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VI. To a friend who kindly warned the author of the bad effects of solitude 402

PART X.

INTELLECTUAL HYGIENICS.

I. To a young author whilst he was writing his first book 415 II. To a student in the first ardor of intellectual ambition 422 III. To an intellectual man who desired an outlet for his energies 431 IV. To the friend of a man of high culture who produced nothing 441 V. To a student who felt hurried and driven 446 VI. To an ardent friend who took no rest 451 VII. To the same 456 VIII. To a friend (highly cultivated) who congratulated himself on having entirely abandoned the habit of reading newspapers 466 IX. To an author who appreciated contemporary literature 470 X. To an author who kept very irregular hours 476

PART XI.

TRADES AND PROFESSIONS.

I. To a young gentleman of ability and culture who had not decided about his profession 488 II. To a young gentleman who had literary and artistic tastes, but no profession 499 III. To a young gentleman who wished to devote himself to literature as a profession 504 IV. To an energetic and successful cotton manufacturer 513 V. To a young Etonian who thought of becoming a cotton-spinner 522

PART XII.

SURROUNDINGS.

I. To a friend who often changed his place of residence 530 II. To a friend who maintained that surroundings were a matter of indifference to a thoroughly occupied mind 539 III. To an artist who was fitting up a magnificent new studio 546

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PART I.

THE PHYSICAL BASIS.

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LETTER I.

TO A YOUNG MAN OF LETTERS WHO WORKED EXCESSIVELY.

Mental labor believed to be innocuous to healthy persons—Difficulty of testing this—Case of the poet Wordsworth—Case of an eminent living author—Case of a literary clergyman—Case of an energetic tradesman—Instances of two Londoners who wrote professionally—Scott’s paralysis—Byron’s death—All intellectual labor proceeds on a physical basis.

So little is really known about the action of the nervous system, that to go into the subject from the physiological point of view would be to undertake a most difficult investigation, entirely beyond the competence of an unscientific person like your present correspondent. You will, therefore, permit me, in reference to this, to leave you to the teaching of the most advanced physiologists of the time; but I may be able to offer a few practical suggestions, based on the experience of intellectual workers, which may be of use to a man whose career is likely to be one of severe and almost uninterrupted intellectual labor.

A paper was read several years ago before the members of a society in London, in which the author maintained that mental labor was never injurious to a perfectly healthy human organization, and that the numerous cases of break-down, which are commonly attributed to excessive brain-work, are due, in reality, to the previous operation of