fore soon abandoned it; and the wine was so decidedly and immediately injurious, that I used it a still shorter time. One recommendation, however, that was given me fifteen or twenty years ago, was of real service; viz., to give up the use of tea and coffee in the morning. For a few months after doing it, an almost 'aily headache afflicted me. Soon, however, headache and I parted company, and we have hardly met since, except of late, in consequence of a severe blow on the head. Even now we are on poor terms; and it threatens to leave me, if I will not nourish it with some drink more stimulating than water. I continued in the use of weak tea at night for several years longer; but at length, I gave up every alcoholic and narcotic drink, and do not recollect that I have tasted of them for the last five or six years, except at the Communion Table. In these changes, the nearer I came to the use of water alone for drink, the greater I found to be the advantage, both to health and happiness. The disuse of snuff, also, I found to be decidedly beneficial. Ten years ago, my system had become so much shattered by long abuse, that I was obliged to leave the ministry. But by simplicity in living, with water only for drink, and faithful attention to exercise, I was ere long enabled to resume intellectual labour. And since that time, I have generally been able to accomplish far more, both physically and intel· lectually, than at any previous period. However small my labours may seem to those who possess more vigorous constitutions, and more industrious habits, I have great reason to be thankful for the power to perform them: for they seem to me to be so much added to my existence, as the rich fruits of an imperfect conformity to the rules of temperance: since my constitution, ten years ago, seemed to be so nearly worn out, that it seemed scarcely possible it should ever recover from the prostration under which it laboured. Precisely how much of these good effects of attention to temperance and exercise, I am to impute to disuse of alcoholic and stimulating drinks, I am unable to say. Yet I am quite sure, that had I continued to use such drinks, all the other means that I have employed, would have been wholly ineffectual. The particular benefits, that in my case, I think can, in a greater or less degree, be traced to the use of water only, as a drink, are the following:1. Freedom from headaches.

2. Relief from nervous irritation.

3. Freedom from unnatural thirst; so that now I never drink more than nature demands; and when I do drink, it is with great relish.

4. Greater equanimity and clearness of mind; so that I can pursue study in moderation in much longer time without the necessity of seasons of relaxation: I mean long seasons of relaxation. I should doubt whether, for a single day, I can study more than when under the influence of stimulants, except so far as improved health operates favourably. But I am not apt under the aqueous regimen to overwork the mind one day, so as to unfit it for exertion the next; and in the long run, I doubt not, but the power of making intellectual efforts is much increased. And the same is true, of bodily exertion.

5. I can judge better when nature demands repose. And I find that in ordinary cases, the system chooses for this purpose the early part of the night.

6. More uniformity and buoyancy of the animal spirit. A cheerful state of mind is the consequence, and a capacity to enjoy for a much longer time, and with few drawbacks, the pleasures of social intercourse.

7. The power of determining with greater accuracy the nature of the religious emotions. So long as the brain is under the influence of unnatural stimulus, or inactive from its absence, the mind cannot well determine its real state on this important subject.

A few years ago, I was called to make a geological survey of the state of Massachusetts, which required about five thousand miles of travel, in an open wagon, at a rate not greater than from twenty to thirty miles per day; and very severe bodily exertion, in climbing mountains, and in breaking, trimming, and transporting more than five thousand specimens of rocks and minerals. I was usually employed from sunrise till ten o'clock at night, with little interruption; and, I think it was the severest protracted labour that I ever underwent. Yet, during all my wanderings, I drank not one drop of alcohol, nor indeed any kind of stimulating drink, except perhaps from twelve to twenty cups of weak tea. And I found myself more capable of exertion and fatigue, than in former years, when I was in the occasional use of stimulating drinks.”—Prof.

Hitchcock.

"I have now abstained from all kinds of intoxicating liquor more than thirty years, and am happy in being able to state, that I have enjoyed excellent health during that period, and it is well known that my life has not been an inactive one, either as regards physical or mental exertion. I can bear testimony to the good effects of abstinence in a great number of instances, which have come under my own personal observation.”—J. Brotherton, Esq., M. P. for Salford.

