Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1913-09-18
MAN MADE MISTAKE
Penalties Caused by the Upright
Position Are Shown.
German Scientists Point Out the
Heavy Cost Nto Humanity for
Standing Positlon--Experi-
ments Prove Virtue of Lo-
comotlon on All Fours.

COInOtiOH OH All TOuTo'
Three of Germany's famous scien-
lists have been making experiments
to prove that humanity makes a great
mistake in walking upright instead of
on all fours. Thereby, they declare
man brings on himself many physical
evils from which the more sensible
and less aspiring horse and dog are
free
When man first stood on his hind
legs he disturbed the whole equili-
brium Of his organism; and since then
he has been trying in vain to adapt
his architecture and organs to his nm
natural carriage. AS he has failed he
has bfotight on himself weakness and
disease.
One of the first to occupy himself
with this question was Prof Ernst
Haekel, the Jena biologist and Oar
winian. 1t has now been carried
much further by the experiments
which Dr. H. Gerhart has lectured on
at the Berlin University Polyclinical
institute.
DR.. Gerhart placed quadrupeds in a
similar Position, and observed them.
A typical test was made with a fox
terrier, which stood and walked on its
hind legs for seven hours day for
% weeks The terrier was then COM
pared with an ordinary dog. Examin-
alton showed that the change had rad
ically transformed the terriers anat-
omy. In order to counterbalance the
tendency to fall forward, the dog had
continually bent its spinal column
backward. The result was marked
reformation of the vertebrae. Stand
ing upright had also deformed the
thorax and pelvis. The bones Of the
hind legs had bent forward in way
suggesting ricketts, or degeneration oi
the bone. a.
The internal organs also showed
changes. The left lung had fallen
slightly; the heart was enlarged ow
ing to the constant exertion Of stand
ing as a biped, and 1t had turned round
partly ON its axis. The liver, stom
ach and kidneys had also receded
further from the head. In Other
words, the dog had grown closer e
the human type.
Certain penalties caused by the up
right carriage are shown by DR.. Ernest
Klotz of Leipzig. 1t was plainly in
tended, the says, that the spinal col
umn should be horizontal; and tha
all vital and easily injured organs
such as the, heart and stomach, shoult
hang downward from 1t and be pro
tected by it. "The spinal column,
he says, "is nothing but roof o
bone" 1t is not at all intended t
stiffen the body into an upright car
riage. When man went four footed
with his organs pendent from his spi
nal column, all the organs were in ex
actly defined positions as regards on,
another.
When he began to go upright thes,
organs tended to sag and fall down
ward and thus disturbed their funC
tions. This caused many ailments
and particularly digestive complaints
which no animal suffers srom. Thes
complaints have been a cause Q
weakness to man and, instead Of re
turning to an all four attitude, he ha
for millions OF years past been tryin
to adapt himself to the new conditions
But he has not altogether succeeded
and is still suffering from the di:
turbed equipoise.
Most marked is the fact that the HI
man legs have not adapted themselve
to be mans only support. 1t eve
seems that in civilized countries tn
adaptive process has come to sto
and as a result Of the failure Of tw
legs to do the work of four patolog
cal reformation of the sole of the foe
is going on.
Today man unconsciously banker
after his lost position Of quadrupet
This is seen by the attitudes he take
during sleep. Numerous. scientifl
tests show that the regenerative e
feet of sleep both on body and min
is greatest when a man sleeps fac
downward as do the majority of an
mails. Nightmares, sleep drunkeI
ness" brain pressure" and other a
normal sleep conditions are never e
perienced by man sleeping in tn
position. They are caused by the geI
uine blped attitude of sleeping on th
back Sleeping on the back with tn
limbs outstretched, is 80 unnatur,
I that the lower animals can be temp
rarlly paralyzed by fixing them In thu
: position,
I In short, mans upright carriag
2 which he regards as his unique di
, tinction and glory, is merely ps
. Geological blunder and 1t will renal
I SO until man has perfectly adapte
a himself to 1t. Unluckily, there is re
4 son to think that the perfect equipoi'
. ! ,,,iil ,,n,,ar ho attoinpd