What per cent. of children should be circumcised and when?—The best physicians are not agreed on this. Many would say one-fourth to one-third. It is best to do this when the boy is only a few days or weeks old.
Should a young man be circumcised after he is grown?—If the prepuce passes back freely and there is no irritation or soreness, I would not advise circumcision. If there is, I would advise circumcision. In extreme cases of the secret sin, circumcision would help in breaking off the habit.
Is there some method of dilating the prepuce and thus avoiding the necessity for circumcision?—Yes. In many cases doctors are able to break up the adhesions and dilate the prepuce as a substitute for circumcision.
In this matter most parents neglect their boys. When the prepuce is not passed back every few days and the secretion removed, an adhesion takes place between the prepuce and the head of the penis. A large number of boys labor for years, from the age of six to twelve trying to pass the prepuce back. They have not the right motive in doing this. It is impossible for them to handle this organ in this way, several times a day for months or years, without discoveringthe secret sin. In this way they dilate the prepuce and break up the adhesions. It is strange that this experience among boys has not suggested to parents the following natural and practical method of solving this problem.
Where the prepuce passes back naturally in babyhood, the mother should occasionally take a damp cloth and remove the secretion. When the boy is two years old the mother should have the boy trained to do this every two or three days.
Where the prepuce is long and the opening small, if the mother, every time she cares for the little fellow’s body, would endeavor to pull the prepuce back, by the time the boy is one year old, nine times out of ten, the problem would be solved. This should be done so gradually and carefully as not to produce soreness. If this is done before the boy is three years old sex consciousness and passion need not be awakened. I would not advise the mother to begin this after the boy is two or three years old.
Is there a safe method by which small organs, due to the secret sin, may be enlarged?—There are some methods advertised by “quacks” and certain firms, but most of them are unreliable or injurious. The vacuum method is perhaps the most satisfactory. This consists of an appliance that removes the external pressure from the organ and allows theblood to rush into the capillaries. This practice must be kept up for a considerable time to be effective. While this is the most natural method, I would not, in any case, advise the use of it. Any method used tends to call the attention to the organs and this leads to continual sexual weakness. A restored virility is of far more importance than the size of the organ. Because this organ varies in size, many men who have practiced the secret vice to some extent, fear that this organ has become in a measure atrophied.
Would you advise marriage as a remedy for weak manhood?—No. One would simply substitute marital excess for excessive self-abuse or prostitution. If a man has impaired his manhood he should recover his manhood by conserving sexual life, proper diet and physical exercise for a few years before he marries.
What effect will a period of self-abuse have upon one’s offspring?—Perfect children are born of parents having a strong vitality. This vice weakens the vitality. Where a young man has noticeably injured his nerves, his vitality, his health, he should seek to regain his manly powers before he thinks of becoming a father.
Should a young man marry who has for a number of years practiced masturbation?—It is always best for a young man who has practiced thesecret vice for five, ten or fifteen years to quit the habit and live a continent life for one or more years. During this time he becomes normal in his sexual life and sexual demands. If he has practiced the habit only in a very limited way, so that he is not suffering from any bad consequences, postponement of marriage is not necessary.
What should a young man do when he discovers that he has varicocele?—The approach of this disease is first noticed by a dilation of the cord leading to the epididymis of the left testis. When the veins become full of impure blood and feel like a handful of tangled earthworms and the left gland becomes painfully tender and begins to become much reduced in size, then the individual has a real case of varicocele. If, when the veins are only moderately large and there is but little soreness, the causes are abandoned, no serious results may follow. This disease is caused chiefly by the secret sin and impure thinking. In some cases it is caused by a bruise or the “falling of the mumps.” The patient must abandon the cause; if it be the secret sin, quit it; if impure thinking, quit that; if “spooning” with girls, a most common cause, be a gentleman and quit it.
Buy two silken suspensories, so they can be kept clean. The suspensory holds the testes up close to the body and prevents much of the uneasy dragging feeling.If this advice is followed for several months a surgical operation need never be necessary. Not one of several hundred young men who have carefully followed this advice have had to be operated on. If the patient fails to get relief and cure after several months of following this advice, he should consult a home physician.
