Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/110

102 upon the health of each part. Any thing that deranges the general health will be felt most quickly in the part that is weakest; and therefore any thing that deranges the general health of a person who has a predisposition to consumption, will affect the lungs. The strictest regard to health should therefore be paid, in every particular, by those who are at all liable to pulmonary affections, if they would escape the danger that threatens them. They should take plenty of exercise, and use daily cold ablutions of the whole body, followed by active friction, to restore fully the circulation to the skin. By exercise they will invigorate the whole system, and by the free use of water they will keep the skin healthy, and take away the liability to cold, on any sudden exposure. Strict regard should also be had to the food that is eaten, and to the manner of eating it. The diet should be nutritious, but not stimulating, and the quantity of food taken ought never to be so great as to oppress the system. Such articles of food as do not digest well—and what they are every one can easily decide from experience—should be avoided, because indigestion weakens the powers of the stomach, and by sympathy those of the whole body; and worse, as it is the business of the stomach to prepare the food for use in the body,