WHEN HEALTH BECOMES A DISEASE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160692, 3 July 1920, Page 5

WHEN HEALTH BECOMES A DISEASE.

The following editorial from the- Gary Times is printed by the Journal of the Medical Association as a lesson to health faddists;

There is a good deal of truth in the satirical story of Jiggins, who had tho health habit. Jiggins lived 20 years ago, and health was a disease with him. Jiggins took a cold plunge every morning. He said it opened his pores. After it he took a hot sponge. He said it closed the pores. He got so that he could open and shut his pores at will. Jiggins used to stand and breathe at an open window for half an hour before dressing. He said it expanded his lungs.’ ° After all it cost him nothing this* way. And what is half an hour? After he had got his vest on, Jiggins used to hitch himself up like a dog in harness and do shadow exercises. Ho did them forward, backward and hindside up. He spent all his time at this sort of thing. In his spare time at tho office he used to lie on his stomach on the floor, and see if he could lift himself up with his knuckles. If he could, then he tried some other way until ho found one that he couldn’t do. Then ho would speud the rest of his lunch hour ou his stomach, perfectly happy. In the evenings, in his room, he-used to lift iron bars, cannon balls, heavy dumb bells, and haul himself up to the ceiling with his teeth. He liked it. Ho spent half the night slinging himself around his room. He said it made his brain clear. When he got his brain perfectly clear, he went to bed and slept. As soon as he awoke he began clearing it again. Jiggins is dead. He was, of course, a pioneer! but the facti that ho dumb-belled himself to death at an early age docs not prevent a wholo generation of young men following in his path. They arc ridden by the health mania. They make themselves a nuisance. They get np at impossible hours. They go out in silly little suits, and run marathon heats before breakfast. They chase around barefooted to get the dew on their feet. They hunt for ozone. They bother about pepsin. They won’t eat meat because it has too much nitrogen. They won’t eat fruit because it hasn’t got any. They prefer albumin and starch to pic and pastry. They won’t drink water out of a tap. They won’t eat sardines out of a tin. They won’t use oysters out of a, pail. They won’t drink milk out of a glass They are afraid. And after all their fuss they presently incur some simple, old-fashioned illness and' die like anybody else.