Change of Air Beneficial.

Otago Witness, Issue 2242, 18 February 1897, Page 53

Change of Air Beneficial.

A curious and ingenious theory to account lot the undoubted fact that men and women, of the ■white race afc all events, are invariably benefited by a change of air, not only when the change is from bid to good, but even when it is merely from bad to bad of another kind, is promulgated by a well-known doctor. " The reason is very simple," nays he in effect. " Our original ancestors were nomadic or wandering tribes, and our need for an occasional removal from place to place is cpn»*« quently the survival of a deep-seated hereditary instinct. '• As to the action of such removals upon the health, we have only so cousider the case of nomadic animala in captivity. "No one will venture to assert that the conditions of life in even the best travelling menageries are in any way to be compared with thost prevalent in our great zoological gardens and similar institutions. Nevertheless it is an undoubted fact that the wild beasts in the former are bo l .h haalthier and longer-lived than those which h%ve the benefit of scientific care in thi latter. " It; is especially significant, also, that almost the first elephants to breed in captivity were those in Birnum's travelling show. Moreover, it is s*id that racehorse* are more likely to become ' stale' or to deteriorate in condition when they are kept on one course than wh»s» they travel about to different rac: meeting*-'