Does varicocele caused by the “falling of mumps,” lead to sterility?—It does not. If neglected, varicocele, however caused, may lead slowly to sexual weakness and this finally to temporary sterility, or inability to become a father. Prompt attention should be given to the advice found in the answer to the previous question.
When a testicle has become reduced in size can it be restored to normal size?—If in the earliest stage of varicocele, before the gland has become much reduced, the advice found elsewhere in this book is followed, the gland may become normal in size. When the gland has become much reduced in size, it will not be possible to restore it fully.
When a young man has become infected with venereal disease, should he treat himself with a patent remedy purchased in a drug store or send away for a remedy?—A young man’s money, health and life are too valuable to be jeopardized by resorting to either method. Most of these drug storeremedies advertised in gentlemen’s closets are guaranteed to produce a cure in one to five days, and, it is further guaranteed, that the disease will never return. There should be a law prohibiting the sale of such drugs. They are an encouragement to uninformed men to visit the prostitute. When the young man finds that the patent remedy has failed to cure him, he is then perhaps in a chronic state of infection. Now the best medical talent may fail to produce a permanent cure.
Should a young man who has had a venereal disease in a chronic form ever marry?—Few questions are more important and few more difficult to answer. The right of being a husband and father may be annulled by inherited defects or acquired conditions. The wife and child have incontrovertible rights. The specific disease germs producing gonorrhea have been found in the genital vessels and ducts ten years after the victim considered himself cured, and the germs producing syphilis have been found in a man’s brain twenty-two years after he considered himself cured. Sixty-five per cent. of married women who are operated on in their pelvic and abdominal cavities, a very large per cent. of imbecile children, and eighty per cent. of blind infants are traceable to uncured infection in their husbands and fathers.Where the diseases have been properly treated and a cure has been effected in the first stage, no serious after effects will be experienced. Where the seeming cure has been effected several months or years after taking the disease, quite a large per cent. are never free from the effects. If such men marry at all, marriage should be delayed a few years after they consider themselves cured. At intervals of once or twice a year they should be carefully examined by the State Health Board. If no disease germs are found after two, four or more years, the individual may marry with some measure of assurance that he will not infect his wife or child. Even when these necessary precautions have been taken, children to the third and fourth generations may have to suffer for life for the sins of their fathers.
Can gonorrhea and syphilis be permanently cured?—If gonorrhea is promptly and properly treated, it can, in many cases, be cured without danger of return or any serious effects being transmitted to the wife or child. It is also a fact that in many cases of gonorrhea, even when properly treated, there is a strong tendency to run into chronic conditions. When the disease has been neglected or poorly treated, or when a case by its own persistency runs into a chronic state, many such cases are never cured so thatthey may not return in some form. Weakened germs have been known to remain in a quiescent condition in the genital ducts for years.
In recent years many prominent physicians have changed their views regarding venereal diseases, as they are now known to be more insidious and persistent than was formerly thought. Some physicians claim that syphilis may sometimes be cured; but many eminent physicians claim that it is quite probable that when one has once been infected with syphilis that his body is never entirely free from the disease germs. Some authorities claim that the syphilitic germ has been found in the brain twenty years after the disease was contracted. Many leading physicians now consider gonorrhea worse than syphilis.
When a man experiences a sexual desire, does that not indicate that the desire should be satisfied?—Sexual desire results from the conscious possession of creative energy. This creative energy can be disposed of in any one of the following ways: (1) For procreation; (2) Built into the body and converted into health, strength, labor and length of days; (3) Built into the brain and converted into mental attainments and achievements; (4) Built into the feelings, sentiment, emotions, and converted into sympathy, love and service; (5) It can be selfishly dissipated and reveal its misuse in a blighted, wastedlife. What disposition shall be made of this creative energy is up to the individual to decide.
