The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-18

NoO4i oNNA' " w
 death rate.
 Bad as conditions are to-day, we do not realize how much worse they once wer,
 Even a litls eiIor. .hte igcnt y d. rectod can accomplish ye.y pecgep,ibl9 results. In New York when Col. War Ing kept the streets clean, ia 3S5s, the death rate was 2l l-s waecess both bs- fore ard after hls regime, 1t averaged much higher, usually being about z5,
 Tn Havana the simple sanitary m provements introduced by Colon4; Oorgas resulted h very marked de- crease in the death te3,e.
 The methods by witch Amerioaa health standards may be improved are variods They include the tncr ased Federal regulation of pubic Ii halth, ts- peclally as re.ated 10 the pol ud n of interstate rivers and the r glla ion If pure food. including milk They also include the improvement in stnte and local health administration.
 But it is a great mistake to suppcs, that the primary method of elevatns Ee2lth- conditions Is Ky ehactlhg neu laws or enforcing old legislation The motive power must come from pu1l : Cpih,oA, and in order that such pow CT should exist, it is necessary tha- the ordinary individual or which tnc public consists should Improve hia health ideals, This would come about quickly if each Individual appreciated now much he might irnpfove his cffic- iehcy. Of recent examples known to me personally, I might mention the case of young physician given up to die of tuberculosis five years ago, but who can now run 25 mics without stopping; and a gentleman, Nil Horace Fletcher, who In his forty-s.xth je2r was rejected to life insurance, bu. who later was not only able 10 obta n insurance but on his iiftieth birthday could ride 19O miles on hs bicycle. Both of these examples, as well as many of the others which have just been mentioned were eases of improved energy through the intelligent appica- ton oR modern scientific dietetics
 From these examples and others that might be cited, 1t is evident that man is not living up to his posst tbiltios. Ex- perts who have gwen attention to th.s subject believe that most men cut the I lives in two by unhygienlc, irrational methods of living, and during the half of their natural life which they actual ly live arc sick unnecessarily often and long. Pasteur said, Tt Is within the power of man to rid himself of every parasitic disease"
 If then, it is possible for man to win the fight against disease, to double the length of his working days, to vastly increase his energy and enjoyment oi life, there is surely no more crying need for applying modern science thar to this subject. Much has been done by the department of agriculture 1T the last few years to improve live stock and vegetation of the farm, ant much has been done by experimental lists like Luther Burbank, in causing ( desirable variations in species of use ful plants But himself, man neglec.s
 But why Is it that man needs thu to care for his health, when other ami mals instinctively do so? Our answel lmust be that civilization has brough to man unnatural conditions of life Many who have become keenly awar I of this fact have in a somewhat quix Iotic fashion demanded that civilization be abolished A more sensible and feas ible plan is that of Ray Lancaster am Sir Francis Dalton who say that tn 'kingdom of man" must be not con tracted but increased, and that by ap l plying the very science which has pro duced civilization and all its evils, " shall learn how to eliminate then again.
 Rational diet Is of course not the on ly method of improving health. Pur air, exercise, sleep, freedom from wor ry, and proper surroundings, sanitary social and moral, are equally necessary But In the limited time at our dispos9 this afternoon, diet will form sutf1c iently large theme, and 1t is probab
 true that it is more neglected and les appreciated than any of the other sub jects mentioned.
 So far as diet has received attentio from scientific men, 1t has been chief
 concerned with the explanation of tn
 processes of nutrition. For practice purposes however, the important stud of food is not so much the way 1 which 1t is utilized inside the body bu the question of the quantities of which we should consume and tn method by which we should eat it. Tn only control We practica ly have owe food is limited to the teeth and tn mouth After 1t is swallowed, it is re legated to processes over which W have almost no control, The practici problem for man Is how to select h flood, how much of it to eat and ho to mastitcate it.
 To begin with the teeth. If any ev dence were needed that man lives g unnatural and dnhyglenic life, it is be found in the condition of the t2et Dentists say that perfect set 1 teeth among grown up people is T
 rare as to be a curiosity. When SUI -- a perfect set Is found, it is usually tr
 that their possessor does not live {,
 ordinary mode of life.
 The man who more than anyone el
 has insisted on the value of thoic
 mastifcation is MT, Horace Fetch 'd- Here at Yale two years ago, a band 'ph nine students, volunteers, undertook 0 experiment to test the virtues of N G. Fletcher's rules of thorough mastic F. ton. The rules which the men folio me ed were: First, to thoroughly mas
 cate every morsel of food with the {
 tentlon, however, not on the mastiC las ton itself but upon the taste and C