Vitality Supreme | Page 8

in your seat, it is good to stretch your arms high
above the head, or to expand the chest and draw your shoulders
backward in the position commonly assumed when yawning and
stretching. Either of these stretching movements will give you an erect
position, and you can maintain this thereafter by keeping the head in
the right position-chin inward, downward and backward. These
stretching movements will be equally effective for improving the
carriage when standing.
The same complaint that I have made against the ordinary chair can be
registered with special force against the desks used in the schoolrooms.
There is no question that a great deal of spinal curvature in childhood,
to say nothing of round shoulders and flat chests, are directly the result
of the improper sitting posture in the schools which is enforced upon
the children because of the unsuitable character of their seating
arrangements. Thus we practically begin life hampered by an
unsatisfactory environment, so far as our sitting posture is concerned.
The chair back or the desk chair should fit the human back. It. should
favor and not hamper one in assuming a normal and straight position of
the spine.
When you get up in the morning, exercise yourself a little in
straightening the spine, chin in, downward and backward. When you
walk to business or when you go about your duties, keep the same
thought in mind. Force the head back. Take the exercises which you
will find in the next chapter, referring to the thyroid gland, at very
frequent intervals during the day.
Remember that in fighting for a straight spine you are fighting for
youth and health and life and energy and courage and enthusiasm. You
are fighting for everything that is best in life, and you should strive and
struggle with all the energy you possess to win the rewards associated
therewith.
Each day of your life will bring difficulties, worries. Life at its best is

not a bed of roses. All these various influences are inclined to make
you hang your head. You may have moments when you are hopeless,
when life seems forbidding and cheerless. Fight against such
inclinations with all the power you possess. Struggle against such
discouragements with all your might and main, not only through your
mental attitude but through your determination to maintain an erect
spine. Hold your head up and look the world in the face.
Don't shirk your duty. Don't deviate from the path along which your
best impulses and highest ideals would lead you. Life is worth while. It
is filled with glorious opportunities. Reach out and grasp them as they
come up. Hold your head up and be a man or a woman to the fullest
extent of your abilities.
CHAPTER IV
: Stimulating the Source of Stamina and Vitality
This is an age of short cuts. Any devious routes to the accomplishment
of an object should be avoided. If you want vitality, and the vivacity,
energy and enthusiasm with which it is associated, you naturally search
for a method which will bring certain and quick improvements. The
reasonableness and general prevalence of this demand was in my mind
when I began experimentation with a view to discovering a method for
stimulating what I term the source of vital power.
Scientific men while delving into the marvelous secrets of physiology,
have learned that the thyroid gland in some peculiar manner possesses
an extraordinary influence upon vital stamina and virility. This
mysterious gland is located in front of the neck, about half way
between the so-called "Adam's apple" and the top of the sternum or
breast-bone, where it adheres to each side of the front of the trachea, or
windpipe, in a flattened form, something like the wings of a butterfly,
with a connecting "isthmus." It is a "ductless" gland, its secretions
apparently being taken up by absorption into the lymph, and from that
into the blood.
While the functions of this little organ are not yet very clearly

understood, there is nothing more definitely known than its tremendous
importance in the bodily economy. Without it there can be no such
thing as healthy development. Thyroid deficiency in children gives rise
to a form of idiocy, bodily malformation and degeneracy known as
cretinism, while in adult life it is associated with a similar disorder
known as myxedema. Goiter is the most common disorder of the
thyroid gland; though not very serious in minor cases, it is capable of
becoming very dangerous, assuming such malignant forms as
exophthalmic goiter, which is marked by palpitation of the heart,
nervous symptoms and protrusion of the eyes.
It is thought by some authorities that the thyroid gland has to do with
the control of the excretion of the waste products from nitrogenous
foods, for it has been found