The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-09-08

ties is the same the effect of change of air may be of the nature of stimulus to the pulmonary eXcretory apparatus, so that the system is freed from effete and poisonous material which woull otherwise remain and prove detrimen- tai to health If so, it would be com parable to g. change of diet, which of- ten stimulates the eXcretory functions of the alimentary canal, or to one of the numerous drugs whereWith we aid such operations in various parts of the system. And just as one agent of the latter kind is liable to lose it's effect if long continued, so the air to which we have become accustomed may cease to provoke efficient function in the lungs, In fact. when the effect of a change of air is compared with the action of cer- tain medicines, many points of resem- blance become apparent. In the case of both, the good results hoped for oft en reveal themselves only after a cer- tain amount of discomfort and consti- tutional disturbance.
 Biological Explanation.
 There are certain biological laws which may help us to understand, to some extent, why change of air is so conducive to the maintenance or the recovery of health. We have learned
 since Darwin's great discovery, to seek for the explanation of widely distribu- ted vital phenomena in the distant past rather than in the present.
 Without going back to any prehuman being for evidence we shall, think,
 e aett txya flntG l. tion of existence of our primitive an- cestors. The discoveries Of archaeolo1 gists have abundantly proved that ciy= ilization, and all the customs and tra-
 ditions which have followed in it's
 train, are mere modern innovations, and occupy but very small portion of
 the long history of the human race.
 The epoch during which man was a savage hunter. with no fixed place of abode. was so incidentally longer than the most extended estimate of historic time that it is impossible to ignore the influence of such state of existence upon human nature as we find it to- day, That early man was a Wanderer on the fare of the earth, like all modern
 savages who get a precarious livelihood by hunting, is abundantly proved. With the change of the seasons, or as
 game became scarce in the vicinity of his cave dwelling, he was compelled to
 migrate from place to place, in search, not of change of air, but of bare suste-
 nance. That such habits, prevalent through so long period, would be like | ly to leave a lasting impress on every cell and fibre of the human frame is
 more than probable. And If these
 were the prevailing conditions of envi-
 ronment during the manufacture, so to speak, of our physical constitution, it | seems reasonable to infer that some-
 what similar conditions would be those most favorable to the smooth working of the bodily machinery in modern | times It was found that the unfortu- 1 nate natives of Tasmania. bred among 1 the hills and woods, perished rapidly | when removed to totally different en- 1 vironment on Flinders Island, and the 1 dwarfs which Stanley discovered in the l dense and gloomy forests of the Aru- l whimi only lived short time if forced
 to dwell in n ore open and sunny re- l zion. If, therefore, race of nomads l to whom vagrant habits had become a l second nature, were compelled to live 1 permanently in one. spot, one would ex- l pect that some evil consequences would 1 ensue, and that these would be espec. 1 ially liable to show9themselves wher
 the general vitality had been lowered by disease, And, conversely, it seems l reasonable to conclude that a renewa
 of the conditions to which the constitu. ] tion of man was originally adapted would contribute to the recovery of 2 1 normal state of heaIth.--New Review