News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-09-01

Fundamental |
Principles Of |.
Healthz@@s|
BY ALBERT s. GRAY, M. D. I
INERTIA.

versal, immutable law. Our brains are
| composed of matter and are, therefore,
| subject to these same laws.
! Among the characteristics of mat
ter are those covered by Newton's
three laws of motion:
1. All bodies continue in a state of
rest or of uniform motion in a straight
| line, unless acted upon by some ex-
ternal force that compels change.
2. Every motion or change of mo-
! ton is proportional to the acting force
and takes place in the direction of the
straight line along which the force
acts.
8. To every action there is always
an equal and contrary reaction.
The first law Of motion states that
body once set in motion will move
forever in straight line with the
same velocity unless acted upon by
some other force which compels a
| change. This property is known as
| inertia. Inertia is not force, but is
| the result Of absorbing force.
| come in ourselves is mental inertia.
An idea once formed will persist until
a stronger one overwhelms it and
alters it. This is the foundation Of
habit and the reason the past has so
strong a hold on us always.
If because of some indiscretion we
had a pain yesterday for which by
recommendation of authority we took
something out Of q bottle, it is easier
to repeat the act again today than it
is to determine the cause or to ignore
the temporary penalty of pain and re-
solve to sin no more. To repeat an
act is usually to follow the line OF
least resistance. 1t requires less
thought and less effort with each
repetition until finally an automatic
cycle of reaction is established and a
habit is born.
With the track once laid, word
spoken, the flash Of sign before the
eye, the most remotely associated idea.
each serves as a signal for a train of
thought bringing into action automatic
ally q complicated line of co-ordinating
nerve centers, and the act is again per-
formed practically involuntarily, often
unconsciously.
To rescue one permanently from
habit we must have an equivalent in
some mental occupation sufficiently at
tractive to submerge the old impress
sions, else ones vitality will be squan-
dered in the struggle. Inability to re-
sist drink or drugs or bad habits In
general is because of inertia.
If one is weak it is difficult to gen.
crate sufficient power to overcome the
accumulated force of the little act fire.
quently repeated, and one becomes a
slave to habit
The fundamental necessity for the
correction Of bad habits is intellectual
integrity-a rare quality. The most
difficult and unpleasant duty we have
to perform, but one absolutely neces-
eary if we would have good health and
be able to use the greatest power
within the reach of man, thought, is to
be square and truthful with ourselves
to see ourselves as we are.
Thought is the one and only domain
wherein man can reign supreme, for
while we may not determine what we
shall think, we can govern what we
shall think about, and we have the
power to analyze, to measure, weigh,
judge and accept or reject any thought
on any subject. Thought is a eanni-'
bal because thought lives upon thought
and unless constantly given fresh and
substantial food it must starve ana
become inert.
But to think is to change; nothing
can prevent that, and we have noted
that we are constitutionally opposed
to change. Hence most of US solve
the matter by refusing to think; we
Just drop into line and do the conven-
tional lockstep and "go where we're
taken" 1t is simple and pleasant to
sit in the easy chair of the old order
and let the universe wag along; one
travels much more smoothly IL the,
head contains only the ideas others
nave developed.
But there is another side to it. It is
. physiological truth that any organ,
lenied the right to function, will
trophy, and an atrophied organ sooner,
" later must become the source OF i'll
lealth. Experts in any department OF
luman architecture will verify that
act. The brain is the organ of thought,
INSTRUCTED under pressure of neces-i
ity by a long line of ancestors who
sed it in the struggle for existence;
is the dominant and fundamental
actor in the creation of all human
7ealth and power and the general
manager and regulator of our bodies
oday. Unused brain capacity causes
rouble and danger to both the indi-
idual and the community.
We will come into a better state of
ealth not so much by improving
hysical conditions outside as by i'm
rowing the physical apparatus and
orking of our own mind and bodies
am the insiaa