PHYSICAL NEEDS 



is human nature that precept and warning are mostly 

 thrown away, and we see the youth of each succeeding 

 generation following the example rather than the ad- 

 monitions of their elders. 



Nevertheless I venture one other suggestion. Every- 

 one is aware that athletes, when training for a great 

 physical contest football, rowing, boxing, or what 

 not are usually obliged to abstain altogether from 

 tea, coffee, alcohol, and tobacco. It seems an easy 

 inference that it would be the part of wisdom for 

 anyone who would keep himself in the best physical 

 condition to abstain from these drugs at all times. 

 This is counselling too much asceticism, you say ? Well, 

 that depends. Enough foodstuffs remain, it would 

 seem, to satisfy any reasonable appetite. Of course 

 if you take the Byronic motto: "I will dig the mine 

 of my youth to the last vein of the ore, and then- 

 good night! I have lived, and it is enough": if you 

 take this motto, I say, no such argument as this can 

 appeal to you. But if you prefer to make bid for a 

 longer, saner, and happier life, the thought is worth 

 consideration. 



But in judging the probable effects of such admoni- 

 tion as this, we must reflect that the large majority 

 of users of these drugs can scarcely be said to follow 

 their own wills in the matter. They obey the man- 

 dates of that most powerful of autocrats, Habit, and 

 the course over which he drives them is an inclined 

 plane which becomes steeper as they advance. It is 

 only at the beginning that most men could turn back 

 if they so desired. Some men do indeed remain masters 



[37] 



