'Why is it that a mature man soon loses that elasticity of limb
which characterises the heedless gaiety of youth? Because he
desists from youthful habits. He assumes an air of dignity
incompatible with the lightness of childish sallies. He is visited
and vexed with all the cares that rise out of our mistaken
institutions, and his heart is no longer satisfied and gay. Hence
his limbs become stiff and unwieldy. This is the forerunner of old
age and death' (ii. 863-64). 'Medicine may reasonably be stated to
consist of two branches, the animal and intellectual. The latter of
these has been infinitely too much neglected' (ii. 869). We may
look forward to a time when we shall be 'indifferent to the
gratifications of sense. They please at present by their novelty,
that is because we know not how to estimate them. They decay in the
decline of life indirectly because the system refuses them, but
directly and principally because they no longer excite the ardour
and passion of mind . . . The gratifications of sense please at
present by their imposture.
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