The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-02-01
MECHANICS COURSE.
lecture by DIR. Sarah w. DevOII,

The lecture in the Mechanics course last eve
ming was delivered by DR.. Sarah Devoll, on the
subject. "The Art of Living Well" Her edu-
cation, an experience as physician, have nat
urally given her opportunities to know whereof
| she speaks when she discusses the physical
| well-being of men, and intimately connected as
| she shows moral, spiritual and physical health
| to be, she could scarcely consider the act of
| living we'll, without taking all three into ac-
| count. She tells us of some of the ways in
| which to preserve and increase the health of
| this three-fod being We call man, aad thus to
| enable the three natures to work in harmony
| and produce perfect whole.
That which naturally claims cur attention
first is the body; and when we consider that
, sound mind cannot exist in a diseased
| body, nor broad, well-developed mind in a
| dwarfed body. this home of clay in which we
dwell begins to assume higher Importance in
our eyes. The ancients owed their attachments
| in art and literature largely to the attention
| they paid to the culture of the body, every eff
| fort being put forth to secure a perfect phys
| ique. Must there rot be something wrong in
| that system of education which wholly neglects
| the body on which so much depends?
Food and the manner Of cooking it is a mat
ter very important to health, and is one to
| which almost no attention is given. We for
get that our bodies cannot produce the force
with which to live and grow without something
to supply that force; if it does not come from
food it will be taken from the tissues of the
body and then of course degeneration follows.
At this point the speaker introduced refer
piTapt alcoholic "a no
Oh the body but also on the mind, and express
ed the conviction that this great curse would
never be removed till the chief sufferers, wo-
men, were given the ballot in the interests of
morals and education. Correct views of labor,
and working in accordance with these views,
was considered essential to health of body and
mind. A requisite amount Of exercise is every
where acknowledged to be necessary to bodily
health but it is not so universally admitted in
practice, at least, that labor quickens the
mind A curious statement is made to prove
the latter point. The left side of the brain
controls the right hand and vice versa. The
left brain and right hand are stronger than the
right brain and the left hand. Now it is pro-
posed by some Psychologist, persuaded Of the
influence of hand-cature over the brain, to ed
ucate the left hand TO an equality with the
right, for the purpose of strengthening the
right brain, and thus increasing the amount of
brain force. Not only wel-directed physical
labor will increase brain power, but also brain
work, for what exercise is to the body think
ing is TO the bran'' Education of the brain
reacts on the body.and thus the two are brought
constantly into greater harmony. DR.. Clark,
in his Building Brain" thinks the brain of
to-day a very rude instrument compared to
what it will be ages hence, after appropriate
education, and Spencer thinks the chief prog
reSs hereafter will be in the direction of higher
intellectual and emotional Development
| The path to moral and physical health is per-
haps pointed out when the speaker says: 'To
seek truth will subServe the best interests of
the individual. in the exercise Of the reason, in
building robust will, in cultivating the moral
nature, ia promoting the graces of the heart
and in making the individual free; in giving,
not intellectual emancipation only but that
higher liberty and self-control which makes
man law unto himself"
| We should strive to live we'll, not for our
selves alone, but for the influence on others.
Truth is the protoplasm of society-its form
ed material; evil its nndertow-its disintegrat-
| ing power" We should strive for the time
when interest will wait on right, as right now
waits on interest,"
..1 Who attains to this high art Of living. well?
HE who learns this lesson, and learns it well
to do with ones might what ones hands find
to do" There are many whose names are on
| the scroll OF fame; the names of Lincoln, Sum
| ner, DR.. Samuel Howe, Florence Nightingale,
are only few of those which shine brightly
there, and numberless are those who have lived
| unknown and died unsung.
To sum up, then, ITO live well is to have an
ideal for the body, an ideal for the mind, an
ideal for the soul, and to approach It."
1T is first to be true to thine ownself, and it
shall follow as the night does the day, thou
canst not then be false to any one."
The hall was filled at an early hour and it is
| safe to say that upwards Of 500 persons were
turned away. The lecture was a fine effort and
held the attention of the audience throughout
1t would be we'll if the lecture could be re peat
ed in larger hall some time this winter.