Part 4

Thus have I laid before you the chief causes, from which the diseases incident to the studious take rise; and I should never make an end, were I to enumerate the inferior causes, which professors have a bad custom of assigning from their own invention: I shall therefore pass by all the secondary causes. But there are men, truly learned, illustrious votaries of the muses, who, besides the disorders that spring from too assiduous an application of mind, experience others, owing to the nature of the object that engages them. Anatomists often contract malignant fevers by breathing putrid air, and other diseases from the corruption of the bile, from the matter in which their hands are constantly immersed, a slight excoriation arising, or an inconsiderable wound, which sometimes end in their deaths. Chemical experiments are attended with danger, and an acid smoke, of a very penetrating nature, would have kill’d the great BOERHAAVE, if there had not been at hand an alcaline spirit, which overcame the acid and expanded the compressed lungs. Botanists have been often hurt by the plants for which they have so strong a passion. These, and the like, rather relate to the disorders of artificers, (excuse the expression); but this discourse turns upon the disorders which study brings upon some of the organs.

The first that offer are the eyes, which constant attention so fatigues, that I have often seen doctors who had not attain’d to their thirtieth year, and yet could hardly bear the light, especially candle-light; and were scarce able to read a few pages without their eyes being suffused with tears, then growing dim, and at last quite incapable to distinguish any object. But the eyes are much sooner and much more easily affected by reading at night; for there is not a man living who has not experienc’d, at least once in his life, how much they suffer by the motion of light and the irritation of smoke.

Orators have disorders peculiar to themselves, which are of a very grievous nature: for however reading aloud may be of service to the lungs, vehement declamation is hurtful: and how often do preachers or lawyers pass whole days and nights in their studies, when the lungs, unequal to the efforts of speaking, are severely injur’d. How much more happy are those pastors of the church, who cultivate learning, but are kept from their studies by other avocations, being in this respect equally privileg’d with the physicians, whom the health of their fellow-creatures does not suffer to impair their own health by study. Happy likewise are all those whom the nature of their business calls off from study; for though they are not thereby exempted from the labours of the mind, the change of their employments is however a great consolation to them. But unhappy are those preachers, who, being exempt from other ecclesiastical functions, live only to study, and compose eloquent discourses; unhappy those lawyers, who are entirely taken up with managing and pleading causes; for their health is insensibly impaired by the life they lead, their throat, wind-pipe, and lungs, are irritated, heated, and inflamed; hence proceed catarrhs, hoarseness, a broken voice, spitting of blood, a cough, a fever, great weakness, and at last a consumption; and, whilst they give light to others, they are extinguished like the snuff of a candle, unless they take care of themselves. This is what CICERO did, who, being told that he was beginning to be consumptive, avoided pleading for two years, by the advice of his physicians; in which time he recovered his strength and health, which had been greatly impaired.

These, worthy auditors, are most of the disorders that are occasioned by too great an attachment to study, or a continued application of the mind to any object whatever: nor are we to imagine that all undergo the same sufferings; much variety is here occasioned by the various constitutions of men, by their different ages, and the diversity of their external circumstances. There are few or no bodies but what have some weak parts, which suffer the first attacks of every disorder. He whose stomach is naturally weak, or who has rendered it so by living in a manner not suited to his constitution, will first complain of pains in the ventricle, whilst the nerves, which he received strong in a weak body, are still in a good state. On the other hand, he who is troubled with weak nerves, but has a good stomach, will long suffer all sorts of nervous disorders, the digestion remaining unhurt.

He in whom the muscular or cellular fibres are relaxed, will complain of lassitude, drowsiness, weakness, swellings, his head and stomach remaining unhurt. Another will suffer all the disorders incident to the lungs, who received them from nature not indued with a proper degree of strength. In these the vascular system of the head is weak, they are troubled with incessant head-achs, or bleeding at the nose, to which other studious youths are obnoxious, their intense application to study forcing the blood upwards. Finally, every man, according to the part affected with weakness, is liable to complain of some disorders more than others.

Even strength itself has its disadvantages; for whilst robust and vigorous young men devote themselves to study with unbridled ardour, the power of the soul, being rous’d and strongly stimulating the whole system, so increases the action of the solids, that there arise diseases occasion’d by too violent a motion, such as inflammations and malignant fevers; and when these disorders are once begun, they return for some years, till the strength being entirely broken, chronical disorders succeed, according to the common fate of mankind.

