Arnold Lorand

“ As a rule a man with a well-balanced mind, who is not disturbed by the smaller worries of life, has more chances of a green old age than a man whose easily impressionable mind exposes him to continual agitation and anxiety, and who is overwhelmed by the slightest untoward event. A man who is a born optimist and who views everything in a rosy light, has got far more chance than a pessimist who sees everything in a cloud. ”

“ It is a singular anomaly that the English, who in many questions of hygiene, as by conducting their sports in the open air, stand at the head of all nations, yet obstinately stick to their tall hats and long black coats in the warmest summer weather, sacrificing health and comfort to social prejudices. ”

“ If we consider the human body we find that to the smallest details, to the minutest of the millions and millions of cells of which it is composed, it is built up in a most marvelous way. It is admirable with what ingenuity and forethought the smallest particles are put together to suit one another. There may be an artistic genius who can erect one wonderful construction, as a masterpiece of art ”

“ To the red cheeks of those people who pass much time in the open air and sun, we can compare, as a contrast, the pale faces with a greenish hue of those who live in the dark, like polar explorers. If strong light dilates the blood-vessels, and sends much blood to the periphery of the body, thus promoting the insensible perspiration and metabolism, on the other hand, in the long night of the arctic regions there is contraction of the blood-vessels, and the blood is kept back in the interior of the body, with the retention of excretory products. ”

“ They are pained by circumstances and are always governed by them, whereas a person with a healthy thyroid and healthy testicles, like the heroes sculptured by the Greek artists, who have fire and courage in their eyes, faces all circumstances. Such as these control all circumstances, sometimes even fate, and it is not fate that governs them. Sometimes we feel inclined to think that there is no such thing as fate, at least for such men. They mould their own destiny themselves, and always succeed in pushing on with their iron will. ”

“ It would lead us too far to insist on the enormous advantage of married life for public morality, for the prevention and repression of crime, and even for the welfare of the State, the soundest foundation of which is family life. Each family is a little community in itself, with the father at the head as king, and the mother as queen. ”

“ The most absurd part of our linen outfit is unquestionably that instrument of torture we wear as a yoke around our neck, preventing a free circulation through our most important arteries and throttling one of our most important organs—the thyroid gland. This we know as the “starched collar,” without which we must not appear in decent society. It is in any or all of its present shapes an unhealthy article of clothing, but especially so when, from foolishness, it is worn standing high up to the chin, keeping away the air from the neck and hindering free circulation. ”

“ Realizing that what is irreparably lost can never be recovered, notwithstanding oceans of tears and the deepest sorrow, we must succeed in understanding the uselessness of it and make up our mind to eradicate entirely from our recollections things that can never be altered. Not to worry about anything is the surest and most successful way to attain long life and a green old age, and by the exercise of some will-power and consistent training such a mental condition can be obtained.
There are certain external agencies which can powerfully assist to bring about forgetfulness. ”

“ If such a diet be beneficial in cases where the tissues of the liver are degenerated, it appears reasonable to assume that it will be equally efficacious when the liver has not yet been altered by disease. We must realize that the various unwholesome matters we eat or drink are carried to the liver to be dealt with, and that the end-products of the decomposition of the meat, and other elements contained in preserved meat which may not be perfectly sound, may injure the liver-tissue, or, at any rate, throw more work on this organ than food in the nature of vegetables or milk. ”

“ When nature created our different organs they were intended to be used, and there is no part and no organ in the body that should not fulfil its function (even the appendix, as lymphatic tissue, has one) . No exception can be made in favor of the sexual organs, although the hypocrisy of certain faddists would have us believe that these organs alone out of the whole body should serve no purpose whatever. Indeed, the whole anatomical construction and the physiological working of these organs—differing in each sex—shows that Nature intended them to be used in conjunction with each other. ”

“ As soon as retrograde changes commence in the ovaries, the summer of a woman’s life is over; and, just as summer is sometimes prolonged into autumn, so at this period of her life may she still retain strong sexual desire. Happy the woman whose heart, as well as her ovaries, undergoes a senile involution, for there is nothing more terrible for a formerly beautiful woman than to see her charms wane while her heart remains young. ”

