him, as conquest flushes the victor. Honors are lavished upon
the brave soldiers who, in the struggle with the foe, have covered
themselves with glory, and returned victorious from the field of battle;
but how much more brilliant is the achievement of those who overwhelm
disease, that common enemy of mankind, whose victims are numbered by
millions! Is it meritorious in the physician to modestly veil his
discoveries, regardless of their importance? If he have light, why hide
it from the world? Truth should be made as universal and health-giving
as sunlight. We say, give light to all who are in darkness, and a remedy
to the afflicted everywhere.

We, as a people, are becoming idle, living in luxury and ease, and in
the gratification of artificial wants. Some indulge in the use of food
rendered unwholesome by bad cookery, and think more of gratifying a
morbid appetite than of supplying the body with proper nourishment.
Others devote unnecessary attention to the display of dress and a
genteel figure, yielding themselves completely to the sway of fashion.
Such intemperance in diet and dress manifests itself in the general
appearance of the unfortunate transgressor, and exposes his folly to the
world, with little less precision than certain vices signify their
presence by a tobacco-tainted breath, beer-bloated body, rum-emblazoned
nose, and kindred manifestations. They coddle themselves instead of
practicing self-denial, and appear to think that the chief end of life
is gratification, rather than useful endeavor.

I purpose to express myself candidly and earnestly on all topics
relating to health, and appeal to the common sense of the reader for
justification. Although it is my aim to simplify the work, and render it
a practical common-sense guide to the farmer, mechanic, mariner, and
day-laborer, yet I trust that it may not prove less acceptable to the
scholar, in its discussion of the problems of Life. Not only does the
method adopted in this volume of treating of the Functions of the Brain
and Nervous System present many new suggestions, in its application to
hygiene, the management of disease, generation and the development and
improvement of man, but the conclusions correspond with the results of
the latest investigations of the world's most distinguished _savants_.
My object is to inculcate the facts of science rather than the theories
of philosophy.

Unto us are committed important health trusts, which we hold, not m