FOOD AND DRINKS MAN is an omnivorous creature, partaking of the nature both of the carnivorous and herbiverous animal. Hence, it is reasonable to suppose that man should subsist on a mixed diet, consisting both of animal and vegetable substances. To settle this matter, we must appeal to man's organization. His structure will tell us something we need not mistake. All the works of the Creator show design. Everything he has made has a use, and is so contrived as to be adapted to that use. Lions, tigers, and other animals, for example, which feed on flesh alone, have a short alimentary canal -- it being only about three times the length of an animal's body. Animals which eat no flesh -- a sheep for example -- have very long second stomachs; while the duodenum, or second stomach of the human being, is of a medium capacity; which fact, in connection with the peculiar formation of his teeth and his erect or upright position, prove conclusively that man was destined to adapt himself to any clime, and to partake of any kind of food, animal or vegetable, as may be naturally supplied for his subsistence by the hand of Providence. For instance, the inhabitants of the Polar regions subsist principally on animal substances, and that, too, of the most oleaginous or fatty sorts. Those tribes of men, laborers, hunters, etc., living in cold climates, who subsist almost wholly on flesh, fish, or fowl, devour on an average about seven pounds per diem. In fact, the quantity of animal food consumed by some human beings, who are flesh-eaters in practice, seems almost incredible. Captain Parry relates the case of an Esquimaux lad, who at a meal, which lasted twenty hours, consumed four pounds of skins as well as four pounds of broiled sea-horse flesh, one and a half pints of gravy, besides one and three-quarter pounds of bread, three glasses of raw spirits, one tumbler of strong grog, and nine pints of water. Captain Cochrane states, in a "Narrative of Travels through Siberian Territory," that he has repeatedly seen a Yakut or Largoude eat forty pounds of meat in a day; and it is stated that the men in the Hudson's Bay Company are allowed a ration of seven or eight pounds of ordinary flesh meat per diem. Charles Francis Hall, in his work called "Arctic Researches and Life among the Esquimaux," relates his strange experiences among the tribes of the country, with whom he became, as it were, naturalized. Speaking of the kinds of food they used, and the enormous quantity consumed, Captain Hall remarks: -- "The skin of the Mysticetus (Greenland whale) is a great treat to the Esquimaux, who eat it raw. The 'black skin' is three-fourths of an inch thick, and looks like India-rubber. It is good eating in a raw state, even for a white man, as I know from experience; but when boiled and soused in vinegar it is most excellent." The Captain afterwards saw the natives cutting up the krang (meat) of the whale into such huge slices as their wives could carry; and as they worked they kept on eating, until boat-load after boat-load was sent over the ice to be deposited in the villages of the vicinity. All day long were they eating, which led the Captain to exclaim: "What enormous stomachs these Esquimaux have!" He came to the conclusion, however, that the Esquimaux practice of eating their food raw is a good one -- at least, for the better preservation of their health. To one educated otherwise, as we civilized whites are, the Esquimaux custom of feeding on uncooked meals is highly repulsive; but eating meats raw or cooked is entirely a matter of education. "God has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the whole face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations." Take the Esquimaux away from the Arctic regions, and they would soon disappear from the face of the earth. The Esquimaux are a hardy and happy people; are comparatively free from diseases, and are never known to die of scrofula or consumption, as one of the consequences of eating so enormously of oleaginous or greasy animal substances. On the other hand, in contrast to the gormandizing propensities of the Esquimaux, there are many examples of people living in cold climates subsisting on coarse bread, not exceeding the average amount of one pound of wheat, rye, or corn, daily; but such persons, unless exceedingly active in their habits, seldom escape form the penalties of scrofula and consumption, for the simple reason that they soon fail to supply themselves with the meats or fatty animal substances necessary for the heat and life of the body. The Canadian teamsters live almost exclusively upon bread and fat, which, in a temperate climate, would produce nausea and skin eruptions. In warm climates, as in China, Hindoostan, Africa, and the tropics, the food of the natives is principally composed of vegetables and fruits -- rice being the general diet, with only animal or other food enough to amount to a condiment or seasoning. Though the amount of food consumed by some of the nations is very small, and their habit s very temperate, we do not find that even they are any the less liable to many of the diseases which afflict those who eat largely of a mixed diet. It is reasonable to suppose, however that less food and lighter clothing are required in warm or hot climates than in those of the temperate and frigid. The negroes on the plantations of Mississippi and Alabama grow sleek and live to an advanced age by subsisting largely on fat pork and hominy, corn bread, sweet potatoes, rice, etc. In the pampas of Brazil and Buenos Ayres, where immense herds of wild cattle are found, the hunters catch these bovines, strip them of their hides and horns, and, if hungry, will cut out a huge chunk of beef, half roast it, and eat it without salt or bread. In some parts of Brazil the natives feed on a flour made from the roots of a certain plant or tree, moistening the same with the juice of the orange or lemon. Others find support in the yam, the banana, or plantain, etc., while they are hugely addicted to drinking a species of whiskey called aguardiente. In Asia and Africa many of the natives derive their
staple nutrition from gum acacia, and among us many an invalid has derived
healthy nourishment from preparations containing gum acacia, when his stomach
would neither bear nor digest any other article in the shape of food.
In Peru the Indians will subsist for a month at a time by chewing a plant
called erythroxylin coca, and in the mean time perform journeys of hundreds
of miles. The Hindoos live principally on rice, and are considered
a long-lived and a very docile people. On the other hand, many of
the Indian tribes of North America, who live on roots, barks, berries,
etc., are very savage and warlike in their habits. The Chinese drink
strong tea, and the Turks coffee equally as strong, without apparent detriment
to their general health. The laboring Scotch thrive partially on
oatmeal porridge, without using a particle of meat. The Irish want
nothing better than plenty of potatoes, cabbage, and buttermilk.
The English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other civilized people
of Europe live upon mixed diet, though each have their peculiar likes and
dislikes in the shape of dishes, and the average health of each nation
is about the same. So in America they eat everything and anything,
without particular injury to the constitution, except when eating too fast
and too much at a time, which is a proverbial national error.
