The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-03-27
HOW TO LIVE WELL.
Easy in Theory, But Hard in
Practice.
A FEW GOOD RULES TO FOLLOW.
Great Divergence of OpiniOn-The Whole
Subject Summed Up.

at the present time indicates an eAuaol ulHth
lily widespread desire to know how to live
well. This pressure of health discussion on
the people has resulted in many cases IN the
complete overthrow of some popular theories,
and has been productive of good results
People are taking more interest In their own
bodies, and they are beginning to realize that
the road to success is paved with the cobble
stones of good health. On the other hand,
the reader who eagerly devours columns on
columns of advice on health matters is apt to
be left high and dry on the shoals of uncer-
tainty. 1t is very unsatisfactory to the
seeker after a sound body to read one day
that exercise is the best thing possible and
that a man should eat only certain things
and the next day that exercise is wholly IN
necessary and to eat what he pleases.
This dissensus Of opinion on the part of
health writers indicates as a rule superfcialty
of knowledge and a lack of experience 1t
indicates also that oftentimes what is good
for one person is not good for another One
man inherits from the start strong consti-
tuition which it may take years of dissipation
or reckless living to undermine. This man,
speaking from his own experience, will tell
you that smoking is harmless that intoxicants
are a good thing, to eat what you like, and
LII " w any l4llIle5 anu GNSI y Ou
please. Another man of delicate frame and
perhaps mheriting the physical defects of his
parents, will hold the opposite view. Now,
in order to arrive at any definite data as to
what is good and bad for the human
body, it is obvious that the delicate
man is the proper man to study. For in
% stance, if it were desirable to ascertain the
evil effects of tobacco, and the strong man
II - I'D AL
years to produce any evil effects on him, but
the delicate man would show the results i'm
mediately. 1t is on the same principle that a
knife reasonably sharp already can be sharp
ened much quicker than dull knife. So, in
order to arrive at any definite results, the
delicate man is q much better subject than
the strong man. He is more sensitive. The
conclusions arrived at in this article are de
rived principally from the study of delicate
constitutions.
DIFFERENCE IN INDIVIDUALS
It may be said at the start that as the or
gans of all men are the same and the pro-
cesses by which they eat and assimilate their
food and renew constantly the wear and tear
of their bodies are identical, it would seem as
if the same remedies would apply in every
case. But this does not follow. Primitively,
modern society. the different modes of living,
produce entirely different types of individ-
uals. While it is true in q general way that
a rule which applies to one man is good for
all, it frequently happens that rules have to
be modified to such an extent as to lose en-
tirely their original force For instance, milk
is perfect food. 1t contains all the elements
necessary to supply the demands of the body,
milk to any great extent They will tell you
that it makes them bilious
THE THREE RULES
But the three rules of life which never
vary and which hold good for every man,
woman and child, are exercise, pure air and
a clean skin Herein is contained the nucleus
of good health. 1t may be set down as d
fact that there isn't one man in five hundred
who knows how, or, if he does, takes care of
himself What would be thought of a car
penter who, in building house, was so neg
ligent that he worked with dull toolsa And
yet that is precisely what we are all doing
We are working with dull tools. The great
trouble is that it is difficult to maintain an
even balance between the mental and the
physical being. If man is brainworker
it is the hardest thing in the world for him to
take care of his body. He may realize per-
fectly that by walking two or three miles a
day, by exercising his arms and shoulders
Systematically for fifteen or twenty minutes,
and by keeping his skin free, he will not only
be able to accomplish more and better work.
but he will be happier, live longer and make
himself comparatively secure against the
diseases to which the feeble are so prone. But
we don't do it.
We notice this tendency constantly. Men
with magnificent brain structures breaking
down because they neglect themselves. On
the other hand, men of fine constitutions run
ming TO muscle and neglecting their brains.
Occasionally we see q combination of the two
and then we have a Gladstone or q Bismarck.
THE HUMAN BODY.
1t may be roughly said that the human
body is like sponge. 1t is porous, and if
you stop up all the pores death follows. Thus
the value of free skin. If you put an apple
alongside of a pumpkin for q short time it
Will absorb some of the essence of the pump
kin. This spoils the apple for eating. If you
place the human body in bad atmosphere it
will absorb some of its impurities, hence the
value of fresh air. That is as plain as day
Volumes have been written about fresh air,
but it is all contained in the simple statement
that as our blood is purified by contact with
air in our lungs, it follows that if the air is
not pure our blood will not be purified
Water is full of animal matter. If you
place water in a cask and let it stay long
enough it will become stagrsGt. Captains
of vessels going on long sea voyage are
obliged to have the ships water tanks painted
with whitewash or coated with charcoal in
side to keep the water pure. If you fill a
sponge with water and let it stand long
enough it becomes stale" This is very
nearly what happens to a muscle which is
not used. The blood starts out from tho
heart, travels through the arteries, stops at
the way stations leaves its nutritive sub
stance which takes the place Of the worn out
matter and takes in exchange the impurities
back through tho veins to the lungs, where,
mixing with the oxygen of the air, the I'M
purities are carried off in carbonic acid gas.
You see the blood has pretty good task to
perform, and it calls on the sponge like mus
Gle to help it. The heart in its pump capa-
city impels the blood forward, and the blood
gets along the best way it can and gathers
up the impurities and leaves the good matter
behind.
USE OF THE MUSCLES
In order to illustrate the value of muscles,
suppose you wanted to clean a sponge. You
would first take the sponge and hold it under
running water Now, what would you do
nextq Why, you would squeeze the sponge
of course, because you would in this way
clean it, not only quicker but better. Now,
=, o,,oo+1,y 1-bat Won do when vp1, ayar-