Human health

“ But in the happy world to which we Positivists look forward, these victims would not exist.
‘Day by day Science, which you despise too much, is enlarging the area of human health. Think what has been done, even within the last decade, to abolish both physical and social disease! ”

“ For let me ask you, ladies, with all courtesy, but with all earnestness—Are you aware of certain facts, of which every one of those excellent medical men is too well aware? Are you aware that more human beings are killed in England every year by unnecessary and preventable diseases than were killed at Waterloo or at Sadowa? ”

“ It is not our concern to discuss in this connection questions of diet, sanitation, hygiene, exercise and similar aids to the promotion of health. Their value is of the first order and may not be ignored or discounted. But just now we are concerned with another part of human nature which has much to do in determining our condition of body—the sense which furnishes us with ideals. ”

“ In short, the whole number of diseases that beset the human family can be cured by care, cleanliness, regularity, fresh air, cold water used internally, and by compress, proper clothing, right food, regular exercise, an even disposition, a clear conscience, intelligent and agreeable associates, and a reasonable amount of time. ”

“ There is, however, some reason to believe that the diminution of disease and the prolongation of average human life are not necessarily or even generally accompanied by a corresponding improvement in general health. 'Acute diseases,' says an excellent judge, 'which are eminently fatal, prevail, on the contrary, in a population where the standard of health is high.... ”

“ To urge every individual to go to his or her doctor for periodical health inspections to detect disease in time to arrest or cure it.
9. To urge employers of labor to give their employes these examinations free as a part of their efficiency and welfare program.
10. To encourage philanthropy, now so generously contributing for the care of the sick, to also enter the field of disease prevention which it has so far quite generally neglected.
Human life is our paramount asset. Its conservation should be your paramount issue. ”

“ Before, Physicians attempt to cure disease, they should know now to sustain normal health, and equally comprehend what disease is. Perfect health signifies Physiology, but comparative health is bordering on Pathology or disease. Perfect health is that condition of the human system in which every organ, gland and fibre is sound and fully developed, and each performs its duty, and no more nor less. ”

“ Modern science has turned its forces upon this question of maintaining at its highest potentiality the ability of the body to resist disease. All the habits of the human race have been investigated in the light of this idea, and some have been found to be wise and others to be unwise. ”

“ We now possess enough sanitary knowledge to reform the physical and moral condition of the human race if it were generally diffused and its rules systematically applied. Scientific investigations and the knowledge of hygienic laws are far in advance of the practices of daily life. The knowledge is within our reach, which, if employed, would save the lives of tens of thousands of human beings around us, keep this army of sick in vigorous health, and make our homes the precious centres of ennobling influence that they are intended to be. ”

“ The state of ignorance of the majority of people concerning the workings of their own [Pg 273] bodies and the way to take care of them is to-day one of the greatest barriers to human progress. Few people realize that they ought to care for their bodies ”

“ The purpose of the Life Extension Institute embraces the extension of human life, not only as to length, but also, if we may so express it, as to breadth and depth. It endeavors to accomplish this purpose in many ways, but especially through individual hygiene.
Thoroughly carried out, individual hygiene implies high ideals of health, strength, endurance, symmetry, and beauty; it enormously increases our capacity to work, to be happy, and to be useful; it develops, not only the body, but the mind and the heart; it ennobles the man as a whole. ”

“ I have not only found good health, but perfect health; I have found a new state of being, a new potentiality of life; a sense of lightness and cleanness and joyfulness, such as I did not know could exist in the human body. ”

“ If we could at intervals thoroughly wash man free of his poisons and nourish him, there seems to be no reason why he should not live indefinitely.
Section V—Hygiene and Civilization
In view of the vast extent of human misery from ill health, the question naturally arises, How does it happen that the world is burdened with so colossal a load? Is it no more than is biologically normal? Is it true that in other organisms, animals and plants, ill health is the rule rather than the exception? Are all races of men subject to the same heavy load? ”

“ Although presented in so condensed a form, the preceding outline cannot fail to inspire in the mind of the reader a vivid conception of the simple grandeur of nature's handiwork, more especially as regards her provisions in relation to health and disease—secrets revealed, through microscope and alembic, to those who, in spite of organized discouragement, have attempted to fathom the erstwhile mysteries of human suffering and to carry hope and freedom into the hostile camps of Fear, Disease and Death. ”

“ Hygiene has repudiated the outworn doctrine that mortality is fatality and must exact year after year a fixed and inevitable sacrifice. It aims instead to set free human life by applying modern science. Science, which has revolutionized every other field of human endeavor, is at last revolutionizing the field of health conservation.
Medical Practise
The practise of medicine, which for ages has been known as the “healing art,” is undergoing a gradual but radical revolution. This is due to the growing realization that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. ”

“ The materials of first importance to a health programme in civilized countries are men; for men working together can control water sources, drainage, and ventilation, or else move away to surroundings better suited to healthful living. Therefore the first concern of the leader in a health crusade is the human kind he has to work for and work with.
Seven kinds of man are to be found in every community, seven different points of view with regard to health administration. Each individual, likewise, may have seven attitudes toward health laws, seven reasons for demanding health protection. ”

“ But their ignorance of the laws which govern the human frame, both in sickness and in health, and their indisposition to pursue any proposed plan for their improvement long enough to receive much permanent benefit from it, keep them, notwithstanding all they say or do, always deteriorating. ”

