Health, Happiness, and Longevity Part 1

Health, Happiness, and Longevity.

by Louis Philippe McCarty.

PREFACE.

= ... "to know That which before us lies in daily life Is the prime wisdom. What is more is fume, Or emptiness, or fond impertinence, And renders us, in things that most concern, Unpractic'd, unprepar'd, and still to seek."

--_Milton's Adam to Angel._=

Experience is honored.

This book is the result of experience.

Man is interested in what pertains to health.

We are positive that the ideas herein set forth are healthful.

Our profession is not that of a doctor of chemical medicines.

We have no hobby to ride or patent panacea to advertise, but desire to express, in plain, forcible, truthful language, the methods by which mankind can practically achieve health, happiness and longevity. These go together. Why should they not? Related, dependent upon each other, the great objects of human life, the culmination of all physical and worldly pleasure are contained in them.

Whether you are the perfect embodiment of a business man or the ideal disciple of a certain profession, you cannot possibly reach the highest or even most lucrative grades of your calling without health, happiness, and their logical consequence, longevity. They will prove trusty lieutenants. Without them the battle of life will draw to a close in retreat and end in defeat.

To a.s.sert that the average man can enjoy health without medicine, happiness without even money, and longevity too, is a broad and sweeping declaration. In fact, we expect to have opposition from those who have not tried the formula laid down in the following pages.

To _keep_ yourself in health without medicine is what we intend to convey; and we a.s.sert that but little or no medicine is necessary to reach that condition. To have happiness without any money (in the present condition of society) is not what we claim, but that more happiness can be extracted from a competency than by more or less.

To live to good old age means with us 80 to 120 years, to increase with future generations, when order, regularity, sobriety, cleanliness, and love for the whole human family, shall be paramount in the political, moral, and intellectual world.

The author is living on thirty years of made land. In other words, according to medical diagnosis, he should have _died_ thirty years ago!

Hence he desires to put before the unhealthy, unhappy, and short-lived human race the result of his experience of half a century. Having battled with a score of diseases, a number of which were claimed to be absolutely incurable--having freed himself entirely of them all--having been completely restored to health and happiness, he honestly believes that he has a convincing right to be heard.

You can now prove for yourself.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

"Health is the vital principle of bliss, And exercise of health."

_Health_, _Happiness_, and _Longevity_. What a talisman is here! In them is the magic that can rule all men. No seal, figure, character, engraven on a sympathetic stone, can equal their single or combined influence.

Say to your fellow-man, "If you follow my direction I will confer upon you health, happiness, and longevity," and you will receive his lasting grat.i.tude. He will always be your friend. Money is potent, but these qualities are, as it were, omnipotent. Money alone cannot bring them; they alone can make wealth.

This work is _not_ a _philosophical_ treatise, difficult to read and more so to comprehend. Its ideas are simple, the result of long _experience_ and _observation_. Its propositions are easily demonstrated. Then, my reader, do not think you are perusing the hobbies of a crank, the fantasies of a dreamer, and the preachings of him who does not practice. The world has been so flooded with worthless productions of such characters that we fear we must combat severe _prejudice_. Will you lay that aside? If so we will not only interest but instruct you. Agreeing with our premises and conclusions, you will certainly reap some benefit; not agreeing, you will be tempted to further investigation, which will inevitably prove the strength of our position.

This book was not written at one sitting or many, but it is the culmination of several _years' preparation_. While the first part is the result of thorough reasoning and experience, the second is a collection of the best modern data on prominent diseases and their remedies, with our own annotations. Both sections represent thoughtful and painstaking labor. Even if you are so bold as to maintain that you possess health, happiness, and are sure of longevity, we believe you cannot fail to find practical, valuable truths in these pages. Whether you are an editor, merchant, lawyer, doctor, minister, or day-laborer, we hope at least to entertain you. Are we right? Read and judge.

From the mythological times of _aesculapius_ down to the present day, votaries of medical science have been compounding, diagnosing, and prescribing for helpless, suffering humanity. For many ages this condition may have been a necessity, but in the light of our present civilization, sound common sense is the best physician. That _doctors_ cannot be trusted to be right in every instance or even in a majority of them is shown by practical experiments. They certainly are well proved to be an inharmonious crowd by the experience of a _Boston Globe_ reporter, who recently called upon ten regular physicians on the same day, and described his symptoms in exactly the same language to each. He received ten prescriptions, of which no two were alike, and a majority were utterly inconsistent each with the other. _Nellie Bly_, the famous lady writer of the New York _World_, had a cold and went to over fifty of the city's leading physicians, in October, 1889, asking them to prescribe for her. They did, and among the collection there were no two alike, and many diametrically opposite in nature and effect!

