ENTHUSIASM FOR HEALTH

Evening Star, Issue 19659, 12 September 1927, Page 13

ENTHUSIASM FOR HEALTH

Man has a deeply-rooted admiration for physical fitness ami prowess, going back, no doubt, to pre-historic times, when these qualities were of obvious .survival value. Before large societies had arisen, witn their kindly yet often baleful power of extending their protective shield over under-par individuals, who would otherwise have been speedily wiped out in the struggle for existence, there was necessarily a prei iniuiu on health, and rewards of leadership and the like wont to those who excelled in vigor and _ The ancient admiration for these qualities is still happily strong in our midst, though it ofen unfortunately exhausts itself in passive applause without any active sharing. . . . I Bodily health brings its own reward—the thrill of vigor, the light step, the enjoyment of endurance, the readiness for adventure; but it also brings the higher happiness for a clear head, with an appetite for good intellectual fare, . it means some capacity for enjoying the good things of life—the sunshine, the open air, the country, the birds and flowers; it also means some surplus energy to spare for one’s friends.—Professor J. Arthur Thomson, in ‘Towards Health.’