"From my youth upward I have been affected with dyspepsia, or want of digestion, bile, flatulence, hypochondria, acidity, and all the evils that arise from a naturally defective state of the stomachic organs. This has sometimes risen to such a height as to prove very serious, and to become painfully distressing for months, and even years, without material intermission. For a long time, I was taught to believe, that a certain moderate portion of alcoholic liquor was absolutely necessary, in my case, to the functions of life; I now believe this to have been a great mistake. I have found no bad consequence to arise from becoming totally abstinent. I confess the change was for some time a painful struggle, but that being over, I am not only in better health now, but am more comfortable in all respects. I am fit for more exercise and business; am more vigorous both in body and mind; but what most people would doubt, I enjoy more animal gratification now than I used to do, when I daily made use of alcoholic stimulants."-J. Dunlop, Esq.

"For more than a quarter of a century, I have conscientiously abstained from distilled liquor. In the mean time I have occasionally taken a little wine, when in company, and a tumbler of cider at dinner. At length, thinking this unnecessary, and having before me the example of a beloved father, who abjured the use of intoxicating beverage after he was eighty years old, and lived with both bodily and mental faculties almost wholly unimpaired, till past the age of ninety-one: and continually hearing that the habitual drunkards of ardent spirits exclaim, 'give us your wine, and we will drink no more rum,' I resolved to abstain from the use of everything which can intoxicate. This practice I have continued for more than two years; and the experiment has more than answered my most sanguine expectations. My health has been fine and uninterrupted. I have not had even a common cold. As to corporeal exertions, though in my sixty-third year, I walk ten miles in an afternoon, at the rate of four miles an hour, without fatigue; and what is better, without thirst. As to the mental efforts, I never feel so well prepared for close application, as immediately after I have walked ten miles without drink. Uniform health of body is almost necessarily attended with cheerfulness of mind. The saddest interruption that I find to the latter is, that, in the use of drinks, I cannot induce more to be as I am."-Rev. John Pierce, D. D.

"I have practised total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks since the 18th of November, 1837, and have great reason to be grateful for the excellent health which I have had during that period. I have sustained great exertions, both mental and bodily, and I have been exposed to all weather, without ever having felt any inconvenience from the want of the stimulants, so frequently, and as I believe, so injuriously, resorted to under such circumstances. It is fair to say, I have not made much sacrifice. I was never addicted to intemperance, and I have now lost all desire for what many regard as the enjoyment of intoxicating drinks."John Rundle, Esq., M. P. for Tavistock.

3. TEMPERANCE FAVOURABLE TO LONGEVITY.

By the last grant of Providence to man, his life is 120 years, and where disease, arising from other causes, does not shorten it, the reason why so few attain to that age is to be found in the excessive stimulation to which the mass of the community are continually subject."-Dr. Farre.

Polemon of Athens, in his youth, led a life of debauchery and drunkenness. When about 30 years of age, he entered the school of Zenocrates, in a state of intoxication, while the philosopher was delivering a lecture to his pupils on the effects of intemperance. He was so struck by the eloquence of the academican, and the force of his arguments, that from that moment he renounced his

dissipated habits. Henceforth, as a beverage, he drank no other liquor but water. He died in extreme old age.-Lemp. Biblioth. Class. in loco. Francis Secardi Hongo, died, A. D. 1702, aged 114 years, 10 months and 12 days. He left behind him forty-nine children. He was never sick. His sight, hearing, memory, and agility, were the surprise of all. At 110, having lost all his teeth, he cut two large ones in his upper jaw one year before he died. He used for drink only water; never wine, strong waters, coffee, or tobacco. His habits in other respects were temperate.-Long Livers, by Eugenius Philalethes. 1772, p. 91.

In the Miscellanea Curiosa, you will find a very remarkable observation of an old man, 120 years of age, without the loss of a tooth, and of a brisk and lively disposition, whose drink, from his infancy, was pure water.

The famous Civilian, Andrew Tieraqueaus, who is said, for thirty years together, to have given yearly a book, and by one wife, a son, to the world, never drank any thing but water from his infancy.-Vide "The best and easiest method of preserving uninterrupted health to extreme old age," &c. From a manuscript found in the library of an eminent physician, lately deceased, 8vo. published 1748, p. 64. His life is in Bayle's Dictionary.—Sinclair, Code of Health and Longevity.

