A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School

the body, depends on the amount of muscular exercise taken. A laboring man, in the open fields, probably throws off from his skin ten times the amount of perspirable matter, which is evolved from the skin of a person of sedentary pursuits. In consequence of this, he demands a far greater amount of food and drink. Those persons, who keep their bodies in a state of health, by sufficient exercise, can always be guided by the calls of hunger. They can eat when they feel hungry, and stop when hunger ceases; and then they will calculate exactly right. But the difficulty is, that a large part of the community, especially women, are so inactive in their habits, that they seldom feel the calls of hunger. They habitually eat, merely to gratify the palate. This produces such a state of the system, that they have lost the guide which Nature has provided. They are not called to eat, by hunger, nor admonished, by its cessation, when to stop. In consequence of this, such persons eat what pleases the palate, till they feel no more inclination for the article. It is probable, that three fourths of the women, in the wealthier circles, sit down to each meal without any feeling of hunger, and eat merely on account of the gratification thus afforded them. Such persons find their appetite to depend almost solely upon the kind of food on the table. This is not the case with those, who take the exercise which Nature demands. They approach their meals in such a state that almost any kind of food is acceptable. The question then arises, how are persons, who have lost the guide which Nature has provided, to determine as to the proper amount of food they shall take? The only rules they can adopt, are of a general nature; founded on the principles already developed. They should endeavor to proportion their food to the amount of the exercise they ordinarily take. If they take but little exercise, they should eat but little food in comparison with those who are much in the