Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1878 — The Art of Prolonging Life. [ARTICLE]

The Art of Prolonging Life.

People generally desire long life and good health. Sickness and premature death are almost always due to violations of the laws that govern our physical being, and of which the masses are ignorant, if men knew better they would do Better; but how can they avoid an evil that they know not of 1 While efforts are.made through the public shools to give each child a so-called common English education, yet the children are ;>ermltted to grow up and enter upon the responsible duties of active Me, profoundly ignorant of the structure of their own boules, and the laws of physical being upon which their health and lives depend. They are sent to school and crammed with arithmetic, grammar, and geography, by teachers who, in many instances, have, never studied physiology and hygiene. They are taught to locate the mountains and trace the rivers of foreign countries, but are never taught to locate the vital organs and glands of their own bodies, or trace the veins, arteries, and nerves, in their various ramifications. They are instructed in the flow of the tides, and the course of the ocean currants, and the philosophy of winds and stouns; but they nave no correct conception of the relative effects upon their health of breathing pure or impure air, nor has their attention ever been called to the importance of keeping their bodies clean and healtliy-by regular bathing. The criminality of such neglect in teaching becomes apparent when we consider that the masses, Ignorantly violating, the, laws of health, bring upon themselves sickness, suffering and death, that might otherwise be avoided. In this condition of things we welcome into being any work that is calculated to impart to the masses a knowledge of the structure of their own bodies, the laws of health, and the importance of observing those laws. We And Dr. Pierce’s Common Sense Medical Adviser to be lust such a work. It is physiological and patnological, and the major part ot it should be converted into a. text-book for the use of common schools. Its careful studywill enable the healthy to preserve their health, and the sickly to regain health. Every parent, should read it, and as their children become of proper age instruct them in the all-important truths it contains. Were this done, much suffering and premature death would be prevented, and many a youth saved from a life of shame and licentiousness. The book contains nearly one thousand pages, is profusely illustrated with colored plates and wood-engrav-ings, and can be had by addressing R. V. Pierce. M. D., World’s Dispensary ?nd Invalid’s Hotel, Buffalo, N. Y. Price, post-paid, •I.so.— United Brethren Aid Journal.