How can a young man judge of his sweetheart’s virtue?—In the same way that a sensible girl would decide upon the virtue of her best gentleman friend. She would consider his reputation, the company he keeps, his general demeanor and his facial indications of chastity. A modest demeanor, absence of familiarity, a pure mind, innocent expressions on the face, and look in the eye, are the only evidences of a young woman’s virtue by which a young man can be guided.
Would it be wise for a young man to test the virtue of his best girl by using the methods of the seducer?—How would he feel if he knew that some young man was practicing the same test on his sister? Not very comfortable, if he had a spark of manhood about him. There is no excuse for or justice in such a test. Under the pressure of the seductive methods used, promise of marriage oft repeated, a pure girl might be induced to surrender her all to the one she loves and trusts. As a rule, such a young man would then refuse to marry the girl he has ruined. If he does marry her, the mistake may mar their future happiness.
Would it be proper for a young man to ask his sweetheart if she has kept her virtue?—Certainly, if he can first assure her that he has kept hisown. If he cannot offer a square deal he should, at least, be willing to take chances.
If a young woman is not a virgin should she be expected to confess this to her lover?—If it were customary for men to make such confessions, then it would be fair for a woman to do the same. Since men do not consider it wise or necessary for them to confess their sins before or after marriage, they should not expect this of women. If the question of virtue is raised, let the innocent party introduce it.
If the arm is not exercised it becomes helpless, withered and weak. If a young man should remain single for five to ten years and live a continent life, will not his sexual organs lose their function, wither and atrophy?—These questions appear to present a most perfect analogy. Based on the information the average young man is supposed to have, even if he be a college or university graduate, not one out of a hundred could extricate himself from the conclusion, that he must reach, viz., continence in the single life leads to a loss of the reproductive powers and to atrophy of parts. When we consider that this is the argument of the immoral doctor, the ignorant and the vicious, the classes to whom young men of the past have been compelled to go for all their sex information, it is not surprising that almost all young men hold to the “sex necessity lie.” In thepast, ministers, teachers and parents have not been in possession of facts with which to combat this sexual heresy.
The solution of this problem lies in the fact that the male and female organs of reproduction have two functions. One is a continuous and regular function, taking place day and night, asleep and awake. The other is a periodic and special function. To illustrate: The breasts of a woman are a part of her reproductive system. A married woman becomes a mother for the first time at the age of twenty. She nurses her babe at her breasts. This function is called lactation. But, it would have been possible for her to become a mother at fifteen and to nurse her child. Then, there were five years during which she did not perform the function of lactation, and yet, she did not lose this function. Suppose she does not become a mother the second time until she is forty. Again her breasts perform this special function as perfectly as they did the first time. But, remember, there were nineteen years during which she did not perform this function, and yet, she did not lose this function. The other sexual organs of a woman have special and periodic functions, such as, menstruation and ovulation. The normal performance of these special functions is determined by their general and continuous function.
If the female sexual glands, ovaries and breasts,were removed from a girl in her infancy, she would never develop the indescribable physical, mental and social charms of ideal womanhood. If these glands were removed at any other age under forty, she would lose in physical, mental and moral tone. This illustrates the nature of the general and continuous function of these organs. This function consists in these organs generating an internal secretion which, if not interfered with, will build and maintain a perfect womanhood. This continuous function gives constant activity to these organs; keeps them healthy and strong and prevents the loss of their special function, that of motherhood.
Day and night, asleep and awake, the male sexual glands are generating an internal secretion which, if retained in the body, will build and maintain perfect manhood. It is this continuous function that gives constant activity to these organs, keeps them healthy and strong and prevents the loss of their special function of reproduction.
What effect upon his sex problems has a young man’s keeping company with young women?—We have a social nature. It should be normally developed. The sex nature and the social nature are vitally related. Improper social relations lead to sensuality and proper social relations lead to purity of manhood and womanhood.
If a young man would develop an ideal social nature, he should to a reasonable extent, associate with modest, discreet and chaste young women. This is natural and in every way helpful. If a young man who has sexual weakness, due to youthful indiscretions, purposes reform and desires to regain his manhood, he will find association with young women of the above type to be very helpful. The normal young man, as well as the sexually weak, should studiously avoid association with girls whose actions, conversation or dress suggests impure thought.