A great deal depends upon the age, with regard to which we should not be so indiscreet as to bear too hard upon youth, nor exact from them over great tasks; for nothing so totally exhausts and destroys the strength. I have often found boys of a penetrating genius, tinctured with learning beyond what could be expected from their years, and always with some concern, as I saw how it would end; because our youthful days should be consecrated to exercise, and to acquiring strength by its means, and not to severe study, which obstructs both vigour and growth.

There have been examples of boys, who before they had pass’d their sixth year, appear’d by their sudden growth to be men: the last example of this sort, we meet with in the memoirs of the French academy: but listen to the sequel: the understanding continued that of a child in a well set body, and, the strength being so soon exhausted, could scarce support a life of twelve years. Whilst the powers of the mind, or in other words, the strength of the brain surpass the age, nature, which is unequal to many tasks, forgets the body; the whole machine is overwhelm’d with languor, the fibres want strength, and severe disorders bring on an untimely death. JOHN PHILIP BARATHIER lately afforded us an illustrious and well known example of the truth of this observation. You all lament another PHILIP, whom you knew, and whom I regret not having known more intimately, who being from his early infancy endowed with a penetrating genius, and addicted to study at that time of life, which nature intended should be dedicated to strengthening the body, was attack’d by the severest disorders, and could recover his health only by the most abstemious diet, and by totally relinquishing his studies: but soon, unmindful of his weakness, he by an untimely death paid for his premature learning. May a better fate be reserv’d for LE FANCOIS, a youth of fourteen, who, as I hear, has acquir’d a high reputation amongst the French, by his genius and extraordinary erudition.

I have often seen with concern the children of peasants loaded with labour above their age and strength, but a still worse error is committed, when the mind of a child is forc’d to apply before the time, and beyond its abilities; and this is generally productive of the worst consequences, for the powers of the mind brought to maturity by a pernicious art, are short-liv’d, and soon grow old: and who has not with grief seen children of the brightest hopes, hardly give proofs of common understanding, when grown up? The earth is a long time prepar’d to admit seed, and before it is sown, receives that strength, which afterwards impregnates it with fertility from the sun, the air, and the plough; then the grain springs up, vegetates, flourishes, and brings good fruits to maturity.

But if early studies are hurtful, it is no less dangerous to attach oneself to study in an advanc’d age; for habit becomes gradually a second nature when we begin from our tender age; but at an advanc’d period it is no longer susceptible of new habits; and the fibres of the brain accustom’d to rest, are torn before they can receive new and regular motions. I not long since with difficulty cur’d a native of this country, who in his fortieth year laying aside mercantile business, to pore night and day over the works of NEWTON, CLARKE and LOCKE, had totally disorder’d his brain. He recovered his health by remedies, by a cessation of study, and amusing conversation; but the joy was but short-liv’d, for by again dipping into the sublime, geometry, and metaphysical abstractions, he once more lost his senses.

Nor is it less laborious to continue our accustom’d studies too long, when old age approaches. The soul that animates our bodies, is indeed immortal; but so long as it is connected with a feeble frame, it must be influenc’d by its nature.

Gigni pariter cum corpore, & una Crescere sentimus, pariterque senescere mentem.

Besides, ’tis plain, that souls are born and grow, And all by age decay, as bodies do.

CREECHE’S Lucretius, book 3.

The labours of the mind should therefore be retrench’d, as the declining powers of the body direct; the latter becomes incapable of bearing the same burthens, the former of pursuing the same studies, which in this period of life soonest break the constitution, and destroy the brain; and are of so little use, that old men consult their glory no less than their health, by retiring betimes.

Solve senescentem mature sanus equum, ne Peccet ad extremum ridendus, & ilia ducat.

Loose from the rapid car your aged horse, Lest in the race, derided, left behind, He drag his jaded limbs, and burst his wind.

FRANCIS’S Horace, lib. 1. ep. 1.

But it grieves me, respectable auditors, that you should be obliged to hear of so many disorders, and I to give an account of them; so I shall say no more of so melancholy a subject, but proceed to treat of the remedies for the several diseases.

