Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-08-07

The very day on which the article on ''The
Value of Exercise" appeared in the Spectator,
lecture on the same subject was delivered
at Zurich, by DIR. Jaeger, of Stuttgart, a
gentleman whose theories touching the lntiu'
ence of exercise and clothing on health lately
made considerable stir in Germany and Swift
zerland. AS the lecture not only highly
interesting, but, in certain sense, an answer
to the article, brief statement of the doc
tors views may prove not uninterestlng to
your readers. DIR. Jaeger's attention was
first directed to the value of exercise by his
own ill health, the result, he afterward
discovered, of too sedentary life. He no.
ticed that wild animals, though they had no
thought for their health, are nearly always
whole and he asked himself Wherein lies
the difference between soundness and delica-
cy of constitution, and whence arises predis'
position to disease? To resolve these ques
tions, he began a series of observations on
the effect of gymnastic exercises on the hu-
man body. He compared the health of
school children, who went through a regular
course of gymnastics, with those who did
not and he found that the absences (from
illness) among the former were 40 per cent.
less than among the latter. In another gym
nasium the difference was Is per cent In
the girls school, in which gymnastic exer-
cises were regularly given, the absences were
almost mil. DR. Jaeger next turned his at
tention to the army. He found that soldiers
in the third year of their service had much
higher specific weight than newly enlisted re-
cruits The mortality among third year SOL
diers H. moreover, 30 per cent less than
among second year soldiers, and among the
latter it Is "a per cent. less than among re-
cruits in the first year of their service. Still
more significant is the fact that the deaths of
the older soldiers from typhoid and kindred
diseases are relatively fewer than among
newcomers and second year men. The pro-
portion of those attacked is less, the proper
ton of those who recover is greater. DR..
Jaeger ascribes these results to drill and gym
nastics. Exercise" he says by draining
the body of it's superf1uous moisture hardens
the flesh, and hard flesh is sounder than soft
flesh Sweating baths produce like effect.
They draw moisture from the blood and
quicken the renewal of the body" From
these facts the doctor draws the conclusion
that hardness of flesh is the distinctive mark
of robust health, softness of flesh never
failing sign of delicacy of constitution. The
soft feshed are more liable to disease by rea-
son of their diluted blood. Tho difference
between these and the hard teshed is the diff
ference between milk fresh from the COW,
which sours ON exposure to the AIR, and con-
densed milk, which is almost impervious to
atmospheric influences. Exercise and per-
spiration moreover, powerful remedial
agents. in that they often enable the body to
get rid of the germs of infectious disorders
before they produce positive illness. But, in
DR.. Jaeger's opinion, exercise and persplra-
ton Will not INDUCE AaEuhesS VI
flesh for perfect health unless the right sort
of clothing be worn. The right thing in
clothing is WOODEN next the skin. Hence
flannel should be worn all the year round. A
piece of moist flannel, he says, laid on the
breast of fever patient will reduce the pulse
in a few minutes from 80 to 40 per cent. He
has further ascertained, by actual measure
ment, that the body wastes less, and there
fore renews itself more slowly, when clad in
cotton or linen, than when clad in wooden
clothing The reason of this is that whereas
wooden tends to draw the blood to the sur
face of the skin, cotton and linen do the re-
verse.
The doctor has a theory that wooden acts
as sort of disinfectant. Ii you put piece
of linen and piece of flannel on your breast
for a few days. he says, the linen will have
an unpleasant odor, while the tannel will
smell as sweetly as at first. For this reason
wooden garments do not require to be washed.
But with strange inconsistency, people, al
belt they have their cotton shirts frequently
washed never think of having the cotton
Innings of their wooden clothes similarly pur-
fled. Innings do more hurt than good, and
| if flannel shirts be worn, waistcoats are Sd
perhuous. The color of clothing is another
| matter of great Importance. Undyed stutfs
are the best, and among colors, indigo blue
| and blue black materials are most conducive
| to the preservation of health.