HEALTH AND LIFE.*

IT is a common-place remark to say that Health is one of the first of blessings, but it may not be quite so evident that it is possible to care too much for it. The valetudinarian is apt to look at life entirely in its relation to health ; he broods over his feelings, and is a slave to his sensations ; like Mr. Woodhouse in Miss Austen's Emma, his one object is to avoid as long as he can the possibility of evil. Life yields him no delight, and yet the fear of losing it fills him with apprehension, or if he does not really fear death, the ills his flesh is heir to keep him in constant terror.

How far books about health affect morbid invalids, it is impos- sible to say, but it is evident that, if written wisely and simply, they may prove of considerable service to the general public. Many of our sins against sanitary laws are committed in ignorance, ignorance not much greater perhaps than medical men exhibited in their methods of curing diseases a century or two ago. The principles of sanitary science were proclaimed, Dr. Richardson says, by Lord Bacon, but the wise Chancellor's remedies for divers complaints like those recommended by John Wesley were thoroughly empirical, and not always harmless. Medical science is still, no doubt, in a large measure empirical, and will prob- ably remain so ; general laws may be laid down, but they are useless in special cases, and the wisest physician is he who is best able to understand the idiosyncrasies of his patients. A few hopeful words, in many nervous cases, will be more beneficial than any medicine, and that cures of distinct diseases can be sometimes effected by acting on the emotions, is a truth which the late James Hinton was never weary of stating, Yet he added, that the more he was convinced of the reality and multitude of emotional cures, the less he was disposed to regard it as a desirable way of curing disease.

The promoter of sanitary science, or of what is known as pre- ventive medicine, stands generally on firmer ground than the physician. If sickness is sometimes alleviated by guess-work—and how a particular medicine will act on a patient, must always be a matter of doubt—a knowledge of the laws of health keeps a large class of diseases at a distance. Dr. Abernethy is said to have been disgusted with the impertinence of a man for re- covering his health after he had pronounced the disease incurable.. " I'll not speak to him," he said ; " I know what the fellow's complaint was, and he ought to have died of it." A similar kind of feeling, though less definitely pronounced, is felt by ignorant people when the attempt is made to stamp out preventible diseases. They have a kind of friendly feeling, or rather, rever- ential respect, for the complaints which have killed their relatives and friends, and at the same time will not believe that the evil

• Health and Life. By Benjamin Ward Blehardeon, M.D. London: Daldyi 'ablator, and Co. 1878.

thing which is the precursor of sickness or death lies often at their own doors. Dr. Richardson is right in saying that few, if

any, houses are built on hygienic principles. The laws of health, indeed, are utterly set at defiance by a large portion of the com- munity, both in city and country, in the former, from the pressure upon space and the consequent necessity of work- ing under unhealthy conditions ; in the latter, owing to an unmitigated contempt for sanitary regulations, and to a crass ignorance of the simple rules with which every child ought to be acquainted. A farm-house in a good position might be one of the healthiest homes in the country ; yet, owing to festering dung- heaps and stagnant ponds, the farm-yard, which is close to the residence, becomes, to quote Dr. Richardson's words, a " per- sistent village nuisance and source of fever." Yet, to the annoyance and perplexity of the sanitarians, health is often maintained in a flourishing state under most unpromising conditions, and the author allows that so me communities exhibit a high standard of health without being dependent on strict sanitary rules. "Nay," he adds, " they exist sometimes in the absence of, or it may be in opposition to, certain of the sanitary rules on which an exaggerated or faithful reliance is commonly placed." The vitality of the -Jews, to which Dr. Richardson devotes a chapter, is a case in

point. For centuries past everything has been against them in the race of life .— " They have been born in circumstances most unfavourable to healthy development ; they have been forced to live in special and over-crowded quarters of great cities. They have been pressed to supply the wants of their oppressors when their own wants were far greater than were the wants of those who oppressed them. They have been often deprived of the highest services which the healing science gave to their more fortunate and favoured compeers In the midst of all those adversities and deprivations, the Jews have continued to live, and what is more remarkable, have continued to live exhibiting a healthier life and a longer life than others amongst whom they have been cast."

This has been the case not in one country only, but in many, and the statistics quoted by the writer to corroborate his statement raise a question to which no reply is given. Dr. Richardson, indeed, draws some inferences with regard to the advantages of a healthy civilisation in comparison with a civilisation that " minis- ters to man's passions and perverts his freedom," but these infer- ences apply as much to Gentiles as to Jews, and interesting as the statistics are, we fail to see what lessons they are designed to teach. All trustworthy statistics are welcome to the man of science, whether he be able to understand them or not. They

form a stock of knowledge which may lead some day to large results, but the value of such information seems doubtful in a book the chapters of which appeared originally in Good Words, and which is designed, not for the help of students, but for

popular service.

