Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 56 — page 112: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Here are reasons why we shouldn’t Stand on our Feet by PETER SUMMERS HEN PRIMITIVE MAN CAME down from the trees, he undoubtedly did a wise thing. But when he reared up on his hind legs he started something ~. that has been causing trouble ever since. Mammals, the class of creatures to which man belongs, have unques- tionably evolved from fish-like ancestors through amphibia and reptiles. It is the fish pattern of body organisation which has set the standard for all succeeding groups. Fish are designed to move hori- zontally, and so are the higher groups. Man is the only creature who goes against this design—for even the bi- pedal birds do not, strictly, move vertically. As anyone who has cleaned a fish knows, the major organs of the body are slung by sheets of thin tissue—the mesenteries—from the long pole of the vertebral column. They hang freely and without anything pressing on them. This condition is found in all the lower animals from fish up. But not in man. Man’s internal organs, especially those in the abdomen, are piled up on top of each other, so that there is an increasing pressure from the uppermost ‘downwards, until at the base of the’ abdomen the poor organs are squashed tight. When you remember that the intestine cannot do its job properly unless it can undergo constant rhythmic - movements (peristalsis), it is not surprising that man is heir to so many _ intestinal diseases such as ulcers, cancer or even the mild but prevalent and annoying condition of indigestion. By walking about on our feet instead of our feet and hands, we prevent the 111 comiclooks.cormn