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was not more than five feet four inches in height. However that may be, Gokhale, splendid fellow that he was, brought me back to my room by about eleven o'clock.
Early to bed has been the invariable practice of my life, and to it I largely ascribe the good health I enjoy. I am not so sure about the early rising. I have always been a late riser. I usually sleep about eight hours out of the twenty-four, and sometimes I extend it to nine or even ten hours. Sleep has been my greatest enjoyment, and I find that it is more or less a family gift. When I retire for sleep I close the chambers of my mind against all worry and anxiety, and that is the secret of sound sleep. At the start, perhaps, it requires a little will-power, but with practice it becomes a matter of habit. I do not think excessive brain work is a real menace to health, pro- vided it is congenial and does not interfere with sleep. On the con- trary, when congenial, it acts as a tonic, and the fatigue of it is all merged in the delight which it generates and the stimulus it imparts to the nerves.
I have said nothing about food or drink. Abstention from smok- ing and intoxicating drinks has always been recommended for good health. I have been a total abstainer from both, and cannot say that my enjoyment of life has been less hearty than that of those who smoke or drink. They may perhaps help to add to our social amenities, but they are neither indispensable nor free from risks to health, even though they may not be indulged in immoderately. As for food, it varies according to climatic conditions and racial pre- dilections. Every community has a rough sort of idea of the food upon which it can best thrive, and the idea is generally an ancestral bequest, subject to limitations that time or changes in local condi- tions may impose. The European is a meat-eater. The Indian is a vegetarian. The Bengalee is a fish-eater, and fish is a light, healthy, and nourishing food. There is a marked similarity in the matter of food between the Japanese and the Bengalees. Both are rice and fish-eaters, though the Japanese is more generous in his patronage of a meat diet. One thing is clear—at least that is my experience—that food should vary with age. One should follow the intimations of nature, which, with the advance of years, creates a steadily grow- ing disinclination for animal food.
After all is said and done, the crowning aspiration of the Latin poet holds as good to-day as it did in his own time. The highest of earthly blessings is a sound mind in a sound body—mens sana in corpore sano. The sound body, corpus sanum, is the foundation,