What lover ever had eyes to see the blemishes of his mistress? What lover ever ceas’d to admire his mistress’s beauty? This is another pernicious effect of learning; it occasions a sourness of temper. Philosophers think themselves wise in every thing; ’tis a difficult matter to persuade them that they every day injure their health by their manner of living; you may advise, intreat, and even scold them, it will be all to no purpose; they impose upon themselves a thousand different ways; some by too great a confidence in their strength, others by the hopes of impunity from the punishments being delayed; others again by the deceitful defence of the power of habit, and others again by the still more deceitful example of other men’s good luck; others by other motives; and all, by that steady adherence to their purpose, which they think becoming in a man of virtue, are so blinded, that they are not affected by future sufferings, and hardly even by those they have already incurred. I shall not however neglect my duty as a monitor, and if I should fail of success, it will be at least some merit to have attempted in a design of so much utility. Preservatives are to be offered to such of the studious as are still in health, and remedies to those who have impair’d their constitutions.

The sure and only preservative is for the mind to be often unemploy’d, and the body to labour. This does not hold with regard to all men of learning; there are some whose meditations should be disturb’d upon no account whatever. DESCARTES frames a world, NEWTON revolves the whole system of the universe in his mind, MONTESQUIEU makes laws for all nations; let no body interrupt them, let all nature be silent, they labour for us, let the good of the people be the supreme law; they were born to cultivate those studies. But how few are there, whose labours are of such consequence? Most studious men lose their time, and break their constitutions to no purpose; one makes a collection of common-place topicks, another embellishes such as are threadbare, a third anxiously investigates matters of no utility, others make trifles the subject of laborious researches, and all are equally unmindful of the unprofitableness and danger of their pursuits. But be vigilant for their good; knock at their doors; rouse them from their lethargy; make them, whether they will or no, lay aside their studies for hours together, and let their minds not be totally abandoned to idleness, but recreated by gentle ease, whilst their strength is restored by exercise. At the beginning of my discourse I displayed the advantages of exercise: let it therefore be observed as an inviolable rule by the learned, to dedicate an hour or two every day to walking, that the lungs may be recreated by a free use of the air, that the stagnant humours may be thrown off, perspiration renewed, the limbs strengthened, and the nerves repaired. BOERHAAVE chose for this purpose the hour before dinner. Nor is walking alone sufficient. I would likewise recommend riding, which acts admirably upon the head and lungs, and above all upon the abdominal viscera, by repeatedly agitating them; as likewise all the other exercises, which were carefully cultivated both by the ancients and our ancestors; but which we, to our great detriment, have neglected. Let us not forget HERODICUS, a man of learning, endowed with extraordinary intellectual faculties, but the most infirm of all mortals, who by exercise alone so confirmed his health, that he lived entirely free from disorders to a hundred years of age, and composed a treatise upon the gymnastic art. Let us not forget SOCRATES, the wisest of mankind, who thought it worth his while to learn this art. STRATO, being troubled with the spleen, had recourse to exercise, which cured him. HYSMONÆUS, being afflicted with a weakness of the nerves, had recourse to the olympic games, and by that exercise overcame the disorder. Sailing should have its share of praise, amongst other sorts of exercise, whose power in removing the obstructions of the viscera, throwing off the bile, restoring the lungs, renewing perspiration, and strengthening the fibres, the ancients were well acquainted with: and it has lately been demonstrated by the illustrious GILCHRIST, and was likewise preferred to all other sorts of carriage by AUGUSTUS CÆSAR, who, when he had any occasion to travel, chose rather to go by sea than otherwise, if it was possible. AUGUSTUS CÆSAR may in many respects be compared to the studious and learned; “eloquentiam enim studiaque liberaliora ab ætate prima & cupide & laboriosissime exercuit; & graves valetudines per omnem vitam expertus est; & distillationibus, & rheumaticis doloribus, & calculo obnoxius vixit, & præcordiorum inflatione aliquoties tentabatur; litteratis vero sapientior;” “for he cultivated eloquence and the liberal arts from his early youth with taste and diligence, and was during his whole life a valetudinarian; he was troubled with catarrhs, rheumatic pains, and the stone, and was sometimes likewise attacked with an inflammation of the parts about the heart; but, being more prudent than most men of learning, he took great care of his valetudinary constitution.” Riding in an easy chariot is of little service; of still less the easy succussions of the several machines which have been invented by modern industry for moving the sick about in their chambers; but I set a high value upon all those plays or diversions which oblige a man to exercise both his arms; such, for example, are shuttle-cock, and others of the like nature.

