LESSON 8 LESSONS ON HEALTH

LESSONS ON HEALTH

Ⅰ

THE HOUSE WE LIVE IN

AMONG the wisest men of the ancient world was one, Solon of Athens, whose motto was "Know thyself!" It is doubtful if any other two words of English contain more wisdom.

When our young eyes open on life we become at once interested in the world around us. Our own home with its daily intercourse and the smiles of those we love, our familiar school, our play-fellows, the garden with its fruit-trees and flowers, the paddocks with their green grass and browsing cattle, the creek with its singing waters, the distant ranges, the clouds that float and the sunshine that flashes and fades—all this is so new to us and so full of charm that we read it like a story-book whose every page is better than the last.

But there is another world besides the one around us. It is the kingdom within, a little world in itself. "Know thyself" is a behest to explore this kingdom, to discover its beautiful parts, its rights and duties and laws, its history and its future. We may not all be monarchs on a throne: that, after all, may not be the highest ambition in life; but we can, and should, each be king of our own domain of mind and body. And just as in a country or state, if right laws are made and obeyed, the state is sound and prosperous; so in our human body, if the right laws, ordained by Nature, are obeyed by us, our state of body is sound and prosperous too;—in brief, we are in good health. "A sound mind in a sound body" is a worthy aim, and if we wish to do our best and make the most of life we shall soon find that perfect health is an important aid to success.

You do not need to be told that your bodies are wonderfully made. They are God's work manship and are the houses in which the soul dwells. Most houses are built of bricks or stone or timber; the house of the soul is made of very different materials—materials that live and grow and move and feel.

There is a palace in Italy said to contain 11,000 rooms, courtyards, and passages—more than could be explored in a whole lifetime. Our bodies are more wonderful still. They contain so many myriads of tiny rooms, and corners, and passages that even doctors and scientists do not yet know half of them.

However we may differ in outward appearance, the framework of all of us is bone; the walls of the human house are of flesh; its outer covering is skin.

It is a house of three stories, supported on two strong pillars called legs. These strong bone columns have at the top an arch of bones, deftly fashioned, and supporting another pillar called the spine or backbone. This is the main prop of the trunk; it carries the head and has fastened to it curiously twisted bones which we call ribs. The first story is the abdomen or lower trunk. Here are the stomach and other organs by which food and drink are digested. The second story is the chest or upper trunk, containing the lungs by which we breathe, and the heart which is continually pumping warm blood through our bodies. The top story is the head, set like a watch-tower on the trunk. It contains two windows called eyes, and three doorways, the nose, the ears, and the mouth. The head is the "palace beautiful" of the mind, which does all its work—seeing, thinking, hearing, speaking, planning, remembering—here.

Every part of the body has its own work to do. The legs run, the eye sees, the mouth speaks; there is no part that is idle; even when we are asleep the heart goes on beating and the lungs fill and empty, fill and empty, whether we notice them or not.

When every part is working smoothly and well, the body is whole, that is, in perfect health. If any part is not doing its proper work, either some other part has to be overworked to make up for it, or else the work is not done at all, and sickness follows. If we are healthy we are comfortable, if any part of our body is not working easily the result is disease. Pain is a kindly warning that something is wrong with us and needs attention.

Just as houses often need repair, so our bodies sometimes need a little mending. By some marvellous power, a healthy body does its own repairs; more neatly and quickly, too, than any human carpenter can work. If your hand is cut, it heals; if a finger-nail comes off, another grows; if a bone is broken, the doctor sets the pieces and they knit and grow again. Nature renews the daily waste of tissue; as fast as skin, flesh, and bone waste away, new skin, new flesh, and new bone come, until at last, enfeebled by old age or disease, the body becomes too tired for its work. It dies and returns to the dust of mother earth; but its tenant, the soul, lives, we believe, for ever. The body was only its temporary abode.

None of us would care to live in a dirty house. How necessary, therefore, it is that the house of the soul should be kept clean and strong and beautiful! To ensure this, the body requires wholesome food and drink; abundant fresh air; perfect cleanliness; warm, clean clothing; regular exercise; and regular rest in sleep. But of these you will read more in another lesson.

—E.W.H.F