For a balanced dietary we need some building food, protein; some force food, starch, sugar and fat; some of the mineral salts in organic form, best obtained from raw fruits and vegetables; and a medium in which the foods can be dissolved, water.
We need a replenishment of these food stuffs at intervals, but it is not necessary to take all of them at the same meal, or even during the same day. Those who believe that all alimentary principles must enter into every meal must necessarily injure themselves through too complex eating. In talking of these alimentary principles, reference is made to them only when they are present in appreciable quantities.
To have the subject better in hand, let us again classify the most important foods:
Flesh foods, which are rich in protein.
Nuts, which contain considerable protein and fat.
Milk and cheese, which contain much protein.
Eggs, taken principally for their protein.
Cereals, the most important contents being starches.
Tubers, containing much starch.
Legumes, rich in protein and starch.
Fresh fruits, well flavored and high in salt contents.
Sweet fruits, containing much fruit sugar.
Succulent vegetables, chiefly valuable because of salts and juices.
Fats and oils, no matter what their source, are concentrated foods which furnish heat and energy when burned in the body.
When people are free and active in the fresh air they can eat in a way that would soon ruin the digestive powers of those who lead more artificial lives. It is a well known fact that we can go hunting, fishing, tramping or picnicking and eat mixtures and quantities of foods that would ordinarily give us discomfort. The freedom and activity, the change and the better state of mind give greater digestive power.
Those who wish to live their best must pay some attention to the combination of food. It is true that very moderate people, those who take no more food than the body demands, can combine about as they please. These moderate people do not care to mix their foods much. They are satisfied with very plain fare. Much as we dislike to acknowledge the fact, nearly all of us take too much food, even those who most strongly preach moderation. By combining properly much of the harmful effect of overeating can be overcome.
I class as fruitarians those who eat only cereals, fruits and nuts. This may not be a correct definition, but after reading much literature on dietetics it is the best I can do. Their combinations should present no difficulties.
They should take cereals once or twice a day; nuts once or twice a day; fruit once a day in winter and once or twice a day in summer. The winter fruit should be sweet part of the time. In summer it can be the juicy fruit and berries at all times.
The fruitarians should be careful to avoid the habitual combination of acid fruits with their cereals.
One meal a day can be made of one or two varieties of fruit and nothing else. Nuts may be added to the fruit at times.
Another meal may be made of some cereal product with nut butter or some kind of vegetable oil.
A third meal may be some form of sweet fruit, with which may be eaten either bread or nuts, or better still, combine one sweet fruit with an acid one.
Most people would consider such a diet very limited, but it is easy to thrive on it, and it is not a tiresome one. There are so many varieties of fruits, nuts and cereals that it is easy to get variety. These foods do not become monotonous when taken in proper amounts. On such a diet it does not make much difference which meal is breakfast, lunch or dinner. The rule should be to take the heartiest meal after the heavy work is done, for hearty meals do not digest well if either mind or body is hard at work.
It is not difficult to get all the food necessary in two meals, but inasmuch as the three meal a day plan is prevalent the menus here given include that number of meals.
Breakfast: Apples, baked or raw.
Lunch: Brown rice and raisins.
Dinner: Whole wheat zwieback with nut butter.
Breakfast: Oranges or grapefruit.
Lunch: Pecans and figs.
Dinner: Bread made of rye or whole wheat flour, with nut butter or olive oil.
Breakfast: Any kind of berries.
Lunch: Dates.
Dinner: Whole wheat bread, with or without oil, Brazil nuts.
These combinations are indeed simple, but these foods are very nourishing and most of them concentrated, so it is best not to mix too much. They are natural foods, which digest easily when taken in moderation, but if eaten to excess they soon produce trouble.
It is no hardship to live on simple combinations. We have so much food that we have fallen into the bad habit of partaking of too great variety at a meal. The fact is that those who combine simply enjoy their foods more than those who coax their appetite with too great variety. There is no physical hardship connected with simple eating, and as soon as the mind is made up to it, neither is there any mental hardship.
It is difficult to give an acceptable definition for vegetarianism. For a working basis we shall take it for granted that those are vegetarians who reject flesh foods. Those who wish can also reject dairy products and eggs. It is largely a matter of satisfying the mind.
The chief trouble with the vegetarians is that they believe that the fact that they abstain from flesh will bring them health. So they combine all kinds of foods and take several kinds of starches and fruits at the same meal. The consequence is that they soon get an acid condition of the digestive organs and a great deal of fermentation. Among vegetarians, prolapsus of the stomach and bowels is quite common, and this is due to gas pressure displacing the organs.
Their foods are all right, but their combinations, as a rule, are bad. The various vegetarian roasts, composed of nuts, cereals, legumes and succulent vegetables are hard to digest. It would be much better for them not to make such dishes.
A few suggestions for vegetarian combining follow:
Breakfast: Berries and a glass of milk.
Lunch: Baked potatoes and lettuce with oil.
Dinner: Nuts, cooked succulent vegetables, one or two varieties, sliced tomatoes.
Breakfast: Cottage cheese and oranges.
Lunch: Nuts and raisins.
Dinner: Whole wheat bread, stewed onions, butter, salad of lettuce and celery.
Breakfast: Cantaloupe.
Lunch: Buttermilk, bread and butter.
Dinner: Nuts, stewed succulent vegetables, lettuce and sliced tomatoes, with or without oil.
Breakfast: Boiled brown rice with raisins and milk.
Lunch: Grapes.
Dinner: Cooked lentils or baked beans, lettuce and celery.
In this country, most people are omnivorous. The food is plentiful and people believe in generous living. They put upon their tables at each meal enough variety for a whole day and the custom is to eat some of each. Some breakfasts are heavy enough for dinners. Three heavy meals a day are common. Some can eat this way for years and be in condition to work most of the time, but they are never 100 per cent. efficient. They are never as able as they could be. Besides, they have their times of illness and grow old while they should be young. They generally die while they should be in their prime, leaving their friends and families to mourn them when they ought to be at their best. They are worn out by their food supply, plus other conventional bad habits.
One of the best plans that has been proposed for omnivorous people is that which has been worked out by Dr. J. H. Tilden. Its skeleton is, fruit once a day, starchy food once a day, flesh or other protein with succulent vegetables once a day. I shall make up menus for a few days based on this plan:
Breakfast: Baked apples, a glass of milk.
Lunch: Boiled rice with butter.
Dinner: Roast mutton, spinach and carrots, salad of raw vegetables.
Breakfast: Cantaloupe.
Lunch: Biscuits or toast with butter, buttermilk.
Dinner: Pecans, two stewed succulent vegetables, salad of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, dressing.
