Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 109, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1917 — Health: Keystone of the Arch of Genuine Preparedness [ARTICLE]

Health: Keystone of the Arch of Genuine Preparedness

By DR. SAMUEL G. DIXON,

Commissioner of Health of Pennsylvania.

The perfect manifestations of life-can only be had with a harmonious performance of all the functions of the body. This is so from the lowest forms of life up to the complex and wonderful creation of man. Now when we are confronted with war and its accumulated horrors, we must use every effort to throw off the insidious hold it gradually gets upon our nervous systems, destroying the harmoniousness of the vast number of active little ceils that go to make up our physical and mental bodies. •, ‘ If the balan<jp and harmony are once destroyed, our digestion weakens and this robs-the body of nourishment, which is-followed by general loss of strength. The heart muscles consequently suffer and weaken, and when this pump fails to send the exhausted blood cells through the lungs for purification and recharging, the physiological process fails in its purpose. The break-up of the general balance and harmony causes the body to lose its resistance to disease germs.. The result is genetai weakening of the individual, and often death, neither of which we can afford at any time, let alone in time of war, when every preventable measure must be taken to guard against the inroad of disease. Today we cannot help but feel our great responsibilities and make sacrifices for that which has given us .our natToii fit” pride and—freedom. We must, however, at the same time be careful not to break up unnecessarily the harmony of our social and other every-day occupations. The greatest measure to help us carry our burden during war is to keep busy in some well-directed path of work that will produce those things most essential to a successful warfare and turn our minds from those horrors that otherwise would break up our nervous force. If war becomes long-continued, it may be that a revolutionary state may occur, where our occupations will have to be changed: giving up the easier ones to the weak, and shifting those that are more laborious to the strong. These changes, however, at the present time can be effected more easily than ever before in the history of the world, because of the many kinds of modern occupations which permit of selection to accommodate those of different capabilities. Whatever may be the disturbance, we must "keep busy. We must not think too much of “what might happen” and keep it ever before us, destroying that balance and harmony necessary for health.