A Scotch newspaper notices an old woman, living at Glasgow, who is 130 years of age, and for the last fifty years, she has taken nothing stronger than tea or coffee. She never had occasion to take a doctor's drug, nor was a lancet ever applied to her frame. She is perfectly free from affections of the chest, and during the last century has been a perfect stranger to pain. Her pulse does not exceed seventy strokes in a minute. Her grandfather died at the age of 129, and her father died in the 120th year of his age. Her grandfather and father were very temperate.

Another old woman died recently in the Western part of England. She was 110 years of age, leaving 450 descendants, more than 200 of whom attended her funeral. This woman had never taken any kind of intoxicating liquor until she was 30 years of age -remained a very moderate drinker twenty years and for the last sixty years of her life never took any thing of an intoxicating nature, unless occasionally ordered by her medical adviser.

On Friday, the 3d of February, 1837, died, Anne Parker, aged 109, the oldest inhabitant of Kent. During her whole life, she abstained from spirituous liquors, indulging only in tea.-Public Papers.

Died, on the 26th of June, 1838, at Bybrook, Jamaica, Mrs. Letitia Cox. She outlived the oldest inhabitants in this parish for many generations. By her account, she was a grown-up young woman at the time of the destruction of Port Royal, by an earthquake. She declared that she never drank anything but water during the whole of her life. She must have been upward of one hundred and sixty years old.

An old black woman, at Holland Estate, died eighteen months ago, at one hundred and forty years old. She also declared she never drank anything but water.-Jamaica Royal Gazette.

4. STATEMENTS RELATIVE TO THE HEALTH OF CERTAIN TRIBES WHO ABSTAIN FROM THE USE OF STRONG DRINK.

American Indians.

"At the first arrival of the Europeans in America, it was not uncommon to find Indians who were above a hundred years old. They lived frugally, and drank pure water. Brandy, rum, wine, and all the other strong liquors, were utterly unknown to them. But since the Christians have taught them to drink these liquors, and the Indians have found them but too palatable; those who cannot resist their appetites hardly reach half the age of their parents."-Kalm's Travels.*

Natives of Shetland.

"In Shetland, the inhabitants give an account of one Tairville who arrived at the age of 108, and never drank any malt liquor distilled waters, nor wine. They say his son lived longer than he; and that his-grand children lived to a great age, and seldom or never drank any stronger liquors than milk, water, or bland. This last is made of buttermilk mixed with water."-Pinkerton.

Natives of Sierra Leone.

"The natives of Sierra Leone, whose climate is said to be the worst on earth, are very temperate; they subsist entirely on small quantities of boiled rice, with occasional supplies of fruit, and drink only cold water: in consequence, they are strong and healthy, and live as long as men in the most propitious climates."-Monthly Mag.

The Kaffres.

"Milk is their ordinary diet, which they always use in a curdled state; berries of various descriptions, and the seeds of plants, which the natives call plantains, are also eaten, and a few of the gramin

The temperate habits of the early settlers of New England are well known, and in no part of the world perhaps has the longevity of the inhabitants been greater. From a late number of the Journal of Commerce, we extract the following, from an article on this subject.

Centenarians in New Hampshire.

Messrs. Editors--I observe in your paper of the 6th, some notice of five persons in New Hampshire who lived to the age of 110 years; and send you the following notes, which may be interesting to those of your numerous readers who are curious in such matters. Few sections of our country, of the same population, have afforded so many instances of longevity as New Hampshire. Several of the early settlers lived to near a hundred years of age. The first who completed a century, of whom any account is preserved, was Henry Langstaff, of Bloody Point, who had been 84 years in New England, and who died 18th July, 1705, "above one hundred years of age." His death was occasioned by a fall. Rev. Mr. Pike, of Dover, says in his journal, that he was "a hale, strong, hearty man, and might have lived many years longer, but for the accident which occasioned his death."

From 1706 to 1840, there have died in New Hampshire 163 persons, who had either entered upon their 100th year, or had exceeded a complete century. I have their names, residence, time of death, &c., but the list would occupy too much space.