Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-08-29
CHEATING OLD ACE.
Physicians Trying to Check the Busi.
ness Mans Lifc.GallOp.
New York Hour.


New York Hour.
Many physicians III New York are de-
voting themselves to the task of pro-
long ng the lives of persons who are
not Ill, Yet have begun to wear away
too rapidly. Among the practitioners
who study the subject carefully, there
seems to be but little difference of
method. Their first and hardest work
is to convince their patients that it is
dangerous to live fast "a word which
has special significance which makes
it absolutely insulting to many emin-
emily respectable transgressors of the
laws Of health. 1t seems impossi-
bic to persuade a merchant who does
more work in one hour than his best
clerk can do in three. that lie is guilty
OF fast living and dissipation, even if he
never drinks drop and refrains from
all improper pleasures.
The lawyer or broker who accom-
plishes wonders in the morning, but
teels sense of "goneness" early in the
afternoon, cannot be made to believe
that part of him is literally "gone," and
that if he urges himself beyond that
point, without first taking little rest
he expends vitality with frightful rapid
ity. Ladies who, between household
cares, religious duties and social re-
sponsibilities, are steadily active from
i'll the morning until midnight, some
times wonder why they lose the fresh
ness of youth, while some of their sex.
whom they occa> ionally see, but would
not for words speak to. preserve face
and figure in spite of Ives of which
the less said the better.
But when these, as we'll O less inno-
cent classes, are convinced that they are
living too rapidly, able physi" ans begin
to arrest the advance of age by urging
rest. No practitioner of high standing
now prescribes stimulants to any per-
SONS not really ill, excepting those who
are absolutely compelled to more ex-
ertion than Is good for them. Short
periods of relaxation throughout the
day are always found beneficial; some
business men have been greatly helped
by dropping upon lounge for five min
utes i'll every hour or two; they may not
can not stop thinking, but there
seems great relief in merely assum ng a
recumbent position for little while.
During the recent civil war q general
whose men were noted for coming out
of a hard march in fine fighting condi-
ton, attr buted his success to his i'm
perative order that his men should lie
down whenever IL halt was ordered.
Regular and full hours for sleep are
also insisted upon, and until the patient
endea ors to adhere closely to this rule
he does not begin to comprt hend how
natures great rest, rative is diminished
in quantity by the demands of business
and society i'll great city. One or two
half-nights of sleep per week do not
seem to mar the health of young peo-
pie, but any per on who has reached
the age of 30 is weakened by such pri-
yations, and few of them who have &C.
tive nerves can ever make good the
loss.
High living is remorselessly ia
boOed not only the custom of drinking
great deal of wine at dinner, but that
of eating concentrated food. with stim-
ulating condiments and sauces Much
meat and Little vegetables is the rule
with active people in large cities. 1t is
the result of physical craving, born of
rapid waste of physical tissue, for stim-
ulatlon. \ hard-working farmer, ho
is III the open air all day, would not,
because he could not, eat as much meat
as slightly-Iuilt busine man will
consume daily i'll New York, and he
would become excitable almost to mad
ness were he to partake as sparingly of
bread aid vegetables. Good physicians
place no restriction on the quantity of
food for city man or woman of active
habits, but they urge that the proper
tion of mea and pastries to vegetables
be lessened.
The free use of fruit and milk is
strongly advocated, to correct the bad
effects of Over-eating and of stimulating
food. Fruit juices are believed to &C.
ce.erate the natural and healthful &C.
ton of the alimentary canal, to prevent
the re entiOn of wasted tissue, and to
maintain at its normal condition the
pelspiratory system, one Of the most
important and least remembered por-
tions of the physical machinery. While
not delaying or diminishing nutrition in
any way, fruit, if used in sufficient guam
tity, is known to lower the temperature
Of the blood that is overheated by lib
eral feeding, combined with lack of ex-
ercise. New York has plenty of melons
and peaches during the summer months;
but in eight of the twelve months of the
year fruit is regarded as luxury rather
than necessity. A physician with a
large practice in fashionable district
in New York said recently that careful
inquiry failed to di, cover that any one
OF his patients ever bought apples, ex-
c.pt for special treatment in the
kitchen, although the apple is the most
abundant. cheap and ever-present of
the fruits VIII ch are peculiarly bene-
fetal as food.