ss disobedience of simple physical laws.

When the stomach is out of order, it needs more than its share of vital
force to do its work, and necessarily robs the brain; but when it is in
good condition this force may be used for mental work. Then again, when
we are in a condition of mental strain or unhealthy concentration, this
condition affects our circulation and consumes force that should
properly be doing its work elsewhere, and in this way the normal
balance of our bodies is disturbed.

The physical and mental degeneration that follows upon moral
wrong-doing is too well known to dwell upon. It is self-evident in
conspicuous cases, and very real in cases that are too slight to
attract general attention. We might almost say that little ways of
wrongdoing often produce a worse degeneration, for they are more subtle
in their effects, and more difficult to realize, and therefore to
eradicate.

The wise care for one's self is simply steering into the currents of
law and order,--mentally, morally, and physically. When we are once
established in that life and our forces are adjusted to its currents,
then we can forget ourselves, but not before: and no one can find these
currents of law and order and establish himself in them, unless he is
working for some purpose beyond his own health. For a man may be out of
order physically, mentally, or morally simply for the want of an aim in
life beyond his own personal concerns. No care is to any
purpose--indeed, it is injurious--unless we are determined to work for
an end which is not only useful in itself, but is cultivating in us a
living interest in accomplishment, and leading us on to more usefulness
and more accomplishment. The physical, mental, and moral man are all
three mutually interdependent, but all the care in the world for each
and all of them can only lead to weakness instead of strength, unless
they are all three united in a definite purpose of useful life for the
benefit of others.

Even a hobby re-acts upon itself and eats up the man who follows it,
unless followed to some useful end. A man interested in a hobby for
selfish purposes alone first refuses to look at anything outside of his
hobby, and later turns his back on everything but his own idea of his
hobby. The possible mental contraction which may follow, is almost
unlimited, and such contraction affects the whole man.

It is just as certain a law for an individual that what he gives out
must have a defi