Breakfast: Peaches, cottage cheese.
Lunch: Baked potatoes, butter, lettuce.
Dinner: Fresh fish baked, liberal helping of one, two or three of the raw salad vegetables.
Breakfast: Shredded wheat or puffed wheat sprinkled with melted butter, glass of milk.
Lunch: Watermelon.
Dinner: Roast beef, boiled cabbage, stewed onions, butter dressing, sliced tomatoes with salt and oil.
The doctor allows considerable dessert. That generally goes with the dinner.
It is nonsense to write, "So and so shalt thou eat and not otherwise." The menus here given simply serve as suggestions. Where one succulent vegetable is mentioned another may be substituted. One cereal may be substituted for another. One juicy fruit for another. One sweet fruit for another. One legume for another. One food rich in protein for another.
In combining food the principal things to remember are:
Use only a few foods at a meal; use only one hearty, concentrated food in a meal, as a rule, with the exception that various fats and oils in moderation are allowable as dressings for fruits, vegetables and starches; that much fat or oil retards the digestion of the rest of the food; that the habitual combining of acid food with foods heavy in starch is a trouble-maker; that concentrated starchy foods should be taken not to exceed twice a day; that the heating, stimulating foods rich in protein, which include nearly all meats, should be taken only once a day in winter, and less in summer; that either raw fruit or raw vegetables should be a part of the daily food intake, because the salts they contain are essential to health; that fats should be used sparingly in summer, but more freely in winter; that juicy fruits are to be used liberally in summer and sparingly in winter, when the sweet fruits are to take their place a part of the time.
The dried sweet fruits are quite different from the fresh juicy ones. The former serve more the purpose of the starches than that of fruits. They are rich in sugar, which produces heat and energy. The same is true of the banana, which is about one-fifth sugar. It is not as sweet as would be expected from this fact. Some sugars are sweeter than others. This you can easily verify by tasting some milk sugar and then taking the same amount of commercial sugar made of cane or beets.
The food need in summer is surprisingly small, so small that the average person will scarcely believe it. Some writers on dietetics advise eating as much in summer as in winter. How they can do so it is difficult to understand, for reason tells us that in summertime practically no food is needed for heating purposes, and that is how most of the food is used. A little experience and experiment show that reason is right. Nature herself confirms this fact, for at the tropics she has made it easy for man to subsist on fruits, while in the polar regions she furnishes him the most heating of all foods, fats.
Because fats are so concentrated it is very easy to take too much of them. An ounce of butter contains as much nourishment as about twenty-five ounces of watermelon. Those who simplify their cooking and their combining and partake of food in moderation are repaid many times over in improved health. It is necessary to supply good building material in proper form if we would have health.
There is but one real beverage and that is water. The other so-called beverages are foods, stimulants or sedatives. Milk is a rich food, one glass having as much food value as two eggs. Coffee, tea, chocolate and cocoa are stimulants, with sedative after-effects. Their food value depends largely on the amount of milk, cream and sugar put into them. Chocolate and cocoa are both drugs and foods. Alcohol is a stimulant at first, afterwards a sedative, and at all times an anesthetic.
When we think of drinking for the sake of supplying the bodily need of fluid, we should think of water and nothing else. If other liquids are taken, they should be taken as foods or drugs.
Water is the best solvent known. The alchemists of old spent much time and energy trying to find the universal solvent, believing that thereafter it would be easy to discover a method of making base metals noble. But they never found anything better than water. Water is the compound that in its various forms does most to change the earth upon which we live, and it is more necessary for the continuation of life than anything else except air.
Pure water does not exist in nature, that is, we have never found a compound of the composition H2O. Water always contains other matter. The various salts are dissolved in it and it absorbs gases. The nearest we come to pure water is distilled. Pure water is an unsatisfied compound, and as soon as it is exposed it begins to absorb gases and take up salts and organic matter.
Pure water differs from clean water. Clean or potable water is a compound which contains a moderate amount of salts, but very little of organic matter. Bacteria should be practically absent. Water that contains much of nitrogenous substances is unfit to use.
If the water is very hard, heavily loaded with salts, it should not be used extensively as a drink, for if too much of earthy and mineral matter is taken into the system, the body is unable to get rid of all of them. The result is a tendency for deposits to form in the body. In places where the water is excessively charged with lime it has been noticed that the bones harden too early, which prevents full development of the body. If the bones of the skull are involved, it means that there will not be room enough for the brain. Such diseases are rare in this country, but in parts of Europe they are not uncommon. If the water is very hard, a good plan is to distill it and then add a little of the hard water to the distilled water.
People who partake of an excessive amount of various salts can perhaps drink distilled water to advantage, but those who take but a normal amount of the salts in their foods should have natural water.
Water forms three-fourths of the human body, more or less. It is needed in every process that goes on within the body. "To be dry is to die." Water keeps the various vital fluids in solution so that they can perform their function. Without water there would be no sense of taste, no digestion, no absorption of food, no excretion of debris, and hence no life. The water is the vehicle through which the nutritive elements are distributed to the billions of cells of the body, and it is also the vehicle which carries the waste to the various excretory organs.
We can live several weeks without food, but only a few days without water.
Hot water and ice-cold water are both irritants. Water may be taken either warm or cool. It is best to avoid the extremes.
The amount of water needed each twenty-four hours varies according to circumstances. Two quarts is a favorite prescription. Those who eat freely of succulent fruits and vegetables do not need as much as those who live more on dry foods. Salt in excess calls for an abnormal amount of water, for salt is a diuretic, robbing the tissues of their fluids and consequently more water has to be taken to keep up the equilibrium.
Naturally, more water is required when the weather is hot than when it is cool. On hot days warm water is more satisfying and quenches thirst more quickly than ice water. Warm water also stimulates kidney action, which is often sluggish in summer. Ice water is the least satisfactory of all, for the more one drinks the more he wants.
A normal body calls for what water it needs, and no more. An abnormal body is no guide for either the amount of food or drink necessary. Many people do not like the taste of water, especially in the morning. This means that the body is diseased. To a normal person cool water is always agreeable when it is needed, and it is needed in the morning. People with natural taste do not care for ice water, but other water is relished.
The common habit of drinking with meals is a mistake. Man is the only animal that does this, and he has to pay dearly for such errors. Taking a bite of food and washing it down with fluid lead to undermastication and overeating, and then the body suffers from autointoxication. A mouthful of food followed by a swallow of liquid forces the contents of the mouth into the stomach before the saliva has the opportunity to act.
