76 CONSCIOUS NERVOUS OPERATIONS 



such facilities. But the number of such persons is com- 

 paratively small, and as those who exercise in a gymna- 

 sium are usually, and ought always to be, under the guid- 

 ance of a qualified instructor, advice as to the use of the 

 gymnasium apparatus is not needed here. 



101. The Healthf illness of Work. While all due stress 

 should be laid upon the healthfulness of recreative exer- 

 cise, it should not be forgotten that the human machine 

 is the most skillfully designed and constructed apparatus 

 ever made for accomplishing an immense variety of differ- 

 ent kinds of work. The man whose daily employment 

 brings into play his various muscles under conditions of 

 reasonable comfort, and without overfatigue, may live a 

 healthful life without paying any attention to the preced- 

 ing suggestions. If that employment is carried on in the 

 open air, and is such that he finds interest and enjoyment 

 in it, he is still more fortunate. All the good effects of 

 the most carefully devised systems of physical culture 

 may be gained from a judiciously varied scheme of work, 

 and the pleasure of being able by one's own effort to 

 create some useful or beautiful or worthy product for the 

 enrichment of the world may be a tonic even more health- 

 fully stimulating than the most successful athletic con- 

 test. The varied round of household duties, sometimes 

 prescribed by a wise and skillful physician, has in many 

 cases brought health to a feeble, languid, ailing woman. 

 The effort which the idle rich man sometimes puts forth 

 in the way of exercise, that he may secure an appetite for 

 his dinner, would be still more promotive of health if 

 turned to some useful purpose. 



The man whose business does not permit the proper 

 activity of all the muscles must necessarily give thought 

 and time to supply the deficiency. But to the great mass 



