The' Personal Cite 'of Health
New ,Health for Everyman. By Sir ,W. Arbuthnot Lane, (Hies. 5s.)
THE New Health Society, of which Sir_ William Arbuthnot Lane is the president, has done good work in drawing public attention to what may be called the 'corms" on sense of personal hygiene. The Society has been activated by an enthusiasm not commonly associated with its particular subject ; and of that enthusiasm its president has contributed a liberal share. It is doubtful, however, if enthusiasm of this kind is ever found in the absence of some measure of fanaticism ; and in this book we find evidence of both these qualities. There is, running through its pages, an optimistic assurance which it might be difficult to substantiate by hard facts. The assumption that something like perfect health is within the reach of all who will but rid therimelves of medical superstitions and live according to knowledge savours reminiscently of those schools- of psychology and philosophy which would have us believe that goodness is the natural and inevitable fruit of a clear understanding. There is, unfortunately, no more reason to believe that health is one of the universal human possibili- ties than that ignorance and false logic lie at the root of all vice. Nevertheless, it seems clear that a very large part of human illness, especially of those less dramatic manifestations of under-health from which so many of us suffer, can justly be charged to our own folly or lack of knowledge. New Health for Everyman should. be a helpful primer for those who, recognizing this truth, are anxious to study the basic facts of personal hygiene in the circumstances of modern civiliza- tion. A brief but Adequate account is given of the workings of the human machine, and of the automatic arrangements whereby it succeeds, without our conscious interference, in maintaining normality in an ever -chnging environment ; and the ways in which we may co-operate in this work of natural adjustment are simply.' described. The influence of diet on health and disease is a little overstressed ; though the advice actually given is sound enough. In fact, all the advice given is good and practical ; and Sir William's " Golden Rules of Health " might with adVantage be generally followed. In a book of this kind, a few bits of dogmatically expressed theorizing can do little harm, even if time proves them to have had little real substance.
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