What is the relation of “spooning” to a young man’s sex problems?—A single example of “spooning” will answer this question. January 19, 1912, a college young man, in a personal interview, explained that since April 14th he had been completely impotent and wanted to know of me, if there was any hope for him to have his manhood restored. I assured him that there was. He then asked me what he must do. My reply was, “That depends upon what you have been doing.” I found that he had been guilty of the secret vice and prostitution to only a limited degree. Convinced that these habits would not explain his condition, I said to him, “The trouble is in your mind. You have in some way aroused and maintained a high state of sexual excitement for hours at a time and over a period of months or years. Can you explain?”He confessed that for nearly two years he had spent two or three hours, two or three times a week, in company with a girl friend who permitted him to hold her hands, play with her hair, pat her cheeks and chin, kiss, caress and even fondle her breasts, but absolutely refused to permit further advances. Then I explained to him how this intense sexual excitement had brought on varicocele, loss of sexual power and spermatorrhea.
Spooning is a growing evil. It is more injurious than the secret sin. Our suggestive post cards, pictures on billboards, novels and serial stories, and the moving pictures in five and ten cent shows are all giving young people the idea that spooning is natural and expected as a part of the entertainment, when a young man calls to see his “best girl.”
The girl who permits spooning will lose many of her personal physical charms. The eyes that once sparkled with intelligence and glowed with luster become lusterless, stupid and sunken; the cheeks once rosy and plump become pale and poor; the handshake that was once warm and full of life, is now cold and lifeless. Health is gone. She ends her days in heart trouble, wrecked nerves or consumption.
If cohabitation is not a physical and sexual necessity, or conducive to health, why do married people live longer and have better health thanthose who remain single?—As a rule married people are more temperate in their sexual lives than are the single. But this does not prove that sexual gratification is ever conducive to health and long life. All nature contradicts such a conclusion. The embodiment of life in seed is a universal sacrifice. Many flowering plants wither, fade and die as soon as they embody life in their seed. If young fruit trees bear fruit too early in life, they are stunted in their growth and die prematurely. There is a suspension of growth in all the vegetable kingdom as soon as the function of reproduction is completed. Among the lowest forms of animal life, as soon as the eggs are fertilized, the animal dies. Among all the higher animals, including man, there is abundant evidence of some bodily depression and nervous exhaustion after each act of cohabitation, showing the act to be one of sacrifice. The arrested growth, susceptibility to disease and premature decay among plants, trees and animals, when premature or over-production occurs, are significant illustrations of the baneful effects of youthful dissipation of the sex principle and of marital excesses.
All nature teaches that the normal expression of sex is the unselfish act of embodying life in a new being and that means sacrifice. The story of the cross is typical of all nature. Christ sacrificed his lifethat humanity might have redemptive life through a process of spiritual reproduction, regeneration.
Through centuries of bad heredity, a misunderstanding of the nature and true function of sex and years of violation of sex laws have combined to give men an abnormal sex nature. It has remained for the people of this country to discover and apply the laws of heredity, to learn the true nature and function of sex and to restore to humanity a normal sex nature. The results of centuries cannot be corrected in one generation. Few men will be able to reach the ideal life, but it is the privilege of every man to struggle toward the ideal.
For young people to regard sexual gratification as the one reason for marriage is positively degrading and shows that our ideas of marriage should be corrected. There are many reasons why the married life is the ideal life. Man is a social being. He needs a companion. He is not complete in himself. He represents only one-half of a complete being. He is never quite satisfied until he finds the other half, the complement of himself. A demand for companionship is found in the very physical, mental and moral natures of man and woman. Their constant association, their mutual home interests and sacrifice for their children are very conducive to health, happiness and a long life.
What is the philosophy of the relation of sex to a happy courtship and marriage?—The sexual life forms the basis of these experiences. Without the creative principle, these social relations would be impossible. The love and magnetism that draw the sexes together in courtship and marriage, that harmonize their differences and blend their personalities and make the husband and wife one are the expressions of the sexual life. Young people who get the idea that marriage means unrestricted sexual privilege, will sooner or later land in the divorce court, or be compelled to live miserably together. If they live in harmony with the laws of sex, their honeymoon will be lifelong.
