show us any thing, that it is much more
likely that he perished from excess of nutrition than for the want of
it.

Let us look a little at particulars. It appears, most clearly, that
Samuel always had before him a good supply of bread, of such excellent
quality that he could make a full and agreeable meal of it. While under
my special care, he could eat and enjoy a full meal of the driest bread;
and he would even have proceeded beyond the limits of safety on it, had
I permitted it, and this, too, without berries, sugar, or cream, to make
it still more inviting, or without his "sweetened bread," as he called
it, for a dessert. It is, moreover, by no means probable, that the
morbid keenness of his appetite was at all diminished by being on a farm
and in the open air much of the time.

Observe, now, his living. Fruit, he says, he allowed himself always, at
both dinner and supper, sometimes a pint at a meal. Dried apple-sauce,
very "tart," as he called it, he appears to have had at every meal.
Sugar, moreover, to sweeten his berries, etc., he always had on the
table. Will one who has such an appetite as he had, eat moderately,
with fruit, sugar, and apple-sauce always before him,--and these
regarded as a dessert, of which he may eat _ad libitum_, after having
eaten a full and more than a full meal of bread? In potatoes, too, he
indulged, as you will see by referring to his letter, in rather large
quantity.

Now the most healthy person in the world, would ere long have an acid
stomach, as well as weakened lungs, who should undertake to live in this
way; how much more a person who has long been feeble, especially in his
lungs, nervous system, and even his digestive system, for that was
active rather than strong.

Indeed, there are many circumstances which favor the belief that he
burned himself out by excess of stimulus, or, in chemical language, by
excess of carbon. His thoughts seem to have been very largely on eating.
It will be seen by the extracts I have made from his letters, that after
speaking on any other needful topic, he would soon get back to the
subject of eating. Observe, too, he says he feels no temptation to eat
between his meals; but why? First, doubtless, because he eat to the full
at his regular meals; and secondly, because the food was mostly, if not
always, set away out of his reach.

Another thing deserves consideration. Not only was he, but his friends
also, inclined to the opinion that he would