'Cbe Conservative *
HEALTH AND HOW TO PRESERVE IT.
( Written for THE CONSERVATIVE by Law
rence Irwell. )
A scientific view of life regards it as
being composed of a series of actions ,
which are now fairly defined in their
nature. These actions , known to physiologists
elegists as functions , are discharged by
special organs ; and health may there
fore be defined as "the perfect discharge
of all functions through which life is
maintained" the harmonious working
of the organs constituting the body.
Life , being a highly complex series of
actions , naturally involves complicated
conditions for their due performance.
Ill-health means , of course , that the
equilibrium existing between the various
actions of the body is upset , and this
equilibrium is subject , as is all compli
cated machinery , to many and varied
causes of disturbance. Man , in com
mon with the lower animals , is de
pendent upon his surroundings for the
necessities of life , and these surround
ings , while ministering to his wants ,
may , in certain circumstances , become
sources of disease. The water we drink
is as much a necessity of life as the air
we breathe , but it is liable to cause seri
ous disorders' when the supply is ob
tained from improper sources. Again ,
numerous diseases to which man is sub
I ject are traceable to over-indulgence in
special articles of diet , or to an insuffi
cient quantity of certain necessary foods.
It is not an exaggeration to say that
most persons in good circumstances eat
too much meat , and do not drink suffi
cient water.
Heredity.
In addition to the outward sources of
health disturbance , there are other and
more subtle causes which complicate the
problem of health. Each individual
inherits from his ancestors a certain
physical constitution. This constitu
tion , although liable to modification ,
nevertheless determines to a great ex
tent the physical life of the person pos
sessing it. Each individual , therefore ,
must be viewed as drawing his chances
of good health , or of its absence , from a
double source from the constitution
which he has inherited and from the
surroundings which make up the life he
lives and pursues.
Aim of Sanitary Science.
It is the aim and object of modern
sanitary science to deal as clearly and
definitely as possible with the sources
both of health and of disease. Hygiene ,
the science of health , devotes attention
to the surroundings amid which our
lives are passed ; it seeks to provide us
with the necessary conditions of life in
the most desirable form. Its object is to
urge us to breathe pure air , to consume
suitable food , to work , but not to worry ,
to take reasonable recreation , and to
husband our resources , so as to prolong
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the period of life , and secure a painless
death. The important branch of knowl
edge known as hygiene teaches us that ,
with an inherited constitution of a
healthy kind , we ought to take every
means of securing its welfare ; and when ,
upon the other hand , a defective frame
has fallen to our lot , health-science tells
us how we moke the best of it. Even to
the individual who has been handi
capped in the struggle for existence by
physical infirmity and inherited disease ,
hygiene is found to convey the cheering
assurance that it is possible to prolong
life and obtain a part at least of the hap
piness which the possession of health
alone can bestow. In illustration of
this assertion , I may cite the case of a
person born with a tendency to pthisis ,
popularly known as consumption. Sta
tistics prove beyond doubt that if his
life be passed tinder the guidance of
health laws if he be properly clothed ,
provided with a suitable diet , compelled
to live in a pure atmosphere , and to
avoid excess of nervous strain he may
reach the age of thirty-five without the
disease to which he is specially liable at
tacking him , and once past that age , he
may reasonably hope to become in due
course an old man. Another example ,
is the case of one who inherits a special
susceptibility in the direction of some
mental disorder. Mysterious as such
tendency is , it can be shown that by
proper attention to the education of the
child , by curbing the passions , and con
trolling the emotions , aided by care in
the choice of food , as well as in the
selection of desirable physical surround
ings , prolongation of life may be in
sured , and so may freedom from one of
the most terrible afflictions which at
tacks the human race.
Hygiene Successful.
The knowledge which we now possess
concerning hygiene constitutes a tri
umph of modern science ; it demon
strates that in the war against disease ,
man finds untold benefit in observing
the laws which experience and investi
gation have deduced for the regulation
of his life. It is ignorance or neglect of
these laws which sends thousands of
men and women to an early grave , de
stroying , of course , hopes and oppor
tunities which may at one time have
contained the promise of high excellence
in many departments of human activity.
The one great truth , which health re
formers are never tired of proclaiming ,
because they know it is true , is that the
majority of the diseases which afflict
hnmanity ore , in reality , of a preventa
ble character. Until this truth has been
thoroughly accepted , not only by indi
viduals , but also by nations , no real
progress in sanitary science can be at
tained , or even expected. To realize
fully the immense power , which the
practical application of the indisputable
doctrine that most diseases are pre
ventable , places in our hands , we must
know something of the causes of certain
disorders , which , though powerful and
ubiquitous , are nevertheless within hu
man control. Among these diseases ,
the most prominent are those popularly
known as contagions , or infections
scientifically called zymotic. Modern
science has demonstrated the possibility
of escape from these terrors by proper
attention to the conditions under which
they are spread. We hold hi our own
hands the power both of increasing and
decreasing the chances of early deathand
and nowhere is the power of man over
the forces of nature better exemplified
than in the lessened mortality which
follows even moderate attention to the
laws of health. There is an ideal to
which the American people ought to as
pire ; and the first step towards it , is im
provement of the health of the present
generation. If this object were kept as
steadily in view as it is in the cultiva
tion of the domestic animals , the bene
ficial results would be apparent in our
children and in our grandchildren. A
slight development for the better in each
generation would imply progress , yield
ing most important results in an in
definite time results which , if suddenly
manifested , would appear miraculous.
Preventable Deaths.
The number of deaths in the United
States last year is not yet obtainable ,
but the total number of recorded deaths
in 1890 , according to the census of that
year , was 875,521. Of this number , at
least 100,000 were "unnecessary and pre
ventable , " if our existing knowledge of
disease and its causes had been properly
applied. Moreover , not only could the
lives of these persons have been saved ,
but , in addition , a vast amount of nonfatal -
fatal sickness could have been avoided
by reasonable attention to hygienic laws.
Thes3 figures of mortality and facts con
cerning preventable illness are sufficient
to arouse the most lethargic of us into ac
tivity in the observance of hygienic laws.
But , if the nation at large is to partici
pate in the work of health-reform , it is
necessary that education in sanitary
science should have a place in the train
ing of the young as well as in the prac
tice of adults. While anxious to avoid
being tedious , I would urge that if there
is one consideration which more than
another should be kept in view , it is that
every good citizen ought to consider it a
duty which he owes to himself and to
the community to acquire all possibl
information concerning the art of living
healthy , and , having obtained the knowl
edge , he ought to put it in practice. It
is only through individual effort that
anything like national interest in health-
science can be fostered. There cannot
be any royal road which will place
length of days within the easy reach of
a nation any more than there can be a
smooth pathway towards full and per
fect knowledge in any other branch of