How to Live | Page 2

people.
WM. H. TAFT. New Haven, June 12, 1915.

PREFACE
The purpose of this book is to spread knowledge of Individual Hygiene
and thus to promote the aims of the Life Extension Institute. These may
be summarized briefly as: (1) to provide the individual and the
physician with the latest and best conclusions on individual hygiene; (2)
to ascertain the exact and special needs of the individual through
periodic health examinations; (3) to induce all persons who are found
to be in need of medical attention to visit their physicians.
A sad commentary on the low health-ideals which now exist is that to
most people the expression "to keep well" means no more than to keep
out of a sick-bed. Hitherto, the subject-matter of hygiene has been
considered in its relation to disease rather than to health. In this manual,
on the other hand, it is treated in its relation to (1) the preservation of
health; (2) the improvement in the physical condition of the individual,
and (3) the increase of his vitality. In short, the objects of the manual
are positive rather than negative. It aims to include every practical
procedure that, according to the present state of our knowledge, an
athlete needs in order to make himself superbly "fit," or that a mental
worker needs in order to keep his wits sharpened to a razor-edge. For
this reason some suggestions, which might otherwise be regarded as of
minor importance, have been included and emphasized. While it is true
that a moderate infraction of some of the minor rules of health is not
inconsistent with maintaining good health in the sense of keeping out
of a sick-bed, such infraction, be it ever so moderate, is utterly
inconsistent with good health in the sense of attaining the highest

physical and mental efficiency and power.
Future advances of knowledge will doubtless occasion additions to, or
modifications of, the conclusions stated herein, and these will form the
subject of subsequent publications by the Institute.
In order that the Institute may have at its disposal the latest and most
authoritative results of scientific investigations, its Hygiene Reference
Board was created. The present book is the first general statement of
the conclusions of this Board after a year of careful consideration.
These conclusions are the joint product of the members of the Board,
with the active co-operation of the Director of Hygiene of the Institute.
They may fairly be said to constitute the most authoritative epitome
thus far available in the great, but hitherto neglected, realm of
individual hygiene.
The Chairman of the Board has exercised the function of editor, and is
responsible for the order and arrangement of the material.
Friends of the Institute may help its work by spreading the ideas given
in the following pages and by increasing the number of its readers.
Such profits as may be received by the Institute from the sale of this
book will be devoted to further philanthropic effort by the Institute.
IRVING FISHER, EUGENE L. FISK.
New York, Sept., 1915.

CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I
AIR

SECTION 1. HOUSING 7 2. CLOTHING 14 3. OUTDOOR LIVING
18 4. OUTDOOR SLEEPING 20 5. DEEP BREATHING 24
CHAPTER II
FOOD
1. QUANTITY OF FOOD 28 2. PROTEIN FOODS 35 3. HARD,
BULKY, AND UNCOOKED FOODS 40 4. THOROUGH
MASTICATION 44
CHAPTER III
POISONS
1. CONSTIPATION 51 2. POSTURE 57 3. POISONS FROM
WITHOUT 64 4. TEETH AND GUMS 78
CHAPTER IV
ACTIVITY
1. WORK, PLAY, REST AND SLEEP 89 2. SERENITY AND POISE
105
CHAPTER V
HYGIENE IN GENERAL
1. THE FIFTEEN RULES OF HYGIENE 119 2. THE UNITY OF
HYGIENE 121 3. THE OBSTACLES TO HYGIENE 126 4. THE
POSSIBILITIES OF HYGIENE 135 5. HYGIENE AND
CIVILIZATION 143 6. THE FIELDS OF HYGIENE 157
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON SPECIAL SUBJECTS
1. NOTES ON FOOD 171 2. NOTES ON OVERWEIGHT AND
UNDERWEIGHT 212 3. NOTES ON POSTURE 221 4. NOTES ON
ALCOHOL 227 5. NOTES ON TOBACCO 250 6. AVOIDING

COLDS 272 7. SIGNS OF INCREASE OF THE DEGENERATIVE
DISEASES 281 8. COMPARISON OF DEGENERATIVE
TENDENCIES AMONG NATIONS 286 9. EUGENICS 293
INDEX 325

HYGIENE REFERENCE BOARD
OF THE LIFE EXTENSION INSTITUTE, Inc.
IRVING FISHER, Chairman
Professor of Political Economy Yale University
#Statistics#
WILLIAM J. HARRIS, Federal Trade Commission, United States
Government.
CRESSY L. WILBUR, M.D., Director, Division of Vital Statistics,
Dept. of Health, State of New York.
WALTER F. WILLCOX, Professor of Economics and Statistics,
Cornell University.
#Public Health Administration#
HERMANN M. BIGGS, M.D., Commissioner of Health, State of New
York.
RUPERT BLUE, M.D., Surgeon General, U. S. Public Health Service.
H. M. BRACKEN, M.D., Secretary Board of Health, State of
Minnesota.
J. B. GREGG CUSTIS, President Board of Medical Supervisors,
District of Columbia.

SAMUEL G. DIXON, M.D., Commissioner of Health, State of
Pennsylvania.
OSCAR DOWLING,