THE OUTLOOK FOR HUMAN HEALTH 161 



the more primitive use of drugs, did much to counteract the 

 evils inevitable in a voluptuous and self-indulgent age. But 

 with the advent of Christianity a change passed over the scene ; 

 the storm-cloud of the new theology swept over the country 

 and left it bare not only of the old superstitions but also, alas! 

 of hygienic knowledge. Salus and Hygeia passed away — 

 enjoyed fairyland, as the Burmese quaintly say — the practice of 

 bathing was neglected, and the baths fell into disrepair; since 

 the body formed ex hypothesi the source of evil, all care of it was 

 naturally contemned as sinful ; the rising sciences of medicine 

 and of hygiene crumbled into ruins and almost disappeared 

 beneath a weedy outcrop of superstitious charms and magic 

 observances. When people trusted in all seriousness for the 

 cure of disease to pilgrimages or a visit to a shrine, they would 

 scarcely, it will be admitted, regard seriously their treatment or 

 prophylaxis on scientific principles. But against these untoward 

 results we must in justice set the gifts brought by the new 

 religion, namely the institution of hospitals, a tenderer regard 

 for the poor and the increased sanctity of human life Nowa- 

 days, influenced no doubt by the altered mental atmosphere due 

 to modern science — call it materialistic or not as you will — 

 men, as already remarked, once more begin to regard bodily 

 hygiene of at least equal importance with say the "subtleties of 

 the eastward position," and to take thought how to avoid the 

 physical evils that so insistently menace them and their 

 families. And with this increased attention there necessarily 

 follows a bitter dissatisfaction at the failure hitherto of medical 

 science to attack resolutely the Hydra of metabolic disease and 

 a resolve, joined in many with a high hope of success, to win 

 clear from its poisons and miseries. 



It is claimed by the pioneers of this new movement that, 

 with a properly conditioned physical environment, disease 

 should be practically unknown ("death from disease is an abomi- 

 nation," say some of them) and dissolution due to old age after 

 3. span of life much beyond that now accepted as natural 

 the normal bourne of human beings. And in a consideration 

 of the circumstances affecting the human body they not un- 

 naturally attach a special importance to the question of dietary 

 — that is to say, the kinds and quantity of food necessary to 

 keep the human body well nourished and in perfect health. 

 (A person occasionally subject to twinges of gout or rheumatism, 

 ii 



