of intellectual powers may be witnessed, such as has never been conceived as attainable in this scene of existence.

CHAPTER XXXII.

ON THE OPERATION OF THE PHYSICAL SYSTEM UPON THE MIND.

In the present mode of existence, the mind of man is confined by a material system, with which it is so intimately connected, that many of its operations, and much of happiness, or of suffering, are to be traced directly to this connection. There are two modes by which the mind is affected by the body; one natural and healthful, and the other preternatural, and the result of a disordered frame.

It is by the senses that all ideas are originally gained, and these are the ministers of most of the enjoyment secured from various sources. Were it not for these, all intercourse and knowledge of other minds would be entirely interrupted, and thus the chief sources of happiness be lost. There is no evi

dence that the mind is ever diseased, or that it is ever wearied by its operations; but such is the constitution of the body, that the exercise, either of the intellect, or the emotions, tend to wear it down, so that it is necessary for the mind periodically to cease its operations, that the animal frame may recruit. To accomplish this, the phenomenon of sleep intervenes, which when the body is in perfect health, seems to be an entire suspension of all mental efforts. When sleep is unsound from disease, indigestion, or other causes, the mind acts imperfectly, and the conceptions at such times are called dreams. The body is most completely recruited, by an entire suspension of mental activity, and sometimes dreams are so constant, and so troublesome, that the healthful operations of the body are not restored by sleep.

No disarrangement of the animal system, can take place without affecting the mind, to a greater or less extent. Sometimes the effect is merely sensitive pain; and in this case, the mind though suffering, still retains the natural and ordinary exercise of its faculties. In other cases, the body is so diseased, that the mind is altered in its operations. The susceptibilities sometimes become very excitable, so that varied emotions are awakened by trivial causes. At other times they become torpid and inactive, and nothing is sufficient to arouse them. In like manner, the intellectual powers, by disease, can be preternaturally excited, so that conceptions become more clear, associations more ready, and judgment more expert and active, than when the body is in healthful operation. At other times, disease renders the conception faint and indistinct, and every mental operation feeble and imperfect. Generally mere fatigue of body, occasioned by continued exercise, produces this last effect, and the mind cannot act freely, till sleep has recruited the animal frame. It is found then, that the body operates upon the mind, and the mind upon the body.

The body is greatly affected, by the exercise of the

emotions. The effect of emotion is to produce a quicker circulation of blood, in the case of joy, fear, and curiosity; while anxiety, grief, and care, operate to retard circulation, and in other ways to alter the ordinary physical processes. A certain degree of pleasurable emotion is healthful, but when it passes a certain limit, it is exhausting, injures the bodily system, and thus re-acts on the mind. Long continuance of grief, will often so affect the body, as to produce permanent disease. In like manner, any long continued pleasurable excitement, wears upon the system, and interrupts its healthful operations.

The exercise of the intellectual powers, if continued too long, and too intensely, tends to weaken and impede the bodily functions. There is a certain amount of intellectual effort, which is not wearing to the animal frame, but rather contributes to its preservation and health; but if this is prolonged beyond a certain extent, it becomes injurious; the bodily frame is exhausted, and disarranged; and by this means the mind is impeded in its operations.

The amount of intellectual excitement, which can be sustained without injury, is very different in different constitutions. As a general fact it depends upon the habits, and upon the health. A mind in a healthful body, can act much longer without disarranging the physical system, than can be the case, when the constitution is feeble, or the animal functions interrupted by disease. It is the case also, that a person who is habituated to intellectual pursuits, is not so liable to injure the body by such exertions, as one who has formed no such habits. Cases often occur in institutions for the education of youth, where the removal of a young person from mechanical operations, to employments that do not demand intellect, and subjection to great mental stimulous, is often followed by an immediate prostration of health. This then is the general rule in regard to this subject, that intellectual efforts should be proportioned to the habits of the mind, and to the constitution and health of the body.

There is a mode of determining, both when the amount of emotion and of intellectual effort, is too great for the health of the body. There is no need of ever encroaching beyond the proper boundary, for nature has furnished sure signals of distress, when the mind is over-acting and injuring the body.

In regard to intellectual effort, the indication of the neces sity for cessation is discovered, by a loss of interest in employments, by indistinctness of conceptions, a difficulty in commanding attention, a lassitude of body, and sometimes by pain in the eyes, head, or limbs. When any of these indications are perceived, any farther intellectual effort should be discontinued, and amusement or exercise resorted to, until the tone of the mind and the vigor of the body is restored.

The exercise of emotions, to a certain extent, is healthful and desirable, but it is always excessive and injurious, when followed by any lassitude of mind, and exhaustion of body. If any employments, or any modes of conceiving, or any duties, involve such an amount of emotion, that exhaustion ordinarily follows, measures must be devised to lessen the amount of feeling, either by discontinuing the employment, or by so controlling the mind, that the exciting causes shall be diminished in their operation. For nothing so speedily disarranges the animal functions, and brings on disease, with all its disastrous re-acting influence on the mind, as the excessive indulgence of emotions. And nature has provided such a mode of warning and admonition, in the invariable lassitude and indolence of mind and body which follows too much excitement, that there is no difficulty in determining exactly in what pursuits too much excitement is experienced, and when modes of remedy must be devised.

No employment is justifiable which is attended by emotions that affect the animal frame, so that consequent lassitude is felt. It is true, there are often emergencies, when the law of love and kindness, demands that we should seek scenes of sorrow, to administer sympathy and relief, and when the mind

must necessarily be agitated; but these are exceptions to a general rule, which must govern us in daily life. In such cases our benevolent Creator has so constituted the mind, that active efforts to relieve suffering, in a great measure, prevents the injurious effect of painful sympathy. It is never right to seek exhausting emotions for the mere love of excitement, nor for any purpose but to save others from some greater evil. In all other cases, the mind should be indulged only in such a degree of emotion as does not weaken the bodily powers.

There are modes by which the body can be preserved from the debilitating effects of intellectual efforts, and exciting emotions, and by which such induced injuries can, in many cases, be repaired. The principal of these methods are, change of employments, amusements, and exercise of the body.

It is found by experience, that the mind can pursue intellectual efforts without injury to the animal frame, much longer when the occupations are varied, than when they are monotonous. If the mind has been occupied with mathematical pursuits until it is wearied, it can turn to some employment that calls other faculties into operation, such as classic literature, or composition, or any other exercise differing in nature, and thus find its powers still vigorous and unwearied. But when the mind has acted so long, that no intellectual exercise is pursued without an effort to awaken interest, it should cease thus to act, and amusement or exercise, should be sought. A distinction is made between weariness of body and mind, not because the mind is ever really wearied, but because the wear of the physical system sometimes affects the bodily senses, and sometimes the mind alone, and in the last case the mind is said to be wearied.

Amusements are a class of pursuits followed from the mere present gratification they afford, independent of any consideration of futurity, which imparts interest. In all our duties and regular employments, there is some purpose to be accòmplished, and the intellectual powers are driven to their duties