Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



are from the same stock ; and they indicate to us the 

 fact that far back in the past those who created this 

 group of words had a conception of the meaning 

 of Health very different from ours, and which 

 they embodied unconsciously in the word itself 

 and its strange relatives. 



These are, for instance, and among others : 

 heal, hallow, hale, holy, whole, wholesome ; 

 German heilig, Heiland (the Saviour) ; Latin 

 salus (as in salutation, salvation) ; Greek kalos ; 

 also compare hail ! a salutation, and, less certainly 

 connected, the root hal, to breathe, as in inhale, 

 exhale French haleine Italian and French alma 

 and ame (the soul) ; compare the Latin spiritus, 

 spirit or breath, and Sanskrit atman, breath or 

 soul. 



Wholeness, holiness . . . " if thine eye be single, 

 thy whole body shall be full of light." . . . " thy 

 faith hath made thee whole" 



The idea seems to be a positive one a condition 

 of the body in which it is an entirety, a unity 

 a central force maintaining that condition ; and 

 disease being the break-up or break-down 

 of that entirety into multiplicity. 



The peculiarity about our modern conception 

 of Health is that it seems to be a purely negative 

 one. So impressed are we by the myriad presence 

 of Disease so numerous its dangers, so sudden 

 and unforetellable its attacks that we have come 

 to look upon health as the mere absence of the 

 same. As a solitary spy picks his way through a 

 hostile camp at night, sees the enemy sitting round 



29 