The best way is to drink one or two glasses of water in the morning before breakfast. Partake of the breakfast, and all other meals, without taking any liquid. Sometimes there is a desire for a drink immediately after the meal is finished. If so, take some water slowly. If it is taken slowly a little will satisfy. If it is gulped down it may be necessary to take one or two glasses of water before being satisfied.
Those who have a tendency to drink too much during warm weather will find very slow drinking helpful in correcting it. If there is any digestive weakness, the liquid taken immediately after a meal should be warm and should not exceed a cupful. Those with robust digestion may take cool water.
Cold water chills the stomach. Digestion will not take place until the stomach has reached the temperature of about one hundred degrees Fahrenheit again, and if the stomach contents are chilled repeatedly the tendency is strong for the food to ferment pathologically, instead of being properly digested. For this reason it is not well to drink while there is anything left in the stomach to digest. As stomach digestion generally takes two or three hours at least, it is well to wait this long before taking water after finishing a meal, and then drink all that is desired until within thirty minutes of taking the next meal. If the thirst should become very insistent before two or three hours have elapsed since eating, take warm water. Those who eat food simply prepared and moderately seasoned are not troubled much with excessive thirst.
Two quarts of water daily should be sufficient for the adults under ordinary conditions. Here, as in eating, no exact amount will fit everybody. Make a habit of drinking at least a glass of water before breakfast, cleaning the teeth and rinsing the mouth before swallowing any, and then take what water the body asks for during the rest of the day. Taking too much water is not as injurious as overeating, but waterlogging the body has a weakening effect.
To drink with the meals is customary, not because it is necessary, but because we have a number of drinks which appeal to many people. Water is the drink par excellence.
A food-beverage that is used by many is cambric tea, which is made of hot water, one-third or one-fourth of milk and a little sweetening. Children generally like this on account of the sweetness. It may be taken with any meal, when fluid is needed, but the amount should be limited to a cupful. It is not well to dilute the digestive juices too much.
The water taken in the morning helps to start the body to cleanse itself. Water drinking is a great aid in overcoming constipation. Constipated people generally overeat. Less food and more water will prove helpful in overcoming the condition.
Unfortunately for the race, we have accustomed ourselves to partake of beverages containing injurious, poisonous substances. Inasmuch as this is the place to discuss the drugs contained in coffee and tea, I shall take the liberty of dwelling upon other habit-forming substances in the same chapter. They are all a part of the drug addictions of the race. For scientific discussion of these various substances I refer you to technical works. In this chapter will be found only a discussion of their relation to people's welfare, that is, to health and efficiency.
Coffee, tea and chocolate contain a poisonous alkaloid which is generally called caffeine. The theine in tea and the theobromine in cocoa are so similar to caffeine that chemists can not differentiate them. These drinks when first taken cause a gentle stimulation under which more work can be done than ordinarily, but this is followed by a reaction, and then the powers of body and mind wane so much that the average output of work is less than when the body is not stimulated. The temporary apparently beneficial effect is more than offset by the reaction and therefore partaking of these beverages makes people inefficient. Coffee is very hard on the nerves, causing irritation, which is always followed by premature physical degeneration.
Experiments of late indicate that children who use coffee do not come up to the physical and mental standard of those who abstain. The effect on the adults is not so marked because adults are more stable than children.
Those who are not used to coffee will be unable to sleep for several hours after partaking of a cup. Some people drink so much of it that they become accustomed to it.
Coffee is not generally looked upon as one of the habit-forming drugs, but it is. However, of all the drugs which create a craving in the system for a repetition of the dose, coffee makes the lightest fetters. It is surprising how often health-seekers inform the adviser that they "can not get along without coffee." If they would take a cup a few times a year, it would do no harm, but the daily use is harmful to all, even if they feel no bad effects and make it "very weak," which is a favorite statement of the women.
Smoking, drinking beer and drinking coffee have a tendency to overcome constipation in those who are not accustomed to these things, but their action can not be depended upon for any length of time and the cure is worse than the disease.
Tea drinking has much the same effect as coffee drinking, except that it is decidedly constipating. Perhaps this is because there is considerable of the astringent tannin in the tea leaves.
Chocolate is a valuable food. Those who eat of other aliments in moderation may partake of chocolate without harm, but if chocolate is used in addition to an excess of other food, the results are bad. The chocolate is so rich that it soon overburdens some of the organs of digestion, especially the liver. The Swiss consume much of this food and it is valuable in cases where it is necessary to carry concentrated rations.
Alcohol in some form seems to have been consumed by even very primitive people as far back as history goes. The Bible records an early case of intoxication from wine, and beer was brewed by the ancient Egyptians. So much has been consumed that some people have a subconscious craving for it. There are cases on record where the very first drink caused an uncontrollable demand for the drug. Fortunately these cases are very rare.
Alcohol is really not a stimulant, though it gives a feeling of glow, warmth and well-being at first, but this is followed by a great lowering of physical power, which gives rise to disagreeable sensations. Then the drinker needs more alcohol to stimulate him again. Then there is another depression with renewed demand: There is no end to the craving for the drug once it has mastered the individual. The lungs, heart, digestive organs, muscles, in fact, every structure in the body loses working capacity. Alcohol seems to have a special affinity for nervous tissue.
A glass of beer or wine taken daily is no more harmful than a cup of coffee per day, but the coffee drinker does not make of himself such a public nuisance and menace as the man often does who drinks alcohol to excess.
Formerly it was respectable to drink. Some of our most noted public men were drunkards. Now a drunkard could not maintain himself in a prominent public position very long. To drink like a gentleman was no disgrace. Now real gentlemen do not get drunk.
In backward Russia they are becoming alarmed about the inroads of vodka, and are trying to decrease its consumption. France is trying to teach total abstinence to its young men because it disqualifies so many of them from military service to drink. Scandinavia is temperance territory. The German Kaiser has recently given a warning against drinking. The United States discourages drinking in the army and navy. Field armies are not supplied with alcoholics. Drinking is becoming disreputable.
It is very difficult to prove the harm done by excessive drinking of tea and coffee, also by the use of much tobacco, even if we do know that it is so. Everyone knows something about the deleterious effect of alcohol upon the consumer. Solomon wrote: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?"
Alcohol permanently impairs both body and mind. Depending on how much is taken, it may cause various ills, ranging from inflammation of the stomach to insanity. It reduces the power of the mind to concentrate and it diminishes the ability of the muscles to work. It reduces the resistance of the body and shortens life. Its first effect is to lull the higher faculties to sleep.
Most drunkards do not recover from their disease, for drunkenness is a disease. The various drugs given to cure the afflictions are delusions. Strengthening the body, mind and the will and instilling higher ideals are the best methods of cure. Suggestive therapeutics, and the awakening of a strong resolve for a better life are powerful aids. Proper feeding should not be overlooked, for bad habits do not flourish in a healthy body.