There can be no doubt that many of the maladies incident to the human race are produced through the agency of improper food, over-feeding, etc., on the internal organs; yet it can be readily shown that a far greater amount of maladies are induced through the medium of atmospheric impressions and vicissitudes on the external surface of the body. More diseases arise from breathing foul air, or from lack of the natural atmospheric air, than from the worst or poorest kind of food. Disease, therefore, is not so much a result of the kind of food we eat, as it is in the quantity and quality. What may be excellent for one man may be very injurious for another; custom, habits, idiosyncrasies, temperaments, etc., having a great deal to do in the digestion of food, and converting it into wholesome or nutritious blood, capable of supplying all the tissues of the body with their natural needs or stimuli. Very few people seem to know what their stomachs were intended for, or even know where they are situated. All sorts of deleterious substances are crammed into the stomach by thousands of people. When any article of food is repulsive to any of the senses, it had better be avoided as an article of diet. This antipathy is so intense in some as to amount to actual idiosyncrasy. The sympathy and antipathy displayed by some persons with regard to alimentary food or drinks are extremely curious. Some notable instances are on record. BOYLE fainted when he heard the splashing of water or liquids. SCALIGER turned pale at the sight of water-cresses; ERASMUS became feverish when he saw a fish. ZIMMERMAN tells us of a lady who shuddered when touching the velvety skin of a peach. There are whole families who entertain a horror of cheese; on the other hand, there was a physician, DR. STARKE, of Edinburgh, who lost his life by subsisting almost entirely upon it. Some people have been unable to take mutton even when administered in the microscopic form of pills. There is a case of a man falling down at the smell of mutton, as if bereaved of life, and in strong convulsions. SIR JAMES EYRE, in his well-known little book, mentions three curious instances of idiosyncrasy: the case of a gentleman who could not eat a single strawberry with impunity; the case of another, whose head would become frightully swollen if he touched the smallest particle of hare; the case of a third, who would inevitably have an attack of gout a few hours after eating fish. We ourselves know of a lady in Connecticut who will turn pale and faint at the smell of an apple. She could certainly claim innocence with reference to tempting any Adam. This ignorance of the uses of the stomach, or rather abuse of the functions, is sometimes the source of much suffering and disease. Besides the gastric tubes which supply the stomach with the gastric juice, which is necessary to dissolve the food before it can be converted into blood, it is extensively covered with a net-work of nerves and blood-vessels, rendering the stomach very sensitive and very liable to inflammation. This inflammation sometimes becomes very active, producing vomiting, pain, fever, etc., all caused by imprudence in diet. It is a warning. If the warning be not heeded, this inflammation becomes chronic; the nerves lose their sensibility; the stomach becomes inactive, and that most distressing of all diseases, dyspepsia (and often epilepsy or fits), takes up its abode as a permanent guest. Most frequently it comes on more slowly and without apparent warning. The food we eat has to be properly digested. People are apt to suppose that digestion is performed in the stomach only. This is a mistake. The stomach performs the greater part of the work, but it is greatly assisted by other organs besides. Digestion really begins in the mouth. Besides the teeth, which are the true organs of digestion, there are situated in the cavity of the mouth three small bodies called salivary glands, which pour out a fluid called saliva (or spittle), which is just as necessary to the proper digestion of food as the gastric juice itself. The more thoroughly the food is mixed with saliva, the more perfect will be digestion. This should teach us to eat slowly, and to chew so well that every mouthful of food may contain a proper amount of it. It should also teach us that this saliva is too valuable a substance to be contaminated with tobacco-juice, or wasted in expectoration from smoking, especially where the temperament is nervous. Saliva is constantly being poured into the cavity of the mouth, whether we are asleep or awake. As a general thing, in a healthy person, about five wine-glasses full of saliva are secreted in a day. We eat that the body may be supported with blood, for our food, before it can become a part of the body, must first be converted into blood. A full-grown, healthy working-man consumes in one year about twelve hundred pounds of victuals and drink -- that is, about eight times his own weight; yet, if he should weigh himself at the end of the year, he would find that he weighs very little more or less than he did at the beginning. Now what has become of the twelve hundred pounds he has eaten? It has been wasted away. With every motion, every breath, every operation of the mind, the body has been wasted, and food has been required to support the waste. The one great cause of the wasting of the body, and of the constant demand for food, is action. If the muscles could be kept from moving, our lungs from breathing, and our minds from thinking, then we might not require food, for there would be no waste. The condition of things, of course, could never exist without death speedily following. Exercising violently excites hunger, since it makes us breathe faster, and therefore causes us to inhale more air. A man of sedentary habits does not require so much food as a laboring man, because he does not waste away as fast. Much of the wasted material of the body is carried off by the lungs, in the form of carbonic acid. The skin, too, does its share of the work. It not only assists in breathing, but it also carries out of the system a large portion of its dead particles. Children require more food in proportion than adults, because they are growing, and therefore, so to speak, need more to build up their bodies. After we have attained our growth, we neither gain nor lose our weight, provided we are in health, for we consume as much food as the body wastes. This is called a state of equilibrium. As old age comes on the body begins to decline in weight, and then we waste more than we consume. Food may be distinguished into two kinds, viz., nitrogenized and non-nitrogenized. The first class is called the plastic elements of nutrition, and is designed solely to make blood and to form the substance of the tissues in the general structure of man; while the non-nitrogenized kind is necessary to keep up the animal heat, by yielding hydrogen and carbon, to be exhibited in the lungs. The elements of human nutrition and recuperation are vegetable fibrine, albumen, caseine, and animal flesh and blood; while the elements of respiration are fat, starch, gum, cane sugar, grape sugar, sugar of milk, wine, beer, and spirits. The elementary principles or proximate elements of food consist in water, gum, sugar, starch, lignin, jelly, fat, fibrine, albumen, caseine, gluten, gelatine, acids, salts, alcohol, etc. All these elements are found in sufficient abundance in either the vegetable or animal kingdoms, and are to be used according to the natural wants of man, or the supply of the waste. No precise rules, therefore, can be laid down to suit every particular state of either disease or health. Every one, accordingly, should eat and drink only those things which he may find by experience, habits, or peculiarities to best agree with his condition, and reject all substances which he may find injurious to his health and general well-being. It is the provocative variety, or the over-stimulation of the palate, that does the greater mischief to health The plainer the food and the fewer the dishes, the greater will be the immunity from disease. Whether the diet be vegetable or animal substances, the result will be the same in relative proportion to the nutriment yielded. Fish, for scrofulous and consumptive persons, is a most excellent diet, containing a principle called iodine. Meats contain the most nitrogen, the nitrogenous portions of our food make flesh, and go to supply the wear and tear and wastes of the body; these are ultimately passed from the system in the urine. If more nitrogenous food is eaten than is needed to supply these wastes, Nature converts it more rapidly into living tissues, which are, with corresponding rapidity, broken down and converted into urine. This is when the food is digested; but when so much is eaten that it cannot be digested, Nature takes alarm as it were, and endeavors to remedy the trouble in one of three ways. The stomach rebels and casts it off by vomiting, it is worked out of the system by attacks of diarrhoea, or the human creature is made uncomfortable generally, and is restless both by day and by night; as a further punishment his appetite is more or less destroyed for several meals afterwards. Little or no nitrogen is poured off with the perspiration, breathing, or faeces. Whatever diet we use, whether animal or vegetable, the secret of its utility lies not only in the quantity and quality, but in the manner in which either kind is cooked, when so prepared for food. Much ignorance prevails everywhere in this matter