The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-10
EDISON ON HUMAN FAILINCS.

Whenever the wizard of Menlo park
talks for publication he has something
TO say that is worth the saying and
thoughtful people sit up and listen. In
d talk with a correspondent Of the New
York World the other day Mr.. Edison
declared that people eat too much,
sleep too much and don't work enough.
In support of this sweeping declara-
ton the wizard said.
THE average man would be much
better off and would do very much bet
ter work if he would cut down his food
and sleep. and labor a little harder.
Men eat and sleep themselves stupid.
Sometimes they sleep and eat them
selves into the grave. They talk about
working too hard. That is absolute
nonsense. Generally speaking, a man
can't work too hard. II does him good.
Why, I've worked five days and
nights without sleep and with very lit
tie food, and did as good work under
those conditions as 1 ever did in my
life. That was when ! was working
out the incandescent light idea. It's
all matter Of habit.
Short Rations as Cure.
OOIllc Tune ago MY SltlilCttu liuuDitu
me- he continued. Il didn't know
what was the matter, but l imagine
now that it was the X-raY that caused
some internal construction. IT also
drew my left eye out of focus, although
that trouble has since disappeared.
However when my trouble was
acute ! began to experiment with my
diet TO see what would come Of it. /
ha = ok aaf hut
decided to cut down my food still
more.
For two months | lived on four
ounces of food for each meal. That
made twelve ounces of food a day.
OF course ! varied my food. would
take d teaspoonful OF peas, a small
piece of toast and caviar a tiny sand
witch, a little bit of ham, a fragment
of rye bread with Swiss cheese and
so on.
Whats the result? At the end of
two months of this diet 1 weighed
jus as much as when ! began, exactly
$50 pounds.
Il found that living on twelve ounces
of food a day for four weeks had made
me mentally brighter and had neither
diminished my weight nor my strength.
And, mind you, I had been working
just as hard as before I had cut down
the size Of my meals.
You knoF about Louis C0rnaTO, the
Venetian, who wrote a book on how to
live long? He had lived a life Of eX-
cess until he was nearly forty years
old. He was weak melancholy and
could accomplish nothing. His doctors
told him he was on the straight road
10 death. Then he decided TO change
his way of living, The principal
change he made was TO eat less. He
grew strong and cheerful his mind be-
came brighter and he lived TO be a
hundred years old.
Now my father lived To be ninety
four years old. Ny grandfather lived
TO be a hundred and two years OF age.
My great grandfather lived TO be a
hundred and four years old. All three
were deciples Of CornmO and lived ac-
cOrding to his ideas.
Food and Exercise.
"Of course, while ] was living on
twelve ounces of food a day / was TAX
ing no exercise. II / had been walk
ing about my laboratory much OF
if / had been going up aud down stairs
good deal 1 would have added four
or five ounces more OF food day to
make up for the waste tissue. But
there can be no doubt that twelve
ounces Of food a day is enough for a
man who takes no physical exercise.