HEALTH AND HARD MUSCLES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXI, Issue XXIII, 3 December 1898, Page 718

HEALTH AND HARD MUSCLES.

If Joseph Simpson were not a blacksmith we might not have occasion to allude to him at the very outset of this writing. But he is a blacksmith, and will thus serve an important purpose. that too without having to put on his leather apron to do it. And he will do it by standing In front of his forge for five minutes while we all take a look at him. He is a strong and robust man. as Mr Dickens" Joe Gargery was—as all blacksmiths ought to be. Ought to be, I say. But are they? As a matter of faet, no they are not —not by many a length of nail rod.

Now it is sometimes a common notion that all men who work hard, especially amid rough surroundings and in the fresh air. are apt to be vigorous, healthy fellows; they are supposed to joke at doctors, to have no use for apothecaries, and even to regard undertakers as the necessity of a distant future. Is this view a true view? Are health and hard muscles always found together? Take your time to think. Meanwhile, we will hear what Mr Simpson himself says: —

‘Up to the spring of 1855,’ he writes in a letter dated May sth, 1593, ‘I was strong as most men—perhaps stronger than most. Then I began to suffer from illness. My victuals and I had a falling out. After every meal I had great pain and fulness of the ehest. Then I got into such a condition that I had these feelings nearly all the while. I tried to avoid them by eating nothing but light food, but the result was just the same. I think a morsel of bread would have hurt, me almost as much as a round of beef. Then I began to lose weight, and I had all I eould do to keep up with my work. The doctor gave me medicine, but I got no help from it. ‘I was wondering how this would end when I heard of Mother Seigel’s Curative Syrup, and bought a bottle of it from Mr James Crossley, the grocer at Mile Walk. The effect was speedy. It appeared to go straight to the right spot, and it wasn’t long befor I was able to eat without any pain to follow. Then my strength and flesh gradually came back, and ever since I have done my work as easily as I did before the disease, whatever it was. overtook me.—(Signed) John Simpson. Cliviger. near Burnley.’

Now. about that health and hard muscle question that I put to the reader. What’s the auswer? Why, of course, the answer is what any intelligent man would make who thinks with his eyes open. No. health and hard muscles are not always found together. But let us look sharp and commit no errors. The facts run this way: While a man cannot grow strong without a certain degree of health, it is also true that a notable amount of muscular power is consistent with both organic and functional trouble of the stomach, liver, kidneys, or heart. A man may be able to lift 5001bs and drop dead within a minute after he does it. Sailors, farmers, miners, drivers of trams, ’busses, etc., outdoor labourers of different sorts (especially after reaching mid-life) nearly all fall victims to rheumatism, nervous debility, or dyspepsia. Yes. and do hard work for years just the same. I said ‘or’ dyspepsia. Leave out the ‘or’ and say dyspepsia—dyspepsia only

—and you have struck bottom. This produces all the other maladies; they are merely results and symptoms of it. There’s no keeping clear of it by running off to sea. working on a farm, or diving down into a mine. No matter where you go or what you do. indoors or out, clerking in the Bank of England or driving the locomotive of the Scotch Express—dyspepsia will get hold of you if you give it a chance. And most men do that as if they were as eager to be ill as they are to be rich. Which reminds me to tell you in a subsequent article how to avoid dyspepsia. For this time I can only speak of how to cure it. Imitate John Simpson’s example. Do what he did. And remember that stalwart men (all unconscious) often stand nearer a bed of pain, nearer death, than do the feeble women whom they pity.