INJURIOUS INFLUENCES OF CITY LIFE. 485 



to any considerable extent, and if it is practicable to remove or 

 modify them. 



We refer chiefly to three, and these are : 1. Disuse of the upper 

 extremities for any considerable muscular exertion. 2. The inces- 

 sant noise of a large city. 3. Jarring of the brain and spinal cord 

 by continual treading upon the stone and brick pavements which 

 make our sidewalks and streets. 



We leave out of the question those to whom these observations 

 do not apply — viz., such as are able to spend nearly half the year 

 out of town. Experience has shown that such individuals and 

 families suffer in small degree from an ordinary city life ; while, 

 on the other hand, good authorities assert that there are very few 

 families now living in London who, with their predecessors, have 

 resided there continuously for three generations. 



If there is one general physical difference between the country- 

 bred and the city-bred man, it lies in the size and strength of the 

 muscles of the shoulder and arm. It is almost impossible for a 

 man to live in the country without using the arms far more than 

 the average city man. This use of the arms has, in both men and 

 women, an important bearing on the general health, since it in- 

 creases the capacity of the chest, and thereby the surface of lung- 

 tissue where the blood is spread out in thin-walled vessels through 

 which the oxygen and carbonic acid easily pass in opposite direc- 

 tions, serving thus the double purpose of feeding the body more 

 abundantly and of removing a constantly accumulating waste 

 product. 



This richer blood is again driven with greater force by increased 

 heart and arterial action through its circuit. The vital organs 

 are better nourished and the power to produce work is increased. 



Few will deny that a well-nourished body can be trained to do 

 more and better mental work than the same organism in a feebler 

 state. Walking on an even surface, the only variety of physical 

 exercise which most business and professional men get in town, is 

 well known to be a poor substitute for arm-exertion. The reason 

 is partially plain, since walking is almost automatic and involun- 

 tary. The walking mechanism is set in motion as we would turn 

 an hour-glass, and requires little attention, much less volition and 

 separate discharges of force from the brain-surface with each 

 muscular contraction, as is the case with the great majority of 

 arm-movements. 



The arm-user is a higher animal than the leg-user. Arm-mo- 

 tions are more nearly associated with mental action than leg- 

 movements. A man's lower limbs merely carry his higher centers 

 to his food or work. The latter must be executed with his arms 

 and hands. 



A third way in which arm-exercise benefits the organism is 



