oisture and mere heat. They say a cold bath is bracing. Ah! a man jumps
into a cold bath, and he feels chilled; he jumps out again, and rubs
himself with a coarse cloth; he is invigorated, refreshed, and cheery;
he feels as if he could jump over the moon. So, if a man takes a glass
of brandy, he feels vigorous enough for a little while, but the brandy
is any thing but bracing. Keep the man in the cold water, and see what a
poor, shivering mortal he would be; you might almost knock him down with
a feather; and add more brandy to the man, and he becomes a lump." Heat
and cold, in fact, both operate in the same manner, by exciting the
vital powers into action, but to use either to excess as surely
debilitates, disorders, and overpowers the system as an abuse of brandy
would do. All things that cause action of course must act as stimuli,
and whatever rouses the heart and nerves must be proportioned to the
degree of power existing in the patient, or it can not be safe; it is
spurring the jaded horse that kills him. Moderation is the course
prescribed in the law of nature and of God, and it needs no exquisite
discernment to distinguish right from wrong in a general way, or to see
when the system needs rest, and when rousing.

_Sea-bathing_ is serviceable only as a stimulus to all the functions by
rousing the nerves, and hence the heart and arteries, to greater
activity. In this manner, I have seen vast benefit in a multitude of
cases, more particularly those in which the lymphatic system and the
glands were diseased, as in scrofula, tumid abdomen, and harsh skin,
with deficient appetite, and indisposition to take exercise. It does
mischief if it does not at once improve power. In such cases, however,
great care is required to avoid too long a chill, which always
aggravates the glandular congestion. Salt stimulates the skin, but a
certain degree of cold, and, perhaps, of shock, is necessary for the
beneficial effects, a warm bath very often increasing the malady. I
speak from my experience of the effects of sea-bathing, and would
strongly urge the propriety of preparing children for plunging in the
sea, by getting them accustomed to cold sponging at home, as this plan
will often supersede the need of visiting the sea for their benefit, and
enable them to bear the sea the better when advisable.

Sea-air and sea-water exert a very decided influence upon children, and,
indeed, upon all who are not accustomed to it, whether in hea