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diff --git a/17682-8.txt b/17682-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..36fea90 --- /dev/null +++ b/17682-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10048 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Healthy Life, Vol. V, Nos. 24-28, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Healthy Life, Vol. V, Nos. 24-28 + The Independent Health Magazine + +Author: Various + +Editor: Charles William Daniel + +Release Date: February 5, 2006 [EBook #17682] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HEALTHY LIFE, VOL. V *** + + + + +Produced by Feòrag NicBhrìde, Laura Wisewell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + --------------------------------------------------------------------- + Transcriber's Note: In preparing this ebook I have corrected a small + number of obvious typographical errors, including the two which are + mentioned in the September issue. I have not interrupted the text by + marking each, but they are marked in the html version of this text. + --------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + + _The_ + + HEALTHY + + LIFE + + + The Independent + Health Magazine + + + + VOLUME V + JULY-DECEMBER 1913 + + + + + LONDON + GRAHAM HOUSE, TUDOR ST., E.C. + + + + +INDEX + +VOLUME V.--JULY-DECEMBER 1913 + + +Ballade of Skyfaring, A, S. Gertrude Ford, 490 + +Book Reviews, 532 + +Breathe, On Learning to, Dr J. Stenson Hooker, 630 + + +Camping Out, C.R. Freeman, 438, 480 + +Care of Cupboards, Florence Daniel, 530 + +Castles in the Air, E.M. Cobham, 582 + +Cloud-capped Towers, E.M. Cobham, 626 + +Correspondence, 504, 533, 580, 658 + +Cottage Cheese, 658 + +Curtained Doorways, The, Edgar J. Saxon, 561 + + +Doctor on Doctors, A, 637 + +Doctor's Reason for Opposing Vaccination, A, Dr J.W. Hodge, 597 + +Doctors and Health, 633 + + +Fasting, A Significant Case, A. Rabagliati, M.D., 458, 492 + +Fear and Imagination, E.M. Cobham, 510 + +Food and the Source of Bodily Energy, 507 + +Fruit-Oils and Nuts, 659 + +Futurist Gardening, G.G. Desmond, 451 + + +Health Queries, Dr H. Valentine Knaggs:-- + About Sugar, 540; + Bad Case of Self-poisoning, 502; + Boils, their Cause and Cure, 498; + Canary _versus_ Jamaica Bananas, 579; + Can Malaria be Prevented? 466; + Cereal Food in the Treatment of Neuritis, 619; + Correct Blending of Foods, 655; + Concerning Cottage Cheese, 617; + Deafness, 615, 616; + Diet for Obstinate Cough, 618; + Diet for Ulcerated Throat, 575; + Dilated Heart, 653; + Difficulties in Changing to Non-Flesh Diet, 655; + Dry Throat, 653; + Eczema as a Sign of Returning Health, 613; + Excessive Perspiration, 574; + Farming and Sciatica, 575; + Faulty Food Combinations, 536; + Giddiness and Head Trouble, 468; + Going to Extremes in the Unfired Diet, 543; + Long Standing Gastric Trouble, 470; + Malt Extract, 539; + Neuritis, 538; + Onion Juice as Hair Restorer, 651; + Phosphorus and the Nerves, 577; + Refined Paraffin as a Constipation Remedy, 652; + Saccharine, 653; + Stammering, 654; + Severe Digestive Catarrh, 471; + Sciatica, 651; + Temporary "Bright's Disease" and How to Deal with it, 576; + Ulceration of the Stomach, 541; + Unfired Diet for a Child, 467; + Water Grapes, 619; + Why the Red Corpuscles are Deficient in Anæmia, 654 + +Health and Joy in Hand-weaving, Minnie Brown, 591 + +Health through Reading, Isabella Fyvie Mayo, 517 + +Healthy Brains, E.M. Cobham, 448, 474, 510, 546, 582 + +Healthy Homemaking, Florence Daniel, 495, 528 + +Healthy Life Abroad, D.M. Richardson, 559 + +Healthy Life Recipes, 462, 571, 610, 641 + +Hired Help, Florence Daniel, 495, 528 + +Holiday Aphorisms, Peter Piper, 508, 527 + +How Much Should We Eat? 442, 477, 513, 563, 593 + +Human Magnetism, 505 + + +Imagination in Insurance, E.M. Cobham, 546 + +Imagination in Play, E.M. Cobham, 474 + +Imagination in Use, E.M. Cobham, 448 + +Indication, An, Editors, 437, 473, 509, 545, 581, 621 + + +Learning to Breathe, On, Dr J. Stenson Hooker, 630 + +Letters of a Layman, I., 633 + +Lime Juice, Pure, 534 + +Longevity, A Remedy for, Edgar J. Saxon, 491 + + +Mental Healing, A Scientific Basis for, J. Stenson Hooker, M.D., 456 + +Midsummer Madness, Edgar J. Saxon, 454 + +Modern Germ Mania: A Case in Point, Dr H.V. Knaggs, 638 + +More About Two Meals a Day, Wilfred Wellock, 487 + + +New Race, The, S. Gertrude Ford, 601 + + +Ode to the West Wind, Shelley, 555 + + +Pickled Peppercorns, Peter Piper, 464, 570, 609, 660 + +Plain Words and Coloured Pictures, Edgar J. Saxon, 622 + +Play Spirit, The, D.M. Richardson, 602 + +Play Spirit, The: A Criticism, L.E. Hawks, 628 + + +Quest for Beauty, The, Edgar J. Saxon, 523 + + +Recipes, 462, 571, 610, 641 + +Remedy for Longevity, A, Edgar J. Saxon, 491 + +Remedy for Sleeplessness, 533 + + +Salads and Salad Dressings, 462 + +Salt Cooked Vegetables, 506 + +Swan Song of September, The, S. Gertrude Ford, 523 + +Sea-sickness, Some Remedies, Hereward Carrington, 484 + +Semper Fidelis, "A.R.," 526 + +Sleeplessness, A Remedy, 533 + +Scientific Basis for Mental Healing, A, J. Stenson Hooker, M.D., 456 + +Scientific Basis of Vegetalism, The, Prof. H. Labbé, 549, 584 + +Significant Case, A, A. Rabagliati, M.D., 458, 492 + +Symposium on Unfired Food, A, D. Godman, 486, 648 + + +Taste or Theory? Arnold Eiloart, B.Sc., 643 + +Travels in Two Colours, Edgar J. Saxon, 605 + +To-morrow's Flowers, G.G. Desmond, 451 + +Two Meals a Day, More About, Wilfred Wellock, 487 + + +Vaccination, A Doctor's Reason for Opposing, Dr J.W. Hodge, 597 + +Vegetalism, The Scientific Basis of, Prof. H. Labbé, 549, 584 + + +West Wind, Ode to, Shelley, 555 + +What makes a Holiday? C., 557 + +World's Wanderers, The, Shelley, 625 + + + + + THE + + HEALTHY + + LIFE + + The Independent + Health Magazine. + + 3 AMEN CORNER LONDON E.C. + + + VOL. V JULY + No. 24. 1913 + + + _There will come a day when physiologists, poets, and + philosophers will all speak the same language and understand one + another._--CLAUDE BERNARD. + + + + +AN INDICATION. + + +Some laymen are very fond of deprecating the work of specialists, +holding that specialisation tends to narrowness, to inability to see +more than one side of a question. + +It is, of course, true that the specialist tends to "go off at a +tangent" on his particular subject, and even to treat with contempt or +opposition the views of other specialists who differ from him. But all +work that is worth doing is attended by its own peculiar dangers. It +is here that the work of the non-specialist comes in. It is for him to +compare the opposing views of the specialists, to reveal one in the +light thrown by the other, to help into existence the new truth +waiting to be born of the meeting of opposites. + +Specialisation spells division of labour, and apart from division of +labour certain great work can never be done. To do away with such +division, supposing an impossibility to be possible, would simply mean +reversion to the state of the primitive savage. But we have no call +to attempt the abolition of even the minutest division of labour. What +is necessary is to understand and guard against its dangers. + +Specialisation _may_ lead to madness, as electricity _may_ lead to +death. But no specialist need go far astray who, once in a while, will +make an honest attempt to come to an understanding with the man whose +views are diametrically opposed to his own. For thus he will retain +elasticity of brain, and gain renewed energy for, and perhaps fresh +light on, his own problems.--[EDS.] + + + + +CAMPING OUT. + +IV. THE FIVE-FOOT SAUSAGE. + + +The question of blankets and mattresses may be taken as settled. We +can now sleep quite comfortably, take our fresh air sleeping and +waking, and find shelter when it rains. But that same fresh air brings +appetite and we must see how that appetite is to be appeased. + +Take a frying-pan. It should be of aluminium for lightness; though a +good stout iron one will help you make good girdle-cakes, if you get +it hot and drop the flour paste on it. You must find some other way of +making girdle-cakes, and if you take an iron frying pan with you, +don't say that I told you to. + +Though it is obviously necessary that a frying-pan should have a +handle, I was bound to tell Gertrude that I do not find it convenient +to take handled saucepans when I go camping. I take for all boiling +purposes, including the making of tea, what is called a camp-kettle. +Most ironmongers of any standing seem to keep it, and those who have +it not in stock can show you an illustration of it in their wholesale +list. It is just like the pot in which painters carry their paint, +except that it has an ordinary saucepan lid. You should have a "nest" +of these--that is, three in diminishing sizes going one inside the +other. The big lid then fits on the outer one and the two other lids +have to be carried separately. + +[Illustration: _The Five-Foot Sausage_] + +You hang these camp-kettles over the fire by their bucket handles, +from the tripod or other means of getting over the fire. Sometimes the +bough of a tree high out of the reach of the flames will do. Sometimes +a stick or oar thrust into the bank or in a crevice of the wall behind +the fire is more convenient than a tripod. Again, you can do without +any hanging at all, making a little fireplace of bricks or stones and +standing the saucepans "on the hob." + +It is a simple thing to tie the tops of three sticks together and make +a tripod. Then from the place where they join you dangle a piece of +string, pass it through the handle of the kettle and tie it to itself, +in a knot that can be adjusted up or down to raise or lower the kettle +from the fire. This knot is our old friend the two half-hitches. Pass +the loose end round the down cord, letting it come back under the up +cord, then round again with the same finish, and lo! the up cord makes +two half-hitches round the down cord. You can slip, them up and put +them where you like and they will hold, but you have to undo them to +take the kettle clean away from the fire. So we add to our equipment a +few pot-hooks or pieces of steel wire shaped like an S. Their use will +be obvious. If we have three of them it is quite easy to keep three +kettles going over one fire. They swing cheek by jowl when they all +want the same amount of fire, but each can be raised or lowered an +inch or several inches to let them respectively boil, simmer or just +keep warm. + +These are the cooking utensils. A biscuit tin would make an oven and +Gertrude says she must have an oven. For my part I would not attempt +baking when camping out and I will say no more about ovens, except +that all the biscuit tins in the world won't beat a hole in the ground +first filled with blazing sticks and then with the things to be baked +and covered with turves till they are done. + +I had great difficulty in persuading Gertrude to feed out of tin +dishes like those which we use sometimes for making shallow round +cakes or setting the toffee in. They are ever so much better than +plates, being deep enough for soup-plates and not easy to upset when +you use them on your lap. Any number of the same size will go into one +another and a dozen scarcely take up more room than one. + +It was worse still when it came to a still more useful substitute, the +camp equivalent of the teacup. In the first place we abolish the +saucer, for the simple reason that we have no earthly use for it in +camp. We take tin mugs with sloping sides and wire bucket handles. +They fit into one another in the same accommodating way as the eating +dishes. Gertrude was nearly put off this device altogether by Basil's +remark that he had only seen them in use in poulterers' shops, where +they are put under hares' noses.... + +"Basil, you, you monster," cried Gertrude, and I had to push those tin +mugs as though I had been a traveller interested in the sale of them. + +The drinking of hot tea out of these mugs is quite a beautiful art. +You hold the wire handle between finger and thumb and put the little +finger at the edge of the bottom rim. It is thus able to tilt the mug +to the exact angle which is most convenient for drinking. When +Gertrude had learnt the trick, she became perfectly enamoured of the +mugs. She sometimes brings one out at ordinary afternoon tea and +insists that the tea is ever so much better drunk thus than out of +spode. + +Smaller mugs of the same shape do for egg-cups, and the egg-spoons I +take to camp are the bone ones, seldom asked for but easy to get in +most oil-and-colour shops. Dessert spoons and forks and table knives +are of the usual pattern, but the former can be had in aluminium and +therefore much lighter than Britannia metal. + +The camping-out valise is by all means the rucksack. Never the +knapsack. I am almost ashamed to say this, because as far as my +knowledge goes the knapsack is now obsolete. It may be, however, that +it lingers here and there. If you see one, buy it for a museum if you +like but not for use. The bundle should be allowed to fit itself to +the back, as it does in a canvas bag. Suppose now that you fix the V +point of a pair of braces somewhere near the top of the sack and +bringing the webs over your shoulders, fix them, nicely adjusted, to +the lower corners of the sack, it will ride quite comfortably upon +your back--that is, you have made it from a plain sack into a rucksack +or back-sack. Get or make as many good large strong ones as you have +shoulders in the party to carry them. Have them made of a waterproof +canvas, green or brown, to reeve up tight with strong cord passed +through a series of eyelet-holes and, if you would be quite certain of +keeping out the rain, with a little hood to cover the reeved bag end. + +The great bulk of your luggage you will generally find it best to +carry by wheeling it on a bicycle. Spread your ground-sheet on the +floor. On that lay your blankets, doubled so as to make a smaller +square, tent, mattress cover and bed suits on that, then your camping +utensils and all other paraphernalia and roll the whole up into a +sausage about five feet long, when the loose ends of the ground-sheet +have been tucked over as in a brown-paper parcel. Tie it well with +whipcord and fasten it to the top bar of your bicycle frame, leaving +freedom of course for the handles and the front wheel to move and +steer. Push the tent-poles through the lashings and start for your +camp at a comfortable four or five miles an hour. You will find it +easy to move camp at the rate of twenty miles a day and will see a +great deal of country in the course of a fortnight. + +The sausage on the bicycle shown in the illustration may be taken to +contain all the gear and a little food. The rucksacks will take the +rest and each man's most precious personal belongings. There is a +small parcel tied to the handle-bar, scarcely to be seen because it is +smaller than the end of the sausage. It is a complete tent tied up in +its ground-sheet. + +C.R. FREEMAN. + + + + +HOW MUCH SHOULD WE EAT: A WARNING. + +_This article, by one of the pioneers of modern dietetics, is in the +nature of a challenge, and is certain to arouse discussion among all +who have studied the food question closely._--[EDS.] + + +When men lived on their natural food, quantities settled themselves. +When a healthy natural appetite had been sated the correct quantity of +natural food had been taken. + +To-day all this is upside down, there is no natural food and only too +often no natural healthy appetite either. Thus the question of +quantity is often asked and many go wrong over it. The all-sufficient +answer to this question is: "Go back to the foods natural to the human +animal and this, as well as a countless number of other problems, will +settle themselves." + +But supposing that this cannot be done, suppose, as is often the case, +that the animal fed for years on unnatural food has become so +pathological that it can no longer take or digest its natural food? + +Those who take foods which are stimulants are very likely to overeat, +and when they leave off their stimulants they are equally likely to +underfeed themselves. Flesh foods are such stimulants, for it is +possible to intoxicate those quite unaccustomed to them with a large +ration of meat just as well as with a large ration of alcohol. The one +leads to the other, meat leads to alcohol, alcohol to meat. Taking any +stimulant eventually leads to a call for other stimulants. + +How are we to tell when a given person is getting enough food, either +natural or partly natural? Medically speaking, there is no difficulty; +there are plenty of guides to the required knowledge, some of them of +great delicacy and extreme accuracy. The trouble generally is that +these guides are not made use of, as the cause of the disaster is not +suspected. A physiologist is not consulted till too late, perhaps till +the disorder in the machinery of life is beyond repair. + +Diminishing energy and power, decreasing endurance, slowing +circulation, lessening blood colour, falling temperature, altered +blood pressure, enlarging heart and liver, are some of the most +obvious signs with which the physician is brought into contact in such +cases. But every one of these may, and very often does, pass unnoticed +for quite a long time by those who have had no scientific training. +The public are extremely ignorant on such matters because the natural +sciences have been more neglected in this country in the last fifty +years than anywhere else in Europe, and that is saying a good deal. +Hence diet quacks and all those who trade on the ignorance and +prejudices of the public are having a good time and often employ it in +writing the most appalling rubbish in reference to the important +subject of nutrition. + +Being themselves ignorant and without having studied physiology, even +in its rudiments, they do not appear to consider that they should at +least abstain from teaching others till they have got something +certain for themselves. + +If the public were less ignorant they would soon see through their +pretensions; but, as it is, things go from bad to worse, and it is not +too much to say that hundreds of lives have been lost down this sordid +by-path of human avarice. + +On one single day a few weeks ago the writer heard of three men, two +of whom had been so seriously ill that their lives were in danger, and +one of whom had died. The certified cause of death in this case might +not have led the uninitiated to suspect chronic starvation, but those +who were behind the scenes knew that this was its real cause. A +further extraordinary fact was that two out of these three men were +members of the medical profession, whose training in physiology ought, +one would have thought, to have saved them from such errors. + +The conclusion seems to be that they did not use their knowledge +because at first they had no suspicion of the real cause of their +illness. In other words, chronic starvation is insidious and, if no +accurate scientific measurements are made, its results, being +attributed to other causes, are often allowed to become serious before +they are properly treated. + +These three men went wrong by following a layman quite destitute of +physiological training, who APPEARED to have produced some wonderful +results in himself and others on extraordinarily small quantities of +food. + +If the above tests had been made at once by a trained hand the error +involved in such results could not have escaped detection, and none of +these men would have endangered their lives. I myself examined the +layman in question and finding him not up to standard refused to +follow him. The writer has no difficulty in recalling at least a dozen +cases similar to those above mentioned which have been under his care +in the last twelve months, and the three above mentioned were none of +them under his care at the time of their danger. + +What, then, must be our conclusions in reference to these and similar +facts of which it is only possible to give a mere outline here? I +suggest that they are:-- + +1. Food quantities are of extreme importance. + +2. These quantities were settled by physiologists many years ago, and +no good reasons have since been adduced for altering them. + +3. The required quantity is approximately nine or ten grains of +proteid per day for each pound of bone and muscle in the body weight. + +4. Any considerable departure from this quantity continued over months +and years leads to disaster. + +5. The nature of this disaster may appear to be very various and its +real cause is thus frequently overlooked. + +I will say a few words about each of these except the first, which is +already obvious. The layman above mentioned asserted that he could +live on but little more than half this quantity, but the food quantity +really required is that which will keep up normal strength, normal +circulation, normal colour, normal temperature and normal mental +power. As we have got perfectly definite standards of all these normal +conditions, serious danger can only be run into by neglecting to +measure them. + +It is also possible to tell fairly accurately the quantity of food a +man is taking in a day, and then, by collecting and estimating his +excreta, the quantity also out of this food which he is utilising +completely and burning up in his body. + +You would say that no danger should be possible with all these +safeguards, and yet the above case history shows that of two trained +physiologists, members of the medical profession, one died at least +twenty years before his time, and the other was in great danger and +only recovered slowly and with difficulty. Another similar case came +to the writer suffering from increasing debility and what appeared to +be some form of dyspepsia. He was quite unable to pass any of the +above-named tests as to physiological standards, and an investigation +of his excreta showed that his food was at least one-fifth or +one-sixth below its proper quantity and had probably been so for many +months past. Some of his doctors had been giving his "disease" a more +or less long list of names and yet had not noted the one essential +fact of chronic defective nutrition and its cause--underfeeding. +Naturally their treatment was of no avail, but when he had been sent +to a nursing home and had put back the 20 lbs. of weight he had lost +he came slowly back to more normal standards and is now out of danger. +In this case there was marked loss of weight, and few people, one +would think, would overlook such a sign of under nutrition. But loss +of weight is not always present in these cases, at least not at first. +Some people tend to grow stout on deficient proteid, and then the fact +that some of the essential tissues of the body (the muscles, the heart +and the blood) are being dangerously impoverished is very likely to be +overlooked. In the case last mentioned the loss of weight was put down +to the dyspepsia, whereas the real fact was that the "dyspepsia" and +loss of weight were both results of a chronic deficiency in food. + +It is evident that some care about food quantities must be taken by +all those who do not live on natural foods. For physiologists there is +no difficulty in settling the question of quantity in accordance with +the signs of the physiology of a normal body. That all, even +physiologists, may run into danger if, while living on unnatural or +partly unnatural foods, or while making any change of food, they do +not consider the question of quantity with sufficient care. + +That the question of nutrition should be considered in relation to +_every illness_ even though it may appear on the surface to have no +direct connection with foods or quantities. As a matter of fact, the +nature of the food and its quantity controls all the phenomena of +life. Some twenty years ago most people lived fairly close to the old +physiological quantities, now they have been cut adrift from these and +completely unsettled and are floundering out of their depth. A most +unsatisfactory, even dangerous, condition of affairs. + +For the public it will now probably suffice if they insist on raising +the question of quantity whenever they suffer in any way. If they are +unable to answer the question themselves let them go to a trained +physiologist who can do so, and not to a diet quack. But muscular +strength, endurance, mental and bodily energy, skin circulation, +temperature and blood colour are all things which the public can see +for themselves and from which they should in all cases be able to get +sufficient warning to save them from the worst forms of disaster. + +Some people imagine that they eat very little, when as a matter of +fact they have good healthy appetites. Others again think they are +eating a great deal, when as a matter of fact they take very little. +In both cases a physiological test of the excreta will give accurate +information. I once had a medical patient who imagined that he +produced great amounts of force and performed feats of endurance on +wonderfully small quantities of food. His excreta showed, however, +that he was merely under-estimating the food he took. A fat man may +seem to be living on very little, but fat does not require to be fed, +and his real bone and muscle weight is not large. A thin man may seem +to require a large quantity of food, but he is really very heavy in +bone and muscle, the tissues that have to be nourished. In all these +ways appearances are apt to be deceptive for those who are ignorant of +science and who do not go down to the root of the matter. + +It is not necessary to follow the given quantity of grains per pound +slavishly and without regard to consequences. It is necessary to see +that the required physiological results are obtained. + +If a patient says he can live on less than I ordered for him and if +he can pass the physiological tests satisfactorily I know that his +bone and muscle weight has been over-estimated. On the other hand, if +a patient falls below the physiological tests, though taking and +digesting the quantities ordered for him, I conclude that his bone and +muscle weight has been under-estimated. + +In all cases it is possible to obtain the best physiological results +and to say when quantities are just right, neither too much nor too +little. + +The evil effects of too much are not serious; they entail perhaps a +little "gout" or some temporary loss of freedom from waste products. + +The evil effects of too little, if persevered in and continued, +especially if some of these effects are attributed to causes which +have no real existence, are deadly and dangerous, for they bring on an +insidious deterioration both of function and structure which leads by +several avenues, often miscalled "diseases," to death itself. + +M.D. + + + + +HEALTHY BRAINS. + +_Comparatively few health enthusiasts or food reformers realise the +necessity for mental, as distinct from bodily, hygiene, yet all real +health has its roots in the mind. Moreover, it is only by studying the +hygiene of mind that we are enabled to do work in greater quantity and +of better quality than we should otherwise be capable of, and to do +this without risk of strain on the nerves or injury to health. The +articles under this heading put forward some of the elementary laws of +mental hygiene._--[EDS.] + + +IMAGINATION IN USE. + +To some people any talk about the importance of training the +imagination of children through their toys, games and studies seems +fantastic and trivial. They compare it to feeding them on sweetmeats; +they think it means substituting story books for real life and +encouraging the easy exercise of fancy for the careful study of fact. + +But imagination is not a mere ornament to a life-work; it is rather +one of its most valuable and necessary tools. If it did no more than +sweeten and adorn the world, it would be well worth having, well worth +making considerable sacrifices to attain. But it does more than this. +It bears much fruit as well as flowers; fruit that, if it ripens in +suitable weather, endures and can be used for the service of man. + +There is a wonderful palm-tree, called the Tal or Palmyra palm, which +in India and Ceylon supports six or seven millions of people, and +"works" also in West Africa, where it is probably native. It gives its +young shoots and unripe seeds as food; its trunk makes a whole boat, +or a drum or a walking-stick, according to size; hats, mats, thread +and baskets--in fact, almost all kinds of clothing and utensils--are +made from the split and plaited leaves; gum comes from it, and certain +medicines, jaggery sugar too and an intoxicating drink for those who +desire it. In one of the museums at Kew--a wet day brings always +_something_ besides disappointment--there is a book made up of the +very leaves of the palm, containing a Tamil poem enumerating more than +eight hundred human uses to which this marvellous single plant can be +put. + +Now the imagination is like a Palmyra palm. We stand a long way off +and, looking up, say "What a graceful tree! But what a pity it +produces that intoxicating 'toddy' and nothing else!" Yet all the +while food and clothing and shelter and travel and learning are all +wrapped up in it, if only we were not too ignorant to guess, or too +idle to seek. + +We talk as if the poet and painter had need of imagination, but not +the student, the doctor, the philanthropist, the business man, whereas +none of these can do work at a really human standard without +imagination that is living, penetrating, active and yet trained and +disciplined. + +A recent illuminating address to a body of students pointed out that +Germany's immense industrial strides have been made possible by an +education which draws men's minds out of narrow old grooves, and helps +them to see and grasp wider possibilities. But the same speaker went +on to point out that the English worker has far more real initiative +and imagination than the German, and that in our own country we have +not even to make elaborate plans for developing these qualities, but +rather to release them in our administrators so far as to prevent +actually checking them in the children now growing up. + +Imagination in business, for instance, means new possibilities, fresh +sources of supply and fresh markets to demand, economy of working and +better adjustment of work to worker, so as to have less waste of our +greatest capital, human time and power. America has taught us +something in these respects; what we must do is to take what new light +she has developed, while keeping our long-grown, well-earned skill +which she has not had the chance to make. + +In research work, again, we need perpetually the synthetic and +constructive imagination if individual work is not to become narrowly +specialised and shut off from other divergent or parallel lines which +would illuminate it. The other day I was told of a great surgeon who +not only has six or seven assistants to help him in his immediate +tasks, but also, since he is too busy in the service of humanity to +have time for reading, has eight trained assistants whose business it +is to read in many languages what is being done all over the civilised +world in his own line, and keep him informed as to the development of +experience. A wonderful advance on the crystallisation of individual +method, this, and yet it needed but the imaginative projection upon +scientific work of what every business firm and every political unit +has long done. + +To transfer to our own concerns a method developed elsewhere is one of +the most valuable services imagination can render. Almost all +educational reform comes about thus, most mechanical inventions, a +great part of economy and comfort in individual homes. Also, besides +these particular advantages, the incessant coming and going between +the different fields of activity, the circulation of attention which +this use of the imagination involves, tends to vitalise and enrich +not only the individuals who carry it out, but the whole social +organism of which they form part. + +Upon the moral side not much need be said. "Put yourself in his place" +is a very old and respectable recipe for growing justice in one's +conduct, consideration in one's speech, sympathy in one's heart. As +employer or magistrate, as teacher or nurse, as customer or shopman, +as parent or husband or child we must all deal somehow with our +fellow-men: honestly and truthfully, we mean, kindly and helpfully, we +hope. But is it not the more or the less of our imagination that makes +such dealings possible? Without it, we are cruel because of something +we do not feel, unjust because there is something we do not know, +unwittingly deceitful because there is something we do not understand. +With it, our justice will support, our kindness uplift, our attempt at +help will not be barren, but will awake response and raise the whole +level of our human intercourse into a region of higher possibilities. + +E.M. COBHAM. + + + + +FUTURIST GARDENING. + +TO-MORROW'S FLOWERS. + + +These three months of July, August and September are the second +seed-time. I think they must be the most proper sowing-time, for is it +not clear that Nature sows seed, not in spring, but in autumn? At any +rate, now we can do more towards making a perpetually beautiful flower +garden than in any other season. The biennials, those that blossom in +their second year of life and those jolly perennials that come up year +after year and always stronger than before, without any trouble on our +part, are best started in life not too long before the winter. +Spring-sown seed sometimes forgets that it is biennial and blossoms +rather futilely the same summer, and at other times it grows so lush +and large by winter that it cannot stand the frost. + +Now we see the flowers in blossom in the vineyards of our friend +Naboth and we know which we should most like in our own garden. There +is an exquisite joy in begging or stealing a few seeds and bringing +them home to blossom for us as they did for Naboth. I carry at this +time a few small envelopes bought for a few pence a hundred at +Straker's, and whenever I see something nice in seed I bag it. In +another week it would drop beneath the plant it grew on and, not being +cared for by a gardener, would be smothered or hoed up. In a nice +little seed-bed all to itself it can unfold all manner of pleasure for +its abductor. + +Plant your flower seeds on a nice ripe, rich bed--that is, one +compounded of old and even half-used manure. Keep the seedlings +watered as they grow and by judicious pricking-out give them the room +they need. About October you can plant the best of them in the place +where you want a good bush next year, and, if it is a perennial, you +have for many years to come a beautiful plant with a personal history. +Even if you have bought your penn'orth of seed there may be a pleasant +anecdote connected with it. My garden is at present amazingly blue +with Dropmore Alkanet (Anchusa). Three years ago I bought three seeds +for a penny. Two of them came up. I slashed up the plants and now I +have half-a-dozen clumps as well as a similar number left in the old +garden whence I have removed. + +If you asked me what kinds of seed in particular you ought to plant +for perennial flowers just now, I might want many more pages to tell +you in. Let me give you a very short list of those that most appeal to +me on the spur of the moment. It will be enough to go on with:-- + + Trollius (globe flower). + Helianthemum (rock rose). + Epilobium (willow herb). + + Hollyhock. + Echinops (globe thistle). + Anchusa Italica, Dropmore variety. + + Lupine. + Tritoma (red-hot poker). + Heuchera (coral-root). + Yarrow. + + Lychnis (garden campion). + Inula (Elecampane). + Funkia (Plaintain lily). + Eremurus. + +This list is representative because it includes some species, such as +Eremurus, Trollius and Tritoma, that are not usually grown from seed +by the amateur. To raise these rather expensive monsters from +pennyworths of seed is a floral adventure which brings its own +abundant reward. + +I should be very proud of a garden that consisted entirely of plants +that I had raised from seed. It might be one that had never had +anything else in or the seedlings might gradually oust the bulbs and +corms and grown plants with which the garden began. There would be +many things there intrinsically as well as extrinsically valuable. +Carnation seed, for example, is constantly producing new varieties, +and to grow rose seedlings is even to court fortune. It is a long time +before you see your rose. The seed takes sometimes two years to +germinate, and then you have to wait a year or two before you get a +typical blossom. The growers hurry matters by cutting a very tiny bud +from the first sprout and splicing that on to an older stock. One of +the advantages of having your roses grown from seed and on their own +stocks would be that they could not produce wild suckers. + +I have just seen a wonderful grove of Aquilegias, the glorified +columbine which has the centre of one colour and the outside petals of +another--sulphur with mauve or yellow with pink, and many other +varieties. The nucleus was grown from shop seed and the rest from the +seed of the first-comers. The only thing to choose between them is +that the new ones have produced a least one variety not represented in +the first batch. You may be sure that I am going to get some seed +from here and raise some Aquilegias for myself. Good reader, go thou +and do likewise. + +G.G. DESMOND. + + + + +MIDSUMMER MADNESS. + + +We had come, "3.7" and I, to the Boundary, a white, unpaved road which +winds across the full width of Wimbledon Common, from the old Roman +camp to the windmill. Simultaneously we cried a halt, I because I +never cross that road without some hesitation, he because he wanted to +get out of the folding go-cart in which he had been riding and turn +it, with the aid of a small piece of string and a big piece of +imagination, into a 40-horse-power motor car. + +On the map the road is not called the Boundary. If you want to know +why I call it so I can only say that once you have crossed it things +are different; I do not mean a difference merely of country or +scenery, but a difference of atmosphere; better, and more literally, a +change of spirit. To put it bluntly, I never knew the reality of +fairyland until I blundered across that road one grey gusty evening +ten years ago, and heard the tall grasses whistling in the wind. Since +then the road has always been a frontier, not to be crossed without +preparation. + +As "3.7" tumbled out of his go-cart I looked at my watch and saw it +lacked but a few minutes to noon. It was just such a cloudless June +day as must have inspired Shelley's _Hymn of Apollo_. No smallest +cloud to break the dazzling blue; and, high above our heads, Apollo, +standing "at noon upon the peak of heaven." + +If it had been Midsummer Day I should have thought twice about +crossing the Boundary. As it was, we were quite near enough to the +24th of June to make it risky. So, as "3.7" bent a tangled head over +the bonnet of his Daimler, I flung myself down on the level turf +beside him and stared across the road. + +Behind us and on either side were clumps of gorse bushes, and beyond +them the immense level expanse of the open heath. Immediately in front +was the road, sunk a foot beneath the turf, which comes right up to +it, both on this side and that. + +"Another piece of string, please," said "3.7," rummaging in my pockets +without waiting for an answer, "and a pencil, and----" + +And then I saw it. On the farther side of the road there is a stretch +of short turf, some hundred yards wide; and beyond that an irregular +line of silver birches; and beyond that the blue of distant hills, for +the Common slopes down where the trees begin. Between the silvery wood +and the road, through the midst of the wide belt of turf, and parallel +with the Boundary, ran a river. There was nothing to be much surprised +at, for it was just the kind of river you would expect to see running +through the fields of fairyland. It was a river of grass. + +It was the slender-stalked, tufted, not very tall, grey-headed grass +that grows quite generally in open country and wild places. But the +wind and the sun now turned it into a river which ran fast between its +banks of green, its waves silvery grey, quick-flowing waves, gleaming +and dappled, an endless succession. It flowed from somewhere out of +sight in the west, and disappeared to the east over the edge of the +great slope that brings you down to the woods, vanishing, to all +intents and purposes, over the edge of the world. + +Without taking my eyes off this astonishing spectacle I stretched out +a hand and, catching "3.7" by the edge of his white smock, told him to +run across the road to the grass and--paddle in it. I said it was +better than motor cars. He made no comment on this but, after glancing +warily up and down the road (for he has been brought up in wholesome +awe of the entire tribe of automobiles), he crossed the Boundary, ran +across the turf and plunged up to his knees in the river. + +I cannot be certain, but it is my considered opinion that Apollo +stopped his golden chariot for the space of a whole minute to look +down at the golden-haired boy wading in that noiseless, fast-flowing +river. + +In another minute "3.7" was back at my side, both hands full of the +tufted grass he had pulled. I regret to say he tickled my ear with it. + + * * * * * + +Honest, solemn reader, ardent food reformer, keen educationist, +clear-headed moralist, practical-minded housewife, I tell you frankly +there is no moral to this little episode. It throws no light on what +to eat, or on the purchasing power of an English shilling, or on the +ethical training of young children, or on the nature of neurasthenia. +Fairyland, of course, is a childish fiction, Apollo a solar myth, a +road is a road, grass is grass and heaven is a state of mind. I quite +agree with you. But let me whisper something in your ear. If you +should ever blunder across your Boundary, don't be surprised if things +look queer on the other side; above all, whatever you do, don't let +any strange river you may find flowing there carry you away, or it may +bring you, spite of all your protests, through one of the gates of +pearl into the City of God. + +EDGAR J. SAXON. + + + + +A SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR MENTAL HEALING. + + +There is a vast amount of loose talk, and innumerable assertions from +irresponsible individuals concerning the wonders that have been +achieved by Mental Healing, but naturally the scientist and physician, +when dealing with such a question as this, has to put aside, not all +enthusiasm, but certainly all emotionalism, and then, most carefully +sift the evidence laid before him. The scientist here wants hard, dry, +irrefutable facts; the responsible physician requires to know--by his +own careful diagnosis or by an array of tabulated facts--the condition +of the patient before and after treatment--that is, of the one who +claims to have been cured by mental means. Innumerable claims are +thus being made by patients and others, so that it is imperative for +the unbiased physician at all events to consider the above question; +this in order to give a reason for the faith that is in him, when he +is known to be one of those who favour the metaphysical means of +healing. Even the sciolist in the matter knows that in the case, say, +of blushing, or blanching of the face, the action of mind over +matter--of the body--is palpable; all admit that the quality of joy, +for instance, will prove a splendid tonic; that despair, on the other +hand, will pull down the bodily condition. But all this, we shall be +told, is unconscious action; true, but fortunately we are now aware +that by a forceful action of the will we can _consciously_ direct or +derivate, as the case may be, currents of nerve-force to any part of +the body. Occultists have known this for many centuries. Joy, hope, +faith: these are very potent factors in improving the health +conditions--simply because they act upon the sympathetic nervous +system, and this latter acts upon the circulation. Happiness dilates +the blood-vessels. Fear contracts them. Thus, unbounded faith; renewed +hope; sudden joy; enforced will-power; all have a marked effect upon +bringing about an equilibriated condition of the circulation--just the +same as a hot bath does, though not so rapidly or so perceptibly. +Further, we must remember that all disease more or less is a stasis, a +congestion, somewhere; we have only to dissipate this; to separate the +cells; to expand the part, as it were, and "resolution," as we call it +in congestion of the lungs, takes place. So that it seems to me that +we can fairly claim a strictly scientific basis for Mental Healing. I +have always, however, maintained that the attitude of the patient's +own mind has much to do with the result: in his consciousness there +must be faith and hope in order to get the best effect. + +Judging, then, of the very remarkable and palpable changes which +anyone can see occur on such superficial parts as the face and +extremities, I can see no reason that, by an enforced mental action, +the deeper parts--including any hidden diseased part--should not be +altered for good. I am very confident that it is upon these lines, +coupled, as they can always be, with advice as to clean feeding and +right living generally, the physician of the future will largely +depend for his cures. Thus we are fully justified in not only trying +the system on "functional," but also for "organic," cases. + +J. STENSON HOOKER, M.D. + + + + +A SIGNIFICANT CASE. + +ACCOUNT OF A FAST, UNDERTAKEN FOR THE CURE OF A PROFOUND BLOOD +DISEASE. + + +The following account of a fast is worthy of attention. It is rigidly +accurate _in principle_, as far as I could make it so, and I am +responsible for its truthfulness. But the subject of it, feeling that +he is engaged in a duty and "labour of love," as he expresses it, is +yet naturally anxious to prevent his identity from being discovered; +and so, while the facts of the narrative are true in principle they +have been varied in a few details for the purpose of preventing the +recognition of the subject of them. + +They occurred in the history of a man of about 40 years of age, who +fell ill of an infectious disease some 20 years ago, while living +abroad. The exact time of the infection is not known. The patient was +treated by qualified doctors living in the same country as himself, +and there is no reason to believe that he was not properly and +skilfully treated. He had, however, for years buoyed himself up with +the hope that he should be able to come to England for the best +treatment, and recently he found himself in this country for that +purpose. It goes without saying that the eminent men consulted treated +him after the most modern and approved methods, which were also, so +far as knowledge goes, the most likely to benefit him. Not only as to +treatment must it be assumed that the best was done, but the diagnosis +also is supported by the authority of the doctors seen, and was +confirmed by physiological and pathological investigation. This would +be recognised if it were possible to publish names, places and dates +which are withheld from the courteous reader for the reason already +given. I can only say that I entirely concur in the diagnosis and in +the suitability of the treatment. + +The man came under my care on a Sunday, the fast, which is the subject +matter of this communication, having been commenced on the Friday six +weeks before that day, the last food having been taken on the Thursday +at 5 P.M. I saw him, therefore, on the forty-fifth day of the fast. +His pulse was 59, soft, steady, regular. Temp. 96.8 degrees, about 11 +A.M. He was able to be up, and walked actively, all his bodily +movements being active and his mind quite clear and rational. His +weight on the day after I first saw him was, in the same clothes as +when weighed at the beginning of the fast, 129½ lbs. He said he +weighed 171 lbs. on the machine at the commencement, and therefore the +loss of bodily weight up to that time was 41.5 lbs. The average loss +of weight during the 46 days of the fast was about nine-tenths of a +pound daily if the 41.5 lbs. loss is divided by the 46 days of the +continuance of the fast up to that time--41.5/46=.9 lbs. almost +exactly. + +When he came to my consulting room on the forty-sixth day, about 2.15 +P.M., the pulse was 64, temp. 95.6 degrees (thermometer 3 minutes +under tongue). He was much troubled with a nasty expectoration of +mucus. His breath was very offensive. No enlarged glands could be felt +in either groin--perhaps a trifling enlargement in the right. In +middle of front border of right tibia a little irregularity is felt, +and a small hollow, which he thinks is filling up; but it might be +that the exudation on the bone immediately above and below the hollow +is somewhat reduced, as this would equally give the suggestion that +the hollow is filling up. There is a similar but rather smaller +irregularity on the left tibia also. He felt rather weak that day, +which he attributed to not having had his usual walk the day before. +The nasal cavity consists of a large grey septumless cavern showing +dry crusts. The issuing breath is most offensive. Patient had drunk +freely of water, he said, to the extent of 4 or 5 quarts a day during +the fast but when I said--do you mean that you have been taking over a +gallon of water daily?--he rather hesitated, and did not think it was +so much as that. He had not measured it and had taken it cold usually, +though occasionally hot, and had taken it without stint as he wanted +it. On the forty-eighth day of the fast he complained of being weak +but worst of all, he said, his breath was very offensive to himself. +It was so to me also--faint, fetid, putrid. His sense of smell was +greatly impaired, so much so that he could not smell the offensiveness +of the bowel-excreta which came away every day on using the +gravitation-enema, and which were horrible to by-standers. It would +seem from this as if his distress at the bad smell of his breath was +probably due to a perversion of the sense of smell, which can be +easily understood if we reflect that the disease-process was going on +in the region where the smell-apparatus is specially located. The +temperature was 96.2 degrees that morning the patient said. At 2 P.M. +when I saw him the pulse was 68, regular, even, steady. He says he was +feverish last night. I suppose he felt hot. He sleeps well, but says +he hears the clogs of the mill-hands as they go to their work in the +mornings. Has lost 2 lbs. weight in last 2 days. Temp. 93.6 degrees to +my observation 2.30 P.M. Says he feels "done at the stomach." His +voice is poor. Expectorates somewhat freely. A small blob of green +thickish mucus in ordinary white mucus came away in my presence. Urine +acid 1010. No glucose. Faint trace of albumin to heat and picric +acid: also to nitric acid. The right lachrymal punctum is blocked; the +tears run down the cheek; and I failed to get even a hair-thick wire +into it. Evening, pulse 65, temp. 97.2 degrees in bed with hot-water +bottle. Fæces most offensive, no bowel-excreta coming away except to +enema. Forty-ninth day. In bed, temp. 97.2 degrees, pulse 65, soft, +steady, regular. No great emaciation of limbs. Showed me some green +expectoration. He says it is from Salvarsan as it is exactly like what +he was injected with! The motion to the enema as offensive as before, +but the breath is less offensive to me: not so fetid. + +On this day patient completed 7 weeks of fasting. Feels sick and as if +he would vomit. About midday he did vomit about a teaspoonful of dark +green stuff, very bitter and acid (bile, I should call it, though he +calls it "pure citric acid") and immediately after that he got rid of +a motion without the use of the enema, brown, dark and very offensive +still. I think the breath, however, is rather less offensive; and so I +thought also two days ago. Temp. 97, pulse 67, soft, steady, regular; +about 1.30 P.M. In bed since fiftieth day of fast. Not feeling very +ill and not specially emaciated, though the buttocks are thinning; but +legs and thighs and arms and forearms not specially thin. He came to +me to be weighed on the forty-ninth day and weighed 127½ lbs. +Fifty-second day of fast. Still in bed. Condition much the same as to +pulse, temperature, etc., and as to emaciation so far as observation +goes. Remained in bed, not because unable to be up, but because he +thought it would be better for him to be resting. On the fifty-fourth +day, as he still felt sick, I gave him, at his request, an emetic in +the form of 10 grains of copper-sulphate. This was followed by +sickness after about an hour, when he got rid of a very little of the +same green stuff as before. Bile? But the difficulty is to understand +how, after all this time of fasting, he should still feel sick and +with inclination to vomit. On the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth days of +the fast he remained in bed, the condition being much the same. On +Thursday, the fifty-sixth day, he broke the fast at 5 P.M., just 8 +weeks after beginning it. He had meant to go on for 60 days, and I did +not think that there would have been any danger in his doing so; but I +did not press him to continue any longer. He took 3 oranges on that +day; and on the Friday he took 5 more. I advised him not to increase +the quantity of food too quickly. The breath has been quite sweet +during the last two days. He has been too weak to take enemata, so we +cannot say if motions would still have been offensive. And as there is +no weighing machine in his room, we don't know the exact loss of +weight sustained during the fast, though there is no reason to think +that it has averaged more than .9 lb. a day. Up to the time of +stopping the enemata, pieces of mucous membrane and mucus itself came +away from the bowel, and the motions were very offensive. He seems to +have a mucous enteritis without fever. + +On the fourth day after breaking the fast, patient took 6 oranges, 4 +apples and a banana; and he ordered much more food, which, however, I +advised him not to take. On this day his bowels were opened naturally, +with a very offensive motion. But the breath was much sweeter, in fact +not offensive at all. + +On the sixth day he came to my consulting-room and weighed 128 lbs. +Pulse 80, soft, steady, regular. He had not slept all night and had +had to be up no fewer than 6 times to have his bowels opened. No +diarrhoea, he said, but full motions, the first 3 very offensive. +Breath not offensive. Has dry pharyngitis and is complaining of sore +throat. + +Next day. Weight 133 lbs. Bowels acted again, 1 A.M., 3 A.M., 6 A.M., +9 A.M. and 1 P.M. Large motions. I told him I thought he was taking +too much food. Pulse 104. Not sleeping well. Complained of sore +throat. + +Eighth day. Weight 138 lbs., a gain of 5 lbs. a day for 2 days. Pulse +80 at 7 A.M. (his own statement), at 2.30 P.M. pulse 100, temp. 99.4 +degrees. Bowels acted at 12 midnight, 3.30 A.M. and about 11 A.M. Went +that day to have his photograph taken. The throat was better. Tongue +dry and leathery. It was plain to me that he was taking too much food. +He was having a mixed diet and taking much and often. He said his +"mouth was coming to pieces," and in fact the mucous membrane was +glazed and peeling; also the lips. On the ninth day he returned home. + +The loss of weight can be seen from the following statement. On +commencing the fast the weight was 171 lbs. + + First day weight was 171 lbs. + Sixth day " " 165½ " + Seventh day " " 163½ " + Twelfth day " " 158 " + Fifteenth day " " 155½ " + Eighteenth day " " 150½ " + Twenty-fifth day " " 142½ " + Forty-seventh day " " 129½ " + Forty-ninth day " " 127½ " + +Fast ended on fifty-sixth day. On the sixth day after breaking the +fast the weight was 128 lbs. On the next day it had risen to 133 lbs. +and on the following day to 138 lbs. In the first 47 days of the fast +the loss of weight was 43.5 lbs., or an average loss of .888 lbs. +daily (43.5/49=.888 lbs.) The loss of weight for the last 8 days +before the fast was broken is not known as patient was in bed, though +it probably was at much the same rate as during the other times of the +fast when the weight was taken on the scales. + +The following comparative measurements are interesting. Of course he +had been eating for a week after the termination of his fast, so that +the measurements taken on that day would be higher probably than if +they had been taken seven days before, when he broke the fast. + + +BODILY MEASUREMENTS. + + _At Commencement_ _At Termination_ + _of Fast._ _of Fast._ + + Forearm 11 inches 9+5/8 inches + Arm 11½ " 8¾ " + Hips 38 " 32½ " + Thigh 21¼ " 16 " + Pelvis 37½ " 30½ " + Calf[1] 15¼ " 13½ " + Neck 14½ " 12½ " + Chest 38 " 31¼ to 34½ " + +[1] There was a bundle of varicose veins behind right calf. + +Patient kept a diary during his fast, but it does not seem necessary +to reproduce its statements here. It shows that he walked about during +the time, notes the state of the weather as foggy or very foggy or +freezing, mentions that water was taken, sometimes hot apparently, as +on 15th March, "after glass of hot water, pulse 70, temperature 98½ +degrees." No doubt drinking the hot water had elevated temporarily the +mouth-temperature, as it does. The diary also notes that he felt weak, +had a bath, or did not have a bath, notes the pulse-rate, etc., as +also the effects of the daily enemata. On the twenty-ninth day of the +fast he took a bottle of Apenta Water. Such are samples of statements +from the diary. + +A. RABAGLIATI, M.A., M.D. + +_The remainder of this article deals with conclusions of great +interest and value, and will appear in our next issue._--[EDS.] + + + + +HEALTHY LIFE RECIPES. + +SALADS AND SALAD DRESSINGS. + + +For salads it is not necessary to depend entirely upon the usual salad +vegetables such as lettuce, watercress, mustard and cress. + +The very finely shredded hearts of raw brussel sprouts are excellent, +and even the heart of a savoy cabbage. Then the finely chopped inside +sticks of a tender head of celery are very good; also young spinach +leaves, dandelion leaves, endive, sorrel and young nasturtium leaves. + +Then there are the onion family (for those who can take them), the +tender kinds, such as spring onion, chive and shallot being very good +when chopped finely and used as a minor ingredient in any salad. + +The root vegetables should also be added in their season, raw carrot, +turnip, beet, artichoke and leek, all finely grated. + +A taste for all the above-mentioned vegetables, eaten raw, is not +acquired all at once. It is best to begin by making the salad of the +ingredients usually preferred and mixing in a small quantity of one or +two of the new ingredients. + +For those who find salads very difficult to digest, it is best to +begin with French or cabbage lettuce and skinned tomatoes only, or, as +an alternative, a saucerful of watercress chopped very finely, as one +chops parsley. + +Any salad, however made up, should be served in as dainty and pleasing +a fashion as possible. It is, perhaps, usually best to serve it ready +chopped and shredded, and to allow each person at the table to take +his or her own helping of "dressing." + +English people seldom serve salad in the French fashion--that is, +quite dry, save that the dressing is well mixed in an hour before the +meal. Readers who have been to France may have seen French peasant +women whirling a wire salad-basket round their heads in order to dry +the materials after the cleansing has been done. When dry, the +green-stuff is torn with the hands, the dressing (and the French know +all about salad dressings) is added and the whole allowed to stand +some little time, so that by the time the meal is served there is a +complete blending of all flavours. + +Not everyone likes this method; but it is certainly better than the +customary method here, which too often leaves a little puddle of water +at the bottom of the bowl. + +There are many ways of preparing good salad dressing without resort to +vinegar, salt and pepper. The two prime necessities are (1) really +good oil and (2) some kind of fresh fruit juice. Most people prefer +lemon juice or the juice of fresh West Indian limes, well mixed into +either olive oil, nut oil or a blended oil such as the "Protoid Fruit +Oil" or Mapleton's Salad Oil. The ordinary "salad oils" obtainable at +grocers are seldom to be recommended; they almost invariably contain +chemical preservatives and other adulterants. It is better to have the +best oil and use it sparingly if need be, than take any faked product +just because it is cheap. + +With most people the addition of pure oil assists the digestion of the +salad, as well as serving other purposes in the body. + +Many excellent salad recipes and suggestions for novel yet simple +"dressings" will be found in _Unfired Food in Practice_, by Stanley +Gibbon.