140 HUMAN BIOLOGY 



the nerve cells, arouse them and cause us to expend some 

 of this reserve energy. Thus man is enabled to get at 

 this precious store which he should save for emergencies, 

 when he is sick and cannot digest food, or when he is 

 making some mighty effort. A weak, ill man who has 

 eaten very little for weeks, when delirious is sometimes so 

 powerful that it takes several strong men to hold him in 

 bed. But the delirious mania often uses up the little 

 energy left, and costs the man his life. 



The only source of energy for man's body is the union 

 of food and oxygen ; he must get his energy from the 

 same source that the engine does ; and this is from his 

 food, which serves as fuel, and the oxygen which burns it. 

 If one has been working hard preparing for examinations, 

 or gathering hay, or in attending to some important busi- 

 ness, or has been under the excitement of some pleasure 

 trip, and feels " blue" and worn out, then let Jiim bear the 

 result like a man, or like a true boy or girl, as the case 

 may be. Giving up for a while, or "toughing it out " with 

 the blues, or losing a little time from business, will not 

 hurt, but will restore strength, while a stimulant will 

 leave him less of a man than before. 



Nervousness. — The attempt to divide the race into brain workers, 

 muscle workers, and loafers, whether men or women, is a powerful factor 

 in race degeneration. Leonard Hill says : " Hysteria and nervous 

 exhaustion are the fruits not of overwork, but of lack of varied and 

 interesting employment. The absurd opinion that hard work is menial 

 and low, leads to most pernicious consequences. The girl who. turning 

 from brain work to manual labor, can cook, scrub, wash, and garden, 

 invites the bloom of health to her cheeks; while the fine do-nothing 

 lady loses her good looks, suffers from the blues, and is a nuisance to 

 her friends and a misery to herself.' 1 A Japanese lady holds views 

 similar to those of Dr. Hill. Read footnote. 1 



1 Statement by Madame Toyi Niku of Yeddo, Japan, after a six months' 

 visit to the United States. — "Worry and inactivity, it seems to me, sharply 



