, and is a very valuable, remedial
agent in most chronic diseases, assisting in removing causes which
depress the bodily functions.

MOTION IS A REMEDIAL AGENT.

The stability of the planetary system depends upon the converted motion
of its parts. So in the human system, motion is a fundamental principle
which underlies every vital process. Health consists in normal,
functional activity. The human system is the arena of various kinds of
motions, both of fluids and of solids, and life and health depend upon
these physiological movements. There are the movements incident to
_respiration_, the expansion and contraction of the walls of the chest,
bringing the oxygen of the air into contact with the blood as it
circulates through the lungs. Corresponding with the movements of the
chest are the _motions of the abdominal walls_, which promote the
functions of the organs of the abdominal cavity.

There are _motions of the heart and arteries_, which urge the blood out
to the extremities and diffuse it through every part of the system, and
also _motion of the blood in the capillaries_, by which the blood is
circulated through the tissues, that the latter may be built up from its
nutritive constituents. Then there is the _motion of the vital current_
in the veins returning towards the heart, and urged forward by the
muscular and pump-like action of the chest and abdominal walls. The
peristaltic _motions of the stomach and bowels_ urge onward digesting
materials, exposing them successively to different solvents and aiding
the absorption of nutritive matter. No less essential to life and health
are numerous other minute operations or _motions_, on which vital power
in all its manifestations of muscular and nervous energy depends. Many
other _motions_ are consequent upon decay, growth, and repair. Oxygen,
carbonic acid, watery vapors, and other gaseous matter are constantly
being exchanged between the system and atmosphere. Then, the human
system being a complex, chemical laboratory, there are _motions
consequent upon chemical action_, constantly going on within it.

_Muscular motion_, under the direction of the will, is also absolutely
necessary for the maintenance of good health.

Animal heat and muscular and nervous power are dependent upon motions of
the minutest particles composing the body. The body is composed of fluid
and semi-fluid matter, permitting great freedom of motion. Health
requires that there shall be _a co