Evening Capital

The Curve of Health.

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has made
a discovery. It is that of the law of the
curve of health. "It is a mistake," he
says, "to suppose that the normal state
of health is represented by a straight hor-
izontal line. Independently of the well
known causes which raise or depress the
standard of vitality there seems to be-
I think I may venture to say there is
a rhythmic undulation in the flow of vital
force. The dynamo which furnishes
the working powers of consciousness and
action has its annual, its monthly, its
diurnal waves, even its momentary rip-
ples, in the current it furnishes. There
are greater and lesser curves in the move-
ment of every day's life-a series of as-
ceding and of descending movements,
a periodicity descending on the very nat-
ure of the force at work in the living
organism. Thus we have our good sea-
sons, our good days, and our bad days,
life climbing and descending in long or
short undulations. which I have called
the curve of health. From this fact
spring a great proportion of the errors of
medical practice. On it are based the
delusions of the various shadowy sys-
tems which impose themselves on the
ignorant and half learned public as
branches or 'schools' of science. A rem-
edy taken at the time of the ascent in
the curve of health is found successful.
The same remedy taken while the curve
is its downward movement proves a fail-
ure. So long as this biological law exists
the wisest practitioner will be liable to
deceive himself about the effect of what
he calls, and loves to think are, his rem-
edies."