SYMPOSIUM OS CONSERVATION 35 



Immoderate eating — feasting and gluttony — reduce vitality and 

 induce disease with its consequent inefficiency. A very old adage 

 says : "Most men dig their graves with their teeth." The old- 

 time writer of this was working for the conservation of human 

 vitality. Immoderate amounts of nitrogenous foods, exempli- 

 fied in white of egg and lean meats, cause auto-intoxication. 

 They do this by undergoing putrefaction in the digestive tract, 

 thus making toxins, which in turn, being absorbed into the body, 

 cause the following train of ills, which results in loss of vitality 

 and efficiency. Some of the auto-intoxication ills are : biliousness, 

 coated tongue, foul breath, clammy hands and feet, dry, lusterless 

 hair, putty complexion, dulled hearing, dulled vision, dulled taste, 

 dulled smell, loss of memory, loss of continuous thought and 

 attention, headaches, vertigo, dyspepsia, loss of weight, loss of 

 strength, rheumatism, insomnia, fugitive pains and aches, irregu- 

 lar heart, shortness of breath, brittle nails, dr}-, harsh skin, cancer, 

 and premature old age of the doddering and slobbering kind. 



Until we learn and practically apply this science of living, we 

 cannot attain over 50 or 60 per cent efficiency and must continue 

 to live lives of sickness, pain and disease, and die before the 

 natural duration of life has one-half expired : and if this does not 

 hinder and delay the conservation of natural resources, nothing 

 will. 



Over-fatigue is a cause of loss of vitality. The present work- 

 ing day. from a physiological standpoint, is too long. Over- 

 work, better expressed by the term over-fatigue, starts a vicious 

 circle leading to the craving of means for deadening fatigue, thus 

 inducing drug habits and drunkenness. 



Experiments in reducing the length of the working day show a 

 great improvement in the physical and mental efficiency of labor- 

 ers and result in an increased output sufficient to pay the differ- 

 ence. However, the great justification of the shorter day is 

 found in the interests of the race and nation, not the employer. 

 Public safety requires, in order to avoid railway collisions and 

 other accidents, the prevention of long hours ; lack of sleep and 

 undue fatigue is quite as great as the waste from serious illness. 

 A typical succession of events is: first, fatigue, then "colds," 

 then tuberculosis, then death. In order to prevent in the begin- 

 ning this increasing line of destructive agencies, undue fatigue 

 must be prevented. 