Civilization necessitates self-control and considerable self-denial. Those who go in the line of least resistance are on the road to destruction. It is often necessary to overcome habits which produce temporary gratification of the senses.
According to Warden Tynan of the Colorado Penitentiary, 96 per cent. of the prisoners are brought there because they use alcohol. It is also well known that moral lapses are most common when the will is weakened through the use of liquor. Those who have the welfare of the race at heart are therefore compelled to give considerable thought to this subject. According to past experience, it will not help to try to legislate sobriety into the people. Education and industrialism are the factors which it seems to me will be most potent in solving the alcohol problem. Morality, which in the last analysis is a form of selfishness, will teach many that it is poor policy to reduce one's efficiency and thereby reduce the earning capacity and enjoyment of life.
More and more the employers of labor will realize that the use of alcohol decreases the reliability and worth of the worker. Many will take steps like the following:
"In formal recognition of the fact, established beyond dispute by the tests of the new psychology, that industrial efficiency decreases with indulgence in alcohol and is increased by abstinence from it, the managers of a manufacturing establishment in Chester, Penn., have attacked the temperance problem from a new angle.
"Unlike many railways and some other corporations, they do not forbid their employees to drink, but they offer 10 per cent. advance in wages to all who will take and keep—the teetotaler's pledge. Incidentally, a breaking of the promise will mean a permanent severance of relations, but there is no emphasizing of that point, it being confidently expected that the advantage of perfect sobriety will be as well realized on one side as on the other."
Business has during the past two centuries been the great civilizer, the great moral teacher. It has found that honesty and righteousness pay and that injustice is folly. Business has led the way to the acceptance of a new ethics, and new morals.
What has been said about alcohol applies to tobacco in a much smaller degree. The use of tobacco seems to lead to the use of alcohol. It retards the development of children. It is surely one of the causes of various diseases. Tobacco heart, sore throat and indigestion are well known to physicians.
Tobacco contains one of the deadliest of poisons known. One-sixteenth of a grain of nicotine may prove fatal. The reason there are so few deaths from acute tobacco poisoning is that but very little of the nicotine is absorbed.
Men who chew tobacco make themselves disagreeable to others. Smoking of cigarettes is to be condemned not only because it poisons the body, but causes inattention and inability to concentrate on the part of the smoker, as well. Every little while he feels the desire to take a smoke, and if smoking is forbidden he devises means of getting away. He robs his employer of time for which he is paid and injures himself.
The ability to work is decreased by indulgence in smoking. Recent experiments show that for a short time there is increased activity after a smoke, but the following depression is greater than the stimulation, so there is an actual loss.
A few years ago, according to Mr. Wilson, who was then Secretary of Agriculture, there were about 4,000,000 drug addicts or "dope fiends" in the United States. Without doubt this estimate was too high, for the proportion of addicts in the country is not as great as in the large cities. The drugs chiefly used are cocaine, opium, laudanum, morphine and heroin. These drugs are much more destructive than alcohol. Cocaine and heroin are the worst. It is very difficult to stop using any of them once the habit has been formed. Nearly every "fiend" dies directly or indirectly from the effect of his particular drug. Every one weakens the body so that there is not much resistance to offer to acute diseases. Every one destroys the will power so that a cure is exceedingly difficult.
It is well to bear in mind that all are not possessed of strong enough will power to resist their cravings and that some take to cocaine when they can not get liquor. Cocaine is far worse than alcohol.
People should be very careful about taking patent medicines. There is no excuse for taking them. The most popular ones have as their basis one of the habit-forming drugs.
Most of the soothing syrups contain opium in some form. To give babies opiates is a grave error, to speak mildly. It weakens the child, may lay the foundation for a deadly habit later in life, and often an overdose kills outright. Well informed mothers avoid such drugs and keep their children reasonably quiet by means of proper care.
Many of the remedies for nasal catarrh and hay fever contain much cocaine. Cocaine is an astringent and a painkiller and people mistake the temporary lessening of discharge from the nose and disappearance of pain for curative effects. But there is nothing curative about it. In a short time the mucous membrane relaxes again and then the discharge is re-established. The nerves which were put out of commission resume their function and then the pain reappears.
Opium or one of its derivatives is generally present in the patent medicines given for coughs. Opium is also an astringent and will suppress secretions, but this is not a cure. Excessive secretions are an indication that the body is surcharged with poison and food. Let them escape and then live so that there will be internal cleanliness and then there will be no more coughs and colds.
The unfortunate people who get into the habit of using these drugs degenerate physically, mentally and morally. They need more and more of their drug to produce the desired effect until they at last take enough daily to kill several normal men. Sometimes they are able to keep everybody in ignorance of what they are doing for years. They develop slyness and secretiveness. They become very suspicious. They are nearly always untruthful, and those who deal with them are surprised and wonder why those who used to be open and above-board now are furtive and dishonest. They often lie when there is not the slightest excuse for it. The moral disintegration is often the first sign noticed.
After habitually using any of these drugs for a while the body demands the continuation and if the victim is deprived of his accustomed portion there will be a collapse with intense suffering. Every tortured nerve in the body seems to call out for the drug. The victim will do anything to get his drug. He will lie, steal, and he may even attack those who are caring for him. For the time being he is insane.
Many professional men use cocaine. It is a favorite with writers. It often shows in their work. Those who write under the inspiration of this drug often do some good work, but they are unable to keep to their subject. Their writings lack order. We have enough of such writings to have them classified as "cocaine literature."
If there are 4,000,000, or even fewer, of these people in our land, it is a serious problem, for every one is a degenerate, to a certain degree. If the medical profession and the druggists would co-operate it would be easy enough to prevent the growth of a new crop of dope fiends. Of course, people would have to stop taking patent medicines, which often start the victims on the road to degeneration. Then the physicians should stop prescribing habit-forming drugs, as well as all other drugs, and teach the people that physical, mental and moral salvation come through right living and right thinking.
Unfortunately the medical profession is careless and is responsible for the existence of many of the drug addicts. A patient has a severe pain. What is the easiest way to satisfy him? To give a hypodermic injection of some opiate. The patient, not realizing the danger, demands a pain-killer every time he suffers. He soon learns what he is getting and then he goes to the drug store and outfits himself with a hypodermic outfit and drugs, and the first thing he knows he is a slave, in bondage for life. This is no exaggeration. There are hundreds of thousands of victims to the drug habit who trace their downfall to the treatment received at the hands of reputable physicians, who do not look upon their practice with the horror it should inspire because it is so common. Doctors do not always bury their mistakes. Some of them walk about for years.