Do not be concerned, my worthy auditors; the time which you devote to recreation is not lost to learning; you will presently apply to your studies with renewed alacrity, and, whilst your strength and health are preserved, a long life will abundantly recompense the hours dedicated to the care of the body. In leisure likewise those sublime ideas may rise, which the obscurity of your musæum would for ever have suppressed, for lively and vigorous geniuses make the more noble efforts, the more intervals of leisure they allow themselves. I have a particular friend, who, in his walks in the country, has composed books that will immortalize his name; for the souls of those who walk under the canopy of heaven are exalted: and PLINY the younger observes, that it is surprizing to what a degree the soul is rous’d by the agitation and motion of the body: close confinement contracts the body, the oil of the lamp, as it were, infects the thoughts by its smell, and by too intense study we become incapable of application. PLUTARCH has an ingenious observation, that as plants are nourished by moderate watering, but overwhelmed by too much, so the soul is improved by moderate studies, but overpowered by excessive studies. Take my advice therefore, you men of learning; you will one day repent your austere retirement; but it will be too late to look for a remedy when the danger is at hand; and foresight becomes the wise man: don’t think to excuse your dangerous errors; the experiment is not made upon a vulgar soul, the life of a man of learning is at stake; neither alledge, in excuse for yourselves, the examples of others; nor your own strength, which you break every day; nor vain custom, for we can never use ourselves to a disease; nor the impunity of your early years, for reiterated strokes will break what one alone could not. Lay aside, therefore, the agitations of your minds, and exercise your bodies; for exercise is of so much service to the mind, that HOFFMAN has by its means made stupid men attain to a degree of understanding; and do not despise the health of the body, with the assistance of which the labour of the mind will become more supportable; for the powers of the mind grow dull, if the strength of the body is in a wavering unsettled state. Physicians have power over souls; and DESCARTES has justly observed, “Animum adeo a temperamento & organorum corporis dispositione pendere, ut si ratio aliqua possit inveniri, quæ homines sapientiores & ingeniosiores reddat quam hactenus fuerit, credendum sit illam in medicina quæri debere.” “That the soul depends so much upon the constitution and disposition of the corporeal organs, that, if there could be a method found to render men wise and ingenious, it seems probable that it should be sought in physick.” There is a regimen calculated for the studious, of which I shall now give a succinct account.

HIPPOCRATES in three words expresses the whole alimentary diet of all ages, all ranks of men, and all conditions, ὡς ὁ πονος εστι και ἡ τροφη, food should be as labour; for, as he says elsewhere, if the aliments are overcome, that is, if they are subdued by the powers of the body, they invigorate it; if they overcome it, that is, when they get the better of the digestive powers, they give rise to many bad effects: and PLUTARCH justly observes from HIPPOCRATES, that health arises from the exact equality of bodily exercise and the aliments taken. The reason is, the body by its own force makes its own juices and humours out of the aliments it uses: nor is its state the same in the robust ploughman and enfeebled doctor. Whilst the former, by incessant exercise, by breathing every day the wholesome country air, by a chearful and vacant mind, unembarrassed by perplexing meditations, and by soft slumbers continually repairs his strength, he can bear any sort of food; the salival, gastric, intestinal, and bilious liquors, elaborated to the highest perfection, thoroughly dissolve the most glutinous fat, and even salt pork hardened by smoke; the strength of the muscles of the stomach and intestines is unimpaired; they suffer nothing to stay beyond its time in their cavities; and as the aliments are digested, their remains are thrown out. How different from this is the case of the man debilitated by study! The hard bowels of the mower can digest any thing, the soft viscera of the learned or indolent are incapable of digestion; the latter therefore should maturely deliberate, what his powers are equal to, and what not.

Give the labouring man thin broth, small cabbage, jellies, pullet’s flesh, or white bread; the force of the viscera and constant labour will soon digest these, he will immediately grow hungry, sweat all over, and in a short time his strength will fail him, if it be not soon repaired with fat bacon, hard cheese, and black bread. But let this food, or food of the like nature, be eaten by the weak inhabitants of cities, who are unequal to the labour of digesting it, dreadful diseases will soon arise from thence, the aliments being converted into poison. These are golden words of BOERHAAVE: “Eruditi viri (inquit) nolunt gulæ temperare, & audent eadem edere quæ rustici, verum non ferunt hunc victum; optent, aut feriari a studiis, aut a duris cibis.” “Men of learning, says he, will not live temperately; but are so indiscreet as to eat the same food that labouring men do, and which they are not able to bear; so they should wish either to be exempted from the necessity of studying, or from that of eating strong food,” which if they continue to live upon, there arise obstinate obstructions in the abdominal viscera.