In a lecture recently delivered before the Cooper Medical College, San Francisco, Cal., on the subject of "Quacks and Quackery," by Prof. L. C.

Lane, the speaker said: "Every good thing in the world has been counterfeited, and in these advanced times the work is so well done that it takes an expert to detect the true from the false. Everything is now more or less adulterated, especially the food we consume. The three great professions also of theology, law, and medicine, have been and are grossly counterfeited, especially the latter, which opens up the widest field for imposture."

As the above quotations, without an explanation, might convey the idea to the reader that the author considers that doctors, dentists, and specialists are no longer a necessity, I will say, Under the present state of society, they are not only indispensable, but absolutely a necessity. When you are ill, and do not know what is the matter with you, or if you know the nature of your ailments, and do not know a remedy, seek a first-cla.s.s physician; take his advice in every particular until he either cures you or you are convinced he cannot. I am not a prophet, nor the son of one, but I will venture an opinion that before the close of the next century, the position of the minister, teacher, and physician will be filled by one and the same person. The teacher _then_ will fill the most exalted position on the earth. He will not only instruct how to navigate the air without collision, but how not to catch cold at 30,000 feet elevation in your s.h.i.+rt sleeves, and _who_ and _what_ is _G.o.d_. His school-house will sit upon the most elevated spot in his district, with light reflected from all four sides; it will be at least fifty feet from the floor of his school-room to the ceiling; and in place of a steeple, there will be a dome, containing a 100-inch refractor telescope, and with the extra timber not used for a _steeple_, the seats will be made more comfortable, and pure filtered water will be supplied for the pupils to drink.

It is granted that the majority of mankind appreciate health, desire happiness, and expect longevity. With this as an incentive, why not strive to win the prize? Do not depend on the doctor, do not think some drug must be applied or imbibed for every ill; there are other methods.

Perhaps we can aid you to the true enjoyment of life if you will _impartially_ weigh our _argument_. Here is an _editor_ suffering from nervousness. He consults a physician, who hands him an opiate so that he can sleep. Better if he had given up all thought of his paper and battles of words, on leaving his office, and allowed his throbbing, weary brain a deserving rest. Then the cells of this brainy tissue would cease to be gorged with blood, and sleep would positively follow. Again, there is a _clergyman_ every Sunday beseeching his flock to obey the commandments of the _Bible_; while every day, through carelessness, he is breaking the laws of health. If an _all-wise Being_ gave us our bodies as homes of our souls, did he not mean that we should promote the happiness of the soul by providing for it a healthy residence? What logic and strength exist in a religion that does not countenance such philosophy? The majority of mankind admire a well-developed _physique_.

The minister wishes and prays to influence the ma.s.ses of men. Can he reach them effectively, can he point to himself as an example, can he sway them by any reasoning or eloquence, when he himself has a husky voice, a pallid face, and a weakened figure? Indeed, the cowled, decrepit monk could lead the world in the darkness of the middle ages; but in the brightness of the nineteenth century his scepter is powerless.

_Health_, _Happiness_ and _Longevity_ seem to be all that is required for mortal man. They are the foundation, the superstructure, and the apex respectively of the great _Pyramid_ of life. Who would desire more than the possession of perfect health, the realization of happiness, the achievement of ripe old age, retaining all the pleasurable attributes of Perfected Manhood, experiencing all these until called upon to surrender this present house of clay for a more advanced state, whatever that may be? Such degrees of soundness, felicity, and age, which we have mentioned, are within the reach of all who desire them, if they will observe the rules implied in the following terms, arranged in the order of their importance: Regularity, Cleanliness, Temperance (or moderation), Morality, and Self-control. It is safe to state the proposition that there is not one in a thousand of those induced to peruse this humble effort, who will not claim to possess one or more of the foregoing virtues, while a fair minority will urge that they are characterized by all of them.

That your _egoism_ may not get the better of you in the start and bias you before reading my talk, I will frankly say that there is hardly a person living to-day who is either regular, cleanly, temperate, moral, or self-controlled. It is a fact that some have made fair efforts in those lines of action, but we shall attempt to prove that not any have perfected themselves in a single attribute above mentioned. With us, regularity, cleanliness, temperance, morality, and self-control are so interlaced as to become synonymous terms, the perfection of any one of which means the consummation of all, while their master could laugh at sorrow, pain, and even death, for through long years they would pa.s.s his door and forget to knock. Just in proportion as we approximate these virtues, correspondingly will our _lives_ be prolonged and our _happiness_ intensified. _Fear_ will not prostrate us because

"Death rides on every pa.s.sing breeze, He lurks in every flower."

