The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-05-07
pyrlght, 1870, By International Press Burea
LESS WORK FOR THE DOCTORS.

%-So WYNN TSn tr1E bOS iOHS.
Far more important and encouraging
as signs of the tines than any de-
velopments in politics or industry is
the publicity given in newspapers and
magazines to health topics. This
means future generations with purer
blood, stronger muscles, more cour-
ageous brains. And that, in turn.
means that all the problems of living
personal, social, political-will be
met and taken care of. No physically
robust people was ever enslaved or
was ever retrogressive. The first warn
Ing of the downfall of the Roman en-
pire before the northern races was the
throngs of weaklings in the pestilence-
haunted cities of the Mediterranean.
Heretofore in the worlds history civ
ilization has meant decay, because it
has meant taking nations best from
the healthfuI, open-air toll of the coun-
try, and degenerating 1t in noisome
cities where the very ideals of happi-
ness involve destruction of health. And
our civilization of over-abundant food,
of automobiles, and of all manner Of
housekeeping machinery, would
have meant speedy ruin to us of the
modern world had it not been for the
progress of sanitary science.
The first fruit of this progress has
been the skepticism regarding the value
of drugs and the passing of the fam
lily dOctOr-two developments that are
so rapid that we hardly appreciate
them as yet. 1t is a grand advance
that we have made in discovering that
the body does not wish to be sick,
does not accidentally get sick but, ON
the contrary, wishes to stay well, and
will stay well if its owner is not ig-
norant or reckless. This discovery
will make two great changes in our
system of education. The first will
be the teaching of breathing. To
breathe properly means health. long
life, capacity for work. Yet, today,
how few people know how to breathe?
The second great educational change
will be in the matter of diet. In this
country, and in nearly all of Europe
except France, we are still eating the
things our forefathers managed to di-
gest when they were toiling and sweat
ing terribly in the open air, instead of
sitting at Office desks.
Nature made the appetite for food
keen because she had to deal with con-
ditions in which the food supply was
short and lard to reach, and if The ap-
petite had not been keen, the animal
would have given up the struggle.
We ignore the changed conditions, and
use Natures no longer necessary bait
as an exercise for stuffing ourselves
three times a day and eating between
meals. If it weren't that sanitation is
much better nowadays, and cooking
also, the consequences would be worse
than they are. As it is, we suffer a
great deal from rheumatism, "over-
work." and nervous prostration,"
don't we?
1t is pleasant to eat all we want.
1t is more comfortable to ride in an
automobile and breathe lazily in one
corner of the lungs, than to walk and
take deep breaths. But, it isn't the
way to be long-lived and healthy. And
it is the way to let the other fellow
who breathes and exercises and eats
properly distance us.
The man who wishes to avoid doc
tors and preserve the full integrity Of
his functions to ripe old age must
avoid excuses of every description,
have plenty of fresh air, a moderate
amount of good nutritious food, and
must, Furthermore. endeavor to employ
the higher faculties of his mind some
what more energetically than is usual
ly customary. Mans destiny as re-
CARDS the body is to a great extent in
his own keeping, and, unless disease
is inherited, he WILL in all probability,
live threescore years and more if the
body is properly developed and cared
for. LEARN HOW TO LIVE.