aturally given rise to
such scepticism.

On hardly any subject have men had such extreme views as they have
regarding health or the prolongation of their own lives.

I know one lady who ate a raw carrot every morning because it was
yellow, and, as yellow is a spiritual color, this practice, it was
advocated, would free one from materiality and, consequently, from all
disease.

I have known others who condemned all attention to proper food,
exercise, and even to expression, because such attention would lead to
faith in material means.

Webster said, "Truth is always congruous, and agrees with itself; every
truth in the universe agrees with every other truth in the universe;
whereas falsehoods not only disagree with truth but usually quarrel
among themselves."

In accordance with this principle as a rule the untruthfulness of any
view is seen in its failure to recognize anything else as true.

No one will advocate any extreme and irrational habit. Too much
attention to food, too much attention to the care of the body and
exercise will degrade even character. The morning exercises which are
here recommended should be taken even as one washes his hands, as a
matter of course. Man is spiritual, and character is developed
spiritually, and mere attention to the body does not secure health and
strength.

There is a great and easily demonstrated truth in the fact that people
who believe in a spiritual life have endured untold hardships and have
faced all kinds of conditions without injury. The power of mind over
body, of spirit over matter, is too well attested to be doubted.

However, man is slow and progress must be made gradually. The first step
must be taken before the last can be taken. Extravagant and wrong views
prevent a great many people from doing anything.

If we examine all the rules for securing health and the leading secrets
of long life, we find that one of the earliest is temperance.

A noted instance is Socrates. During the great plague, when at least
one-third of the population of Athens died, Socrates went about with
impunity. This was no doubt due to the cheerfulness and temperance of
his life. We know of his cheerfulness from accounts by Zenophon and
Plato.

Possibly the most illustrious example, which has been recounted of the
preservation of health and the prolonging of life through temperance, is
Luigi Cornaro, who was born in Venice in 1464. After having, according
to Gamba, wasted his you