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and even render it mortal, as in the Black Hole at Calcutta. A fingle perfon is faid to spoil on ly a gallon of air per minute, and therefore requires a longer time to fpoil a chamber full; but it is done, however, in proportion, and many putrid disorders hence have their origin. It is recorded of Methufalem, who, being the longeft liver, may be fuppofed to have best perferv. ed his health, that he flept always in the open air; for, when he had lived five hundred years, an angel faid to him; "Arife, Methufalem; "and build thee an house, for thou shalt live yet "five hundred years longer." But Methufalem answered and faid: "If I am to live but "five hundred years longer, it is not worth "while to build me an houfe-I will fleep in the "air as I have been used to do." Physicians, after having for ages contended that the fick fhould not be indulged with fresh air, have at length difcovered that it may do them good, It is therefore to be hoped that they may in time difcover likewife that it is not hurtful to those who are in health; and that we may be then cured of the aërophobia that at prefent diftreffes weak minds, and make them choose to be ftifled and poisoned, rather than leave open the windows of a bed-chamber, or put down the glafs of a coach.

Confined air, when faturated with perfpirable matter*, will not receive more; and that

*What physicians call the perfpirable matter, is that vapour which palles off from our bodies, from the lungs, and through the pores of the skin. The quantity of this is faid to be five-eights of what we eat.

must remain in our bodies, and occafion difeafes: but it gives fome previous notice of its being about to be hurtful, by producing certain uneafineffes, flight indeed at firft, fuch as, with regard to the lungs, is a trifling fenfation, and to the pores of the fkin a kind of restleffness which is difficult to defcribe, and few that feel it know the cause of it. But we may recoilet, that fometimes, on waking in the night, we have, if warmly covered, found it difficult to get afleep again. We turn often without finding repole in any pofition. This figgettiness, to ufe a vulgar expreffion for want of a better, is occafioned wholly by an uneafiness in the skin owing to the retention of the perspirable matter --the bed clothes having received their quantity, and, being faturated, refusing to take any more. To become fenfible of this by an experiment, let a perfon keep his pofition in the bed, but throw off the bed-clothes, and suffer fresh air to approach the part uncovered of his body; he will then feel that part suddenly refreshed; for the air will immediately relieve the skin, by receiving, licking up, and carrying off, the load of perfpirable matter that incommoded it. For every portion of cool air that approaches the warm skin, in receiving its part of that vapour, receives therewith a degree of heat that rarifies and renders it lighter, when it will be pushed away, with its burthen by cooler, and therefore heavier fresh air; which, for a moment, fupplies its place, and then, being likewife changed, and warmed, gives way to a fucceeding quantity. This is the order of nature, to prevent animals

being infected by their own perspiration. He will now be fenfible of the difference between the part exposed to the air, and that which, remaining funk in the bed, denies the air accefs: for this part now manifests its uneafiness more diftinctly by the comparison, and the feat of the uneasiness is more plainly perceived, than when the whole furface of the body was affected by it.

Here then is one great and general cause of unpleafing dreams. For when the body is uneafy, the mind will be difturbed by it, and difagreeable ideas of various kinds, will, in fleep, be the natural confequences. The remedies, preventative, and curative, follow:

1. By eating moderately, (as before advised for health's fake) less perfpirable matter is produced in a given time; hence the bed clothes receive it longer before they are faturated; and we may, therefore, fleep longer, before we are made uneafy by their refufing to receive any more.

2. By using thinner and more porous bedclothes, which will fuffer the perfpirable matter more eafily to pass through them, we are lefs incommodated, fuch being longer tolerable.

3. When you are awakened by this uneafinefs, and find you cannot eafily fleep again, get out of bed, beat up and turn your pillow, fhake the bed-clothes well, with at least twenty fhakes, then throw the bed open, and leave it to cool ; in the meanwhile, continuing undreft, walk about your chamber, till your fkin has had time to discharge its load, which it will do fooner as the air may be dryer and colder. When you

begin to feel the cold air unpleasant, then return to your bed; and you will foon fall asleep, and your fleep will be sweet and pleasant. All the fcenes prefented to your fancy, will be of the pleafing kind. I am often as agreeably entertained with them, as by the fcenery of an opera. If you happen to be too indolent to get out of bed, you may, instead of it, lift up your bed-clothes with an arm or leg, so as to draw in a good deal of fresh air, and, by letting them fall, force it out again. This, repeated twenty times, will fo clear them of the perfpirable matter they have imbibed, as to permit your fleeping well for fome time afterwards. But this latter method is not equal to the former.

Those who do not love trouble, and can afford to have two beds, will find great luxury in rifing, when they wake in a hot bed, and going into the cool one. Such shifting of beds would also be of great fervice to perfons ill of a fever, as it refreshes and frequently procures fleep. A very large bed, that will admit a removal fo diftant from the first fituation as to be cool and fweet, may in a degree answer the fame end.

One or two obfervations more will conclude this little piece. Care must be taken, when you lie down, to difpofe your pillow fo as to fuit your manner of placing your head, and to be perfectly easy; then place your limbs fo as not to bear inconveniently hard upon one another, as, for instance, the joints of your ancles: for though a bad pofition may at first give but little pain, and may be hardly noticed, yet a continuance will render it lefs tolerable, and the

uneafinefs may come on while you are asleep, and difturb your imagination.

Thefe are the rules of the art. But though they will generally prove effectual in producing the end intended, there is a cafe in which the moft punctual observance of them will be totally fruitless. I need not mention the cafe to you my dear friend: but my account of the art would be imperfect without it. The cafe is, when the perfon who defires to have pleasant dreams has not taken care to preserve what is necessary above all things,.

A GOOD CONSCIENCE.

ADVICE TO A YOUNG TRADESMAN.

WRITTEN ANNO 1748.

To my Friend A. B.

As you have defired it of me, I write the following hints, which have been of fervice to me, and may, if obferved, be fo to you.

REMEMBER

EMEMBER that time is money.

He that

can earn ten fhillings a day by his labour, and goes abroad, or fits idle one half that day, though he fpends but fix pence during his diverfion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expence; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five fhillings befides.

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