"Yet not one of all that did try
Could play like Elfy, the Gypsy-boy."
Physical exercise is destined to effect the regeneration of the Caucasian race; but we should, remember that it cannot at once counteract the mischief of all our manifold sins against the health laws of nature. It may prolong the lives of grog-drinking sailors, but cannot bleach their bottle-noses. It enables the hunters of the Pampas to digest a diet of bull-beef, but cannot save them from lung diseases if they pass the nights in smoky dug-outs.
Like the three Graces, the three remedies of Nature should go hand in hand.
Under the reign of old-time medical delusions, a sick man's first impulse was to "take something," i. e. to swallow a dose of poison drugs. A sanitarian's first thought, under the same circumstances, should be to stop swallowing, i. e. to fast for a day or two. Those who insist on "taking something" should be advised to take a cold bath, or an hour's exercise in the gymnasium.
Shall we dispense with chemical medicaments altogether?
The current of sanitary reform is certainly setting strongly in that very direction. In spite of