My subject is before you. While we may differ as to some minor particulars, we are agreed that the violation of the laws of sex is the most prolific source of wrecked manhood, and that a pure life is the only possible road to perfect manhood. I have tried to lead you to loathe and abhor all forms of sexual impurity and to form a purpose as lasting as life and as strong as death, that you will never again violate the laws of sexual purity. The attainment and maintenance of perfect manhood, the recovery of wrecked manhood, the transmission of potential perfect manhood to your offspring, all absolutely depend upon your faithfulness to the principles of sexual purityenunciated in this book. If the truths presented in this book keep one boy out of the pit of sensuality, or if they lead one poor faltering man to form an undying purpose to become pure, or if just one man finds help, strength and life through faith in Christ, the author is repaid a thousand-fold. It is a higher honor to wear a crown of perfect manhood than to wear the crown of an angel.
The cuts illustrating the first eleven exercises with descriptive matter, are taken from “Fasting, Hydropathy and Exercise” by permission of the authors Bernarr MacFadden and Felix Oswald, A.M., M.D.—The Author.
The cuts illustrating the first eleven exercises with descriptive matter, are taken from “Fasting, Hydropathy and Exercise” by permission of the authors Bernarr MacFadden and Felix Oswald, A.M., M.D.—The Author.
The importance of physical culture.—This chapter is added for the reason that perfect health, perfect development, perfect virility, perfect manhood is not possible without physical culture. Physical culture includes bathing and exercise. The healthful functioning, of the entire digestive system, the kidneys, the liver, the lungs, the heart and the brain, are related, vitally, to physical culture. Likewise the retention, absorption, distribution and assimilation of the creative life are also vitally related. Bathing and massaging the body and physical exercise have a remedial effect upon almost all physical disorders.
The functions of the skin.-Stop the functions of the skin three minutes and death follows. The skin has two functions, one is to eliminate poisons from the body and the other is to conserve and regulate the heat of the body.
The wild tribes.—In prehistoric times the people wore little or no clothing. In some of the coldest countries wild tribes go almost naked. Under these conditions consumption and many modern diseases are unknown. Clothing is not needed by these people. The skin is able to conserve sufficient heat.
Modern customs.—The wearing of clothing and the neglect of physical culture has to a large extent destroyed the natural functions of the skin. The function of conserving heat is nearly lost by the skin. When the skin is not kept clean and healthy it loses, to some degree, its power to eliminate poisons. When this occurs the kidneys are forced to do overwork. This results in kidney disease.
Getting back to nature.—For people to go naked again is out of the question. Modest, pure-minded, civilized people must wear clothing. Clothing conceals defects, improves bodily appearance and protects the body from heat and cold. Getting back to nature simply means that we are to restore to the skin its natural functions of conserving heat and eliminating poisons.
The air bath.—In athletic exercise the skin is incidentally exposed to the air and sunshine. This largely accounts for the benefits derived.
On arising each morning fifteen minutes should be devoted to restoring and maintaining the natural functionsof the skin. This is done by throwing off the clothing in a fairly cool room, exposing the skin to the air. The skin should be rubbed with the hands or a fairly rough towel until it is stimulated into warmth. It is well to vary the rubbing, using the hands part of the time and the towel part of the time. After the skin has become warm, one can take fifteen minutes of physical exercise, attend to shaving and other features of his toilet, remaining, meantime, entirely or partly naked, to a very great advantage. The open air bath can take place of much of the cold and hot water bathing. Water baths should be taken twice or three times a week and those should be followed by ten or fifteen minutes’ rubbing the body and exercising, in the open air.
Colds prevented.—A person who is able to warm himself by friction during an air bath, in a fairly cool room, renders himself practically immune to colds. Colds cause catarrh, tonsilitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, pleurisy. Pneumonia causes consumption. If one can prevent taking cold he will escape many of the ills of life. In addition to this, when the skin performs its functions properly and the internal organs are doing the same, the person is practically immune to acute contagious diseases.
