4 o6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



If medical men knew more of the subject of the physiology of 

 bodily esthetics, they would be preeminently the ones to give counsel. 

 Physicians know, however, almost nothing of the science of physical 

 economics and leave this whole most important department of im- 

 proving physical efficiency to those who teach for hire. They occa- 

 sionally recommend loosely that those under their care shall take phys- 

 ical culture, but they would be sorely puzzled to differentiate between 

 good and bad instruction. This is almost as true for those who have 

 been, in their day, more or less athletic themselves as for the content- 

 edly sedentary. Hence when the assertion is made that it is among 

 the most exalted duties of the physician to give specific advice in this 

 line, many will brand the statement as absurd. Nevertheless, the 

 physician is the one who by his scientific training should be best able 

 to point out the faults of posture, the defective quality of tissues, why 

 they are not fulfilling their functions properly, and precisely how they 

 can be made to do so. The consequence is, now that physical culture 

 is so popular, all manner of blatant ignorant folk are posing as in- 

 structors and specialists in improving the body, and much harm is 

 often thus caused, sometimes unrecognized till long after. Yet so 

 much good is often thus effected that people are disposed to welcome 

 these ignoramuses as prophets of wisdom and abide by their advice 

 rather than seek counsel of legitimate educated conservators of health. 

 Nevertheless, the fad of physical culture is distinctly to be welcomed 

 with all its present limitations and even its perils. It will leave a 

 valuable impress on the period. In due time the medical profession 

 will give it their attention, and competent expert advice can be expected 

 from them. 



Let me make a few suggestions, from the standpoint of a medical 

 man long and practically interested in this subject, to those who desire 

 to preserve their looks and by so doing their health; for the terms are 

 in effect interchangeable. As has been said, this essay is directed 

 chiefly to the conservation of elasticity, poise, movements and graceful 

 contours. Much can be accomplished by free movements, plays, games, 

 both indoor and outdoor, but among those who are brilliant exponents 

 of all these pastimes will be found many very awkward in action and 

 faulty in poise, who are sufficiently well formed and of skilful and 

 accurate coordination. Some such persons, even of advanced years, 

 have been trained by the writer to move and appear to vastly greater 

 advantage by pointing out the key-note defect and showing just how 

 this may be overcome. For illustration, take the position of the torso 

 in one who stoops or droops. This mayjje only a bad habit of holding 

 the head, yet if this alone is corrected without having the attention 

 called to the correct position of the neck on the chest, or the balance of 

 the shoulder blades and the tonicity of the erector spinas muscles, etc., 



