PRACTICE IT.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 300, 23 June 1909, Page 7

PRACTICE IT.

' THE GOSPEL OF LAUGHTER. "A merry heart doetli good like a _ medicine." So said Solomon, and not the least of that wise man's wisdom is shown in the utterance, from . which, doubtless, our adage "Laugb and grow fat" is deduced. . An eminent physician' has paraphrased th< latter into "Laugh and get- well.' Wo havo grown accustomed to the '. thought that cheerfulness has a mora' effect- upon the health, but the scientists now go one step further and claim that laughter, in a physical sense, benefits the health, and thai forced laughter is better thau noP thing; so that "laughter," with oi without merriment, is the new cure P \ for dyspepsia and throat troubles.- , They say that the violent lifting, of the diaphragm, the sudden expulsion of air from the lungs, and the manner in which the muscles of the throat are set in action by a hearts laugh are more effective than anj medicine for a weak throat, and we may expect to see hospitals wherein f the administering of "laughing gas" _ is the chief pastime of the staff. Other points in its favor are men- ~. tioned, . among" them the throwing 1 back of. the head, the- stretching of the neck (double chins, take notice !), ? the shaking of the sides, and spasmodic movement of the abdomen, al tend to- displace, unhealthy fatty tissues and make room for healthy deposit. If you fe«l the pangs of influenza, go to a screaming farce, and the chances are that it will prevent youi going' to a doctor. You will thiails s that it has been a mental cure, but ' the fact is, you have laughed yourseli well. ►f i