The strength of the aliments is estimated not by the nature of the food alone, but by its quantity: it is not therefore enough to be choice in the quality; attention should likewise be given to the quantity of the food. I will assert with confidence, that an error in either respect is attended with very bad consequences; but it is worst of all when it relates to the quantity. A due observation of the bodies of learned men will shew what aliments should be chosen, and what avoided: to enumerate all the various sorts would be tedious and disagreeable; it will be sufficient to mention the principal kinds.

All fat, viscid aliments, all aliments puffed with wind, or hardened either by art or nature, are hurtful. The ancients condemned all sorts of pulse; and PYTHAGORAS strictly forbid his disciples to eat beans, as these have an extraordinary flatulency, highly destructive of the tranquillity of mind necessary to one who investigates truth. Every body knows, that whilst the stomach swells the mind is depressed with languor, and becomes incapable of performing its functions. The tender flesh of all young animals is of great service, except those of swine and geese; not when boiled in copious broth, for then they are deprived of their nutritious juices, but when roasted, or boiled in a small quantity of water. Such roots are wholesome as consist of a light flour, not without a mixture of salt or sugar; soft herbs, which are neither too acid nor too emollient. Nor should the several sorts of seeds be denied their praise; nor ripe fruit, concerning the use of which, however, a caution should be observed; for they relax, dissolve, cause acidity, and thereby are the less fit for studious men. But take notice, amongst the most severe disorders of the learned are reckoned the stagnation, the thickening, and the hardening of the bile, which defeats are best remedied by fruits that swell with saponaceous juices, as cherries, strawberries, rasberries, gooseberries, peaches, grapes, pears, and other fruits of the like nature, which studious, sedentary men cannot well do without, especially in summer. Care should be taken to prevent their being detrimental, by eating them when the stomach is empty, either with or without bread, and long before and long after having drunk wine; for thus they neither disturb the digestion of the other aliments, nor, being hardened with wine, prove more difficult of digestion themselves, nor are turned into a sourness, but act like a mild and gently stimulating soap, resolve concretions, accelerate the course of the bile, stimulate the sluggish intestines, and, by removing obstinate costiveness, put an end to grievous disorders, and either prevent hypochondriac melancholy, with the matter from whence it arises, or cure it. They are of great service to those, whom severe study throws into inflammatory disorders, or slow fevers, proceeding from a drying up of the humours: but they are hurtful when, the strength being broken, the fibres have lost their tone, and the fluids are too thin. Eggs boiled in such a manner as to be supped are also very good for them; for these, being inspissated by boiling, mix with the harder aliments. Well-baked bread and decoctions of bread are also of service to them. Milk is wholesome, provided it does not grow acid in the stomach. Chocolate deserves to be recommended; for with its soft flour and penetrating oil, and a sort of gentle bitter irritating taste, it soon repairs and restores the strength: do not, however, use it to excess; it is a very nutritious aliment, and increases plethora in those of a plethoric disposition; it is fat, and by too great lubrication renders the stomach and intestines incapable of being stimulated, so that neither does the stomach grow hungry, nor are the excrements voided: it moreover grows acid, and causes a gnawing of the stomach. Various dishes, which may be made out of these by a judicious and prudent mixture, are very wholesome; but it is better to use only simple food, either raw or boiled.

Accipe nunc, victus tenuis quæ quantaque secum, Afferat. Imprimis valeas bene nam variæ res, Ut noceant homini, credas, memor illius escæ, Quæ simplex olim tibi sederit, at simul assis Miscueris elixa, simul conchylia turdis, Dulcia se in bilem vertent, stomachoque tumultum Lenta feret pituita.

————Now mark what blessings flow From frugal meals: and first they can bestow That prime of blessings, health; for you’ll confess That various meats the stomach must oppress, If you reflect how light, how well you were, When plain and simple was the chearful fare; But roast and boil’d when you promiscuous eat, When fowl and shell-fish in confusion meet, Sweets, turn’d to choler, with cold phlegm engage, And in the stomach civil warfare wage.