of cooking the substancs that are requisite for the sustenance of our bodies. Let any person, unable to eat broccoli or greens cooked in a quart of water, try the effect of having them cooked in a gallon of water, or of having the quart of water changed three or four times during the process of cooking, and he will soon discover the difference. If good potatoes are "watery," it is because they are ill-cooked. Fried dishes, rich gravies, and pastry should be avoided because of their tendency to develop fatty acids in the stomach. We may reasonably suppose that the physiology of digestion is yet too imperfectly understood to enable us to lay down any precise laws as to what to eat, drink, and avoid. With a little vigilance, however, each person can ascertain for himself what foods do and do not agree with him. As before intimated, the peculiarities in this respect are remarkable. Some cannot endure fat; others cannot get along without it. Some cannot touch mutton; others are made ill by eggs. Let each find out his own antipathy. Suppose the case of a healthy man -- so healthy that he cannot be healthier. We will say the quantity of blood in his body is thirty pounds, and that he loses one pound of this in every twenty-four hours. Is it not plain enough that he must eat as much food in the same time as will supply the waste of blood he has lost? But if he should eat as much as will furnish a pound and a half of blood, he will have half a pound of blood too much in his system. Should he go on adding an extra half pound of blood daily more than is required to supply the tissues, what then will be the consequences? Bursting of the blood-vessels. But good Dame Nature has measurably guarded against any such plethoric catastrophe; for, after having supplied the waste of the body, the undue quantity of blood is converted into fat or adipose matter, thus restoring the blood's volume to a due standard. But this quasi fat is of no use to the body. It does not give it strength; on the contrary, it is an encumbrance to the machinery, and, in more ways than one, is an evil. He, therefore, who eats too much, even though he digests or assimilates what he eats, and should be fortunate enough to escape apoplexy, or some other disease, does not add a single particle to his strength. He only accumulates fat, and incurs the evils thereunto appertaining--one among many of which I will mention -- I mean the acumulation of fat about the heart, and interfering, to a most dangerous degree, with the heart's action. A man's strength resides in his arterial blood -- in his muscles and bones and tendons and ligatures -- in his brawn and sinew; and his degree of strength depends upon the vigor, size, and substance of these; and if he were to eat without ceasing, he could not add to their size and substance one atom, nor alter their original healthy dimensions. Therefore it is a most mischievous fallacy to suppose that the more a man eats the stronger he grows. The quantity of food taken daily should just be sufficient to restore to the blood what the blood has lost in restoring the waste of the body, and that should always be proportioned to the degree of bodily exertion undergone. But how are we to know the exact amount of the waste that is daily going on in our system, in oder to apportion the quantity of food thereto? Nature tells us not only when, but how much we ought to eat and drink. For instance, when you are excessively thirsty, and when you are in the act of quenching your thirst with a draught of cold water, you know when you have drunk enough by the cessation of thirst; but there is another token, which not only informs you when you have drunk enough, but which also prevents you from drinking more, that is, if you drink water only. While you are in the act of drinking, and before your thirst has been allayed, how rich, how sweet, how delicious is the draught, though it be but water! But no sooner has thirst been quenched, than behold, in an instant all its deliciousness has vanished! It is now distasteful to the palate. To him, then, who requires drink, water is delicious; for him who does not require drink, water not only has no relish, but impresses the palate disagreeably. To a man laboring under the very last degree of thirst, even foul ditch water would be a delicious draught; but his thirst having been quenched, he would turn from it with disgust. In this instance of water-drinking, then, it is clear that the relish depends not on any flavor residing in the water, but on some certain condition of the body. It is absurd to say that you cannot drink water because you do not like it, for this only proves that you do not want it; since the relish with which you enjoy drink depends upon the fact of your requiring drink, and not at all upon the nature of the drink itself. Now apply this to eating instead of drinking. Place before a hungry workman stale bread and fat pork, flanked by a jug of cold water. While his hunger remains unappeased, he will eat and drink with an eager relish; but when his hunger has been appeased, the bread and meat and water have lost what he supposed to be their delicious flavor. If we ate only simple and natural food, plainly cooked, there would be no danger of eating too much--the loss of relish and the feeling of disgust, consequent upon satisfied hunger, would make it impossible. Indeed, this sense of satiety is as much and as truly a natural token, intended to warn us that we have eaten enough, as the sense of hunger is a token that we require food. As hunger instructs us when to eat, so disrelish
teaches us when we should desist. It would seem that the very ne
plus ultra of the cook's art is to destroy the sensation of disrelish,
which is almost as necessary to our health as hunger itself. Thus
it appears the object of modern cookery is to make the stomach bear a large
quantity of food without nausea -- to cram into the stomach as much as
it can possibly hold without being sick.
I have stated already that a certain people have been known to eat from seven to forty pounds of meat or food in a single day. On the other hand, persons have lived on twelve ounces of food a day, and were actually exempt from disease. Dr. Franklin, in his younger days, confined himself solely to ten pounds of bread a week, drinking water only in the mean time. Rev. John Wesley lived to a great age on sixteen ounces a day, although he led a very active life as a preacher of the gospel; and a celebrated Italian nobleman, who led a dissipated life till near fifty years of age, suddenly reformd his habits, and lived on twelve ounces a day with a single glass of wine, until he had reached the hundredth year of his age. Was the wine one of the means by which he prolonged his life? It no doubt served to cheer his spirits. And this leads me to consider somewhat the nature of stimulants. By stimulants I mean ardent spirits, wines, and strong ales. Are they necessary as articles of diet? They are not always, but have their uses. They are penicious to the general organism, if too freely indulged in. Liquids which contain or make solids are better than wines, etc., yet both have their uses. Milk, the moment it reaches the stomach, is converted into curds and whey. The whey passes off by the kidneys--the solid curd nourishes the body. Now, if we evaporate a glass of wine on a shallow plate, whatever solid matter it contains will be left dry upon the plate, and this will be found to amount to about as much as may be laid on the extreme point of a penknife blade; and a portion, by no means all--but a portion of this solid matter I will readily concede is capable of nourishing the body--and this portion is only equal to one-third of the flour contained in a single grain of wheat! If we want nourishment merely, why not eat a grain of wheat instead of drinking a glass of wine? Yet wine has its uses as an exhilarant to the mind and body. Once placed beyond the reach of the seductions of the palate, the simple rule of drink what you want and as much as you want will of itself suggest the needful limitation. Physiology tells us plainly enough, not only why liquids are necessary, but how all superfluous quantities are rapidly got rid of. An interdict has been placed against hot drinks, which, if directed against tea and coffee so hot as to scald the mucous membrane, is rational enough, but is simply absurd when directed against hot in favor of cold drinks; the aroma of tea and coffee is produced by heat, consequently the pleasant, stimulating effect is considerably diminished when they are allowed to get cold. Great diversity prevails as to the kinds of drinks
which should be used. Some interdict tea, others only green tea;
some will not hear of coffee; others allow mild beer, but protest against
the bitter. Whoever very closely examines the evidence will probably
admit that the excessive variations in the conclusions prove that no unexceptionable
evidence has yet been offered. By this I mean that the evil effects
severally attributed to the various liquids were no direct consequences
of the action of such liquids, but were due to some other condition.
We often lay the blame of a restless night on the tea or coffee, which
would have been quite inoffensive taken after a simpler dinner, or at another
hour.
The same may be said of coffee. Both tea and
coffee may be hurtful when taken at improper times, or by bilious persons;
and a little vigilance will enable each person to decide for himself when
he can, and when he cannot, take them with benefit.
