The regulation of the mind is of great importance in a studious man. The hour of sleep should not approach, while the mind is irritated by study. A calm serenity should be allowed to steal on, by light conversation, or by works which engage the attention, without mental exertion, before the time of retiring, and that time should not be protracted beyond eleven. During the times of study, the mind should never be forced to labour. It is sometimes less fitted than at others; and it often happens that the period of the best health is not that of successful study. The mind is then seemingly too much alive for confinement to a single subject, and will bend with greater ease when a little bodily fatigue has checked its too soaring flights. The studies also should be varied: few men studied more than Lord Kaimes; yet few preserved the mental powers so little weakened to extreme old age. This he owed to the variety of his studies, and to mixing them with the affairs of. common life. A student was supposed to be above these; but he will gain little in the estimation of those "whose praise is fame;" he will gain little in mental or corporeal vigour for being so. Perhaps a student should be abstemious: this is, indeed, necessary, unless he combines bodily exercise with study; but he should certainly avoid studying soon after his meals, however slight they may be.

An important regulation of mind, particularly to the student, is the power of turning to a different subject, from that which engages his attention, without confusion or difficulty. This power few possess, but it is not difficult of attainment. It chiefly consists in having clear ideas on every subject, and declining any, until reflection has given that clearness, which enables us to see at once the whole of it with its various bearings. When this is attained, it is only necessary to avoid hurry. If a new subject is started, a few minutes' delay will prevent confusion; and, before custom has made a change common, the time allowed for the mind to resign one, and resume the other, should be enlarged. By habit, as usual, great facility in the process will be acquired, and it will seem intuitive. A very convenient power which may perhaps also be easily acquired is, that of employing the mind at once on two subjects of unequal importance; to talk, for instance, on common topics in general company, while the mind pursues some abstruse and intricate reasoning in its own recesses. This, we believe, is attained only by exercise and experience.

The regulation of the mind is of great importance in alleviating disease, and assisting the power of medicine. The effects of diseases purely corporeal, on the mind, are singular. In hectics, for instance, confidence of returning health constantly prevails, notwithstanding the hasty approaches of debility in every form. In syphilis, where there is no real danger, the mind is in as great a degree depressed, with an equal confidence of not surviving. In some fevers, the depression is so great, and the certainty of dying so strongly fixed, that the patient looks on the person as his worst enemy who foretels a different event. We might pursue this connection between the mind and body in a great variety of diseases. We mention them as instances only, to render the directions for the management more easy. Of the confident state of mind little need be said; yet this confidence must be sometimes lessened, when the arrangement of worldly affairs is necessary. When the mind is unreasonably depressed, ridicule and argument are equally cruel and misapplied. To reason with a madman is ridiculous; and the mind is partially deranged, which admits such unreasonable fears. The best method is to admit the danger, but to magnify the power of medicine; and, if any instance of recovery can be found in similar circumstances, ostentatiously to point it out. Mental impressions, except in very particular complaints, are by no means very permanent. They will in time lose their power; but, unfortunately, in many instances this power is retained till the constitution has received irretrievable injury.

The operation of medicines is sometimes assisted in chronic cases by exciting hope, and placing the completion of the expectations at a distance. If, by the relief of a troublesome symptom, one step can be gained, it will give a confidence which will materially assist the future progress.

Cheerful conversation, where the strength will permit, is of great importance in amusing the mind. The complaints, however, should not form the subject, nor should it be unkindly disregarded. When it unavoidably recurs, the conversation should be dexterously shifted: not, as if that topic was forbidden, but as if it was not of importance, or because something more interesting offered. In general, patients should have sufficient power over their minds to prevent irritation from little inconveniences or disappointments, that must occasionally happen from the failure of their medicines. The culm, well-regulated mind possesses considerable advantages over the hasty, the fretful, and impatient. The one will recover in the most apparently desperate circumstances; the other will yield to diseases, scarcely in themselves dangerous.