Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-01-31
- For the Register.
A DIALOGUE ON HEALTH. g.

these many days? 81 sz sa
I 30, quite well. indeed; do you not
think that look we'll p. -szE = -
M do. Why is it that your cheeks
are always so rosy-you are the very pic
ture Of health? ~. ,.a
i il suppose that it is attributable to
combination of causes Without the
blessing of God none can enjoy health
But in connection with this, there are some
Incidental means used by myself which
contribute in no small degree towards it.
M.-What are those incidental means
10 which you refer? ..
10 [ do not like to tell, least you
should think that was boasting.
M.-No, would not look at it in that
light at all. Health is one of the greatest
temporal blessings that we can enjoy, and
If there is any better way of preserving
health than l know of, you should let me
know iL.
J.-Well, will mention few things
that now have in my mind: lst, pay
considerable attention to my diet; and in
the second place, 10 my dress.
M.-What do you mean by diet?
il mean this: some things promote
health, while other things injure il.
M.-What things that are used by man
for food, do you consider injurious to
health?
J.-I think that the products of every
country are most suitable for the people
living in that climate.
M.-What makes you think that?
J.-For this plain reason: II you go TO
the Torrid Zone you will find there but
few animals which arc fit for food. The
Lion. Tiger. Dromedary, Elephant, 'Ec.,
are in abundance, none of which are tit
for food. But If you go North, you have
the Deer, Bear, &C.. such as are good for
food, with fowls similarly distributed.
M.-Well. what do you wish to prove
by this?
il wish to show that where it is heal
, thy to eat meat. they have it at hand; but
where it is not, Providence has given them
fruits, melons, NC, just adapted to the
climate in which they live. So ii this be
correct position, it will follow that Tea
and Coffee, brought here from another
climate, are not suitable for us here.
M.-Why, Jane. you surprize me i
Nearly every body drinks tea and coffee
now.
CO. "ALL nNNAAlI ILIoIP wv. bub
ask. is the present coffee drinking genera
ton as healthy as our fathers and moth
els, who were raised ON the products OF
our own country?
MI believe they are not. But what
d. d you mean by dress?
J.-I meant this: | do not wear my
clothes so tight as to compress any part
of the body.
M.-WelI, what if you did? What
harm would that do?
J.-Harm! Why harm enough can
assure you.
Nj suppose that you refer to wear
ing stays and lacin5. Now l would like
you to explain to me how that can in ure
any one?
JAS vou desire mc to do so, will
undertake it; but you must pay strict at
tention while am engaged in the task.
MI will do that.
/ J.-lf you recollect, in studying geog-
raphy the other day, we there saw that
| the Chinese ladies pridcd very much in
having small feet, and in order to have
them 50. they bandaged their feet SO as to
| prevent their growth.
| M.--Yes, | recolIect that the historians
say that some prevent their feet from be-
ing more than four inches in length and
two in width.
J.-Now, if you place a ring on your
finger while you are growing, and let it
remain there, the finger can never get lar
ger under the ring than its cavity. And
it you bandage a tree with strong withe,
the tree can get no larger under the withe
so long rs it remains. So l think by this
time you can see that when the body is
compressed by stays or lacing, it can new
err attain to full size.
M.-Yes, see that; but what if it does
not, what injury can that do, please show
me?
J.-What injury! II does injury e.
nough, can assure you. l supposed that
you are we'll enough acquainted with our
form to know that our lungs are the great
ptac!e or rec, ivero of the air we breath 1,
which is essential to our existence
M.-Yes, l know If we could not breathe
we could not live; but hoy does lacing
prevent that?
J.-Please draw long breath. Do
you not observe how it expands the chest?
Now that is occasioued by the lungs 6ll-
ing with air. Now if you contine or COM
press the chest, you cannot draw long
breath. and the reason is, the lungs can
not expand.
M.-Jaue. you surprize me ! But do
expect, if this be true, that that is the
cause of so many ladies fainting in crowd
ed houses where the air becomes impure
from breathing.
J.-Certainly it is, and the reason Of it
is plain, too. For there being but little
oxygen, or the vital part ofthe atmosphere,
remaining in this impure air. it is essential
to life to inhale more than the usual guam
tity of such air into the lungs to support
life; but the lungs being prevented from
o-nonJ;no. fo;Dtinr opSnoS