Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/194

184, and many putrid diſorders hence have their origin. It is recorded of Methuſalem, who, being the longeſt liver, may be ſuppoſed to have beſt preferred his health, that he ſlept always in the open air; for, when he had lived five hundred years, an angel ſaid to him: "Ariſe, Methuſalem; and build thee an houſe, for thou ſhalt live yet five hundred years longer." But Methuſalem anſwered and ſaid: "If I am to live but five hundred years longer, it is not worth while to build me an houſe—I will ſleep in the air as I have been uſed to do." Phyſicians, after having for ages contended that the ſick ſhould not be indulged with freſh air, have at length diſcovered that it may do them good. It is therefore to be hoped that they may in time diſcover likewiſe, that it is not hurtful to thoſe who are in health; and that we may be then cured of the aërophobia that at preſent diſtreſſes weak minds, and make them chooſe to be ſtifled and poiſoned, rather than leave open the window of a bed-chamber, or put down the glaſs of a coach. Confined air, when ſaturated with perſpirable matter, will not receive more: and that matter muſt remain in our bodies, and occaſion diſeaſes: but it gives ſome previous notice of its being about to be hurtful, by producing certain uneaſineſs, ſlight indeed at firſt, ſuch as, with regard to the lungs, is a trifling ſenſation, and to the pores of the ſkin a kind of reſtleſſneſs which is difficult to deſcribe, and few that feel it know the cauſe of it. But we may recollect, that ſometimes, on waking in the night, we have, if warmly covered, found it difficult to get aſleep again. We