Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1863-10-24
Philosophy OF Exercise.

All know that the less we exercise the
less health we have, aud the more certain
we are to die before our time. But com
paratively few persons are able to explain
how exercise does promote health, Both
beast and bird in state Of nature, are
exempt from disease, except in rare cases.
1t is because the inappeasablc instinct of
searching for their necessary food impel
them to ceaseless activity. Children when
left to themselves, eat a great deal and
have excellent health, because they will be
doing something all the time, until they
become so tired they fall asleep and as
soon as they wake, they begin right away
to run about again thus their whole ex.
istence is spent in alternate eating and
sleeping, aud exercise, which is interesting
and pleasurabIo. The health of child
hood would be enjoyed by maturer years,
if, like children, they woold eat only
when they are hungry, stop when they
are done, take rest in sleep as soon as
thep are tired, and when not eating or
resting, would spend the time diligently in
such muscular activities as would be in
teresting, agreeable and profitable. Ex-
ercise without mental elasticity, without
an cnlivenment of the feelings and the
mind, is of comparatively little value.
Exercise is health-producing, because it
works off and out Of the system its waste,
dead, and cffete matters these are all
converted into liquid form, called, by
some, 'humors," which have exit from the
body through the ''pores" Of the skin, in
the shape Of perspiration, which all have
seen, and which all know is the result O
exercise when the body is in state ol
health. Thus it is that persons who dc
not perspirc, who have dry skin, arc
always either feverish or chilly, AID are
never well, and never can be as long a
that condition exists So exercise, By
working out Of the system lis waste, de
cayed and useless matter, keep the human
J machine free otherwise it would sool
log up, and the wheels oflife stop forever
: 2. Exercise improves the health, be
cause every step q man takes tends to i'm
part motion to his bowls proper amour
} of exercise keeps them acting once IN ev
$ cry twonty-four hours; if they have no
, motion enough there is constipation,whic
. brings on very many fatal diseases; hence
t exercise, especially that Of walking, ward
l off innumerable diseases, when it is KEEP
up to an extent equal 10 inducing one ac
< ton Of the powcls daily.
3. Exercise is healthful, because tn
| more we exercise the faster we breathe
5 If we breathe faster we take that muc
? more air into the lungs; but it is the al
0 we breathe which purifcs the blood, an
= the more air we take in the more perfectl
e is that process performed the purer th
| blood is, as yerybody knows, the bette
/ the health must be. Hence, when a pei
4 sons lungs are impaired, he does not tax
y in enough air for the wants of the system
| that being the case, the air he does breath
4 should be the purest possible, which i
outdoor air. Hence, the more cor
f sumptive stays in the house, the more Ger
i. tain and more speedy is his death.
y. HaHS Journal Of Health