JUJA' 1, 1914 



OUM 



Ediltor 



Honor thy father and mother; which is the tirst 

 commandment with promise; that it may lie well with 

 thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth. — 

 Eili. (j:2, 3. 



1 hold in my hand a book of 480 pages. 

 The title is, "Old Age Deferred," by Arnold 

 Lorand, Physic-iaii to the Baths. Carlsbad, 

 Austria. The book is i)ublished by the F. A. 

 Davis Co., Philadeli)hia. The pi ice is .t2..50 

 net. Dr. Lorand is evidently in close touch 

 with the most prominent physicians and 

 scientists of the present day. The book 

 contains much that is very good; and I am 

 glad to see that it is very closely in line with 

 Terry, Fletcher, and others who have been 

 teaching us forcibly the advantage of less 

 eating and of a thorough chewing of all we 

 do eat. 1 cannot take the time just now in 

 this Home paper to make a resume of the 

 book. On almost every pag'e, the author 

 speaks of the harmfulness of alcohol, tobac- 

 co, tea, and coffee (the book is just out, the 

 date being 1914) ; but notwithstanding' all 

 this, the author closes up his chapter headed 

 " Deleterious Action of Alcohol," as fol- 

 lows: 



But we again repeat that there is not suflieient 

 strictly scientific evidence as yet, to prove that small 

 quantities of alcohol (especially beer or wine, and 

 possibly whisky) are deleterious to the majority of 

 adults; those who cannot stand even small quantities 

 will be best without any ; but we fail to see why a 

 working man, when he comes from his daily labor, 

 should be forbidden to take his glass of beer. 



Then, again, in the chapter on tea, coffee, 

 and tobacco, he closes up by saying: 



We do not think that two or three light cigars a 

 day, but never before meals, can do any harm, save 

 in exceptional cases. 



To my mind it is not only lamentable but 

 astonishing' that a man of liis experience 

 and broad education in regard to almost 

 every disease known should be so stupid 

 (begg-ing pardon) as to forget or ignore the 

 fact that moderate users of both liquor and 

 tobacco almost invariably become inveterate 

 users before they die. Why, the great dis- 

 tilling companies — at least two of them — 

 recognize this so fully that they propose to 

 sell a list of the names of their patrons to a 

 Keeley-cure institute with the remark that, 

 sooner or later, their customers (moderate 

 users, of course) will become patients at the 

 Keeley institute. 



The author of this book admits in his 

 writings that he is not a married man. I 

 may be a little peculiar; but to my notion, 

 no doctor is fully qualified to advise and 

 treat husbands and wives until he is a mar- 

 ried man himself. Perhaps I had better 

 modify it by saying that any doctor 25 years 

 old should be a married man ; and, God 



1 etinitting, he sliould iiave some children — 

 say four or five, or, better still, half a dozen ; 

 then he will know how, by personal expe- 

 rience, to take charge of botii husbands and 

 wives. I would suggest, also, that his wife 

 study medicine, and go with him a good 

 deal, especially when he has women patients. 

 He had better have his oftlce so close to his 

 liome that the good wife can be called in at 

 almost any minute.* Now, Dr. Lorand tells 

 us he is not married. I wish he might be 

 equally frank with his readers and tell them 

 wliether he uses tobacco, and, say, a glass of 

 beer occasionally that he reconunends to the 

 " working'man." I suppose he would class 

 me among the " faddists," especially when I 

 say the family physician should use neither 

 alcoliolic drinks nor tobacco. Most surely 

 the doctor who sees the evils of tobacco and 

 drink, as this man does, and talks about its 

 effects, not only on the present generation 

 but on the generation to come — surely such 

 a man should be able to come before his 

 patrons and say, "I practice what I preach," 

 or, in other words, " I, your family physi- 

 cian, take my own medicine, or the medicine 

 that I daily use." 



This good doctor is frank enough to de- 

 clare that the man who asks a woman to 

 take him for better or for worse should be 

 able to show her a certificate from a good 

 i:)hysician in regard to his habits, and free- 

 dom from disease. Just recently I heard the 

 agent of an insurance company say that 

 every young man when he asks a woman to 

 have him should be able to show the good 

 lady an insurance policy on his life. This 

 would be valuable for her for two reasons : 

 First, because he is wise enough to have 

 something laid up for a rainy day; and, 

 secondly, that the insurance doctor or phy- 

 sician employed by the insurance compauy 

 has made a thorough examination, and 

 guarantees that there is no disease about 

 liim that might pollute her own pure self. 

 Now, do not call it another of my cranky 

 ideas if I suggest that this good man shall 

 also be able to tell her he is a member in 

 good standing in some church. So much for 

 a preface to what I have been moved to say 

 to old people like Mrs. Root and myself. 



So far, may God be praised, Mrs. Root 

 and I have been able to take care of our- 

 selves, and occasionally, too (thank God), 

 to help a little in the care of the children 



* By the way, in my opinion every minister of the 

 gospel, as soon as he is of proper age, should also 

 have a wife, and, a kind Providence permitting, 

 children also. If he is to tackle the sins and crimes 

 that afflict humanity, he should be a parent in order 

 that he may speak from the father's standpoint. 



