PHYSICAL NEEDS 



further his own interests by paying heed to his own 

 method of breathing, and by challenging the quality 

 of the air-supply which his habitual manner of living 

 provides. 



An intelligent attention to the subject may very likely 

 ward off actual disease, and will surely add to your 

 personal comfort, to your sense of well-being, to your 

 working efficiency, and to your capacity for enjoyment. 



It remains to speak of certain commodities which are 

 not foods in the proper sense of the word, yet which are 

 akin to food-stuffs, and which play a most important 

 role in relation to the needs of the physical organism. 

 I mean, of course, these universal solacers of over- 

 wrought nerves and perverted appetites, tea, coffee, 

 alcholic beverages, and tobacco. Alcohol is, to be 

 sure, a food of the carbohydrate family, but it does 

 not owe its popularity to its food value, and would 

 quickly fall into disrepute were that alone considered. 

 In common with the others, it is taken for its effects on 

 palate and nerves, not because of its power to repair or 

 build up tissues. Tea and coffee are mild nerve 

 stimulants, and tobacco contains an essential prin- 

 ciple, nicotine, that is one of the most virulent of poisons. 



Tobacco, as everyone knows, is a contribution of the 

 Western hemisphere, and hence was unknown to 

 European civilization till the sixteenth century. Tea 

 and coffee were equally unknown to classical antiquity. 

 But alcoholic beverages have been known and loved 

 of men since the dawning of civilization. 



Doubtless alcohol has caused more misery has de- 



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