something respecting myself which I did not know last night at this
time, let her be assured the day is not lost. One idea a day is three
hundred and sixty-five a year; and three hundred and sixty-five a year,
amount, in seventy years, to twenty-five thousand five hundred and
fifty. There _are_ those who can hardly be said, at seventy years
of age, to have twenty-five thousand five hundred and fifty ideas in
their heads.

It is a matter of joy to every friend of self-knowledge, that so many
means have been, of late years, devised to facilitate the study of this
science. The lectures which have been given to both sexes on the
structure, laws and relations of their bodily constitution, and the
books which have been written, have made a considerable change in the
state of the public sentiment respecting this species of knowledge. For
it is not they alone who have heard or read, that have reaped the
benefit of hearing and reading on this subject. Many a parent or
teacher, aware that such instructions and books were abroad, has been
encouraged to the performance of that which she might not have dared to
do, had nothing been said or done to encourage her.

Every young woman should, therefore, study these subjects for herself.
Such books as those of Miss Sedgwick--her "Poor Rich Man, and Rich Poor
Man," and her "Means and Ends"--will prepare the way, or will at least
enkindle the desire, for the kind of knowledge of which I am speaking.
She will then desire to read the works of the Combes, and perhaps, ere
long, some of the other popular books of our day, which treat of
Physiology and Hygiene. May I not venture to hope, that at an early
stage of her progress, some of the chapters of _this_ book will be
found serviceable, as well as several other works I have prepared,
especially the little volume called the "House I Live In?"