Many think they cannot do without something to drink at regular meals. Cold milk at meals has the disadvantage, if used freely, of engendering constipation, biliousness, and the long train of minor symptoms which inevitably follow these conditions. Warm drinks are preferable in moderate quantities. Field hands on cotton and sugar plantations find a wholesome drink in a mixture of molasses, ginger and water. This is a safe drink for harvesters, as are many other temperate household preparations. A recipe for many of these will be found in the proper department of this work. Whatever we eat or whatever we drink, let it be only
enough barely to appease the instincts of hunger and thirst. If we
rigidly do this, we shall seldom or never be afflicted with dyspepsia,
liver complaints, heart disease, and the thousand ills to which flesh is
heir, but will continue to enjoy unceasing rubicund health and vigorous
old age.
CLOTHING Clothing must be adapted to the climate in which a person lives. Warm or heavy clothing is rendered imperative in a northern climate, while the lightest and thinnest can only be tolerated in the torrid zones. It is, however, a physiological fact that the more the whole surface of the body is exposed to the external air, within certain limits, the more vigorously is its functional action performed, and the better is it enabled to preserve its own proper temperature, as well as to resist all unwholesome impressions from vicissitudes of weather, or the extremes of heat and cold. It should always be as light and loose as possible without bodily discomfort. The substances principally employed for clothing are linen, cotton, silk, wool, hair, or down. Woollens or flannels, being bad conductors of heat, afford the greatest immediate protection from cold; and for the same reason are less debilitating to the cutaneous function than is generally supposed. The most healthy clothing for a cold climate, especially the year round, is undoubtedly that made of wool. If worn next to the skin by all classes in summer and winter, an incalculable amount of coughs colds, diarrhoeas, dysenteries, and fevers would be prevented, as also many sudden and premature deaths from croup, diphtheria, and inflammation of the lungs and bladder. Of course, the clothing should be regulated in amount according to the degree of the heat of the weather at the time prevailing. In a very hot day, for instance, a single garment might be sufficient, but on a colder day an additional garment should be added, and in this way keep the equilibrium of the temperature of the body uniform as possible day by day, the year round. Winter maladies would be prevented by the ability of a woollen garment to keep the natural heat about the body, instead of conveying it away as fast as generated, as is done by linen, flaxen, cotton, and silken garments. Indeed, the laboring classes, or those compelled to toil in the sun, would enjoy better health by wearing light woollen clothing, than by wearing linen or cotton fabrics. Among the Irish emigrants and others who arrive in the United States during the summer season, we find many clothed entirely in woollen garments, frequently wearing heavy cloaks or coats, and actually feeling less discomfort from the heat than those of our native-born citizens who are in the habit of wearing linen or cotton next to their skin, and similar fabrics over these for outer clothing. It is more healthful to wear woollen next to the skin, especially in summer, for the reason that woollen textures absorb the moisture of perspiration so rapidly as to keep the skin measurably dry all the time. It is curious to notice that the water is conveyed by a woollen garment from the surface of the body to the outer side of the garment, where the microscope shows it condensed in millions of pearly drops; while it is in the experience of all observant people, that if a linen shirt becomes damp by perspiration, it remains cold and clammy for a long time afterwards, and, unless removed at once, will certainly cause some bodily ailment, as palsy, rheumatism, etc. To sit down, or remain inactive with a linen or cotton shirt wet with perspiration, will speedily cause a chill to the whole body, leading not unfrequently to some sudden and fatal disease. In the night-sweats of consumption, especially, or of any debilitated condition of the system a woollen or flannel night-dress (light for warm weather) is immeasurably more comfortable than cotton or linen, because it prevents that sepulchral dampness and chilliness of feeling which are otherwise inevitable. The British government make it imperative that every sailor in the navy shall wear flannel shirts in the hottest climates, a rule that should be adopted by all persons everywhere exposed to variable weather, to extreme heats and colds, merely regulating the amount of woollen garments worn to suit the variable temperatures of climates and seasons. In saying all this, however, we must remember that comfort is very much a matter of habit; and therefore we should make due discrimination between the natural sensation of health and the morbid sensitiveness produced by false customs. For instance, some keep their whole bodies constantly covered by many layers of woollen garments, and yet go into a shivering fit at every unusual breath of cold air. The reason is, they never adapt their habiliments gradually to the degree of the heat or cold of the season. If it be deemed advisable to wear woollen clothing all the year round; whether summer or winter, it does not follow that we are to wear more than one or two extra folds of clothing in addition to the under garments. The true rule is not to cover all parts of the body equally with the same amount of clothing. The fleshy parts require the least clothing, and the limbs and feet, of less muscular parts, the most. Yet we often wear, in addition to under-clothing, a thick vest, coat, and overcoat; and to these will add heavy scarfs of fur or wool to the neck, etc., while the legs and feet are seldom clad in more than a single additional garment to the drawers and stockings. These parts require more clothing, especially in the winter season, than any other parts of the body. Furs are worn in the United States more for ornament than benefit. They are the warmest clothing materials known; yet are not adapted for general wear, inasmuch as they are apt to overheat the body, and thus render it keenly susceptible to colds and other afflictions. By consequence, fur neck cloths, caps, etc, are very pernicious for the head and throat, inducing catarrhs, quinsy sore throat, and similar afflictions. On the contrary, a light woollen waist-coat worn constantly oer the breast, summer and winter, would guard against these and other evils, and insure vigorous strength to the lungs or respiratory apparatus, and thus should not be dispensed with even in dog-days. The simple rule is to keep the head cool and the feet warm at all seasons of the year. Cheap and pretty silks, of which there are many varieties, are materials which are admirable for ladies'evening, dinner, or walking dresses, and cost less in the end than other fabrics. While I contend that woollen or flannel clothing is the most suitable for the colder or even the more temperate climates, it is not for me to object to the use of linen or cotton clothing for those living in the the torrid or tropical climes. Indeed, cotton and linen would seem best adapted to such climes. Such persons usually lead an active, out-door life, or are accustomed to exposing their bodies frequently, especially their chests, to atmospheric influences. In a strictly hygienic regulation of dress, however, the color of the clothing is not to be disregarded. White color reflects the rays of the sun; black absorbs them. Light colored clothing is, therefore, more comfortable and sanitary in warm weather than dark colored, because the former repels the heat, while it is readily received and retained by the latter. The heat-reflecting or heat-retaining property of different fabrics varies exactly with their lighter or darker shades of color. This difference, however, is much greater in the luminous rays of light than in the non-luminous. When, therefore, we are not exposed to the sun, the subject of color is of very little importance. The absorbing power of dark surfaces renders the skins of dark-colored animals, as well as the darker persons or races of the human family, less liable to be scorched or blistered by the direct rays of the sun than are those of a lighter color. As to the cut or fashion of garments, that is a matter to be decided by the taste or habits of the wearer. Fashion, however, is very arbitrary, and seldom consults hygiene in matters of dress. Of late years she has really much improved, as to the regulation of attire with regard to both health and elegance. The hooped skirt, which at the outset of its career was so mercilessly ridiculed, has proved to be a great blessing to the ladies, as it enables them to dispense with a heavy drag of solid skirts, and gives their lower limbs free and easy play and motion. The hat or head-coverings now worn by both sexes are, in a sanitary point of view, far superior to those worn by our immediate ancestors, being very light, and affording free ventilation, which is indispensable for the avoidance of headaches, rushing of blood to the head, and many other afflictions. I can therefore only say that the first physiological
rule for dress is to have all garments as light in texture and as loose
in fashion as is consistent with bodily comfort, or such as will admit
of the most perfect freedom in the exercise of every muscle in the body.
