THE CARE OF HEALTH. (New York Tribune)

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 404, 15 December 1874, Page 2

THE CARE OF HEALTH. (New York Tribune)

Some weeks ago we reprinted an article from the Pad Mall Gazette, entitled, " Turning Points in Physical Life." It was a very wise and suggestive article, and any one who read it with care is not likely to forget the lessons which it taught. The writer showed how much may be done by every man for himself towards the preservation of his health, and he incidentally said that at the age of forty, or thereabouts, most of us can tell pretty accurately of what complaints we should die, " barring accidents." y This doubtless seemed to many persons rather a startling remark, even with the important limitation touching accidents, which the writer doubtless meant to include the onlooked-for outbreaks ot epidemics and similar disasters, as well as the ordinary accidents by flood and field. But startling as the saying may seem it is doubtless very near the truth! After a man has lived forty years in the world, he has found out his vulnerable point, and knows, the corner round which his enemy is lurking, in leadiness to attack him. In the strongest piece of machinery there is generally a weak place, .-although it may not always be detected. Yet, observed or unobserved, it is there, and will produce its effects sooner or later. And how to guard against its consequences — how to stave off" that breakdown which it is eventually destined to produce — i S) after all, the great secret of taking care of one's health. The writer, who* e article we quoted a little while ago, gave many hints on this subject, some of which were very valuable, while a few must, for generality of mankind, be set aside as impracticable. They might be beneficial if they could be carried out ; but the difficulty is that they cannot bo carried. It is like the advice so often given by doctors t.) biok persons, to take change of air and a long holiday. But these remedies—- doubtless the most potent of all which are known to medical men are beyond the reach of nine-tenths oi mankind. And therefore it is often necessary to get on without them. Anyone who has watched the growth of children is well aware of the difficulty of preserving a continuous state of good health. From the cradle to the grave all kinds of maladies beset the path. The utmost care of children will not always waid off the foe, as too many of us ha\ c known to our sorrow. It may be said that the children who receive less care sometimes get or better, and the poor barefooted and ragged children of the street are pointed to in verification of the remark. But how many children of this kind sink into the grave almost unnoticed 1 The mortality returns of this very 6ummer in New Yoik Bhow that hnndieds disappear in the struggle ; it is only the strongest who _ survive. "When the dangerous period of childhood is passed, with all its attendant diseases, there is still many a rock ahead. In the midst of apparent good health a flaw appears which is perhaps destined to exercise its influence throughout the remainder of existence. Nor can all the rules ever devised by physiologist, or philosophers guard against such evils as these. Rise early, say some — and yet early rising may somotimes be positively injurious. In like manned even exercise is not always beneficial. Experiences

observers like Dr Hammond s.y that the occasional me of alcoholic liquors may do good rather th-m harm, while others look upon oven a moderate use of them as absolutely fatal to prolonged health. Whatever the truth may be on tbit subject, there can be no doubt that temperance is the surest road to heilth, although even when we lay thit down as an axiom, someboh' may bring forward a Ions; list of exceptions. We have a'l known exceedingly temperate men whose collapse was very midden. And perhaps we all know men who are far from 'temperate and who yet live on in boisterous health. fe:it euch exceptions prove nothing, since it cannot be doubted that temperance in all things is more coiducive to good health and enjoyment than cxc -3d. And if a man cannot keep well by loading a temperate life, drunkenness or dissipation will certainly not help him. Alter all i he number of thoroughly he-tlUiy men or women in the world is exceedingly smsill —so sm;ill that it would astonish us if we could onl\ asceitnin it. An enormous proportion of the hard woik of life is done by machinery which can onh be described hs bein^ in a ri<:kety condition* The am aint o nervi>u«* energy sometimes po3sesed b\ peisons whose b >dily heath is of the po rest, kiivl. must often have suipnsed us all. They seem a> though a putfofwind would sweep them uwiiy, and yei they outlive storms before whirli many im apparent ly invincible frame is obliged (o yield Such men, as a rule know just how far their stengtl will carry them and seldom mako too great a der»ianil upon it They '-humoir'' the v\eak pl»ce Ai d this is. perhap c , as great a secret in the urt »>f taking- cue ofonesefas any other that c<m bt uamed For the re.st, it is as well to give no ur, nete-9nr/ thought to (he sulytrt— a cuidition <.' mind which may be aided by the reflection that we are all hs tiavellers who cm foresee «t wbnt part of the rond our journey will buddeuly come to an end, and who can only hope thsit when the last Btage is reached we shall find rest and peace.