z 3 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mates of a large and wealthy establishment suffered. I was told 

 that an affection very much like dysentery had "become developed, 

 and was unusually obstinate of cure. The water supply of the 

 establishment, the drainage, the ventilation, had all in turn been 

 blamed, and altered to no effect. I found the unfortunate suffer- 

 ers were sitting down regularly to four heavy meals a day, with 

 animal food at each meal ; that they took between meals no exer- 

 cise adequate for utilizing a little of the potential energy that was 

 stowed up in their tightly packed organisms. 



" This one fact seemed to me sufficient to account for the phe- 

 nomenon, and the instant relief that followed the cruel prescrip- 

 tion of ' double the work and halve the food ' was proof direct 

 that the process of cure was immediate." 



This quotation I reproduce as illustrating what I have pointed 

 out, that the amount of food should be adapted to the require- 

 ments of the system, and to the amount of physical or intellectual 

 work done, if it is not to be harmful in some way. If these indi- 

 viduals had been huntsmen or whippers-in to a pack of hounds, 

 the food would probably have been just sufficient for the require- 

 ments of the system. If we want to see good illustrations of green 

 old age, we must look for it in men who are noted for their physi- 

 cal and intellectual vigor ; and a man who takes active exercise, 

 whether in cutting down trees or in brisk walking and other 

 physical pursuits, and in addition to this does plenty of brain 

 work, lives carefully, and drinks but very moderately, may, long 

 after he is an octogenarian, control the destinies of a mighty na- 

 tion, and give indications of mental and bodily vigor that would 

 shame many half his age. The wiry frame of such a man will be 

 vigorous when the obese and sedentary individual of the same 

 age has drifted into senility and second childhood. 



There is no more fatal barrier to long life than obtains in the 

 case of a man who has until middle age been used to active occu- 

 pation, and been employed in business pursuits that have en- 

 grossed his time and energies, and then suddenly retires to a life 

 of ease, luxury, and enjoyment. The revulsion that such a change 

 entails seems to throw the whole human machine out of gear. 

 The surroundings in the way of diet and exercise are seldom con- 

 sidered and adapted to the altered circumstances, and the result 

 is that the different organs that looked to the stimulation of active 

 occupation to keep them in working order, become clogged with 

 waste ; and those diseases that depend upon such a state of affairs, 

 such as congested liver, indigestion, obesity, gout, bronchial trou- 

 bles, etc., soon manifest themselves. Does not this equally apply 

 to any piece of mechanism ? Even take a clock, for instance ; if 

 dust, rust, and dirt are allowed to accumulate in its working parts, 

 how soon (be its steel ever so highly tempered) does the friction 



