said Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes; "everybody
ought to bathe in it. Grim care, moroseness, anxiety,--all the rust of
life,--ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth." Elsewhere he says:
"If you are making choice of a physician be sure you get one with a
cheerful and serene countenance."

Is not a jolly physician of greater service than his pills? Dr. Marshall
Hall frequently prescribed "cheerfulness" for his patients, saying that
it is better than anything to be obtained at the apothecary's.

In Western New York, Dr. Burdick was known as the "Laughing Doctor." He
always presented the happiest kind of a face; and his good humor was
contagious. He dealt sparingly in drugs, yet was very successful.

The London "Lancet," the most eminent medical journal in the world,
gives the following scientific testimony to the value of jovialty:--

"This power of 'good spirits' is a matter of high moment to the sick and
weakly. To the former, it may mean the ability to survive; to the
latter, the possibility of outliving, or living in spite of, a disease.
It is, therefore, of the greatest importance to cultivate the highest
and most buoyant frame of mind which the conditions will admit. The same
energy which takes the form of mental activity is vital to the work of
the organism. Mental influences affect the system; and a joyous spirit
not only relieves pain, but increases the momentum of life in the body."

Dr. Ray, superintendent of Butler Hospital for the Insane, says in one
of his reports, "A hearty laugh is more desirable for mental health than
any exercise of the reasoning faculties."

Grief, anxiety, and fear are great enemies of human life. A depressed,
sour, melancholy soul, a life which has ceased to believe in its own
sacredness, its own power, its own mission, a life which sinks into
querulous egotism or vegetating aimlessness, has become crippled and
useless. We should fight against every influence which tends to depress
the mind, as we would against a temptation to crime. It is undoubtedly
true that, as a rule, the mind has power to lengthen the period of
youthful and mature strength and beauty, preserving and renewing
physical life by a stalwart mental health.

I read the other day of a man in a neighboring city who was given up to
die; his relatives were sent for, and they watched at his bedside. But
an old acquaintance, who called to see him, assured him smilingly that
he was all right and would soon be well. He ta