[2] + +[2] 1s. net; 1s. 1½d. post paid, from the office of _The Healthy +Life_, 3 Amen Corner, London, E.C. + + + + +PICKLED PEPPERCORNS. + +_This, which is a regular feature of THE HEALTHY LIFE, is not intended +as a household guide or home-notes column, but rather as an +inconsequent commentary on current thought._--[EDS.] + + + An interesting booklet by Raymond Blathwayt with samples of Bath + Mustard will be sent free on application to J. & J. Colman, Ltd. + (Dept. 49) Norwich.--Advt. in _Punch_. + +Rumours are also afloat that G.K. Chesterton has written a brilliant +booklet on Eiffel Tower Lemonade, and that the Attorney General has +been commissioned to write a highly interesting brochure on American +macaroni. + + * * * * * + + "I enclose you a photo of my baby, Willie, aged fifteen months. + He was given up by two doctors, and then I consulted another, who + advised me to try ----'s Food, which I did, and he is still + having it. You can see what a fine healthy boy he is now, and his + flesh is as hard as iron."--From an advt. in _Lady's Companion_. + +Evidently a case of advanced arterio-sclerosis. + + * * * * * + + HEALTH BISCUITS. Nice and Tasty, handled by our 55 salesmen + daily.--Advt. in _Montreal Daily Star_. + +One reason, perhaps, why both the public and the sales have +declined. + + * * * * * + + WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE FOR A PERFECT SKIN? + Is 3d. too much? + Many perfect skins to-day are traced to a single sample. + --Advt. in _Lady's Companion_. + +The price is reasonable; but I think I would rather see a sample +first, wouldn't you? + + * * * * * + + OUR SPECIAL FILLING FAST--Headline in _Daily News_. + +The correct antidote for the well-known "starvation of +over-repletion." + + * * * * * + + Cold Anniversary Raised Pie and New Potato Salad.--From the + _Seventh Anniversary Menu of The Eustace Miles Restaurant_. + +I am told that one old gentleman, misled by the chef's quite innocent +use of adjectives, protested to a waitress that the day was really +very warm; also that a youthful wag obliterated the initial C from his +menu with a pen-knife and then inquired which was the better vintage, +'06 or '09. + + * * * * * + + But to contend that there is no difference between a good yellow + man and a good white man is like saying that a vegetarian chop of + minced peas is like a chop of the chump variety.--_New Witness_. + +Chop-chop--as the good yellow man might be tempted to say if he came +upon this specimen of white wisdom. + + * * * * * + + Canvassers can make a very good profit by selling a patent + ladies' folding handbag, also wristlet watches.--Advt. in _Daily + Mail_. + +Nevertheless, the only place for a patent lady is a registry +office. + + * * * * * + + CAKEOMA PUDDING? You cannot know how delicious they are until you + have tasted them.--Advt. in _Lady's Companion_. + +One of the things that would never have occurred to you if you hadn't +seen it expressed so clearly. + + * * * * * + + SAXON.--How cruel of you. Although I have not the honour of cap + and gown, I do possess a Classical Dictionary. If I can help + further, write again. Regarding the recipe, it depends upon its + nature. Perhaps VERA is the lady to whom you should address your + question--_Lady's Companion_. + +My colleague, Mr Edgar J. Saxon, denies all knowledge of this affair. +But I do wish he would be a little more careful in future. + +PETER PIPER. + + + + +HEALTH QUERIES. + +_Under this heading Dr Knaggs deals briefly month by month, and +according as space permits, with questions of general interest._ + +_Correspondents are earnestly requested to write on one side only of +the paper, giving full name and address, not for publication, but as a +guarantee of good faith. When an answer is required by post a stamped +addressed envelope must be enclosed._--[EDS.] + + +CAN MALARIA BE PREVENTED? + + A. de L. (Lisbon) writes:--For five months I have been a strict + "fruitarian," and as I am obliged now to go to Mozambique + (Portuguese East Africa) to remain there five rears, I should be + much obliged to you if you kindly let me know what I must do to + prevent the African fever and biliousness which seem to afflict + all Europeans in that part of the world. Any hints you could give + me as to maintaining health in such a climate would be most + gratefully acknowledged. + +I do not think that it is possible for any European, whether he adopts +fruitarian or ordinary diet, to entirely escape malaria, since it is +caused by a minute parasite which is forced into the blood by a +certain form of biting mosquito. + +The parasite will, however, surely gain less hold on one whose blood +is clean and pure and whose vital force is strong, than on one who +dissipates his strength by partaking of meat, alcohol, tea, coffee and +other stimulants, or who otherwise gets his blood into a bad state by +faulty diet generally. + +Therefore, the thing this correspondent should do is to live as much +as possible upon the simple frugal fare of the natives. He can take +raw coker-nut freely and eat the fresh fruits which grow in this part +of Africa. If he can obtain pineapple or papaw he will find these +excellent to help him to retain his health and strength in this +country. + + +UNFIRED DIET FOR A CHILD: IS IT SUITABLE? + + Mrs L.B.F. writes:--My husband and I are much interested in _The + Healthy Life_, deriving much benefit and good advice from its + pages. It is the only magazine, we find, which answers questions + that we have long been puzzling over. Reading a work of the + "Montessori Method" of training children last night I was + disturbed to find I had, according to that book, been feeding my + little boy, aged three years, all wrong. It says: "Raw vegetables + should not be given to a child and not many cooked ones. Nuts, + dates, figs and all dried fruits should be withheld. Soups made + with bread, oil, bread and butter, milk, eggs, etc., are the + principal foods Dr Montessori recommends. She also advocates the + use of sugar." + + Our boy has nuts, ground and whole, all the fresh fruits and + dried ones, salads, brown bread and nut butter, sometimes dairy + butter, no milk, his food mostly uncooked, as we ourselves + believe in. If Dr Valentine Knaggs would give us his opinion on + this I should be very grateful. The boy is healthy, but I notice + a slight puffiness below the eyes of late in the morning. Also + his temper does not improve as he gets older. Will he be having + too much proteid (nuts) for one of his years, or is the temper + natural as a result of bad discipline. His father is away all + day, and mothers are, as a rule, soft marks, are they not? + +It is difficult to answer fully a question of this sort, as so much +depends on the child's temperament and environment. A frail, delicate +child with the promise of high mental development requires a finer and +softer grade of nutriment than one of a coarse animal nature with +strong, well-developed digestive organs. + +All healthy children, especially boys (as Mr Saxon will attest!), are +full of mischief and restlessness, which it is the duty of a mother or +a nurse to divert into right channels.[3] The display of temper is +probably an indication of this not being done, though it _may_ be due +in part to the raw diet not suiting the child. + +[3] This correspondent, and all mothers of difficult children, should +study the works of Mary Everest Boole, published by C.W. Daniel, Ltd.; +also _The Children All Day Long_, by E.M. Cobham.--[EDS.] + +The advice I would give would be to alter the diet and make it +lighter. + +From my point of view, Dr Montessori has not given sufficient +attention to the other side of the diet question, preferring to remain +more on the side of orthodoxy. Moreover, her own work has been done in +Italy, where a climate prevails which does not call for so free a use +of vegetables and salads as is the case in our own cooler and bleaker +clime. + +I suggest, as a beginning, the following diet might be tried, but it +is necessarily impossible to guarantee good results unless the cause +of the puffy eyes and temper have been definitely located by personal +examination:-- + +_On rising._--A raw ripe apple, finely grated, or simply scraped out +with a silver spoon. + +_Breakfast at 8._--A scrambled egg on a Granose biscuit with a little +finely chopped salad or finely grated; raw roots appetisingly served +with a dressing of oil, lemon juice and a little honey. This to be +followed by an "Ixion" or "P.R." biscuit, with fresh butter. + +_Dinner at 2._--Home-made cottage cheese, or cream cheese, or a nut +meat (served cold out of the tin, or, better still, home-made). Two +casserole-cooked vegetables, done with a little fruit juice and lemon +to retain colour. This to be followed by a baked apple with cream and +a little home-made, unfired pudding made of dried fruits. + +_Supper at 5._--A slice of "Maltweat" bread, and butter, and a cupful +of clear vegetable soup, or some hot water with some lemon juice +added, and slightly sweetened with a little honey. + + +GIDDINESS AND HEAD TROUBLE. + + Mrs L.B.F. also writes:--I sometimes think I must make dietetic + mistakes. My husband thinks I am perfectly healthy, so I do not + say anything of the giddiness in the morning and after eating, a + drowsiness and slight pain at the back of the head and underneath + one of my ears. Also under my eyes is on some mornings quite + swollen and puffed up. It is not so marked, but I am quite + conscious of it. Our diet consists mostly of a salad, with bread + or baked potato and cheese or ground nuts or cooked brussels + sprouts and a nut meat pie, apple pie and cream, with brown bread + and butter, or a raw fruit meal, nuts, apples, grapes, figs, + dates and no bread. + + Two meals a day, first in the morning at eight o'clock, second at + two or three in the afternoon. A glass of hot water with lemon at + nine P.M., and the same in the morning. I do some exercises night + and morning and am out in the fresh air often through the day. We + live in the country and I have every chance of keeping myself + healthy. Perhaps I should say I do not eat many nuts, finding + them rather difficult to digest. Should I use an enema when I + feel like this, or wait for natural results? + +The symptoms of which L.B.F. complains are in all probability due to +flatulence and to general disturbances of the digestive process. + +Perhaps it would be a good plan to make the diet lighter. The nuts +could be omitted and cheese or eggs substituted. An evening meal would +be helpful. + +As to the bowels, some senna and camomile tea at bedtime would help to +clear them. Unless there is distinct evidence of fæcal retention in +the colon it is better not to use the enema as a regular thing. + +_On rising._--A tumblerful of Sanum Tonic Tea made with hot, +preferably distilled, water. + +_Breakfast._--An all-fruit meal consisting of nothing but apples, +bananas, grapes, or orange, or any fresh ripe fruit that is in season. + +_Dinner at 12.30._--A cooked meal consisting of two casserole-cooked +vegetables, with grated cheese as a sauce dressing, with some +twice-baked or well toasted bakers' bread, followed by a baked apple +and cream. (Omit nut meat pie and apple pie.) + +_Tea meal at 5._--2 oz. of cottage cheese or cream cheese, wholemeal +bread and butter, small plateful of finely grated raw roots with an +appetising dressing containing some "Protoid Fruit-Oil." + +_Bedtime._--Tumblerful of hot water (preferably distilled) to which +senna leaves and German camomile flowers (very little) have been +steeped to infuse; or a cupful of dandelion coffee could be taken if +the bowels are regularly acting. + + +LONG-STANDING GASTRIC TROUBLE. + + W.T. writes:--Having tried a diet, recommended in _The Healthy + Life_, for a month I find the nuts and cheese are far too heavy + for the apparent weak condition of my stomach, also that the + salads and casserole-baked vegetables are too irritating to the + membrane of the stomach. I have no desire to return to flesh food + and ordinary feeding, which I feel would not be good for me. From + eggs I cannot obtain any good results. The continuance of loss of + weight is worrying me, being down to eight stone from eleven + stone in twelve months. I feel satisfied it is only a question of + diet, if I could only strike the correct one. I am naturally most + anxious to regain some of my lost strength and weight. I am at + present taking bread and butter, cooked fruit, and occasionally + an egg, boiled rice, vegetables and a little dried fruit. No + matter how light I make my diet I still suffer after every meal + with dilated stomach and irregular working of the heart. Blood + circulation is still bad and constipation is gradually getting + worse. As before stated, I am anxious to succeed with the + reformed diet, but I am really at a loss to know which way to + proceed to make any progress. As I was in South Africa twenty + years, and only returned to England just before this catarrh set + in, is the climate here against my progress, do you think? I am + so sorry to take up so much of your time, but shall be grateful + for any help you can give me which will be greatly appreciated. + +It is difficult to advise how best to proceed in this case as our +correspondent really ought to seek medical advice. Only in this way +can he obtain really satisfactory guidance. For without knowing the +state of his blood and the organs generally it is impossible to advise +correctly. Speaking generally, until salads and casserole-cooked +vegetables can be taken freely there can be no possible permanent +cure. + +In many such cases the best way to train the digestive organs into a +healthy state is to keep to a diet consisting chiefly of dextrinised +cereals, which must be eaten dry, with some vegetables and as little +fresh fruit as possible. This to be continued until little by little +the raw salad vegetables are found to agree; then the rest is easy. + +A diet on the following lines would probably be a good temporary +measure:-- + +_Breakfast._--One egg lightly boiled, poached or baked, with two +Granose biscuits and fresh butter, eaten dry. + +_Dinner._--Brusson Jeune bread (one or two rolls) with butter, and +small helping of vegetables, cooked at _first_ in the orthodox way. + +_Supper._--Plateful of boiled rice (cooked dry in the Indian +fashion[4]) with a tablespoonful of good malt extract. + +No sugar, honey, stewed fruit, or dried fruit should be taken until +improvement has set in. As little fluid as possible should be taken +until the stomach has regained more tone and become more normal in +size. + +[4] See _The Healthy Life Cook Book_. 1s. net (post free, 1s. 1½d.). + + +SEVERE DIGESTIVE CATARRH. + + Miss S.L.P. writes:--I should like a little help as to diet. I + have just had an attack of epidemic influenza with throat + trouble, so that I feel very much run down and unfit for a diet + too depleting in character. For over four years I have adopted a + non-flesh diet on account of a tendency to chronic catarrh of the + whole alimentary tract, due to rheumatic tendencies which affect + me internally rather than externally. The continuous damp weather + has produced much gastric irritation, and frequent acidity. + + I cannot discover a diet that is convenient and at the same time + sufficiently nourishing. I lose flesh on what I take, and I have + none to spare, though at one time I was inclined to be stout. My + age is forty-eight. + + I take three meals a day. A light breakfast either of "Maltweat" + bread or "P.R." Cracker biscuits and butter, with tomato or fresh + fruit or occasionally an egg. For midday meal an egg or milled + cheese, or nuts or cream cheese, with a baked potato and a + conservatively cooked vegetable. Occasionally I have a little + salad and grated carrot, but unless I am better than usual I + cannot digest these. The evening meal consists of "Maltweat" + bread or "P.R." Cracker biscuits or Granose flakes, with cream + cheese. As a child I suffered constantly from colds in the head, + but now my troubles are oftener internal. + + The action of the bowels is irregular. I depend chiefly upon an + enema of warm water when constipation is present. + + I never drink tea, only hot water, or Emprote and water, or + occasionally vegetable juices or fruit juices. I find I am better + without much fluid. + +So far as it is possible to judge from this letter, this correspondent +is suffering not only from stomach and bowel catarrh, but her +condition as a whole is unsatisfactory. The vital force is depleted +and the nervous system is not doing efficient work. + +She needs suitable treatment to remove the acid and toxins with which +the system is evidently clogged. This is not an easy task, for as soon +as elimination begins trouble arises in the form of influenza or other +similar derangements. These are probably little else but attempts on +the part of nature to rouse the vital force of the body into action +with a view to clearing out the clogging poisons. + +Waste clearing should be done gradually. The skin should be made to +act better by means of home Turkish baths, or by wet-sheet packs. Then +mustard poultices can be applied _along the course of the spine_ and +massage with suitable manipulations can be applied to the muscles and +bones which make up the spine. The daily practising of the excellent +and simple breathing and bending exercises described in Müller's _My +System for Ladies_[5] will be very helpful. By means such as these the +body will be gradually cleared of its poisons, and so the nervous +system will be made to do better work. + +The diet specified can be continued. + +H. VALENTINE KNAGGS. + +[5] 2s. 8d. post free from the office of _The Healthy Life_, 3 Amen +Corner, London, E.C. + + * * * * * + +_May we ask the co-operation of all our readers during the holiday +season in the following way. On holidays you are bound to meet fresh +people, and make new acquaintances, and even friends. We suggest you +purchase a few extra copies of _THE HEALTHY LIFE_ before you start and +hand them on to any likely to be interested. People tell us the +magazine is its own recommendation. This does not mean that you need +not add your own. The circulation grows steadily, but it is far short +of what it might easily be if every reader were to gain one fresh +reader every month._--[EDS.] + + +MORE APPRECIATIONS. + +I want to say how very interesting and helpful I find _The Healthy +Life_, and it is always a pleasure to buy an extra copy to give to +friends, for I always feel it will do them good to read it, and +perhaps make regular subscribers of them. + +H. BARTHOLOMEW, Knebworth. + + + + + THE + + HEALTHY + + LIFE + + The Independent + Health Magazine. + + 3 AMEN CORNER LONDON E.C. + + + VOL. V AUGUST + No. 25. 1913 + + + _There will come a day when physiologists, poets, and + philosophers will all speak the same language and understand one + another._--CLAUDE BERNARD. + + + + +AN INDICATION. + + +The pursuit of health, considered from the negative standpoint, is the +flight from pain. + +And pain is the great mystery of life. + +James Hinton, himself a well-known physician of his time, attempted to +solve the mystery of pain by showing that it is the accompaniment of +imperfection. That what is now experienced as pain might be exquisite +pleasure given a higher stage of human development. + +But this, after all, only shifts the mystery one step farther. Instead +of the mystery of pain we have the mystery of imperfection. Yet to +image perfection is always to image something incapable of growth or +further development. + +Take, for example, a perfect circle. So long as it remains unbroken, +flawless, the line (or infinite number of lines) composing it cannot +be continued or extended. But given a break in the line and it may be +continued round and round, up and up (or down and down) into an +infinitely ascending spiral. This possibility of extension depends on +a break, on an imperfection. + +It does not follow, of course, that every flaw in human nature is +always the starting-point of new growth, every failure a +stepping-stone to greater knowledge, but the possibility is there. It +is for men to see that they do not neglect their opportunities.--[EDS.] + + + + +IMAGINATION IN PLAY. + +_Regular readers will recognise in this wonderfully simple and +suggestive article a continuation of the series previously entitled +"Healthy Brains." The author of "The Children All Day Long" is an +intimate disciple of one of the greatest living psychologists, and she +has a message of the first importance to all who realise that true +health depends as much on poise of mind as on physical fitness._--[EDS.] + + +The fruit of imagination ripens into deeds actually done in the +service of man: its flower brightens the whole of life and makes it +fragrant, from the budding-time of children's play and laughter to the +developed blossoms of the creative imagination which we call painting +or poetry or music. + +Play and art have this in common, that they are activities pursued for +the sake of the activity itself, not as a means to any other object, +not aiming at any material usefulness. Actually, of course, there is +nothing more useful, on every scale of usefulness, than the +development of the individual in art or play, but these would never be +really themselves while an ulterior purpose formed a background to +them in consciousness. + +Physical exercises devised for the sake of health are a more or less +pleasant form of work; they do not take the place of play. Our +ordinary work is usually more or less one-sided and unbalanced in the +demands it makes upon us; we therefore try to find what other set of +movements will undo this unbalancement and give us back unbiased +bodies. When that is done, and not till then, we get freedom, and it +is at that moment that real "play" begins--the use of the freed +muscles according to our own will and pleasure. + +The same thing is perhaps true in connection with our minds. We all +see the fallacy of the old-fashioned hustlers' cry, "Make your work +your hobby; think of nothing else; let every moment be subordinated to +the dominating idea of your career; put aside all sentimentalism, all +laziness and self-will, all enthusiasm about things not in your own +line of work." + +We have come to see that this kind of effort leads often to nervous +breakdown and early death; always to a certain narrowing of sympathy +and hardening of method even in the career itself. So we +conscientiously "take up" a hobby or a sport and set aside some hour +or day for indulgence in it. We make it a duty to lay aside for the +time being all idea of duties; part of our work is to learn to rest. + +So far so good. But does all this go far enough? + +Work imposed by any set of outer needs puts the whole being under a +certain strain. The aim of remedial exercises, prescribed rest-times +and legal holidays is to undo this strain, to unwind us from our coil +by twisting us the other way. + +When this has been satisfactorily done, too often the person +responsible thinks that this is enough. But it is really and truly at +this moment that one is beginning one's real life. + +When the body is freed from strain and weariness is the time to leap +and dance and sing and wrestle. + +When the mind is free from prejudice and weariness is the time for its +original activity to begin; new thoughts spring up unbidden and the +creative imagination lives and grows. + +(In the sphere of will, many great sages have said that an analogous +sequence holds good. When the whole emotional and moral nature has +thrown itself in a particular direction, and then an unwinding has +taken place, the moment of completed renunciation has been said to be +the dawn of some great new spiritual light.) + +Who does not know the peaceful activity of a Sunday evening, the +fruitful quiet of a long railway journey or sea-voyage _at the end_ of +a holiday? Two friends walk slowly home together after an exciting +expedition or debate; two girls give each other their confidence while +brushing their hair after a dance. + +Why is this so? Nowadays people are very ready to answer the question +by refusing the fact. It is waste of time not to be _doing_ something +strenuously. Rest is almost as strenuous as everything else; it is to +be thorough while it is the duty on hand and is to fit exactly on to +the work time, without overlapping but without interspace. + +In this way too often the imagination, the really individual part of +the mind, is starved and atrophied. Especially in childhood there +ought to be a space left between useful work and ordered play for the +individually invented games, the pursuits that are not for any +definite end, for dreams and lived-out tales, when the child may make +what he likes, do what he likes, and in imagination be what he likes. +If we scrupulously respected this growing-time we should soon have a +race of sturdier mettle altogether. Just now this particular want is +probably most nearly supplied among elementary school children than +among those who have more "educational advantages"; they "go out to +play" in the streets for hours every day, and one cannot help thinking +that it is the vitality thus evolved that keeps most of them healthy +and happy in spite of many hardships. + +In later life, if we really want to make something of our lives, we +shall do well to insist an keeping such a margin of free time to +ourselves. It need not be long. Five minutes, if one really sails away +in the ship of imagination, will take us to fairyland and back again. +But the five minutes (or the day in the country, or the week of quiet, +or whatever we take or can get) must really and truly be free; we +must have the courage to seek for what we really want, and we shall +have the inestimable reward of finding what we really are. + +E.M. COBHAM. + + + + +HOW MUCH SHOULD WE EAT?[6] + +[6] See July number. + + +For some years I lived according to the advice given by "M.D." with +regard to the quantity of proteid that should be taken. But experience +led me to believe that it was wrong. In recent years my diet has +consisted of the following quantities per annum:-- + + Three to four bushels of wheat. + Seventy pounds of oats. + One bushel of nuts (measured in the shells). + +And with these foods rich in proteid, I have taken plenty of raw +vegetables and fruit, and three to four gallons of olive oil. + +I do not mention this as an ideal, in order to suggest another and +better standard than that of "M.D." I do not think any such thing as a +standard really exists or can exist. But I mention it to show how far +I have travelled away from where I was. + +I take it that all food reformers will agree that the main reason for +food reform is to make the body a more harmonious instrument for the +true life of man, and that carries with it the belief that there is +some correspondence, if we cannot yet see absolute unity, between the +physical and the spiritual. Now the law of life, according to Christ, +is one of continual progress towards perfection and I do not see how +this will harmonise with the teaching of a fixed law for the body. All +my experience and observation point to a progressive law for the body, +and I do not know of a single fact contrary to it. + +My first point, then, is that there is no such thing as a standard of +proteid needed by the body. All that can be said is this, that if you +take a man who has been fed on a certain quantity for such and such a +time and then feed him on a certain other quantity, alterations in +the physical condition will appear. But who can say whether these +changes are attributable merely to a deficiency or to a previous +excess? If "M.D." and his patients take excessive food they naturally +get trouble from stored poisons when they reduce the quantity. But why +put all the trouble down to present deficiency instead of to previous +excess? To this I can find no satisfactory answer. + +If we have got our bodies into so hopeless a condition that we cannot +use our God-given instincts, tastes and feelings in the first place, +the wisdom of troubling much about the continuance of bodily life +would be doubtful; and, in the second place, one would need most +overwhelming signs of knowledge to substitute for them. But where are +they? There is no agreement between those who have been taught +physiology. On the one hand, "M.D." gives a proteid standard, now +impossible to myself, and I believe to many others, for it would +involve eating a nauseating quantity; and, on the other hand, another +doctor, presumably acquainted with the same physiology, tells me I +cannot eat too little, so long as I do not persistently violate true +hunger and taste. Then another doctor gives quite a different +standard, and a much lower one. If we discard our natural guides, +which of the claimants to knowledge is to be followed, and is there +any knowledge at all such as is claimed? + +Imagine what a mockery it would have been to give such a standard as +that of "M.D." to the agricultural labourer about the middle of last +century, a typical one with a large family, and one who worked as men +do not work to-day, and had to rear his family on a few shillings a +week. How could such a one have provided more than a fraction of what +"M.D." says is necessary, either for himself or his children? + +The broad fact is, that all the hardest work of the world has always +been done by those who get the least food. As one who has had some +experience of labour, I doubt if the workers could have done so much +if it had not been for a spare diet. Certain it is, that since they +have more to eat, they are much less inclined to work. + +My contention, then, is that there is no fixed standard of proteid +needed by the body, but that the quantity depends on the development +that is in progress and is only discoverable by the natural guides of +appetite and taste, ruled by reason and love of others. Moreover, I +contend that even if there were such a standard as "M.D." says +physiology has found, it obviously is not known. + +I cannot help recognising in "M.D." one whom I gratefully love and +respect. He helped me on the road, and now that I differ from him I do +not forget it, and I ask his forgiveness if I seem to be arrogant. He +thinks I cannot see what he sees because I am underfed, and I think he +cannot see what I see because he is overfed. In a sense we are both +right, and we form a beautiful illustration of the different states of +mind that belong to different physical conditions. I urge the laymen +like myself not to be afraid of that musty old ill-shaped monster +called Science[7] when he is up against the eternal truths that belong +to every simple untutored man. Shun the monster as you would a priest, +to whom he has a great likeness, and unite with me in a long strong +pull to get "M.D." out of the rut in which the monster holds him, so +that we may have him with us on the road, for he carries much treasure +and we cannot do without him. + +A.A. VOYSEY. + +[7] I do not wish to be misunderstood. No sane man despises real +science, but when the mixture of science and ignorance, which usually +stalks about in the name of science, wants to usurp our heaven-born +instincts we cannot but notice his ugly and monstrous shape. It is the +function of science, or a true knowledge of details, to fill in the +mosaic of the temple of wisdom, but the mosaic can never be the +structure itself and is only useful and good when it is subservient to +that structure and harmonious with it. + + + + +CAMPING OUT. + +FOOD QUESTIONS. + + +"We have to consider," I said, "the question of what food to take and +how to cook it." + +"Camping out," said Sylvia, "ought to be a complete holiday from the +food bother. Why not live on unfired food, such as tinned tongue, +sardines and bottled shrimps?" + +Thereupon Felix laughed a great laugh, and said: "Just try and do a +thousand miles on sardines." + +Felix is Sylvia's brother, who has spent some twenty years in America, +travelling for weeks through country that contained no people, and +spending nearly two years in a single journey to Dawson City and home +again. He plainly knows far more about bed-rock camping than anyone +else in the family and we allowed him to take the floor for a time. + +"The first thing is bread." said Felix, "because you can't do without +bread. You must take some yeast or else some baking-powder with you to +make it rise, or you must bake it very quickly so that the steam +aerates it. You might take a Dutch oven with you, but it's nothing +like the Dutch oven that you know in this country. It is an iron pot +on three legs, with an iron lid. You stand it in the fire and cover +the lid with hot brands and you can cook anything inside it--ducks and +chunks of venison, and bread of course." + +"But Mr Freeman has barred the oven," said Sylvia, "and if we are not +going a thousand miles from home perhaps we can do without it." + +"As you like," answered Felix. "I only mention it so that you can get +hold of the general principle. You can make very good bread in a +frying-pan. You must mix the dough up stiff so that when the pan is +nearly upright it won't tumble out. You fix the pan up with a prop +behind it so that the dough faces the fire, quite close, and you draw +some more fire behind it so that the back is warmed as well. When it +burns a good crust on both sides it is done." + +"What are flap-jacks," I asked. + +"Just pan-cakes made without eggs or milk," said Felix. "You mix a +quart of flour with a tablespoonful of baking-powder and put in water +till it is just so thin that when you take up a spoonful and let it +drop back you can see the shape of it for a few seconds before it +melts into the rest. You fry the batter in bacon fat or butter just +like pan-cakes, and the cakes are very good." + +[Illustration: _A Summer Idyll_] + +"That's a good tip for us," I said, "and another good thing to take is +cuddy biscuits, a kind of captain's biscuit. Soak them a few minutes +in water or milk and fry them. They're nice with tomatoes or anything, +or by themselves." + +"Mebbe," said Felix, and his tone said, "Mebbe not." "I'm only +discussing general principles, and you've got to work your own way out +in the light of them. I've known an outfit come away without a +frying-pan. How do you make bread then?" + +We had to give it up, and Felix went on: "Open your flour sack, turn +down the edge like it is in a baker's shop, make a little hole in the +flour and pour in water to make a pond. Mix in what flour you want to +use and get your dough into the shape of a snake, wind it round a +stick and cook it like that. You've got your bread then like a French +roll, and very good it is." + +We all liked the idea of making bread every day and eating it hot. +Here was something to be had in camp that you could not get at home. +And we liked the idea of learning our cooking by means of first +principles. Whether we liked it or not, Felix liked talking about it, +and he began to grow anecdotal. + +"Once," he said, "I met a whole lot of men, ten of them I should +think, camped on a cold frosty night with nothing to eat. They were +trying to do a journey of thirty miles on rough prairie and their +horses were tired and they could not get on. They had brought their +lunch and eaten it long ago, and they told me they were starving. They +had nothing to eat, nothing to do any cooking with and no wood to make +a fire with. I never saw such hungry people. They were new settlers +just out from England and it was up to me to do something for them. + +"'What have you got in that great waggon?' I asked. They told me they +had some sacks of flour and two frozen quarters of beef, but there was +nothing to cook it in and no wood to make a fire. + +"There was any amount of cow-dung on the prairie, and it was dry as +chips. I set them collecting that and soon enough had a fire. I filled +a bucket with water and put it on to boil. I chopped off some meat and +put it in. Then I made some dumplings and put them in. You just put +them into boiling water, you know, and then they cook at once on the +outside and don't come to pieces. If they boil too much they get +pappy, and if not done through they're not good. Most dumplings you +eat in England are not done, but mine were just right and those ten +hungry men had just as good a supper as anyone could wish for." + +"Tell us about the coffee you used to make," said Sylvia. "What +horrible stuff it must have been." + +"The very best coffee ever I drank," said Felix. + +"We used to make it in a pot that was nearly a yard high. We never +turned out the grounds, but let them settle and put in a little more +every time we made coffee, till the pot was so full that it wouldn't +hold any more water." + +"I don't see anything against it," I said, when Sylvia and Gertrude +were both expressing their horror. "There is no tannin or other bad +principle in coffee and you never get anything worse out of it than +you do at the first soaking." + +"The fellows that work the logs on the river have their own kind of +coffee that they call drip coffee," said Felix. "They have a tall pot +like ours was and they tie the coffee in a sack above the water, so +that the water never touches it, but the steam goes up and fetches it +out in drops. They don't change the sack every time, but keep adding +coffee till it won't hold any more." + +"The moral of which is?" said Basil, who had for some time been +growing impatient. + +"That there are plenty of ways of cooking an egg besides frying it," +said Felix, "and that a bit of common-sense is about the best article +you can take with you out camping. Take your food as raw as you can +get it and know how to cook it. Also know a good herb when you see it, +and never overlook a chance of getting a meal from the country that +will save your stores." + +C.R. FREEMAN. + +_Food reformers will have their own opinion about a diet of shrimps, +sardines, tinned tongue and stale coffee when camping out: the most +important part of the outfit is doubtless an adequate supply of +common-sense._--[EDS.] + + + + +SEASICKNESS: SOME REMEDIES. + +_In the April and May numbers of the present year we published an +article by Mr Hereward Carrington entitled "Seasickness: How Caused, +How Cured." The following supplementary suggestions by the same +well-known writer will be useful to many readers._--[EDS.] + + +A very good plan, when you think of undertaking a voyage, is to begin +to prepare for it several days in advance. For three or four days, +before embarking, eat only very simple and somewhat laxative +foods--such as fruits--so as to open the bowels well and tone up the +system. This simple diet should be followed for the first two or three +days aboard--of course not so rigidly, but taking care not to indulge +in many heavy, greasy dishes. Unfortunately, the food on board is +usually very rich and plentiful, and tempts one to eat. If one suffers +from seasickness, there is not this same temptation, to be sure; but +the malady may certainly be warded off, in the majority of cases, if +only reasonable care be taken of the diet before and during the +voyage, and if instructions herein laid down be followed. + +As before stated, drugs are as a rule useless for the cure of +seasickness; but on occasion a "seasick cure" of some kind may prove +effective. The harm which results from the drug may perhaps be more +than counterbalanced by the benefits which the system derives from the +cessation of seasickness. A preparation of this kind which is very +highly recommended by many travellers is known as "Antimermal," and +though none of these remedies are to be recommended with assurance, +this one--and perhaps one or two others--might at least be tried, in +cases of dire necessity, when seasickness has already supervened. + +It is hardly necessary to say that the patient should remain in the +open air continuously, until all symptoms of seasickness have paused. +_Live_ in your deck chair until you feel quite well and able to get +up and walk round. Do not attempt to go downstairs into the +dining-saloon to meals, if you feel in the slightest "squirmish." +Rather have some hot soup or broth of some kind sent up to you, and +drink it sitting in your chair. Do not be afraid to drink water at all +times, even if you feel ill--as the water is easily returned, and it +is less strain on the stomach to be able to bring up something than to +find nothing in the stomach when an effort is made to eject what is +not there. Water will serve to allay this strain, and thus serve a +useful purpose. + +In very severe cases of seasickness, the stomach of the patient should +be emptied and washed out at once. This is usually an easy matter. +Have the patient drink one or two glasses of water, warm or cold, with +a little salt or bi-carbonate of soda added--say a teaspoonful to a +pint of water. This will have the desired result! In extreme cases of +seasickness, dry cold, such as ice-bags, placed behind and about the +ears, will sooth the patient, and help to allay his suffering. Cold +cloths to the forehead will also prove helpful. Full baths had best be +omitted, until the attack has worn off, as they are injudicious on +account of the reactions they induce. + +In prolonged cases of seasickness, there is often a craving for acids +and fruit juices. The continued absence or diminution of the acid +contents of the stomach, and the privation from normal food, accounts +in part for this, and it is highly proper to satisfy such a +craving--providing due care is taken not to add to the stomach's +distress by taking too much juice, or the juice of unripe fruit, or by +swallowing the fibre of the fruit, which is allowable only when +recovery is complete. + +HEREWARD CARRINGTON. + + + + +IMPORTANT. + + +If readers who possess copies of the first number of _The Healthy +Life_ (August 1911) will send them to the Editors, they will receive, +in exchange, booklets to the value of threepence for each copy. + + + + +A SYMPOSIUM ON UNFIRED FOOD. + + +_In the November number we published a letter from a reader containing +the excellent suggestion that readers who had experimented to any fair +extent with unfired diet should be invited to contribute to a +conference on the subject in _THE HEALTHY LIFE_, and that the +symposium should be gathered round the following points_:-- + +(1) The effect of the diet in curing chronic disease. + +(2) Its effect on children so brought up--_e.g._ do they get the +so-called "inevitable" diseases of chicken-pox, measles, etc., and +_especially_ have they good (_i.e._ perfect) teeth? + +(3) The effect of the diet in childbirth. + +(4) The cost of maintaining a household in this way, as compared with +the cost under ordinary conditions. + +(5) Is the diet satisfying, or is there a longing for conventional +dietary (often found amongst food reformers)? + +(6) Is the diet quite satisfactory in winter? + +_Two letters were published in the January number. Two more in +February. Others will appear in future issues. We are anxious to +receive a large number of personal experiences, but they must be +brief, and classified under the above heads as far as possible._--[EDS.] + + + ST ALBANS. + + In response to your invitation I am sending you my experience with + vegetarian dietary. Although, as you will see, this has not been + altogether "unfired," I think it should be of interest to many. + + (1) I became a vegetarian at the time of my marriage, nearly three + years ago, my husband being already a vegetarian of eleven years. I + considered this a good opportunity to commence. Previous to this I + had for some time suffered from indigestion, which continued for a + few months after marriage. I attribute the cure to the change of + diet, and drinking hot water after meals. + + (2) We have one child eighteen months old, totally breast fed for + twelve months, and another four months: on breast and Ixion Food + and some fruit juice. + + She has never had any disease whatever, and so far her teeth are + perfect and she has cut them quite easily. She is a bonny, sturdy + little girl, and very intelligent. + + (3) With regard to childbirth, I previously followed the advice of + Dr Alice Stockholme in "Tokology," avoiding flesh meats and + bone-making food and adopting a diet of fruit (chiefly lemons) and + rice, brown bread and nut butter, wearing no corsets and taking + frequent baths. The effect during pregnancy was highly + satisfactory. I enjoyed perfect health the whole time, free from + the usual discomforts, and at childbirth I received similar + results: a speedy and safe delivery. Indeed, since marriage, my + husband, baby and myself, have been singularly free from even + minor complaints. + + (4) As we do not have the specially prepared, expensive vegetarian + foods (supposed to substitute meat), but mainly the simple foods, I + consider the diet less costly than the meat diet. + + (5) We are honestly quite free from the craving for meat or meat + foods. + + (6) In the summer-time we live principally on salads, cheese, + rissoles, etc., made from beans, peas, lentils, etc., fresh fruits, + brown bread and nut butter. In the very cold weather we seem to + need rather warmer stuffs, such as porridge (carefully cooked) and + cooked vegetables, etc. + + D. GODMAN. + + * * * * * + + BRIGHTON. + + I have read with the greatest interest the correspondence in _The + Healthy Life_ on the unfired diet. As the majority of your + correspondents have not been living _exclusively_ on unfired food, + or have only done so for short periods, may I suggest that some of + your correspondents or contributors live on an _entirely_ unfired + diet, _excluding dairy produce_, for a period of six or twelve + months and then relate their experiences. In this way some valuable + evidence would be obtained. At any rate I am prepared to do this + myself. + + With reference to living on the unfired diet on 4d. a day, I have + often had two unfired meals for less than 4d., and two meals a day + are sufficient for anyone. Of course to do this one has to buy the + food which is in season and therefore cheap. Dried fruit and nuts, + followed by a cress salad with oil and lemon dressing, does not + cost more than 2d. An unfired rissole made from grated carrot and + flaked peanuts cost at most a penny, and if followed by dates or + figs would be a sufficient meal, and 2d. would cover the cost. + + In conclusion, I have no difficulty in producing a "two course" + unfired meal for 2d.