The Topeka state journal., 1913-04-19
SAYS UNCLE CIV

One of these days we may reach
that happy state of civilization in
which we have as much respect for
| the human body as we have for a
steam engine. A glance back along
the wreck-strewn past gives US little
immediate hope of this much to- be-
desired consummation, but there are
a few symptoms of sanity in the mod
ern application of principles of hy-
giene that give US reason for an op-
| timistic view of the situation.
1t is true that until this present
time we have learned more about ev-
erything else on earth than we have
learned about the dwellings of our
souls. In the beginning the body was
clothed with sort of sanctity that
drew about it the cloak of ignorance
and death. We have spent few odd
millenniums seeking to eradicate that
attitude and have failed to do any
thing better than to substitute sort
of hypocritical prudery for an out
worn superstition. Once upon a time
the body was too holy to be the sub
ject of knowledge. Yesterday it was
too nasty. Tomorrow we will consider
it holy again and a thing to be given
at least as much care as we would
bestow upon a piece of machinery.
Harken to the commandment of to-
morrow: Remember the body to keep
it holy-and in working order.
Puckyhuddle, was a little ahead of
his day in some very important re-
spects.
lone of these days" said Doc,
We're going to wake up to the fact
that it's just as crazy to stuff our
stomachS with grub and queer booze
as it is to bust the boiler of a steam
engine by putting too much or too
little water into it.
I'VE wouldn't think of trying to get
results from an engine if we put the
coal in the boiler and the water in the
firebox. But a lot of us put the alco-
hol inside that ought to be used out
side for massage purposes, rub the
grease outside that ought to be taken
inside as food, and expect to get re-
suits. We get em-at least the un-
dertaker does.
I'VE wouldn't pour acid on a ma
chine to eat up the iron, but we pour
it into our mouths to destroy our di-
geStive apparatus.
I'VE don't let our farming imple-
ments lie around and rust out, but a
whole lot of us who amt worth KILN
let ourselves lie around and permit a
bunch of diseases resulting from want
of exercise to save the foolkiller an
unpleasant job.
I'VE feed the boiler and the firebox
when we want steam. When we feed
the human engine, most of US feed it
for the pleasure of the process and
the privilege of keepin' the doctor
Which suggests that Thomas A.
Edison has lately announced that he
never eats for pleasure, but merely to
keep the human machine in working
order. That, doubtless. is a Spartan
method that will appeal to few of us
Nevertheless, most of us eat too much
and suffer from it. The ordinary man
could work more, laugh more and
have a heap better time if he'd cut his
meals in half. And he wouldn't have
to be a fast fiend' to do it.
The more or less abused physician
is nowadays creeping along to the
point where he justifies the faith that
we have in him. He is telling US how
to keep we'll rather than vainly trying |
to cure us when We have accomplish |
ed self murder. And the big lesson |
of modern medicine is the lesson of
modern industry and modern philo- |
sophy. Remember the body to keep |
it holy-and efficient. Here is the /
beginning and the end of hygienic |
WISDOM copyrighted 1913. by w.
E. Williams.l !