“ Day after day the same killing of body and nerves goes on till these people look old long before fifty, if, indeed, they reach that age. Arteriosclerosis, diabetes, gout, and obesity find many victims among such men. It is sad to think how many thousands of these splendid people, full of genius and talent, could be saved for their native country if only they had been taught in their youth the most elementary rules of hygienics. What joy does money afford without health? ”

“ If some persons, otherwise healthy and of good family history, can with impunity indulge till old age in wine and tobacco, yet this is not a general rule. Individuals are known who drank and smoked till over one hundred years of age, but such cases are rare, and we may quote the Latin proverb: “Quod licet Jovi, non licet bovi.” Everybody will admit that the expectation of life in those who are moderate in the use of wine and tobacco and also, let us insist, of tea and coffee, is much greater than in the immoderate. We will further deal with this question in our chapters on alcohol and tobacco. ”

“ By laying too great a burden upon an organ, and continually overworking it without giving it any rest for recuperation, we are burning the candle at both ends, and rapidly exhausting the vitality of such important organs as the liver, kidneys, pancreas, stomach, and intestines, not forgetting those important glands, the thyroid and parathyroid, which take a great share in the destruction of poisonous products formed in our bodies from the end-products of food. ”

“ On the other hand, we see the wonderful work of Nature; for, as already shown in Chapter III, our body is wonderfully provided with every means of defense against disease; and like a careful mother, Nature warns us first, for hardly ever do we get ill without there being some premonitory symptoms. Thus, before chronic kidney affections come on, we eliminate for some months, and sometimes longer, casts; and before diabetes comes on traces of sugar, as a rule, appear in the urine for a certain time; and then is the time for us to follow a diet in order to avoid these diseases. ”

“ Judging from my own personal experience, I do not think it possible for persons who confine themselves solely to a vegetable diet to prosper and look well, especially if they exist on such insufficient food for several months, and still less so if they continue such a course for a longer time. We know that all the people of our acquaintance who existed for a long time on such a diet, presented a pale, haggard and miserable appearance, so that we could not but pity them. ”

“ Comparing our system to an oven in which food represents the fuel: Just as oxygen is necessary for combustion in the oven, so we could not carry out the processes of combustion in our system without a plentiful supply of oxygen through our lungs and skin. Also, just as gases produced in a furnace must have free exit, so the carbonic acid, formed in our tissues in the processes of combustion, must be eliminated by the lungs and skin, otherwise auto-intoxication will occur. The above-named authorities have reckoned exactly how many calories the various kinds of food produce in our body. ”

“ As already said it is a sad fact, that persons may suffer from coronary sclerosis without even knowing it, as there are also thousands of xxviiivictims of arteriosclerosis who are utterly ignorant of their condition, as this disease often presents no marked symptoms. I must deplore that most stupid habit of seeking for medical aid only when the ravages of disease have gone so far that reparation is impossible. How often do people forget the wise English proverb: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” ”

“ How can the sun and air penetrate such idiotic harness, and how can the poisonous exhalations of the body find their way into the fresh air when they are retarded by very heavy and warm woolen underwear? We must again repeat that we catch cold much more easily when we are clad too warmly than too lightly. The more freely we perspire in our clothes the more easily we catch cold. ”

“ There is not one thousandth of an inch of our body surface which does not swarm with innumerable bacteria, and as soon as the continuity of our skin is severed, as by a small wound, they immediately invade our tissues and attack us. Happily we are not without means of defense. Our organism is so well arranged that, as soon as a foreign body enters which might become injurious, a kind of police organization comes into action, and the leucocytes, like policemen, arrest the bacilli, and render them harmless by eating them up. ”

“ Even if at this time of her life, aware of the approach of old age and its cruelties, she may be inclined to say with Longfellow, “but the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,” still there are, in the present state of science, plenty of resources open to her, no less than to a man, to put off old age for a score of years, or to mitigate its effects when it has asserted itself with all its terrors. ”

“ It is a fundamental principle in the treatment of old age to give a rest to those organs of the body which are the most active. Such a rest will certainly do good to the stomach, especially in the case of heavy eaters, and will improve its vitality. The same maxim holds good for the liver and kidneys.
There is no food which, with the same nutritive content, contains so few harmful toxic products as milk. Imagine the difference between the liver or thyroid of a heavy meat eater, and those of one who has long taken mainly milk. ”