As modifying the foregoing partially, let us understand, however, that it is possible to have health and longevity to a wonderful degree without cleanliness, temperance, morality, and self-control, on one vital consideration. That is, the _continual_ exercise of _regularity_.

Here we have the corner-stone of the whole structure of health, the cardinal first law. But can we be happy without the generous employment of _all_ these virtues? Obviously and fortunately, we cannot. _Health_ is also the chief _desideratum_ to happiness. As disease creeps through the physical frame, as aches and pains increase and torment our bodies, our _doubts_ supplant _faith_ in the _Source_ of all goodness.

After a quarter of a century's constant devotion, in sackcloth and ashes, as it were, attempting to free the body from the shackles of pulmonary consumption, and growing gradually worse during the whole period, the majority of devotees, we think, would begin to inquire, "Are our prayers lacking sincerity? or is the Source of goodness at this time otherwise occupied? or may it not be that this for which I ask, I must seek by personal action?" We will try this self-helping method; if success comes, we will return to the same altar with a more exalted idea of a higher Source. Cleansed of our maladies, we will have a clearer perception of who and what is G.o.d.

CHAPTER II.

"There is naught like universal co-operation to promote universal achievement."

_Individuals_ may seek and obtain health through the agencies already, and to be, suggested. To keep in health, their _neighbors_ must be induced or compelled to adopt the same course. This is not an absolute law, but manifestly is very essential. Supposing your own house, sidewalk, alley, or yard, are comparatively immaculate, it will be impossible to live without constant danger and exposure if your friend (or enemy in this sense) has an untidy house, a dirty sidewalk, and a filthy yard, in your proximity. Then how encouraging to note that health is as contagious as disease. It even spreads with greater rapidity.

Health is gladly welcomed; disease is shunned like a deadly poison. All over the world past and contemporary history proves that, once started, health spreads at a rate that disease cannot follow. What will surely result? Healthful communities will make healthful munic.i.p.alities; healthful munic.i.p.alities will end in commonwealths and nations of like character. The whole earth will be leavened. From a record of 34 years as the average _duration_ of human life, the thermometer of universal progress will point to the threescore and ten, or 70 years.

If you were induced to smile at the close of the last sentence, it shows that you are not lost to all sense of appreciation--but quietly put on your sober cap for a moment and read a few facts on _vital statistics_.

The average length of life up to twenty years ago was 33 years, now it has reached about 34.8 years. This has not been caused by the _whole_ world becoming more healthful--indeed, some portions of the earth, including sections of the United States, have retrograded, and the former limit of _mortality_ has been lowered--but by the health of a number of _organizations_, _sects_, and individuals who have increased their standards of regularity, cleanliness, temperance, morality, and self-control. Thus the average rate of mortality has been raised nearly 2%. An interesting fact which is new to the majority of persons is this, that the whole sect of _Friends_, or _Quakers_, live an average of 58 years per individual. In the thirty-two years from 1850 to 1882 they raised the average six years, or about one year in five. With this ratio, which is itself increasing, the plurality of Quakers will be centenarians in less than two hundred years--in half that time if a.s.sisted by the world at large. By the foregoing it will be seen that the whole organization of Friends live 70% longer than the general age allotted to mankind, which includes them to make up the universal rate.

Another noticeable feature in connection with the Quakers' life is this, the deaths among them average 18 in every thousand; in the general population, 22 per thousand; while the amount given to charities per inhabitant in that sect is $7.78, and in the total population the average is $1.46. Why this difference in longevity to so marked a degree?

The _prohibitionist_ will give this reason, that the Friends dissipate less; the religionists will say they are more truthful, more G.o.dly.

While each of the aforementioned reasons have a healthful tendency, there is a more scientific conclusion, for it is a well-known fact that there are thousands of cases of longevity of men and women who lack every moral principle, and dissipate all their lives. The _scientist_ comes to our rescue. He tells us that the Quaker's life is prolonged by his methodical way of living, evenness of temperament, wearing the same weight of clothing, allowing nothing to furrow the brow, regularity of sleeping, drinking, exercising, and eating. He takes no food or drink into his stomach above 100 or below 50 Fahr. _Boiling_ hot soup and frozen _ice-cream_ are unknown in a Quaker family. This might convey the idea that ice-cream is foresworn by them. Not entirely so. They use the same good judgment in that as in every other indulgence, allowing the cream to rise in temperature from 10 to 15 above the freezing point, to soft consistency, before it is taken into the stomach. Dr. Ufflemann, a German physician of authority, draws some important conclusions from his own experiments and those of others. The rules laid down are briefly:--

1. That, in general, a temperature of food which approaches that of the blood is most healthful.