The Arizona sentinel., 1889-02-09
EXERCISE THE BRAIN.
Tt Is the Only Way to Attain Per-
feet Health.
ssMental Observation-Disclosures Where the
Brain Dies for Lack of Food
The Frequent Curse of
the Suicide.

There appeared in the London Spec
tator not long ago an article on 'Men-
tai Laziness" The ground it took
was that savages, the Intellectually
unframed among so-called civilized
people, and, in certain departments of
endeavor, differing with the individual,
even the educated, shrink from mental
exertion 'as an animal shrinks from
physical pain" In the majority of
instances they make it only when they
are actually compelled to do so, pre-
ferring in most cases the easy way
of doing a thing, no matter how slip
shod it may be- With training or
practice, it is possible for all men to
reach a state in which. over smaller
or larger area, mental exertion be-
comes easy and affords pleasure; when
pushed by necessity, they acquire this
intellectual mastery over some field
through involuntary effort; at other
times to do so they must employ sheer
will. ~
The matter has decided bearing upon
health. 1t was the opinion of an acute
English physician, DIR. Richardson,
that man was made for civilization. In
other words, that not only his mind,
but his bodily health thrives better un-
der it than when he is in a state of saw
and this not alone because of
any superiority in his physical sur
roundings, but from the simple fact
that his mind is developed, is active
and exerts a beneficial influence upon
his body. Hufeland, too, thought that
ga certain degree of culture is physic-
ally necessary for man, and promotes
duration of life"
The full measure of health is only to
be reached by those who are, we will
not say merely civilized, but, other
things being equal, Intellectually or
asthetically or spiritually active
Only when the immaterial part is de-
veloped into vigor and life, and is of
something higher than a merely ami
NAL existence, does the consciousness
become charged with a sense of pleas
ure and of power, which innervates
and invigorates the physical Organi SIN
by that curious influence of the mind
upon the body of which we know so lit
tie, but which is so incontestable fact,
and brings it to its highest condition.
Mental training, by refining the nerv-
GUS organization, makes the same
quantity of muscular power go much
further" No great prize-fighter, no
matter how mighty were his thews, if
his mind lay fallen. was ever thor
oughly healthy. Training will do
much, but, in addition to training,
with any thing that might fairly have
been called mental cultivation, he
would have reached a state of physical
integrity and vigor of which he had
previously never dreamed. Our In
dians we have not found to be the equal
in health of a first-rate representative
of Anglo-Saxon civilization, devel-
oped in body and mind. This not only
from the exposure to which they are
subjected, and from their extremely
irregular habits with regard to nutri-
tion, undergoing long fasts. and when
an opportunity arrives gorging to re-
pletion, thus, in either case, fasting or
feasting, straining their bodies, but
largely because their intellects lie
dormant. The great athletes, the
long-lived men, the powerful ar
mics have belonged to civil
lied nations. The average of
life, health, size and strength
is highest among civilized races.
Savage races, no matter in how favor
able climate they dwell, always tend
to die out They have all the disease
to which civilization is subject, and
show less ability to resist them. They
do not thrive when transplanted to
civilized lands-the civilized man
thrives anywhere. DR.. Kane bore the
rigors of the Arctic zone better than
the Esquimaux themselves. The orien-
tai saber is too small for the English
hand, and the bracelet of the Kaffir
warrior for the Anglo-SaXon arm.
Early travellers among our Indians and
missionaries to the South Sea Islands
found that in athletic contests the ma
tives were beaten by the Europeans.
"When the French savants, Peron
Regnier and Ransonnet, carried their
dynometers to the islands of the Indian
Ocean, they found with surprise thai
an average English sailor was forty.
two per cent. stronger, and an average
Frenchman thirty per cent. stronger
than the strongest island tribe they
visited" Says Prichard: at is now
well known that all savage races have
less muscular power than civilized
men" Johnstone in North Africa aGC