The Portland daily press., 1888-06-19
PROFESSIONAL MEN.
Advice to Those Pursuing a Seden
tary Occupation.
[Boston Advertiser.]


Professor Francis Minot lectured recently
at the Harvard Divinity school on the health
of professional men. The lecture included
three topics: The actual condition of the
health Of professional men; their peculiar
disease and the best mode Of doing profess
sional work. Under the term professional
men, we include physicians, lawyers, clergy
men. writer's, scientists and teachers.
DIR. Minot said the health of professional
men ought to be as good as that of other peo-
pie, for they had good shelter, good food and
were not exposed to extremes Of weather and
noxious surroundings, and were not tempted
to dissipation and excess. This inference
was shown to be correct by statistics. Lon
gevity was not always attended by good
health, but old age was generally the reward
Of healthy life. Statistics of the age at
death Of over 200, 900 people in Massachusetts
showed that while the average of all was
about 81, the ACREAGE age of professional men
was little over 81 including actors and
photographers. OF real professional men
the age was about 50; of judges. 66; of clergy
men, SO; of professors, So; of physicians,
81; OF lawyers, over 56.
Statistics compiled in England showed a
different result, for while clergymen were
there also longer lived than lawyers or ply
sicians, physicians were the shortest lived of
professional men. During three consecutive
years the death rate among physicians was
rs In 100; among lawyers 20, and much less
among the clergy. This difference was re-
markable. 1t could not be explained by the
irregular life, lack of rest and overwork of
medical men, for those conditions applied to
American physicians, and was probably due
to the fact that many English doctors spend
years In India, whence they return with i'm
paired health. There was general resem-
blance in the mode Of living Of lawyers and
physicians, they were obliged to exercise
more and there was more variety in their
lives than In those of ciergymen and profess
sors. The great longevity of ministers must
be attributed to moderation, temperance and
freedom from anxiety as to pecuniary mat
tiers.
Dr. Minot then reviewed briefly the origin
Of diseases in general and said many of
them would disappear as their causes became
known. The danger to the health of profess
sional men lay in their sedentary life. They
should warm their studios and offices with
open fires rather than with furnace heat.
and supply less oxygen in consequence of
greater rarefication Of the air. Good hygien-
ic conditions in their houses was next in i'm
portance. Bad drainage caused typhoid
fever. pneumonia, diphtheria and blood poi
sonlng. NO draining or sewer pipes should
have indirect communication through other
pipes with the interior of sleeping rooms.
Next to drainage, the care of the person
was OF greatest importance. Sponge baths
every morning were advantageous to those
whom the practice did not injure, and daily
moderate exercise was necessary Profess
sional men often suffered from what was
popularity known as biliousness, which was
due to insufficient exercise in the open air;
from this III lawyers and physicians were
freer than clergymen and writers.
From work professional men gained their
Livelihood and their happiness, and the ques-
ton was, How can one do the most work
with the least injury? The work should be
uniform as regards hours, with intervals of
relaxation, during which the mind should be
completely Withdrawn from ones work.
There were many instances of the beneficial
effects of this alienation of employment
Sir john Lubbock was an active banker and
member OF parliament, but became famous
from MS ayocatiop as ? naturalist. A dis
tingulshed Massachusetts judge spent his
evenings frequently in reading sensational
novels. An hour at whist not only afforded
y positive gain as regards health, but an in
creased capacity for labor. A complete va
cation at least once year was advantageous.
u. X Curtis said he could do his years work
In nine months, but not in twelve. Every
professional man, except the country doctor,
could generally take vacation in the sum-
mer, and the country doctor should take
journey, particularly journey across the
ocean.
Professor Minot did not believe that brain
work was bad for health. Instances of the
effects OF over brain work were nearly all
due 70 the neglect of hygienic rules or to
hereditary diseases. Brain workers often
lived long. and laborious lives. 1t was a
natural inference when professional man
died OF apoplexy that he died of overwork,
but apoplexy was as liable to be caused by
physical overwoIk as by mental The pro-
lessor closed with three examples of the
effects OF the rules he had laid down: Oar
win, who by regularity performed an enor-
nous amount of work, In spite of i'll health
and intense pain; DR.. Little, whose rule of
life included the twenty-four hours of the
day, and who generally worked until three
in the morning and rose at eight, took a va
cation OF one month every year, and lived to
be neatly eighty. distinguished London
physicien. DR.. Bird, who at forty had built
up practice worth $4,000 year, but who
died soon after broken down NV ovarwork =