A Case of Temperance.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 132, 5 June 1937, Page 3

A Case of Temperance.

After the growing age is passed the demand is not so great in proportion to the size of the body, but still a young man can always get rid of the food he eats by his own energy. It is when the age of forty is reached that the energies begin to show a little falling off. The young man flies upstairs two at a time; your man of forty walks up sedately. The youth rushes down the street to catch the bus; your man of forty waits for the next. And what is true of forty has a still greater significance at fortyfive and fifty. Muscular energy gets less and less; but alas! the pleasures of the table are indulged in more and more. This is so true and so obvious that one would think it ought not to be necessary to call attention to it. It is all very well to write in a paper that nearly every man over forty eats too much, but if a doctor tells this to his patient he does not make himself very popular. It is glossed over by saying that the liver is out of order, or that he is in need of a digestive pill. The brutal truth is that the patient is eating too much, and that he would be perfectly well if he would exercise greater self-restraint and temperance in the matter of eating.

Muscle and Soul.

A muscle is all the better for being worked; it degenerates if it is left idle or if a crutch or belt or elastic support does its work for it. There must be some close analogy between a muscle and a man’s soul. I feel sure a man degenerates when he does not use his brain and muscles. When I was young a man would call and see me and say he felt rather seedy, but he would not claim on the club; he wanted the club to flourish; he wanted to put in as much as he could and take out as little as he could. Alas! I never find that spirit now; all is changed, and as I think, for the worse. All the young strong men are taught to put in as little as possible to to strain every nerve to extrace the uttermost farthing. What shall it profit a man if he receives many pounds in doles and lose his self-respect? By looking in a man’s mouth I can tell on which side he bites; the teeth that are used are stronger and cleaner than the teeth that are never employed in grinding the food. Work keeps us well and strong. It is my business to look after people’s health, and the first rule of health is work. A Case of Bleeding. Bleeding from varicose veins may be a very serious accident. At all costs, and wherever you are, you must lie down and hold your leg up, and, if possible, put your finger on the bleeding place. The bleeding will never stop of its own accord, at least, not until there is no more blood to come. You might as well expect the water to stop running out of a hole In the bottom of a bucket. You should send for a doctor at once, and give a clear message so that he may know the matter is urgent.