The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-11-17
Health Hints and
Rules Of Hygiene
Suggestions That May Save You Many
Doctors Bill.
NIsDOM FOR THE HOUSEHOLD
These Hints Don't Cost Much, Are MOI
Copyrighted, and If They Don't DO
You Any Good, They'll Not
Do You Any Harm.

You Any Good, They'll MOI
Do You Any Harm. =,
One of the pleasing and valuable
features of. the recent convention IN
this city of the Young Women's Chris
tian association of Pennsylvania was
paper read by DR.. C. Il. Ehringer dlrec-
tor of physical education in the state
Normal school at West Chester, upon
"The Physical Well-being of Woman.
We select from this excellent paper
some points of more than transient inter-
est. After noting that in primitive times
the law of exercise was enforced py
the very conditions of uncivilized soci-
ETY., DR.. Ehringer continues;
"The whole tendency of modern ciVill-
zotion is toward Specifications ahu'
while it is to this great force of con-
centrated and specialized effort that we
owe the material advancement OF our
day, there is yet blighting and wither-
ing effect which we are just beginning
to appreciate. The first effects of an
era of specialism must ever prove dls-
astrous in some directions. The Whole
subject has been tersely put in these
words: There are three great marks
or necessities for all true development
aggregation, or the massing of things;
differentiation, or the varying OF thlngs,
and Interpretation, or the re-unitlng OF
things The result Of aggregating IN
dividuals, families and communities,
may be seen in our great cities aud
n,,f In urobitpptllrp. art
and industries. The effect of d1tferentl-
alton is evident in the great discoveries
and inventions. But the consequences
of integration, or the re-uniting OF
things into higher wholes, Is scarcely
vet apparent, and this, broadly speak
ing, Is the problem Of the future.
"a word now concerning the physical
effects of city life. Man in his natural
state lives in the country, whether as
hunter, a tender of herds, or an agri-
culturalist. The tendency to aggregate
in cities is most natural and easily eX-
planned. A higher intellectual culture
obtains there; amusement are more
numerous and diversified, and COM
merce more active. The city has been
styled the nerve-center of our civillza-
tion. 1t is also the storm center. True
indeed, it is that the roots of civillza-
tion. are the nerves; and other things
being equal, the finest nervous organi-
zation will produce the highest civili-
zation' But we must not forget that
there Is limit to this cultivation and
refinement of the nervous system, that
unless there is coincident care and
development of the nutritive and mus
cular systems, disaster must inevitably
result. Unfortunately, the specialiZa-
ton of labor required by city life, the
sedentary occupations 1t imposes; the
lack of pure air, invlgorating sunshine
pure water, proper rest and adequate
means of natural forms of recreation
are well nigh fatal to this need. Unless
special efforts are instituted to counter
act these baneful tendencies; unless the
city dweller can be brought to realize
these facts and induced to correct them
by concerted and intelligent endeavors
ir. ,bel,aIs Of his s,hs-siaei 9oaetitutivn
his physical decadenee Is foregone
conclusion; disease will not become less
but vastly more frequent than 1t now is
-
"The progress of civilization unques
tionably involves an increasing strail
on the nervous system. Among say
ages and unciviliZed races insanity AM
some other forms of nervous diseas
' now so comomn are almost unknown
A writer in the November number o
the Annals of Hygiene says: L. vii
venture to assert, so true is the fac
that insanity Is the product of civiliza
ton, that If it were not for the combat
ing influences of social laws, asslste
not a little by scientific medical aid a
North America could not contain tn
vast and enormous army that woul
constitute the civilized worlds array @
lunatics.' DR. Beard, the well know
Z authority on nervous diseases, says
There is large family of functiona
nervous disorders that are increasingl
frequent among the indoor classes {
civilized countries, that are especial
frequent in the northern and easter
parts Of the United States. The suffer
ers from these malades are counted
this country by hundreds of thousands
in all the northern and eastern state
they are found in nearly every brair
working household. They al
all diseases of civilization, and of moo
ern civilization, and mainly of the min,
teenth century and OF the Unite
States. Neurasthenia, or nervous e.
haustion, is comparatively moder
disease, its symptoms surprisingl
more frequent now than in the last Gel
fury, and it is an American disease
this, that 1t Is very much more commc
here than in any other part of the ci,
ilized world DR.. S. Wier Mitchell, OF
of the greatest authorities in this coul
try on nervous diseases, says: TT
flower of American womanhood
wilted by over-culture before it com
fully into bloom. The long hours, Il
multiplicity of studies, the number
teachers-each striving to get the u
most out of their pupils-the cravil
rivalry to be well graded, the all-d
vouring ambition to command mea
of living, the hurried or neglect
meals, the want of exercise and Il
fatal irregularity that 1t entails, Il
gnawing worry that murders sleep
tItSt, anu tlltoc clioilSi thdt SOlluell
tens of thousands of American wom
toalfeof misery and uselessness befo
they have ceased to be children The
references will serve to explain in
measure why man does not enjoy t
same uniform good health and confer
ment that other vertebrate animals {
1t is BECAUSE man has sadly pervert
his natural instincts, and has failed
such a long period to conform to
laws Of his organization. DR.. AL
Skene aptly says: All this incomp
hensible variety which Is displayed
the human family comes from p
verted bran action. There is nothi
apparent in the body below the he
which necessarily should give rise to
much more eunnaturalact men tn
in animals.
m And now to the physical well Libel
"of womanP In Lowells beauti
words, 'earth's noblest thing Is v