II 



PHYSICAL NEEDS 



TURNING now from generals to particulars, 

 let us first consider an aspect of the problem 

 of happiness that has to do with a properly 

 nourished body. How close the association is, no one 

 need be reminded. It is within the experience of 

 everyone that hunger is not consistent with mental 

 satisfaction; and that an ill-digested dinner may dis- 

 turb the equanimity of the most amiable mind. We 

 shall do well, then, to inquire at some length into the 

 principles of right living as applied to the taking of 

 food. 



The general question of what to eat may be settled 

 for most healthy individuals on very simple common- 

 sense principles. Individual peculiarities aside, you 

 are justified in accepting the testimony of experience, 

 in default of other argument, as sufficient warrant for 

 eating all varieties of food that by common consent 

 have been voted wholesome. With this common-sense 

 induction, the researches of the physiological chemists 

 are in full accord. So are the observations of practical 

 hygienists and physicians. Dr. Austin Flint (he of the 

 elder generation) long ago declared that he had never 

 known a person to become a faddist regarding diet 

 without also becoming a dyspeptic. Most medical men 

 of experience will applaud this verdict. 

 This of course does not apply to the individual who 



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