ok are not extravagant.
Again and again their benefits have been proven and many thereby have
doubled life's satisfactions and its length.

II

SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH AND LONG LIFE

Before laying down a simple programme which will give one a common sense
method of keeping well, living long, and making the very most of life,
it may be well to study some of the innumerable theories regarding long
life.

If all the discussions upon health and long life, from the earliest time
to the present, could be adequately chronicled they would form an
interesting, if not an amusing history. In many of these, however, we
should find the same serious thoughts which we may well consider and
find by comparison a few points in which all agree as to what is
necessary to health, happiness and length of days. Note the theories
that have been seriously advocated and which have had vogue among
certain classes for a time,--such as the use of cold water every day as
a remedy for all diseases. The cold water cure advocated wet sheet packs
for fevers, and water, in some form, for all ailments. To live long some
physicians have advised sleeping on the right side, others have
advocated the use of raw food or food that has been cooked very
slightly. Some have contended that scientific food is the complete food
found in Nature, such as nuts; still others have advocated whole wheat
bread!

In our own time a method has been emphasized which has been called
"Fletcherizing." This, of course, is taken from the name of the
gentleman, who has made it so illustrious by his books and his
discussions of the subject. Mr. Fletcher's principle consists in holding
or masticating the food until it is in a fluid form; even a liquid must
be held in the mouth until it is of the same temperature as that of the
body.

Many consider that the chief advantage of Fletcherizing is that it makes
a person eat less. This may be a part of the advantage.

I once had the honor of sitting at dinner by the side of Mr. Fletcher
and observed his methods. He did not eat more than one-third of the
amount, for example, of ice-cream that the rest ate, but he stopped when
the others did, and said, with a smile:--"I have had enough; what I have
eaten will give me more nourishment than a larger amount would and it
will not give me any trouble."

There is great truth in some of these theories. We should eat less meat
and more grain. We should not bolt the best food eleme