Why Not Greater Progress.
By R. F. Cotterill
THERE evidently is progress in the reception of the doctrines of hygienic living; but why is it not greater? One would suppose that as men love life and enjoyment, and would avoid sickness and death, that there would be a spirit of anxious inquiry into any system of teaching which is devoted to the subject of securing health on the most sure and easy terms. But it is not so with the masses; and why not? One great reason is that the mind is so filled with other objects, such as amassing wealth, aspiring to honors, or seeking for pleasures, that there remains no time to inquire into that without which wealth is vain, and honors and pleasures not to be enjoyed. In the giddy whirl of business and excitement, the first requisite is something to arrest the attention; and it would seem that “trichina horrors,” and sudden deaths after a night of feasting, would serve this purpose; and they do awaken some. A certain writer says, “We have come to know that the man who dies of ‘heart disease,’ after ‘eating a hearty supper,’ and going to bed well, would have come down all right in the morning, if he had had no supper,” &c. Such things should awaken inquiry; and they do in the minds of some. And the evident failure of drugs to cure disease, should cause men to inquire whether there is not a better way. Another requisite is faith in that which commends itself to reason. The arguments in favor of pure air, food, and drink, demand credence from every intelligent mind; and that it is better not to take as food that which is not food and can do nothing toward building up the physical system, such as condiments of almost every kind, and which must necessarily tax the vital powers in expelling them from the system, no rational mind can in candor deny; but still there is a great want of that faith which puts in practice the theory to which the judgment is obliged to consent. In health reform, as in pure religion, the great want is a faith that not merely assents to the truth, but puts it in practice. Those who have faith enough to practice the teachings of health reform will reap the benefits, and be able to bear a telling testimony to others who would learn the truth. Numerous obstacles impede the progress of health reform; but they should not discourage those who would labor for suffering humanity. If all are not converted, some will be; and the benefit to the few will be beyond computation. A great amount of good will be done, and a great amount of suffering avoided. And the philanthropic labor in the cause will certainly be rewarded with the consciousness of having been exerted in a good cause, and in securing an immense good to a portion of the race. Courage, then, friends of reform! your labor will not be in vain. Let us press the subject and secure the attention. Repeat and re-repeat the convincing arguments, and thus inspire faith sufficient to induce a test of the theory by reducing it to practice. Convince men by a candid appeal to reason that they need something, and that that something will be of inestimable benefit. Much will be thus accomplished; and the satisfaction of having labored for the benefit of our fellows will, of itself, be a great reward.