stupor after a meal is a sure sign of
over-eating, so whatever and whenever you eat, _eat slowly, masticate
your food well_, and DO NOT EAT TOO MUCH.

4. _Drink._

If we eat proper food, and in proper quantity, we are seldom thirsty.
Inordinate thirst indicates a feverish state of either the stomach or
the general system. It is pretty sure to follow a too hearty meal.

Water is the proper drink for everybody and for every thing that lives
or grows. It should be pure and soft. Many diseases arise wholly from
the use of unwholesome water. If you drink tea (which we do not
recommend), let it be the best of black tea, and _not_ strong. Coffee,
if drunk at all, should be diluted with twice its quantity of boiled
milk, and well sweetened with white sugar.

IV.--BREATHING.

Breathing is as necessary as eating. If we cease to breathe, our
bodies cease to live. If we only _half_ breathe, as is often the case,
we only half live. The human system requires a constant supply of
oxygen to keep up the vital processes which closely resemble
combustion, of which oxygen is the prime supporter. If the supply is
insufficient, the fire of life wanes. The healthy condition of the
lungs also requires that they be completely expanded by the air
inhaled. The imperfect breathing of many persons fails to accomplish
the required inflation, and the lungs become diseased for want of
their natural action. Full, deep breathing and pure air are as
essential to health, happiness, and the right performance of our
duties, whether individual, political, or social, as pure food and
temperate habits of eating and drinking are. Attend, then, to the
lungs as well as the stomach. Breathe good air. Have all your rooms,
and especially your sleeping apartment well ventilated. The air which
has been vitiated by breathing or by the action of fire, which
abstracts the oxygen and supplies its place with carbonic acid gas, is
a _subtle poison_.

V.--EXERCISE.

The amount of physical exercise required varies with age, sex, and
temperament; but no person can enjoy vigorous health without a
considerable degree of active bodily exertion. Four or five hours per
day spent in the open air, in some labor or amusement which calls for
the exercise of the muscles of the body, is probably no more than a
proper average. We can live with less--that is, for a short time; but
Nature's laws are inexorable, and we can not escape the penalty
affixed to their violation. T