The Art of Attaining High Health T HE account in a
recent Spectator of the benefits of Fasting opens up such a vista of -economy in all directions that the most sluggish ambition must be stirred ! Moreover, the simple life seems at last within our reach, for the cook can now have her holiday while the family fasts, and an occasional outing whenever she pleases—all the better for everyone.
The present writer once met an old gentleman of over ninety who was living with gusto on bread and water. He claimed to have cured himself thereby of rheumatism, and said that he had only given up sleeping out of doors because his servants disliked having to dry his bedding after rain. A drive in a dog-cart of some miles, with a good long walk at the end, seemed nothing to him, and his gaiety was infectious.
Lovers of George Herbert will undoubtedly remember his translation of Cornaro's Treatise on Sobriety. Most people know of this Venetian nobleman, who was intemperate in youth and near to death when he discovered the virtues of abstinence and sobriety, living thereby to the age of ninety-eight. His story, written at the age of eighty-two, is enough to make the most confirmed bon vivant in love with " temperance," but as it is so easily accessible I will refrain from quotation ; I may, however, safely introduce another instance, probably less well known than Cornaro, of a confirmed and triumphant " temperance " enthusiast. Thos. Walker, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, barrister-at-law and a London police magis- trate, flourished {very- literally) in the early 'thirties of last century. He wrote and issued, at irregular intervals, a periodical called The Original, containing a whole series of articles on " The Art of Attaining High Health " ; and, albeit his standard of abstemiousness was by no means so heroic as Cornaro's, the .benefits derived from it appear to have been quite equally remarkable.
Here is his account of the inception of his enterprise, calculated by its simplicity at once to enlist our sym, pathies. After a childhood and youth of habitual ill- health, " At last," he writes, " one day when I had shut myself up in the country and was reading with great attention Cicero's De Oratore, some passage—I quite forget what—suggested to me the expediency of making the improvement of my health my study. I rose from my book, stood bolt upright, and determined to be well."
The results of this bold resolve are best also told in his own words :— " In pursuance of my resolution, I tried many extremes, was guilty of many absurdities and committed many errors, amidst She remonstrances and ridicule of those around me. I persevered nevertheless, and it is now, I believe, full sixteen years since I have had any medical advice, or taken any medicine, or anything whatever by way of medicine. During that period I have lived constantly in the world, for the last six years in London without ever being absent during any one whole week, and I have never foregone a single engagement of business or pleasure or been confined one hour, with the exception of two days in the country from over exertion."
London for six years on end, with no need of a summer holiday And the strenuous calling of a police magis- trate ! A simplified life indeed. This was not all :- " For nine years I have worn neither great-coat nor cloak, though I ride and walk at all hours and in all weathers. My dress has been the same in summer and winter, my undergarments being single and only of cotton, and I am always lightly shod."
Here follows what we might, if sceptically inclined, expect, namely, a reference to colds. But mark the sublinie indifference with which these—normally—heavy inflic- tions are regarded : " The only inconvenience I suffer is occasionally from colds ; but with a little more care I could entirely prevent them, or, if I took the trouble" (italics are the writer's) " I could remove the most severe in four-and-twenty hours." At this point, who would not become Mr. Walker's disciple ?
The joys of health seem to have leapt to their zenith for him in the first few Months of his quest :-- " It was now the middle of a very fine summer, and I was residing at home in the country, alone with my mother, who was a remarkably easy and accommodating person " (there is an engaging account of this admirable mother in a later number of The Original)," and to the contentment she inspired me with, I attribute a good deal of the extraordinary state I arrived at. She used frequently to say she could not help looking at me, my features were so changed. Indeed, 1 felt a different being, light and vigorous, with all my senses sharpened. I enjoyed an absolutely glowing existence. I cannot help mentioning two or three instances, in proof of my state, though I dare say they will appear almost ridiculous, but they are nevertheless true."
And now our wistful gaze beholds economies not merely in clothes and colds and summer holidays, but in laundry bills apart from pocket-handkerchiefs, and even in soap (how will great advertisers regard Perfect Health ?) For:- " It seems that from the surface of an animal in perfect health, there is an active exhalation going on, which repels impurity; for when I walked on the dustiest roads, not only my feet, but even my stockings. remained free from dust. By way of experiment, I did not wash my face for a week, nor did anyone see, nor I fee!, any difference. . . ."
And the secret of this beatitude ? So simple, after all, though it too commonly eludes us. •
" After making many blunders, I discovered that I had fallen into the great but, I believe, common error of thinking how much food I could take in order to make myself strong, rather than how much I could digest to make myself well. This is the golden rule--Content the stomach and the stomach will content you."
And a very good rule too ! C. A. E.
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