--but perhaps I should have left the subject of + cost for Dr Bell to deal with. Yours faithfully, + + ALFRED LE HURAY. + + + + +MORE ABOUT TWO MEALS A DAY. + + +With reference to my article, "Two Meals a Day," which appeared in the +May issue of _The Healthy Life_, several correspondents have asked me +to give more particulars about my life and diet. I do so gladly; but I +must be brief, as the demand upon space in this magazine is now very +great. + +Resolved into a single sentence, what all my correspondents wish to +know is this: Is a two-meal dietary best for all? + +To this question, however, a definite answer cannot be given, for the +simple reason that scientific experimentation with respect to food +quantities and times of meals, etc., has gone such a little way, so +that it would be presumptuous to set a limit in regard to meals and +food reduction. To my mind, apart from the question of the quantity of +food to be taken, there is a great and important field of inquiry open +with respect to the effect of rest upon the stomach and the +intestines, upon the digestive and assimilative powers of the body. + +Now the whole purpose of my article was to show that a reduction of +one's dietary was a matter of training, of gradual adaptation, but +also--and this is the important fact-of gradual strengthening. My +theory is that the two-meal plan is possible owing to the immense +economy in digestive energy that is effected through giving the +stomach adequate rest, and also through keeping the blood stream pure +and unclogged, almost absolutely free from surfeit matter. A rested +stomach will get more nutriment out of a small amount of food-stuff +than an overworked stomach will get out of a much larger quantity. But +experimentation which is sudden and covers a few weeks only, is worse +than useless, as it tends to disprove the very principles that a saner +method of experimentation would probably establish. And if I can +impress this fact upon the reader I shall have performed a good +service. + +Carefully undertaken, and properly graduated, I believe there are few +people in these days who would not greatly benefit by a reduction in +the number of meals and in the quantity of food they take. By means of +a healthy and cheerful habit of introspection--not morbid and +feverish--I am firmly convinced that by cutting down their meals most +people would not only greatly improve their health, but their mental +and spiritual condition as well, and also greatly increase their +capacity for work ... And if in this way we can effect such an +improvement in our life and condition it does not really matter +whether we get to the two or even one meal basis or not. + +As to myself, my work is chiefly literary and my life moderately +sedentary. But the fact is that I now have two moderate meals a day +whereas I used to have four pretty good ones. But I have many friends +whose work is mechanical, and demands much muscular energy, who are +two-mealists. One lady I know, who is one of the healthiest, strongest +and best physically developed persons I have ever met, is a +two-mealist, and not only does she work at a mechanical occupation for +ten hours a day, but on several evenings each week conducts a ladies +gymnastics class as well. But in her case, as in mine, the two meal +was an ideal that was gradually and slowly attained, and not a sudden +reform. Indeed, the main thing to remember is that it is all a matter +of training, it being quite impossible to say where the limit is. For +of one thing I am quite sure--viz. that most people, were they to +adopt a slow process of food and meals reduction, on the lines I +suggested in my article, would be astonished at the result. The number +of people one meets, chiefly among those whose life is more or less +sedentary, who say they can't work as they should, are subject to +pains and heaviness in the head, constipation and indigestion, is +simply appalling; and on questioning such people I come to the +conclusion that in the majority of cases it is because they eat too +much or too often. + +My meals are very simple, and the simpler they are the better I like +them. I like a cold lunch about noon, and a hot meal about six. I have +tried a wholly uncooked diet, but as yet my body does not seem ready +for it: perhaps it will be after a little while. The first meal +usually consists of wholemeal bread and fruit, green or vegetable +salads, just according to my needs at the time. In winter I take a +more liberal supply of dried fruits and nuts. Pulses I eschew +altogether. My second meal consists of a substantial entrée with one +or two conservatively cooked vegetables--occasionally I have a soup +and a sweet in addition. But of course it is for everyone to find out +his or her own ideal diet; and let me say that it is worth while to do +so, even though it involves much confusion and perplexity during the +period of experimentation. + +WILFRED WELLOCK. + + + + +A BALLADE OF SKYFARING. + + + Ye whom bonds of the city chain, + Yet whose heart must with Nature's be; + Ye who, bound to a bed of pain, + Dream there of torrent and tower and tree, + Here behold them--the magic key, + Turned by a thought in yon gates of blue, + Even now has revealed to me + Alps and Mediterranean too. + + Why of the bondage of earth complain? + Wide as heaven is our liberty! + Where are the streets and their smoke and stain + When to the land of the lark we flee? + Where is the sight that we may not see, + Cloudland's citadel passing through? + Switzerland beckons with Sicily, + Alps and Mediterranean too. + + Here, 'twixt walls with the marble's vein, + Oared on a river of gold are we; + There we watch, on a sapphire main, + White fleets voyage to victory. + Day unto day flashes grief or glee; + Night to night utters speech anew, + Figuring forest and lane and lea-- + Alps and Mediterranean too. + + ENVOY + + Prince whose course through the world is free, + Fare you better than dreamers do? + Here are the mountains and here the sea-- + Alps and Mediterranean too. + +S. GERTRUDE FORD. + +From _Lyric Leaves_, by S. Gertrude Ford. Cloth, 2s. 6d. net; 2s. 8d. +post free from _The Healthy Life_, 3 Amen Corner, E.C. This charmingly +bound book makes an excellent holiday companion, for it contains many +beautiful lyrics, all characterised by serious thought, generous human +sympathies and a delicate imaginative quality. + + + + +A REMEDY FOR LONGEVITY. + + +Once upon a time there was a little boy whose parents took things very +seriously. They answered all his questions with painstaking precision. +At a comparatively early age he could prove that fairies were +non-existent. At the same time his toys were marvels of mechanical +perfection. + +At the age of seven he was sent to a very efficient school, where, +being naturally a bright boy, he gained high marks every term and +passed all the examinations, for he had a wonderful and well-trained +faculty for remembering exactly what his teachers had told him. + +When he left school he entered a London merchant's office, where his +knowledge of arithmetic was of the greatest assistance in bringing him +to the front. Moreover, he could argue very tellingly with all the +clerks and warehousemen, and always knew what the morning papers were +saving about health, neck-ties or religion. + +In course of time he grew a moustache, joined the Territorials, was +made a partner in the firm, married a well-educated young lady and +became a strong supporter of the local Liberal Club, where his +opinions were so well known that it was unnecessary for anyone +seriously to combat them. He was never known to vote for the +Conservative candidate or to lose his head. His concluding speech in +the historic debate on The National Health Insurance Act will always +be remembered, by those who heard it, for its earnest defence of the +medical profession. In fact, the Mayor, who was in the chair, and was +a doctor himself, warmly congratulated the speaker, who was evidently +very pleased. + +Ten years later he became a Town Councillor, opened several Institutes +for the Care of the Poor, and sent his second son to join the eldest +at the same kind of school at which he (the father) had been so well +trained. About the same date he bought a new edition of the +Encyclopædia Britannica and carefully compiled a list of facts and +figures showing that idealists and all new-fangled ideas were the +greatest danger to the increasing trade and expansion of the Empire. + +At the age of fifty he took a house at Surbiton and was continually +congratulated on his hale and hearty appearance. His opinions were +known and respected by all who met him. His sons were models of what +the children of such a father should be, and they supported him in +every argument. + +At the age of fifty-two he retired from business. A month later he had +an idea; and it so interfered with all his opinions, and so affected +his general health, that he died. + +EDGAR J. SAXON. + + + + +A SIGNIFICANT CASE--II. + + +He stopped smoking tobacco on the second day, and does not mean to +resume its use. Of course he had no alcohol in any form during the +fast, but he never has taken much alcohol, although he was not a +pledged abstainer. The temperature was taken many times and seems to +have been almost always subnormal, about 97 degrees Fahr., but this is +not so unusual a condition as to call for comment. The chief cause of +a subnormal temperature, in my opinion, is blocking of the body with +too much food. No doubt in prolonged fasting the temperature may fall +also; but sometimes a fast will be the cause of raising a subnormal +bodily temperature, as happened in a case of mine in which on the +twenty-eighth day of the fast there was a large elimination of urates +by the kidneys and a rise of temperature from 96 degrees to 98.4 +degrees. Subnormal bodily temperature has not received the attention +which it deserves. It is usually one of the forerunners, or prodromata +as they are called, of the onset of incurable diseases like cancer, +Bright's disease or apoplexy. The commonly accepted view that the heat +of the body depends upon the food, and that people eat blubber in the +Arctic and Antarctic regions to keep the bodily heat up, is one of the +chief causes for neglect of the study of subnormal temperature. And it +is quite surprising that physiologists have not thought it necessary +to explain why nature has provided sugar and palm oil and cocoa-nut +oil and ground-nut oil in the tropical regions, as well as abundance +of olive oil in the warm temperate regions of the earth if these foods +keep the bodily heat up. They ought to have been more abundantly +supplied in the Arctic and Antarctic regions if the accepted view is +correct. Besides, if we must eat blubber to keep bodily heat up in the +Arctic regions when the outside temperature is 50 or 100 or more +degrees lower than that of the body, what ought we to eat in the +tropics to keep bodily heat down when the outside temperature is 50 or +even 80 degrees above that of the body? Physiologists have not +explained this, although assuredly an explanation is wanted. But the +true explanation, the correct explanation, would have demolished the +doctrine that bodily heat is due to the food, and so it has not been +given. It is too simple to imagine that the bodily heat is, like the +body itself and all its functions, the effect of the life-force that +inhabits the body and builds up the body so that the body shall be a +fit dwelling-place for itself--this explanation is too simple and too +idealistic for modern science, which is less and less disposed, we are +told, to invoke the aid of a force of life to account for vital +phenomena, although it assumes an attracting force to account for +gravitating phenomena, and an electric and chemic force to account for +electric and chemic phenomena. Modern science (and ancient science, +too, apparently) which sees well enough that an idealistic or a +materialistic explanation would equally account for the nexus of the +phenomena of the universe, deliberately and almost invariably prefers +the materialistic explanation. She is anxious that we should be kept +free of superstition. But the superstition that forces are the effects +of things does not seem to distress her at all. And so we are told +that gravitation is a property of matter, and are forbidden to think +that perhaps gravitation, a force, procreates matter, a thing, in +order that the effects of the fore may be perceived by dull sense. We +are told that the function of the liver and the brain depends on the +structure of the liver and the brain respectively and we are not +allowed to think that perhaps the force of animal life, feeling the +need of an instrument to secrete bile, on the one hand, and to secrete +cerebral lymph to act as a vehicle for the conveyance of thought and +emotion and higher things, on the other, introduces the liver with its +elaborate structure and the brain with its still more complicated +structure, in order that both the one function and the other may be +well performed. And so, although all forms of kinetic energy (and +among them zoo-dynamic, or the force of animal life) manifest warmth +and luminosity as qualities, science attributes animal heat to chemic +force and refuses to consider that perhaps zoo-dynamic uses +chemico-dynamic for its own purposes, even if these purposes are +unconscious, because the higher force always dominates the lower. +Properly speaking, science is out of her sphere, though she does not +seem to know it, in making these suggestions. When she keeps herself +to the investigation of facts, their exposition, their sequence and +their laws, in her painstaking and accurate manner, we accept her +revelations thankfully, and beg her to allow us to make our own +philosophic and other explanations in attempting to account for the +existence, sequences and relations of the facts of life. + +After his return home, patient continued to gain weight, as might have +been expected. On the seventeenth day after ending the fast he +weighed 140 lbs. and on the nineteenth day 144 lbs. On that day he +received from a hospital a report that the reaction of the +physiologico-pathological test was negative. This has naturally had a +great effect on the patient; and it is worthy of very careful +consideration. Of course one negative result may not be conclusive +although it was positive before the fast. But if the result should be +repeated, and especially if it should prove to be permanent, the +importance of the fact can hardly be exaggerated, since the suggestion +arises in our minds that perhaps we may be able to cure profound +blood-poisoning by fasting, neither the usual treatment nor the use of +Salvarsan enabling the investigator to say that the result of the +pathological reaction was negative; but this has followed after a +heroic fast of 56 days. The result if confirmed would not be unique. +Quite recently I saw a specific ulcer close to the ankle-joint for +which operation had been recommended. It seemed to me that operation +would be likely to open the joint, and that therefore it was a risky +proceeding. But under a restriction of the diet, putting the young man +on barley-water for a few days and then advising him to eat once a day +only, the ulcer became very much smaller, and no operation has had to +be performed. Blood-poisoning of this nature, of course, is not caused +by improper nutrition, but it may readily be believed to be aggravated +by the ordinary conventional over-feeding to which, so far as I can +see, we are all subjecting ourselves, especially as persons who put +themselves in the way of contracting blood-poisoning do not generally +belong to the class of those who are attracted by the suggestion that +it is noble to keep the body under, and that if we do not strive to +keep the body under, it will be very likely to keep us under. Although +we shall be liable to be infected, however we live, still we may +believe that we shall be more likely to be badly infected (if we put +ourselves in the way of contracting disease) if we have been +previously subjected to the bad effects of over-feeding. This +consideration renders a possible cure by fasting, a not impossible +suggestion. And if, therefore, we have in fasting the suggestion of a +remedy which offers us the hope of eradicating such a fearful disease +from the human system, it certainly behoves us to make use of it. + +As a rule it seems to me that bad forms of blood-poisoning of this +nature are incurable. In three or four generations they destroy the +strain affected by it, do what we will. Meantime it shows all the +signs and symptoms of a hereditary disease, for the children are born +suffering, showing a coppery rash, and old before they are young. And +when they get a little older they have no bridges to their noses, +their teeth are ill-formed, their vision is imperfect, their +intellects dull. It seems as if nature could not forgive crimes of +this nature. She seems to treat them as the unpardonable sin. If we +find cancer appearing in a family at 55 years of age in 3 or 4 +successive generations, there is no proof of heredity in that. Inquire +and see if like causes acting on like organisms in 3 or 4 successive +generations have not produced the disease each time. The children are +not born cancerous, and our efforts to prevent the disease may +succeed. But children often _are_ born with specific disease, and +there is no doubt at all about its being a hereditary disease. Even +now I should not like to sanction marriage in the case of this man who +has heroically fasted for 56 days, although he seems for the present +to have got rid of his disease. But the outlook is hopeful, more +hopeful than I thought, and in the hope that the suggestion may convey +a message of hope to those who are willing to do penance for crimes +against the body, I send out these remarks. The opinion expressed by +the patient that he was getting rid of the Salvarsan which had been +injected into his blood to cure his disease is, of course, his own +only. I offer no opinion upon it. But I think the whole case very +instructive, and it will be deeply interesting to follow it up with +special regard to the inquiry whether the pathological test remains +negative. The reflective reader of these remarks will need no hint +from me to suggest how a study of questions of this sort raises in our +minds all sorts of other questions, physical, metaphysical, +philosophical, social, religious; what are laws of nature, how they +come to be what they are, whether they can be disregarded without +paying the penalty, and whether we men are bond or free. Each of us +will settle these questions for ourselves, for each of us is +responsible for his own conclusion. But as to the inevitableness with +which such questions do rise in our minds, I take it there can be no +difference of opinion. + +A. RABAGLIATI. + + + + +HEALTHY HOMEMAKING. + + +_For the benefit of new readers it seems well to explain that this +series of articles is not intended for the instruction of experienced +housewives. It was started at the special request of a reader who +asked for "a little book on housekeeping, for those of us who know +nothing at all about it; and put in all the little details that are +presumably regarded as too trivial or too obvious to be mentioned in +the ordinary books on domestic economy."_ + + +XXI. HIRED HELP. + +It does not seem proper to conclude the present series of articles +without touching upon the "servant problem," but I do not pretend to +be able to solve it. It is a problem usually very difficult of +solution by the homemaker of small means. If she has but few persons +to cater for, and is not the mother of a young family, she is often +very much better off without hired help, except for a periodical +charwoman. But it is not always indispensable to the woman who has +other duties besides housekeeping. + +I am not here concerned with the housewife who can afford to keep more +than one efficient servant. Indeed, I am hardly concerned with one who +can employ a really good "general" at from £20 to £25 per annum. The +person I am concerned with is the homemaker who can afford at most to +employ an inexperienced young girl at from £10 to £14 per annum. + +I will draw the worst side of the picture first, for although it _is_ +the worst side it is true enough, as so many harassed housewives know. + +The young "general" often comes straight from a council school where +domestic economy had no place in the curriculum, and from a home in +name only. Such an one is usually slatternly and careless in all her +ways, has no idea of personal cleanliness, and regards her "mistress" +as, more or less, her natural enemy! She is "in service" only under +compulsion, and envies those of her schoolmates whose more fortunate +circumstances have enabled them to become "young lady" shop +assistants, typists and even elementary school teachers. If she had +her choice she would prefer labour in a factory to domestic work; but +either a factory is not available, or the girl's parents consider +"service" more "respectable" in spite of its hardships. Its hardships? +Yes, it _is_ its hardships that account for its peculiar unpopularity. +For there are hardships connected with domestic service in small +households that do not apply to other forms of much harder labour. + +Everyone who is familiar with the small lower middle-class household +knows how often the life of the little "general" resembles that of an +animal rather than a human being. All day long she drudges in a +muddling, inefficient way, continually scolded for her inefficiency +yet never really taught how to do anything properly. Her work is never +done, for she is always at the beck and call of her employers; yet +she lives apart in social isolation, is referred to contemptuously as +the "slavey," and even her food is dispensed to her grudgingly and +minus the special dainties bought for Sundays and holidays. This is +domestic service at its worst, of course, but the prevalence of such +"places" in actual fact is undoubtedly at the root of the young girl's +objection to it. How can she help gleaning the impression that such +work is "menial," when her employers more or less openly despise her? +Being human, how can she but envy those of her old friends who have +their evenings to themselves? What contentment can she find in a life +of drudgery unenlightened by intelligent interest in learning how to +do something well? What wonder that all her hopes and ambitions become +centred in the possession of a "young man," and that reason--stunted +from its birth for lack of room to grow--being entirely absent from +her choice, she marries badly and too young, and becomes the mother of +a numerous progeny as helpless, hopeless, stunted and inefficient as +herself? + +Some conscientious women try to remedy this state of things by +treating the girls they take into their homes as "one of the family." +This _may_ answer well sometimes, but it has its drawbacks, both for +the girl and the "family." Husband and wife, brother and sister, +inevitably find the constant presence of a stranger with whom they +have little in common very irksome. While the girl herself is equally +conscious of restraint when forced to spend her leisure time with her +employers. She would usually infinitely prefer the solitude of the +kitchen, if combined with a good fire, a comfortable chair and a story +book. + +Among the girls I have spoken to on the subject I have not found +"socialist" households popular. One girl I met refused to stay in such +a place for longer than three days, because she "never had the kitchen +to herself." Another told me that she found it intensely boring to +take meals with the family, because she was not interested in the +things they talked about. + +I think that the ultimate solution of the "servant problem" will not +be that every woman will do all her own housework, but that domestic +work will become, on the one hand, very much simplified and, on the +other, will be put on the same footing as teaching, nursing or +secretarial work. That we are beginning to move in this direction is +evidenced by the coming into existence of schools of domestic economy, +to which "ladies" do not disdain to resort for training. This will +undoubtedly result in domestic labour becoming a much higher-priced +commodity than it is now, the housewife will have to pay at least as +much for three hours help per day as she now does for nine hours, but +the fact that the help will be skilled, combined with the greater +simplicity of housework, will surely more than compensate for this. + +But what is the homemaker of limited means, who must have some help, +to do under present conditions? This we must consider next month. + +FLORENCE DANIEL. + + + + +HEALTH QUERIES. + +_Under this heading Dr Knaggs deals briefly month by month, and +according as space permits, with questions of general interest._ + +_Correspondents are earnestly requested to write on one side only of +the paper, giving full name and address, not for publication, but as a +guarantee of good faith. When an answer is required by post a stamped +addressed envelope must be enclosed._--[EDS.] + + +BOILS: THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. + + Miss L.C. writes:--I should be deeply indebted to you if you + would advise me in the following matter. I have been suffering + from a recurrence of boils on different parts of my body during + the last six months. I have consulted a local doctor, but he can + find no reason for their appearance, but suggested I should try a + mixed diet, to include some animal food, rather than adhere to + vegetarianism as I have done for some two years past. + + My diet is about as follows:-- + + _On rising._--Tumblerful of hot water. + + _Breakfast_ (eight o'clock).--One egg, toasted bread (wholemeal) + and butter, with either a little lettuce or marmalade and either + weak tea or cocoa. + + _Lunch_ (one o'clock).--Steamed green or root vegetable, with + cheese sauce or macaroni cheese or similar savoury, or nuts. + Boiled or baked pudding or stewed fruit with custard or blanc + mange. + + _Tea_ (four o'clock).--Tea or cocoa, with or without a little + bread and butter and cake. + + _Supper_ (7 o'clock).--Vegetable soup, milk pudding and a little + cheese, butter and salad and wholemeal bread. + + I am forty-nine years of age, lead a fairly active life, + frequently taking walking exercise. I am very tall and weigh + twelve stone. Have had no serious illness, but been more or less + anæmic all my life. + + If you can tell me whether there is anything wrong in connection + with my diet and suggest the cause of, and treatment for, the + boils I shall be exceedingly obliged. + +In order to help this correspondent to permanently get rid of these +boils, we must first ascertain what those troublesome manifestations +are and look to the causes which produce them. + +A boil is a small, tense, painful, inflammatory swelling appearing in +or upon the skin, and is due to the local death or gangrene of a small +portion of the skin's surface. This eventually comes away in the form +of a core, and, until this has cleared away, the boil will not heal or +cease to be painful. + +Boils occur chiefly on the neck, arms or buttocks. If very large they +are known as carbuncles, and if they occur on the fingers or toes they +are described as whitlows. It is often the friction of a frayed-out +collar or cuff, of tight waist clothing, or, in the case of whitlows, +the introduction of some irritant or poison between the nail and the +skin that determines the precise site at which they will come. + +Boils, although rarely dangerous to life, are usually accompanied by +pain severe out of all proportion to the extent of surface involved. +This gives rise to much broken rest and loss of vitality, which at +once ceases when the boil has finished its course. Boils usually occur +in series or crops. + +Now large numbers of people wear collars and cuffs with frayed edges, +or handle irritants with their fingers, but they do not necessarily +contract boils or whitlows. Therefore, we see that there must be other +factors to be taken into consideration to account for their presence. +The orthodox germ-loving practitioner may tell you that a boil is a +purely local disorder and that a certain form of microbe, known as the +_Staphylococcus pyogenes_, is the cause of it. This germ, he asserts, +lives normally on the surface of the skin and, when this surface +becomes broken, it enters the part and infects it, thereby starting +the boil. + +If this is true every person who wears old collars or dabbles his +hands in dirt should without exception contract boils. This is +obviously untrue. + +The factor to be considered, then, is this. What is it that induces +boils in one person and not in another under identical circumstances? +The answer is obvious. The boil is not a local disease at all, but is +a manifestation of some constitutional defect, or of some impurity of +the blood stream, which enables this microbe to find a congenial +breeding ground. + +The people who suffer most from boils are young or middle-aged adults, +and we usually find the two extremes among sufferers. There is the +full-blooded, often overfed, individual and there is the pale, +debilitated and emaciated person whose constitution is broken down by +worry, overwork, sexual troubles, unhealthy surroundings or badly +selected foods. + +If we inquire into the constitutional history of these cases we shall +almost invariably discover that the digestive or assimilative +processes of the body are not working smoothly. This may be due to the +worry or overwork, or to unhealthy surroundings which dis-harmonise +the digestive and nutritive functions, or to nervous exhaustion from +one cause or another, or it may be due to the wrong diet, which is +filling the colon (or large bowel) with fermenting poisons. + +When the body is clogged in this manner nature often proceeds to get +rid of the accumulating waste through the skin. By a vigorous effort +on the part of the life-force the impurity is thrown outwards to the +surface. Looked at in this light a boil is really a most salutary +cleansing agent, and the Nature-Cure practitioner, who calls it a +"Crisis," often does everything in his power to produce boils when +treating chronic diseases. + +The alternative is often some more deeply seated form of elimination, +resulting in serious organic disease of the organs or tissues. One of +the first signs of improvement in disorders like diabetes, +consumption, arthritis, Bright's disease, or even cancer, is the +appearance of boils, showing that the vitality has improved to an +extent sufficient to enable the foreign matter to be expelled by means +of relatively harmless boils. The hydropathic expert also tries to +induce this condition by means of his mustard and water packs. + +If our correspondent wants to rid herself of her boils she must adopt +all means to improve her vitality and to cleanse her body of its +impurities. She can do this along many lines. She can take a holiday +and rest from her work; or by positive thinking she can set to work to +get rid of her worries. She can learn to laugh as often as possible, +and to breathe deeply, slowly and fully. If her house is unsanitary +she should make it sanitary, or move elsewhere. + +Then she must restrict her diet and take only those forms of food +which create a minimum amount of poison in the system. _She must +cleanse the colon daily_ with warm water enemas, and encourage the +action of the kidneys in doing their rightful part in the elimination +of poisons by the drinking of distilled water or a good herbal tea on +rising, and of clear vegetable broth at night. + +Clay packs, applied cold, are the best form of treatment for +application to the boils themselves. They should never be cut or +squeezed, as this only intensifies the trouble. Hot applications, as +poultices, are bad, because they induce the boil to mature +prematurely, and also are conducive to reinfection of the skin in +other parts. Drugs or medicines are of very little use in the +treatment of boils, because they do not go to the root of the +trouble. The only remedy that I have found of any avail is yeast. In +former times this was taken in the form of fresh or dried brewers' +yeast, and it was, if unpleasant, a very effectual remedy. Yeast +yields a free supply of what is called nuclein and nucleinic acid. +These, chemically, are identical with the same substances found in the +human cells. Nuclein is a powerful antiseptic. It has been found that +the toxins or emanations from diphtheria and other deadly germs are +precipitated and destroyed by nucleinic acid. + +It is for this reason that yeast extracts, such as Marmite, often have +a beneficial effect in disorders accompanied by the formation of pus +matter. + +Our correspondent's diet should be amended as follows:-- + +_On rising._--A cupful of unseasoned Marmite. + +_Breakfast._--One scrambled or lightly poached egg with stale, +yeast-made, wholemeal bread and nut butter, with lettuce or other +salad food. No marmalade; no tea or coffee. + +_Lunch._--1 to 2 oz. of grated cheese or flaked pine kernels, finely +shredded raw cabbage, or grated radishes, or grated raw roots with oil +and lemon dressing. No cooked savouries, no puddings, nor stewed fruit +with custard or blanc mange should be taken. + +_Tea Meal._--Cupful of Marmite, only. + +_Supper._--Clear, unseasoned, vegetable broth, with Veda or wholemeal +bread, or Granose biscuits, with nut butter and some fresh fruit. + +_At bedtime._--A cupful of Marmite. + +NOTE.--The unseasoned Marmite should be used, as the ordinary kind is +rather heavily salted. + + +A BAD CASE OF SELF-POISONING. + + Mrs H.W. writes:--I should be very glad if you would give me + enlightenment on one or two points about my diet. I am suffering + from a somewhat dilated stomach, also a catarrhal condition of + nose, throat and alimentary canal, with constipation and much + flatulence in the bowels. My teeth are decaying quickly, my nails + have got softer, and I have become anæmic and generally + debilitated, being unable to properly assimilate my food. All my + joints crack when moved, and the knee joints creak as well. Is + this a uric acid condition, or do you think it merely due to a + lack of nourishment, causing a lack of synovial fluid? The joints + are not swollen and not painful, they merely crack. My whole + system seems to be over-acid, and my mouth gets sore and + ulcerated. I have got very thin, having lost a stone in twelve + months. + + I notice that you always advise for dilated stomach greatly + restricting the liquid part of the diet. Will you tell me just + how much one _may_ drink in a day, because when I go without + drinking my constipation and other troubles are worse and the + urine gets thick and muddy. + + You also deprecate milk. This puzzled me until you explained to a + correspondent last month in _The Healthy Life_. Will you tell me + if the same applies to dried milk--will it tend to increase + intestinal trouble? I am anxious to know this because I have been + relying somewhat on Emprote and Hygiama lately, for I had got so + that I could scarcely digest anything. + + Do you consider it better to use the enema than to take a mild + aperient? I do not want to start with the enema again if I can + possibly manage to do without, because I found that my bowels + depended upon it. And that is why I want to ask if it is + absolutely necessary when on an antiseptic diet to entirely avoid + fruit. I find it so necessary to keep the bowels working + naturally. + + I _do_ want you to answer me these questions, because I have got + so worried and fearful (people's theories are so varied) that I + scarcely dare eat any food at all. I am at present taking only + two meals daily (I like the two-meal plan best): at eleven A.M. + and 6 P.M. I take a cup of weak coffee on rising, without milk or + sugar--this warm drink seems to start the peristaltic action and + I then get bowel action. I think of changing the coffee for Sanum + Tonic Tea or Dandelion Coffee. + + At eleven o'clock I have an egg with Winter's "Maltweat" bread + and almond butter, and some conservatively cooked vegetable + (celery or carrot or spinach). + + At six P.M. I have one or two baked apples, a teaspoonful or two + of malted nuts, or Emprote, and more "Maltweat" bread and butter. + + At four P.M. I take a cup of barley water or carrot water, and at + bedtime another cup of barley water. + + Do you think that if I went on to a milk diet for a time it would + do good? + +This correspondent seems to be suffering from auto-toxæmia, or +self-poisoning in a severe form, and a condition of what is termed +arterio-sclerosis or premature old age. Associated with it are +evidently symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, which is affecting her +joints and teeth. It is not one of ordinary gout or uric acid +poisoning. The trouble no doubt has been caused by past errors of +diet, so that the present efforts at reform have come too late to be +of service to her. Something more than diet is now needed to clear the +acids and toxins from the system. It is not a simple case of digestive +catarrh, for the whole body is affected. The present diet will answer +very well as it stands. + +The first thing to do is to obtain a well-fitting dilatation belt. +This must have leg straps and firmly support the lower half of the +abdomen. The next thing is to promote skin action so as to +encourage the clearing out of poisons along this line of elimination. +Vapour baths, wet-sheet packs or alkaline hot baths can effect this +purpose. An alkaline hot bath should be of a temperature of 105 +degrees Fahr. or more, and to the bath should be added ¼ lb. of +bicarbonate of soda and ¼ lb. packet of "Robin" starch. She should +remain as long as possible in this so as to well clear the acids from +the skin and induce as much skin action or perspiration as possible. +The _first_ baths must be of very short duration, and she should be +careful to avoid chill after the bath; it is best to lie prone and +completely relaxed for half-an-hour at least after the bath. Finally +massage and Swedish movements directed to the entire back will help to +disencumber the central nervous system, which is evidently very badly +depleted of its vital force. It is, of course, a pity the +correspondent cannot get away to a properly organised Nature-Cure home +and have the continuous attention and treatment which her condition +really necessitates. + +H. VALENTINE KNAGGS. + + + + +CORRESPONDENCE. + + + AMANZIMTOTI, NATAL. + + _To the Editors._ + + SIRS, + + You will see that your little magazine finds its way even to this + out-of-the-way corner of the globe, and you may be sure that it is + appreciated. I am specially interested in Dr V. Knaggs' + contributions and should like to ask him a few questions. May I + say that I have some knowledge of chemistry and that I try and + take an interest in the scientific aspects of food reform. + + (1) P. 237. What grounds has Dr Knaggs for speaking so definitely + about human magnetism and that of vegetables? How would he + recognise or test for either, and where can I get further + information (scientific) on the question of food magnetism. + + (2) Same page. Dr Knaggs says salt added to cooking vegetables + converts organic salts into inorganic. I cannot follow that. _What_ + organic salts are so converted? One or two examples would suffice. + + (3) I have been reading Dr Rabagliati's _Conversations with Women + Concerning their Health and that of their Children_.[8] In it he + says that food is not the source (cause) of body energy, but is + used merely to replace waste material. Elsewhere I read that + "Professor Atwater's investigations into nutrition have shown in a + most convincing manner that the body derives _all_ its energy from + the food consumed. This may be regarded as established." Which of + these definite and contradictory assertions does Dr Knaggs support, + and why? Where can I get information _re_ Professor Atwater's + experiments and other recent works on similar subjects? + + To me the questions involved are intensely interesting, hence my + queries. I hope they do not read as if I were hypercritical or + sceptical. + + With all good wishes for the success of your healthy little + magazine. I am, yours, etc., + + W. BLEWETT. + +[8] 5s. net. C.W. Daniel, Ltd., 3 Amen Corner, London. + +We handed the above interesting letter to our contributor, Dr H. +Valentine Knaggs, and append his reply:-- + + +HUMAN MAGNETISM. + +There is very little information available from ordinary scientific +sources anent the question of the life-force or of the animal +magnetism which animates our bodies and is the motive force common to +all organic structures whether animal or vegetable. We do know that +fresh fruits and vegetables are strongly magnetic because the +magnetism which they emit can be gauged by means of delicate +galvanometers. It has been found that leaves, flowers and seeds are +positively, and roots negatively, charged. We also know that the same +conditions are found in the human subject, since Dr Baraduc, who is a +celebrated French Psycho-Therapeutist, in his book, "The Vibrations of +Human Vitality," tells us that he has invented a machine called a +biometer to test these very vibrations. I have had one of these +machines myself and have experimented with it a great deal. By its aid +we can make the machine work differently with different persons, and +by careful tabulation of records Dr Baraduc has been able to elicit +some very remarkable information about the magnetic currents which are +constantly flowing into and out of the human body. If our +correspondent really wants to know more about the wonders of human +magnetism he should read some of the voluminous literature upon the +subject published by the Theosophical Society. Just recently also a Dr +Kilner has invented a form of coloured screen by which he and others +who have some psychic sight can actually see the magnetic emanations +which flow through a person placed in a darkened room. + + +SALT-COOKED VEGETABLES. + +The one object of the vegetable kingdom is to build up, for the use of +the animal or organic realm, the constituents found in the mineral or +inorganic kingdom. These mineral constituents are dissolved, sorted +out and built up in the right proportions for the use of animals when +taken as foods. Whenever these foods are not so eaten they are sent +back again to the earth by the aid of microbes during the process of +decay, to be again available for plant use. Cooking is a process +invented by man which is analogous to that of decay, for it dissolves +and disintegrates the structures which Nature has built up. When man +eats food that is partially disintegrated he does not obtain from it +the right sort of nutriment which Nature intended him to have. To +intensify the wrong-doings of the cook, man further hastens the +disintegrating process by adding to the things that he cooks a due +proportion of a common and very stable mineral, called salt. It is +powerful, because it is not easily disintegrated. The salt greatly +expedites the process of decay, whether in the natural form of +fermentation, or whether by the application of heat, as in cooking. +Salt is used in Nature to promote the flow of those electric and +magnetic currents which are a manifestation of the universal +life-force which pervades all things seen and unseen. It is an +essential constituent of the sea because the ocean is the life-blood +of the earth. It is an essential constituent of our own blood, because +it is needed to make the blood stream a good conductor of magnetic +currents. When you put this salt into water and then proceed to boil +vegetables in it, it quickly sucks out all the life-force from them, +and if persisted in reduces them to the state of minerals from which +they were originally constructed. + + +FOOD AND THE SOURCE OF BODILY ENERGY. + +Dr Rabagliati and Professor Atwater are, I believe, both right, but +the former does not always explain himself clearly to the lay mind. +The life-force or animal magnetism is the real source of bodily +energy, and it manifests itself only when it has something that +resists or regulates its flow. + +It does this just as certain forms of wire, or other materials, which +possess indifferent conducting power, resist the flow of electricity +through them. + +Electricity cannot manifest as light in the usual electric lights used +in our houses, as heat in the electric culinary appliances or stoves, +or even as power in the motors which run our trams and trains, unless +it be given the requisite apparatus to bring about the manifestation +required. + +In exactly the same way life cannot manifest itself as consciousness, +with its flow of thoughts, emotions and bodily activities, without the +food which is daily supplied to the body. + +It consequently depends considerably upon how we select our daily +rations as to how this vital force will manifest within us. + +H. VALENTINE KNAGGS. + + + + +HOLIDAY APHORISMS. + + +A Sun Bath needs no Soap. + + * * * * * + +Man was made for the Weather, not the Weather for man. + + * * * * * + +A long drink often makes a short walk. + + * * * * * + +You may bring a man to the Sea, but you cannot make him think. + + * * * * * + +A tanned face doesn't make a healthy body. + + * * * * * + +Dew paddling should be done in the dark. + + * * * * * + +The only things that bathing machines make are cowards. + + * * * * * + +It is better to board yourself than let others be bored by you. + + * * * * * + +"A bore is one who thinks his opinions of greater importance than your +own." + + * * * * * + +People who throw pebbles into the sea shouldn't dive near shore. + + * * * * * + +A toothbrush is what many forget but few should need. + + * * * * * + +Scotland Yard is not in the Grampians. + + * * * * * + +Cheap food is often dearly bought. + + * * * * * + +Lyons have no depôts in Skye. + + * * * * * + +Orange-trees never yet sprang from scattered peel. + + * * * * * + +A pear in the hand is worth two in the can. + +PETER PIPER. + + + + + THE + + HEALTHY + + LIFE + + The Independent + Health Magazine. + + 3 AMEN CORNER LONDON E.C. + + + VOL. V SEPTEMBER + No. 26. 1913 + + + _There will come a day when physiologists, poets, and + philosophers will all speak the same language and understand one + another._--CLAUDE BERNARD. + + + + +AN INDICATION. + + +Food reformers sometimes forget that "man does not live by bread +alone," not even when supplemented by an ample supply of fresh air and +physical exercise. + +It has been pointed out by psychologists that the more highly +organised and highly developed the creature, the less it depends on +nervous energy obtained via the stomach and the more it depends on +energy generated by the brain. True, the brain must be healthy for +this, and one poisoned by impure blood, due to wrong feeding, cannot +be healthy. But something more than clean blood is necessary. For, as +change of physical posture is necessary to avoid cramped limbs, so +periodic reversal of mental attitude (consideration from other than +the one view-point) is necessary to the brain's health. + +Again, change of air is often prescribed when the patient's real need +is a change of the personalities surrounding him. While for the +lonely country dweller a bath in the magnetism of a city crowd may be +a far more efficacious remedy than the medicinal baths prescribed by +his physician. + +For man lives by _every_ word that proceeds out of the mouth of +God.--[EDS.] + + + + +FEAR AND IMAGINATION. + +_Regular readers will recognise in this article a continuation of the +series previously entitled "Healthy Brains." The author of "The +Children All Day Long," is an intimate disciple of one of the greatest +living psychologists, and she has a message of the first importance to +all who realise that true health depends as much on poise of mind as +on physical fitness. We regret that in the previous article, +"Imagination in Play," the following misprints occurred:--P. 475, line +4 from top, "movement" should be "moment"; p. 475, line 5 from bottom, +"admiration" should be "imagination."_--[EDS.] + + +Some people are given to excusing their own uncharitable thoughts by +saying, "I suppose I ought not to have minded her rudeness; I am +afraid I am too sensitive." In the same way, people say, "Oh, I +_couldn't_ sleep in the house alone" (or let a child go on a +water-picnic, or nurse a case of delirium or do some other thing that +suggested itself), "I have too much imagination." In both cases the +claim, though put in deprecating form, is made complacently enough. +The correlative is: "You are so sensible, dear; I know you won't +mind," which is a formula under cover of which many kindnesses may be +shirked and many unpleasant duties passed on. + +The sensible, practical people who listen to these sayings sometimes +attach importance to them, so that a habit has grown up of describing +morbidly neurotic people as "over-sensitive" and cowardly ones as "too +quick of imagination." Ultimately, this leads to the thought that both +sensitiveness and imagination are mental luxuries too costly for +ordinary folk to grow, and that it is safest to check, crush or uproot +them when we discover them springing up in others or in ourselves. + +Is not this attitude of mind due to a misunderstanding? Imagination is +an _organ of activity_; it can be kept in the highest possible +condition of health by having plenty of exercise; it should be working +continually against resistance. A rabbit's gnawing tooth, if the +opposing tooth be broken, may grow inwards and cause the creature's +death, but the same activity of growth, if working under suitable +conditions, enables him to go on living and gnawing at his food year +after year without wearing his tools away. + +The problem, then, in economy of effort is: How shall we use whatever +force of sensitiveness and imagination we have, so as to get its +maximum efficiency of usefulness and its minimum pain and +inconvenience? + +For many ages man has been dominated by fear. His way to freedom, now, +is to step out through his cobweb chains and go right forward with +courage and in faith. So we are told with relentless and almost +tiresome reiteration. It is the fashion, one might almost say, to have +cast off fear, and the one thing an honest "modern thinker" is afraid +of is being afraid. (To less honest ones it is the thought of _being +thought_ afraid that is a very real and present fear.) + +But, if this standpoint is right, is not fear at least a vestigial +organ, a survival of a mental activity which served its purpose in +times gone by? Is it not even truer to go further still and say, as +_each particular fear_ serves its purpose it may safely be discarded, +but that, as far as our present knowledge goes, other grades of +sensitiveness, finer shades of imagination of the type we have called +fear, must take its place, to be discarded in their turn for yet other +apprehensions? + +For if we lost the kind of perception that we associate with fear, if +our imagination closed itself automatically to the suggestion of all +sorts of ugly possibilities, should we not find ourselves soon in the +midst of difficulties akin to those of the hero of the German tale of +the man who felt no pain? We accept the evidence of pain as a guide +to action; when we have decided on action we proceed to get rid of the +pain as expeditiously, safely and permanently as we can. + +The same thing seems true of fear. Over and over again we laugh at +ourselves for fearing something that either never happened at all or +happened in such a way as to be softened out of all likeness to the +monstrous terror we had created. On the other hand, when misfortune +falls heavily because of our lack of imagination in not foreseeing +possible consequences of particular actions or events, we lament and +complain: "If I could only have guessed! If I had only known!" + +Fear pure and simple--the imagination of possible trouble--is a stage +we can hardly yet afford to do without. But when it has roused our +attention to a danger, its work is done. Let us practise turning it +into action; taking due precautions against accident, guarding against +hurting a neighbour's feelings, watching some possibility of evil +tendency in ourselves. Then, and not till then, may we let it drop. It +may pass; it has done its work. It is no longer our responsibility to +foresee, it is our privilege to lay down the fear and live happily and +at peace. + +Even the dread perceptions of eternal laws come under the same method. +"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," the _beginning_: +the end is faith and love. + +E.M. COBHAM. + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | #To Our Readers.# | + | | + | Readers who appreciate the independence and all-round nature | + | of _The Healthy Life_ can materially assist the extension of | + | its circulation by tactfully urging their local newsagent to | + | have the magazine regularly displayed for sale. An | + | attractive monthly poster can always be had free from the | + | Publishers, 3 Tudor Street, London, E.C. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +HOW MUCH SHOULD WE EAT? + +_The article (signed "M.D.") with the above title which we published +in the July number has, as we anticipated, aroused considerable +discussion. One interesting criticism appeared in the August number. +We now publish two further contributions, to be followed, in our next +issue, by two further articles by Dr Rabagliati and Mr Ernest +Starr._--[EDS.] + + +I + +As one who has tried the low proteid diet, and came to grief on it, I +desire to set my experience against that of Mr Voysey,[9] and to +assert that, if it is true for him, it certainly is not true for me. +Mr Voysey indulges in many loose and generalised statements which do +not help the average man or woman in the least. I imagine it is these +that "M.D." has in mind when he advises a certain standard of diet, +below which it is not safe to go. If Mr Voysey can, as Horace Fletcher +can, exist on a very low proteid diet, that does not prove that all +men and women can do the same and be healthily active; it only shows +that he and Fletcher are exceptions to the average person, and that it +may be dangerous to follow their example. For most men, "M.D.'s" +proteid standard is not so nauseating as he finds it. Here is a +specimen dietary for a day, for a man of ten stone, following, as most +of us do, a sedentary occupation:-- + + 3 oz. cheese. + 9 oz. bread. + 8 oz. vegetables and salad. + 8 oz. fruit. + 1½ pints milk. + +Will any average person say that that quantity, divided into three +meals, would be nauseating to him? And is that diet so very expensive +that it would be beyond the means of an agricultural labourer in any +country? It is certainly no mockery. The cost to such a labourer would +probably not exceed 3d. or 4d. Of course the diet can be made as +expensive as one chooses, and widely varied. + +[9] See August number. + +Who amongst ordinary men and women has a reliable natural taste that +would be an infallible guide in all matters of food? And what a +misleading statement that is which asserts "that all the hardest work +of the world has always been done by those who get the least food." +Put it to the test on the average person and see where it leads to. + +My contention is that the average person, throwing over his or her +accustomed meat diet, requires some definite guidance as to the +quantity of proteid, such as Dr Haig's wide experience and much +patient research have proved needful, or at least advisable, for the +continuance of a healthy and vigorous life; and I will say that it +does not help this average person in the least to put before him the +misty statement that "the quantity depends on the development that is +in progress, and is only discoverable by the natural guides of +appetite and taste, ruled by reason and love of others." All very +noble and very well in another place, but hardly meeting the case of +the ordinary person who is seeking a healthy diet. Nor can you "make +the body a more harmonious instrument for the true life of man" by +habitually underfeeding it. I thought that was a mediæval notion that +had been knocked on the head long ago. + +Is there any man, lay or scientific, Mr Voysey notwithstanding, who +can claim to have as wide an experience of diet in its relation to +health and disease as "M.D.," to say nothing of the trained mind and +long years of patient thought that have been exerted in dealing with +the facts of this wide experience. For myself, I have come to see +that, if "M.D." does not hold in his grasp the absolute truth in the +matter of diet, he is nearer to it, and is a safer guide, than all +your low proteid advisers, lay or otherwise, where they come much +below "M.D.'s" standard. + +So, using Mr Voysey's phrases, I would urge laymen like myself to shun +that weak-kneed manikin, the low proteid diet, and unite with me in a +long strong pull to get him and others like him out of the rut in +which that sorry weakling holds him. + +HY. BARTHOLOMEW. + + +II + +The Editors were quite right in saying that the article under this +heading in the July issue would arouse discussion. My wife and I, +having discussed "M.D." and many others with the title, feel +constrained to put forth a warning against blind faith in anything +which the faculty have to say on dietetics. + +There are of course brilliant exceptions, such as Dr Rabagliati, Dr +Knaggs, Dr Haig, the late Dr Keith and others, who give chapter and +verse for every statement made; but when we consider the excellent +work of laymen such as Albert Broadbent, Joseph Wallace, Horace +Fletcher, Alice Braithwaite, Eustace Miles, Hereward Carrington, Edgar +J. Saxon, Bernarr MacFadden, Arnold Eiloart, ordinary folks like +ourselves may be excused if we venture to give our experience as +against that of "qualified" men. + +With your permission, then, we reply to "M.D.'s" five suggestions in +the order he gives them:-- + +1. Food qualities are _not_ of extreme importance. + +2. Quantity tables may have been "settled" by physiologists to their +own satisfaction many years ago; but very good reasons have since been +given for altering, or even ignoring, them. + +3. The particular number of grains of proteid to be consumed per day +is not of serious moment. + +4. That departure from the quantity specified has not led to disaster +is proved by the fact that the human race still persists, in spite of +the very varying eating customs found in different nations. The great +majority being poor or ignorant, or both, know neither "tables" nor +the need for them. + +5. There can be no reply to such a general statement as: "The nature +of this disaster may appear to be very various, and its real cause is +thus frequently overlooked." + +In such matters an ounce of personal experience is worth a pound of +cut-and-dried theory. We--my wife and I--have been reared in an +atmosphere suspicious of doctors, both sets of grandparents having +relied rather on herbs, water treatment, goodness of heart and faith +in God; and their children have had too many evidences of medical +ignorance to accept any dogmas. We are anti-vaccinators, nearly +vegetarian, and, to come to the point, we have four children who will +persist in thriving on a basis of always too little rather than too +much of food. The respective ages are girl 13, boy 10, girl 6, boy 2. + +All have been brought up on these lines: never pressed to eat, but +continually asked to chew thoroughly. Foods "rich in proteid" put +sparingly before them. Milk has been well watered; and eggs, bacon and +other tempting and rich foods only on rare occasions given to them. + +We would ask readers who can to make the following experiment: Let +your children have a good drink to start the day, and then run and +play; don't offer food till asked for. You will almost to a certainty +find, if you start this plan immediately after weaning, that day by +day and year after year it is twelve to one o'clock before they +inquire for "something to eat." We have done this for twelve years, +with children of entirely different temperament and of both sexes. +They go to school, poor things! breakfastless. During these twelve +years light breakfast for father has been on the table--he goes +without lunch--and not once in fifty do they ask to join him. Nor, if +invited, will they after three or four years of age. + +The have never had a fever which lasted more than a day or two, and +they are all above average height and weight. + +They get fruit in season just as asked for, and as much to drink as +they like, _but not at meal-times_. + +Our experience is over a period of twelve years, and we have come to +the conclusion that the infectious diseases so prevalent and +death-dealing amongst children of all classes, rich or poor, are, in +the main, the result of over-feeding. We find it wise to keep highly +nutritious foods (like eggs, cheese, meat, etc.) away from +children--that is, for regular consumption; a little occasionally may +do no harm. + +You will have it borne in on our minds year by year, as your children +grow up under such a plan, that Dr Rabagliati, Hereward Carrington and +others are quite right. We do not get our strength, nor heat, from +food. Let the force of animal life (zoo-dynamic, I believe Dr +Rabagliati calls it) have free play, and your children can't help +growing up well and strong. + +In to-day's _London Daily Chronicle_ I see a special article by Dr +Saleeby, under this heading: WORLD'S DOCTORS VERSUS DISEASE. 