Mind & Body.

Southern Cross, Volume 18, Issue 8, 11 June 1910, Page 15

Mind & Body.

4- (By “Physical Culturist.”) 4

OX TRUE PHYSICAL CULTURE. There is a. g'rcat deal of misundeistanding among the general public regarding the aims of the physical culture movement. There are people who say that this propaganda has not progressed at all, and has not had the effect upon humanity that is claimed for it by its upholders. 1 will endeavour to show my readers that such is not the case.

Perhaps the greatest evidence ot the growth of the physical culture movement is the decline in the use of medicines and drugs. I do not hesitate to say that it is purely owing to the influence of physical culture literature and those interested in the physical well-being oi the masses that such a change in public opinion has been brought about, concerning what used to be looked upon as a necessary form of treatment. Patent medicines particularly are taking a back seat of late, and the patent medicine companies will not he able to boast much longer about the enormous sums spent every year in advertising. It is strange and interesting to see what an extent the natural methods of treatment of disease are growing. The other day, while turning over the pages of a magazine I chanced to notice the advertisement of a wellknown “cure” for lung complaints. The usual advertisement had been replaced by another, which advocated the fresh-air treatment in conjunction with the stuff advertised. The patent medicine companies recognise the potency of the fresh-air treatment in the cure of consumption,, and they know how the public mind is changing with regard to the treatment ot this dread disease, so they couch the advertisements in such a cunning manner, that the patient may take the natural treatment, and yet give the credit of the cure to the nostrum. There are, however, many people, who are looking for the mysterious medical route to health. Those who are open to reason, however, who are capable of doing a little thinking on their own account, are certain to ultimately refuse to countenance the claims of those who look upon medicine as a remedy for all complaints. The drugging habit will be abandoned when its character is understood by the general public. Drugs never have cured, and never will cure a. disease. They have simply diverted or perverted symptoms, and in most instances they have finally resulted iu chronic diseases. It is the prevailing habit to turn to some kind of drug whenever one is attacked by an acute complaint, which ultimately brings about a condition that is manifested in chronic disorders. The habitual use of drugs lowers the vitality, and in many cases almost paralyses the nervous organism. Drugs are poisons pure and simple.

“Drugs have had their day. Their use will decline with marvellous rapidity within the next few years. The drugging doctor will soon be regarded as a factor of the ignorance and superstition of the past, and a true science of healing will spring into robust life, and in consequence the span of human life will be marvellously lengthened. Death should not

come until the body is actually worn out. When death comes, it might reasonably be termed preventable in almost every case, and it is the inefficiency of our present methods of healing which makes its occurrence.” — Bernarr Macfadden.

“Disease cannot attack a perfectly healthy body. Disease germs can never secure a foothold in healthy tissue.”

“He is the best physician who knows the worthlessness of the most medicine.” —Prof. William Osier, of Oxford University, England. “There is an instinct which compels the human being to seek health in muscular exorcise and pleasure in physical exertion.” Sir Frederick Treves.