Page:First course in biology (IA firstcourseinbio00bailrich).pdf/608

 the nerve cells, arouse them and cause us to expend some of this reserve energy. Thus man is enabled to get at this precious store which he should save for emergencies, when he is sick and cannot digest food, or when he is making some mighty effort. A weak, ill man who has eaten very little for weeks, when delirious is sometimes so powerful that it takes several strong men to hold him in bed. But the delirious mania often uses up the little energy left, and costs the man his life.

The only source of energy for man's body is the union of food and oxygen; he must get his energy from the same source that the engine does; and this is from his food, which serves as fuel, and the oxygen which burns it. If one has been working hard preparing for examinations, or gathering hay, or in attending to some important business, or has been under the excitement of some pleasure trip, and feels "blue" and worn out, then let him bear the result like a man, or like a true boy or girl, as the case may be. Giving up for a while, or "toughing it out" with the blues, or losing a little time from business, will not hurt, but will restore strength, while a stimulant will leave him less of a man than before.

Nervousness.—The attempt to divide the race into brain workers, muscle workers, and loafers, whether men or women, is a powerful factor in race degeneration. Leonard Hill says: "Hysteria and nervous exhaustion are the fruits not of overwork, but of lack of varied and interesting employment. The absurd opinion that hard work is menial and low, leads to most pernicious consequences. The girl who, turning from brain work to manual labor, can cook, scrub, wash, and garden, invites the bloom of health to her cheeks; while the fine do-nothing lady loses her good looks, suffers from the blues, and is a nuisance to her friends and a misery to herself." A Japanese lady holds views similar to those of Dr. Hill. Read footnote. *