The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-07-04
HI QUEENS HEALTH.
The Secret of Her Majesty's Vitality
mt Eighty-One.

London Mail.
If you turn up a page in your Whitaker
you will find a great array of names of
doctors of the Queen. though not all of
them have a royal practice. In the men
upon whom such honors nave been be-
slowed the sovereign has been fortunate.
They form a splendid array of all that has
been best and c~leverest and in every sense
worthiest in medical and surgical science
for nearly a century. Worthiness is not
the least necessary qualif-Ion for such
an Office, for If a doctr were ever so bril-
liant and distinguished in his knowledge
and practice he could never aspire to at
tendance upon her Majesty If any tongue
could cast upon him the least reproach. In
this matter she is Enthusiastically pune
tilious.
If it be not lese majesty to say so, the
Queen has not always been an ideal patient
from the doctors point of view. With her,
permanent good health always seemed to
be assumed till she suffered the great be-
reavement of her life, and then for the first
time she showed a disposition to fully avail
herself of the resources at her disposal.
For a long period she has followed a few
rules of life which the late Sir William
Jenner laid down for her guidance. Their
essence is simplicity. A part of them is a
simple and careful diet; another is regular
fly, and a third is open-air life. These
rules her Majesty has observed, but the
last one not very long ago was rather too
| much observed, and many an anxious time
did the royal doctors experience when their
sovereign would persist in risking the dam
gers of weather of such inclemency that
would severely test most constitutions.
However, a few autumns ago at Osborne
she received a fright, and has since exer-
cised more care.
Perhaps you think you would like to live
| according to the royal rules of life-the rules
that bring you to eighty-one, hearty and
well. You may. The Queens doctors will
tell you that a queen is but flesh and
blood, and that they can do no more for
her Majesty than for any other.
/ asked Sir Francis Laking, one of the
most eminent of those who have attended
upon her Majesty. to tell me some such
rules of life, the conditions being just nor
! seconds. he took a cigarette from a we'll
filled case and lighted 1t. This prevented
the enlargement of the question for the
benefit of the multitude who are wholly or
partly convinced that alcohol and nicotine
have a lot TO do with Ii.
Then said Sir Francis, deliberately, do
anything you like, but do nothing to ex-
cess
1T is rather a-well, brief rule" / said,
with a hint at inadequacy.
YES" he replied with decision, but is
it not a good rule? And it is complete.
People nowadays will put themselves TO
extremes, and they become iii by excuses
and not by deficiencies. Moderation should
be the rule of life"
A distinguished colleague of Sir Francis,
Sir Samuel WilkS, physician extraordi-
A nary to the Queen. to whom Il put the
same question, gave an answer which was
practically the same one expanded.
cit is a difficult question:" he said.
Habit is a great deal; it is second nature.
A man accustomed to walk twelve miles
a day cannot do without 1T. In different
men organs seem to take the place of each
other. Every one has a natural tempera-
ment. Follow that and avoid excesses.
That's all. A quack may tell you you must
eat an ounce of albumen, so much starch,
so much water. and so on. and what should
you do? Go and have a nice chop. The in
Stincts of people are right. Jenner would
have said to you, i never walk at all, ex-
cept from my house into my carriage. l
hate walking, and IL 1 could l would get
my servants TO carry me to bed That was
Sir William Jenner, the Queens eminent
physician; and what about exercise then?
In the last three or four centuries We have
done better intellectual work than ever be-
fore, and these have been the times of
tea, coffee, tobacco and alcohol. What can
you make of that? 1t is surprising. What
can you make of that? 1t is surprising.
Again / say, follow your instincts"
In one sense this is very reassuring, in
another it is disappointing. No Spartan
methods are necessary for o~ctogenarian-
ism. 1t is the easiest and pleasantest thing
in the world TO keep these rules of life,
for they are simply that you please your
self. One would hardly have expected that
from the highest of the medical profession,
the doctors of the Queen, when your vii
lage NJ. d. always impresses you by his
omniscience. Instead, you would fancy the
Queens doctors to know about all the new
poisons that Turk in potatoes and beef and
rice buildings that those of lower degree
wot not of