Inequality of clothing, as before remarked, is a far more frequent cause
of colds than deficient clothing. For instance, if a person exposes
a part of the body usually protected by clothing to a strong current of
cold air, he will take cold sooner than by an equal exposure of the whole
body. A great safeguard against disease is to regulate the texture
and quantity of clothing according to the temperature of the climate in
which a person lives, avoiding extreme colds or extreme heats; keeping
the clothing always fresh and clean (especially that of the feet), and
wearing a different garment at night from that worn during the day, not
omitting the cleanliness of the whole body in the general hygiene of wearing
apparel
SLEEP Sleep is as much a necessity to the existence of all animal organizations as light, air, or any other element incident to their maintenance and healthful development. The constitutional relation of man to the changes of the seasons, and the succession of days and nights, implies the necessity of sleep. Natural or functional sleep is a complete cessation of the operations of the brain and sensory nervous ganglia, and is, therefore, attended with entire unconsciousness. Thoroughly healthy people, it is believed, never dream. Dreaming implies imperfect rest--some distubing cause, usually gastric irritation, exciting the brain to feeble and disordered functional action. Individuals of very studious habits, and those whose labors are disproportionately intellectual, require more sleep than those whose duties or pursuits require more manual and less mental exertion. The waste of nervous influence in the brain of literary or studious persons requires a longer time to be repaired or supplied than in those even who endure the largest amount of physical toil, without particular necessity for active thought while engaged in their daily manual pursuits. But no avocation or habit affects this question so much as the quality of the ingesta. Those who subsist principally upon a vegetable diet, it is said, require less sleep than those who subsist on both animal and vegetable food. It seems certain that herbivorous animals sleep less than the carnivorous; while the omnivora require more sleep than the herbivora and less than the carnivora. Man, therefore, partaking most of the omnivorous, living on a mixed diet of animal and vegetable food, requires more sleep than the ox, the horse, or the sheep, but much less than the lion, the tigr, or the bear. Physiologists are not well agreed respecting the natural duration of sleep. Indeed, no positive rule can be laid down on this subject; the statute of Nature, however, appears to read: Retire soon after dark, and arise with the first rays of morning light; and this is equally applicable to all climates and all seasons, at least in all parts of the globe proper for human habitations, for in the cold season, when the nights are longer, more sleep is required. History shows that those who have lived the longest
were the longest sleepers, the average duration of sleep being about eight
hours. The time of sleep of each individual must depend on his temperament,
manner of life, and dietetic habits. For instance, John Wesley, with
an active nervous temperament and a rigidly plain vegetable diet, and who
performed an immense amount of mental and bodily labor, slept but four
or five hours out of the twenty-four; while Daniel Webster, with a more
powerful frame but less active organization, and living on a mixed diet,
had a "talent for sleeping" eight or nine hours. Benjamin Franklin
used to say that seven hours sleep was enough for any man, eight hours
for a woman, and nine hours for a fool! Nevertheless, the invariable
rule for all whose habits are correct, is to retire early in the evening,
and sleep as long as the slumber is quiet, be the time six, seven, eight,
or nine hours. Those who indulge in late suppers, or eat heartily
before retiring, are usually troubled with unpleasant dreams, nightmare,
and are oftentimes found dead in the morning. Restless dozing in
the morning is exceedingly debilitating to the constitution. Persons
addicted to spirituous liquors and tobacco, in connection with high-seasoned
food, are in danger of oversleeping even to the extent of very considerably
increasing the stupidity and imbecility of mind, and indolence and debility
of body naturally and necessarily consequent upon those habits. Sleeping
in the daytime, or after meals, is not a natural law of the physiology
of man. No one requires to sleep after a meal unless he has eaten
more food than his system required. Sleep may be indulged in during
the day when sufficient sleep is not had at night; but this sleeplessness
at night need seldom occur were our habits made conformable to the general
hygienic requirements of Nature. Children may sleep all they are
inclined to. The position of the body is of some importance.
It should be perfectly flat or horizontal with the head, a little varied
by a small pillow. Sleeping with the head elevated by two or three
pillows or bolsters is certainly a bad habit. The neck is bent, the
chest is compressed, and the body unnaturally crooked. Children are
made round-shouldered from their heads being placed on high pillows.
The beds should be made of straw, corn-husks, hair, various palms and grasses,
never of feathers, which can only be mentioned in reprehension. The
bed-clothing should always be kept scrupulously clean, and adapted to the
season of the year, while the bed-rooms should always be sufficiently large
and airy as best conducive to sound sleep and general vigorous health.
BATHING Were all to follow the natural laws of their organization
in respect to eating, drinking, clothing, exercise, and temperature, an
occasional bath or washing would be sufficient; but as the laws of life
and health are transgressed in a thousand ways, the sum total of all the
unphysiological habits of civilized life is a condition of body characterized
by deficient external circulation, capillary obstruction, and internal
congestion or engorgement. To counteract this morbid condition of
the system, bathing of the whole body, on regular occasions, cannot, or
should not, be omitted. For hygienic purposes, the particular process
is merely a matter of convenience. You may bathe in a river if you
like, or may employ the shower-bath; but these modes are no more beneficial
than the towel or sponge-bath. After the ablution, in whatever manner
performed, care should be taken to thoroughly rub the body with a crash
towel. The best time for such purification of the body is on rising
from bed in the morning. The temperature of the water should be adapted
to suit different circumstances of constitutional health and disease.
Cold or cool baths are best for those in robust health; but those who are
deficient in blood, or have a low vitality, should use tepid water.
Extremely feeble persons should commence with warm water, and gradually
reduce the temperature as reaction improves. Sponging the body with
spirits or vinegar may prove highly beneficial in many cases of debility,
where water would be injurious. Excessive bathing tends to make the
skin harsh and scaly by diluting the secretions of the sebaceous glands,
the oil of which is intended to be regularly and naturally poured out to
the surface of the skin in order to keep it smooth, glossy, and soft.
Bathe as often as may be necessary to keep the skin clean, and you will
then have fulfilled the requirements of hygienic bathing.
