The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-01-02
MEDICAL AUTHORITIES HAVE
FOUND AN ANTiT0xiN THAT
MAKES WORK SEEM LIKE
PLAY.

WAN60 WYNN GEE" LINE
PLAY.
The most revolutionary scien-
tific announcement of the year has
Just been made by DR.. w. H. Burn
ham. He proposes to cure laziness.-
which is the most persistent and
universal of all maladies. II he
has really found a specific remedy
for the tlisinclination to labor the
consequences will be Tar more
startling than appear at frst blush.
1t was Mosso-Of course you
know all about Mosso-who first
discovered that work was nothing
less than poison to the human sys-
tenn. When you are poisoned in
this particular way you get lazy.
In the language of the immortal
Mosso, "the toxic products result
ing from the functional activity of
the muscles are the chief cause of
fatigue.
Adam, of course, was the first
lazy man. He knew that he hated
work like poison" but didn't know
that 1t was poison. He thought, per
haps, that it had something to do
with the primal curse. He passed
the word down along the line, and
since that time every normal man
has hated work. 1t has been just
as natural to be lazy as to breathe.
All the poets sang the beauties
of industry, and yet the world
hated work. 1t came to be re-
garded as deep seated sign Of the
total depravity Of man that he
stunned labor. Really. it was a
sign of mans wisdom. This in
stinctive turning away from toll ex-
cept In case OF hunger, or hanging
on to your job, or other dire neces-
sity. was what kept the race alive.
When man worked he was poi
soned. Without realizing the dan
ger he lodged the fatal reslts. The
dread Of work was saving in
stinct instead of a curse, as we al
ways were taught to believe.
1t was a lucky thing that the
work poison was not like some
other modern poisons that fascin-
ate the victim and hold him in
their clutches. II you take NOR
phine or alcohol or smoke cigarets
you get the habit and require in
creasing quantities to satisfy your
cravings But the work habit never
gets such hold on you that you
cannot shake it off, The alarm
clock calls you to your daily task
every day in the year, but 1t never
gets to sound like music.
LaZiness Is not merely u spring
fever" but world wide result of
the work poison. When you saw
n cord of woodNt~acd up column
of figures the virus gets into your
veins just as distinctly as 1t does
when you partake of a ptomaine
supper or get bitten by a germ
laden mosquito in the yellow fever
belt. =. Being different poison, of
course its symptoms are different.
The first symptom Of the work poi
son is fatigue. You are not to
blame for 1t. You don't get tired
because you are naturally indolent
and worthless, but because muscu-
lar exertion has releasedea lot Of
toxic matter which grips you with
dts paralyzing fingers.
That Is Just half the story. The
amazing sequel has just been pro-
yided by DR.. Burnham, whose
paper was read before the inter-
national congress on school n.y.
giene by DR.. l.. IL. Gulick. He de-
clares that certain antibodies that
act as an antidote to fatigue are
produced. and he has isolated the
fatigue toxin and has produced an
antitoxin in the usual manner.
DR.. Burnham even believes that
1t is possible by course of prelim.
mary treatment to render the pa
tient immune. He vaccinates
against laziness. as 1t were, and
when the patient Is properly forh
fed he never gets tired any more.
He works out his life with perfect
cheerfulness and without fatigue.
Thus, it is believed, that tramp
might be put through a course Of
treatment which would make USE
full citizen of him. He would love
to work afterward as well as he
now loves to rest. II Is suggested
that he might be given the anti
toxin for -uncleanliness, too, and
that he might grow to love the
bath tub.
When this new and revolutionary
plan becomes thoroughly worked
out the tired men In q factory will
be given treatment by tho house
physician, He will go around
through the works with hypo-
dermic needle In one hand and n
pail of antitoxiu In the other and
administer the cure to all the EN-.
Moves Aftcr that there will no M