THE ALPHABETICAL PENTAGON OF HEALTH FOR AUSTRALIA.
A few introductory remarks on this subject will serve a useful purpose.
It will be seen that I have referred to the alphabetical pentagon of
health--which is purely a provisional arrangement of my own. It
consists of five headings, which fall naturally into alphabetical
order. They are best considered, therefore, in the following way,
namely:
* (a) Ablution--the Skin and the Bath.
*
* (b) Bedroom Ventilation.
*
* (c) Clothing.
*
* (d) Diet.
*
* (e) Exercise.
*
This is a convenient method of remembering the five great fundamental
principles concerned in the preservation of health. It will serve,
moreover, as a means of impressing them upon the memory, superior to
any other with which I am acquainted.
This very number five, indeed, has a more than ordinary significance
belonging to itself. It has been termed a mystical number. "Five," says
Pythagoras, "has peculiar force in expiations. It is everything. It
stops the power of poisons and is redoubted by evil spirits." According
to the Pythagorean school of philosophy, the world is a piece of
harmony and man the full chord. The major chord consists of a
fundamental or tonic, its major third and its just fifth. The eighth
note, or complement of the octave, is the diapason of man. These are of
course very highly imaginative speculations. It is interesting to
remember, however, that the system of astronomy first taught by
Pythagoras was afterwards developed into the solar system by
Copernicus, and is now received as the Copernican system. But, turning
from grave to gay, we find that five wits have been described, viz.,
common sense, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory. Of these,
common sense passes judgment on all things; imagination brings the mind
to realise what comes before it; fantasy stimulates the mind to act;
estimation has to do with all that pertains to time, space, locality,
etc.; and memory is "the warder of the brain." Then again, have we not
also the five senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and
tasting? Have we not likewise five fingers and five toes on either hand
and foot? Moreover, is not fives an ancient and hollowed game, still
popular wherever the English language is spoken, and is not its name
derived from its being played with the "bunch of FIVES," namely the
hand? And further, there must be numbers of Australians who know well
what "five-corners" are. In addition to the foregoing, the number five
has an important historical and legal association in connection with
the Code Napoleon. Prior to Napoleon's time, different ways and customs
prevailed in different parts of France, and altogether legal matters
were in a chaotic state. It was greatly to his credit, therefore that
he recognised the necessity for the entire alteration and remodelling
of the whole system. But what was more striking than the recognition of
the existing, defects was the speediness with which they were
rectified, for the CODE NAPOLEON was devised and actually in operation
between 1804 and 1810.
It consisted of FIVE parts, namely the "Code Civil," dealing with the
main body of the private law; the "Code de Procedure Civile"; the "Code
de Commerce," dealing with the laws relating to commercial affairs; the
"Code d'Instruction Criminelle "; and finally, the "Code Penal."
It is recorded that Napoleon was prouder of this than of his victories.
"I shall go down to posterity," he said, "with my Code in my hand." The
best proof of its excellence is that to-day it remains in force as the
law of France (though it has been re-christened the "Code Civil" under
the Republic), and that it has been the model for many Continental
Codes, notably Belgium, Italy, and Greece.
But, leaving, these references to the many associations attached to the
number five, it must not be supposed that my desire is to make people
unnecessarily timorous about themselves on the score of health. This is
certainly not my intention, for such a frame of mind would defeat the
very object I have in view. Yet there still remains the fact that a
little rational attention is indispensable if the vigour of the body is
to be maintained at its best. There is a very great difference between
carefulness carried to extremes in this respect, on the one head, and a
heedlessness and total disregard of personal health, on the other. The
golden mean between these two is the proper knowledge of what is
required for the preservation of health, and so much conformity thereto
as will give the best results. And yet it must be remembered that no
cast-iron code can be laid down which would be applicable to one and
all. No; idiosyncrasy, that personal peculiarity which makes each
individual different from every one else, is too potent a factor to be
ignored. In matters of this kind, each one, to a certain extent, is a
law unto himself, and, consequently, what agrees and what disagrees is
only discoverable by the individual concerned. In what follows,
therefore, I have endeavoured to lay down rules for guidance which will
be beneficial to by far the greatest number; although this element of
the EGO must never be forgotten.