In spite of laws against the sale of various drugs, they can be obtained. There are doctors and druggists of easy conscience who are very accommodating, for a price.
There is no legitimate need for the use of one-hundredth of the amount of these drugs that is now consumed. A local injection of cocaine for a minor operation is justifiable, but none of the habit-forming drugs should be used in ordinary practice to kill pain, for the proper application of water in conjunction with right living will do it better and there are no evil after effects. Massage is often sufficient.
To show a little more clearly how some people become addicted to drugs, let us consider one of the latest, heroin: A few years ago this drug, which is an opium derivative, was practically unknown. It is much stronger than morphine and consequently the effect can be obtained more quickly by means of a smaller dose. Physicians thought at first that it was not a habit-forming drug, for they could use it over a longer period of time than they could employ morphine, without establishing the craving and the habit. So they began to prescribe heroin instead of morphine, and many a morphine addict was advised to substitute heroin. All went well for a short while, until the victims found that they were enslaved by a drug that was even worse than morphine. Now, thanks chiefly to the medical profession, it is estimated that we have in our land several hundred thousand heroin addicts. Sallow of face, gaunt of figure, looking upon the world through pin-point pupils, with all of life's beauty, hope and joy gone, they are marching to premature death.
The medical profession furnishes more than its proportion of drug addicts. They know the danger of the drugs, but familiarity breeds contempt. If the public but knew how many of their medical advisers, who should always be clear-minded, are befuddled by drugs, there would be a great awakening. One eminent physician who has now been in practice about forty-five years and has had much experience with drug addicts, has said that according to his observations, about one physician in four contracts the drug habit. I believe this is exaggerated, but I am acquainted with a number of physicians who are addicts.
Physicians who smoke do not condemn the practice. Those who drink are likely to prescribe beer and wine for their patients. Those who are addicted to drugs use them too liberally in their practice.
Those who have watched the effects of the various drugs, from coffee to heroin, must condemn their use. It is true that an occasional cup of coffee or tea, a glass of wine or beer does no harm. A cigarette a week would not hurt a boy, nor would on occasional cigar harm a man. But how many people are willing to indulge occasionally? The rule is that they indulge not only daily, but several times a day, and the results are bad. One bad habit leads to another, and the time always comes when it is a choice between disease and early death on one hand, and the giving up of the bad habits on the other, and when this time comes the bonds of habits are often so strong that the victim is unable to break them.
I realize that knowledge will not always keep people out of temptation and that some individuals will take the broad way that leads to destruction in spite of anything that may be said. Youth is impatient of restraint and ever anxious for new experiences. Regarding this serious matter of destructive drug use, much could be done by teaching people their place in society: That is, what they owe to themselves, their families and the public in general. In other words, teach the young people the higher selfishness, part of which consists of considerable self-control, self-denial and self-respect.
Drugs are too easy to obtain today. Some day people will be so enlightened that they will not allow themselves to be medicated. This is the trend of the times. Until such a time comes, society should protect itself by making it very difficult to get any of the habit-forming drugs. If necessary, the free hand of the physician should be stayed. Much of the confidence blindly given him is misplaced.
The skin is neglected and abused. Very few realize how important it is to give this organ the necessary attention. If we were living today as our ancestors doubtless lived, we could neglect the skin, as they did. They wore little or no clothing. The skin, which formerly was very hairy, served as protection. It was exposed to the elements, which toughened it and kept it active.
Today most people give the skin too great protection, and thus weaken it. The result is that it degenerates and partly loses its function with consequent detriment to the individual's health.
A normal skin has a very soft feel, imparting to the fingers a pleasant, vital sensation. It either has color or suggests color. An abnormal skin pleases neither the sense of seeing nor feeling. It may feel inert or it may be inflamed.
The skin is a beautiful and complex structure. It is made up of an outer layer called the epidermis and an inner layer, the true skin or corium, which rests upon a subcutaneous layer, composed principally of fat and connective tissue.
The epidermis is divided into four layers. It has no blood-vessels and no nerves, but is nourished by lymph which escapes from the vessels deeper in the skin. It is simply protective in nature.
The true skin is made up of two indistinct layers, which harbor a vast multitude of nerves, blood-vessels and lymph-vessels.
In the skin there are two kinds of glands, the sebaceous and the sweat glands. The sebaceous glands are, as a general rule, to be found in greatest numbers on the hairiest parts of the body and are absent from the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. They throw off a secretion known as sebum, which is made up principally of dead cells that have undergone fatty degeneration and of other debris. The sebum serves as lubricant. It is generally discharged near or at the shaft of a hair.
The sweat glands discharge on the average from one and one-half to two pounds of perspiration per day, more in hot weather and much less when it is cool. They are distributed over the whole external surface of the body. According to Krause there are almost 2,400,000 of them. They carry off water and carbonic acid gas chiefly.
The functions of the skin are: To protect the underlying structures; to regulate the heat; to serve as an organ of respiration; to serve as an organ of touch and thermal sensation; to secrete and eliminate various substances from the body; to absorb.
The heat regulation is quite automatic. When the external temperature is high there is a relaxation of the skin. The pores open, the perspiration goes to the surface and evaporates, thus cooling the body. When the surface is cool the skin contracts, closing the pores and conserving the heat. Radiation always takes place, except when the temperature is very high.
The sensation of touch and the ability to feel heat and cold protect us from untold numbers of dangers. They are a part of the equipment which enables us to adjust our selves to our environment.
The secretions and excretions are perspiration and sebum. These contain water, carbonic acid, urea, buturic acid, formic acid, acetic acid, salts, the chief being sodium chloride, and many other substances.
The respiratory function consists in the absorption of a small amount of oxygen and the giving off of some carbonic acid.
A small amount of water can be absorbed by the skin. Oils can also be absorbed. In case of malnutrition in children, olive-oil rubs are often helpful. This absorptive function is taken advantage of by physicians who rub various medicaments into the skin. Mercury enough to produce salivation can be absorbed in this way.
From the above it will be seen that the skin is not only complex in structure, but has many functions. It is impossible to have perfect health without a good skin. Under civilized conditions a healthy skin can not be had without giving it some care. The average person has a skin that shows lack of care. Fortunately, but little care is needed.