The air bath should be taken in a room that is properly ventilated. If the friction is performed vigorously,with the mouth closed, this will enforce deep, nasal breathing. This will prevent catarrh, enlarged tonsils and adenoids, and, if continued long enough, will cure mild cases and will assist in the cure of all cases.
Rules for physical exercise.—Physical exercise should not be taken for one hour after a hearty meal. The best time for exercising is immediately after arising each morning.
If one desires to take a cold or warm bath, he should take the air bath first. Following the water bath, he should rub his body with his hands and a Turkish towel until a warm glow is felt all over his body. Then should follow his physical exercise. The lightest dress compatible with decency and comfort should be worn during the exercises described in this chapter. He should not continue any exercise to the point of excessive fatigue. Breathing pauses will frequently be required at first, but these intervals will be less frequent as the lungs develop.
Value of physical exercise.—The beneficial effects of physical culture cannot be overestimated. It strengthens and develops the muscles. It restores the natural functions of the skin. By exercising the muscles of the external organs of the body, exercise is given to the muscles of the internal organs. By restoring the natural functions of the skin and givingnormal exercise to the internal organs we correct the functional disorders of the digestive system, the heart and the lungs, and restore to them their natural functions.
The good effects will be noticed, in some ways, from the start; in other ways several months may be required.
Exercise No. 1.—Reclining on right side and raising left arm, with dumb-bell in hand and elbow rigid from hips to high over head. Same exercise with right arm while reclining on left side. Inhale deep breath as arm goes back.Exercise No. 1.—Reclining on right side and raising left arm, with dumb-bell in hand and elbow rigid from hips to high over head. Same exercise with right arm while reclining on left side. Inhale deep breath as arm goes back.
Exercise No. 1.—Reclining on right side raising left arm, with dumb-bell in hand and elbow rigid from hips to high over head. Repeat this some ten or fifteen times. Now turn on the right side and repeat this exercise with the left hand. Inhale a deep breath each time as the arm goes back. This exercisehelps to expand the chest walls and to develop certain muscles of the arms and side. It is especially valuable for one who feels debilitated, and is of value in several phases of heart disease.
Exercise No. 2.—Reclining on right side and raising left leg as high as possible and the same exercise taken with right leg while reclining on left side.Exercise No. 2.—Reclining on right side and raising left leg as high as possible and the same exercise taken with right leg while reclining on left side.
Exercise No. 2.—Reclining on right side, raising left leg as high as possible. Repeat this a number of times. Now recline on the left side and raise the right leg as high as possible. This exercise develops the muscles of the legs, hips and abdomen. It strengthens the digestive system and will improve an injured spine.
Exercise No. 3.—Recline on back and cross right leg over left as far as possible, and vice versa. Thismovement brings into activity some muscles of the legs often neglected.
Exercise No. 3.—Reclining on back and crossing right leg over left, as far as possible, and vice versa.Exercise No. 3.—Reclining on back and crossing right leg over left, as far as possible, and vice versa.
Exercise No. 4.—Reclining on back, with dumb-bells, or any object weighing one to two pounds in hands, at sides, raising same with elbows rigid, and cross arms over chest. This brings into activity several muscles of the arms, shoulders and walls of the body, stimulating the action of the lungs. This is especially valuable where one is unable to leave his bed.
Exercise No. 5.—Reclining, bring right leg up, clasp hands over knee and pull leg up as far as possible and vice versa. This exercise brings into play a large variety of muscles, especially the muscles of the abdomen. It is a constipation cure. With a little effort one can voluntarily exercise the muscles of the
Exercise No. 4.—Reclining on back, with dumb-bells in hands at side, raising same with elbows rigid, and crossing arms over chest.Exercise No. 4.—Reclining on back, with dumb-bells in hands at side, raising same with elbows rigid, and crossing arms over chest.
