med to avoid the unhealthy and un- Sleep. fafe Hours of Debauchery, which are those of the Evenings: And they who keep good Hours, seldom are guilty of any great Disorders. I do not say this, as if your Son, when grown up, should never be in Company past Eight, nor ever chat over a Glass of Wine till Midnight. You are now, by the Accustoming of his tender Years, to indispose him to those Inconveniences, as much as you can: And that will be no small Advantage, that Contrary Practice having made Sitting up uneasie to him, it will make him often avoid, and very seldom propose Mid-night-Revels. But if it should not reach so far, but Fashion and Company should prevail, and make him live as others do about Twenty, 'tis worth the while to accutom him to Early Rising, and Early Going to Bed between this and that, for the present Improvement of his Health, and other Advantages.

§. 22 Let his Bed be hard, and rather Quilts than Feathers. Hard Lodging strengthens the Parts; whereas being buried every Night in Feathers melts and dissolves the Body, is often the Caufe

C 4

Bed.

Bed.

Cause of Weakness, and the Fore-runner of an early Grave: And besides the Stone, which has often its Rise from this warm wrapping of the Reins, several other Indispositions; and that which is the Root of them all, a tender weakly Constitution, is very much owing to Downe-Beds. Besides, He that is used to hard Lodging at home, will not miss his Sleep (where he has most need of it) in his Travels abroad, for want of his soft Bed and his Pillows laid in order; and therefore I think it would not be amiss to make his Bed after different Fashions, sometimes lay his Head higher, sometimes lower, that he may not feel every little Change, he must be sure to meet with, who is not design'd to lie always in my young Master's Bed at home, and to have his Maid lay all Things in print, and tuck him in warm. The great Cordial of Nature is Sleep; he that misses that, will suffer by it: And he is very unfortunate, who can take his Cordial only in his Mother's fine Gilt Cup, and not in a Wooden Dish. He that can sleep soundly, takes the Cordial; and it matters not whether it be on a

foft

foft Bed, or the hard Boards; 'tis Sleep only that is the Thing necessary.

§. 23. One thing more there is, which coftive. has a great Influence upon the Health, nefs. and that is, Going to Stool regularly. People that are very loose, have seldom strong Thoughts, or strong Bodies: But the Cure of this, both by Diet and Medicine, being much more easie than the contrary Evil, there needs not much to be said about it; for if it come to threaten, either by its Violence, or Duration, it will soon enough, and sometimes too soon, make a Physician be sent for; and if it be moderate or short, it is commonly best to leave it to Nature. On the other Side, Costiveness has too its ill Effects, and is much harder to be dealt with by Physick; purging Medicines, which seem to give Relief, rather increasing than removing the Evil.

§. 24. It having been an Inconvenience, I had a particular Reason to enquire into; and not finding the Cure of it in Books, I set my Thoughts on work, believing, that greater Changes than that might be made in our Bodies, if we took the

Cofive

nefs.

right Course, and proceeded by Rational Steps.

1. Then I considered, that Going to Stool, was the effect of certain Motions of the Body, especially of the Perristaltick Motion of the Guts.

2. I considered, that several Motions, that were not perfectly voluntary, might yet by Use and constant Application be brought to be Habitual, if by an unintermitted Custom, they were at certain Seasons endeavoured to be constantly produced.

3.

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I had observed some Men, who by taking after Supper a Pipe of Tabaco, never failed of a Stool, and began to doubt with my self, whether it were not more Custom, than the Tabaco, that gave them the benefit of Nature; or at least, if the Tabaco did it, it was rather by exciting a vigorous Motion in the Guts, than by any purging Quality, for then it would have had other Effects.

Having thus once got the Opinion, that is was possible to make it habitual; the next thing was to consider, what Way and Means was the likeliest to obtain it.

4. Then

4. Then I guessed, that if a Man, Costiveafter his first Eating in the Morning, nefs. would presently sollicite Nature, and try, whether he could strain himself so, as to obtain a Stool, he might in time, by a constant Application, bring it to be Habitual.

§. 25. The Reasons that made me #chuse this time, were,

1. Because the Stomach being then empty, if it received any thing grateful to it (for I would never, but in case of necessity, have any one eat, but what he likes, and when he has an O Appetite) it was apt to imbrace it close by a strong Constriction of its Fibres, which Constriction, I suppofed, might probably be continued on in the Guts, and so increase their periftaltick Motion, as we see in the Ileus, that an inverted Motion, being begun any where below, continues it self all the whole length, and makes even the Stomach obey that irregular Motion.

3. Because when Men eat, they usually relax their Thoughts, and the Spirits, then free from other Imployments, are more vigorously distribu

ted