VITALITY, LOW
Just as the body when at a low vitality is susceptible to colds, so it may as truly be said of the soul, when impoverished it falls a prey to temptation and sin.
The common theory that all colds are the result of exposure is a great mistake, inasmuch as exposure is not the direct cause of the trouble. Colds are caused by hostile microbes, or bacteria, which gain a foothold at a time when our vitality has been lowered by exposure. But there are many quarters of the globe where one finds it impossible to catch cold, simply by reason of the fact that there is no cold to catch.
Peary and his men during the months they spent in the arctic regions were immune from cold, tho they were constantly enduring exposure of every kind. They passed day after day in clothes so saturated with perspiration that by day they froze into a solid mass, so to speak, and the clothes cut into their flesh. And at night, in their sleeping-bags, the first hour was spent in thawing out. They returned to civilization none the worse in health, but soon contracted severe colds upon reaching there. People were much amused by the press accounts of how Commander Peary had taken cold while proceeding to dine with a friend in a suburb of Washington, the taxicab which was conveying him and his wife having broken down during a snow flurry in December.—Harper’s Weekly.
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Vocabulary and Missionaries—See [Speech and Missionaries].
Vocal Practise and Health—See [Singing Conducive to Health].
VOCIFERATION
The Persians in their battles with the Scythians brought with them from Europe in their train a great number of asses, as beasts of burden, to transport the tents and the baggage of the army. These asses were accustomed in times of excitement and danger to set up a very terrific braying. It was, in fact, all that they could do. And it was effective, for the Scythian horses in their troops of cavalry, who would have faced spears and javelins and the loudest shouts and vociferations of human adversaries without fear, were appalled and put to flight at hearing the unearthly noises which issued from the Persian camp whenever they approached it. The battle was won by the braying of asses.
Any political campaign might stand as a testimony of the power of vociferation. But the really important issues of the world are never decided by the braying of asses.