Exercise No. 5.—Reclining, bring right leg up, clasping hands over knee and pulling leg up as far as possible.Exercise No. 5.—Reclining, bring right leg up, clasping hands over knee and pulling leg up as far as possible.
abdomen in such a way as to cause the intestines to move in a circle, first to the right, then to the left, finally drawing them up and down. This combined with the foregoing exercise, if practiced daily, will relieve and cure many cases of constipation.
Exercise No. 6.—Reclining and bringing arms from far back straight upward with elbows rigid, to straight over chest, drawing deep breath and retaining same during movement.Exercise No. 6.—Reclining and bringing arms from far back straight upward with elbows rigid, to straight over chest, drawing deep breath and retaining same during movement.
Exercise No. 6.—Reclining with dumb-bells in hands, bring arms from far back straight upward with elbows rigid, to straight over chest; draw a deep breath and retain same during the movement. This is, in part, the exercise used in reviving half-drowned persons. In addition to the fine muscular movements, it aids in deep breathing and is a fine lung tonic.
Exercise No. 7.—Reclining and raising left leg as high as possible, with knee straight, and repeat same with right leg.Exercise No. 7.—Reclining and raising left leg as high as possible, with knee straight, and repeat same with right leg.
Exercise No. 7.—Reclining on back, raise left leg as high as possible, with knee straight. Repeat several times: also, repeat this exercise with right leg. This is a modification of Number 2. A splendid exercise for the hips and has a wholesome effect upon the spine.
Exercise No. 8.—Stand, with hands on hips, swaythe body in a circular manner, to the right, left, backward and forward. It is a splendid exercise for stimulating the intestines.
Exercise No. 8.—Standing, hands on hips, circulatory body exercise, swaying body in circular manner right, left, back and forward.Exercise No. 8.—Standing, hands on hips, circulatory body exercise, swaying body in circular manner right, left, back and forward.
Exercise No. 9.—Reclining on back, with both hands, grasp some object back of head; now, holding the knees rigid, raise both feet to a vertical position.This exercise is rather severe at first. It should be repeated several times. It exercises the abdominal and hip muscles.
Exercise No. 9.—Reclining, hands grasping something back of head, raising both feet to vertical position.Exercise No. 9.—Reclining, hands grasping something back of head, raising both feet to vertical position.
Exercise No. 10.—Reclining on stomach, raise left leg, with knee straight, as high as possible; same with right. Repeat these exercises several times. This exerciseis tiring at first. It limbers up the joints. For a person who has been accustomed to inactivity, as in the case of bedridden invalids, this is a valuable exercise.
Exercise No. 10.—Reclining on stomach, raising left leg with knee straight, as high as possible; same with right.Exercise No. 10.—Reclining on stomach, raising left leg with knee straight, as high as possible; same with right.
Exercise No. 11.—Recline on stomach, grasp dumb-bells in both hands, raise arms from hanging
Exercise No. 11.—Reclining on stomach, grasping dumb-bells in hand, raising arms from hanging position to position illustrated.Exercise No. 11.—Reclining on stomach, grasping dumb-bells in hand, raising arms from hanging position to position illustrated.
Exercise No. 12.—Reclining arms hanging, raising bells upward and outward from the body, level with shoulders. Reversing that motion by bringing bells from position illustrated in No. 11 to position on level with the shoulders, as illustrated in No. 12.Exercise No. 12.—Reclining arms hanging, raising bells upward and outward from the body, level with shoulders. Reversing that motion by bringing bells from position illustrated in No. 11 to position on level with the shoulders, as illustrated in No. 12.
position to position illustrated. This exercise will strengthen the muscles of the neck and shoulders. If one has sustained some injury that threatens tetanus, or “lock-jaw” complications, the application of this exercise would often break the spell. “Keep moving your arms, keep moving your arms,” was Dr. Benjamin Rush’s constant advice to persons threatened with tetanic complications.
Exercise No. 12.—Reclining with arm hanging, raise dumb-bells upward and outward from the body, level with shoulders. Reverse this motion by bringing bells, from position illustrated in No. 11, to position on level with shoulders, as illustrated in this exercise. In value and results this exercise is very much like No. 11. Consumptive microbes will have a poor chance to effect a lodging in a body getting the benefit of these exercises.