“ A knowledge of the duties which we owe to society, resulting from the relation in which we stand to one another, is an object of the next importance. After this, whatever relates to the welfare of the body deserves our most immediate concern.—Life, when burdened with disease, is but a complication of woes. Health is that choice seasoning which gives a relish to all our enjoyments. As the end of medical science is to restore and preserve health, the welfare of every individual, of whatever age or sex, is concerned in the improvement of it amongst them. ”

“ The Progress of an Epidemic That it is at least as difficult to stay a moral infection as a physical one; that such a disease will spread with the malignity and rapidity of the Plague; that the contagion, when it has once made head, will spare no pursuit or condition, but will lay hold on people in the soundest health, and become developed in the most unlikely constitutions: is a fact as firmly established by experience as that we human creatures breathe an atmosphere. ”

“ The great need of the present day is adequate instruction in physiology and hygiene, that humanity may not only know how to secure the restoration of health, when lost, but by attention to physiological and sanitary laws may retain good health indefinitely. The body is the theatre of constant change. ”

“ We know from observation that proper clothing, wholesome food, good hygienic surroundings, avoidance of over fatigue and of depressing psychic impressions, and that physical care of the body, all contribute toward maintaining health as the reverse conditions predispose to establishing disease. ”

“ PARKES, GUY, SIMON, AND PUBLIC HEALTH. “Prevention is better than cure” is the homely proverb which marks out a large proportion of the work of sanitary science. The prevention of disease and of its spread, and the promotion of the general healthiness of the people—these are objects which modern progress has brought into view. When they are completely attained we shall all die of old age unless cut off by accidents or violence; and this is a goal which many sanitarians of the present day have vividly before their mind. ”

“ It will only be a question of time before men and women will see that in order to have health, it will be necessary to organize all the affairs of life with a view to the well-being of humanity as a whole. ”

“ For this reason, certain rules have been established by the medical profession, which experience has taught are necessary in order to preserve the health of the community when such diseases are prevalent. ”

“ Our object, to make the present existence better and happier; to inquire, in this particular section of our Congress:—What are the conditions which lead to the pain and penalty of disease; what the means for the removal of those conditions when they are discovered? What are the most ready and convincing methods of making known to the uninformed the facts: that many of the conditions are under our control; that neither mental serenity nor mental development can exist with an unhealthy animal organisation; that poverty is the shadow of disease, and wealth the shadow of health? ”

“ The best local and general treatment that can be adopted, therefore, will be that which is calculated to fortify and invigorate the general health. Every 58thing in diet, exercise, bathing, the daily occupation, and the moral and mental habits of the individual, should be, as far as possible, regulated according to physiological principles, and the laws of health. ”

“ But exactly the whole difficulty in our public problems is that some men are aiming at cures which other men would regard as worse maladies; are offering ultimate conditions as states of health which others would uncompromisingly call states of disease. ”

“ To aid the memory of persons inquiring about the means of preserving health, I have elsewhere endeavoured to mark clearly, that the four things, fit air, temperature, aliment, and exercise, are all that need to be secured, and the two things violence and poisons all that need to be avoided, by men of sound constitution, that they may enjoy uninterrupted health and long life;—and consequently that the causes of all other disease than the decay from age are to be looked for in errors committed in regard to these four necessaries, or in the direct influence of these two kinds of noxious agents. ”

“ In view of this, and the startling fact that tens of thousands die annually from its baneful effects, we earnestly urge you to give the subject a careful examination.
"You have made the study of the physical nature of man your life-work, and you are the trusted advisers of the people in all matters pertaining to the treatment of diseases and the preservation of life and health.
"You are, therefore, in a position to instruct and warn the masses in regard to its indiscriminate use, either as a medicine or a beverage. ”

“ And best of all, the benefit attained will be permanent, for the system being thoroughly cleansed, and kept so, nothing but fresh, firm, healthy tissue is formed, so that after a year's conscientious treatment the person practising it will be practically a new being.
PART V. PRACTICAL HYGIENE. Of all the dangers by which we are menaced, none is so greatly to be apprehended as ignorance. This is especially true with reference to health. The majority of people fall easy victims to disease, simply through ignorance of the fundamental principles that govern health. ”

“ The most important aid in the future to the influence of preventive medicine must be the education of the people so that the conditions of disease, the intrinsic and the extrinsic causes and the manner in which these act, shall all become a part of general knowledge, and the sympathy of the people with health legislation and their active assistance in carrying out measures of prevention may be obtained. ”

“ If the people would only read my books on physiology and hygiene, and learn something of the nature and laws of their own physical organization, and what will promote the health, growth and action of all its parts, and let that ‘old fable’ alone, they would be healthier, happier and better off every way. ”

“ Consider the advance which has taken place in our knowledge relating to those affections which owe their birth to a want of appreciation of those hygienic principles so necessary to the perfect health of a community ”

“ To achieve good health, we will have to begin with basic preventive medicine. Simple common sense just might be the solution. For example, well-fed babies will become healthy, intelligent adults. Won't you care? ”

“ But individual hygiene is only one particular branch of hygiene, and it is well for the individual, partly out of public spirit, partly in self-defense, to have some idea of the other important branches, namely, public hygiene, the hygiene practised by the health officer, semipublic hygiene, the hygiene of schools, institutions, and industrial establishments, and race hygiene or eugenics, the most important of all. ”