EXERCISE. -- PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEVELOPMENT Everything tends to prove that man was destined to lead a life of bodily action. His formation--his physical structure generally, and that of his joints particularly--his great capacity for speed and laborious exertion--the Divine injunction, that "he shall live by the sweat of his brow"--the bodily imbecility and enfeebled health invariably consequent upon sedentary habit--all go to prove that he was destined to lead a life of physical activity. Most people are apt to despise many of the aids to health, because of their very simplicity. A sensible Dervish, in the Eastern allegory, well aware of this weakness of human nature to despise simple things, and venerate those they do not understand, when called to the Sultan to cure him of a disease, did not dare to simply advise him to take exercise; but he said to him: -- "Here is a ball which I have stuffed with certain rare and precious medicines. And here is a bat, the handle of which I have also stuffed with similar medicines. Your Highness must take this bat and with it beat about this ball, until you perspire very freely. You must do this every day." His Highness did so; and, in a short time the exercise of playing at bat and ball with the Dervish cured the Sultan's malady. But it should be remembered that there are a great many cases where medicines must be given to assist nature, besides the employment of exercise to facilitate the recovery of the patient. Nevertheless, exercise is one of the chief aids of all others I must recommend to be adopted as eminently essential for the remedying of bad health, and of preserving that which is already good. It is impossible for a healthy adult to be otherwise than active in body or mind, or both; while it may be asserted, with abundant reason, that laziness is actually a disease, dependent on some abnormal condition of the organism. A variety of social circumstances may operate to produce an indolent disposition of mind and inactive habit of body, but these also produce a primary condition of ill-health. The function of respiration, by which the blood is vitalized, and the nutrition of the muscular structure, on which depend all the motive power or strength of the system, are intimately connected with the circulation of the blood, and this with active exercise. Without this, there must be unhealthy accumulation somewhere; and, as the larger arteries are not permanently dilatable, while the veins and capillary arteries are so, this accumulation or congestion must take place in the veins and capillary or hair-like arteries. When the circulation is feeble from lack of bodily exercise, or other cause, the blood creeps sluggishly along the minute vessels composing the elementary tissue of the body; these veins and capillaries become gorged, which engorgement operates as a still further impediment to the free flow of the blood. The blood, when not circulated with due energy through the ultimate tissues, becomes deteriorated in quality, and so, in turn, fails to supply that proper nutrition upon which, according to its degree of purity, all the tissues and functions of the body depend. If the propelling power arising from breathing pure air and using active bodily exercise is not sufficiently energetic, the circulation through the elementary tissue is so slow that the blood loses its healthful arterial hue before it has reached the extremities of the hair-like arteries; and thus that part of the tissue which ought to be filled with arterial blood is gorged only with black venous blood, from which the proper secretion necessary to the nutrition of the body, cannot be separated, either in due abundance or of a healthy quality. Hence, if this state of congestion be permitted to exist from lack of active exercise and consequent free respiration, so as to vitalize the blood, there must needs be a speedy wasting of flesh, and all the other phenomena of consumption or any other disease. The strength of the system is intimately connected with the circulation of the blood, as stimulated in its flow by means of active bodily exercise and pure air. This principle is well illustrated in the effects of gymnastics and training, by which the muscles of any part of the body are remarkably invigorated by regular systematic exercise. People of all trades and occupations find those parts of the muscular system which are habitually the most exercised to be the most powerful. For healthful purposes all that is necessary is, any way, to exercise all parts of the body to a degree of fatigue without exhaustion; that is, to a degree which will insure an energetic circulation of the blood throughout the entire economy. All exercises, however, to secure their full benefit, should be coupled either with some object of utility or amusement, otherwise the mind is apt to labor adversely to the body. When I say that exercise is what is wanted to restore to health the weak and languid, I mean that it is not so much exercise that is wanted as the exhilarating effect which the enjoyment of exercise produces. A man who exercises half an hour unwillingly in his wood-shed, is not benefited in the degree one is who takes an hour's walk for pleasure through a beautiful country. It is the enjoyment of exercise in which consists its chiefest excellence. It is the diversion of the mind from the ailments of the body. The invalid is by this drawn away from himself. What can better accomplish this object than amusement? Laughter and lively talk may be said to be a species of exercise -- mental exercise -- which is very often as beneficial to an invalid as physical exercise. Anything that will induce a fit of laughter must have an influence in promoting an active circulation of blood, and, as we have seen, it is necessary to health that the blood should be duly aerated and flow with energy through the system. Whatever means may be employed to give rapid circulation to the blood must be conducive to health. I believe, then, most fully in using all proper means of amusement which will cheer the invalid, and thus be a mental stimulus or auxiliary to the preservation and restoration of health. So, not only are amusements which afford exercise to the mental faculties useful, but occupation -- some useful business pursuit, which requires, and hence secures, attention and labor during several hours of each day -- is absolutely essential to the high sanitary condition of the body, for nothing else will insure so constant, regular, and equally divided exercise for both mind and body. Walking, running, leaping, hopping, dancing, rowing boats, etc., are physiologically adapted to strengthen the whole muscular system. Even boxing and fencing are to be advised when properly regulated. Wrestling is a dangerous method of developing muscular power. Ten-pins, billiards, etc., are excellent exercises, but useful employment is better. Singing, declaiming, reading, etc., are admirable methods of cultivating the vocal powers, and increasing the capacity of the respiratory apparatus. Riding on horseback, hunting, fishing, etc., are all more or less beneficial in the prevention of disease and promoting good health. Riding in easy carriages, sailing in boats, swinging, and other passive exercises, are all to be duly considered as remedial expedients for invalids. Amid the many vicissitudes of fortune and the moral crosses to which female life is doomed, I recommend healthful exercise of the body, in order that the material fabric may be fortified against the thousand causes of disease continually assailing the sex. Woman comes earlier to maturity by several years than man. The tree of life blossoms and bears fruit sooner in the one sex than in the other. It also sooner withers and sheds its leaves, -- but does not sooner die. Female life at any period is fully as good, -- perhaps a little better in respect to probable duration, -- than that of the male. It is during the period of from fourteen to twenty-one years that the seeds of female diseases are chiefly sown -- or, at least, that the soil is specially prepared for their reception and growth. The predisposition to infirmities and disorders of various kinds is affected by acts of omission and commission. In the first class need I mention the deficiency of healthy exercise of the body in the open air, and of intellectual exercise in judicious studies. The hoop and the skip-rope, even in city homes, might usefully supersede the piano, the harp, and guitar, for one hour in the day, at least. In schools and seminaries there is no excuse -- and, indeed, in many of them this salutary point of hygiene is well attended to. In others, however, gymnastic exercises have been hastily thrown aside -- partly because some enthusiasts have carried them to excess -- partly because they were supposed to be inimical to the effeminacy of shape and features so much prized by parents and progeny, -- but chiefly, I suspect, from that languor and disinclination to exertion which characterize the higher and even the middle classes of female youth. This deficiency of exercise in the open air may be considered the parent of one-half of female disorders. The pallid complexions, the languid movements, the torpid secretions, the flaccid muscles and disordered functions (including glandular swellings), and consumption itself, attest the truth of this assertion. The exercises of small children consist in giving them the largest liberty and plenty of room. The cradle is a most pernicious method of exercising a child to sleep, and should be discarded from every family. For the ordinary or wakeful exercises of a child, the modern "baby jumper" will be found a preferable contrivance. Among the poorer classes, the children, for want of room to stir in, are apt to become sickly, puny, peevish, and often idiotic. The best time for exercise is in the morning, an hour or so before breakfast, when the stomach is partially empty. If it should happen to be entirely empty, or nearly so, it should be fortified with a cracker or two, or some other light aliment. Vigorous evening exercises may also be employed by persons of sedentary habits with great advantage. "Night work," when mental or physical, is at once a violation of the natural order of things. Thus, if you would preserve your health, you must take exercise, but not exercise exceeding your strength. Remember, the body must be induced to throw off its waste by action before it can be nourished. Nevertheless, it should also be remembered, that exercises of extreme severity are never required in ordinary cases of health, while in disease it must be incompatible with the strength and circumstances which surround the patient. With plentiful bodily exercise you can scarcely be ill, -- without bodily exertion you cannot possibly be well. By "well," I mean the enjoyment of as much strength as may be consistent with your natural physique. Exercise should be taken to the extent of quickened breathing and sensible perspiration. If in health, walk, when possible, at least from one to two miles every morning before breakfast. The invalid should go out into the open air, and ramble to the degree of strength he may possess, avoiding fatigue. Exercise gives health, vigor, and cheerfulness, sound sleep and a keen appetite. Indeed, the effects of sedentary throughtfulness are diseases that embitter and shorten life -- interrupt rest -- give tasteless meals, perpetual languor, and ceaseless anxiety. Cheerful exercise, when at all practicable to be
taken, whether active or passive, is absolutely an indispensable means
to prevent or guard against disease, and to assist in the recuperative
action of medicine when the body has become diseased.
