THE GUIDANCE OF THE BODYTHE literature relating to the care of the human body is already veryextensive. Much has been written about the bodys proper food, the air itshould breathe, the clothing by which it should be protected, the bestmethods of its development. That literature needs but little added to it, untilwe, as rational beings, come nearer to obeying the laws which it discloses,and to feeling daily the help which comes from that obedience.It is of the better use, the truer guidance of this machine, that I wishespecially to write. Although attention is constantly called to the fact of itsmisuse,--as in neglected rest and in over-strain,--in all the unlimited varietywhich the perverted ingenuity of a clever people has devised, it seems neverto have come to any ones mind that this strain in all things, small and great,is something that can be and should be studiously abandoned, with asregular a process of training, from the first simple steps to those morecomplex, as is required in the work for the development of muscularstrength. When a perversion of Natures laws has continued from generationto generation, we, of the ninth or tenth generation, can by no possibilityjump back into the place where the laws can work normally through us, eventhough our eyes have been opened to a full recognition of such perversion.We must climb back to an orderly life, step by step, and the compensation islarge in the constantly growing realization of the greatness of the laws wehave been disobeying. The appreciation of the power of a natural law, as itworks through us, is one of the keenest pleasures that can come to man inthis life.The general impression seems to be that common-sense should lead us to abetter use of our machines at once. Whereas, common-sense will not bring atrue power of guiding the muscles, any more than it will cause the musclesdevelopment, unless having the common-sense to see the need, we realizewith it the necessity for cutting a path and walking in it. For the musclesdevelopment, several paths have been cut, and many who are in need arewalking in them, but, to the average man, the road to the best kind ofmuscular development still remains closed. The only training now in use isfollowed by sleight-of-hand performers, acrobats, or other jugglers, and thatis limited to the professional needs of its followers.Again, as the muscles are guided by means of the nerves, a training for theguidance of the muscles means, so far as the physique is concerned, first, a ................................