A bath should be taken often enough to ensure cleanliness. Warm water and soap need not be used more than once or twice a week under ordinary conditions. If the soap causes itching, it is well to use a small amount of olive oil on the body afterwards, rubbing it in thoroughly, and going over the body with a soft cloth after the oil rub, thus removing the oil which would otherwise soil the clothes. If the skin is not kept clean, the millions of pores are liable to be partly stopped up, which results in the retention of a part of the excretory matter within the skin, where it may cause enough irritation to produce some form of cutaneous disorder, or the skin may through disuse become so inactive that too much work is thrown upon the other excretory organs, which may also become diseased from overwork and excessive irritation.
Soaps are irritants. Tallow soaps and olive oil soaps are less irritating than other varieties. Whatever kind of soap is used, it should be rinsed off thoroughly, for if some of it is left in the pores of the skin roughness or even mild inflammation may ensue. Be especially careful about the soap used for babies, avoiding all highly colored and cheap perfumed soaps.
Whether to take a daily sponge bath or not is a matter of no great importance, and each individual can safely suit himself. If there is quick reaction and a feeling of warmth and well-being following a cold sponge, it is all right. If the skin remains blue and refuses to react for a long time, the cold sponge bath is harmful. The cold plunge is always a shock, and no matter how strong a person may be, frequent repetition is not to be recommended. People who take cold plunges say that they do no harm, but it is well to remember that life is not merely a matter of today and tomorrow, but of next year, or perhaps forty, fifty or sixty years from today. A daily shock may cause heart disease in the course of twenty or thirty years.
A good way to take a cold bath is to get under a warm shower and gradually turn off the warm water. Then stand under the cold shower long enough to rinse well the entire surface of the body.
Those who take cold sponge baths in winter and find them severe, should precede the sponging in cold water with a quick sponging off with tepid water, and they should always take these baths in a warm room.
After all baths give the body a good dry rubbing, using brisk movements. Bath towels, flesh brushes or the open hands may be used for the dry rubbing.
The sponge bath has practically no value as a cleanser. Its chief virtue consists in stimulating the circulation of the blood and the lymph in the skin. In summer it is cooling. It is important to have good surface circulation, but this can be attained as well by means of dry rubbing. The rubbing is more important than wetting the skin. A skin that is rubbed enough becomes so active that it practically cleans itself, and it protects against colds and other diseases. Some advocate dispensing with the bath entirely, but that is going to extremes. Cleanliness is worth while for the self-respect it gives the individual.
Hot baths are weakening and relaxing, hence weak people should not stay long in the hot bath. Cold baths are stimulating to strong people and depressing to those who do not react well from them. Swimming is far different from taking a cold bath. A person who can swim with benefit and comfort for twenty minutes would have a chill, perhaps, if he remained for five minutes in the bath tub in water of the same temperature. Swimming is such an active exercise that it aids the circulation, keeping the blood pretty well to the surface in spite of the chilling effect of the water.
If a very warm bath is taken, there should be plenty of fresh air in the bath room and it is well to sip cold water while in the bath and keep a cloth wrung out of cold water on the forehead. People who are threatened with a severe cold or pneumonia can give themselves no better treatment than to take a hot bath, as hot as they can stand it, lasting for one-half hour to an hour, drinking as much warm water as can be taken with comfort both before and after getting into the tub. This bath must be taken in very warm water, otherwise it will do no good. It is weakening and relaxing, but through its relaxing influence it equalizes the circulation of the blood, bringing much to the surface that was crowding the lungs and other internal organs, thus causing the dangerous congestion that so often ends in pneumonia. After the bath wrap up well so that the perspiration will continue for some time. When the sweating is over, get into dry clothes and remain in bed for six to eight hours. To make assurance doubly sure, give the bowels a good cleaning out with either enemas or cathartics, or both. Then eat nothing until you are comfortable. Such treatment would prevent much pneumonia and many deaths. The best preventive is to live so that sudden chilling does not produce pneumonia or other diseases, which it will not do in good health.
People with serious diseases of the heart, arteries or of the kidneys should not take protracted or severe baths.
To sum up the use of water on the skin: Use enough to be clean. No more is necessary. The application of water should be followed by thorough drying and dry rubbing. If the reaction is poor, do not remain in cold water long enough to produce chilling. As a rule thin people should use but little cold water, and they should never remain long in cold water.
Water intelligently applied to the skin in disease is a splendid aid in cleansing the system. It is surprising what a great amount of impurity can be drawn from the body by means of wet packs. However, this is a treatise on health, so we shall not go into details here regarding hydrotherapy.
No matter what one's ideas may be on the subject of bathing, there can hardly be more than one opinion regarding the application of dry friction to the skin. Those who have noted its excellent results feel that it should be a daily routine. It should be practiced either morning or evening, or both. From five to ten minutes spent thus daily will pay high dividends in health. A vigorous rubbing is exercise not only for the skin, but for nearly every muscle in the body.
The dry rubbing keeps the surface circulation vigorous. The surface circulation, and especially the circulation in the hands and the feet, is the first part that begins to stagnate. Blood stagnation means the beginning of the process which results in old age. In other words, dry friction to the skin helps to preserve health and youth. Skin that is not exercised often becomes very hard and scales off particles of mineral matter.
If women would put less dependence on artificial beautifiers and more on scientific massage, they would get much better results. They would avoid many a wrinkle and save their complexions. The neck and the face should never be massaged downwards. The strokes should be either upwards or from side to side, the side strokes generally being toward the median line. Such massaging will prevent the sagging of the face muscles for years and help to keep the face free from wrinkles and young in appearance. The massaging should be rather gentle, for if it is too vigorous the tendency is to remove the normal amount of fat that pads and rounds out the face. Men can do the same thing, but most men have no objection to wrinkles.
However, most men do object to baldness, which can be prevented in nearly every case. To produce hair on a polished pate is a different proposition. It is indeed difficult. If you will look at a picture of the circulation of the blood in the scalp, you will notice that the arteries supplying it come from above the eye sockets in front, from before and behind the ears on the sides, and from the nape of the neck in the rear. They spread out and become smaller and smaller as they travel toward the top of the head, and especially toward the back. The scalp is well supplied with blood, but it is not given much exercise. The tendency is for the blood stream to become sluggish, deposits gradually forming in the walls of the blood-vessels, which make them less elastic and decrease the size of the lumen. The result is less food for the hair roots and food of inferior quality.
This process of cutting off the circulation in the scalp is largely aided by the tight hats and caps worn by men, which compress the blood-vessels. It is quite noticeable that people with round heads have a greater tendency to become bald than those with more irregular heads. The reason is probably that the hats fit more snugly on the round-headed people. There are many exceptions. Women are not so prone to baldness as men, because they wear hats that do not exclude the air from the hair nor do they compress the blood-vessels.
