VALATIONING
By I. H. Kress, M. D.
NE of the chief purposes of a va-
¥ cation is to obtain a complete
§ change. Men and women who
have been confined to their
offices in the city, deprived of pure air and
out-of-door life, naturally look forward to
this period when they can throw off the
restraint of the everyday routine existence.
They are eager to romp again as they did
when children, play some simple games,
and really enjoy life.
It 1s refreshing to live with nature, to ob-
serve the tinted flowers, the foliage of living
green, and the birds flitting about in the
trees singing their sweet songs. When the
day draws to a close and the evening
shadows appear, there is something very
soothing in lying in a hammock or a re-
clining chair, with the eyes fixed on the
heavens above, and the innumerable stars.
There is, in fact, no better remedy than this
for tired nerves. Insomnia cannot exist in
such an atmosphere and such surroundings.
Insomnia is unknown among the creatures
that live this natural, out-of-door life. It
is the people who dwell in the cities who are
troubled thus.
City life is unnatural at best. God never
designed that men, women, and children
should be huddled together as they are in
our large cities, and thus be deprived of the
beauties of nature, the sunlight, and the
pure, out-of-door air. Congestion always
means disease, whether in the human body
or in the physical world. God made the
country; man has built the cities.
But country life seems to afford little or
no attraction to people today. They crave
‘the artificial instead of the real. Like the
caged bird we know little or nothing of
what 1t means to live a natural life. Since
our lot is cast in such unnatural and ab-
normal surroundings, it is well to get away
once in a while and take a breath of pure
air. We ought occasionally to have a taste
of what 1t means to enjoy the freedom of
country life.
Most of those who are planning a vaca-
-tion think chiefly of escaping the heat dur-
ing the summer months. They are looking
for a cool spot somewhere up on the hillside
‘where, without much exertion, they can lie
down and rest. This is not, however, what
‘we should feel most concerned about. The
‘heat of summer may itself be a blessing to
‘those who are confined to their offices with
possibly no exercise save that which they
.obtain swinging around on their swivel
chairs!
Women do not welcome the heat, because
it induces perspiration, and tends to spoil
‘the decoration on their faces and lips. Men
feel uncomfortable also, and try in every
possible way to prevent the perspiration;
yet possibly it is just what they most need.
Page FOURTEEN
During the cold weather the skin is inac-
tive. Impurities, which are constantly be-
ing formed within the body, are retained in
the tissues. Perspiration is nature’s method
of keeping the system freed from these im-
purities. It should be regarded as a
blessing, not as a curse.
A horse that is kept in a box stall day
after day with no exercise, in time becomes
sluggish and stiff. If he is taken out, he
walks with difficulty. If he is compelled to
run, he may perspire freely. It may be
observed that the sweat is foamy and has a
disagreeable odor. If it is allowed to dry,
there will be a white scum over the surface
of the animal. This is an accumulation of
the filth which has been stored up within
the tissues. How different it is with a horse
that works daily, or has his daily exercise
on the race course. He, too, may sweat,
but there is no odor to it. The sweat, in-
stead of being sticky, is limpid and almost
as clear as water. It contains very little
filth. The animal that exercises daily
manages to keep the tissues free from these
impurities.
Those who forsake the country life and
attempt to live in the city, find it practically
impossible to obtain pure air. The city air
1s always polluted with poisons thrown into
1t from automobiles, from the exhalation of
living beings, and from furnaces. The more
closely people are crowded together, the
more difficult it is to obtain pure air to
breathe. This crowding together of people
in our cities tends to kill off the human race.
Suppose one should go into his garage,
and with the door closed start up the
automobile engine and allow it to run for a
short time. You know what would be cer-
tain to happen. Three days later there
would be a funeral, not because the person
did not have air to breathe, but because the
air he breathed contained the product of
incomplete combustion, known as carbon
monoxide. Carbon monoxide enters into a
fixed, or chemical, combination with the
blood. When carbon monoxide is inhaled,
1t 1s impossible for the blood to take on the
oxygen which it needs, and the person
actually dies of suffocation, or air starva-
tion, though surrounded with air. Suppose
we should place a pigeon under a glass jar,
and allow 1t to remain there for a few hours.
It would die of air starvation, just as would
the person who was shut up in the garage,
and for the same reason.
The human engine produces carbon
dioxide, while the gasoline engine produces
carbon monoxide poison. Hence, we must
have pure air night and day, and especially
should our sleeping rooms be well venti-
lated. People who awake in the morning
with headaches, feeling half dead, fre-
quently do so because of the poisoned
atmosphere they were reinhaling. Should
they remain there long enough, with all
fresh air excluded, they would pass through
the same experience as the pigeon confined
under a glass jar.
Pure food in moderate quantities, pure
air, and proper breathing are the only
means provided by nature for purifying the
(Continued on page 18)
¥ This family 1s
enjoying a well-
earned vacation.
They are secking
and obtaining the
pure, invigorat-
ing air of the
country.
The WATCHMAN MAGAZINE