THE MEANING OF HEALTH 265 



3. Habits of elimination, including regularity of the bowels 

 as well as of removal of urine, frequent perspiration, and gen- 

 eral cleanliness. 



4. Habits of exercise, including various kinds of work and 

 play, to maintain circulation, breathing, elimination, etc. 



There are people who get the proper food, properly prepared, 

 in suitable quantities, who chew the food properly and have 

 good table manners, but who nevertheless bring trouble upon 

 themselves by occasionally putting dangerous things or sub- 

 stances into their mouths. Or one may disregard what happens 

 to his eyes, or run into a moving automobile and lose a hand — 

 or worse. Many conditions all around us demand constant vigi- 

 lance if we are to avoid injuries. We might prescribe a general 

 habit of caution, as represented by the slogan "Safety First." 

 Being careful may be looked upon as a sort of habit, but it 

 differs in one respect from most habits with which we are 

 famihar. Instead of being exercised when a particular kind of 

 stimulus reaches the senses (for example, the sight of a knife or 

 the sound of a fire bell) carefulness is constantly at work in all 

 sorts of situations. It is an attitude of general preparedness 

 which many kinds of signals can change into activity. 



220. Attitudes as habits. The w^ord attitude, which means 

 about the same as posture, is commonly used when referring to 

 the posture, or position, that the mind takes in relation to the 

 environment. This is illustrated by the close connection that we 

 come to expect between the physical posture and the state of 

 mind in such cases as fear, defiance, curiosity, and shame. In- 

 deed, you can hardly pronounce these words and think of their 

 meaning without having different muscles of your body pull 

 toward getting your face and arms and legs and back into posi- 

 tions corresponding with these various feelings. As we saw in 

 our study of the emotions (sect. 208), we have here feelings 

 that are closely connected with all the important functions 

 and processes of the body. Some emotions drive us to do things 

 that we should otherwise not do at all.— such as hunger, fear, 

 love, anger, curiosity. After some experience in infancy our 