5000 +MEDICAL MEN MEET TO-DAY. THE TRIUMPHS OF THREE DECADES. We know how +much this wonderful faculty knew thirty years ago about, _e.g._, fresh +air for consumptives. There is not a word said in this article (which +is a sort of programme of the weighty matters for discussion) on the +relation of food to the body. That question probably 4950 of them +believe was settled by the eminent physiologists who compiled those +"food-tables" years ago--and in so doing went far to pave the way for +the modern frightful increase of cancer, Bright's disease, etc., as +well as for "scientific" horrors like anti-toxin, tuberculin--not to +mention compulsory eugenics! + +J. METHUEN. + + + + +HEALTH THROUGH READING. + + +Do many people consider reading from the point of view of health of +mind and body--of refreshment in times of struggle--of recuperation +after knock-down blows of sorrow, disappointment or misfortune? + +Let us begin by saying that some of the greatest books are not to be +read by everybody at all seasons. When one's heart or ankles are weak, +one does not start to climb mountains, or one may end as a corpse or +a cripple. So with one's soul under shock or stress. Personally, I can +imagine nothing more cruel than the action of two women, one a +story-teller of great repute among the "goody," who, to a specially +stricken and lonely young widow, tendered as "bed-side books," Victor +Hugo's _Les Miserables_ and Browning's poignant _The Ring and the +Book_. If they had wished to make her realise to the bitterest depths +the awfulness of the world wherein she was left alone, and the +blackest depravity of the human nature around her, they could not have +done differently. _Les Miserables_ she read till she reached the +dreadful scene where a vicious cad hurls snowballs at the helpless +Fantine. Then the strong instinct of self-preservation made her put +the book aside--not to touch it again for nearly thirty years. With +_The Ring and the Book_ her mind was too wrung and too weary to +wrestle--all it could receive was a picture of wronged innocence, and +especially of the rampant forces of evil with which she was left to +contend. With the same want of tact and judgment, if with unconscious +cruelty, the gloomy, fateful _Bride of Lammermoor_ was selected out of +all Scott's novels for the reading of a very homesick youth, solitary +in a strange country! + +Yet we must always remember that, as in affairs of the body so of the +spirit, "what is one man's meat may be another man's poison." Some of +the wisest and most successful nurses or doctors will occasionally +permit an invalid to indulge in a longed-for diet which would +certainly never be prescribed. They know that idiosyncrasy follows no +exactly known rule. So we could tell of one who, amid the dry +agnosticism of the later half of last century, had felt her faith, not +indeed extinguished, but obscured and darkened. From the perusal of +certain writers she had shrunk, perhaps with cowardice. They were put +on such a pinnacle that she feared she would find no arguments fit to +oppose to theirs. Weakly, she locked the skeleton cupboard. Then she +was attacked by a malady which, while leaving her mind free and +strong, she knew might be very speedily fatal. Straightway she said +to her husband: "In two or three days I shall probably 'know'--or +cease from all knowing. There will not be long to wait. Therefore +bring me three books," which she named, works of authors of extreme +agnostic views. Rather reluctantly he complied with her wish. She went +steadily through the joyless pages, turned the last with the +significant remark: "If this is all they can say, well!--" The +skeleton cupboard, once opened, was speedily swept out. She quickly +recovered, but never forgot her experience. Yet it must be remembered +that this was the patient's own prescription, and was permitted by one +who thoroughly understood her temperament. Therefore, though one would +never wish to overrule a strong personal desire, that is quite +different from offering counsel and furtherance--or proving +experiments upon oneself. + +A celebrated woman writer of the middle of last century was of opinion +that young people of both sexes should not indulge in reading "minor +poetry." "Let them keep to the great poets, made of granite," was her +graphic phrase. A woman of singularly self-controlled nature has +confessed that the only time in her whole life that she experienced an +unwholesome moral and emotional disturbance, after reading a book, was +when, at about twenty-two years of age, she read Emily Brontë's +_Wuthering Heights_. She dared not finish it: and when, some time +later, a copy was presented to her, she caused it to be exchanged for +another book, not wishing it even to be in the house with her. Years +afterwards, she read it again, quite unmoved. It may be added that her +first reading was made in the course of a systematic study of English +literature, which had already led her through the works of Chaucer and +Fielding. She has herself asked: "Is it possible that the strong and +unpleasant effect was produced because the book was the production of +another young woman, perhaps of somewhat 'sympathetic' temperament?" + +Taken as a whole, probably most fiction and all highly emotional work +of any sort should be indulged in sparingly by those in the +danger-zone of life, or by any under special mental or moral stress. +History, philosophy (with sustained chains of reasoning) and +biographies (best, autobiographies) of active and strenuous lives, +should be resorted to by those temporarily doomed to spells of +suspense and involuntary inaction. Invalids should be encouraged to +read Plutarch's _Lives_ rather than the _Memorials_ of other +sufferers, however saintly! + +It may be broadly stated that, during the tragic episodes which seem +to occur in all lives, the most wholesome reading is to be found in +the books of the great World-Religions--the Bible, and the teachings +of Buddha, Confucius and Mahomet. The Bible is of course a library in +itself, and many of its books are suited to very widely different +circumstances and temperaments. The Psalms, the Gospels, the Epistle +of St James, and parts of those great poems known as the "prophetical +books" and the more personal and less doctrinal portions of Paul's +epistles are perhaps of widest application. From the words of Buddha, +Confucius and Mahomet there are many admirable selections--and one +remembers a wonderful compilation of more than thirty years ago, +called _The Sacred Anthology_, and wonders if it be out of print. It +does not follow that these works should not be studied at other times +than "tragic episodes." If this were more often the case, perhaps +there would be fewer "tragic episodes"! + +Next to these come such wonderful books of spiritual experience as À +Kempis's _Imitation of Christ_, the _Pilgrim's Progress_, the _Devout +Life_ of Francis of Sales and others which will occur to the memory. + +Allusion to the _Pilgrim's Progress_ brings us to the remark that no +books are more truly wholesome than some that can be enjoyed by those +of all ages, and of very varied types of "culture": in which the +children can delight, and which refresh the aged and weary. Like +Nature herself, they have hedgerows where the little ones can gather +flowers, little witting of the farther horizons of earth and sky +lifted up for the eyes of the elders. Let the children read the +_Pilgrim's Progress_ simply as "a story," its eternal verities will +sink into their souls to reappear when they too are in _Vanity Fair_ +or in bitter conflict with _Apollyon_. + +For the same reason, the Book of Proverbs should be commended to +youthful study. Under wise supervision--or rather, in mutual study--it +becomes at once a series of vivid pictures of primitive Eastern +life--for all allusions should be explained, where possible, +pictorially--while at the same time the memory will be insensibly +stored with shrewd common sense and knowledge of the world, to be +turned to, and drawn upon, as needed. + +And then, while the children revel in the fun and the fancy of Hans +Andersen's _Fairy Tales_, let the sorrowful or sore or wounded heart +turn to them for solace, soothing or healing. Hans Andersen enjoys a +very special "popularity" and yet some, who have learned to love and +value him, doubt whether justice has yet been done to his work. +Because it is matchless for the young, it may be easily forgotten that +it can be so, only by some quality which makes it matchless for all +others. Perhaps some of his most popular stories are not his most +wonderful, but have simply caught the popular fancy, because of some +artist's illustration, or some personal application to the writer's +own history, as in the case of his _Ugly Duckling_. How many--or +rather, how few!--can readily recall the pathos and wit of his +_Portuguese Duck_ or the deep philosophy of his _Girl Who Trod on a +Loaf_? + +It is told of Hans Andersen, a gentle soul in a homely exterior, which +attracted the snubs and neglect which "patient merit of the unworthy +takes," on some such occasion was once heard to murmur: "And yet I am +the greatest man now in the world!" It was very naive of him to say +so, even in a whisper, probably wrung from him only in self-defence, +but perhaps he might have thought it, in solemn silence--and--not been +so very wrong! It may have been part of the very transparency of his +inspired genius that he could not keep the secret to himself! + +There is at least one reader who declares that she finds the seeds of +all vital philosophy--ancient or modern--in his stories. How much he +derived from those who went before him, it is not for us to say, but +this disciple, herself a devoted student and admirer of the world's +latest teacher, Leo Tolstoy, yet puts Hans Andersen above him, as +having attained in practically all his work what Tolstoy attained only +occasionally--_i.e._ Tolstoy's own ideal of what Art should be and do. + +In such a paper as this little can be done beyond indicating on the +broadest lines the kind of reading which tends to preserve or to +restore mental health. Away with your "problem" novels and "realistic" +poems stated in the filthy material of moral gutters! Hans Andersen +will take some birds, some flowers, some toys, and will state the same +problems, and get the same eternal solutions, without making the +inquirer run any risk of meanwhile catching moral malaria. Isaiah will +help us to build "castles" for the human race and for our own future, +but he will take care that we shall remember that righteousness and +unceasing vigilance and unflagging repair must go into the laying of +foundations and the upholding of walls. David, even in his "cursing +psalms," will exemplify for you the power of hate and vengeance in +your own heart, and as he holds it up before you, you will see how +small a thing it is, how mean, how ludicrous! + +As a man eats and drinks, so is his body: if he is a gross feeder, his +body will be gross and sensual; if his food lacks nourishment, he will +pine and fade. So it is with our minds and our morals. With whatever +original "spiritual body" we may start, it needs spiritual sustenance, +spiritual discipline, spiritual sufficiency and spiritual abstinence. +Too often we ill-use it, as bodies are ill-used, goading its weakness +with fiery excitement, or gorging its greed with sickly sentiment, or +emasculating it by empty frivolity. + +All who desire spiritual health must find out what books best promote +it in themselves: and sometimes they are found, like wholesome herbs, +in very lowly places. One good rule is never to recommend what we have +not seen proved in ourselves, or on others. + +ISABELLA FYVIE MAYO. + + + + +THE SWAN-SONG OF SEPTEMBER. + + + This fine sonnet is from _Lyric Leaves_, poems by S. Gertrude + Ford. 2s. 6d. net (postage 2d.). (C.W. Daniel, Ltd., 3 Tudor + Street, London, E.C.) + + Sing out thy swan-song with full throat, September, + From a full heart, with golden notes and clear! + No rose will wreathe thee; yet the harebell's here, + And still thy crown of heath the hills remember. + Bright burns thy fire, e'en to its latest ember, + The sunset fire that lights thee to thy bier, + Flaming and failing not, albeit so near + Dun-robed October waits, and grey November. + And though, at sight of thee, a chill change passes + Through wood and wold, on leaves and flowers and grasses, + Thy beauty wanes not; thou hast ne'er grown old; + Death-crowned as Cleopatra, lovely lying + Even to the end; magnificently dying + In pomp of purple and in glare of gold. + +S. GERTRUDE FORD. + + + + +THE QUEST FOR BEAUTY. + + +If you have travelled at all frequently on certain of the London +"tube" railways you may occasionally have noticed, facing you in the +carriage, a small framed poster which for beauty and imaginative power +has, I should think, never been surpassed in advertising art. If the +first sight of it did not make you catch your breath you will not, I +am afraid, be interested in this article. + +The poster represents a rich landscape, in which noble tree-forms show +sombre against a tumultuous sky--the latter an architectural mass of +pale cloud, spanned by a vivid rainbow. Across the lower part of the +picture is a scroll, on which are written, in musical notation, two +bars from Chopin's Twentieth Prelude. At the top are the words, +_Studies in Harmony_: it is an advertisement of Somebody & Co.'s +wall-papers. + +In both colour and design this poster is very beautiful. It would be +scarcely less so without the rainbow; but "the dazzling prism of the +sky" not only intensifies the subtle harmony of colour throughout the +picture: it turns the poster into a symbol. And the artist might well +have stopped there; only, you see, he had an inspiration. When he +wrote across the picture those eight descending chords from the +immortal _Largo_ he made of the poster--a poem. + +I do not know anything about the artist who conceived this +advertisement of wall-papers. I do not even know his name. But I +believe him to be the herald of an invasion. + +The invasion of life by beauty. + +Do you think it a degradation of art that it should be enlisted by the +makers of wall-papers? Are there not too many ugly and discordant +posters? Do you consider trade and manufacture so sordid that they are +beneath the ministrations of beauty? It doesn't matter a new penny +whether you answer such questions with a nod or a no: the invasion has +begun. It is irresistible. Beauty is stooping--stooping to conquer. + +Your ardent social reformer is too often obsessed with one idea. +Across his mental firmament he sees only one blazing word: INJUSTICE. +And, fine fellow though he often is, he is inclined to be impatient +with any talk of art or beauty. "How can beauty grow in these vile +cities?" he cries. "What is the use of your music, your statuary, your +fine pictures, your poetry, to the starving and the oppressed?" And he +does not see that his passionate desire for justice is at root the +quest for beauty, for fullness and harmony of life. His stormy sky +shows no rainbow: yet it is there. And so is the stately music, the +transmutation of colour into sound. And if his eyes could be opened to +one and his ears to the other, there would be more power to his elbow. +For beauty is inspiration and courage-- + + "My heart leaps up when I behold + A rainbow in the sky...." + +And there is more than that in it. The cultivation of a sense of +beauty, of harmony, makes reformers less harsh in their judgments, +broadens their sympathies and helps to save them from becoming mere +doctrinaires. If you have any love for the beautiful you simply cannot +be happy about most Utopias, though they be Justice itself in civic +form; and, when our "scientific" Fabian has demonstrated to you how to +organise the national life in all its parts into one vast smoothly +working State mechanism you will shudder, and then laugh. And then, +without any rudeness, you will say: "Hang mechanism and a minimum +wage! Live men and women want living crafts, liberty and a maximum +beauty!" + +And really, I am coming to see that there are a great many +health-culture enthusiasts (not to mention food reformers) who see no +rainbow in the sky and hear no music in the wind; and even if they +did, ten to one they would see no connection between the two. I verily +believe there are some poor souls who have studied food questions so +closely that they cannot see the sun for proteid nor the sea for +salts. In all meekness, and knowing the frailty of the human mind (I +have written dozens of articles on diet!), I would prescribe for them +a course of artistic wall-paper advertisements, combined with the +letters of Robert Louis Stevenson. He, poor fellow, had to battle +against disease all his short life; but he managed to end one of his +letters something like this (I quote from memory): "_Sursum Corda_! +Heave ahead! Art and blue heaven! April and God's larks! A stately +music.... Enter God." + +A somewhat ecstatic utterance. A trifle too exclamatory. Perhaps. You +and I don't end our letters like that. (Or do you?) More likely we say +something about the weather down here being miserably cold (or damp, +or dull, or changeable, or hot) and brave out the lie with "yours +truly." But O for one little spark from the fire that shone in the +soul of R.L.S. Better to die young with a broken heart, if it were a +heart as brave and gay as his, than beat Methuselah by means of a +mincing, calculating, cold-blooded attention to irritating self-made +little rules. + +Oh yes, I know well the value of little rules. And I know also that +Nature offers us only two alternatives--obedience or death (either +sudden or slow). But then Nature is something more than Mistress and +Lawgiver. She is Beauty. And in that aspect, as in all other aspects, +Nature is unescapable. We turn our backs on her only to find her +awaiting us at the next turn in the road. Looking at the matter all +round, I don't think we can come to any other conclusion than that +Nature (or whatever you like to call It, Her or Him) is aiming at +beauty all the time. So that we who are literally, if not +figuratively, the children of Nature, had best do likewise. + +Some mystic or other has said that man's search for God is God's +search for man. If he was right--and I think he was--it follows that +man's quest for beauty is Beauty invading life; and that the only +healthy life worth the having is that which begins with "Lift up your +hearts!" and issues in "a stately music. Enter God." + +EDGAR J. SAXON. + + * * * * * + + + + +_SEMPER FIDELIS._ + + + Do two things worth doing, every day. + Be scrupulously polite and kind, rather than witty or entertaining. + Cherish cleanliness, sobriety, frugality and contentment. + Cultivate sweetness of disposition and tranquillity of mind. + Think before speaking, and so reduce your causes of regret. + Seek peace and be peaceable for _lis litem generat_. + Begin at home, let home always find you faithfully on duty. + Care carefully for those whom Providence has entrusted to your care. + And the reward of the faithful will abundantly yours, + And your heaven will go with you wherever you go. + +"A.R." + + + + +MORE HOLIDAY APHORISMS. + + +Two's company, three's fun. + + * * * * * + +Levity is the bane of wit. + + * * * * * + +Braggers mustn't be losers. + + * * * * * + +Never put on to-day what you can't put on to-morrow. + + * * * * * + +It's an ill mind that finds no one any good. + + * * * * * + +It's no use crying over spilt milk: you're better without it. + + * * * * * + +Look before you sleep. + + * * * * * + +Never put an excursion ticket in the mouth. + + * * * * * + +Long hair never made true poets. + + * * * * * + +Obesity always carries weight. + + * * * * * + +Look after your manners and your friends will look after themselves. + + * * * * * + +Cranks of a feather fight together. + + * * * * * + +All is not toil that blisters. + + * * * * * + +_To Sea Anglers_: + +A live catch is no better than a dead fish. + + * * * * * + +Better a place in the sun than a plaice on a hook. + +PETER PIPER. + + + + +HEALTHY HOMEMAKING. + + +XXI. HIRED HELP (_continued_). + +What is the homemaker of limited means, who must have some help, to do +under present conditions? Well, meantime, there is only the young +"general" for her, either the "daily girl" or one who "lives in." Of +the two I prefer the "daily girl," when she can be obtained. And the +younger she can be obtained, other things equal, the better. She will +have fewer bad habits to overcome. Some housewives object to the daily +girl on the score that she may bring dirt or infection from her home, +and also because she can seldom arrive early enough to help get +breakfast. But a little management overnight can reduce the labour of +breakfast getting to a minimum, and if the "outings" of the girl who +lives in are as frequent as they ought to be the risk of her carrying +infection, etc., will always apply. + +The "daily girl" has definitely fixed hours of work and the same +chance of enjoying a measure of home life, of keeping her friends and +individual interests, as the typist or factory worker whose lot the +domestic servant so often envies; while her employers are not faced +with the alternatives of condemning a young fellow-creature to a +solitary existence or forcing an unreal companionship which is equally +irksome on both sides. It is true that the wages of the "daily girl" +do not equal, in actual money, those of the factory worker, neither +does she obtain the Saturday half-holiday or the whole of Sunday free. +But to set against this she receives her entire board and, with a +kindly mistress, is not tied down to staying her full time on days +when she is "forward" with her work. + +The life of the young "daily girl," if her employer is a conscientious +woman, need not be hard nor unpleasant; very little harder and no more +unpleasant than the lot of the young "lady" who is paying from £60 to +£80 per annum to learn cookery, laundry and housework at a school of +domestic economy. Properly conducted, the relations between employer +and employee, "mistress" and "servant," are those of mutual aid. Such +relations _may_ be, and too often _are_, those of an inefficient +little drudge for a "mistress" almost equally ignorant and +inefficient. But when the employer is an intelligent woman with a +sense of justice (I prefer a sense of justice to sentimental theories +about sisterhood--people do not always treat their sisters justly) the +weekly money payment and food will be but a small part of the girl's +wage. In addition she will receive a training that will equip her for +the "higher" branches of domestic service, or for homemaking on her +own account. Not every girl has the sense to appreciate this when she +gets it, nor the intelligence to profit by it; while it is certainly +rather trying to the employer when the girl is "all agog" to "better +herself" as soon as she has gained a bare smattering of how to do +certain things properly. But all this is "the fortune of war." Some +girls never cease to be grateful to their first teachers and leave +them reluctantly, while other girls never realise that they have +anything to be grateful for. When gratitude and affection come they +are pleasant to receive. But the motive power of the really +conscientious woman is not the expectation of gratitude or affection. + +A word to the unconventional homemaker. The young "general" is a bird +of passage. Age and experience bring with them the necessity of +earning more, and if her first employer cannot periodically raise the +girl's wages the latter must in time seek better paid employment, +probably with a mistress who is not unconventional. It is unkind, +therefore, to refrain from teaching the girl how she will be expected +to do things in the ordinary conventional house. I do not mean that +the employer ought to slavishly run her home on conventional lines for +the instruction of her "help." But it is kinder, for instance, to help +a girl regard a cap and apron with good-humoured indifference, or as +on a par with a nurse's uniform, rather than as "a badge of +servitude." It is kinder, too, to show her that it is not only +"servants" who are expected to address their employers as "Sir" and +"Ma'am," but that well-mannered young people in all conditions of life +can be found who use this form of address to persons older than +themselves. I do not suggest for one moment that any attempt should be +made to delude a girl into the belief that she will not be expected, +in conventional households, to behave with equal deference to persons +younger than herself. Such deception would be unpardonable. But it is +anything but kind to allow a young girl to drift into careless and +familiar habits of speech bound to lead to dismissal for "impudence" +in her next "place." There is a type of person, for example, who seems +to believe that, in order to show that he is "as good as anybody +else," it is necessary to be rude and familiar. But good manners are +not necessarily associated with servility. And it is no kindness to +help to unfit a girl for getting her living in the world as it is. + +It may seem that, in this article, I am more concerned for the "hired +help" than the homemaker for whom I am ostensibly writing. But the +points I have touched on are just those about which I know many +thoughtful women are puzzled. I cannot solve their individual problems +for them, of course, I can only just barely indicate some of the +thoughts that have come to me on a subject that is so intimately bound +up with the whole of our present unsatisfactory social and economic +conditions that it cannot be adequately discussed in a little tract +upon domestic economy. + +FLORENCE DANIEL. + + +THE CARE OF CUPBOARDS. + +There are three methods in general use of caring for cupboards. Some +housewives prefer their cupboard shelves of bare wood, to be well +scrubbed with soap and water at the periodical "turn-out." Others +cover all shelves with white American cloth, which only needs wiping +over with a wet house-flannel; while still others prefer to dispense +with the necessity for wetting the shelves and line them with white +kitchen paper, or even clean newspaper, which is periodically renewed. + +Of the three methods I prefer the last, with the addition of a good +scrubbing at the spring clean. The weekly or fortnightly scrubbing is +apt to result in permanently damp cupboards, unless they can be left +empty to dry for a longer time than is usually convenient. The use of +American cloth is perhaps the easiest, most labour-saving method, but +the cloth soon gets superficially marked and worn long before its real +usefulness is impaired, so that the cupboard shelves never look quite +so neat as after scrubbing or relining with white paper. + +The larder should be thoroughly "turned out" once a week. Once a +fortnight is enough for the store-cupboard and for china cupboards in +daily use. While cupboards in which superfluous china and other +non-perishable goods are stored, and that are seldom opened, need not +be touched oftener than once or twice a year. + +In very small houses one cupboard often must house both china and +groceries, thus combining the offices of storeroom and china cupboard. +The larder, strictly speaking, is for the food consumed daily. But +when larder and store-cupboard have to be combined, the groceries may +be packed away on the upper shelves, which can be tidied once a +fortnight; but the shelves doing duty for the larder proper should +never be left for longer than a week. + +Nothing betrays the careless housewife like an ill-smelling larder. +All food should be examined daily and kept well covered. Hot food +should be allowed to cool before storing in the larder. In the summer +time special precautions must be taken against flies, all receptacles +for food which are minus well-fitting lids being covered with +wire-gauze covers or clean butter muslin. If the shelves are lined +with paper, care should be taken at the weekly change to examine the +wood for stains caused by spilt food that has penetrated through the +paper. These should not be just left and covered over, but well washed +off. With ordinary carefulness, however, they need not occur. + +F.D. + + + + +BOOK REVIEWS. + + +_The New Suggestion Treatment._ By J. Stenson Hooker, M.D. Cloth 1s. + net (postage 1½d.) C.W. Daniel, Ltd., 3 Tudor Street, E.C. + +This book is a striking example of the new synthetic movement in the +medical profession. It is an exposition for the general reader of +certain basic principles of mental treatment and of the author's +methods of applying these; it is also, in reality, an appeal to +doctors generally to put aside prejudice and examine the immense +potentialities of rational "suggestion" healing methods. + +After examining the main features and disadvantages of mere hypnotic +treatment and passing under review present-day "mental science," the +author explains wherein his method of mental treatment both avoids the +dangers of hypnotism and reinforces ordinary self-suggestion. +Throughout there is the frank recognition that few forms of dis-ease +are curable by one means alone; on the other hand, it is contended +that most disorders, both mental and physical, are remarkably amenable +to a rightly directed course of the new suggestion treatment, +supplemented by other natural means. + +The narrowness of view that too often characterises the specialist is +entirely absent from this book. It is throughout thoroughly broad, +refreshingly sensible and profoundly convincing. + +_The Cottage Farm Month by Month_ (illustrated with original + photographs). By F.E. Green. Cloth, 1s. net (postage 2d.). C.W. + Daniel, Ltd., 3 Tudor Street, London, E.C. + +Here is a book of immediate social interest, of great practical value, +and of uncommon literary quality. + +In the course of twelve chapters, bearing the titles of the months of +the year, it reveals a welding together of two things which in many +minds have unfortunately become divorced: the practical problems and +arduous labour which no tiller of the soil can escape and--the keen +delight of a poetical temperament in the ever-changing, yet annually +renewed, beauties of earth and sky and running water. + +It escapes the dry technicalities of the agricultural text-book, while +at the same time conveying innumerable valuable hints on practically +every branch of "small farming"--advice which springs from the +author's thorough knowledge based on long and often hard experience. + +On the other hand, while entirely free from that all too common defect +of "nature-books"--hot-house enthusiasm--it will delight the most +incurable townsman (providing his sense of beauty is not withered) by +its joyous yet restrained pictures of open-air things. + +_Simple Rules of Health._ By Philip Oyler, M.A. (2nd ed.). 3d. net. + Post free from the author, Morshin School, Headley, Hants. + +An admirable epitome of what might be called "advanced health culture +without crankiness." The author is an ardent advocate of simplicity in +all things and--practises what he preaches. Moreover, he is one of +those who sees health from all points of view: he is as much concerned +with what the English Bible calls "a right spirit" as with a fit body +and a responsive mind. It is a little book deserving of a wide +circulation. + + + + +CORRESPONDENCE. + + +A REMEDY FOR SLEEPLESSNESS. + + To the Editors + + SIRS, + + Would you care to publish the following experience of a cure for + sleeplessness:-- + + I had no difficulty in going to sleep, but usually awoke again at + about two A.M. with palpitation, and it often took me two or + three hours to go to sleep again. + + I cured myself in the following way: I left off supper and + reduced my tea meal by half, and the result was continuous sleep; + the symptoms, however, began to come back again after a time, so + I gradually cut the tea meal right away, and half of the midday + meal as well. The cure was then permanent and after a time I + found that I could resume the tea meal again. At the present time + I am having a tea meal of fruit only. + + In addition I should advise those who suffer from this complaint + to keep cheerful, and to avoid excessive physical or mental + fatigue and worry. Yours faithfully, + + "A SIX MONTHS' READER." + + +IS PURE LIME JUICE OBTAINABLE? + +The Editors have received the following letter from Messrs Rowntree & +Co., Ltd.:-- + + "We note in your issue of July 1913 under the heading of 'Lemon + or Orange Squash' a note to the effect that bottled lemon + squashes and lime cordials 'are not pure in the strict sense of + the term, since they are bound to contain 10 per cent. alcoholic + pure spirit by Government regulations.' We should be glad to know + what is your authority for this statement. Possibly it is a + misprint, because obviously the Government does not require + anything of the kind. Our own lemon squash and lime juice cordial + are entirely free from any form of preservative, including + alcohol. They are made up from pure lemon juice and lime juice + respectively, with sugar, and contain no foreign ingredient." + +The statement complained of was based on an article entitled +"Fortified Lime Juice" which appeared in _The Chemist and Druggist_, +13th May 1911 (page 51). On again referring to this article we find +that the Government regulation applies only to _exported_ Lime Juice. + +We regret having made this error, and are genuinely glad to have +Messrs Rowntree's assurance that their own "Lime Juice Cordial" and +"Lemon Squash" are "entirely free from any form of preservative, +including alcohol." + +Nevertheless, we think our suspicions regarding the presence of +preservatives in such articles are justifiable in view of the +following authoritative statements made by _The Chemist and Druggist_ +in the article referred to:-- + + "The British Revenue authorities have drawn the line a little + tighter in the discharge of their responsibility respecting the + soundness of lime-juice intended for exportation or for use on + board ship. The new rule henceforth is to grant a 'pass' + certificate for unfortified lime-juice to last for fourteen days + only, at the end of which time another certificate must be + obtained. As this new regulation affects lime-juice in its + natural condition before rum or any other spirit is added to it, + only lime-juice manufacturers or importers are concerned in the + matter.... _With such rapidly deteriorating liquid as lime or + lemon juice the addition of the preservative spirit is a + necessity, hence the sooner it is fortified the better._ The + Revenue authorities permit duty-free spirit to be used for this + purpose, but in order that lime-juice manufacturers shall have + this advantage of not paying duty on the spirit used the Revenue + authorities insist on approval of the juice and its subsequent + fortification in bond under supervision of the Crown.... In + reference to the proportion of spirit used, previously the + regulation was expressed in a permissive sense, but now the + emphatic "must" is used. In the last Government Laboratory report + it was stated that 396 samples were examined, most of which were + lime-juice, representing nearly 50,000 gallons. Even the + fortified article is re-tested if more than three months old in + cask or two years old in bottle, and this re-testing resulted + last year in a condemnation of several hundred gallons owing to + deterioration during storage. This juice is principally for use + in the Mercantile Marine to combat scurvy." + +From which it would appear that the use of _some_ kind of preservative +is essential with such a rapidly deteriorating liquid as lime or lemon +juice; and if not alcohol, there are innumerable chemical +preservatives available. We wish we could rely on receiving assurances +from other "Lime Juice" importers and manufacturers similar to that we +have received from Messrs Rowntree. + + * * * * * + +_To People with Strong Convictions:_ + +A holiday is the best of all opportunities for appreciating the +opposite point of view to our own: this is why everyone needs a day's +holiday once a week. + + + + +HEALTH QUERIES. + +_Under this heading our contributor, Dr Valentine Knaggs, deals +briefly month by month, and according as space permits, with questions +of general interest to health seekers and others._ + +_In all Queries relating to health difficulties it is essential that +full details of the correspondent's customary diet should be clearly +given._ + +_Correspondents are earnestly requested to write on _one side only of +the paper_, giving full name and address, not for publication, but as +a guarantee of good faith. When an answer is required by post a +stamped addressed envelope must be enclosed._--[EDS.] + + +FAULTY FOOD COMBINATIONS. + + H.E.H. writes.--I should like your opinion of the statement of + the late Mr A. Broadbent, that fruit when taken with starchy food + by dyspeptics delays digestion, and that the digestion of starchy + foods and vegetables occupied only one-third of the time needed + for the digestion of starch with fruit. I have lived on a strict + vegetarian diet and observed the laws of hygiene for two and a + half years, to rid myself of dyspepsia, with great success, + having increased my weight by thirty-six pounds; for the last + nine months of this time I have lived on a largely "unfired" + diet, but am still troubled with acid risings and flatulence and + cannot account for it. Will you kindly enlighten me on the + subject? + + I am a carpenter by trade and get eight hours in the open air + every day. I take a tumbler of distilled water hot with the juice + of one orange at 6 A.M., breakfast at 7.30 A.M., dinner at 12 + noon and tea at 6 P.M., all consisting of Wallace unfermented + bread and biscuits, various fruits (mostly apples, bananas and + tomatoes) and nuts, about ½oz. at a meal; also a little cheese, + about 1 oz. at a meal. + +The late Mr A. Broadbent was quite right, in my opinion, when he +asserted that fruit taken with starchy foods delayed digestion. + +To reap the true benefit from fruit it must be taken alone. + +The dominant element in fruit is oxygen and the feature of oxygen is +its power to start the process of oxidation in decomposing and +disintegrating substances. It follows that when the stomach is filled +with fermenting food-stuffs, or the tissues are clogged with the +products derived from such, the oxidising action of fruit will be +correspondingly intense. + +The Naturist who applies the Schroth Cure for the purpose of curing +chronic diseases uses fruit as his chief eliminating agent. The reader +will remember that the peasant healer, Schroth, made his patients take +dry stale rolls alone for three whole days, with nothing whatever to +drink, and on the fourth day, he gave them a full bottle of white +wine, which then caused intense oxidation, with marked elimination of +poisons. His methods, if successful, were drastic and weakening, and +so the latter-day exponents of Schrothism have modified this and give +their patients zweiback or twice-baked bread instead of rolls, and on +the third or fourth day make the patient partake freely of fresh +fruit. This process of alternate dry days and fluid days is continued +for some weeks until the cure is complete. + +I have merely referred to this matter to show the part played by fruit +in the body. To a healthy person fruit is in truth a splendid +regenerating food, but it should, whenever possible, be eaten alone. +To a dyspeptic, fruit is often equally good, if _taken by itself_. + +The case of vegetables is different, and I hold with Broadbent that +salad or properly cooked vegetables do go well with cereals, because +they contain, not oxygen and oxygen acids, but mineral elements like +soda, lime and magnesia, which neutralise the acids and toxins which +form in the body as a result of its work. The vegetable is just as +active as the fruit as an eliminant, but it works on different lines. +Cereal foods, if eaten slowly in a dry condition are made alkaline by +the saliva, so that the vegetables, which are also naturally alkaline, +would harmonise well with cereals if eaten with them. + +Our correspondent should modify his diet as follows, and then, I +anticipate, he will cease to be troubled with his acid dyspepsia and +flatulence. He should take his fruit alone, and take any of the crisp +unsweetened Wallace "P.R." Biscuits in preference to the unfermented +bread, which latter is often difficult to digest:-- + +_On rising._--A tumblerful of hot distilled water. + +_Breakfast_ (at 7.30).--Fresh fruit only. + +_Lunch_ (at 12).--1 to 2 oz. of cheese, preferably home-made curd +cheese; salad of green leaf vegetables; "P.R." or Ixion biscuits with +fresh butter, or nut butter. + +_Dinner_ (at 6).--1 to 2 oz. of flaked pine kernels, finely grated raw +roots or tomatoes, with pure olive oil; Granose biscuits, or Shredded +Wheat biscuits, and fresh butter. + +_At bedtime._--Cupful of dandelion coffee or hot distilled water. + + +NEURITIS. + + E.M.A. writes.--At the age of five years I had an attack of + rheumatic fever through taking a severe cold, and have been + troubled more or less with pains since that time, which I feel + sure are caused through rheumatism of the nerves. I am now + fifty-eight years of age and have been a vegetarian for six + years. + + My diet is:--8 A.M., cup of Sanum Tonic Tea; 9 A.M., Cup of dried + milk; 10 A.M., half of an apple and a little crust of wholemeal + bread; 1 P.M. conservatively cooked vegetable, using "Emprote" + for sauce; 4 P.M., cup of dried milk; 6 P.M., a little green + salad with St Ivel lactic cheese (size of one large walnut); 9 + P.M., cup of dried milk. Do you think dried milk is harmful to + me? I should miss it very much were I to leave it off. I must + mention how great a help _The Healthy Life_ magazine is to me in + many ways. + +Neuritis is a painful and wearying form of nerve trouble which mostly +affects the arms and legs. It can, however, originate in any other +part of the body through the spinal nerve centres. It may sometimes be +due to injury, but the usual cause is some form of thickening or +misplacement of the spinal structures, which induces pressure upon the +nerves as they emerge through the apertures between the spinal bones. +A careful examination of the back will show the site, and often the +nature, of the thickening or encumbrance which is present. + +In our correspondent's case the thickening process doubtless occurred +as an after effect of the attack of rheumatic fever. + +The best remedy is suitable osteopathic treatment for the spine, +supplemented by _either very_ hot or _quite_ cold spinal sitz baths, +by acetic acid skin treatment, or by any other means which will have +the effect of disencumbering the spine. By means of our treatment we +free the painful nerves from harmful pressure and promote an increased +blood circulation in the parts affected. In this way the cause of the +disorder is removed. + +A diet along the following lines would be better than the present +one:-- + +8 A.M.--Tumblerful of hot distilled water. + +9.30.--One raw egg beaten up with cream and vegetable juice or clear +vegetable soup made without salt. Wholemeal bread with plenty of +butter and some celery or watercress. + +1.30 P.M.--Two conservatively cooked vegetables done without salt, +with grated cheese as sauce and a Granose biscuit with butter. + +4.--Tumblerful of hot distilled water only. + +6.30.--2 oz. of cottage cheese or cream cheese, salad and Granose +biscuits, or "P.R." crackers, with butter. + +9.30.--A raw egg beaten up with cream and vegetable juice or soup. + +I think dried milk preparations are inadvisable in such cases as these +(especially when taken as beverages, as the "milk sugars" present are +very prone to ferment and to hinder the cleansing of the digestive +tract), and that the required proteid is best obtained from eggs and +curd cheese. Fat is very necessary in nervous troubles; hence plenty +of cream, fresh butter and cream cheese should be taken; also pure oil +with the salad. + + +MALT EXTRACT. + + L.F.H. writes.--Is malt extract a good thing to take daily with + an ordinary non-flesh diet, two teaspoonfuls or so at breakfast? + And is the desiccated or dry malt extract to be preferred to the + ordinary sticky article? + +Malt extract of good quality, containing an active form of diastase, +is a good form of relish to take with meals. The diastase promotes +starch digestion and makes a good addition to foods of the cereal +order. The thick sticky form is the best because the diastase is then +in an active condition. Dried malt usually will have this diastase +destroyed, hence, although much more convenient to handle, it is not +so good dietetically as the sticky original extract. + + +ABOUT SUGAR. + + C.T. writes.--I have read the article on sugar with considerable + interest. I have noted nervous disorders, etc., manifest in cases + of excessive consumption of manufactured sugar. I have been an + abstainer from cane sugar (all commercial sugars, though _I do + not know of any objection to milk, sugar_) for many years, + regarding it as an unnatural excitant and stimulant as well as + being inimical to digestion. As a physiologist I have taken + immense interest in longevity, feeling that an active life past + the age of ninety-five or a hundred, and upwards, carries with + it, in evidence of right living, the force of demonstration, and + more conclusively, in direct ratio to the advance of years. I + firmly believe that all anomalies will ultimately admit of + resolution. In this connection I could mention a number of + strange and paradoxical cases for which, as yet, I have obtained + no solution. I know of centenarians who began using "sugar" + freely late in life. In one case, when past eighty, a new set of + teeth (not odd "supernumeraries") appeared all round! How is it, + again, that the natives of the West Indies, when living on sugar + (in its crude state, I suppose) have excellent teeth and perfect + health? Is not raw sugar better the less manufactured it is? On + the other side, Captain Diamond, at 114, attributes his health in + great measure to abstinence from sugar. + +Most of these queries are answered in the completed book[10] published +this year. The point about "milk sugar" not being injurious he will +find answered on page 72. + +[10] _The Truth about Sugar_, 1s. net. (C.W. Daniel, Ltd.) + +"Milk sugars" taken to excess with a mixed diet, or in the form of +milk as a beverage, break down into lactic, butyric and other +destructive acids under the influence of intestinal germs and thus do +harm to the body. + +The natives of the West Indies (page 39) take the sugar cane in its +natural state as a living vegetable food--a very different thing from +the isolated and chemicalised sugar on our tables at home. Moreover, +the chewing required helps digestion. This is very different to the +drinking rapidly of sugared beverages, which do not receive this +necessary mouth preparation. + +One is quite prepared to admit that paradoxical cases do occur where +sugar seems to agree well even with octogenarians, but they are, in my +opinion, the exceptions, and I am constantly coming across cases where +the free consumption of table sugars has proved very harmful to both +old and young. + + +ULCERATION OF THE STOMACH. + + A.L.M. writes.--Our domestic servant, a girl aged twenty-four, is + suffering from ulceration of the stomach and has had periodical + attacks for the past six years. She has apparently, until she + came to us, eaten and drunk very unwisely. She has been with us + seven months and has been fed on a non-flesh diet since she came. + For the last four weeks tea, coffee and cocoa have been + forbidden, and as little sugar is consumed as possible. She had a + very bad attack in August and we had to call in a doctor is we + did not like the responsibility. He strongly recommended the + hospital and an operation, which would ensure that there would be + no repetition of the complaint. She decided to go and was there + six weeks. After much experimenting there, inoculating and + wondering whether it was tuberculosis, they operated and in due + course she came back. We went to the sea for three weeks and + shortly after our return the vomiting of blood and pains + recommenced. After four days in bed she returned to light dishes, + and a fortnight after another slighter attack came on, which in + twenty-four hours. She takes hot boiled water five times a day. + She suffers also from a horny skin on the palms of her hands, + with deep cracks where the natural lines are. These periodically + bleed. This skin exists also on her heels and the soles of her + feet. Before and after, an attack this skin seems to be worse + than ever. + + I mentioned the fact of the recurring attacks since the operation + to the doctor and he seemed surprised and said the matter must be + constitutional and there was no hope for her. + + My own opinion is that pure food will put her right eventually, + and that these attacks will recur in diminishing force until the + poisons are eliminated front the system. + + Her diet is at present as follows:-- + + _On rising._--Half-pint of boiled water (hot). + + _Breakfast._--Either Shredded Wheat softened in hot milk or + breakfast flakes and cold milk: followed by either bananas or + apples. Half-pint boiled water (hot). + + _Lunch._--Ordinary vegetarian cooked dishes, vegetables + conservatively cooked, some fruit. Half-pint boiled water (hot). + + _Tea meal._--Wholemeal bread (Artox flour), usually non-yeast, + nut butter. Lettuces and radishes when obtainable. Half-pint + boiled water (hot). + + _Before retiring._--Half-pint of boiled water (hot). + +It has been shown by Brandl and other investigators that ulceration of +the stomach can always be produced in animals by feeding them with an +excess of sugar foods. The same thing applies to human beings, who, if +fed with an excess of sweetmeats, sugar, milk or soft mushy cereals, +will first contract catarrh of the stomach, which will ultimately +deepen into a condition of ulceration. + +The rationale of the process is this: Fermentation and putrefaction of +the foods eaten to excess produce in the stomach various acids and +toxins. These become absorbed and pass into the liver. Then the liver +becomes clogged, its flow of blood is obstructed and this naturally +retards the flow of food from the stomach. That organ becomes +congested and inflamed and, when the lower end, or pylorus, is +obstructed, this congested state may easily deepen into ulceration. We +also nearly always find a tender spine, showing that the nervous +system has equally participated in the conditions produced, and this +nervous factor intensifies the trouble by retarding the due working of +the digestive functions. + +What we have to do to cure a case of ulcerated stomach is _to withhold +the foods which create fermentation_. Then the liver will be allowed +time to work off the poisons which are clogging its substance and when +this has come about the stomach will slowly return to its normal +condition. + +The diet which our correspondent cites is badly arranged. It is a +mistake to give fluid _with_ the meals, and the mushy food at +breakfast and the soft food at dinner should be changed to drier and +crisper forms of nutriment. + +The following diet would be a distinct improvement:-- + +_On rising._--Half-pint of boiled hot water, sipped slowly; or +quarter-pint Sanum Tonic Tea, taken hot. + +_Breakfast._--A Shredded Wheat biscuit _eaten dry_ and well buttered; +a lightly boiled egg and some finely grated raw roots, especially +carrots and turnips. + +In a case of this sort it is best not to mix cereals with fruits. + +An alternative breakfast would consist of _fruit alone_ such as two +apples, finely grated at first, or two bananas mashed and mixed with +pure olive oil and sprinkled with flaked nuts but care must be taken +that the pulped banana is well chewed. + +_Lunch._--Grated cheese, or cream cheese, with some finely chopped +salad, or grated raw roots, or conservatively cooked vegetables +(preferably roots or onions baked fairly dry by the casserole method) +can be taken at this repast. Follow with a slice or two of cold +ordinary toast or rusks with butter. + +_Tea meal._--Half-pint of hot boiled water with a little lemon or +orange juice added to it for flavouring. + +_Supper_ (about 6.30).--Stale standard bread with butter and curd +cheese or an egg. The non-yeast bread should be avoided as in the weak +state of the stomach it will not be properly digested; besides, the +bran may irritate the lining in the present condition of the stomach. +As soon as the stomach has regained its power of digesting food, and +the ulcers have healed, then fine wholemeal biscuits of the Wallace or +Ixion kind can be taken, but the unfermented bread had better be +avoided. + +_At bedtime._--A half-pint of hot water. + + +GOING TO EXTREMES IN THE UNFIRED DIET. + + W.O.C. writes.--As a bachelor who (not believing in, and + therefore doing without domestic help) is anxious to reduce time + spent on cooking to a minimum, I shall be glad if Dr Knaggs will + tell me whether the use of the oven, pan and kettle are necessary + to healthy diet. For instance (1) would a diet of bread and + butter, biscuits, cheese, fruit (fresh and dried), ordinary cold + water and cold milk, be as healthy as a diet of hot vegetables, + puddings, cocoashell, etc.? (2) Are cooked lentils, + butter-beans, macaroni, etc., more beneficial taken hot than + after they have cooled? (3) Could uncooked vegetables _of + sufficient nutriment_ be substituted for these? I shall be glad + if it is quite safe to live entirely on raw foods, whether fresh + or "prepared." + +The use of the oven, pan and kettle is not essential to a healthy +diet, but few people in this changeable, and often cold, depressing +climate are willing to forgo their occasional use. One cannot get hot +water for a drink without a kettle or a small saucepan and a gas ring, +and hot water is often a very comforting and useful drink, especially +where an effort is being made to break off the tea and coffee habit. + +A diet of bread and butter, biscuits, cheese, fresh and dried fruits +is excellent, provided our correspondent also includes grated raw +roots and salads as the medicinal part of the regimen, and keeps the +fresh fruit to itself as one meal of the day. Cold water or cold milk +could also be taken in the place of hot water or hot milk, although I +deprecate the use of milk as a beverage unless a person is willing to +live entirely on milk like a baby does. The hot vegetables are +uncalled for, provided the raw vegetables are substituted for them. +The puddings can well be discarded. Cocoashell beverages are useful in +very many cases. + +Beans or lentils can be eaten sparingly in a raw state if first +soaked, then flaked in a Dana machine, and afterwards flavoured with +herbs or parsley. I certainly think that, if they _are_ to be cooked, +the taste is better if eaten hot; but there is no reason why cold +cooked lentils should not be eaten any more than is the case with an +other form of cooked food. Uncooked vegetables will not take the place +of lentils, because they are of a different order of food-stuff. The +uncooked vegetable would go well with the lentils as neutralising +agents of the acids into which all nitrogenous foods break down in the +body. Most people will find that nuts, cheese and eggs are better +sources of proteid than lentils or other "pulse foods." + +H. VALENTINE KNAGGS. + + + + + THE + + HEALTHY + + LIFE + + The Independent + Health Magazine. + + 3 AMEN CORNER LONDON E.C. + + + VOL. V OCTOBER + No. 27. 