n public speaking. While giving my
attention to this particular study, I was greatly impressed by the
extreme importance of maintaining an erect spine, holding the chin down,
inward and backward, and keeping the shoulders back and the chest
expanded. I found, however, like many others who become "slack" in
bodily posture, that a considerable effort was required to maintain a
proper position at all times. I therefore began a series of special
exercises intended really to force myself to assume a properly erect
position. While experimenting with these exercises for the purpose
mentioned, I noted a marked effect upon my general vital vigor. Not only
was this made apparent by an increase in physical strength and
stamina, but it was marked in an equal degree by additional mental
energy and capacity. My mind was clearer, and I could surmount
difficulties presented in business enterprises in which I was interested
with far more ease than before. I could make decisions more easily and
quickly. In addition, a decided gain in weight was noted-not by any
means in the form of mere fatty tissue, but of firm, substantial
flesh. These very pleasing results induced me to go more carefully into
the causes underlying this remarkable improvement. I carried on an
elaborate series of careful experiments with a view to proving the
conclusions to which I had come in the course of these exercises. It
was quite apparent that a full development of the back part of the upper
spine was necessary in order to maintain the strength essential to
extreme vigor and vitality. And it became quite plain to me that this
development could not be achieved without stimulating to an unusual
degree the thyroid gland. Reasoning along this line, I called to mind
the appearance of various animals noted for their great strength and
there I found my conclusions verified with remarkable emphasis. The
arched neck of the stallion, the huge development of the back of the
neck of the domestic bull, the same character in even more pronounced
form in the case of the bull buffalo and the musk-ox, and in varying
degrees in other animals conspicuous for their vitality and energy-all
this seemed to indicate that I was on the verge of a remarkable
discovery. When you think of a fiery steed, in every instance you bring
to mind the arched appearance of the neck. The tight reins that are
sometimes used to give a horse a pleasing appearance, ar