the frequency of nervous disease and imbecility among
the opulent, as intermarriages among near relations are more frequent
with this class than among the poor.

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793-850. _Give the hygiene of the nervous system._ 793. Why is it
important to know the laws which regulate the action of the brain?
794. What is necessary that the action of the brain be healthy and
efficient? What follows if the brain of the child has inherited
defects? 795. What is the effect when both parents possess similar
defects?

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_Observation._ Among some of the reigning families of Europe,
particularly the Spanish, the folly of intermarriage among themselves
is strongly illustrated. The high and noble talents that characterized
their progenitors are not seen, but there is now exhibited, among
their descendants, imbecility and the most revolting forms of nervous
disease.

796. "Unhappily, it is not merely as a cause of disease, that
hereditary predisposition is to be dreaded. The obstacles which it
throws in the way of permanent recovery are even more formidable, and
can never be entirely removed. Safety is to be found only in avoiding
the perpetuation of the mischief."

797. "Therefore, if two persons, each naturally of excitable and
delicate nervous temperament, choose to unite for life, they have
themselves to blame for the concentrated influence of similar
tendencies in destroying the health of their offspring, and
subjecting them to all the miseries of nervous disease, madness, or
melancholy." The command of God not to marry within certain degrees
of consanguinity, is in accordance with the organic laws of the
brain, and the wisdom of the prohibition is confirmed by observation.

_Observation._ The inhabitants, females particularly, of the sea-girt
islands of America, are more affected with nervous diseases, than
those who reside upon the mainland. The prevalence of these affections
is ascribed to the frequent intermarriage of persons closely related
by blood.

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What is one cause of nervous disease among the higher classes? What is
true of some of the reigning families of Europe? 796. Why is
hereditary predisposition to be dreaded? 797. Is the prohibition of
God respecting intermarriage in accordance with the organic laws of
the brain? What is said of the inhabitants of the sea-girt islands of
America?

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798. _The brain re