1913 + + + _There will come a day when physiologists, poets, and + philosophers will all speak the same language and understand one + another._--CLAUDE BERNARD. + + + + +AN INDICATION. + + +Just as there is a pride that apes humility, so there is an egotism +that apes selfishness, a cowardice that apes stoicism and an indolence +that apes effort. This is especially apparent in matters pertaining to +health. + +How often, on the plea of not causing worry or expense to others, does +a man or woman not put off taking necessary rest, or consulting a +doctor, until a slight ailment that once would have yielded to +treatment becomes an irreparable injury. + +Such conduct is often admired as unselfish, but for unselfishness and +stoicism a psychologist would read fear, indolence and egotism. Fear +of being thought hypochondriacal and fear of facing facts; shrinking +from the exertion involved in the effort to become healthy and from +the pain involved in witnessing the possible distress and anxiety of +friends should the complaint prove serious--regardless of the fact +that its neglect and resultant incurability would cause infinitely +more distress; above all, that mental egotism which breeds in its +victim an unreadiness to acknowledge that he does not _know_ what may +be wrong and to take prompt steps to remedy his ignorance. + +It is not fair, of course, to attach too much blame to the patient. +Such faults as those cited above are in themselves symptoms of nervous +disease. Body and mind act and react upon one another. Nevertheless, +the practice of the virtues loses its meaning when there is no pull in +the opposite direction.--[EDS.] + + + + +IMAGINATION IN INSURANCE. + + +_Regular readers will recognise in this article a continuation of the +series previously entitled "Healthy Brains." The author of "The +Children All Day Long" is an intimate disciple of one of the greatest +living psychologists, and she has a message of the first importance to +all who realise that true health depends as much on poise of mind as +on physical fitness._ + +It is an unpleasant subject, but have you ever faced the fact that +your widow might be left in poverty? + +We all know the phrases that come so glibly from the lips of the +insurance agent. Perhaps the very fact that it pays companies to spend +thousands a year on the salaries of agents, and other thousands on +broadcast eye-catching advertisements, shows that there are many +things which our imagination only accepts "against the grain." Fire, +storm, loss by theft or burglary, sickness, disablement and death we +do not, by choice, dwell on these things in thought. + +Now some people are inclined to pet this impulse of turning away. "Do +not think dark thoughts," they tell us, "the best insurance is +unconsciousness, insouciance, denial. Misfortune will pass you by if +you do not look for it." + +Perhaps there is something to be said for this method when it comes +with absolute spontaneity from the innermost nature. But if for the +radiant apprehension of beauty and health we substitute an effort to +cling to the picture of good when our very bodies and nerves are +warning us with suggestions of evil, we run grave risks. By adopting +someone else's sense of freedom from danger and repressing our own +conviction that for us a certain danger, more or less remote, exists, +we are putting great pressure upon ourselves. At times of ill-health +or accidental worry, a sleepless night may bring us an agonising +succession of imaginative pictures, those very pictures which we have +attempted to banish from our daily life. If we have still greater +power of repression these grim images, forbidden throughout every +moment of waking life, may reappear in dreams. + +(Of the still more serious dangers of repression and of its relation +to various forms of insanity, this is hardly the place to speak.[11] +It ought not to be necessary to appeal to alarming instances in order +to make us attend to a suggested warning.) + +[11] See Bernard Hart's illuminating treatment of the whole subject in +_The Psychology of Insanity_, Cambridge Manuals of Science. + +Now if we decide to regard all fear as a suggestion of precaution, the +emotional part of it to be laid aside as soon as it has fulfilled its +function of arousing interest and directing action, it is easy to see +the psychological justification for insurance. + +Of course pecuniary insurance is but one instance of such sequences of +action, though it happens to be a rather obvious one. In a different +field, most of us know the delightful feeling of relief experienced +after consulting a doctor about some symptom that has perhaps been +troubling us for a long time. "May I safely do this? Ought I to +refrain from that?" and such perpetually recurring irritations to the +attention are replaced by the knowledge that it is now the doctor's +business to decide whether this or that is "serious," and that as +long as we carry out his orders we may lay aside all worry about the +matter. + +So in the case of fire insurance, what we are really buying with our +annual premium is freedom from haunting questions as to the loss that +would ensue if our house or shop or office were burnt down or damaged. +Whenever the thought comes, it may, as far as the money loss is +concerned, be dismissed. + +We see then that instead of keeping the suggestion of such misfortunes +before us, as some people might allege, the act of insurance +substitutes for vague and recurrent fears a formal and periodical +recognition of possibilities, a recognition, too, that contains within +itself a precaution against some of the results of the misfortune +should it ever occur. What we buy, at the cost of a fixed number of +pounds or shillings of money and a few minutes of time once a year, is +the right to put the dangers out of our consciousness altogether and +yet leave no residuum of repressed fear to split up our personality or +give us indigestion. + +If we choose, for some reason or other, to let our imagination dwell +on the objective side of the possibility we have insured against, we +shall find a pleasure in thinking of what can be done by many people +working together. If we need help to meet some misfortune, it is ours +as a right, not doled out to us through others' pity. And every year +that we have made no claim we have the delight of knowing that we are +helping those who need. + +The art of working together is yet in its infancy. But if even the +present standard of method devised for money insurance were to be +adopted in the deeper matters which we so often allow to trouble us, +what an advance in mental development we should have made and what new +possibilities of safe action would be opened up! + +E.M. COBHAM. + + * * * * * + +Every youth should learn to do something finely and thoroughly with +his hands.--_Ruskin._ + + + + +THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF VEGETALISM. + +This article has been translated from the French of Prof. H. Labbé, +the head of the _laboratoire à la Faculté de Médecine_, in Paris. It +reflects a rather characteristic aloofness to any considerations other +than scientific or economic. But it will well repay careful +study.--[EDS.] + + +I + +Vegetarianism has been the object of many attacks, and has also been +warmly defended. Most of its adepts have sought to give the value of a +dogma to its practice. + +For quite a number of people "vegetarianism" is a kind of religion, +requiring of its votaries a sort of baptism, and the sacrifice of many +pleasures. It is this which justifies the infatuation of some, and the +systematic disparagement of others. + +"Vegetalism"[12] cannot pretend to play a similar part, or to lend +itself to ambiguity. To be a "vegetalist" is to choose in the +vegetable kingdom, with a justified preference, foods susceptible of +filling the energy-producing needs, and the needs of the reparation of +the human system. + +"Vegetalism" is a chapter of dietetic physiology which must utilise +the precise methods and recent discoveries of the science of +nutrition. + +[12] The word "Vegetarianism" implies a judgment of the qualities +which such a diet entails. This word is derived, in fact, from the +Latin adjective "Vegetus" (strong). The word "Vegetalism," which we +oppose to the preceding one, admits only the establishing of a fact, +that of the choice--exclusive or preferred--of the nutritious matters +in the vegetable kingdom. + + +II + +Before putting "vegetalism" into practice the first point is to know +whether the foods of "vegetal" origin contain, and are susceptible of +producing regularly, the divers nutritive principles indispensable to +the organisation of an alimentary diet. The principles are the +following:--Proteid or albuminoid substances; hydrocarbonated and +sweet substances fatty substances; mineral matters, alkalis, lime, +magnesia, phosphates and chlorides, etc. In most compound foods, no +matter of what origin, mineral materials almost always exist in +sufficient quantities. The most important amongst them, at all events, +are found combined in liberal, even superabundant, portions in dishes +of vegetal origin. The analysis of the ashes of our most common table +vegetables fixes us immediately to this subject: Leguminous plants +supply from about three to six per cent. of ashes, rich in alkalis, +lime and phosphates. Potatoes, green vegetables and fruit as a whole +absorbing considerable quantities of mineral elements. These are the +elements of a nature to allow a precise reply to this question which +we propose to expound briefly. + + +III + +In order to examine a food thoroughly, for the purpose of ascertaining +if it can be advantageously introduced for consumption, whether +albumins, fats, hydrate of carbon, or sugar, etc., or again an +association of these principles in a composite article of food are in +question, divers researches must be carried out before giving a final +judgment. + +If a more or less complex article of food is in question, before +considering it as a good nutriment, its centesimal composition, or its +immediate composition, should be established; its theoretic calorific +power should be known, and it should be measured if this has not yet +been done. + +Besides the calorific yield thus estimated _in vitro_, the real +utilisation in the human organism of articles of food alone or mixed +with other foods should be determined, taking simultaneously into +account their effects, whether tonic, stimulating or depressing. + +From a different point of view it is no longer allowable to neglect +before judging whether such and such a nutritive substance is +advantageous, the valuation of what we have called, with Prof. +Landouzy, the economic yield--that is to say, the price of the +energy, provided by the unity of weight of the article of food. + +It is only in reviewing "vegetal" substances, taking these divers +titles into consideration, that we shall be justified in attributing +to the practice of "vegetalism," integral or mitigated, its definite +value. + + +IV + +Only a few years ago, when Schützenberger, emulator and forerunner of +Fischer, Armand Gautier, Kossel, first disjointed the albuminoid +molecule, to examine one by one its divers parts, the composition of +the various albumins was very little known. Whether, therefore, +albumins of the blood, or those of meat or eggs, were in question, +these bodies were hardly ever separated, except through physical +circumstances, amongst others by constant quantities of different +coagulation. As to the centesimal formula and the intimate structure +of the different protoid substances, they could be considered as +closely brought together. + +From this fact, the physiological problem of the utilisation of +albumin was simpler. No matter which article of food contained this +albumin, its nutritive power by unity of weight remained the same. At +the present time the number of albumins is no longer limited. It is +not now physical characteristics founded difficult separations which +arbitrarily distinguish those bodies from each other. The +individuality of each of the albumins results from its formula of +deterioration, under the influence of digestive ferments, or of +chemical bodies acting in a similar way, as do mineral acids and +alkalis. For want of constituary formula this methodical deterioration +makes known the number of molecules (acids or other bodies) which are +responsible for the structure of each albumin. These deleterious +formula of proteid matter are not less suggestive than composition +ones. They reveal notable differences between "vegetal" and animal +albumins. + +To be sure, animal albumins (beef, veal, mutton, pork, etc.) which we +are offered in an alimentary flesh diet, resemble more nearly the +structure of our own bodily albumins than do the gluten of bread or +the albumin of vegetables. This fact seems actually the best support +of the theory which affirms the superiority of the flesh over the +vegetable diet. Such a remark is therefore well worth discussing by +showing that the consequences which can be deduced from it are +paradoxical, and rest upon hypothesis which, not very acceptable in +theory, are hardly verified in practice. + +Admitting that albumin plays in alimentary diet only the plastic part +of reconstruction of used-up corporal matter, it might be advantageous +to ingest but one albumin the composition of which is very similar to +our own. By virtue of the law of least effort such a one in equal +weights ought to be of more service than a foreign albumin, as it +requires less organic work. For man, albumin of animal origin ought to +be more profitable in equal weight than vegetable albumin. In the +organism, indeed, albumin passes through a double labour. After the +intestinal deterioration, followed by a passage through the digestive +mucus membrane, a re-welding of the liberated acids takes place, with +a formation of new albumin. + +If, therefore, alimentary albumin's mission is, not to be definitely +burnt up in the organism, but to help in the plastication of the +individual, the more its initial formula approaches the definite one +to which it must attain, the more profitable it becomes, giving out +less useless fragments and waste. Animal albumin approaching more +nearly to human albumin, is also the one whose introduction into the +daily alimentary diet is most rational. This statement seems to be the +defeat of vegetal albumin. But let there be no mistake. It consecrates +at the same time the triumph of anthropophagy, for there could not be +for man a more profitable albumin than his own, or that of his +fellow-man! This should make us pause and reflect, before allowing +this deduction to be accepted. + +Besides, these arguments _ad hominem_ do not appear to us necessary +for repelling such an interpretation of facts. Modern works have +shown us that the greater proportion of ingested albumin played, in +fact, a calorific, and not a plastic, part. Under these conditions one +is justified in doubting whether there takes place with regard to the +total albumins ingested a work of reconstruction thus complicated in +the organism, after their first deterioration. Evidently one may come +to believe that this complicated labour applies only to the more or +less feeble portion of albumin really integrated. + +Practically speaking, the best criterion for judging the utilisation +of an ingested albumin lies in the persistence of the corporal weight, +allied to the ascertained fact of a stable equilibrium in the total +azotized balance-sheet which is provided by the comparison of the +"Ingesta" with the "Excreta." From this point of view there exists the +closest similitude between the albumins of animal and those of +vegetable origin; both, in fact, are capable of assuring good health +and corporal and cellular equilibrium. + +However, the digestibility of vegetable albumins seems to remain +slightly inferior to that of animal albumins. 97 per cent. of the +animal fibrine given in a meal are digested, where 88 to 90 per cent. +only of vegetable albumins are absorbed and utilised. It is a small +difference, but not one to be overlooked. We must say, however, that +the method one employs in determining these digestibilities takes from +them a part of their value, and renders difficult the comparison of +results obtained. Sensibly pure albumins are too often compared in an +artificial diet. One deviates thus from the conditions of practical +physiology. In fact, in ordinary meals, all varieties of foods are +mixed together, acting and reacting upon each other, reciprocally +modifying their digestibility. If one conforms to this way of acting +towards alimentary albumins, the results change sensibly. In the +presence of an excess of starch, under the shape of bread, for +example, vegetable albumin seems to be absorbed in about the same +proportions as animal albumin. + +If, in a flesh diet, animal albumins are always consumed nearly pure +(lean meat containing hardly anything but albumin, besides a little +fat, and an inferior quantity of glycogen) vegetable albumin is +always, on the contrary, mixed with a number of other substances. This +is doubtless one of the reasons which causes the digestibility of +vegetable albumins to vary, the foreign nutritive matters being able +to bring about, under certain circumstances, and in cases of +superabundant ingestions, a real albuminous "saving" in the newest +sense of the word. + +Besides, a prejudicial question makes the debate almost vain. When it +was admitted by such physiologists as Voit, Rubner and their school +that from 140 to 150 grammes of albumin in the minimum were daily +necessaries in the human diet, a variation of a few units in the +digestive power presented some importance. Nowadays the real utility +of albumins is differently appreciated. The need of them seems to have +been singularly exaggerated; first lowered to about 75 gr. by A. +Gautier, it has dropped successively with Lapicque, Chittenden, +Landergreen, Morchoisne and Labbé, by virtue of considerations both +ethnological and physiological, to 50 grs., 30 grs. and even to 25 or +20 grammes. The "nutritive relation"--that is to say, the yield from +albuminoid matters to the total nutritive matters of diet--is thus +brought down from 1/3 its primitive value to 1/15 or 1/20 at most. It +follows that the slight inferiority found in the digestive powers of +vegetable albumin appears unimportant. It is sufficient to add 2 or 3 +more grammes of albumin to a ration already superabundant of from 40 +to 50 grammes of vegetable proteins to bring back a complete +equilibrium in the use of vegetable and animal varieties. The +theoretical inferiority of vegetable albumin thus almost completely +disappears. + +H. LABBÉ. + +(_To be continued._) + + * * * * * + +If your system has become clogged, go slow--and fast. + + + + +ODE TO THE WEST WIND. + + + O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, + Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead + Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, + Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, + Pestilence-stricken multitudes! O thou + Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed + The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low, + Each like a corpse within its grave, until + Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow + Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill + (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) + With living hues and odours plain and hill + Wild Spirit which art moving everywhere; + Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear! + + Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion, + Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed, + Shook from the tangled boughs of heaven and ocean, + Angels of rain and lightning! there are spread + On the blue surface of thine airy surge, + Like the bright hair uplifted from the head + Of some fierce Mænad, even from the dim verge + Of the horizon to the zenith's height, + The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge + Of the dying year, to which this closing night + Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, + Vaulted with all thy congregated might + Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere + Black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: Oh hear! + + Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams + The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, + Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams, + Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ's bay, + And saw in sleep old palaces and towers + Quivering within the wave's intenser day, + All overgrown with azure moss, and flowers + So sweet the sense faints picturing them! Thou + For whose path the Atlantic's level powers + Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below + The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear + The sapless foliage of the ocean know + Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear, + And tremble and despoil themselves: Oh, hear! + + If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; + If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; + A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share + The impulse of thy strength, only less free + Than thou, O uncontrollable! if even + I were as in my boyhood, and could be + The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven, + As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed + Scarce seemed a vision,--I would ne'er have striven + As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. + Oh lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! + I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! + A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed + One too like thee--tameless, and swift, and proud. + + Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: + What if my leaves are falling like its own? + The tumult of thy mighty harmonies + Will take from both a deep autumnal tone, + Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, + My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! + Drive my dead thoughts over the universe, + Like withered leaves, to quicken a new birth; + And, by the incantation of this verse, + Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth + Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! + Be through my lips to unawakened earth + The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, + If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? + +PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. + + + + +WHAT MAKES A HOLIDAY? + + +What is it makes a holiday? Some people want Paris, some Monte Carlo, +one man cannot be satisfied without big game to hunt, another must +have a grouse moor. The student has his sailing boat, the young +wage-earner his bicycle, three girl friends look forward to their week +in a Hastings boarding-house. Almost anything may be "a change"; most +things, to someone or other, are "a holiday." What does it all mean? + +The sands of West Sussex are wide and free, firm and smooth for +walking with bare feet, lovely with little shells and sea-worm curves +and ripple marks and the pits of razor-shells. Above them are the +slopes of shingle, gleaming with all colours in the September sun. +Farther up again, the low, brown crumbling cliffs crowned with green +wreaths of tamarisk. The sea comes creeping up, or else the wind +raises great white breakers; if the waves are quiet, old breakwaters, +long ago broken themselves, smashed fragments here and there of +concrete protections put by man, gaps in the cliff and changes in the +coast-line, remind us of the vast force behind the gentle and +persistent lap of water. The beach itself reminds us of it; there a +flint and here a rounded pebble made out of brick or glass, worn down +from man's rubbish to sea's proof of power. + +Over it all are the children, brown-legged and bare-headed. (Is it +something in the weather this year that has given us the particular +red-brown, suggestive of shrimp and lobster, that is the +colour-vintage of 1913?) Babies with oilskin waders, bathers, girls in +vividly coloured coats walking along the sands; all make up the +picture and give us once again the thrill of holiday. + +Inland, the Sussex lanes are green and the trees are broad and shady. +Thatched cottages are everywhere, and barns with heavy brows; +yesterday I saw some pots put for shelter from the sun under the +far-projecting thatch of a farmhouse. The gardens are full of +sun-flowers and hollyhocks, fuchsia and golden rod; the walls are +covered with jasmine and passion-flowers. Old, old churches make us +feel like day-flies. The yew in the churchyard five minutes' walk from +here is said to be 900 years old; the church itself is thirteenth +century, but into its walls were built fragments of a former church, +far older, on the same site. It carries us more than half-way back to +the foundation of Christianity. Dim tales of heathen earls and Norman +kings hang around the villages, and the very floor of the sea beyond +the land is richly laden with stores of half-forgotten memories. + +Which of all these things makes these days my holiday? + +All of them, perhaps. Present moving life, and long-past history, the +mighty movement of nature and the changes of geologic time: sheer +beauty too and the gaiety of amusements and excursions; do not all +have their place in unwinding us from the tight coils we make for our +working days? + +Freedom to take from the world whatever is there of beauty and of +interest--it really hardly matters what or where; freedom enhanced by +sympathy, perhaps, for we seem to need some comrade in our play; so +many days and nights following each other--no matter exactly how +many--for letting ourselves go, and letting the world and all its +power and wonder flow into us; that, whatever be place, time and +conditions, is the making of a holiday. + +C + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | #To Our Readers.# | + | | + | Readers who appreciate the independence and all-round nature | + | of _The Healthy Life_ can materially assist the extension of | + | its circulation by tactfully urging their local newsagent to | + | have the magazine regularly displayed for sale. An | + | attractive monthly poster can always be had free from the | + | Publishers, 3 Tudor Street, London, E.C. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +HEALTHY LIFE ABROAD. + + +"HYGIE." + +_A New Definition of Neurasthenia._ + +We cull the following definition of neurasthenia from our French +contemporary: Neurasthenia is discouragement of the soul. Being in a +state of discouragement the soul ceases to take care of the body and +allows it to become encumbered with waste products. The body in its +turn becomes so defective that the soul is incapable of repairing the +enfeebled organs and throws the body away into the water or leaves it +somewhere to be crushed or abandons it by some other means. +Neurasthenia may be compared to an indolent mechanic. He neglects to +oil his engine. It runs off the rails and is smashed. + + +_Fresh Departures._ + +The Vegetarian Society of France has introduced three new sections +into its organisation. The first is documentary, and aims at the +collection, centralisation and classification of all information +bearing on food reform. The second deals with domestic economy and +hygiene. A number of ladies willing to devote themselves to the +popularisation of the leading ideas of vegetarianism have joined this +section. They offer advice and instruction to all who wish to +familiarise themselves with food reform principles. The third section +is concerned with physical training and outdoor games, with special +reference to the relationship between these things and a non-flesh +regimen. + + +"VEGETARISCHE WARTE." + +_Nietzsche as Fruitarian._ + +"A simple life," wrote Nietzsche in 1879, "is very difficult at the +present time," and went on to explain its difficulties and to suggest +that even the most determined would be obliged to leave the discovery +of the way to a wiser generation. He himself, however, took some +steps upon the way during his stay in Genoa, when he lived on bread +and fruit and spent but a few shillings a week. Eggs were occasionally +included, and artichokes--and the little cookery he needed was done by +himself over a spirit lamp. His winter in Genoa, he declares, was the +happiest in his life and saw the production of his "Twilight of the +Gods." + + +_Food Reform in Russia._ + +The movement goes ahead rapidly in Russia. Hardly a town of any size +but has now its vegetarian restaurant. This year the first Russian +Vegetarian Congress has been held. It seems to have been a very +successful gathering. "Seldom," writes one who was present, "have I +experienced such a strong impression as was made upon me by this first +vegetarian congress in Moscow." Unity seems to have been the +prevailing note. Papers were read on the general significance and the +various aspects of vegetarianism, followed by discussions. Amongst the +various excursions undertaken was a pilgrimage to Yasnaya Polyana, +including a visit to Tolstoy's grave. + +A Vegetarian Exhibition has also been held in Moscow. It included a +fine show of fruits and vegetables, exhibits of various substitutes +for leather, soaps made of vegetable oils, an abundance of Russian and +foreign vegetarian literature of all sorts, from the noblest reaches +of theory to the most invaluable details of practice. The next +Congress is arranged for Easter 1914, at Kiev. + + +_A Hopeful Sign._ + +Fifteen years ago the Berlin municipal authorities stoutly refused +Professor Baron's offer to found an orphanage which should be +conducted on vegetarian principles. At the present moment it is being +arranged that all school children shall be taught the value of +vegetables and leguminous preparations and the wholesomeness of a diet +that is relatively non-stimulating and practically meatless. + +D.M. RICHARDSON. + + + + +THE CURTAINED DOORWAYS. + + +In George Macdonald's _Phantastes: a Faery Romance for Men and Women_ +it is told how a man found himself in the midst of a great circular +hall built entirely of black marble. On every side and at regular +intervals there were archways, all heavily curtained. Hearing a faint +sound of music proceeding from one of these hidden doorways he went +towards it and, drawing aside the hangings, found a large room crowded +with statuary, but no sign of an living creature. Yet he was certain +the music had proceeded from that particular archway. Greatly puzzled, +he let the curtain fall and stepped back a few paces. At once the +music continued. Stepping stealthily and quickly to the curtain, he +again lifted it, and received a vivid impression of a crowd of dancing +forms suddenly arrested: something told him beyond dispute that at the +moment he had drawn the hangings aside what were now lovely but +motionless statues had sprung each to its pedestal out of the mazes of +an intricate dance. Sound and movement had been frozen, in a flash of +time, into a crowd of beautiful forms--in stone. No statue but seemed +to tremble into immobility as the intruder's gaze turned this way and +that no marble face but seemed to be aglow with the music that had +died with his entry; no white limb but seemed to be tremulous with the +rhythm of the dance that had ceased so suddenly. + +If the subtlety and imaginative truth of this story should lead you to +read the whole book, I shall have had the privilege of introducing you +to what is surely one of the finest and most delicately wrought +fantasies in the English language, a fantasy so permeated with beauty +and truth that you will neither wish nor need to look for the "moral". + +But whether you read _Phantastes_ or not, I may be allowed to suggest +that the incident I have attempted to describe conveys one of the +secrets of healthy living. + +It is a trite saying, that health is harmony. But I plead for a much +wider and fuller interpretation of harmony than is customary. _Mens +sana in corpore sano_--a sane mind in a healthy body--does not fill +all the requirements of a healthy life. It is but an excellent theme, +wanting orchestration. + +It is good to aim at a harmonious working of one's internal +arrangements if one has had the misfortune or the folly to break that +harmony. The physical basis of life must be attended to if we would be +well. Only, you cannot stop there without imperilling the whole +scheme. + +Again, it is good to train the body by means of exercise, play, +singing and handicraft; all these things react both upwards and +downwards, outwards and inwards. For example, one of the special +virtues of tennis, if it be played at all keenly, is the necessity for +making one's feet (those neglected members!) quick and responsive to +the messages of eye and brain. In an increasingly sedentary age the +rapidly growing popularity of tennis is, for this one reason alone, a +good omen. But if you play tennis, or any other healthy outdoor sport, +or learn how to sing, or how to breathe, or if you do Müller's +exercises daily, for the sole purpose of benefiting your liver or +developing your muscles, or of "keeping fit," you will miss the real +prize. + +It is good, also, to train the mind to be logical, critical and +balanced: it is good to cultivate a retentive memory and to store up +useful facts. But if while you are aiming at intellectual fitness and +alertness you allow these good things to obscure other and better +things, if, in short, you let means become ends, you will never be +healthy, because you will miss half the joys of living. + +There are many very skilful performers on musical instruments. They +have set themselves, or their parents have set them, to gain certain +prizes, distinctions or qualifications. No music is now too difficult +for them to execute. But that is exactly what they do--they execute +it: destroy its head and heart by sheer mechanical perfection. They +have mastered the piano, or the organ, or the violin, or their own +voice; but music eludes them. + +You see why I began with that tale of the curtained doors, the +mysterious music, and the quivering statuary. There is an elusive, +haunting quality about life and all living things which, if we look +for it and listen to it, imparts a glamour, a rhythm, a beauty to +everything that is worth doing. The great danger is that in the +pressure of work, the hurry of play, the pursuit of health, or the +training of the mind we miss the very thing which can give meaning and +value to all these things. The severely matter-of-fact people don't go +near the curtained doors, and if they did, would discover only a lot +of cold, lifeless statues. Whoever heard of statues dancing? Whoever +heard of music without instruments? And yet this very sense of a +lyrical movement imperfectly seen, and of a temporarily frozen music, +is not only the very secret of all art: it is a slender guiding clue +to the centre of everything.... + +And in the house of every man, and of every woman, are the curtained +doorways. + +EDGAR J. SAXON. + + + + +HOW MUCH SHOULD WE EAT? + +_This discussion arose out of the article with above title, by "M.D.," +which was published in our July number._--[EDS.] + + +III + +I lift my hat to M.D. and trust that, as I don't know him, the +somewhat jarring difference that I have with his views will not be put +down to personal feeling. A.A. Voysey has put my first objection quite +well from the layman's point of view. He says "there is no agreement +between those who have been taught physiology." This is true. +Playfair's full diet is different from Voit's. Voit's is different +from Atwater's. Atwater's is different from Chittenden's. + +The custom of reducing the diets to calories, inasmuch as it +introduces a false theory, has had a disastrous effect on progress, +and has been a great hindrance to the attainment of knowledge. If the +coal in the fireplace _were_ the cause of the heat of the fire (but is +it?), there is no analogy between the elevation of the heat by +hundreds and even thousands of degrees when the fire is lighted, and +the elevation of half-a-degree or a degree which occurs when food is +taken into the body, especially when we remember that a similar +elevation of temperature occurs when work is performed by means of the +body without eating or drinking at all. + +It is quite evident to every clear seer, or it ought to be, that the +force of animal life or zoo-dynamic is the cause of the heat of the +body, just as the electric force is the cause of the liberation of +heat through the battery, and the chemic force is the cause of the +heat of the fire, and that zoo-dynamic and electro-dynamic and +chemico-dynamic are forms or species or varieties of the one +omnipotent and eternal energy by which all things in this universe +consist. The aggregate of all the particular forces makes up the +eternal energy which is one. They are all species of the one, but it +is convenient and even necessary for our limited intellects to +consider them separately, for the indefinite number of the facts and +also their intricacy and complexity stagger and overwhelm us unless we +do; and indeed they stagger us even when we try to treat them and take +them up separately for consideration and examination. But now for the +proof of A.A. Voysey's statement. + +Ranke found he required 100 grammes proteid; fat 100 grammes; +carbo-hydrate 240 grammes to keep him going. These he could have got +from 9 oz. of lean meat or 250 grammes, 18 oz. of bread or 500 +grammes, 12 oz. or 55 grammes of butter and 1 oz of fat (I do not, of +course, suggest that it would have been wise for him to get them so). +Moleschott's demands are: proteid 120 grammes, fat 90 grammes, +carbo-hydrate 333 grammes. Voit demands for hard work: proteid 145 +grammes, fat 100 grammes, carbo-hydrate 450 grammes. Atwater demands +for hard work the following:--proteid 177 grammes, fat 250 grammes, +carbo-hydrate 650 grammes. Horace Fletcher, we are told by Professor +Chittenden, took for a time, when everything was accurately measured +and weighed: proteid 44.9 grammes, fat 38 grammes, carbo-hydrate 253 +grammes. Cornaro lived on 12 oz. of solid food and 14 oz. of red wine +a day for a period of something like 60 years, from 38 years of age to +about 97, and had vigorous health during the time except when he +transgressed his rule. Of course, he was not a hard physical +worker--_i.e._ he did not do the work of a navvy. But how, in view of +these differences, can M.D. say: "These quantities were settled by +physiologists many years ago, and no good reasons have since been +adduced for altering them"? It is amazing to me to read such a +statement. It reminds me of a statement by a distinguished physician +in London during last year to the effect that we could not give a +growing schoolboy too much food--we could not over-feed him. My +opinion, on the other hand, after a long experience, during which time +my eyes have not been shut, is that the large majority of the diseases +of humanity are due to mal-nutrition and that the form of that +mal-nutrition is over-feeding--not under-feeding. This opinion should +be taken for what it is worth. But to test it we should ask ourselves: +What is the reason for the necessity to take food into the body? Is it +to give strength and heat to the body? Or is it to restore the waste +of the body sustained by the action on it of the force of life or +zoo-dynamic which inhabits it? The demands for food will vary and vary +much according to the way in which we answer this question. As you +allowed me to discuss this question in _Healthy Life_ in July and +August of last year I must not take up your space by discussing it +again. But the answer we give determines the amounts of food that we +require to take, since, obviously, if the strength and heat of the +body depend upon the food, the more food we take the more strength and +heat shall we have; while, if the function of food in the adult or +grown body is only to restore the waste of the body, the question is +how much is the waste. There are various ways in which this question +can be answered and I cannot go into them now; but I say, in my +opinion, the waste is very much less than is commonly supposed. The +body, I take it, is made by zoo-dynamic or the life-force to be a fit +habitation for itself. The body must waste when the life-force acts +through it, and that waste must be restored by food and sleep, or the +body will die; since things (the body) cannot act as the medium of +conveying forces (zoo-dynamic or the life-force) without wasting under +their action. But so beautifully has the body been made by zoo-dynamic +that it wastes very little, much less than is commonly supposed, by +the action of zoo-dynamic through it. Not seeing this, we ingest into +the body far more than is required to restore its waste, and so we +fall ill, for, obviously, if we ingest more than the quantity +necessary for this purpose we choke the body up and render it +inefficient for its purpose as an instrument for work. + +Now this is precisely what seems to me to happen in life. As we are +all under the double delusion that the strength of the body and its +heat come from the food, we all with one accord put far too much food +into the body, and when we find that we die, all of us, generation +after generation, at from 50 to 70 years of age, we make up little +proverbs to justify our unphysiological conduct and say that three +score years and ten are the measure of the duration of life. M.D. says +that "some twenty years ago most people lived fairly close to the old +physiological quantities" (but what are these? for we have seen how +they vary), "now they have been cut adrift from these and are +floundering out of their depth." May I remind M.D. that people are now +living longer than they did twenty years ago. How does he account for +that? No doubt some of the increase in the length of life is due to +the diminution of the birth rate, but still I suppose M.D. would +admit that there is an increase in the duration of life over and above +what can be accounted for in this way. If so, how does he account for +it? + +M.D. says, further: "For the public it will now probably suffice if +they insist on raising (or considering, A.R.) the question of +quantity" (of food, A.R.) "wherever they suffer in any way." I agree +with all my heart. But M.D. implies, if I read him aright, that the +public should increase the quantity of their food when they suffer in +any way. I, on the other hand, and rather unhappily for myself, am +convinced that the raising of this question implies that it should be +answered in the exact opposite way to that of M.D. and that we should +diminish our food if we "suffer in any way." And I can point to +Nature's own plan as a corroboration of the truth of my view, for her +plan when we suffer in any way is to fling us into bed and take away +our appetite, or at least to diminish our appetite if we are not so +ill as to require to remain in bed. + +The whole question of medical practice depends on the answer we give +to this question, and therefore one might go on indefinitely with its +discussion. Neither the Editors' space and patience nor my time allow +of this; but I should like to ask M.D., with all respect, if he +remembers what Dr King Chambers said of the starvation that comes of +over-repletion? Dr King Chambers occupied one of the most prominent +places as a consultant in London (very probably, I suppose) when M.D. +was a very young man. My late lamented friend, Dr Dewey of Meadville, +Pennsylvania, used the phrase "starvation from over-feeding," not +knowing that Dr King Chambers had used practically the same expression +before him. That I made the same discovery myself, and independently, +is not, I take it, a sign of acuteness of intellect or of observation. +The amazing thing is that every practitioner is not compelled to make +the same discovery. But if it is a true discovery, then it follows +that all the signs of lowered vitality referred to by M.D., while +they _may_ be caused by under-feeding, may also be caused by +over-feeding and may therefore require for proper treatment, not +increase of the diet, but diminution of it. A low temperature, +therefore, a slow pulse, languor, pallor, inanition, fatigue, +good-for-nothingness, inefficiency, anorexia, anæmia, neurasthenia, +etc., etc., may all be due to blocking of the body with too much food +as well as to supplying it with too little. Fires may be put out by +heaping up too much coal on them. To make them burn briskly we ought +to push the poker in and gently lift the coal so as to admit of the +entrance of air. Then in a while our fire will become brisk and +bright. And so it may be in the body. Nay, my opinion is that almost +always these marks of depression are caused by blocking up of the body +and that therefore the proper treatment is, as a rule, not increase +but diminution of the diet. The place in the body in which the +blocking first occurs is the connective tissues or the tissues that +connect every part with every other. It is here that the lymph is +secreted, and as the lymph joins the thoracic duct which conveys the +products of digestion to the blood, it is obvious that lymph-secretion +is a complementary digestive process and it is also obvious how +blocking up of the connective tissues, which is the immediate cause of +anorexia and inanition, usually comes to exist in the body. + +M.D. talks of "natural food." He seems to be a vegetarian? Good. But +is not the question of how much food we ought to eat equally urgent +whether we are vegetarian or omnivorous? I think it is. I do not think +that the chief cause of our illnesses to-day is taking wrong or +unsuitable food. In my opinion we are ill mainly because we take +suitable food too often and because we take too much of it. My answer +to the question, therefore--"How Much Should We Eat?--A +Warning"--turns on the previous question: What is the Function +performed by Food in the Body? As I think that this function in the +grown body is only to restore the waste, the warning in my mind is +far rather that we should take less than that we should (as M.D. +advises us) take more. I agree with him in the view that "chronic +starvation is insidious." But, as I believe that "chronic starvation" +is usually a form of Dr King Chambers's "starvation from +over-repletion" and of Dr Dewey's "starvation from over-feeding," I am +bound to be of the consequent opinion that it is to be met, not by +increase, but by diminution of the diet. This is one of my reasons for +thinking that none of us ought ever to eat oftener than twice a day, +under fifty years of age, and that after that we would do well to eat +once a day only. I feel sure that if we altered our habits in these +ways, we should add very much both to the duration and to the +efficiency of life. This is not a question of dietetics only. The +issue is of the most practical character. What an addition of five or +ten or fifteen or twenty or twenty-five years to the average duration +of life might mean to this people and still more to the people of the +whole globe is unpredictable by mortal man. But it is evident that it +would be of the very greatest import to humanity. This is the great +issue of the discussion of this subject. It seems to me that illness +might be enormously diminished and health and efficiency and happiness +immensely increased. But I think that these boons might be obtained, +not by indulging the body and its appetites, but only by the exercise +of a wise restraint and government over it. It is at least very much +to be desired that more agreement might be manifested in the opinions +and practice of qualified physiologists so that the public might have +clear guidance, and not as at present, be advised in ways so +conflicting that they do not know what or whom to believe. + +A. RABAGLIATI, M.D. + + * * * * * + +_To Tourists:_ + +Every little village has a little shop where you can buy nasty little +sweets. + + + + +PICKLED PEPPERCORNS. + + + He was a native of Liverpool, but had liver for many years in the + Isle of Wight--_Edmonton_ (Canada) _Journal_. + +Funny he didn't go to Poole and leave his liver behind him. + + * * * * * + + REAL FLESH FOOD FOUND AT LAST. + --From an advt. in daily papers. + +Evidently we have all been vegetarians and knew it not. + + * * * * * + + Nothing can replace salt.--From an advt. in _Punch_. + +Many food reformers advantageously replace salt with nothing. + + * * * * * + + The golf craze has been greater this autumn than in any previous + year. Nobody is quite safe from the fever. It seizes those who + mocked at it, and pays no respect to sex or age.--_British + Weekly_. + +By the time the next Medical Congress comes round it is expected that +at least three distinguished bacteriologists will have discovered the +golf-fever microbe. They will probably agree to call it _Mashilococcus +Caddes_. + + * * * * * + + Between lunch and dinner take another tumbler of water cold. Take + a glass of cold water half-an-hour after lunch, half-an-hour + after tea, half-an-hour after dinner, and before going to bed at + night. Never drink between meals.--_Woman's Life_. + +All other methods failing, try putting your watch half-an-hour on +after each meal. + + * * * * * + + I once got a circular from a man who grew potatoes containing his + photograph, and, I think, an autobiography.--_Musical Standard_. + +Not nearly so convenient as one of those automatic egg-stamping +hens. + + * * * * * + + _Stop-Press News._ + + A "pocket clipper" has been invented (according to a certain + catalogue) which can be used for the beard or hair at back of + neck. + +But surely people who can do anything so clever as grow a beard +on the back of the neck ought not to be tempted to clip it off. + +PETER PIPER. + + + + +HEALTHY LIFE RECIPES. + + +MORE EGG DISHES. + +In our issue of May 1912 we published a number of special recipes for +eggs. These were much appreciated. And even now this and other back +numbers are asked for. We now give some further recipes. + +It should be remembered that eggs are a simple form of animal food and +much purer than meat. They are also easily digested by most people. +They therefore form a very useful substitute for flesh-foods, +especially where the latter have only recently been discarded. + +The normal progress towards a more or less ideal diet involves, of +course, the elimination of eggs as well as of other dairy products. +But wise food reform proceeds always by steps. + + +SAVOURY BAKED EGGS. + +Melt a little butter, or vegetable fat, in an open earthenware baking +dish; break into this as many eggs as required. Cover thinly with +grated cheese; add a knob of butter and bake till set. The dish can be +placed direct on the table. + + +EGG ON TOMATO.[13] + + One egg, two medium-sized tomatoes, butter. + +Skin the tomatoes; cut in halves and put them, with a small piece of +butter, into a small stewpan. Close lightly, and cook slowly until +reduced to a pulp. Break the egg into a cup, and slide it gently on to +the tomato. Replace the pan lid and the egg will poach in the steam +rising from the tomato. + +[13] This recipe is from _The Healthy Life Cook Book_, a new and +revised edition of which is in contemplation. + + +SAVOURY EGG FRITTERS. + + Six eggs, two large tomatoes, half-teaspoon mixed dried herbs, + about three tablespoons ground biscuits ("Ixion" or any of the + unsweetened "P.R." kinds). + +Hard boil three of the eggs and chop them finely. Skin the tomatoes, +mash them and add to the chopped eggs with the remaining eggs (well +beaten), herbs and biscuit powder. Should the mixture be too moist to +mould add more biscuit powder; if too dry add a little water. Cut and +shape into finger shapes and either fry in olive oil or bake on +buttered tin or open earthenware baking dish. (The last-mentioned is +the best method, as the baking dish can be brought to the table as it +is, and there is only one dish instead of two to wash up afterwards.) + + +SAVOURY EGG PATTIES. + +The above Egg Fritter mixture made rather moist may be used as a +filling for savoury patties. + +Make for these a short crust with ½ lb. of Artox meal, 3 oz. of +Nutter and water. Slightly bake the shells of pastry (made thin) +before adding the filling, and finish to a golden brown. + +Serve these and the fritters with either brown gravy or white sauce. + + +SWEET EGG SOUFFLÉ. + + Five eggs, ¾ lb. soft cane sugar, 1 oz. ground rice, 2 oz. of + butter, rind of half a lemon. + +Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs. Beat up the yolks and sift +in the ground rice, sugar and grated rind of the lemon. To this batter +add the well-whisked whites. Well heat the butter in a frying pan, +turn in the batter and fry over gentle heat till set. Fold over the +edges and place on well-greased flat dish and bake for barely a +quarter of an hour. Sift over some soft cane sugar and serve very hot. + + +SNOW EGGS. + + Three eggs, one and a quarter pints of milk, a teaspoon of soft + cane sugar, vanilla flavouring. + +Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs and whisk the whites to a +very stiff froth with the sugar. Put the milk into a saucepan and when +it boils drop in whites of eggs in small pieces shaped between two +dessert spoons. Only a little should be cooked at a time in this way, +and each should be allowed to poach for two minutes, and when done +should be taken out with a slice and put on a sieve to drain. When all +the whites are used in this way, strain the milk and add it to the +well-beaten yolks. Pour into a double saucepan and stir over the fire +till the custard thickens; flavour with vanilla to taste. + +When _cold_ pour into a dish and lay the snow eggs on top. + +(Kindly supplied by Mrs Edith Wilkinson.) + + +EGG-RAISED CHERRY CAKE. + + 9 oz. good "standard" flour, 5 oz. Nutter (or other nut fat), 5 + oz. cane castor sugar, 2 oz. preserved cherries (glacé), 2 oz. + well-washed sultanas, 2 oz. ground almonds, four eggs, outer rind + of lemon (grated). + +Beat Nutter and sugar to a cream; add eggs one by one, beating all the +time; have ready the flour, with the fruit, grated lemon rind and +ground almonds mixed in, and add gradually to the above mixture, +beating all the time, and until of even consistency throughout. Line a +cake tin with double thickness of buttered paper, pour in the mixture +and bake in moderate oven about one and a half hours. + +_Any housewife who doubts the possibility of making light and dainty +cakes without the now customary baking powder and baking soda, etc., +should try the above recipe. No one could wish for a more excellent +cake._ + + +NOTE ON CASSEROLES. + +Now that casserole cookery (_i.e._ cooking in earthenware dishes, both +open and covered) is becoming more widely known and practised, readers +will be glad to know that many housewives believe in boiling new +earthenware before using it, as this effectually toughens and hardens +it. This is particularly efficacious in the case of ordinary brown +kitchenware, the articles being placed in a large pan of cold water +which is then brought slowly to the boil. After being allowed to boil +for ten minutes remove the pan and allow the water to cool before +taking out the ware. + + + + +HEALTH QUERIES. + +_Under this heading our contributor, Dr Valentine Knaggs, deals +briefly month by month, and according as space permits, with questions +of general interest to health seekers and others._ + +_In all Queries relating to health difficulties it is essential that +full details of the correspondent's customary diet should be clearly +given._ + +_Correspondents are earnestly requested to write on _one side only of +the paper_, giving full name and address, not for publication, but as +a guarantee of good faith. When an answer is required by post a +stamped addressed envelope must be enclosed._--[EDS.] + + +EXCESSIVE PERSPIRATION. + + Miss R.E.N. writes.--I am troubled with excessive perspiration. I + neither eat meat nor drink tea. I have a cold sponge bath down to + my waist every morning, and I change all my clothes when I go to + bed. My diet is, roughly, as follows: + + _Breakfast._--Oatmeal porridge with toast or bread and jam or + golden syrup. Hot water. + + _Lunch._--Peas, beans or lentils, eggs, cheese. Vegetables: + potatoes and onions, or carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips. + Puddings, fruit or milk wholemeal bread, not much sugar except + for sweetening fruits, etc. + + _Tea meal._--Wholemeal bread and butter, nuts, jam, cake, pastry; + hot water. + + _At bedtime._--Hot water or coffee. + +If our correspondent wishes to remedy this excessive perspiration she +must get a hot towel-bath daily (all over),[14] wearing porous +linen-mesh underclothing next the skin. She should also discontinue +the soft sugary and starchy foods, and not mix fruit with other foods +(it is best taken by itself, say, for breakfast). She needs more of +the cooling salad vegetables. The following diet would be a great +improvement:-- + +_On rising._--Half-pint of hot boiled water, sipped slowly. + +_Breakfast._--Wholemeal bread or biscuits and butter (all made +without salt), with salad or grated raw roots. Stop porridge, jam and +golden syrup. Avoid drinking at meals. + +_Lunch._--Two eggs, or 2 oz. of curd cheese. Two vegetables cooked in +casserole without salt; wholemeal bread or biscuits and butter; a few +figs, prunes, dried bananas, or raisins, washed but not cooked. Avoid +milk puddings or stewed fruits as too fermentative and heating. + +_Supper meal._--1 to 2 oz. flaked nuts, some crisp "P.R." or "Ixion" +biscuits with nut butter. Some fresh salad or grated roots. Stop jam, +cake and pastry. + +_At bedtime._--Half-pint of hot boiled water, or clear vegetable soup, +sipped slowly. + +[14] The Sanum Oxygen Baths are also excellent in a case of this kind. + + +DIET FOR ULCERATED THROAT. + + Mrs L.B. writes.