In another branch of statistics, namely, in the mortality caused in different professions and trades, many curious but not alto- gether explicable facts are collected. We can understand why the house-painter should be more unhealthy than the carpenter, the draper than the grocer, and the very low vitality of publicans need not perhaps surprise us ; but why the barrister should be more healthy than the solicitor, or the clergyman than the dis- senting minister ; why the lives of sawyers are longer than the lives of agricultural labourers, and why gamekeepers should be considerably more fortunate than either, is by no means so obvious.

The hair-dresser, one would think, had an easy occupation, but he is far less healthy than the wheelwright ; and the medical man, who knows all the laws of health, is worse off than the domestic servant, the baker, and the blacksmith, who know none of them, stands thirty-five degrees below the most favoured class of all the barristers, and takes rank with the shipbuilder and just above the coachmaker. It is a satisfaction to know, and the fact gives point to the statistics collected by Dr. William Farr, that the con- ditions which cause an excess of mortality are nearly all re- movable, " without a breath of injury to the art or business itself, whatever it may be."

By far the most significant chapter in the volume is entitled 41 Competition versus Health." Competion may tell us something

of the ability of a young man or woman, and is, perhaps, speaking broadly, the best test that can be applied ; but it is the source of fruitful and often of life-long evil. It is far, indeed, from proving an infallible test of intellectual power, and the ridiculous extremes to which it is carried, instead of quickening the intelligence, may in many instances leave the mind a blank. No words can be too strong to express the folly of the high-pressure system, and of the cram which is substituted for healthily acquired knowledge.

" The examiners," writes Dr. Richardson, " look purely for the direct efficiency of those who come before them for examination. Neither

manager nor examiner can ask after the antecedents of those whom

they take in charge They proceed, adding diffioulties upon difficulties, as if every student had the same stamina and the same capacities. Without the least intention and without the least sus- picion of what they are doing, they often test, by their crucial severity, the physical instead of the mental powers of their candidates ; and as ruthlessly as ignorantly, pluck the best brains by overtaxing the feeblest hearts."

Competitive examination is the source also of other evils. Only that knowledge is acquired and those books studied which

are likely to yield immediate profit. The learning that does not pay is therefore regarded with contempt. There are some

counterbalancing advantages, but the evil results of cramming are not to be gainsaid.

Dr. Richardson touches lightly on a number of subjects any one of which might be made a fruitful topic of discus- sion. Of course there is a chapter on the evils of alcohol, and a repetition of arguments made use of by the writer in former works. Some of these do not strike us as altogether satisfactory, and especially the statement—urged, we believe, more than once before—that our domestic animals work from morning

to night, and " yet require no alcohol." Precisely the same argument, if such it deserves to be called, might be used by the vegetarian. The ox, the horse, and the ass are far stronger than men ; yet these animals gain all their strength from a vegetable diet, therefore the man who wishes to be strong should live on vegetables alone. 1)r. Richardson would probably smile at such a conclusion, but his own argument seems to us equally illogical. Much of what was stated by the author in his Hygeia is reproduced here, and the reader will be amused at the delightful but troublesome arrangements which must be carried out in order to create a City of Health. At present, to judge from the gloomy statements of the sanitarians, we live under such evil conditions, that the man who has a due regard for his health ought at once to gain admittance to a gaol. Let him beat his wife, or steal his neighbour's watch, or forge his friend's name, and he will be placed where he can enjoy the highest conditions of health.

Until Dr. Richardson's model city is built, the prison is the only home in which the health-seeker and advocate of sanitary reforma- tion will find his wishes carried out. Listen to the enthusiastic admiration with which Dr. Richardson regards the hygienic advantages of an English prison :—

" The modern gaol is a place of spotless purity in a sanitary point of view. The large corridors are charged with tho purest air. The temperature of the air is rendered equable beyond anything that is found in the private dwelling. The atmosphere is not only pure and equal, but free of damp. The water-supply is plentiful and whole- some. The walls of the buildings are kept cleared of dust, and the floors so pure that literally one might eat from them as from a clean dish. The drainage is in most instances so good that all excreted and refuse matter is carried off in detail, and accumulation of it in part or

in whole is impossible The prisoner is obliged to make the sun his fellow-workman. Ho is compelled to take long hours of rest if not of sleep, and very soon he finds all the hours pass fairly in sleep, Ho is deprived of those so-called luxuries, alcohol and tobacco. He is made to take regular muscular exorcise. He is fed on the simplest, yet on sufficient fare. Ho is protected from inclemency of season. And finally, he is under constant medical supervision, so that if he be seized with any serious illness, he is treated immediately with the proper remedies."

A charming picture truly ; but how sad to think that no man can attain this sanitary Elysium save through the gate of crime !