Let those men who dislike to lose their hair massage the scalp for a short while daily, beginning above the eyes, in front of the ears and at the nape of the neck and going to the top of the head. Then let them wear as sensible hats as possible, avoiding those that exert great pressure on the blood-vessels that feed the scalp. Thus they will not only be able to retain their hair much longer than otherwise, but the hair that is well fed does not fade as early as that which lives on half rations.
In the case of preserving the hair, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure. The man who can produce a satisfactory hair restorer that will give results without any effort on the part of the men can become a millionaire in a short time.
The hair is a modified form of skin. Each hair is supplied with blood, and the reason that the hair stands up during intense fear is that to the lower part of the shaft is attached a little muscle. During fear this contracts, as do other involuntary muscles, and then the hair stands up straight instead of being oblique.
As a rule people protect the skin too much. The best protection they have against cold is a good circulation. With a poor circulation it is difficult to keep warm in spite of much clothing. Coldness is also largely a state of mind. People get the idea of cold into the head and then it is almost impossible for them to keep warm. On the same winter day we may see a man in a thick overcoat trying to shrink into himself, shivering, while a lady passes blithely by, with her bosom bared to the wind.
The face tolerates the cold, because it is used to it, the neck and the upper part of the chest likewise, and so it would be with the skin of the entire body if we accustomed it to be exposed. We use too heavy clothes. It is a mistake to hump the back and draw in the shoulders during cold weather, for this reduces the lung capacity, thus depriving the body of its proper amount of oxygen. The result is that there is not enough combustion to produce the necessary amount of heat.
Wool is warm covering, the best we have. However, it is very irritating to the skin and has a tendency to make the wearer too warm. It does not dry out readily. Consequently the wearer remains damp a long time after perspiring. The result is a moist, clammy skin. A skin thus pampered in damp warmth becomes delicate, and like other hot-house products unable to hold its own when exposed to inclement weather. A good way to take cold easily is to wear wool next to the skin. The best recipe for getting cold feet is to wear woolen stockings. Wear cotton or linen or silk next to the skin. Cotton is satisfactory and cheap. Linen is excellent, but a good suit of linen underwear is too costly for the average purse. Remie, said to be the linen of the Bible, is highly recommended by some.
Those working indoors should wear the same kind of underwear summer and winter, and it should be very light. If people use heavy underwear in heated rooms, they become too warm. The consequence is that when they go out doors they are chilled, and if they are not in good physical condition colds and other diseases generally result. By wearing outer garments according to climatic conditions one can easily get all the protection necessary. Those who take the proper food and enough exercise and dry friction of the skin will not require or desire an excessive amount of clothing. The feel of the wintry blast on the skin is not disagreeable.
If we would only give the skin more exercise, through rubbing, and more fresh air, we would soon discard much of our clothing, and wear but enough to make a proper and modest appearance in public, with extra covering on cold days. Nothing can be much more ridiculous and uncomfortable than a man in conventional attire on a hot summer's day.
Of course, thin, nervous people should not expose themselves too much to the cold.
Most of the diseases known by the name of skin diseases, are digestive troubles and blood disorders manifesting in the skin. As soon as the systemic disease upon which they depend disappears, these so-called skin diseases get well. Erysipelas is one of the so-called germ diseases, but it is controlled very quickly by a proper diet. It can not occur in people until they have ruined their health by improper living. Pure blood will not allow the development of the streptococcus erysipelatis in sufficient numbers to cause trouble. First the disease develops and then the germ comes along and multiplies in great numbers, giving it type.
Acne, which is very common for a few years after puberty, shows a bad condition of the blood. Even during the changes that occur at puberty no disease will manifest in healthy boys and girls. About this time the young people eat excessively, the result being indigestion and impure blood. The changes that occur in the skin make it a favorable place for irritations to manifest. Let the boys and girls eat so that they have bright eyes and clean tongues and there will be very little trouble from disfiguring pimples.
Eczema is generally curable by means of proper diet and the same is true of nearly all skin diseases that afflict infants.
There are diseases of the skin due to local irritants, such as the various forms of trade eczema, scabies (itch), and pediculosis (lousiness), but the fact remains that nearly all skin diseases fail to develop if the individual eats properly, and most of them can be cured, after they have developed, by proper diet and attention to hygiene generally. If the diet is such that irritants are manufactured in the alimentary tract and absorbed into the blood, and then excreted through the skin, where enough irritation is produced to cause disease, it is useless to treat with powders and salves.
Correct the dietetic errors and the skin will cure itself. Specialists in skin diseases often fail because they treat this organ as an independent entity, instead of considering it as a part of the body whose health depends mostly upon the general health.
Nature demands of us that we use our mental and physical powers in order to get the best results. Man was made to be active. In former times he had to earn his bread in the sweat of his face or starve. Now we have evolved, or is it a partial degeneration, into a state where a sharp mind commands much more of the means of sustenance than does physical exertion. The consequence is that many of those equipped with the keenest minds fail to keep their bodies active. This helps to lessen their resistance and produces early death.
Some exercise is needed and the question is, how much is necessary and how is it to be taken so that it will not degenerate into drudgery? There are very few with enough persistence to continue certain exercises, no matter how beneficial, if they become a grind.
The amount required depends upon the circumstances. Ordinarily, a few minutes of exercise each day, supplemented with some walking and deep breathing will suffice. About five minutes of vigorous exercise night and morning are generally enough to keep a person in good physical condition, if he is prudent otherwise.
Many strive to build up a great musculature. This is a mistake, unless the intention is to become an exhibit for the sake of earning one's living. Big muscles do not spell health, efficiency and endurance. Even a dyspeptic may be able to build big muscles. What is needed for the work of life is not a burst of strength that lasts for a few moments and then leaves the individual exhausted for the day, but the endurance which enables one to forge ahead day after day.
It is generally dangerous to build up great muscles, for if the exercises that brought them into being are stopped, they begin to degenerate so fast that the system with difficulty gets rid of the poisons. Then look out for one of the diseases of degeneration, such as inflammation of the kidneys or typhoid fever.
The great muscles exhibited from time to time upon the variety stage and in circuses are not normal. Man is the only animal that develops them, and they are not brought about by ordinary circumstances. Once acquired, they prove a burden, for they demand much daily work to be kept in condition.
Good muscles are more serviceable than extraordinary ones. Vigorous exercise is better than violent exercise. It is well known that many of our picked athletes, men with great original physical endowment, die young. The reason is that they have either been overdeveloped, or at some time they have overtaxed their bodies so in a supreme effort at vanquishing their opponents that a part of the vital mechanism has been seriously affected. Then when they settle down to business life they fail to take good care of themselves and they degenerate rapidly.