--Do you think it would be wise for a person + suffering from ulcers in the throat and on other mucous membranes + to adopt a diet devoid of meat, yeast and salt? + +It would certainly be wise to discard meat and salt in a case of this +kind, but yeast is sometimes useful taken as "unflavoured Marmite." +The chief cause of ulcers is the abuse of the soft cereal and sugary +foods. In a case of this sort I should advise a diet consisting +exclusively of well-dextrinised cereals--_e.g._ Granose, Melarvi, +etc.--with plenty of grated raw roots and finely chopped salads and +tomatoes. This can be combined with curd cheese, raw or lightly cooked +eggs, flaked nuts or Brusson Jeune bread as the proteid part of the +diet. + + +FARMING AND SCIATICA. + + Mrs A.C.B. writes.--For two months my husband, who leads an + active open-air life, has had severe pain all down the back of + his left leg. It is like neuralgia, and comes on worse when + sitting. He has been a farmer all his life, but is anything but + strong and constantly taking cold. Are these pains likely to be + due to wrong food? + +This pain is evidence of sciatica. Chills alone will not produce +sciatica, which has its real cause in the system being choked up with +acids and toxins of various kinds. In such a case as this, warm water +enemas should be taken freely to clear the colon well; sugar, milk and +all starchy mushy foods should be strictly avoided; vegetables should +be taken either as baked roots or as fresh salads; eggs and cheese +should be substituted for meat; and plenty of fresh butter should be +taken. Boiled water, _between meals_, will be good, but nothing should +be given to drink with food. Salt, pickles, and greasy or highly +flavoured foods should be avoided. + + +TEMPORARY "BRIGHT'S DISEASE" AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT. + + Miss E. would like to know what kind of diet is suitable for one + who has been suffering from Bright's Disease following a serious + illness. Why should meat have any bad effect upon the kidneys? + She does not take it, although her medical man advises the use of + it at once. + +It is not an uncommon thing for people who have suffered from an acute +septic fever to find albumen temporarily present in the urine. This is +due to the irritant action of the toxins and other poisons (which the +fever is the means of ejecting) upon the structure of the kidneys. The +kidneys are filters and they remove the bulk of the soluble waste of +the body. + +The practitioner frequently finds albumenuria in cases of scarlet +fever, typhoid fever, diphtheria, etc., and the object of his +treatment is to prevent this condition of kidney irritation from +becoming an established disease (Bright's disease). + +Flesh foods, and especially meat extracts and meat soups, are the +worst possible wherewith to feed these fever cases, because they throw +so much extra work upon the kidneys. Meat is composed mainly of +proteids. It also contains the urinary wastes and the toxins (due to +fear) which were in the animal's body and on the way to elimination +when it was killed. + +This sufferer should take one meal per day consisting of fresh fruit +only; the rest of the diet should consist of salad vegetables and +finely grated raw roots, home-made curd cheese, dextrinised cereals +(such as Melarvi biscuits, Shredded Wheat, "P.R." crackers, Granose +biscuits, Grape-Nuts, twice-baked standard bread, etc.) and fresh or +nut butter. + + +PHOSPHORUS AND THE NERVES. + + W.H.H. writes:--I should be very grateful if Dr Knaggs could help + me with any information or hints regarding phosphaturia. I suffer + much from this troublesome complaint. + +We have to remember that the nervous system is two-fold. The one, or +conscious portion, consists of the brain and spinal cord, from which +all the nerves or branches travel to all parts of the body and give us +dominion over them. The other, or subconscious, called the sympathetic +nervous system, lies on either side of the front of the spine as two +long chains with centres, or ganglia, at intervals. This second system +is not within our control and has to do with the regulation of our +vegetative functions, including the bulk of the digestive process. + +All nerves, whether they come from the brain or from the sympathetic +system, ranging to their smallest terminals, are built alike of cells, +and these cells secrete a complex _fatty_ substance, called +_lecithin_, whose dominant element is phosphorus. This phosphorus has +to be supplied to the body with food, and as food, and it cannot be +properly utilised or assimilated by the body or used by the nerves to +build up their _lecithin_ unless it is eaten in the form of organic +compounds. + +The tissues of the body are continually dying, as a result of work +done, and are continually being replaced by fresh young tissues as +needed. It is the function of the nerves to manage this work for us as +well as to similarly arrange for reproduction. + +In order to control the functions of the various organs and tissues +and to regulate the rate at which they reproduce themselves, the +nerves extend their terminal branches, not only into every tissue, but +into every microscopical unit of such tissue, and the part of the cell +which represents the nerve terminal is the inner structure called the +nucleus. + +Now it will be obvious that the more the two nervous systems are +worked the greater will be their depletion of _lecithin_ and the more +need there will be for fresh supplies of phosphorus in the daily food +rations. + +The person who works hard, whether it be manual labour or brain work, +needs food and rest at intervals in order that the nerves may +recuperate and replenish their stocks of _lecithin_. + +A goodly proportion of uncooked foods rich in phosphorus must be +supplied to make good the wear and tear, and the digestion must +equally be efficient if these food-stuffs are to become assimilated. + +Cooking of food to a large extent breaks down the organic phosphorus +salts and makes them inorganic. In this state they are of but little +use to the body. Poor digestion associated with putrefactive +fermentation equally converts the organic salts into inorganic ones. +These pass into the blood and are promptly eliminated by the kidneys +as waste (_phosphaturia_) and thus they never reach the nerves at all. + +We must remember that phosphorus is usually found in natural foods +bound up with the proteid and especially with that proteid which has +to do with the reproduction of the species. For this reason man +instinctively resorts to the use of egg-yolks, and to the various +seeds (such as nuts, wheat, barley, etc.) because of their rich +phosphorus content. + +These proteid-bound phosphorus salts can only be properly utilised +when the hydrochloric acid of the stomach juice is well formed, for it +converts them into acid salts which are readily absorbed. Therefore to +ensure free absorption we must always remember to give the +phosphorus-containing foods with such meals as will cause free +secretion of the gastric acid. + +When fermentation is active and the stomach juices are weakened the +germs of the intestines rapidly break up the phosphorus constituents +of the proteids and make them inorganic. Therefore the first thing to +do when a person is found to be suffering from _phosphaturia_ is to +stop the intestinal fermentation by a right diet, clear the bowels of +their accumulated waste poisons and give the nerves plenty of rest. +Another consideration to bear in mind is that the nerves need fat +wherewith to build up the _lecithin_. An excessive fermentative +sourness of the stomach makes the food so acid when sent into the +bowels that the bile, pancreatic and other intestinal juices cannot +neutralise them, and so the fats themselves are not emulsified and +digested, which fully accounts for the mental depression and debility +of which these patients complain. + +People who are suffering from "nerves" in any form need plenty of pure +fat (fresh dairy butter, cream, nut butter, fruit-oils, etc.) and an +abundance of natural fresh vegetable products at once rich in +phosphorus and iron and in organic alkaline acid-neutralising earthy +salts. These arrest fermentation and so enable the phosphorus and the +fat to become duly assimilated. + + +CANARY _VERSUS_ JAMAICA BANANAS. + + R.B., Lincoln, would like to know if there is very much + difference, as regards food value, between the Jamaica and Canary + banana. "I have heard it said that the Jamaica is only fit for + the dust-heap. Well, I cannot very easily think it is so useless, + and at the same time I have an idea that the Canary is the better + of the two. I should be very pleased to know if you think there + is much difference between them." + +The difference between Jamaica and Canary bananas is due to the length +of time necessary for them to reach us from their place of growth. It +takes, I believe, nearly twice as long for a ship to travel from +Jamaica as from the Canary Islands. Hence the fruit imported from the +latter place can be picked in a much riper condition than would be the +case with the Jamaica article. This probably accounts for the better +quality and flavour of the Canary banana. Besides this the climate may +have some determining influence. To say that the Jamaica bananas +should be discarded because they are of a less satisfactory food value +or because their flavour is less developed is uncalled for. The +disparity in price is also very marked, so that the poor can readily +procure the Jamaica banana where they would not be in a position to +afford the better class of fruit coming from the Canaries. I have +discussed this subject in p.34 of my book, _The Truth about Sugar_. + +H. VALENTINE KNAGGS. + + + + +CORRESPONDENCE. + + + LEYTONSTONE + + _To the Editors._ + + SIRS, + + Enclosed please find P.O. for a copy of _The Healthy Life_ to be + sent to Carnegie Public Library, close to Midland Station, + Leytonstone, also to The Alexandra Holiday Home, Y.W.C.A., + Alexandra Road, Southend-on-Sea. At the latter home there are + something like 500 to 600 visitors every year, many of whom are + semi-invalids. No doubt the magazine will be scorned by many, yet + I am quite certain that there are others amongst the number there + who will gladly welcome the truths it teaches, and if only one or + two are helped to live a more healthy and therefore more happy + life, it will be quite worth while. Please do not mention my name + in either case. Yours, etc., X. + +There is every reason why _The Healthy Life_ should be known and +read in every public library in the United Kingdom. In this we +are entirely dependent upon those readers who are ready to follow +the excellent example of the above correspondent. A year's +subscription--2s.--is a very small price to pay for bringing the +message of this magazine before the public in this way. We should +like to hear from readers in all parts.--[EDS.] + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | #Back Numbers# | + | | + | If readers who possess copies of the first number of _The | + | Healthy Life_ (August 1911) will send them to the Editors, | + | they will receive, in exchange, booklets to the value of | + | threepence for each copy. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + THE + + HEALTHY + + LIFE + + The Independent + Health Magazine. + + 3 AMEN CORNER LONDON E.C. + + + VOL. V NOVEMBER + No. 28. 1913 + + + _There will come a day when physiologists, poets, and + philosophers will all speak the same language and understand one + another._--CLAUDE BERNARD. + + + + +AN INDICATION. + + +It was the slave-woman who laid her child under a bush that she might +spare herself the pain of seeing it die! + +One of the commonest sources of mental and moral confusion is to +mistake the egotistic shrinking from the sight of suffering with the +altruistic shrinking from causing it and desire to relieve it. + +The so-called sensitive person is too often only sensitive to his or +her own pain and, therefore, finds it difficult in the presence of +another's suffering to do what is needed to relieve it. + +The healer, the health-bringer, the truly sympathetic person, does not +even hesitate to inflict pain when to do so means to restore +health.--[EDS.] + + + + +CASTLES IN THE AIR. + +_Regular readers will recognise in this wonderfully simple and +suggestive article a continuation of the series previously entitled +"Healthy Brains." The author of "The Children All Day Long" is an +intimate disciple of one of the greatest living psychologists, and she +has a message of the first importance to all who realise that true +health depends as much on poise of mind as on physical fitness._--[EDS.] + + +Of all the occupations which imagination gives us, surely none is more +popular or more delightful than the planning out of future days. +Pleasure and fame and honour, work and rest, comfort and adventure: +all things take their turn in our romances. + +Not all the castles are for ourselves alone. In childhood it is our +school, our club, our town that is to be the centre of great events. +The young man's castle is a nest to which he hopes to bring a mate. +The mother sees the future coronet or laurel-wreath round the soft +hair of her baby's head. And we all build castles for the world +sometimes--at least for our own country or our own race. Sometimes we +knock them down and rebuild again in rather different shape--Mr Wells +has taught us what a fascinating game it is. + +Sometimes, especially perhaps in little, unimportant things, our +imagination does centre chiefly around our own activities. What we +mean to do, what we might do, what we would like to do: there must be +something else besides selfishness and waste of time in the constantly +recurring thoughts. + +Who does not know the charm of looking down the theatre-list of the +morning paper? One may be too busy or two poor to go often to the +play, but the very suggestion of all the colour and interest is +pleasant. Who does not like looking over prospectuses of lectures and +classes at the beginning of the winter session? "I _should_ like to go +to that course on Greek Art. Oh, it is on Mondays, then that is no +good. German, elementary and conversation. How useful that would be! +Gymnasium and physical culture; how I wish I had another evening in +the week to spare!" + +Railway books, again, and guides and travel bills--how delightful they +are! It is easy to plan out tours for one's holidays up to the age of +100. "Brittany; oh yes, I must go there one day. And Norway, that must +really be my next trip." The Rockies, the cities of the East, coral +islands of the Pacific--they all seem to enrich our lives by the very +thought of their possibilities. + +Again, who does not love a library catalogue? To go through with a +pencil, noting down the names of books one wants to read is a form of +castle-building by no means to be despised. + +Some people get the same pleasure out of house-hunting; they see an +empty house and go and get the key in order to see over it. The +chances of their ever living there are practically none, but the view +gives a stimulus to their inventive activity: they plan out how they +would furnish the rooms and fill the empty hearths with dreams. + +Is not the same thing the explanation of shop-gazing? The woman who +has bought her winter coat and hat does not as a rule refrain from +looking any more into shop windows till the spring; instead, she +clothes herself in imagination in all the beautiful stuffs she sees +displayed, and if some of the things demand ballroom, racecourse, golf +links or perhaps the Alps for the background, why, so much the better, +the suggestion puts, as it were, a view from the windows of her castle +in the air. + +A garden--a dozen square yards or reckoned in acres--is full of +material for our imagination; indeed, a seedsman's catalogue or a copy +of "Amateur Gardening" will often be enough to start us; long lines of +greenhouses will build themselves for us, or rockeries, or wild glens +with streams in them, and the world will blossom round about us. + +Sometimes it is ambition that calls us, personal or professional; we +get beforehand the sweet taste of power upon the tongue. It may +perhaps be sometimes the rewards of work, riches and honour and so on, +but more often, I think, the dreams of youth circle round the work +itself. We will be of use in the world, we will find new paths and +make them safe for those coming after us to walk in, we will get rid +of that evil and set up a ladder towards that good; we will heal, +teach, feed, amuse, uplift or cherish the other human beings round +about us. We will store only for the sake of distributing; we will +climb only to be better able to give a helping hand. + +Well, there are some danger signals at cross-roads of our dream-way, +some precautions to be observed if we would not let romance obscure +and hinder us in our search after reality. But none of these "castles" +are bad in themselves. In so far as they quicken our attention power, +deepen our thoughtfulness, make our activities more elastic and keep +us from carelessness or sloth, they are surely all to the good as +episodes in our development. + +E.M. COBHAM. + + + + +THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF VEGETALISM. + +This article, the earlier part of which appeared in the October +number, is from the French of Prof. H. Labbé, the head of the +_laboratoire à la Faculté de Médecine_, in Paris. It reflects a +characteristic aloofness to a any considerations other than scientific +or economic. But it will well repay careful study.--[EDS.] + + +V + +Though the consumption of vegetable foods seems to offer a slight +disadvantage from the point of view of albuminoid matters, this is not +the case touching hydro-carbonated matters and sugars. The vegetable +kingdom constitutes the almost exclusive source of these alimentary +principles. One cannot indeed take much account of the consumption of +the .5-.6 per cent, of glycogen which exists in the animal muscle +partaken of under the shape of butcher's meat. There is hardly enough +in this for a large eater of between 200 and 250 grammes of meat, to +find in hydrocarbonated matters the 1/300 or the 1/400 of the daily +ration. Hydrocarbons are necessarily borrowed from the vegetable +foods. This is also the case with sugars which do not exist in the +animal kingdom in appreciable quantities. It is the same thing with +alcohol which is obtained only from the vegetable kingdom. + + +VI + +As to fatty matters, animal foods, like vegetable products, are +abundantly provided with them. Moreover, from the point of view of +digestibility and capability of assimilating, one may say that there +is a quasi-absolute identity between animal and vegetable fats. The +reason which would induce us to prefer either would not seem to be of +a physiological nature. The economics, which we shall see further on, +take this upon themselves, as the most serious reproach which can be +made against the use of animal dishes is doubtless their dearness, and +the reason which militates most in favour of the predominance of a +vegetable diet is to a certainty its cheapness. + + +VII + +Such are, briefly expounded and refuted, the fundamental objections +which can be brought against the vegetarian diet and the "vegetalian" +customs. There exists, in fact, no serious physiological or chemical +reason for not satisfying our needs solely with foods of vegetable +origin. It may be interesting to note that, in reality, the most +confirmed flesh eaters support their energy-producing needs mainly +with vegetable products. In the mixed diet universally practised meat +plays but a small part. + +In meat the waste in preparation and consecutive waste at table is +considerable. To really introduce 200 grammes of meat into the +stomach, nearly 400 grammes must be purchased, and expensively put +into use. What do these 200 grammes really bring in nutritive +elements? + + Meat. + + 200 gr. (mod. fat.) at 18% albumin = 36 gr. album., about. + " " 5% fat = 10 gr. fat, about. + ----- + 46 gr. + +These 46 grs. constitute barely the 8 per cent. of the total weight of +a ration, averaged in nutritive elements, calculated as follows:-- + + Albumin 80 + Fatty matters 70 + Hydrates of carbon 350 + +This is a very feeble proportion. + +If one turns to the calorific point of view, in order to estimate the +share of energy useful to the organism, we arrive at much the same +conclusion. The 46 grs. of nutritive animal elements barely provide +230 thermal units which can be utilised, while the total diet which we +are considering brings a power of disposal of nearly 2,350 thermal +units. It is, even then, barely 10 per cent. of the total energy. The +most convinced flesh eaters, those who buy 400 grs. of meat a day for +their consumption, must learn, willingly or unwillingly, that the +animal element enters only in an infinitesimal part into their real +substance and reparation. + + +VIII + +Beyond this very feeble nutritive help is there, then, in meat, +anything else which makes the use of this article of food necessary, +agreeable or particularly strengthening? It is incontestible that meat +contains stimulating substances, which, as Prof. Armand Gautier has +said, play the part of nerve tonics, and have perhaps a direct action +on the circulation. + +These special meat matters are found concentrated in the gravy. Meat +gravy, in fact, beside a feeble proportion of albuminoid matters, or +solubly derived quantities, polypeptides, etc., in notable proportion +of liberated acids, contains a certain quantity of matters, qualified +by the generic name of extractives; a notable quantity of these +extractive matters being creatine and creatinine, as well as +substances of which the fundamental nucleus is the puric grouping. +These purins, by the name which E. Fischer attributes to them, derive +from a special grouping which it would be supposed exists in a +hypothetic body, but which is not known in a state of liberty, purin. +This first term gives rise to a series of bodies in lateral groups, of +which the most interesting are caffeine and theobromine. Amongst these +substances the one which has the maximum of oxidation is no other than +uric acid. Caffeine and theobromine enjoy nervine properties and +energetic vascular actions. These properties minutely studied are +utilised every day for therapeutic purposes. It is probable that the +other bodies of the series which are met with in the extract of meat +enjoy analogous physiological properties. These substances are +ingested without discernment, often in great excess, and daily, by +people who consume meat. + +Amongst these latter, many would not dare to drug themselves with a +centigramme of pharmaceutic caffeine, whereas they absorb each day gr. +5 and more, of its homologous constituents. + +Therefore, in the same way as chocolate, tea and coffee, meat has a +stimulating effect on the system. He who is accidentally deprived of +it finds that he experiences a passing depression. This obviously +proves that by the exaggerated use of meat, one drugs and doctors +oneself without discernment. However this may be, the judicious part +played by meat must apparently be reduced to that of a condiment food +destined to produce in a measure the whipping-up which is useful, and +sometimes indispensable to the system. We cannot here discuss the +expediency of action and the harmlessness of the dose of substances +reputed stimulating. But one can ask oneself whether, to attain this +object of stimulation, carnivorous feeding is indispensable, and if +vegetarianism could not supply the need. + +The reply is easy: the vegetable kingdom disposes of a variety of +stimulating articles, such as tea, coffee, kola and cocoa. Through +their active substances these foods are nerve tonics of the first +order, less dangerous in their use than meat, because more easily +assimilated, of far more continuous effects, less mixed with other +substances, sometimes noxious, and consequently more measurable. +Besides, in pulse food, quantities of purins are found as important as +in meat. If the part they play has not been systematically studied +from the point of view of their effects on the nervous organism, they +still give rise to the same terminal products, such as uric acid. One +can quite well argue that the pulse purins have physiological effects +comparable to those of meat purins. On the other hand, vegetable +purins have the considerable advantage of being less easily +precipitated in the urine, after the human interorganic metabolism, +than those resulting from the metabolism of flesh material. + +This explains why a frequent use of a vegetable diet offers +appreciable advantages in the amelioration of arthritic diatheses so +common amongst us. Certain effects observed in these diatheses arise +from the purins, from their localisation in the system, and their +vitiated metabolism. The use of a moderate vegetable diet is the best +means of treatment in order to relieve, to ameliorate, even to cure, +arthritic diathesis. + + +IX + +Such are the certain physiological advantages which the predominant +use of vegetable products are capable of offering. If one takes the +pure energy-producing point of view, the superiority of the vegetarian +diet becomes greater still. From the fine works of A. Chauveau, modern +physiology has shown us that muscle, in working, consumes sugary +materials. These are provided by ingestions of sugar in a natural +state, of dextrine or of starch; for a less important part, the +glycogen of the system may also arise from hydrocarbonated cords +existing in the molecule of certain albumins. Therefore it is only in +an infinitesimal part, due to the fibrine of meat, and to the small +proportions of glycogen which it contains, that flesh diet intervenes +in the direct production of kinetic energy. + +The demonstrations which have been essayed, touching the muscular +superiority of vegetarians, appear superfluous to us. Such experiments +could only have a positive value if they were made on both series of +antagonistic subjects, with alimentary powers of energy-producing +equality. + +It should be distinctly understood that the vegetarian does not profit +by any mysterious forces. The habit of preferring to nourish oneself +with vegetable foods, can, at most, or at least, favour the +physiological integrity of the subject, shield him against disease and +assure his revictualment with foods recognised as active and easily +measurable. + +One cannot leave alcohol out of the list of advantageous vegetable +foods. In fact, provided one keeps to strictly limited doses, it may +be included among the alimentary foods, on a footing comparable to +that of sugar. If one knew how to use without misusing it, alcohol +might become a daily food. + + +X + +Another order of ideas which one cannot pass by in silence at the +present time militates in favour of vegetable alimentation. Dietetics +cannot neglect economic problems. A flesh diet is very costly. In +large towns, like Paris, at a time when everything is increasing in +cost, one must be favoured by fortune to be able to indulge in the +real luxury of consuming the calories of meat. As we said in 1905, +with Prof. Landouzy and M. Labbé, in our inquiry into popular +Parisian alimentation, the calorific energy of meat comes, on an +average, to between 15 to 20 times dearer than that of bread or pulse +foods. + +The diet with a vegetable predominance may therefore, by those who +adopt it, be considered as much less costly than a mixed one. Does not +this fact, then, deserve to be taken into consideration and +compared--startlingly illustrative--to the ingenious calculation +recently made by Lefèvre in his examination of vegetarianism? One +acre of land planted for the purpose of breeding cattle produces three +times less living strength than an acre planted with wheat! + +Is it not criminal, or at any rate ill-judged, for the richness and +health of the country to have, by the laws of a draconian +protectionism, spurred the French agricultural population along the +road to the breeding of cattle, thus turning it away from cultivation? +These laws are the cause, on the one hand, of the high price of wheat, +owing to the abandonment of its culture and the barriers opposed to +its entrance, and on the other, of the dearness of meat, owing to the +stock and the land which the cattle require. + +Under these facts economists have indeed a direct responsibility, as +for more than fifty years economic orthodoxy has presented meat as a +necessity, whereas it is the least advantageous particle amongst so +many others. + +In conclusion, let us hope that future distinctions of "Vegetalists," +vegetarians or flesh eaters may be completely abolished. _In medio +stat virtus._ The dietetic regimen, the general adoption of which must +henceforth be desired, must reject all preconceived and hereditary +ideas, and unite in one harmonious use all foods with a hygienic end +in view. The place of each one amongst them and its predominance over +the others should be determined only by conforming to reasons at the +same time physiological and economic. + +H. LABBÉ. + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | #To Our Readers.# | + | | + | Readers who appreciate the independence and all-round nature | + | of _The Healthy Life_ can materially assist the extension of | + | its circulation by tactfully urging their local newsagent to | + | have the magazine regularly displayed for sale. An | + | attractive monthly poster can always be had free from the | + | Publishers, 3 Tudor Street, London, E.C. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +HEALTH AND JOY IN HAND-WEAVING. + +_This article gains additional interest from the fact that it has been +written by one who works her own loom and teaches others the ancient +and healthy art of hand-weaving._--[EDS.] + + +Hand-weaving is an art, a handicraft, one aspect of which we are apt +to forget--namely, that it is a splendid health-giver. Indeed, all who +have felt the rhythm of the loom, as they throw the shuttle to and +fro, and in blending colours and seeing the material grow thread by +thread, can witness to the power of the work to banish both the large +and small worries that eat away our health of mind and body. The +hand-weaver learns to look upon his (or her) loom as a very good +friend. + +The possibilities in weaving are immense, and the great difficulty +that always confronts the weaver is the impossibility of letting +gussets into the day: the end of the week comes all too soon. + +One very satisfactory thing about weaving is the fact that from the +very first we can use the things woven, even those we learn on. + +First, there is plain weaving, with which we can make dress materials +and many things for household use. Then come fancy and striped +materials, which require more knowledge and ingenuity. + +There are endless varieties in bands of different patterns thrown in +with the shuttle, or shuttles, sometimes as many as a dozen of which +may be in use at a time. These can be used for the purpose of +ornamentation. In weaving these no end of play of colour can be made, +by using many colours in rotation, either as the groundwork of plain +material, under the patterns, or as the pattern itself. + +Metal threads can also be used of various kinds, either as an entire +texture, or to enrich the fancy bands. + +Lastly, there is inlay weaving, by which we can put in by hand, with +little separate bobbins, as we go along, any cross-stitch design, +lettering, monograms, figures and designs of every description. + +Anyone with a knowledge of carpentry can make his own loom, the +construction being of a very simple nature. In fact, the Orientals +erect a few sticks, dig a hole in the ground to sit in, tie their warp +up to a tree, and then produce the most charming work, both in texture +and colour. + +The warp can also be made as these people often make theirs, by fixing +it to sticks stuck into the ground, and walking backwards and forwards +with the thread, singing as they go. Yes, singing! I think we English +folk might learn from them to put more joy into our work, that +fountainhead of life and health. We are apt to take such a serious +view of ourselves and of all we do. So often, too, we only feel the +dull and quiet colours, instead of using the many brilliant ones that +nature loves so well. Once we begin working in, and appreciating, +these we realise the exhilarating effect on our spirits. Indeed, I +think we are only beginning to realise what a great influence colour +has upon us, and all that colour signifies, each colour having various +meanings of its own. + +Many people are now realising that we are surrounded by a halo of +colour woven by our character--the most highly developed people being +surrounded by clear, bright colours. It is strictly true that we are +all weavers, every day of our lives. By following the laws of nature +we make the finest texture composed of all the most glorious colours +or qualities in the Universe, so by degrees bringing ourselves, and +others, into perfect harmony and peace. + +MINNIE BROWN. + + + + +HOW MUCH SHOULD WE EAT? + +_This discussion arose out of the article with above title, by "M.D.," +which was published in our July number._--[EDS.] + + +IV + +In dealing with this vitally important question, we shall most of us, +I take it, agree upon certain points. In the light of recent knowledge +upon, and extended experience of the subject, one such point which now +appears incontrovertible is that there are thousands die +annually--directly or indirectly--through overfeeding where one dies +through insufficient nourishment. And it may at once be said that, as +regards these thousands, the death certificates are practically +valueless as data in relation to erroneous dieting, so that in this +way we can never get at a correct estimate as to the actual number of +deaths due to overfeeding. Bright's disease, gastric and intestinal +affections, growths of various kinds, cancer, etc., are each in their +turn certified as the "Cause of Death." Most often, however, the +initial cause is the overloading of the system with an amount of food +beyond that which is necessary or healthful--and thereby clogging up +the tissues, the organs and smaller bloodvessels. + +But it may be said: "How can you substantiate such a general and +sweeping statement?" In the first place--and this is profoundly +significant--other things being equal, it must be acknowledged by all +unbiased people that the small and moderate feeders do not contract +disease in anything like the proportion that big feeders do, and as a +natural consequence live longer lives. + +Further, it must surely be quite evident by this time that there is a +sufficiently large enough number of people who are thus existing in +good health--and steadily regaining it where it has been lost--on the +lines of moderate feeding. And the number is accumulating at a rapid +pace; more and more are coming into line with those of us who, having +thus found health in themselves, their patients and friends, are +preaching the practice of two meals a day, and sometimes only one +where there is serious organic disease to combat--thus defying the +dicta of those eminent physiologists who "settled" the question years +ago. + +Now I quite admit--it would be impertinence to do otherwise--that +"M.D.'s" statements and views must not be ignored, must indeed be +respected. And he tells us that he "heard of," in one day, three cases +which "went wrong" through underfeeding; well, for those three cases +we can point to hundreds who are _going right_ through eating just +enough and not too much. I am prepared, on the other hand, to admit +the danger of a continued semi-starvation diet; our difficulty +is to define in each individual case what exactly would be a +semi-starvation, and what a sufficient diet. It is impossible to have +a fixed standard for everybody. After all, "the proof of the pudding +is in the eating"; often it is a matter of experimenting for some +little time, and in this way we could judge largely of the result of +our dieting by our state of general health. + +On some main points of the question I am now absolutely +convinced--viz.: + +1. Excessive bulk is always dangerous, often disastrous, causing +sudden death in a large number of cases. + +2. Starchy foods are best strictly limited as we get along towards +middle age and beyond. + +3. A life which is largely mental or sedentary will be healthier and +longer on a strictly moderate diet. + +4. A life largely of physical labour must be dealt with on its own +particular conditions. + +5. At all times due regard, of course, must be paid to age, weight, +etc. + +6. On the whole, "eminent physiologists" have erred on the side of +excess of proteid being advised. + +7. Middle age is the critical time of life in respect to a man's diet +in other words, I would say in axiomatic form that as a man feeds at +or about middle age, so will he be for the rest of his life. + +J. STENSON HOOKER, M.D. + + +V + +As a very interested reader of this discussion I should be very glad +to know exactly what "M.D." means by _each pound_ of _bone_ and +_muscle_ in the body weight? What proportion (approximately) is it to +total body weight? I have been trying to keep up to Dr Haig's 9 grains +per lb. of "body weight" and find that it is too much for my digestive +powers, which are very weak owing to chronic nervous dyspepsia. If I +take 15 per cent. or 20 per cent. _less_ proteid my troubles are so +greatly lessened that I feel that to continue to take the lower amount +would mean perpetual relief. But there have been so many warnings, +including M.D.'s, of the dangers of under-nutrition, that I am in a +quandary; and others of your readers too. + +If M.D. means grains per lb. of _something less_ than total body +weight, a lesser amount of proteid than I try to take may have his +sanction, and be safe for me. + +JNO. A. COOKSON. + + * * * * * + +There appears to be a sincere attempt in "M.D.'s" article to prove +that a physiologist is the best guide in diet. But, as one can get the +degree of M.D. without any scientific knowledge of dietetics, the +inference that one would be likely to make from such an alarming +article is erroneous. I say "alarming" because vague statements are +made as to patients who were rescued just in time to be stimulated by +over-feeding into a semblance of health, and we are treated to a list +of very alarming symptoms in the last paragraph on p. 443. + +"M.D." says, "Suppose that the animal fed for years on unnatural food +has become so pathological that it can no longer take or digest its +natural food." How grateful to M.D. for this statement will be those +who long for an excuse to cling to the spoiled, boiled and unnatural +dishes of which the popular diet mainly consists! And how they will +continue to overeat themselves, content to avoid the truth regarding +food quantities. + +Living on a right and natural diet, a man or woman will correct the +effects of wrong living. This will bring crises, and unless they know +that this is Nature's attempt to rid the body of unwanted and effete +matter they may be duped into returning to their high feeding, either +by those whom "M.D." calls diet quacks or by qualified quacks. + +I do not believe it possible for anyone to die for lack of indication +that they were eating too little. + +The opposite is what people die of. If we carefully read Dr +Rabagliati's article in the same issue we shall rightly ask what would +be the results of analyses and measurements in such a case. + +About a year ago we had a young woman under our care who had suffered +with deafness and other troubles for years. She had tried dietetic +treatments, "uric-acid-free" and otherwise, and had at last been told +that her deafness was incurable, being due to heredity and deficiency +in the organs of hearing. She was extremely thin when she came to us, +but we did not measure her, nor analyse unclean excreta, nor weigh +her. + +She saw an M.D. who was in sympathy with the philosophy of fasting, +and she fasted (taking water only) for 28 days. She then had four days +of fruit juice, and was so disappointed at having broken her fast +prematurely that she continued it for another 12 days, making 44 in +all--40 days actual fasting. + +[_During this period she was living an almost complete out-door +life._--EDS.] + +During the fast many interesting phenomena were witnessed, chief among +which was the discharge from ears and nose--significant indeed to all +who study Nature's ways. Result: normal hearing restored. This was +nearly twelve months ago; and, having heard of her recently, we find +that, though she had had a cold, there has been no recurrence of +deafness. I wonder what assistance measurements would have been in +this true cure. The patient (an adult) weighed 4st. 8 lbs. at the end +of her fast and could then walk short distances. + +The way in which "M.D." dismisses "a little gout" in his last +paragraph but one almost leads one to think that he is unaware of the +failure of the natural defences of the body that must have gone on in +a very serious degree before the manifestation of gout became +possible. + +I respectfully submit this problem to "M.D.":--If a very thin patient +can go without food entirely for 40 days, with only benefit accruing, +_how many centuries_ will it take for a fairly fat person to die +through slightly under-eating? + +As Dr Haddon has said, the proteid myth will die hard, but there are +physiologists who, with their faces to the light, are finding the +truth of man's requirements in food and who know that absolute purity +and simplicity are the ideals to be sought and that all food we eat +more than is absolutely necessary is a diversion of energy to carnal +channels. + +ERNEST STARR. + + + + +A DOCTOR'S REASONS FOR OPPOSING VACCINATION. + + +In opposing vaccination I am aware that it is a thankless task to +brave the abuse and antagonism which everyone who attempts to move +forward in the work of medical progress is sure to encounter. + +In order that I may not be regarded as prejudiced against the dogma of +vaccination, I will preface my remarks with the confession that I was +at one time myself a confiding dupe of the "tradition of the +dairymaids." While attending medical college I was told that +inoculation with cow pox virus was a certain preventive of small-pox, +and like most other medical students I accepted with childlike faith +and credulity the dictum of my teachers as so much infallible wisdom. +After an experience derived from treating a number of cases of +post-vaccinal small-pox in patients who gave evidence of having been +recently and successfully vaccinated, I awoke to a realisation of the +unpleasant fact that "protective vaccination" was not all that was +claimed for it. I thereupon began a study of the vaccination problem +in all its bearings. After several years of reading, observation and +experience I became fully convinced that "successful" vaccination not +only fails to protect its subjects from small-pox, but that, in +reality, it renders them more susceptible to this disease by impairing +their health and vitality, and by diminishing their power of +resistance. + +Personally, I have known of recently vaccinated patients dying from +small-pox while having the plainest foveated vaccine marks upon their +bodies, and I have seen other individuals who had never submitted to +vaccine inoculation have variola in its mildest and most benign type. + +In view of such experience I refused to ignore the evidence of my own +senses, and determined to follow the dictates of reason instead of the +dogmas of faith, and have, consequently, for the past fifteen years +refused to pollute the blood of a single person with vaccine virus. + +I oppose vaccination because I believe that health is always +preferable to disease. The principle and practice of vaccination +involves the introduction of the contagion of disease at least twice, +and, according to numerous authorities, many times, into the human +organism. The disease conveyed by vaccination causes an undeniable +impairment of health and vitality, it being a distinctly vaccine +"lymph," is taken from a lesion on the body of a diseased beast, and +inserted by the vaccinator into the circulation of healthy children. +The performance of such an insanitary operation, in the very nature of +the case, is a violation of the cardinal principles of hygiene and of +sanitary science.... Moreover, this operation is in direct +controversion of the basic principles of aseptic surgery, the +legitimate aim of which is to _remove_ from the organism the products +of disease, but never to _introduce_ them. + +The prime aim of the modern surgeon is to make every wound aseptic and +to keep it so. The careful operator employs every means at his command +to clear the field of operations of all bacteria. He utilises every +particle of the marvellously minute and intricate technique of asepsis +to prevent the entrance through the wounded tissues of any disease +elements before, during or after the operation. He fears sepsis +equally with death, and yet, under the blighting and blinding +influence of an ancient and venerated myth inherited from his ignorant +and superstitious forbears of a pre-scientific age, he will +deliberately inoculate the virulent infective products of diseased +animal tissues into the circulation of a healthy person. And as if to +cap the climax of his stupidity and inconsistency, he performs the +operation under "aseptic precautions." + +The poisonous matter which nature wisely eliminates from the body of a +diseased calf in an effort to save its life and restore it to health +is seized upon by the vaccinator and implanted into the wholesome body +of a helpless child. Think of the unparalleled absurdity of purposely +infecting the body of a healthy person in this era of sanitary science +with the poison from a diseased beast, under the senseless pretext of +protecting the victim of the ingrafted disease from the contagion of +another disease! Can inconsistency go further? + +I oppose the practice of vaccination because it is not known what +vaccine virus is, except that it is a mixed contagion of disease. We +hear much these days about "pure" virus and "pure calf lymph." Nothing +could be more absurd and meaningless than the flippant talk indulged +in by vaccinators and the purveyors of vaccine virus about "pure calf +lymph," a hybrid product of diseased animal tissues. "Pure virus" +translated into plain English is pure "animal poison." The phrase +"pure calf lymph" is applied to an brand of vaccine virus now in use +is a misnomer for two reasons. It is not "pure" and it is not "calf +lymph." + +Calf lymph is the normal nutrient fluid which circulates in the +lymphatic vessels of the calf. Lymph is described by physiologists as +a "transparent, colourless, nutrient alkaline fluid which circulates +in the lymphatic vessels and thoracic ducts of animal bodies." Lymph +is a physiological product, while the so-called "pure calf lymph" used +by vaccinators is a pathological product, derived from a lesion on a +diseased calf. The difference between calf lymph and so-called "pure +calf lymph" is as great as is the difference between a food and a +poison. The vaccine mixture now most generally used by the medical +profession is known under the name of "glycerinized vaccine lymph," +but it is not _lymph_ at all. It is made by utilising practically the +entire lesion or pock on the heifer when it is in the vesicular stage. +Such a lesion is broken open and scraped with a Volkmann spoon until +the whole of the tissue is forcibly and roughly curetted away, +consisting of pus, morbid serum, epithelium, fibrous tissue of the +skin, and any foreign matter on or in it, constituting what is called +"pulp." This pulp is then passed between glass rollers for trituration +and afterwards mixed with a definite amount of glycerine and distilled +water. This complex pathologic product of unknown origin is injected +into the wholesome bodies of helpless children under the false but +plausible name of "pure calf lymph." ... + +I oppose the practice of vaccination because under whatever pretext +performed the implantation of disease elements into the healthy human +organism is irrational and injurious. It is subversive of the +fundamental principles of sanitary science, while the attainment of +health as a prophylactic measure is rational and in harmony with the +ascertained laws of hygiene and consistent with the canons of +common-sense. I am firmly convinced that the absurd and unreasonable +dogma which assumes to conserve health by propagating disease should +receive the open condemnation of every scientific sanitarian. That +this health-blighting delusion conceived in the ignorance of a past +generation should find lodgment in the minds of intelligent people +enjoying the light of the world's highest civilisation is to my mind +inexplicable.... + +Sanitation and isolation of the infected offer the only rational and +effective antidote for these disorders. Away, then, with the +abominable and filthy subterfuge! Give us health instead of disease. +Health is the great prophylactic. + +No man in perfect health can be truly said to be susceptible to the +infection of small-pox, nor to that of any other zymotic disease. +Vigorous health confers immunity from disease-producing agents as +nothing else can. It is usually after the vital functions have become +impaired by the effects of vaccination or some other injurious cause +that individuals become susceptible to small-pox infection. + +J.W. HODGE, M.D. + +[_The above article can be obtained in pamphlet form from the +publisher. Wm. J. Furnival, Stone. Staffs._--EDS.] + + + + +THE NEW RACE. + +(_Specially written for THE HEALTHY LIFE._) + + + A new race on the ruins of the old + Build we: a temple of the human form + Fairer than marble, since with life-blood warm, + Well crowned with its appointed crown of gold, + Russet or ebony; lines clear and bold + Beneath--a citadel no ills can storm, + Buttressed with health; a type to be the norm + In that great age the world shall yet behold. + + For now the laws of Health and Heaven are seen + In their identity, life's body and soul; + Though, like divorce, disease may come between + What God hath joined; but at the human goal, + Where the New Race rules, splendid and serene, + Sit Health and Holiness, made one and whole. + +S. GERTRUDE FORD. + + + + +THE PLAY SPIRIT. + + +We all long for reality. Most of the amusements in the world are +imitations of the reality for which we long. They promise a +satisfaction they are unable to give. Drink, mechanical love-making, +all snatched gratification of the senses, religious excitement, +revivalist meetings, and so forth, most theatre-going and sports, all +simulate the real glory of life. They bring an illusion of well-being. +They produce a glow in the nervous system. They cause the outlines of +everyday life as we know it to grow suffused. They give us a momentary +sense of heightened power and freedom. We float easily in a happy +world. A sort of relaxation has been achieved. The less common forms +of amusement bring us nearer to the gateway of reality. For some, they +have been the rivers leading to the ocean of truth itself. + +Art, for instance, the interpretation of life in terms of beauty; the +"artist," the man in whom sensuous perception is supreme, offers us a +sublime aspect of reality. He dwells in the universe constructed for +him by his senses and tells us of its glories. He achieves "freedom." +The veil covering reality is woven for him far thinner than for common +men. He sees life moving eternally behind the forms he separates and +"creates." And to those of us who are akin to him, who are +temperamentally artistic, he offers freedom of a kind. The +contemplation of a work of art releases the tension of the nerves. To +use the language of psychology it "arrests" us, suspends the functions +of our everyday surface personality, abolishes for a moment time and +space, allows the "free," generally suppressed subconscious self to +come up and flood the surface intelligence, allows us for a moment to +be ourselves. But, still, this momentary relaxation, this momentary +"play," this holiday from the surface "I," remains an affair dependent +upon suggestive symbols coming from "without." The supreme artist +achieves freedom. We, who in matters of art are the imitative mass, +can only have "change," a new heaven and earth, a fresh "culture." + +Then there is love. That promises, at the outset, complete escape into +freedom and reality. And supreme lovers, both of individuals and of +"Humanity," have indeed found freedom and the pathway to reality in +love. But ordinary everyday people rushing idolatrously out to find +themselves in others find in the end only another I. The religions +perhaps work best and longest. But even here average humanity, where +the mystical sense is feeble, are thrown back in the end upon +ethics--and go somewhat grimly through life doing their duty, living +upon the husks of doctrine, the notions and reports of other men. + +If the play spirit within us, that longing for the real joy of life, +for real relaxation and re-creation, fares so poorly for most of us in +the amusements large and small that life offers to our leisure +moments, is it any better in the "games" the individual chooses for +himself--hobbies, for instance? Can these generally "instructive" and +"useful," generally also solitary, occupations be called play? Are +they not merely a reversal of life's engine, rather than an unmaking +and a remaking. They are merely a variant of life. They are very truly +called a "change of occupation." They are led and dominated, commonly, +by the intelligence. They contain no element of freedom. The same +defect is found in all organised "games." + + * * * * * + +Real play, like every other reality, comes from what our mechanical +and practical intelligences have called "within." + +Real play arises when the "I" is in direct contact with the myself, +with Life, with God, with the actuality moving beneath all symbolic +representations. + +It is only when "I," the practical, intelligent, abstract-making, +idealising, generalising, clever, separated "I," the "I" which has a +past, a present and a future, renounces its usurpation of the +steering apparatus, that play can be. "I," to play or to pray or to +love, must be born again. "I" must relinquish all. "I" must have +neither experience nor knowledge, neither loves nor hates, neither +"thought" nor "feeling" nor "will"--nor anything that can arrest the +action of the inner life. When this complete relaxation, which has its +physical as well as its mental aspect, is achieved, then and then only +can "I" rise up and play. Then "I" shall rediscover all the plays in +the world in their origin. "I" shall understand the war-dance of the +"savage." "I" shall know something about the physical convulsions of +primitive "conversion." The arts may begin to be open doors to me. "I" +shall have stood "under," understood my universe, in the brief moment +when "I" abandoned myself to the inner reality. The words of the great +"teachers" will grow full of meaning. My own "experiences" will be +re-read. I shall see more clearly with my surface intelligence what I +must do. I shall be personal in everything, personal in my play. +Surface self-consciousness which holds me back from all spontaneous +activity will disappear in proportion as "I" am immersed in the +greater "me." + +Look at that woman walking primly down the lane to the sea with her +bathing-dress. She is a worker on a holiday. But she cannot play. She +goes down every day to bathe in the Cornish sea, the sea that on a +calm sunny day is like liquid Venetian glass and flings at you, under +the least breeze, long, green, foam-crested billows that carry you off +our feet if you stand even waist-high. She potters in the shallows and +splashes herself to avoid taking cold. Her intelligent "I" is +uppermost. Her world of every day never leaves her. She will go back +to it as she came, unchanged. Her wistful face betrays the seeker lost +amidst unrealities. If the "I" were a little more intelligent, she +might try to defy the surrounding ocean, to pit her powers against it, +to swim. She would learn a most practical and useful and withal +invigorating accomplishment. If her busy, watchful "I" could be +arrested she might "see" the billows, the sky and the headlands reared +on either side of her bay. She might dance into the water, and see her +world dance back. She would fling herself amongst the wavelets where +she stands and splashes. She might give herself up and know nothing +but the beauty and strength around her. It would not teach her to +swim, but she would have taken a step towards the great game of +walking upon the waters. + +D.M. RICHARDSON. + + + + +TRAVELS IN TWO COLOURS. + + +One is often tempted to suspect that in some schools there is a +deep-laid plot to destroy in the bud any love for poetry which +children may possess. Otherwise how is it that little boys and girls +are made to commit to memory William Blake at his highest reach of +mystical fire, as in _Tiger, Tiger, burning bright_, or William +Wordsworth at his lowest ebb of uninspired simplicity, as in _We are +seven_? These are very popular, apparently, as poems for children to +recite; yet in the one case it is beyond any teacher's power to show +children the unearthly flaming beauty which alone gives the poem its +peculiar quality and undefinable power; and in the other the maudlin +sentimentalism and almost priggish piety of the verses are positively +dangerous to the child's health of mind. Both types of recitation work +out in the end to this--that when the child attains adolescence, and +the great world of literature dawns on the hungry mind, an evil +association of ideas has been established--the association of poetry, +the highest of all arts, either with the saying of lines without +meaning, or with the learning of "poems" devoid of what wholesome +youth really desires or enjoys. + +People may wrangle all night as to whether the normal healthy child is +at heart a mystic or a realist; whether he likes fairy tales because +they show him a magical world where flowers can talk and umbrellas are +turned into black geese, or because they tell of strange romantic +things happening to a real human boy like himself; but there can be no +shadow of doubt that much of the verse intended for children is either +too clever in its humour to make them laugh, or too bald in its matter +or tone to stir the romance that is never quite asleep in their +hearts. There are really surprisingly few versifiers who have +altogether avoided these errors. Some of George Macdonald's _Poems for +Children_ are almost perfect, both as regards lyrical form, simplicity +of language and in the unobtrusiveness of the inner truth they convey. +For example, + + "The lightning and thunder + They go and they come; + But the stars and the stillness + Are always at home." + +But others come perilously near mere versified moralising. Lewis +Carroll's nonsense verses in the two famous _Alice_ books are supreme +among their kind; but are they not sometimes just a shade too +ingenious, or too adult in wit? Probably Stevenson, in those seemingly +artless poems in _A Child's Book of Verse_, comes nearest to a level +perfection. Who has ever approached him in his power to understand and +express the small child's world, desires and delights, without a trace +of the grown-up's condescension or self-consciousness? + +Well, these great ones are no longer in the world; yet, with the +recognition of their genius, there is the usual danger of bemoaning +the lack of worthy successors. Not but what there is some excuse for +such lamentation; for this reason that every Christmas there is a +veritable flood of children's verse, a great deal of which is either +painfully didactic, painfully sentimental, painfully funny or +painfully foolish. + +What I wish to do at the moment is to call attention to the fact that +there is one man alive in England--one of many, I do not doubt: but +one at a time!