THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. 545 



If the neck-bones are held vertically, the ribs well lifted, and a 

 moderate degree of tension exerted upon the abdominal walls, the 

 viscera will rest upon, and within, the confines of the pelvis, and this 

 position should be learned and practised; nor is it at all difficult if 

 the attention is directed that way and some little familiarity acquired 

 in maintaining the correct position. The body can not be held in 

 normal attitudes unless the skeletal muscles are in fairly good tone. 

 Most of these effects can be secured by a skillful use of breathing 

 exercises. 



It will be obvious to any one that those persons who habitually 

 maintain an erect position in standing or sitting are stronger than 

 those who stoop or slouch. It may be said that many of the last are 

 perfectly well and strong, and it must be replied that they are not as 

 well as and as strong as they should be, and further that their abdom- 

 inal tissues are in perpetual danger, because an organ, or part of the 

 body, which stands outside of its normal lines of adjustment comes 

 closely to being in the position of a foreign body, and can not be so well 

 protected by the central nervous control mechanism. Again, the position 

 of the organs in the thorax are in less danger than those of the 

 abdomen, because they have a well-constructed box to dwell in, but 

 nevertheless they too are subjected to a good many perils if out of 

 alignment. A person who stoops and allows the shoulders to sag down 

 and forward and the ribs to fall back toward the spine, shortens the 

 anteroposterior diameter of the thorax anywhere from two to five 

 inches. It needs little demonstration to show that the lungs, heart, 

 great vessels and other important structures in the thorax can not live, 

 and move and have their proper being under such circumstances. Not 

 only so, but prompt and adequate attention to these conditions results 

 in not only improving the general health, but goes far toward main- 

 taining symmetric functional action and the postponement of senile 

 changes in the connective tissue. 



In short, all these facts are rehearsed to give prominence to the 

 conclusion, which seems to me inevitable, and abundantly demon- 

 strated by data in my experience, that attention to proper attitudes, 

 involving economies in interorganic relationships, is the one funda- 

 mental factor in postponing senile changes. The physiologic rea- 

 son for urging care and persistence in retaining elasticity of tissues 

 is to be found in the fact that sclerotic changes and faulty attitudes 

 combine to interfere with peripheral vascular competence as well 

 as peripheral innervation. To recur for a moment to the illustra- 

 tion used above, of the marked improvements following increased 

 flexibility in the tissues of the upper thorax and neck, it is my opinion 

 that this is to be brought about by thus promoting and encouraging 

 fuller circulatory interchanges, especially of the lymphatic channels. 

 VOL. liViv. — 35. 