AIR AND SUNSHINE As air may be said to be the very pabulum of life, it is highly essential that it should be pure, -- inasmuch as any deterioration of it never fails to render the blood impure, and thus ultimately to affect both mind and body. Air covers the entire globe, pressing alike upon land and water, having a depth of about forty-five miles. This vast ocean of air we call an atmosphere, from two Greek words, signifying vapor and space, -- it being an immense fluid sphere or globe. This atmosphere presses upon man, and upon every object on the surface of the earth, with a force equal to fifteen pounds to every square inch. A man of average size has a surface of two thousand five hundred square inches; accordingly, the air in which he lives presses upon him with a weight of eighteen tons. This would of course crush every bone in his body, but for the fluids within him, which establish an equilibrium, and leave him unoppressed. Pure air contains seventy-nine parts of nitrogen and twenty-one parts of oxygen. If we add a single part more of oxygen to the air, it would no longer be atmospheric air, but aqua fortis, an element capable of destroying everything coming beneath its terrible power. The quantity of air consumed by a man of average size at each inspiration, is from fifteen to forty cubic inches, according to the capacity of the lungs. Thus, in about an hour, a person consumes about six thousand and sixty-six pints, or two hogsheads of air. This air meets in the lungs in one hour, about one half of that amount of blood, or twenty-four in twenty-four hours. In other words, the quantity of blood which circulates through the system is estimated to be about one-eighth of the weight of the body. So that a man weighing one hundred and fifty pounds will have in his circulation about eighteen and three-quarter pounds of blood. The whole of this large quantity of blood has been proved, by careful experiment, to circulate through the blood-vessels in the almost incredible brief period of sixty-five and seventy-six one-hundredths seconds of time and that is very little over one minute! This indeed seems wonderful, when we consider the vast extent of vessels it has to travel through; the arteries, the veins, and the minute capillaries through which it must be urged with no little force. The physiology of the respiratory functions explains the relation of an abundant supply of air to the maintenance of health and the attainment of longevity. Fresh air in the lungs is so immediately essential to life, that most animals in less than one minute, when deprived of it, suffocate, become unconscious, and appear to be dead, -- real death occurring in a few minutes if air is not supplied. There are at least three objects to be accomplished by breathing, namely: the renewal of the blood and the taking of impurities out of it; the warming of the body; and the finishing up of the process of digestion, and the change of chyle into nutritive blood. That carbonic acid and water are borne out of the lungs with every breath may be easily proved. If we breathe into lime-water, it will become white. This is owing to the carbonic acid in the breath uniting with the lime, and producing carbonate of lime. Then if we breathe upon a piece of glass, it becomes wet, showing that there is watery vapor in the breath. That the blood receives oxygen from the air we breathe, is proved by the fact that the in-going breath has one-fourth more oxygen in it than the outgoing. The lungs, then, take out of all the air we breathe one-fourth of its oxygen. If we breathe it over a second , a third, or a fourth time, it not only has less oxygen each time, and is less useful for the purposes of respiration, but it becomes positively more hurtful by reason of the poisonous carbonic acid which, at every outgoing breath, it carries with it from the lungs. Equal in importance with the quantity of air we breathe is its purity. The supply of air for an ordinary man to breathe each minute, is from seven to ten cubic feet. Now, suppose a hundred persons to be confined in a room thirty feet in length, breadth, and height, the room containing nearly thirty thousand cubic feet, it follows that the whole air of the room would be rendered unfit for respiration on account of the vast volume of carbonic acid thrown out of the lungs and skin of the one hundred persons thus crowded together. This proves the importance of always having an abundant supply of pure atmospheric air always kept in circulation in crowded assemblies, churches, school-rooms, theatres, factories, workshops, and dwellings. Consider the effect of sleeping in a small room, seven feet by nine, not furnished with the means of ventilation. If a person sleeps eight hours in such a room, he will spoil during the time one thousand nine hundred and twenty cubic feet of air, rendering the air of the room positively dangerous to breathe. Every disease is aggravated by the breathing of bad air! Yet it is common to close all the doors and windows where sick persons are confined, lest the patients should take cold. This is a bad practice. The sick should have plenty of fresh air. Their comfort is promoted by it, and their recovery hastened. It is utterly impossible for the lungs to be expanded in an impure atmosphere, because the air-passages, irritated by the extraneous particles, spasmodically contract to keep them out. The consequence of this is, those persons who reside permanently in an atmosphere charged with foreign ingredients or miasms, find their lungs continually contracting. All sedentary habits weaken the abdominal muscles, and thereby lessen the activity of the breathing process. Intense, mental application, if long continued, powerfully diminishes the respiratory functions. Persons habitually in deep thought, with the brain laboring at its utmost capacity, do not breathe deep and free, and are consequently short-lived. All crooked or constrained bodily positions affect respiration injuriously. Reading, writing, sitting, standing, speaking, or laboring, with the trunk of the body bent forward, is extremely hurtful. In all mechanical or manual labor, the body should be bent or lean on the hip joints. The trunk should always be kept straight. Dispense with bed-curtains, if you can. In sleep the head should never be raised very high, as that position oppresses the lungs; nor should the sleeper incline toward the face with the shoulders thrown forward. Grates and fire-places secure much better ventilation than stoves. No stove, especially furnaces, should be used without the means of the free admission of external air into the room. Lamps, candles, gas-burners, etc., are so many methods of consuming oxygen and rendering the air irrespirable. Smoking lamps are a very common source of vitiated air. The bad air of steamboats, railroad cars, stages, omnibuses, etc., are a source of constant suffering to many. I may here remark that the general misapprehension of the theory of catching cold frequently produces the evil sought to be avoided. More colds are taken in over-heated than in too cold places, and still more are owing to vitiated or foul air. In sleeping and other apartments, where thorough ventilation is impossible, the air may be rapidly changed and materially freshened, by opening all the doors and windows, and then swinging one door violently forward and backward. The rules of ventilation apply to all rooms and apartments alike, whether in dwelling-houses or travelling vehicles. There is not necessity for breathing air which has lost a part of its oxygen and acquired a portion of carbonic acid. The supply of good air is ample. In connection with a full supply of atmospheric air
to every human being, the importance of plenty of sunshine is not to be
overlooked. Pure air for the lungs and bright sunlight for the eyes,
is a physiological maxim which should never be forgotten. The nutritive
process is materially checked in all vegetable and animal life when deprived
of light for a considerable time. In the case of vegetables, they
become etiolated or blanched. Almost the entire population of our
large cities who occupy back rooms and rear buildings where the sun never
shines, and cellars and vaults below the level of the ground, on the shaded
side of narrow streets, is more or less diseased. Of those who do
not die of acute diseases a majority exhibit unmistakable marks of imperfect
development and deficient vitality. During the prevalence of epidemics,
as the cholera, the shaded side of a narrow street invariably exhibits
the greatet ratio of fatal cases. A certain amount of shade is essential
to comfort, but when it reaches the point of excluding sunshine to a large
degree, it becomes a positive evil. Let us always welcome the visits
of the healthful air and glowing sunshine, and look out continually for
the essential conditions of vigor and cheerfulness.