--who is doing "nonsense verses" for children which are +guiltless of all the faults I have indicated above. + +Jack Goring is known among some of his friends as "The Jolly +Rhymster." He writes his verses first for his own children, and then +publishes them from time to time for the pleasure of other children. +The secret of his success is partly that he knows that even small +children like a story to be an adventure; partly that he understands +how their own romances, the things they picture or hum to themselves +when well-meaning adults are not worrying them, or rather, trying to +amuse them, begin--wherever they may end!--with a perfectly tangible +object, such as a pillar-box, a rag-doll or a toy locomotive. One of +"The Jolly Rhymster's" best things begins-- + + "Finger-post, finger-post, why do you stand + Pointing all day with your silly flat hand?" + +--which is exactly the sort of question that a very small child in all +probability does really ask itself when it has seen a finger-post day +after day at a cross-roads. How the poem continues and where it ends +you must find out for yourself. It's all in a book called _The Ballad +of Lake Laloo_. + +In the recently published volume[15] that now lies before me, this +telling of a tale of wonder which begins with an ordinary thing is +again evident. Nip and Flip, aged six and four respectively, are the +adventurers; and they make three voyages in this little book. In the +first, _The Fourpenny-Ha'penny Ship_, they circumnavigate the world. +Now please note how Mr Goring strikes the right note at the very +outset: + + "Nip and Flip + Took a holiday trip + On a beautiful fourpenny-ha'penny ship + With a dear little handkerchief sail; + And they sang, 'Yo ho! + We shall certainly go + To the end of the world and back, you know, + And capture the great Seakale.'" + +[15] _Nip and Flip._ By Jack Goring. Illustrated by Caterina +Patricchio. 1s. net (postage 1½d.). C.W. Daniel, Ltd., 3 Tudor Street, +London, E.C. + +And there follows a picture (in black and gold) of this strange +monster, just to make sure that no one will suppose they were out +after a vegetable. + +The tale moves along, as such stories should, very rapidly. Thus-- + + "And when they came to the end of the world, + Their dear little handkerchief sail they furled + And put on the kettle for tea." + +But you have only just time to look at the tea things when-- + + "But alas! and alack + About six o'clock + The good ship strack + On the Almond Rock + And split like a little split pea." + +So the story goes on, through divers adventures, + + "From Timbuctoo to Timbucthree" + +and so at last home again. + +The next voyage is to the land of Make-Believe on a Christmas Eve, "in +a long, long train of thought." In the course of this tale we are +given a little picture of Flip herself, and here it is for you to look +at. Only, in the book her shoes and stockings, the inside of her +skirt, and the squiggly things on the top of her head are a bright +golden colour. + +[Illustration] + +The third voyage is all the fault of a toy monkey--"six +three-farthings and cheap at the price"--and takes them among whales, +mermaids, sea-serpents and other deep-sea creatures. + +Here, then, are delightful little pictures on every page, which even a +two-year-old will enjoy. And here are verses which most boys and girls +under seven or eight will like to learn. And the best of it is that it +doesn't matter a bit if they do "sing-song" them, for they are the +kind of verses which only sound right from the lips of quite small +children who have never been taught elocution. + +EDGAR J. SAXON + + + + +PICKLED PEPPERCORNS. + + + SOUP.--Oxtail from 10 A.M.--From a Restaurant Menu. + +What it was in the early morning it would be indiscreet to inquire. + + * * * * * + +I learn that a serum for mumps is now being made at the Pasteur +Institute. "A number of monkeys were inoculated with the serum," says +_The Times_ (30th July), "and a mild form of the disease was +produced." It is an age of scientific progress, so we may expect news +shortly of sera for toothache, hiccough, and the hump. It will not be +necessary to inoculate camels for the last. + + * * * * * + + You will say--with Mr Arnold Bennett, the distinguished + playwright and novelist--"the tonic effect of ********* on me is + simply _wonderful_."--From an advt. in _Punch_. + +You may join in the chorus if you like, but you mustn't all expect to +be simply _wonderful_ playwrights and testimonialists. + + * * * * * + + A STRANGE SHAMPOO.... "I make my chemist get the stallax for me," + said she. "It comes only in sealed packages, enough to make up + twenty-five or thirty individual shampoos, and it smells so good + I could almost eat it."--_Secrets of Beauty_ column in _The Daily + Sketch_. + +Which only shows how careful one has to be. + + * * * * * + + In the days to come every army will fight on bloodless + food.--_Herald of the Golden Age_. + +When every army fights on bloodless food, we may be just as far from +the Golden Age as we are now. + + * * * * * + +I am told that an obscure practitioner who sent up an account of some +interesting discoveries, addressed to + + MEDICAL CONGRESS, + DIETETICS SECTION, + LONDON. + +has had his communication returned by the Post Office, marked _Not +Known_. + + * * * * * + +There is no truth, it is said, in the rumour that a secret meeting was +held during the Congress to discuss the proposed raising of the rate +of commission payable by surgeons to physicians. + +PETER PIPER. + + + + +HEALTHY LIFE RECIPES. + +SOME "EMPROTE" RECIPES. + + +Exaggeration is popularly regarded as one of the vices of food +reformers; but it is certainly no exaggeration whatever to say that Mr +Eustace Miles and the restaurant associated with his name have had a +large share in bringing about the more sympathetic attitude towards +"food reform" noticeable on all sides to-day. + +Mr Miles is no amateur in the gentle art of self-advertisement: he +would be the first to admit it. But the advertisements have resulted +undoubtedly in a very large number of people taking the first steps +towards food reform, people who are repelled by the out-and-out +"vegetarian" propaganda. + +There are those who view with disfavour the introduction of +manufactured or artificial foods into the health movement; they think +it hinders simplicity. There is a truth in this; but, on the other +hand, it must be recognised that the great majority cannot be reached +save by meeting them half-way. This applies to the flavours of foods, +the digestibility of foods and the convenience of foods. Few can go +straight from beef to nuts. After generations of abuse the human +digestive system has to be humoured if the ideal is to be approached. +And in this invaluable work of meeting people half-way and of +humouring their tastes and digestions, the restaurant in Chandos +Street, London, the specially prepared foods made and sold there and +the strongly individual, thoroughly sane and pleasantly +straightforward advocacy of Mr. Eustace Miles have been a very +important factor. + +The idea behind "Emprote"--the Eustace Miles Proteid Food--is that, +being a blend, in powder form, of various kinds of proteid (the +proteids of milk, of wheat, and so forth) it supplies the right kind +of substitute for flesh foods not only because it is so easily +assimilated, but because it is in a very convenient and easily kept +form. + +We believe such foods have a very definite and necessary part in the +progress of the individual from the customary unhealthy diet to the +better ways of feeding. The following recipes illustrate some of the +methods of using "Emprote." They are taken from the booklet _45 Quick +and Easy Recipes for Healthy, Meatless Meals_, to be obtained for 2½d. +post free from 40 Chandos Street, London, W.C.-- + + +SAVOURY CHEESE SANDWICHES. + +_NOTE.--These Savoury Sandwiches can form a complete meal with a +little salad (dressed with oil and lemon juice), or celery or lettuce +or watercress or other salad material._ + + 3 oz. of cheddar cheese; 1 oz. of "Emprote"; the juice of half a + lemon; two tablespoonfuls of fresh tomato pulp or tomato chutney; + a pinch of celery salt. + +Prepare some slices of not too new bread and butter. Mill the cheese, +add to it the "Emprote" and the celery salt, then add the tomato pulp +or chutney and the lemon juice. Mix all well together into a smooth +stiff paste, and spread upon the slices, and form sandwiches, which +may be eaten with watercress or lettuce or cucumber. If the material +is too moist, mix in a little more "Emprote," or else "Procrums." + + +MACARONI CHEESE. + + One teacupful of macaroni; two tablespoonfuls of milled cheese + one tablespoonful of butter; one dessertspoonful of flour; one + tablespoonful of "Emprote"; one large cupful of milk. + +Boil the macaroni for half-an-hour in a little water. Strain the +macaroni and put it in the bottom of a buttered dish. (Put the liquid +in the stock-pot, to thicken a soup.) Mill the cheese, and put half of +it over the macaroni. In the small saucepan make a sauce of the +butter, flour, milk and "Emprote." Pour this over the macaroni and +cheese, sprinkle the rest of the cheese on the top, put in the pan to +brown, then serve. + + +STUFFED VEGETABLE MARROW. + +Mince two large onions very fine, and fry in 1 oz. of butter; add 3 +oz. of "Proto-Savoury," one dessertspoonful of Nutril, 1 oz. of +breadcrumbs (or "Procrums"), and one egg. Scoop the seeds from one +large vegetable marrow, fill with the mixture, and bake for one hour. +Serve with Apple Sauce. + +_NOTE.--"Proto-Savoury," "Nutril," and "Procrums" are special "E.M." +products and are readily obtainable from health Food Stores, etc._ + + +A NOURISHING GRAVY READY IN A MINUTE. + +When cutlets or croquettes are heated up, or when macaroni or +vegetables or a vegetable stew (none of which are really adequate +substitutes for meat) are to be made nourishing, mix some of the E.M. +Savoury (or Mulligatawny, or Blended) Gravy Powder, with hot water, to +the thickness of gravy, and add to the dish. + + * * * * * + + +NEW METHOD OF PREPARING FRUIT FOR THE DINNER-TABLE. + +In cold weather fruit is often cold, and if heated in an oven may be +injured partially or wholly. Here is, perhaps, a new way of warming +fruit which has been tried and proves satisfactory. Wash the apples, +pears, oranges, bananas and wipe them and place on a dish on the +dinner-table. Also place a jug of boiling water and a bowl upon the +table. Then when the fruit is required pour the hot water into the +bowl and place the fruit in it and cover with a plate until warm +enough to eat comfortably. Bananas should be peeled before placing in +hot water. + +"A.R." + + + + +HEALTH QUERIES. + +_Under this heading our contributor, Dr Valentine Knaggs, deals +briefly month by month, and according as space permits, with questions +of general interest to health seekers and others._ + +_In all Queries relating to health difficulties it is essential that +full details of the correspondent's customary diet should be clearly +given._ + +_Correspondents are earnestly requested to write on _one side only of +the paper_, giving full name and address, not for publication, but as +a guarantee of good faith. When an answer is required by post a +stamped addressed envelope must be enclosed._--[EDS.] + + +ECZEMA AS A SIGN OF RETURNING HEALTH. + + Mrs M.K. writes:--Until the last few years I have been subject to + sciatica and a certain amount of dry eczema. About a year ago my + health greatly improved, with the exception of the eczema, which + has much increased the last year, coming out in large angry + spots which irritate. I am 69, small, spare and white, have never + been strong until a year ago, have led a sedentary life, being an + artist. Three years ago I left off eating meat. My diet at + present is: + + _On rising._--Cup of hot rain-water. + + _Breakfast_ (8 A.M.)--Unfired Bread with butter and pine nuts; + cup of weak tea, no sugar. + + _At 11._--One raw apple. + + _Dinner_ (1 P.M.)--One lightly boiled egg or an omelette, with + "Artox" home-made bread, and butter conservatively cooked celery + or broccoli; stiff milk pudding with eggs in it, or "Artox" + pastry. + + _Tea_ (5 P.M.).--Weak China tea "Artox" bread, and butter, and + home-made plain cake. + + _Supper_ (8.30).--Slice of bread and butter; tumblerful of hot + rain-water sipped at bedtime. + + I have not been able to digest uncooked vegetables, excepting + lettuce; nor do I eat other fruit than apples; any sweet things + cause acidity. I do not suffer with constipation. + +In this case it will be noted that the skin disease occurred +simultaneously with a marked improvement in health. This shows that +Nature was adopting her usual plan of forcing the impurities outwards +to the surface and that the change of diet made this possible. With +her body less encumbered with waste a return of health became +possible. + +The plan now to adopt is not to check this skin trouble but to cure it +along safe lines by amending the diet and purifying the skin itself by +means of warm alkaline baths. + +These baths, which should be taken twice a week at first, are made by +adding a ¼lb. of bicarbonate of soda and a ¼lb. of "Robin" starch +to an ordinary hot bath at a temperature of 105 degrees, which can be +gradually increased to 110 degrees as the correspondent can bear it. +In this the bather stays for from ten to twenty minutes to well soak +out the acids and the oily greasy waste from the surface. The starch +is added because it moderates the action of the alkali and leaves a +comfortable gloss on the skin after the bath is finished. The bath +gradually clears the poisons from the skin and encourages the free +action of perspiration, thus promoting the further elimination of +waste acid poisons and at the same time clearing the skin and making +it healthy. + +The next thing to do is to amend the diet so that as little waste as +possible shall be formed. Rice is the cereal that contains the least +amount of waste of any kind and this should therefore be the cereal +selected. The wholemeal, although good for most people, is not suited +to this case. A strict salt-free diet is also necessary, as it is +often the retention of salt in the system that leads to the presence +of eczema. The following amended diet should suit the case, and it +should be continued until the skin has quite cleared itself:-- + +_On rising._--Cup of filtered boiled rain-water. + +_Breakfast._--Cottage cheese, 2 oz.; rice, boiled or steamed without +salt (large plateful), with Granose biscuits or toasted "Maltweat" +bread. + +_At_ 11 A.M.--More rain-water (not fruit). + +_Lunch._--The same as breakfast. + +_Tea._--Hot rain-water only. + +_Supper, 6.30._--The same as breakfast. + +When the skin is quite clear the correspondent can return to the +wholemeal bread (but biscuits made with "Artox" would be better than +the yeastless bread), and also to a more varied diet generally, as at +present. + + +DEAFNESS. + + J.G. writes:--My hearing got bad about twenty years ago, caused I + think by a cold in the head. When in bed I can hear the tick of a + watch with the left ear but the other is almost stone deaf. I am + not much at a loss in ordinary conversation, but in trying to + hear people speak I lose much of what is said. Although I have no + real pain, my head is rarely clear, feeling full and congested. I + have now and again a slight sensation of giddiness or reeling. + The right ear runs some offensive matter, and there is always a + hissing sound. I live what is, I think, a simple life, but I must + confess to a little smoking. My general health is good. I am a + working farmer and fairly active for one of my age (69). My diet + is generally as follows: + + _On rising._--One or two cups of warm water, sometimes with lemon + juice. + + _Breakfast._--An apple or orange, oatcake and dairy butter. + Baker's bread and one cup of tea. + + _Lunch._--Nil, or perhaps I should say that I eat an apple or + orange before each meal or a bit of turnip or even cabbage. + + _Supper._--Potatoes with fish, and milk pudding. On some days it + may be broth with meat cooked in it. + + _Before retiring._--Nothing but water, or at other times oatcake + and one cup of milk. + +There does not seem to be much prospect of this correspondent +recovering the hearing of his right ear, as the conditions have lasted +so long. He might, however, certainly try by diet and hygiene to get +rid of the unpleasant discharge and the noises. To effect this he +should carefully syringe the ear once or twice a day with a weak +solution (1 grain to the ounce) of permanganate of potash, using an +all-rubber ear-syringe. + +Then he should get someone to well stretch the upper bones of the +spine and to massage well the muscles at the back of the neck to +induce, thereby, a better circulation in the nerves and blood-vessels +which proceed from that part of the spine into the ears. In this way +he will be able to ensure a removal of the clogging poisons which are +lurking in the bad ear and thus promote less noises and a better +health state of the ears generally. The diet should be amended as +follows:-- + +_On rising._--One or two cups of warm water, with lemon juice added. + +_At 8. Breakfast_.--Apples, oranges or other fruit only. _Take plenty +of fruit at this meal and eat it at no other time._ + +_At 12. Lunch._--One boiled egg or some cream cheese: Oatcakes and +butter or good wholemeal biscuits ("P.R." or "Ixion" kinds) and +butter, and a plateful of finely grated raw roots (carrots, turnip, +etc.). + +_Tea meal._--One cupful of Hygiama, using water in place of milk. + +_Dinner._--Cheddar cheese or cottage cheese (the latter is best); +potatoes and a green vegetable, cooked by baking or steaming, without +salt. No broth or meat. (Meat and especially meat broths are very +undesirable in this case.) + +_Before retiring._--Hot water only. + + +ANOTHER CASE OF DEAFNESS. + + J.A.B. writes:--I have been a reader of _The Healthy Life_ for + the last six months, and am suffering from a complaint since I + was three years old. When three years old I was attacked by + scarlet fever and on getting better I had a discharge from my + right ear. This continued for several years, then it would + disappear and reappear at short intervals of say a few weeks. + This last few years the discharge has disappeared for six months, + only to reappear again for a week with severe pains in back over + right shoulder and right side of neck. I always feel weak and + tired when discharge reappears and sometimes experience pains in + the head and cannot remember anything for a few minutes. + +This correspondent needs a suitable diet in order to purify his blood +stream and to promote elimination of bodily poisons which are +evidently affecting his ears. He also needs suitable massage and +stretching movements applied to the upper part of the spine, which is +functioning badly. Then he can supplement this by taking Turkish baths +or wet sheet packs to promote a free action of the skin and thus clear +away poisonous waste from the system. The same diet as recommended to +the previous correspondent should be tried. + + +CONCERNING COTTAGE CHEESE. + + Mrs C.E.J. writes:--I have been making cottage cheese curdling + the milk with lemon juice, as recommended in _The Healthy Life_. + Suppose the milk contains disease germs, would not this cheese be + injurious, as the milk is not sterilised by being brought to + boiling point? I have also been drinking the whey from the same, + as it as given in _The Healthy Life Beverage Book_. I notice in a + reply given in this month's issue that Dr Knaggs states that the + whey of the milk is the dangerous element. Since reading this + answer I have been somewhat in doubt as to drinking the whey. I + should like to know if it can be taken without harmful effects. + +Ordinary unboiled milk, free from preservatives, is far less dangerous +to health than boiled milk, because Nature inserts in the raw milk +certain germs known as the lactic-acid-producing bacilli, which +protect us from the injurious germs. These lactic germs cause the milk +to go sour and produce in this way the much-extolled soured or curdled +milk. They convert the sugar of the whey into lactic acid by a process +of fermentation. If milk is boiled it cannot go sour because the germs +natural to it have been destroyed by the heat and it becomes necessary +to introduce fresh lactic germs into the boiled milk as is done in the +artificial production of curdled milk. Failing this, milk will +undergo, not lactic fermentation, but _putrefaction_, and thereby +develop highly dangerous qualities. + +When a person takes soured milk its lactic acid acts as a powerful +germ destroyer and in a certain concentration it actually kills the +lactic germs as well. It also keeps down the disease-producing germs +of putrefaction which work in an alkaline medium (opposite to acid) by +depriving them of the sugar of the whey. + +Boiled milk, if set on one side, in warm weather, speedily becomes +alkaline and putrid or putrefactive. It is in this condition that, +when babies take it, they are made dreadfully ill with diarrhoea and +inflammation of the stomach and bowels. Hence it is the chief cause of +the appalling mortality among infants in hot weather. + +Mrs F.K.J. need have no fear of any harm coming to her as a result of +eating cottage cheese, but she should not take the whey unless she has +decided to undergo a whey cure and take _nothing but whey_; in this +latter case, there being no other foods taken, there will be no germs +to act harmfully upon it. If there is much flatulence and stomach or +bowel trouble sweet milk or whey will simply feed the germs which are +the cause of the digestive trouble, or self-poisoning, and are thus +far better discarded. + + +DIET FOR OBSTINATE COUGH. + + Miss N.S. writes:--For the last three weeks I have been troubled + with a very bad cough It started in the first place with a cold + in the head and then it got on my chest, and do what will I + cannot get rid of it. I have been having honey and lemon juice, + and also each morning have taken olive oil and lemon juice beaten + up together, but without (apparently) any effect. I have bad + coughing fits in the night and the next morning I do not feel up + to much. + + I may say that I have not taken meat for about six years, and I + try to follow the kind of diet advocated in _The Healthy Life_. + + I am 23 years of age and a typist in an office, which is about 4 + miles from my home. I try to get out in the fresh air as much as + possible to counteract any bad effects which may arise from my + work. My people at home are very much opposed to my food reform + sympathies and efforts. + +This correspondent should consult a sensible doctor about this cough +and thus be on the safe side. It is unwise to allow a cough to become +chronic without ascertaining the cause of it. Coughs are often due to +stomach and liver trouble, as distinguished from lung trouble. In +either case a salt-free diet will greatly help. Thus + +_Breakfast._--All fresh fruit, nothing else but fruit. Apples best. +(_Not_ stewed fruit). + +_Lunch._--Boiled or steamed rice, done without salt; about 2 oz. +cottage cheese or a poached egg; a little raw carrot, turnip or +artichoke, finely grated, with dressing of fruit-oil beaten up with a +raw egg. The grated roots must be well chewed; as a change they may +be cut up and cooked in a casserole with very little water. + +_Dinner._--Potato baked in skin, with fresh butter, a little cheese, +or flaked nuts, and a few plain rusks, or a saucer of P.R. Breakfast +Food, dry, with cream. The honey and lemon juice should be disgarded +in favour of liquorice (little bits being sucked at intervals) or of +linseed tea. I have often found an obstinate cough yield to a diet +which contains lactic acid buttermilk, combined with the use of the +new oxygen baths. The lactic acid buttermilk can be obtained from any +good dairy and should be taken in the morning fasting and at bedtime. + + +WATER GRAPES. + + W.G.B. writes:--Referring to article in January number entitled + "Grape juice for all," I think perhaps it would interest others + besides myself if Dr Knaggs would give us his opinion on the + value of what are commonly termed "Water Grapes," as compared + with more expensive kinds. + +On the Continent the grape cure is a popular method of treatment. It +is especially good for those who are anæmic and underfed as well as +for those who suffer in the opposite way from over-feeding. It depends +upon which condition is present as to the kind of grapes selected for +the cure. + +Fully ripe grapes with but little acidity (water grapes) are best +suited for persons suffering from anæmia and malnutrition. The unripe +or sour grapes answer best for cases of over-eating associated with +constipation, gout and allied disorders of nutrition. The excess of +acid and cellulose helps the bowels and promotes elimination of the +gouty poisons. + +Our correspondent will note that for thin people who are pale and +deficient in vitality the water grapes will be found most salutary. +They are best taken alone at breakfast without the addition of any +other form of food. + + +CEREAL FOOD IN THE TREATMENT OF NEURITIS. + + E.J.H. writes:--A friend of mine who is suffering from an attack + of neuritis (not badly) is desirous of trying the diet of + twice-baked standard bread as recommended by Dr Knaggs in an + answer to a query in _The Healthy Life_ some months since. She + has asked me if Dr Knaggs would limit the quantity of this bread + taken in the course of the day. If Dr Knaggs will very kindly + tell me this I shall be greatly obliged. + +Neuritis is a form of rheumatism or gout which involves the nerves. +Its usual starting centre is the spine itself, from which all the +nerves of the body spring. The diet needs to be greatly restricted so +that the poisons can be eliminated. The most important foods to cut +down are the cereals because they are very slow to digest and are apt +to cause constipation with its attendant self-poisoning of the system +with uric and other acids. Horses and animals suffer from neuritis +from over-feeding with cereals and beans, and the stockbreeder or +horse expert usually restricts these foods and gives plenty of grass, +hay, chaff and green clover, which corrects the trouble. + +The same thing applies equally to man. He should take his cereals in +the form they are the most easily assimilated--namely, twice-baked or +dextrinised. Thus "pulled" or twice-baked bread, Granose or Melarvi +biscuits, or rusks, or toasted "Maltweat" bread are the best form of +cereal for people suffering from neuritis. Other treatment besides +diet restriction is, of course, needed to cure neuritis, because we +have to clear the clogged tissues of the poisons which are interfering +with right nerve action. Thus we can resort hot alkaline baths, +Turkish baths, massage and Osteopathic stretching movements to help in +this respect. + +H. VALENTINE KNAGGS. + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | #Back Numbers# | + | | + | If readers who possess copies of the first number of _The | + | Healthy Life_ (August 1911) will send them to the Editors, | + | they will receive, in exchange, booklets to the value of | + | threepence for each copy. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + THE + + HEALTHY + + LIFE + + The Independent + Health Magazine. + + 3 AMEN CORNER LONDON E.C. + + + VOL. V DECEMBER + No. 29. 1913 + + + _There will come a day when physiologists, poets, and + philosophers will all speak the same language and understand one + another._--CLAUDE BERNARD. + + + + +AN INDICATION. + + +There are some statements, the very simplicity and truth of which +create a shock--for some people. For instance, there are certain +seekers after health who ignore and are shocked by the very obvious +truth that "brain is flesh." A brain poisoned by impure blood is no +fit instrument for the spirit to manifest through, and "mental +suggestion" must inevitably prove of no avail as a cure if the origin +of the impure blood be purely material. + +It is just as futile, on the other hand, to treat the chronic +indigestion that arises from persistent worry, or indulgence in +passion, by one change after another in the dietary. The founder of +homoeopathy insisted that there was no such thing as a physical +"symptom" without corresponding mental and moral symptoms. "Not soul +helps flesh more than flesh helps soul." Thus the Scientist and the +Poet come to the same truth, albeit by different ways.--[EDS.] + + + + +PLAIN WORDS AND COLOURED PICTURES. + + +While most of us would at first sight find fault with Mr G.K. +Chesterton's sweeping advice-- + + "And don't believe in anything + That can't be told in coloured pictures," + +many would probably end by endorsing it. But we should do so only +because we were able to give a very wide and varied meaning to +"coloured pictures." + +No one ever made a coloured picture of the "wild west wind"; but there +are plenty of coloured pictures in which there is no mistaking its +presence. We all believe in wireless telegraphy (now that it is an +accomplished fact) which is, in itself, untranslatable into colour or +line; but its mechanism can be photographed, and its results in the +world of men and ships are in all the illustrated papers. Music, which +is pure sound, is to some the surest path to the Reality behind this +outward show things; yet to some at least of such music is indeed form +and colour, even though the colours be beyond the rainbow. For in +truth, everything worth believing in, all those things, those ideas, +which renew the springs of our life, have form and they have colour. +Even to the colour-blind one word differeth from another in glory. + +This is no idle fancy, no mere subject for academic debate: it is the +most practical subject in the world. For even as the body is fed not +by food alone but by the living air, so is the spirit nourished not +alone by right action but by inspiring ideas. Ideas are pictures; and +the best ideas are coloured pictures. + +Hence the great value of words. It is idle to speak of "words, idle +words," as though they were the transient froth on the permanent ocean +of thought. They are the vehicle, the body of thought. If the thought +be shallow or silly, the words will indeed be "idle." But if the idea +be inspiring the words will be the channel of that inspiration. + +The greater part of this power in words is lost to us to-day. +Everything tempts us to hurry over words. We talk too quickly to be +able to pay that respect to words which they deserve; and we read the +newspaper, the magazine, the novel, the play, the poem, with the same +disastrous haste. We devour the words but lose their essence. Hence +there is a grave danger that through this neglect we shut out one of +the main streams by which our life must be fed if it is not to shrink +into mere fretful existence. + +There is a curious idea in some minds that fine language consists of +long words difficult to understand. Nothing could be farther from the +truth. Most of the great words--the words of power, as the old +Kabalists called them--are short words, words in common use. And how +common is the sound of them in the mouth of the preacher! Not long ago +I heard an intelligent and cultured man reading one of the many +beautiful passages from the English Bible:-- + + "Ye dragons, and all deeps; + Fire and hail, snow and vapour; + Stormy wind fulfilling his word; + Mountains and all hills; + Fruitful trees and all cedars, ..." + +and he read it as though it were a draper's sale bill. And yet it +needs but a very little imagination for such a passage to become a +series of vivid pictures. Fire, hail, snow, vapour, hills, mountains, +cedars, dragons and deeps--every word is "a word of power" if only +there is no hurry, if only each word as it comes is given time to call +up the picture of the real thing before the inward eye. + +And you may hear children of fourteen and fifteen who have passed +examinations in "English" recite line after line of, say, Matthew +Arnold's _The Forsaken Merman_ with a glib self-assured colourlessness +due solely to the fact that no teacher has ever taught them respect +for simple words. And what simpler words could there be than these, +for example-- + + "Where great whales come sailing by, + Sail and sail, with unshut eye, + Round the world, for ever and aye"? + +Simple, common words; yet if there is that leisurely attention to each +one as it comes what an exhilarating picture arises of the great +sea-beasts, and of "the round ocean and the living air." + +I am not pleading for the stylist's concentration on words which +exalts them above the things they body forth. The most vivid and +beautiful description of dawn in the English language-- + + "Night's candles are burned out, and jocund morn + Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops" + +though spoken by the most sensitively vibrant voice in the world, can +never come near the real dawn breaking across real mountains. But the +point is that those two lines composed of simple English words have +power, if we pay them respect, to create the dawn within the mind, and +to supply the spirit with that beauty which is its very breath. + +If this patience with words, this respect for the familiar fine things +of our native tongue, this desire to make them yield up their strength +and beauty, if this has nothing to do with healthy living I don't know +what has. William Wordsworth's-- + + "And vital feelings of delight + Shall rear her form to stately height" + +is only a metrical expression of a great and practical truth. You do +not need to be a "Christian Scientist" to know that ideas and emotions +can affect the stoop of the shoulders or the lines of the mouth. Other +people besides "Eugenists" have observed that ugly or mean-spirited +parents seldom have beautiful children. + +But though the power of ideas is a commonplace, and though +psychologists tell us how much we may improve mental concentration by +letting the words of any sentence call up each its own picture, what +they a omit to do is to recognise the need of the human spirit for +beauty. You can concentrate your thought on the list of pickles in a +grocer's price list: it is doubtless a good exercise. But the same +exercise directed to some great phrase, such as Emerson's _Trust +thyself: ever' heart vibrates to that iron string_; or some vivid +lyrical image such as _All the trees of the field shall clap their +hands_, or even a complete poem of simple words but permanent beauty, +such as that one of Wordsworth's beginning _I wandered lonely as a +Cloud_; this will not only improve concentration and sharpen memory: +it will enrich the mind with ever-available sources of inspiration, +courage and joy. + +EDGAR J. SAXON. + + + + +THE WORLD'S WANDERERS. + + + Tell me, thou star, whose wings of light + Speed thee in thy fiery flight, + In what cavern of the night + Will thy pinions close now? + + Tell me, moon, thou pale and grey + Pilgrim of heaven's homeless way, + In what depth of night or day. + Seekest thou repose now? + + Weary wind, who wanderest + Like the world's rejected guest, + Hast thou still some secret nest + On the tree or billow? + +PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. + + + + +CLOUD-CAPPED TOWERS. + + +Building castles in the air has always been one of the favourite +amusements of mankind. To it we owe much, not only of the zest of +life, but also of motive power for overcoming difficulties and +reaching out towards new possibilities. Yet all literature, and +tradition that is earlier than any written literature, is full of a +deep note of warning; over and over again we see in the dim past the +shadow of a tower that was built in vain, of walls that were piled too +high and toppled into ruin, of crests that tapped the thunder-clouds +and drew down lightning to their own destruction. Evidently man has +seen danger in his own desire! The castle must be built with wisdom as +well as with industry and boldness if it is to escape disaster and to +become a storehouse, a safe defence or a vantage-ground for surveying +earth and sky. + +There is one obvious precaution we should observe in building our +castles, and that is to realise that all which we imagine and think +about tends sooner or later to externalise itself and pass into +action. Every idea tends to glide into an ideal. Nearly all thinkers +have recognised this, and have seen that morality lies much farther +back than action, farther back than conscious will. Banquo had dreams +of ambition, as had Macbeth, but they dealt differently with them; +while Macbeth allowed his visions to lead him on to treachery and +murder, Banquo prayed against the temptations that came to him in +sleep. To most of us imagination, sleeping or waking, comes in less +dramatic form, but we should all think more sanely and act more wisely +if we interposed a definite revision by the conscious mind and will of +all our plans and ideals between their (perhaps quite automatic) +formation in our imagination and their translation into fact. Slack +muscle should go with the daydream or picture of the future; we should +not strike or clench or lift until we have decided that the action is +right and just and wise. The girl who counted her chickens and broke +the eggs is a true enough example: every doctor and coroner knows many +instances of results far more tragic. + +But sometimes the vision has nothing in it but what is pure and good +and noble. Are there any dangers even here? + +There is this danger always, that we find the picture so lovely and so +satisfying that we cannot summon up courage and energy to turn away +from it towards the serious work which it suggests. The castle in the +air is radiant and tall, but it is generally meant as a model for a +tougher building made out of common earth, by toil and pain, amidst +mud and dust. It is so much easier, as Sordello knew, to imagine than +to do. Actual circumstances, real life, other people all this that +lies round us is sterner stuff than our easily moulded material of +dreams. Who has not at some time or other lain sleepily in bed of a +morning and gone through in thought the processes of getting up, until +a louder call or an alarum bell has awakened the realisation that the +task is not yet begun? Who has not been tempted to shirk practice of +some sort in thinking of a prize? Who has not sometimes built +expectation higher and higher until his demands of fate have become so +great that, in despair of making good, he has let the whole plan slip +away into the valley of forgotten dreams? + +These dangers, the almost involuntary carrying out of unworthy aims +that have been cherished in thought and the loss of vigour for real +achievement, due to too easy an indulgence in blameless aspiration, +are fairly obvious and have long been recognised. + +There is another that has been seen from time to time and occasionally +expressed.[16] We have seen that too loose a dream-world may make the +world in which we live seem dull and ordinary. But is not the converse +at least as often true? If our thought-world is too narrow, too +selfish or too weak, all our ordinary work, sound and compact though +it may be, is stultified, misdirected, often wasted. We all know how +in the industrial world something more than industry is needed; in the +emotional world something more than a clumsy and unapprehending +goodwill. We need a certain insight to turn these solid qualities of +labour and feeling to the best account. "A man's reach should exceed +his grasp," a great poet tells us, and even the birds or beavers do +not go on quite blindly with their building, but, when effort on +effort has been destroyed by wind and water or man's interference, +they at last accommodate their instinct to circumstances so as to give +themselves a better chance of fulfilling their deeper purpose. In many +ways we have hardly outgrown the beaver stage: wars, accidents, +disease, disputes--how many times must we try over again the same path +which has led us before into trouble and disaster before we put our +imagination seriously to work on the problem and try to find some more +complete solution? + +Of all the dangers of the use of the imagination, perhaps the greatest +of all is the neglect to use it, the denial of it and its consequent +starvation. + +E.M. COBHAM. + +[16] Mrs Book sees an allusion to this danger, as well as to the +first, in the warnings against covetousness in the Tenth Commandment. + + + + +THE PLAY SPIRIT[17]: A CRITICISM. + +[17] See the article, "The Play Spirit," in the November issue. + + +With your contributor's description of the play spirit, that happy +leisure from self and its responsibilities in order that time and +thought and heart may be filled with wider inspiration, most of your +readers will, I think, entirely agree, and all of us will be grateful +for the spirited claim on behalf of "play." + +The one criticism that occurs to the mind is that a touch of +professionalism, of patronage towards the ordinary person, has crept +into the author's thought and peeps out through many of the sentences. + +"Common men" ... "ordinary everyday people" ... "average humanity," +... "a worker" who ... "cannot play"; does the writer of the Play +Spirit really show us what is in their hearts? He is an artist in +words, he is a keen admirer of other arts, he is interested in +thinking; it seems all but impossible to him that anyone can have +"freedom" without the power of expressing it, without even the +consciousness of its possession. + +We are all too apt, I think, to imagine that our own discoveries of +the mystery and magic of life are peculiar to ourselves, or shared +only with a sympathetic few, passed on sometimes (by the _very_ few +who have both will and power to do so) to such of the outsiders as are +interested enough to enter into that enchanted garden and take gifts +from it. But has not the supreme discovery of the greatest artists, +philosophers and teachers been that the "everyday people" _do_ live as +deeply and broadly as the thinkers and artists? They are inarticulate +and cannot tell what they see, but to them life is made amusing, or +interesting, or consecrated according to their temperament. + +Who can say what the Cornish sea means to that tired worker? At least +it seems a boldness that is almost insolence to decide what it did +_not_ mean to her! + +Has not every life its revelations? Is it not because we do _not_ see +as God does that some one particular life which strikes across our +path cannot reveal its revelation over again to us? + +Surely "the commonplace is the highest place." Or rather, there are no +hierarchies of the soul. Artist or seamstress or carpenter, we live by +the glory that flows to us through whatever curtains of environment +are round us. + +I have not a word of criticism for the writer's ideal. All that I +would suggest is that the ideal is really present in the world, +"common" as the "everyday" flowers at his feet. Not all can sing or +paint or write, but many more can laugh or run and all, perhaps, can +love and pray. + +L.E. HAWKS. + + + + +ON LEARNING TO BREATHE.[18] + +[18] This is article has been specially written as a preface for +_Health Through Breathing_, by Olga Lazarus, shortly to be published +(1s. net). + + +To breathe correctly and sufficiently is to live more healthily. This +dictum is incontrovertible, and it becomes my pleasant duty herein to +demonstrate its truthfulness. And, after a careful perusal of the +hundred exercises which the authoress has so clearly and succinctly +described, I am still more convinced of the very great, one might +almost say of the tremendous, importance of deep-breathing exercises. +What has struck me so forcibly in this little book is the fact that +there is no undue enthusiasm evident; no embellishment of the subject; +no extravagant claims for the system advocated; just a plain sane, +sober and intelligent description of procedures of immense value to +all who would either keep, or improve, their health. The authoress +has, as it were, laid before the reader a feast of good things in the +way of physical culture, and leaves it at that. She seems to have +brought into purview a splendid variation of the exercises, and indeed +every mode of breathing and exercise likely to be beneficial--to those +in health as out of it. + +Reverting for a moment to the supreme importance of the subject, I may +say that it has of late years come home to me more than ever, and with +greater insistency, that innumerable ills of to-day are due to faulty +breathing and lack of correct physical exercises generally. I wonder +how many of us could conscientiously say that we devote fifteen or +twenty minutes regularly every day to the system? And yet such a great +deal could be done for health in that time! No, we "haven't time," or +we "oversleep ourselves so often," or we make some such other flimsy +excuse; but of course we ought to "make time," we ought not to +"oversleep ourselves." The fact is, rather, that most of us are too +lazy to go through the exercises, even though we may know of their +transcendent benefit. In the words of the poet: "Let us, then, be up +and doing"--that is, up in time in the morning in order to be going +through exercises such as described in this little volume. + +It is within my personal knowledge, and must be within the personal +knowledge of every actively engaged physician, that but very few of us +yet have any idea, in spite of all the teaching and the advocacy of +it, of really deep and scientific breathing. If the system could be +made quite general and enforced upon us--especially when young or +adolescent--we should not see, as we do now, _thousands_ walking about +the streets whose nostrils are too narrow through insufficient +breathing, whose lungs are not properly inflated as they inspire; and, +as a consequence, who have neither the bloom nor the carriage of +health. + +Perhaps if I show here how vastly important it is for us to have our +blood well oxygenated, it may be some sort of encouragement for Mrs +Lazarus's readers to persevere with and _work into their lives_ the +system she advocates and describes. + +If we did not renew the oxygen in our lungs to a sufficient extent, we +should die in a few minutes. We can do without food for many days; +without water for less days, but only for a few minutes without +oxygen. Anything which tends to increase the intake of this vitally +important element, whether deeper breathing or exercises, will have a +very pronounced effect upon our general health. Now deep breathing is, +_par excellence_, the way to bring about this desirable condition. It +may interest the readers of this little book if I remind them that in +the ordinary way the total capacity of the lungs is about 340 cubic +inches; as a rule, the amount of air breathed amounts only to some 20 +or 30 cubic inches, but this, by special effort, can be increased by +some 110 cubic inches. Thus it is demonstrated how much more air we +could take into the lungs by better and deeper breathing, thereby +securing, sooner or later, a greater natural expansion of the lungs, +with the result, of course, of improved health generally. + +It would surprise most people if they tested their breathing capacity +by the aid of the spirometer, to discover how inefficiently they did +breathe; in other words, how much below the normal was the amount of +air they were usually inspiring. Encouragement might also be found in +the matter--incentive, that is, to learn how to breathe and exercise +correctly and scientifically--if mention were here made categorically +of the very profound influences upon certain physiological processes +of our organisation which are brought about if we would but mend our +ways in this respect. Space will only allow of a few such to be +detailed. + +1. The circulation is improved and equalised. This implies much more +than appears on the surface: it means that the blood is made to flow +from any congested internal organ (such as the liver, stomach, etc.) +towards the peripheries--that is, the extremities and everywhere where +there is the capillary system--the changing-place between the venous +and the arterial blood; thus we at the same time warm our extremities +and relieve internal congestion. In other words, "to bring the blood +to the surface" in many conditions of ill-health is of paramount +importance. + +2. It will strengthen the action of the heart and lungs. For lack of +proper breathing exercises the heart's walls get thin, the expansive +power of the lungs' tissue gets less, and as a consequence, when any +little extra strain is thrown upon either, permanent damage is often +the result. + +3. In any tendency to constipation, indigestion and similar +conditions, such exercises are especially beneficial, and that both by +flushing the system with more oxygen and by mechanically exerting +pressure on the different organs--thus giving those latter what is +actually a good massaging! + +4. Indirectly, such exercises must of necessity be splendid for +"nerves," as we thus get these supplied with a larger amount of +purified blood, and of course this must result in better and +heightened nerve and brain action. + +And all this--and much more which we have not space enough to deal +with--being so, it might now be well asked, who and what class of +individuals would benefit by these exercises. The list is a long one, +and would include practically all growing children and adolescents--in +order that adenoids, narrow chests, debility in general, malnutrition +and a host of other abnormal states might be either cured or +prevented. Innumerable adults would also benefit by such exercises: +those who are in health, in order to keep so; those who are depressed +mentally, or who are suffering from constipation, dyspepsia, anæmia, +obesity, debility, etc. + +Even those who are "getting on" in years could, with care and caution, +go through such exercises to advantage, providing, that is, that their +heart, lungs and blood vessels are fairly normal; it is only where +there is serious organic disease such exercises must be withheld. + +Thus we have a big field for such a system which Mrs Lazarus has +described so fully in this little work of hers; it deserves wide +recognition, and my final word to the reader is not only to keep the +book as a "boon companion," but to encourage others to purchase it and +to carry out its most excellent teachings. + +J. STENSON HOOKER, M.D. + + + + +LETTERS OF A LAYMAN. + +1.