A critic answered.—During a lecture in a western city the author gave his audience an opportunity to ask questions and state their objections to his views on heredity. One of his auditors declared that he did not believe in heredity. He was then asked whether he believed in the improvement of mankind.
“Certainly,” was the objector’s reply.
“How do you suggest that this improvement may be accomplished?”
“I believe in ideal environment.”
“So do I; but, I also believe in the agencies of ideal heredity and the grace of God.”
“I don’t know anything about your last agency and I do not believe in your first; but I do believe in ideal environment.”
“Do you understand farming?”
“I am a farmer.”
“Very good; suppose you have a field you wish to plant in corn. You have access to two cribs. One is filled with nubbins; the other with large, shapely, well-matured ears of corn. From which of the two cribs would you select your seed corn?”
“I would select from the one containing the better corn.”
“But, you have just stated that you do not believe in heredity.”
“Now, Professor, you are talking about corn.”
“Yes, I am telling you how to improve corn by the intelligent control of heredity. Suppose you have no stock, but you wish to begin raising stock. Your father has some scrub stock and some pedigreed stock. He is willing for you to select your breeding stock without cost. From which of the two grades would you select?”
“I would certainly select from the pedigreed class.”
“But you have informed me that you do not believe in heredity.”
“Now you are talking about hogs, cattle and horses.”
“Yes, I am trying to explain to you that in the improvement of our domestic animals we are wise enough to use the agency of heredity. Suppose you had a daughter of marriageable age and she is entertaining a marriage proposition from each of two
A WILD ROSE.—Nature Gave us This.A WILD ROSE.—Nature Gave us This.
AMERICAN BEAUTY ROSE.—Good Heredity and Environment Produced This.AMERICAN BEAUTY ROSE.—Good Heredity and Environment Produced This.
young men. She comes to you for your fatherly advice and counsel. You know the records of the two young men. One is rich and rotten, the son of a corrupt politician. The other young man has good parents, a clean record, all the physical, mental and moral qualities of a real man, but he is poor. Nine times out of ten you would advise your daughter to take the fellow that is rich and rotten. You have good corn sense, good hog sense, good cow sense and good horse sense; but you have mighty poor son-in-law sense.”
When my audience ceased applauding, I held a book up before them and allowed it to represent a ten-acre field to be planted in corn. I assumed that all parts of the field were to have the same quality and richness of soil, uniform rain-fall and sunshine, and the corn to receive uniform cultivation. In this event the corn in all parts of the field would have the same environment. Then I said to my audience, “If there is nothing in heredity and you plant one-half of this field in corn selected from nubbins and the other in corn selected from large, shapely, full matured ears, the side of the field planted in nubbins will produce as fine corn as the other side.”
If there is nothing in heredity, and all in environment, the offspring from the vicious cow will be as docile and as safe as the offspring from the gentle cow; the offspring from the scrub horse with a six-minuterecord can be trained to trot as fast as the colt whose parents had a record of a mile in less than two minutes; and the children of the degenerate class will be as healthy and well developed, as intellectual and moral as the children of the normal parents.
Heredity in plant life.—There is operative in every sprig of grass, weed, vegetable, shrub, and tree two agencies—heredity and environment. What they are and what they are to be are wholly determined by these two agencies. In the past fifty and seventy-five years we have doubled the size, variety and quality of our vegetables and fruits. Nature gave us the wild rose, bearing a small bloom with five petals; nature and man have produced the large, shapely, fragrant, beautiful rose of the yard and garden, bearing from fifty to one hundred petals to the bloom. Nature gave us the knotty wild strawberry; nature and man have produced the large, luscious strawberry of the market and table. If our cultivated and highly developed vegetables and fruits had been left to the careless farmer, or in their wild state, with their heredity and environment without intelligent control, a Keifer pear and an Alberta peach would not have been produced in a million years.
Heredity in animal life.—In the last fifty and one hundred years intelligent man, through the wise control of heredity and environment, has produced the