Work and recreation in their relation to health / by S. Holgate Owen.

  • Owen, S. Holgate.
Date:
[between 1870 and 1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Work and recreation in their relation to health / by S. Holgate Owen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    9 work and recreation :n their relation to health. BY S. HOLGATE OWEN, M.D, r HAVE chosen for my lecture this evening a subject which [ affects deeply the interest and happiness of every one present— I subject which we all have to deal with, Work and Recreation. ivery one, I suppose, who comes into this world finds that he ias something to do—that he has within him a power or force vhich must find expression, whether for good or for bad, in some mtward action, or in some line of life; and every one must find, lowever important his work may be to himself or to other people, hat that force or power is not a continuous one—that he ;annot go on without an occasional break or interval, which is lecessary for rest, and for what we call recreation. However we ook at life, whether from a scientific or from a moral point of dew, there stands out in bold relief, above all other considerations, ;he simple truth that we must work, and that we must rest. So general, indeed, is this principle that there appears to exist, not jnly in the case of man, but, if we look at it carefully, in the whole )rganic world of animals and plants, a constant interchange or vibration between activity and rest. If we begin by laying down some sort of definition stating what vt mean by work and recreation, I must take it for granted that jvery one present has a good common-sense notion of the meaning )f the terms force or energy. You all know what is meant by strength of body and strength of mind, and the relative conditions >f weakness of body and weakness of mind. You are aware that >ne man can put forth a great deal more force and energy to iccomplish a given object than another man, and that the same man can put forth more energy at one time than at another.