--DOCTORS AND HEALTH. + + +Medicine is a progressive science--and art, if we judge by the +statistics given of the fall in the rate of mortality. Even this, +however, must be carefully analysed, because a good deal of the fall +of mortality is due to the great reduction in the birthrate which has +taken place in the last twenty years. Still, after this has been +allowed for, there is probably a balance in the doctors' +favour--something to the good of the science and art of medicine. +Doubtless the science is improved and the practical advice offered by +medical men is better and more effectual than it used to be. + +A layman, nevertheless, may be forgiven if, with all due deference, he +is tempted to believe that many of the benefits attributed to medicine +have been achieved through attention to sanitation--cleanliness and +ventilation. Of course this is due to the work of science, which +necessarily includes the members of the medical profession, but it is +not due to medical science _qua_ medical science. + +The terms 'sanitation' and 'sanitary' nearly always connote only ideas +associated with cleanliness, free ventilation, etc. They scarcely +connote ideas of food management, or, if they do, it is only to the +extent of inferring that food shall not be adulterated or of bad +quality--and perhaps that there shall be enough of it. + +Such questions as what food shall we eat, and how much; what are the +real reasons for taking food into the body, whether it is to give +strength and heat to the body or only to supply the body's waste, as +Dr Rabagliati contends--these and other relevant questions are usually +left to unorthodox members of the medical profession to declare upon. +They seem to be very important questions, but we do not find that they +were discussed--or ever mentioned--at the thirty-fourth International +Medical Congress, which completed its sittings several months ago. + +Obviously, the practical questions of food supply are answered very +differently, according as one _believes_ they must be answered one way +or another, as, for instance, in Dr Rabagliati's or Dr Haig's way. But +that they are questions not worthy of consideration by doctors in +congress may be taken as an ominous sign. + +It must not be forgotten that we owe many valuable discoveries of +medical science to qualified members of the profession, just as +discoveries of mechanical science are made by men working at their +respective trades. We have sorrowfully to admit, however, that nearly +all the great achievements upon which medicine plumes herself are in +the direction of increasing the doctors' power over his patient, and +seldom of giving his patient power over disease. It is also true that +the advocacy by unorthodox members of the profession of simple and +natural remedies often involves them in a charge of charlatanism, and +subjects them to persecution by medical associations. + +If the medical profession were all that it is supposed to be, it might +be good that the reformer should suffer in solitude while his +experiments and methods were subjected to adequate tests and +criticism. If the associated physicians and surgeons jealously guarded +the public from quackery while they impartially investigated every +fresh discovery, the true reformer would welcome the protection +afforded him from the "counter-currents of senseless clamour" within +the doctors' own ranks, occasioned by party and vested interests. + +It may be true that "loneliness tends to save the Seer from becoming a +charlatan and to make of him a true Reformer." But it is not that +peculiar loneliness of the Seer that the medical trade unions afford +the reforming physician. That is inevitably and sufficiently accorded +him by the "unwillingness of the masses to enter into the thoughts of +the Seers."[19] An ignorant and inert people will always follow a +charlatan, because they like to do things which are mysterious and +involve no trouble on their part. + +[19] The reason "Why the Prophet should be lonely" is perfectly +elaborated in a chapter under that title in _Logic Taught by Love_, +from which I have quoted. + +The Seer among doctors is boycotted by his fellow medicos _after_ he +and his co-workers have tested their experiments for themselves, +weeded out what is false from what is true, and proved their methods +to be right. Not only that, but too often it turns out that it is +proper food selection, cleanliness, personal effort and restraint +advocated by doctors as substitutes for serums and drugs, which +excites the opprobrium of medical coteries. Whereas, the misguided +Serum Specialist, who ought to be saved from himself, and from whom +the public ought to be protected, is given full medical honours--and +facilities to become that most dangerous type of charlatan, the +licensed one. + +There are doubtless many abstract questions of health and disease +which orthodox and unorthodox doctors alike are unable satisfactorily +to settle. But if that be admitted, then it is certainly not in the +public interest that serum treatments should be accepted as almost the +last words in medical science. More anti-social still is it to attempt +to justify the compulsory orders of Parliament that expensive +sanatoria shall be built to cope with disease that might be more +economically and more satisfactorily treated. + +Is there not too little consideration given to theoretical issues +underlying practical experience of disease? Is there not too great an +anxiety to force remedies at the public expense before all the +bearings of the different questions and their phases have been +considered? All new methods savour too much of compulsion. They all +require the provision of large armies of officials to carry them out. +It is interesting to note that the successors of the men who told us +how grievously the Church has failed because she is established, +should be so anxious to more firmly establish the medical priesthood. + +Modern statecraft calls out to us: 'we will appoint officials to +inquire into and decide upon what is to be done, but we will make no +inquiries into the real nature of this disease and that: we will find +out remedies which, in the form of serums to be injected into the +blood, shall counteract the effects of disease: we will also appoint, +at your expense, doctors to perform these operations: we will force +the man whose family may have the misfortune to contract a disease, +which the doctors have not told him how to prevent, to submit them to +such treatment.' But nothing is said about the desirability of +exercising government over oneself, one's body and one's mind! And +nothing is _said_ either, but it is suggested, that, if one accepts +meekly coercive treatment by official doctors, one may probably be +able to ignore the laws of life and health without having to pay the +penalty. + +No sane and properly instructed citizens would be satisfied to have +State officials compel them to do what they ought to do for +themselves. It is because of this and because the suggestions and +compulsions of modern medicine are in keeping with the prevailing +philosophy that accumulates knowledge without wisdom, that we need +such counteracting influences as are afforded by journals like _The +Healthy Life._ + +LAYMAN. + + + + +A DOCTOR ON DOCTORS. + + +"I charge that whereas the first duty of a physician is to instruct +the people in the laws of health and thus prevent disease, the +tendency has ever been towards a conspiracy of mystery, humbug, and +silence." + +"I charge that the general tendency of the profession has been to +depreciate the importance of personal and municipal cleanliness, and +to inculcate a reliance on drug medicines, vaccination, and other +unscientific expedients." + +ALEXANDER ROSS, M.D., F.R.S. + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | #To Our Readers.# | + | | + | Readers who appreciate the independence and all-round | + | advocacy of _The Healthy Life_ can materially assist the | + | extension of its circulation by tactfully urging their local | + | newsagent to have the magazine regularly displayed for sale. | + | An attractive monthly poster can always be had free from the | + | Publishers, 3 Tudor Street, London, E.C. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +MODERN GERM MANIA: A CASE IN POINT. + + +Under the sensational heading, _Doomed to Carry Germs: Woman Typhoid +Victim for Life_, the following account appeared recently in _News of +the World_:-- + + Almost unique in medical history is the case of a woman typhoid + carrier, who, it is said, will carry the bacilli with her through + life. The case is described by Dr Barbara Cunningham in a report + of the Manchester Medical Officer of Health. In order that the + woman shall cease to be a source of danger--as she has been + keeping lodgers--the health authorities are giving her 7s. a + week, and that, with her old-age pension of 5s., will be + sufficient to keep her without lodgers. The case has aroused much + interest in Manchester. The principal restrictions on the part of + the Health Department are that she must not cook or wash for + anyone. Anyone can, however, cook for her. In discussing the case + Dr Martin, who for 25 years was Medical Officer of Health for + Gorton, remarked that in some cases of typhoid carriers the + infection ceased to exist for a time, but it was unusual for it + to exist year after year. "The reason for the woman referred to + carrying the typhoid bacilli with her through life is," he added, + "because of a peculiarity of constitution. There is no remedy to + be found for it at present, and no means of freeing her from the + germs, hence the reward offered by an American to anyone who can + find a remedy for such cases. The germs themselves are proof + against remedies, and they go on multiplying. The woman is + incurable, and you cannot kill the germs without killing the + woman. It is the first case, to my knowledge, where the health + authorities have taken such measures to prevent a spread of the + infection." The history of the affair is interesting. The woman's + case had been reported to the authorities, and when her lodger + became ill with typhus she was suspected, and was found to be + giving off large numbers of typhoid bacilli. She was placed in + Monsall Hospital for two months, during which time she was + treated with gradually increasing doses of vaccine prepared in + the Public Health Laboratory, York Place. When discharged, three + separate tests were made as regards the typhoid bacilli. For one + week after her discharge the organisms did not reappear, but + during the second week a few colonies were grown, and in the + third and fourth weeks the number increased. Shortly after that + her lodger developed enteric fever. + +This case is instructive, because it shows very clearly the utter +futility of the modern method of treating infectious diseases by means +of drugs and vaccines. + +It is well known that the infecting agent or microbe found in cases of +typhoid fever originates in man himself, that, in fact, it is +essentially a man-made disorder. Dr Budd, who was the first to fully +investigate this important subject, brought together the most +convincing considerations to show this. + +We know further that impure water and milk, shellfish and certain +foods which are contaminated with sewage are capable of giving rise to +epidemics of this complaint. + +This was shown in Paris in May last, when a plumber carelessly +connected a pipe along which Seine water flowed to a drinking-water +pipe. The typhoid germ is always present in Seine water and this +mistake cost the lives of twenty people. + +Dr Freeman, an American doctor, who has studied the habits of the +typhoid germ, tells us that it does not survive so well outside the +human body as does the tubercle microbe, but it can, nevertheless, do +an incalculable amount of mischief when the local authorities are +careless about the matter of sewage disposal. + +A great deal has been heard of late of what are termed Typhoid +Carriers. There are apparently numbers of people who, while they +appear to be in good health, yet harbour these germs and are thus +liable to infect others with them; and the problem is what to do with +them. + +The orthodox authorities, as happened in the case cited above, would +like to isolate them indefinitely and even to pension them off for +life, but this seems to be a hopeless way out of the difficulty. + +The remedy seems obvious to me. Let us stop the drugs and serums and +use common-sense hygiene of the body instead. This must be patent to +anyone who has any knowledge of the subject; but why the authorities +do not put it into execution I am at a loss to imagine. Surely the +right thing to do is to clear away the impurities in which the typhoid +germs live. _By depriving them of the material or soil in which they +grow and propagate we should practically starve them out of +existence._ + +Moreover, this seems to me to be a perfectly easy procedure. If this +woman were handed over to me for treatment I should at once place her +on an antiseptic diet consisting solely of salads, grated roots, fresh +fruits, sour buttermilk and dextrinised cereals. The effect of this +diet would be to cleanse and sterilise the entire digestive tract, and +thus break up and clear away the soil in which the microbes are +living. Supplementary to this cleansing diet other means could be +adopted to effect a general purification of the whole body. Thus +vapour baths could be used to promote skin action; beverages could be +taken morning and night, consisting of distilled water with lemon +juice or suitable herbal "teas" to promote free action of the kidneys; +and colon-flushing treatment could be used to fully cleanse the colon, +or large bowel. + +By combined treatment of this rational order, I am convinced that this +woman would speedily become freed from her unpleasant visitors and +would be enabled to return to her relations without, as it were, a +stain upon her character. + +H. VALENTINE KNAGGS. + + + + +BURIED TALENT COMPETITION. + + +The Editors of _The Healthy Life_ are convinced that there are many +men and women who can write well and interestingly on subjects +relating to health in its many aspects; and they wish to unearth this +talent. + +They therefore offer a _First Prize_ of _Two Guineas_, a _Second +Prize_ of _One Guinea_, and a _Third Prize_ of _Books_ (published at +_The Healthy Life_ Office) to the value of Half-a-Guinea, for the best +ESSAY, SKETCH or SHORT STORY appropriate to the pages of _The Healthy +Life._ + +Please read the following Conditions carefully:-- + +CONDITIONS. + + 1. Each Essay, Short Story, or Sketch must contain _not less than + 1000 words_, and _not more than 2000 words._ + + 2. Each Essay, Short Story, or Sketch must be written (or typed) + on one side of the paper only, leaving at least one inch of + margin on which each 100 words must be indicated in figures. + + 3. Each attempt must be accompanied by the front cover (or top + part of cover showing date) of either the December or January + numbers. (Where more than one MS. is sent in by one contributor, + extra covers in proportion must be enclosed.) + + 4. The full name and address of the competitor must be written at + the foot of last page, in addition to the competitor's _nom de + plume_ (if any). + + 5. All Essays, Short Stories or Sketches must be sent in not + later than the 31st of January 1914, addressed _Buried Talent_, + _The Healthy Life_, 3 Tudor Street, London, E.C. + + 6. No one who is at present, or has ever been, a regular + contributor to _The Healthy Life_ is eligible for a prize. + + 7. The Editors reserve the right to publish any contribution sent + in under this Competition. + + 8. The decision of the Editors will be final and no + correspondence can be entered into with unsuccessful competitors. + +Competitors are asked to note that legibility of handwriting will +carry weight as well as intrinsic merit. + + + + +HEALTHY LIFE RECIPES. + + +SOUPS. + +Many cases of ill-health demand that the meals should be as dry as +possible. Having granted this, it will be admitted that there is quite +a proper place for soups in ordinary everyday food reform catering. + +The chief objection to ordinary soups is that they are made on a basis +of meat stock and flavoured with one of various "meat extract" +preparations. Meat stock, meat gravy and meat extract all alike +represent the least desirable elements in flesh food, namely, the +acids and tissue-wastes of the living animal at the moment of its +death--acids and tissue-debris which were on their way to normal +excretion via the lymph channels, veins, etc. + +It is therefore only common-sense to avoid such soup-bases, +especially as the most excellent soups can be made without recourse to +any animal product. + +The juices of vegetables, being rich in alkaline "salts" and other +organic elements, are the natural cleansing agents in a rational diet. +Hence to obtain a maximum _remedial_ effect, vegetable soup should be +taken in the form of a clear, unflavoured broth, quite apart from the +solid meals, and preferably on retiring. But for the dinner or supper +soup, some richness of flavour and creaminess of substance are +pleasing and legitimate. + +The following recipes explain, first, how to prepare vegetable +"stock," and then how to make rich, creamy nourishing soups, on the +basis of that "stock." Each recipe will, of course, suggest +variations. + + +HOW TO MAKE VEGETABLE STOCK. + +Put any fresh vegetables in season in a large stewpot--being careful +not to include _overmuch_ cabbage or other coarse green leaves, as +these give a rather strong flavour--with a quart or more of water, +cover, and simmer gently for at least two hours. The outer leaves +discarded when preparing vegetables for the table, the stalks and +stems, and the peelings of apples, potatoes, etc., should all be used +for stock, care being taken, of course, to cleanse them well first, +cutting out any insect-eaten or decayed parts. + + +ALMOND CREAM SOUP. + +Mix two tablespoonfuls of fine wholemeal or good "standard" flour into +a smooth paste with a little water, add this to the hot stock (as +above), and stir till soup is thickened. Just before serving stir in a +tablespoonful of Almond Cream (either "P.R." or Mapleton's). + +_The addition of the almond cream gives the above a nutritive value, +apart from the tonic and cleansing elements in the stock._ + + +NOURISHING ARTICHOKE SOUP. + +Pare, scrub and cut into small pieces, 1 lb. of artichokes and put +immediately into a pan with a pint of water or milk and water. Boil +till soft, then rub through a wire sieve, using a wooden spoon. Put +back in pan, add a little more water, a little chopped parsley, and a +small piece of butter (or nut butter). Bring to the boil, stirring +well; stir in a tablespoonful of Pinekernel Cream ("P.R." or +Mapleton's), and serve at once. + + +LEEK AND CELERY SOUP. + +Put four well-cleansed medium-sized leeks (cut up small), the outer +parts of a head of celery (chopped), a quart of water and 2 oz. +unpolished Japan rice, into a pan and simmer for two hours. Rub +through wire sieve, return to pan, bring to the boil, and serve. + +_This soup is not so much nutritive as cleansing and antiseptic._ + + + + +TASTE OR THEORY? + +FRUIT AND THE OXALIC ACID BOGEY. + + +Many and varied are the creeds of Health Reformers, but all may be +included within two main camps. And the opposing battle-cries are +Instinct _versus_ Intellect, Taste _versus_ Theory, _à priori versus à +posteriori_, Motives _versus_ Purposes. Some overlapping and confusion +of creed may be found in both camps, but in the main one is filled +with lovers of Nature, the other with devotees of Science. + +"We believe in simplicity," cries the Nature-lover from the meadow +where he is taking a sun-bath; "you are so complex, so artificial." + +"We believe in being 'sensible,'" retorts the devotee of Science from +the cabinet where he is taking an electric light bath, "you are so +extreme." + +"Not extreme--consistent. Your treatment varies every month as the +decrees of 'Science' change." + +"But your treatment varies every minute as the wind and clouds change. +I can keep mine constant with mathematical accuracy, or vary the light +to a nicety by pressing a button." + +And so also is it with regard to diet. The person who talks learnedly +about germs and calories (though he never saw a germ or measured a +calorie in his life) will be found in the same camp with the electric +light advocate, while this other who cultivates a taste in harmony +with Nature by consuming what he likes best of her unaltered products, +he is found arm in arm with the sun-bather. But Science will by no +means allow him to eat his uncooked food in peace. "If we all adopt +_that_ diet," her pseudo-disciples cry, "what is to become of the +potatoes?" + +Now, with regard to uncooked foods, it would seem that as little fault +can be found with ripe fruit in its natural state as with any article +of diet. Yet even here "Science" holds up a warning hand and is +succeeding in scaring people away from one of the most harmless, most +wholesome and most neglected of foods. + +Leaving generalities, let us come to a specific case, an actual +difficulty propounded to me by a sufferer, one who had spent her +substance till she could spend no more in having various parts of +herself examined and in learned prescriptions and processes of cure, +but who found herself as far from health as ever. Obsessed by certain +theories of "Science," this lady had acquired a dread of sugar _in +every form_. Hence her query addressed to me: "In your book, _No +Rheumatism_, you say that sugar is to be avoided. Why, then, do you +recommend fruit, which is mostly sugar?" + +I replied as follows: "The reason I recommend ripe uncooked fruit--in +spite of its containing a certain quantity of sugar--is that it +contains also purifying salts, and that for most people it is the +pleasantest form in which these salts can be taken. Moreover, fruit +sugar appears to be more wholesome than that formed from starch. When +you say that 'fruit is mostly sugar,' are you not leaving the water of +the fruit out of account? As the water often amounts to 90 per cent. +this makes all the difference. Taking the fruits generally grown in +this country the average proportion of sugar is seven per cent. + +[This statement is based on the following figures given in Goodale's +Physiological Botany:-- + + Apples contain 7.73 per cent. sugar + Pears " 8.26 " " + Plums " 3.56 " " + Strawberries 6.28 " " + Gooseberries 7.03 " " + +Grapes are stated to contain 24.36 per cent, but often contain much +less and sometimes even more.] + +"Now a person eating fruit _ad lib._, but allowed other foods, will +hardly ever eat more than a pound or two a day (generally less). But +suppose him to eat two pounds. Seven per cent. of this is 2¼ oz. If he +eats only 1 lb. he takes 1+1/8 oz. sugar. Now compare this with +the amount he gets from starchy foods, say, bread, which contains +fifty per cent. of starch and sugar. As the starch, if it is to be +assimilated, must be (and as a general rule practically all is) +converted into sugar during digestion, we get from 1 lb. of bread 8 +oz. of sugar (to be exact, nearly 9 oz., because starch forms rather +more than its own weight of sugar). But the weight of bread allowed +for daily food, if no other starchy or sugary food is taken, +is--according to orthodox physiology books--1 lb., 11 oz., yielding +over 14 oz. of sugar. Now I reduce the starchy food to 8 oz. or less +(_No Rheumatism_, p. 34), yielding at most about 4½ oz. of sugar. You +see, then, that the patient can now afford to take even 2 lbs. of +fruit, because this will bring his total of sugar up to only 6¾ oz., +as against 14 oz. allowed by the orthodox. And if, as I recommend (p. +33), fruits containing but little sugar (especially cucumbers) are +taken, his total sugar under my regime will be even less than 6¾ oz. + +"As so many people fail to distinguish between fruit sugar occurring +naturally in fruit and ordinary separated and concentrated cane sugar, +or even beet sugar separated by various chemicals--'shop sugar,' in +fact--I translate for you a passage from Dr Carton's _Trois Aliments +Meurtriers_[20]:-- + +[20] _Some Popular Foodstuffs Exposed_, translated by D.M. Richardson. +1s. net. Daniel. + +"'Let us proceed now to the study of the third deadly food. The sugar +contained in vegetables and raw fruits is a living aliment, +physiologically combined with the protoplasm of the vegetable cells, +associated with ferments and with vitalised chemical salts. The +absorption of this natural sugar is effected by a harmonious contact, +by an exchange of energy between the living vegetable cells and our +living digestive cells. + +"'The sugar of commerce, on the contrary, is a dead food which has +lost all association with vegetable protoplasm, with vitalised mineral +salts and with oxidising ferments which would render it physiological. +It is nothing more than a drug, a dangerous chemical, because Nature +has nowhere presented it to us in this form.... Its absorption +involves an anti-physiological irritation which over-excites the +viscera, and when repeated ends by profoundly altering them.'" + +"This is all very well," cries Pseudo-Science, "but people may eat too +much fruit." + +"Certainly, but then I warn them at once," quoth Taste. + +"But they have an idea it is good for them, and they disregard your +warnings." + +"If they 'have an idea' which runs counter to my warnings and my +penalties, to say nothing of my promises and my rewards, then they can +only get that idea from you, Mr Pseudo-Science, with your theories and +your figures and your long words." + +"Why not from your relative, Unnatural Taste? Anyhow, it is my duty to +warn them." + +"If they don't heed my warning, they certainly won't heed yours," says +Taste. + +"But I can paint such a picture of the trouble they store up for the +future if they persist in excessive fruit eating!" + +"Never mind about persisting and storing up for the future. I punish +excess in fruit eating as in everything else by prompt discomfort and +pain." + +"But what do you know about oxalic acid?" + +"Enough to avoid it. Like every other poison it is repugnant to me." + +"Yet fruit which is so nice in the mouth may ferment in the intestines +and form that very poison. Then what are you going to do about it?" + +"Take care that not too much fruit is eaten another time." + +"But in the meantime the oxalic acid already formed must be +neutralised at once." + +"No, no! It would be a pity to do that. Oxalic acid is the latest +fashion. What would your patients do without it? And what would you do +without your patients?" + +"It must be neutralised at once. It can only be neutralised at the +cost of abstracting lime from the system. Result: oxalate of lime, +forming calculus, or 'stone,' which you don't want, and tissues +depleted of lime which you do want." + +"So you get your patients after all. In fact, having 'neutralised +their oxalic acid' to escape you, they come back to you with two +diseases instead of one. It seems to me you are a very profitable +investment, Mr Pseudo-Science." + +"Really, Mr Taste, you would not, I presume, have me suppress the +truth simply because it happens to be profitable?" + +"But is it the truth? What proof have you?" + +"I presume you are ignorant of the fact that animals have died with +all the symptoms of oxalic acid poisoning, simply through taking too +much sugar." + +"What kind of animals? You chose such as are used to taking shop sugar +as part of their ordinary food, of course?" + +"Well--no; not in that form. The subjects of the experiment were +rabbits." + +"Ah! And from these you draw deductions about man who has been eating +artificial sugar for ages. How like a vivisectionist! But what doses +of sugar did the rabbits get?" + +"About one-fortieth of the body-weight." + +"That would be as if a man of 150 lbs. weight should take 3¾ lbs. +sugar at a meal! And since it is excessive fruit you are warning us +against, can you tell me how many pounds of fruit--say, apples--one +must take in order to get that amount of sugar in a day? No less than +sixty pounds. Really your warning seems a little superfluous." + +"It is all very well for you to scoff, Mr Taste, but if it were not +for me you would know nothing about the latest diseases. I really +believe you would be content to go right through life without knowing +that you had a duodenum or an appendix." + +"Quite" assented Taste cheerfully. + +ARNOLD EILOART, B.SC. + + + + +A SYMPOSIUM ON UNFIRED FOOD. + + +_In November, 1912, we published a letter from a reader containing the +excellent suggestion that readers who had experimented to any fair +extent with unfired diet should be invited to contribute to a +conference on the subject in_ THE HEALTHY LIFE, _and that the +symposium should be gathered round the following points:--_ + +(1) The effect of the diet in curing chronic disease. + +(2) Its effect on children so brought up--_e.g._ do they get the +so-called "inevitable" diseases of chicken-pox, measles, etc., and +especially have they good (_i.e._ perfect) teeth? + +(3) The effect of the diet in childbirth. + +(4) The cost of maintaining a household in this way, as compared with +the cost under ordinary conditions. + +(5) Is the diet satisfying, or is there a longing for conventional +dietary (often found amongst food reformers)? + +(6) Is the diet quite satisfactory in winter? + +_A number of interesting letters have been published this year, and we +shall be glad to receive a large number of personal experiences, but +they must be brief, and classified under the above heads as far as +possible. The following is a striking piece of personal +evidence._--[EDS.] + + BUCKHURST HILL, ESSEX, + + _28th April 1913._ + + To the Editors of _The Healthy Life._ + + DEAR SIRS, + + As a slight contribution to the interesting discussion which is + taking place in your magazine, will you allow me to give you a + short summary of nearly sixty years experience of the effects, + in my own case, of flesh eating, vegetarianism and the uncooked + food diet. + + This is not a fairy tale, as some may be inclined to think, but a + plain unvarnished statement of facts. + + The flesh-eating period lasted for seventeen years. When three + months old I was the unfortunate victim of vaccination poisoning, + and for years afterwards was continually in the doctor's hands. + The best medical men in this country and America were consulted; + for months daily visits were paid to a noted Chicago specialist + in the hope that he might be able to effect a cure, but it was a + case of "love's labour lost," and, instead of improving, my + condition grew steadily worse. + + During all these years, drugging was constantly going on, the + pills and potions ordered were religiously swallowed, and, + strange as it may seem, the ordeal was survived. Flesh meat was + eaten daily, and, of all the members of the medical profession + consulted, not one of them ever hinted that a change of diet + might be beneficial. + + When 17 years of age my attention was drawn to an article in _The + Phonetic Journal_ on the advantages of a non-flesh diet. By this + time, being thoroughly tired of taking endless quantities of + useless, poisonous and expensive drugs, I decided, there and + then, to throw "physic to the dogs," making up my mind that if + death did come, and it seemed to be staring me in the face, I + would, at any rate, die a vegetarian. + + Within six months the most dangerous symptom had completely + disappeared and has never recurred, but, although greatly + benefitting by the new diet, and enjoying on the whole fairly + good health, yet there were frequent attacks of rheumatism, + lumbago and neuralgia; dyspepsia, with its attendant pain and + flatulence, often made life miserable; now and again the liver + would rise up in rebellion, bringing in its train vertigo, + blurred vision and severe headaches; constipation, that bane of + modern life, was a source of endless trouble, in fact, for many + years the enema had to be used once or twice a week, and last, + but worst of all, came those sharp, shooting, lancinating pains, + one of the premonitory symptoms of cancer. + + Obviously, there was still something radically wrong somewhere, + and on retiring from practice, a great deal of time and attention + was devoted to the subject, innumerable experiments were made, + and, ultimately, results obtained, the value of which cannot be + exaggerated. + + Five years ago the uncooked food diet was commenced, and from the + very first week a steady improvement took place. The constipation + vanished as if by magic; there has not been the slightest touch + of rheumatism or neuralgia for at least three years the liver is + now an unknown quantity, the dyspepsia is a thing of the past, + and, most important of all, the cancer symptoms are entirely + gone, and in their place has come an abounding health, vigour and + vitality that is marvellous. The years seem to have "rolled back + in their flight"; all the centres of life are rejuvenated; and + the hopes, feelings and aspirations of youth sway me now as they + did nearly half-a-century ago. Work, mental or physical, is a + perfect pleasure, and to feel fatigue is almost unknown. + + What a glorious gift life really is has never been realised till + now, and the wealth of the Indies would not induce me to go back + to the flesh-pots, or live on cooked foods again. This diet gives + two important advantages: firstly, the elimination of all excess + of starchy matter prevents the formation of needless fat, and, + secondly, the entire absence of artificially sweetened food + removes one of the main causes of over-eating. + + Will people ever learn that fat, instead of being a sign of + health, is the very reverse, that every ounce of superfluous + adipose tissue means more work for the heart, diminished + vitality, lessened energy, and, when excessive, is not only a + distinct menace to longevity, but to life itself? + + I never take more than two meals a day and very often only one, + which consists of raw vegetables, nuts, olive oil and unfired + bread; the second meal, when required, is a simple fruit salad. + + When a vegetarian the writer lived for years on a shilling a + week; it costs rather more now, the oil, nuts, fruit and bread + being more expensive than beans, rice, meal, etc., but the + difference is so trifling that it is not worth talking about. + + Whilst "Fletcherising," deep breathing, distilled water, olive + oil, fasting, saltless food, the open-air life, regular exercise, + etc., were valuable allies, it was not until the powerful aid of + uncooked food was invoked that the real benefits began to appear + and life became a real joy. Yours, etc., + + JOHN REID, M.B., C.M. + + + + +HEALTH QUERIES. + +_Under this heading our contributor, Dr Valentine Knaggs, deals +briefly month by month, and according as space permits, with questions +of general interest to health seekers and others._ + +_In all Queries relating to health difficulties it is essential that +full details of the correspondent's customary diet should be clearly +given._ + +_Correspondents are earnestly requested to write on _one side only of +the paper_, giving full name and address, not for publication, but as +a guarantee of good faith. When an answer is required by post a +stamped addressed envelope must be enclosed._--[EDS.] + +_Every inquiry must be accompanied by the front cover (or upper part +of same showing date) of a recent number_ of _The Healthy Life_. + + +ONION JUICE AS HAIR RESTORER. + + Mrs M. McC. writes:--In your book, _Onions and Cress_,[21] on p. + 49, it is stated that the juice of onions mixed with honey will + change the colour of hair from grey to black. Will you be kind + enough to tell me in what proportion these should be mixed, as, + of course, if not in a proper mixture, the hair would become so + clogged. And will you also kindly tell me how one is to extract + the juice from the onions, whether they are to be boiled or + squeezed when raw. + +With regard to the use of a mixture of onion juice and honey as a hair +restorative the reader of my little book must remember that it is +largely a compilation of quotations from old herbal books, and it +gives the history, use and folklore of these interesting edibles. I am +not responsible for this recipe and cannot therefore vouch for its +utility. We know, however, that onions contain a wonderful sulphured +oil and that sulphur in one form or another is an important ingredient +of most hair preparations which restore colour. The raw juice +evidently should be used, and this can be extracted either by pounding +and grating and then extracting the juice under pressure, or it can be +readily obtained in any quantity by putting onions through the +Enterprise Juice Press. The amount of honey, I think, to be added to +this juice should be very small, otherwise, as our correspondent +surmises, the preparation would be very sticky and objectionable. +Would any reader care to try this and report upon it? + +[21] _Onions and Cress_, 6d. net (postage 1d). + + +SCIATICA. + + Mrs M.G. writes:--My husband is a sufferer from sciatica; has had + it for some years, on and off, but just lately he seems is to get + it constantly--sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. He has been + taking some salicylate of soda, and I have tried to persuade him + to give it up. His age is 42. For his meals he takes, on rising, + an apple or a cup of apple tea; an hour afterwards his breakfast, + which consists of two tablespoonfuls of a proteid food mixed with + distilled water, and a hard biscuit, two slices of whole meal + brown bread, nut butter, and watercress or lettuce. During the + morning he drinks barley water. For dinner, a salad and a few + ground nuts and hard biscuits and an apple; sometimes home-made + nut meat and spinach, hard biscuits and dried or fresh fruit. + For tea, a salad or lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cress, and + Shredded Wheat and wholemeal bread. Last thing at night, a few + steamed onions and distilled water. His bowels are in good + condition, very regular, but he has this constant gnawing pain. + If you can help me in any way as to a change in his diet, it will + be a relief to me. I do not mind the trouble of preparing things + for him. It is about two months ago that he has taken to drinking + distilled water, which I make myself. His occupation is very + sedentary, with long hours, sometimes from six in the morning + till nine at night. He has a bicycle, and gets as much exercise + as possible. + +From the description given one would assume that the sedentary +occupation and long hours of work have caused this correspondent to +fall into bad postural habits of sitting and standing, coupled with +excessive depletion of his nervous energy. The diet given is on good +lines and, with the addition of home-made curd cheese and eggs as +proteid, might certainly be continued as it stands, especially as the +bowel action is regular. What the correspondent does need is less +hours of work; more physical exercises of a brisk back-stretching +nature, and certain spinal stretching manipulations of an Osteopathic +nature. Full deep breathing in fresh air will also be beneficial. The +lower part of the spine, from which the sciatic nerves originate, +needs the most attention. + + +REFINED PARAFFIN AS A CONSTIPATION REMEDY. + + Mr E.H. writes:--Will Dr Knaggs very kindly say whether Refined + Paraffin, now being given so generally for the relief of + constipation, may be regarded as a harmless method of overcoming + this trouble or whether its use might lead to harmful results. I + am told that this preparation of oil is not assimilated, and is + therefore harmless, but I should much appreciate Dr Knaggs' + opinion on this matter. + +The use of refined paraffin as a remedy for constipation is just now +all the rage with the orthodox medical profession. There is nothing +really to be said against its right use, provided it is made to serve +as one of the means to an end. It has been proved that this paraffin, +which is quite tasteless, odourless and easy to swallow, is not +absorbed by the system but passes unchanged and unaltered through it. +It acts therefore as a mere mechanical lubricant. The one thing to +remember is that its use should be combined with a curative diet, so +that it need not be taken indefinitely. + + +(1) DRY THROAT; (2) SACCHARINE; (3) DILATED HEART. + + Mr L.S. writes:--I have read _The Healthy Life_ from the + appearance of the first number, and I have studied the Answers to + Correspondents, but have not observed a case identical with my + own, hence my reason for troubling you. + + (1) The back part of mouth next throat has a curious glazed + appearance--no cough or expectoration. I am inclined to think it + extends to and includes the stomach. I have always a good + appetite, but am not well nourished; much under weight. Age 44 + years; school officer; cycle 25 miles a week. + + Eat meat sparingly, not a pound a week. Live principally upon + eggs and bread and butter--(three eggs a day): "Digestive Tea" + two and three times a day. + + 2. Is saccharine less harmful than sugar for sweetening? + + 3. As the result of a nervous breakdown I had five years ago I + suffer from a dilated heart, consequently--I suppose--I have + palpitation occasionally, oftener when in bed. I don't think my + heart is really normal since my breakdown five years ago. + + 4. Would bathing myself with cold water over the region of the + heart strengthen the muscles? Would you please suggest anything + for strengthening heart. Are lemons or eggs injurious to the + heart? + +1. The throat symptoms indicate a dry, irritable, heated condition of +the mouth and throat which, as the correspondent surmises, equally +affects the stomach and the rest of the digestive organs. He should +have a breakfast of fresh fruit only, take salads and grated raw roots +with his meals and stop tea altogether. He can drink distilled water +and vegetable or lemon drinks (unsweetened) instead. + +2. Saccharine is a mineral substance, a fossilised product of +putrefactive action in the coal age. It is closely analogous to +carbolic acid, which equally originates from microbic action. By +leaving off sugar and replacing it by saccharine our correspondent +gains nothing. He is simply leaping from the frying pan into the fire. +It is best for him to cultivate a taste for unsweetened or even acid +drinks. + +3. A dilated heart is usually an after effect of a dilated stomach, +which strains it, just as it does every other organ, whether in the +chest or the abdomen. + +4. Bathing the chest with cold water is not desirable. What is needed +is that the correspondent should drink as little fluid as possible and +pay close attention to the condition of his digestive mechanism. If +the organs are dilated or misplaced he should wear a belt and take +suitable gentle Osteopathic exercises. + + +TREATMENT FOR STAMMERING. + + A.M.D. writes:--Could you kindly give in _The Healthy Life_ + magazine some suggestions as to the best method to follow in a + case of stammering (slight) in a boy of ten or eleven years who + has been rather left to himself, the hesitancy in speech being + regarded as incurable? + +This boy should be trained by someone who understands how to cure +stammering. The correspondent would do well to consult Miss Behncke of +18 Earl's Court Square, S.W., who makes a speciality of treating such +cases. + + +WHY THE RED CORPUSCLES ARE DEFICIENT IN ANÆMIA. + + A.M.D. writes:--Is there any way, independent of diet, of + increasing the red corpuscles in the blood? I have tried walking + nine miles a day, thus getting up free perspirations. What of + this method? I did imagine that this resulted in a better + condition of the skin, the latter losing in a measure the white + and parched appearance. + +A deficiency of red corpuscles in the blood, which shows in anæmia, is +usually caused by self-poisoning. When food ferments or putrifies in +the colon, owing to faulty diet and other causes, certain toxins are +created. These become absorbed into the blood and there destroy the +red corpuscles. Walking is a good form of exercise, but it will not +suffice alone to remedy this type of anæmia unless the diet and +general habits of the patient are so arranged that the unsanitary +condition of the colon is also remedied. The correspondent will find, +if she studies the replies to others in this magazine, many details as +to diet, etc., for rectifying bad conditions in the bowels. + + +THE CORRECT BLENDING OF FOODS. + + T.B.W. writes:--Is it inadvisable for a dyspeptic (and sufferer + from constipation) to eat salad, or cooked vegetables, and stewed + fruit at the same meal; also, do I do right in eating bread and + butter (preferably crust) or hard biscuits with stewed fruit or + soft vegetables, etc.? Would you please inform me the best Still + that I can obtain--preferably one that does not require much + attention, and is fairly portable, and that does not cost much to + work? + +I do not believe that it is right to mix salads or cooked vegetables +with stewed fruits. It is better to take them at separate meals. + +It is, in my view, equally bad to take cereals (_i.e._ bread, +biscuits, etc.) with stewed fruits. The reason is that cereals call +for an alkaline form of digestion in the mouth which the acid fruits +or the added sugar greatly retard. + +I believe strongly in the all-fruit breakfast or all-fruit supper, +when fresh, dried, or even stewed dried fruits (possibly with some +fresh cream) can be taken alone, without either cereals or vegetables. + +Cereals go best with salads and cooked vegetables, because of the +alkalinity of the latter which harmonises with the salivary secretion +intended for the digestion of grains. + +The Gem Still is the best to buy. It is well made and does not need +much attention. The large automatic commercial size is, however, the +best if any quantity is needed, as it works throughout the day with +practically no attention when properly adjusted. + + +DIFFICULTIES IN CHANGING TO NON-FLESH DIET. + + F.C.W. writes:--I shall be glad if you will inform me from your + experience whether, after one has broken from the customary meat + diet and adopted a "reform" diet, there is any real difficulty in + reverting to the former state. I have seen it stated that + vegetarian diet did not call into action all the natural powers + of the digestive organs, and, this being so, the tendency was for + them to become weakened so that the food reformer eventually + found himself unable to digest meat. I believe some health + culturists make practice of taking meat twice a week. I have been + about seven or eight weeks on reform diet, and though better in + some ways have to confess to a feeling of deficient energy and + nerve power. I was once told by a doctor that I could not afford + to do without the stimulating effect derived from meat. I + propose making a test of the two methods, but should like to hear + from you in reply to the above query. Another new feature I have + noticed on the new diet is a thinness of the teeth and a feeling + of weakness in them generally. + +This correspondent omitted to supply his amended diet, so this was +asked for and is as follows:-- + + _On rising_ (6.40).--Cup of cold water. + + _Breakfast_ (8 A.M.).--Porridge, boiled egg or white fish done in + oven. Turog brown bread and butter; a banana; cup of coffee. + + _Lunch_ (12.45, _at The Home Restaurant_)--Nut or cheese savoury + and one vegetable, a sweet dish, a few dates or a nut and fruit + cake. + + _Tea meal (in office at 5)._--Bread and butter, piece of cake, + large cup of cocoa. + + _Supper._--One of following:-- + + (a) "Force" with stewed prunes and junket; small piece of cheese + with wholemeal biscuit. + + (b) Milk pudding and stewed fruit; small piece of cheese and + biscuit. + + (c) Vegetable soup with toast. + + (d) Bread and milk and fruit cake. + + _On retiring_ (10 P.M.).--Cup of hot milk. + +The correspondent adds further:-- + + I have only been about eight weeks on food reform and the general + result, so far, is less susceptibility to draughts and ability to + sleep with windows open top and bottom, which I could not do + before, and a feeling of lightness and freshness. On the other + hand, I have not the same nerve force or power. I am of a highly + sensitive nervous disposition, and the latest trouble is with my + teeth. I was told yesterday by a dentist that a non-flesh diet is + harmful to them and that were one to eat meat only, there would + be no trouble! Perhaps it is owing to the dates and nut-and-fruit + cakes which I have been eating, or to a general weakened + condition due to want of finding my natural diet. I have a friend + who is a fine specimen of physical development, and on his going + on to food reform he had to have his teeth seen to. I suppose it + would not be the softer diet giving his teeth less to do. I am at + a disadvantage as I can get nothing specially prepared at home + and can only add to my diet articles which I can prepare myself. + I like my liquids fairly sweet and I like liquid foods. I am a + catarrhal subject and when this starts at the back of the nose + the hearing is affected. + +Whenever a person changes from a meat diet to one that is of the +non-flesh order the digestive organs have to learn how to adjust their +secretions to the altered diet. This applies just as forcibly when a +food reformer wishes to return to the "flesh-pots." After a long +course of abstinence from meat the food reformer does find it +difficult to return to it. This is due not so much to the difficulty +in digesting it as to the violent stimulation and grossening of the +body which it induces. + +I have never heard of any food reformer who discarded meat for ethical +or humane reasons who willingly returned to meat so that he could if +necessary be in a position to digest it. + +With regard to the loss of energy and nerve power the correspondent +must distinguish between real weakness and absence of stimulation. The +first effects of discarding meat show a deficient energy due to the +absence of stimulation. When this has passed it gives place to a +feeling of buoyancy and energy which is permanent. + +The dental weakness is aggravated, if indeed it is not actually +_caused_, by the milk puddings, porridge, cake and sugared beverages +which are a feature of this correspondent's diet, and to the absence +of salad vegetables. If he amended his diet somewhat as follows he +should make steady progress in energy and general fitness:-- + +_On rising._--Tumblerful of cold water. + +_Breakfast_ (7.15).--One lightly boiled, baked or poached egg; Veda +bread and butter, a little watercress or other salad. A small cup of +Hygiama in place of the sugared cocoa. + +_Lunch_ (12.45).--Nut or cheese savoury and one vegetable; baked +pudding by preference for second course, or simply a nut and fruit +cake; no dates. + +_Or_ salad with grated cheese or cream cheese, or flaked pine nuts; +followed by a piece of the excellent wholemeal cake supplied at the +restaurant this correspondent frequents. + +_Tea meal._--One cup of Salfon cocoa (unsweetened), preferably without +other food. + +_Supper_ (6 to 7) (This meal is at present far too mushy).--Cream +cheese, Veda bread with fresh butter or nut butter, salad, tomatoes, +cucumber, etc., with dressing of pure oil and lemon juice. + +_Or_ simply fresh ripe fruit, with dried fruit and cream; no cereals. + +_On retiring._--Cupful of hot unsweetened lemon water, or weak barley +water; no milk. + +H. VALENTINE KNAGGS. + + + + +CORRESPONDENCE. + + +_All Correspondence should be addressed (and all contributions +submitted) to the Editors, _THE HEALTHY LIFE_, 3 Tudor Street, London, +E.C._ + + +COTTAGE CHEESE. + + WILDERTON, BOURNEMOUTH. + BOURNEMOUTH. + + _To the Editors_, + + DEAR SIRS, + + _Re_ Mrs C.E.J.'s letter and the reply thereto: I should be + inclined to doubt the wisdom of making this from unboiled or + uncooked milk unless one had it from one's own cows and could + supervise the dairy oneself. The average milk that comes into + towns from country farms is--well, it's unthinkable. There's a + saying that what the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't grieve + over, but that doesn't alter the fact that the average cow is + none too clean, the average milker's hands and clothes (to say + nothing of his face, hat and head) none too clean, the + milking-place none too clean, and the circumstances of transit + such as don't make for cleanliness. I have put it very + moderately, as those who know country dairy farms will admit. + Those who particularly want clean cheese from uncooked milk + should buy it from a County Council dairy farm or similar + institution. Yours truly, + + B.C. FORDER. + + +WILL OTHER READERS DO LIKEWISE? + +Mrs E. BUMPUS writes (7th October 1913):-- + + I am ordering two copies each month from my local newsagent.... I + thought he might be induced to show copies of your publication in + his window. + +[An attractive blue poster is supplied each month free by the +Publishers to all genuine agents who apply for the same.--EDS.] + + +_THE HEALTHY LIFE_ IN THE LIBRARIES. + +Mr C.H. GRINLING writes (25th October 1913):-- + + I note the suggestion on p. 580 of the October number of _The + Healthy Life_. A friend enables me to ask you to send _The + Healthy Life_ regularly for one year to the Woolwich Public + Library, William Street, Woolwich. I enclose 2s. The librarian + will see that it appears on the magazine-room table regularly. + +[There is every reason why _The Healthy Life_ should be known and read +in every public library in the United Kingdom. In this we are entirely +dependent upon those readers who are ready to follow the excellent +example of the above and other correspondents. A year's +subscription--2s.--is a very small price to pay for bringing the +message of this magazine before the public in this way. We should like +to hear from readers in all parts.--EDS.] + + +FRUIT-OILS AND NUTS. + + WESTCLIFF-ON-SEA, 22nd Oct. 1913. + + _To the Editors_, + + SIRS, + + With reference to the last paragraph of "Phosphorus and the + Nerves" on p. 579 of the October number, I should be obliged if I + could be informed through your correspondence columns (1) what + are the "fruit oils" recommended therein and (2) how they are to + be taken. (3) Is olive oil good to take? (4) Is it good for + children? If so how is it to be administered? (5) What nuts are + richest in phosphorus? I enclose my card, and remain, yours + truly, + + W.W. + +(1) Any olive oil that bears a thorough guarantee of purity (such as +"Minerva" Olive Oil, "Crême d'Or" Olive Oil, etc.); also any pure nut +oil (such as supplied by Mapleton's or The London Nut Food Co.); also +the pure blended oil sold as "Protoid Fruit Oil." Our advertisement +pages should be studied for further details. + +(2) Suggestions were given on pp. xxxiii and xxxv of the November +number. + +(3) Yes, excellent. + +(4) Yes, they usually take it more readily than adults, for the +latters' palates are generally spoilt. For its use see _Right Diet for +Children_, by Edgar J. Saxon, 1s. net. + +(5) Almonds and walnuts. If the nuts are found difficult to digest try +them in a finely prepared form, as in Mapleton's Almond Cream, "P.R." +Walnut Butter, or "Protoid" Almond Butter.--[EDS.] + + + + +PICKLED PEPPERCORNS. + + + Lady Cheylesmore was wearing a magnificent cock pheasant's plume. + The eagle eye of the customs official caught sight of it and + handed her a pair of scissors to help her detach it.--_Daily + News._ + +Now we know what a really well-trained eagle eye can do. + + * * * * * + + Perhaps the only remnant of the awful sameness characteristic of + the typically English kitchen is the bacon and egg breakfast to + which the average Briton clings with wonderful tenacity. The mere + possibility of infidelity to that national dish is enough to make + one shudder. No one could be such an iconoclast as to suggest a + variant from the traditional breakfast; it would be table-treason + of the worst kind.--_Daily Telegraph._ + + A middle-aged Briton named Leary, + Of bacon and eggs got so weary, + That for no other reason + He committed high treason-- + But whether he shuddered's a query. + + * * * * * + + Silver-fox furs are rapidly becoming more and more rare, and this + fact lends a special interest to the wonderful collection of + these skins now being shown this week by Revillon Frères at 180 + Regent Street. These beautiful silver foxes, to the number of + over a hundred, are grouped in eight large showcases on the + ground floor, and represent the latest arrivals from Revillon's + Canadian outposts, where they have special facilities for + securing these rare skins.--_Daily Chronicle._ + +A ninth large showcase containing specimens of the steel traps in +which "these beautiful silver foxes" are caught, and in which they +remain till "collected," would give added interest to the collection +at 180 Regent Street. + + * * * * * + + Sixty-six persons banqueted at Gorleston on a single "sea-pie," + which weighed 200 lbs. Prepared by an old smack skipper, it was + built in three stories. The foundation consisted of beef bones, + and inside were six large rabbits, half-a-dozen kidneys, thirty + pounds of beef steak.--_Daily Chronicle._ + +Not to be confused with the Gorleston Mausoleum. + +PETER PIPER. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Healthy Life, Vol. V, Nos. 24-28, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HEALTHY LIFE, VOL. 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