Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-01-22
For the Freeman.
A Chat with the Family.
No. IS.
BY AGRICoLA.

What we call labor is human activity
applied to various materials and objects
for the attainment. of some useful result.
The necessity of labor to secure subsistence
seems to be providential arrangement to
preserve our race from the ruinous effects
of Incidence. The laws of health rs well
as the necessities of life demand the ac-
tivity which labor imposes. But the labor
in which mankind engage must be guided
by intelligence to be effective, and must
be supplemented by other kinds of exer-
else to preserve the physical system in Il
healthy condition.
y given pursuit calls into exercise only
Il portion, and sometimes small portion,
of the muscles of the body. Some voea-
tions exercise the hands and arms only,
while the whole body is inactive; others
include the whole muscular system, but
exclude the brain, and still others work
the brain only. And the tendency of
modern life is to overwork narrow por-
ton of the constitution, and underworld
the remainder
There are but few persons whose habit
ual activities are so complete as to render
unnecessary artificial exertions. Hence,
the relation of exercise to health is an i'm
portant department Of our subject.
The human body is full of life without
voluntary exercise. The vital functions
digestion, circulation, respiration and Sc
erection are carried on independently of the
will. These give rise to large and con
slant amount of activity in the system
But labor and exercise require the action
of the voluntary muscles; and the heathful
condition of tho involuntary diamonds
the proper activity of the voluntary. All
vital power is derived from the force
stored up III the food. But to maintain
the voluntary muscles in II state of activi-
ty involves an extra requisition upon the
involuntary organs. Hence, the greater
The amount of activity, the more food re-
quired to supply the wasted energy of the
involuntary functions Exercise, then, is
al the expense of waste, and waste in
wolves repair. Habitual exercise is both
the cause and condition of vital renova.
ton. The circulation Of the blood minis
tiers directly to all the functions, and hence
its energy rises aid falls with the activity
of these functions. Exercise increases
the movements of the heart, and the flow
of blood through all parts of the body.
And IT'S the nutritive materials are con-
stanty drawn from this complex stream
of life blood, the waste is more readily
supplied when the voluntary muscles are
active. Exercise also increases the pro-
ducton oil animal heat. Increased activi-
ty of the muscles not only increases the
circulation of the blood, but warns the
body also. Walking warns the feet;
whipping the hands about the body, and
Tubing the ears (ls teamsters do) on a
cold winter day. prevents them from freez-
ing; and laboring men are comfortable in
heir " shirt sleeves while idle men need
their overcoats. These facts illustrate.
Now whatever quickens the pulse hastens
the breathing, but respiration furnishes
oxygen, which is the prime mover of all
vital changes. 1t also rids the system of
carbonic acid, which is the chief product
of these changes. Hence, the unimpeded
respiration resulting from exercise is in
dispensable TO health. That this vitalizing
power may always be supplied in abun-
dance, exercise should be taken in the
open air.