Exercising should not be a task, for then it is work. It should be of a kind that interests and pleases the individual, for then it is accompanied by that agreeable mental state from which great good will come to the body. It is necessary for us to think enough of our bodies to supply them with the activity needed for their welfare and we should do this with good grace.
Exercise enough to bring the various muscles into play and the heart into vigorous action. Office workers should take exercises for the part of the body above the waist, plus some walking each day. All should take enough exercise to keep the spine straight and pliable. Bending exercises are good for this purpose, keeping the knees straight and touching the floor with the fingers. Then bend backward as far as possible. Then with hands on the hips rotate the body from the waist.
It is very desirable to keep the body erect, for this gives the greatest amount of lung space, and gives the individual a noble, courageous appearance and feeling. The forward slouch is the position of the ape. It is not necessary to pay any attention to the shoulders, if the spine is kept in proper position, for the shoulders will then fall into the right place. Being straight is a matter of habit. No one can maintain this position without some effort. At least, one has to make the effort to get and retain the habit. Most round-shouldered people could school themselves in two or three months to be straight.
Those who are moderate in eating need less exercise than others. Too great food intake requires much labor to work it off. When the food is but enough to supply materials for repair, heat and energy, there is no need of great effort to burn up the excess. To exercise much and long, then eat enough to compel more exercise, is a waste of good food, time and energy. Be moderate in all things if you would have the best that life can give you.
Always make deep breathing a part of the exercise. No matter what one's physical troubles may be, deep breathing will help to overcome them. It will help to cure cold feet by bringing more oxygen into the blood. It will help to drive away constipation by giving internal massage to the bowels. It will help to overcome torpid liver by the exercise given that organ. It will help to cure rheumatism by producing enough oxygen to burn up some of the foreign deposits in various parts of the body. As an eye-opener deep breathing has alcohol distanced. It costs nothing and has only good after effects. Moreover, deep breathing takes no time. A dozen or more deep breaths can be taken morning and night, and every time one steps into the fresh air, without taking one second from one's working time. To have health good blood is necessary, and this can not be had without taking sufficient fresh air into the lungs.
Proper clothing must also be taken into consideration in connection with breathing and exercise. The clothes must be loose enough to allow free play to limbs, chest and abdomen. Men and women were not shaped to wear two and three inch heels. Those who persist in this folly must pay the price in discomfort and an unbalanced body.
The time to take exercise depends upon circumstances. It is best not to indulge for at least one or two hours after a hearty meal, for exercise interferes with digestion. A very good plan is to take from five to twenty-five minutes of exercise, according to one's requirement, before dressing in the morning and after undressing at night. Those who take exercises in a gymnasium or have time for out door games will have no difficulty in selecting proper time.
Dumbbells, Indian clubs, weights, patent exercisers and gymnasium stunts are all right for those who enjoy them. One thing to bear in mind is that short, choppy movements are not as good as the larger movements that bring the big muscles into play.
It is well to exercise until there is a comfortable feeling of fatigue. If this is done the heart works vigorously, sending the blood rapidly to all parts of the body, and the lungs also come into full play to supply the needed oxygen. This acts as a tonic to the entire system.
The body must be used to keep it from degenerating. A healthy body gives courage and an optimistic outlook upon life. A sluggish liver can hide the most beautiful sunrise, but a healthy body gives the eye power to see beauty on the most dreary day.
Those who are not accustomed to exercise will be very, sore at first, if they begin too vigorously. The soreness can be avoided by taking but two or three minutes at a time at first, and increasing until the desired amount is taken daily.
If the muscles get a little sore and stiff at first, do not quit, for by continuing the exercises, the soreness soon leaves. Many begin with great enthusiasm, which soon burns itself out. Excessive enthusiasm is like the burning love of those who "can't live" without the object of their affection. It burns so brightly that it soon consumes itself. Go to work at a rate that can be kept up. To exercise hard for a few weeks or a few months and then give it up will do no good in the end. However, a person may occasionally let a day or two pass by without taking exercise with benefit. Avoid getting into a monotonous grind.
I believe that the very best exercises are those which are taken in the spirit of play. No matter who it is, if he or she will make the effort, time enough can be found occasionally to spend at least one-half of a day in the open, and this is very important. We can not long flourish without getting into touch with mother nature, and we need a few hours each week without care and worry in her company. Many immediately say, "I can't." Get rid of that negative attitude and say, "I can and I will." See how quickly the obstacles melt away. There are many who are slaves to duty. They believe that they must grind away. They think they are indispensable. The world got along very well before they were born and it will roll on in the same old way after they are gathered to their fathers. The thing to do is to break the bonds of the wrong mental attitude and then both time and opportunity will be forthcoming.
I shall comment on only a few of the outdoor exercises that are excellent.
Swimming is one of the finest. There is a great deal of difference between swimming and taking a bath in a tub. Some people cannot remain in the water long, but if they have any resistance at all and are active, there will be no bad results. In swimming it is well to take various strokes, swimming on the back, on the side, and on the face. This brings nearly every muscle in the body into play and if the swimmer does not stay in too long it makes him feel fine. If a feeling of chilliness or weariness is experienced, it is time to quit the water, dry off well and take a vigorous dry rub. Swims should always be followed with considerable rubbing. The use of a little olive oil on the body, and especially on the feet, is very grateful. No special rule can be laid down for the duration of a swim, but very thin people should generally not remain in the water more than fifteen minutes, and stout, vigorous ones not over an hour. It is best not to go swimming until two hours have elapsed since the last meal.
Every boy and every girl should be taught to swim, for it may be the means of preserving their lives. It is not difficult. For the benefit of those who start the beginners with the rather tedious and tiresome breast stroke, will say that the easiest way to teach swimming is to get the learner to float on his back. I have taught boys to float in as little as three minutes, and after that everything else is easy. When the beginner can float, he can easily start to paddle a little and make some progress. Then he can turn on his side and learn the side stroke, which is one of the best. Then he can turn on the face and learn various strokes. This is not the approved way of learning to swim, but it is the easiest and quickest way.
To float simply means to get into balance in the water. It is necessary to arch the body, making the spine concave posteriorly, and bending the neck well backward at first. In the beginning it is a great aid to fill the lungs well and breathe rather shallow. This makes the body light in the water. Tell the beginner that it does not make any difference whether the feet sink or stay up. It is only necessary to keep the face above water while floating. If there is the slightest tendency to sink, bend the neck a little more, putting the head, farther back in the water, instead of raising it, as most of the learners want to do. Remember that the trunk and neck must be kept well arched, the head well back in the water. The moment the beginner doubles up at waist or hips or bends the neck forward, raising the head, he sinks.