THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 141 



SUBJECTS FOR DEBATE. ( i ) Does the Chinese woman deform her 

 body less than the Caucasian woman and suffer less from it ? (2) Does 

 as much disease originate in the dining room as the barroom ? 

 (3) Are drugs a necessary evil ? (4) Does pride cause as much illness 

 as ignorance ? (5) Is it ever right to neglect the health ? (6) Does 

 the mind or the way of living have more effect upon the health ? 



Disuse and Degeneration. Many persons in civilized countries 

 cherish a vain hope of having sound muscles without habitual use of 

 them, pure blood without deep breathing, a strong circulation in an 

 inactive body, a fresh skin without keeping the body sound, a hearty 

 appetite without enough physical labor to use the food already eaten, 

 steady nerves with a part of the body overworked and a part stagnating 

 from disuse. Their flabby muscles, pale skins, highly seasoned food to 

 arouse appetite, narcotics to deaden irritable nerves, and the wide use of 

 drugs as a fancied substitute for right living all show the attempt to be 

 a miserable failure. If the parents leading such a life escape with fairly 

 good health and average length of life, they leave a few unhealthy chil- 

 dren in whom physical degeneration is plain. Complete, balanced liv- 

 ing only prevents degeneration. Although there are cases of illness 

 which are not necessarily a disgrace, disease usually originates in weak- 

 ness of character or lack of common sense. The snob who thinks him- 

 self above physical labor, the dupes who at the bidding of avaricious 

 fashion mongers think more of clothes than of a free body, the narrow, 

 unbalanced man, who concentrates all his energies on one ambition, the 

 short-sighted one who worries, all grow into a diseased state. 



mark the women of your middle classes. I did not attempt to study your 

 leaders of society, for they are much alike the world over the same fuss, 

 the same display of jewels and finery, the same scandals, the same uselessness. 

 Your women do not diversify enough. If they are good cooks, they stop 

 there ; perhaps another is a good housekeeper, another can sew finely; but 

 doing one thing makes narrow-mindedness. In Japan we strive to do many 

 things. The worry troubles of your women, it seems to me, come largely from 

 improper eating and overeating. I have sat at many of your tables and there 

 is too much food on them and too much variety. First, women overeat, then 

 they doctor, then they starve, and then they become nervous. A woman's diet, 

 especially a mother's, should always be simple. Cut down eating and increase 

 variety of labor and exercise. My own people live that way with a result that 

 we have better feminine bodies, better skins, and better tempers than your 

 women. I like the brightness of your young women. Perhaps you will take 

 the hideous hats off them some day, find a substitute for the bad corset, and 

 let them wear clothes that are loose, yet are soft and clinging. They are bound 

 up in their clothes too much now and their judgment of colors and combina- 

 tions is not good. Their clothing is either garish or very dull in hue. The 

 simplest girl in Japan knows how to harmonize color with herself. Mother's 

 Magazine, November, 1907. 



