SUDDEN TRANSITIONS, &c.

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ly been the effect of this conduct. Indeed it looks too like the ac-tion of a madman to deserve a serious consideration.

The result of all these observations is, that every one ought toavoid, with the utmost attention, all sudden transitions from heatto cold, and to keep the body in as uniform a temperature as pos-sible ; or where that cannot be done, to take care, when heated, tolet it cool gradually.

People may imagine that too strict an attention to these thingswould tend to render them delicate. So far, however, is this frombeing my design, that the very first rule proposed for preventingcolds is, to harden the body, by inuring it daily to the open air.

I shall put an end to what relates to this part of my subject, bygiving an abstract of the justly celebrated advice of Celsus,with respect to the preservation of health: " A man," says he." who is blessed with good health, should confine himself to no" particular rules either with respect to regimen or medicine. He"ought frequently to diversify his manner of living ; tobe some-" times in town, sometimes in the country ; to hunt, sail, indulge" himself in rest, but more frequently to use exercise. He ought" to refuse no kind of food that is commonly used, but sometimes" to eat more and sometimes less ; sometimes to make one at an en-" tertainment, and sometimes to forbear it •, to make rather two" meals a-day than one, and always to eat heartily, provided he" can digest it. He ought neither too eagerly tu pursue, nor too" scrupulously to avoid intercourse with the fair sex : pleasures of" this kind, rarely indulged, render the body alert and active ; but" when too frequently repeated, weak and languid. He should" be careful in time of health not to destroy, by excesses of any" kind, that vigour of constitution which should support him un-" der sickness."

This plain, yet elegant and judicious summary of the most usefulmaxims of health, confirms the justness of my former remark, thatenlightened Medicine breathes the true spirit of liberal indulgence,laying down no rules but such as a man of sense would cheerfully

" It has been very commonly supposed/' observes Sir Arthur, "even by medical men,that immersion in the cold-bath, when the body was considerably heated with exerciseor other exertion, is a dangerous practice ; and, accordingly, it is a general custom withbathers who find themselves overheated, to wait till they become cool, before theyplunge into the bath. This opinion and practice has been ably controverted by thelate Dr. Currie, who has shown, both from theory and experience, that the opinion iserroneous, and the practice injudicious. This is so true, that for some years he haailirected infirm persons to use a degree of exercise before immersion, as may producean increased action of the vascular, with some increase of heat, and thus secure aforce of re-action under the shock, which otherwise Hiight not always take place."We think Sir Arthur has brought Dr. Currie forward rather untimely ; for it is evidenttiie latter alludes to infirm persons, convalescents, with whom almost invariably theheat of the bodv, accompanied with a sense of chillness, is below the natural standard:it i-i judicious," therefore, enough that such people should use a degree of exercise toenable them to resist the shock of the cold-bath, and to secure a re-action under it,which otherwise they could not withstand. This practice, however, applies equallyto persons in health, whom we would caution never to use the cold-bath at a timewhen a cold sensation pervades the whole body, any more than to plunge into it at atime when tha body is overheated ; although both of these conditions may admit ofbeing considerably regulated by the feelings of the inuividual. "The popular opinion,therefore," says Sir Arthur Clarke, upon the preceding grounds, " that it is safest togo perfectly cool into the water is an unfounded error productive of injurious conse-quences." Practice and experience, with all deference to such an opinion, hav«proved the reverse. Ki>.