OLD AGE, OR LONGEVITY The true philosophy of life is to live and enjoy -- to use and not abuse the essentials to human longevity and happiness. As we read in Holy Writ, in the earlier history of man, when the air was free from infection, the soil exempt from pollution, and man's food was plain and natural, individuals lived on the average four or five hundred years; the maximum point of longevity recorded -- that in the case of Methuselah -- being nine hundred and sixty-nine years. Without speculating upon the problem whether the years of the early historians included the same period of time as the years of our present almanac, it is sufficient for all practical purposes to know the general law, or dwindled to the "shortest span," by our voluntary or individual habits. If it can be proved that any one man has lived one hundred, two hundred, or even three hundred years, under favorable hygienic circumstances, it will be sufficient evidence of a physiological principle that most men may attain to similar extreme longevity, by a mere simple obedience to the natural laws of his being. The examples of extreme longevity are too numerous
to be detailed even in a book of many pages, but a few examples may be
cited on this point. Haller, the celebrated English physician, during
his time collected more than one thousand cases of persons in Europe who
attained the ages of from one hundred to one hundred and seventy years.
In Baker's "Curse of England," we find a list of one hundred individuals
whose ages ranged from ninety-five to three hundred and seventy!
Twenty-two of these reached the age of one hundred and fifty and upwards,
and thirty exceeded one hundred and twenty years. Modern statistics
exhibit numerous examples of persons in the United States and all parts
of the world attaining more than one hundred years. Indeed, it was
common to the American Indians, previous to the introduction of "fire-water"
among them, to live to one hundred years of age; although, as a general
rule, the duration of life among savage races is much shorter than among
the civilized and cultivated people of the globe.
On physiological principles, natural death results from a gradual consolidation of the structures of the body. In infancy the fluids are in much larger proportion than the solids, but as we grow older the fluids decrease and the solids increase -- thus gradually changing the flexibility and elasticity of youth to the stiffness and immobility of age. Thus in a perfectly normal condition of the organism, all the functions, powers and senses decline in the same harmonious relations in which they were developed. As the process of condensation goes on equally and imperceptibly, the motive powers grow torpid, the nutritive functions are enfeebled, the sensibility becomes dull, the external senses are obtunded, and lastly, the mental manifestations disappear -- death occurs without a struggle or a groan. Certain political and social economists have attempted to prove that old age and a vast population are not desirable things, on the ground that, while population increases geometrically, the alimentary productions of the earth only increase arithmetically; hence, that some scheme of death or destruction is requisite or indispensable to kill off, or clear the ground of existing human beings as fast as the coming generations demand their places. In other words, that it is necessary that disease, violence, pestilence, murder, wars, and death should previal, because of the earth's incapacity to produce sufficient food for the whole race of human beings, were all permitted to live out their natural lives and die a natural death. A small amount of rational investigation will show the fallacies of all such theories. Indeed, under existing governments and social arrangements, more than three-fourths of all the lands and all the labor, so far as the production of the means of human sustenance is concerned, is literally wasted, or worse than wasted; while a large extent of the earth's surface has never yet been brought under cultivation, and that part which is cultivated the best admits of vast improvement. Casting all speculation aside, it will not be denied that this earth was made the residence of man, and that God expressly enjoined upon him to be fruitful, and to occupy and replenish the earth, giving him at the same time dominion over all the vegetable and animal kingdoms, as a means for subsistence and happiness, while progressing through the gradual stages of his natural or terrestrial existence without first furnishing him with the means of an abundant supply of all the elements requisite for a long life of health and joy. Man, however has grossly violated the laws of nature, and blundered on in his perversity, till life has actually become a grievous burden, and extreme old age a great and moral curse, instead of a divine and special blessing. Were it necessary, a thousand reasons might be given for believing that the earth now has, and always will have, room and food enough for all the population that can be produced by human beings who live agreeably to the laws of their natural organism. Indeed, it is a philosophical maxim that "intensive life cannot be extensive." The races of man have now a hurried, stimulated, forced and disorderly existence, marrying at too early an age, bringing myriads of children into the world, "scarce half made up," only to perish by thousands in the earliest infancy, or to drawl out a miserable and unhealthy existence, if their lives are prolonged to manhood's estate, and sink at last, even then, into premature graves, from continued and perverse abuses of the hygienic and dietetic rules of life. As already said, if the body develops itseslf slowly and healthfully (as it always will in its natural state), it is only reasonable to suppose that the periods of infancy, childhood, and adolescence or maturity would be greatly prolonged by the more simple conformity to the original laws of our being; the period of youth might and would be extended to what we now call "old age," say "threescore and ten," and "threescore and ten" would be but the beginning of vigorous manhood to be indefinitely prolonged, reaching on to a hundred, or even two hundred years! The special means to insure sound health and a long life are to avoid all errors in diet and personal habits. As the fluids and solids of the human organism are formed from the materials taken into the stomach as food and drink, it follows that we all ought to abstain more than we do from concentrated materials of aliment, and live more on fruits and vegetable substances, and fret ourselves less with the cares of the world; so all individuals would be able to maintain the juices of the body, and reduce, in a large degree, the solid elements which induce rigidity of muscles, thickening of membrane, contraction of organs, all leading to disease, premature debility, old age, and death. Let us all then strive to return to the elementary
principles of organic or human life. Let our diet be plain, simple,
and of a juicy nature. Let us refrain from excesses of all kinds,
whether connected with our mental or physical powers, and thereby secure
a long lease on life, attended with a thousand blessings unknown to those
who lead "fast lives," eat and drink immoderately, and indulge in the various
forms of intemperate or luxurious habits. It is never too late to
commence a reform in all these things. The oldest person now living
might prolong his life to an indefinite period, by avoiding the errors
named, and submitting himself to the prior-ordeal mandates of nature.
To assist Nature in her work of regeneration and recuperation of the human
organism, my "Renovating Pills" will be found of most wonderful efficacy
in connection with the hygienic and dietetic requirements already indicated.
They will thus prolong the period of youth to vigorous manhood, and vigorous
manhood to the extremest limit of life ever yet vouchsafed to the human
being. The already "old and feeble," so-called, may be sure of having
their lives greatly prolonged, and finally, in the inevitable ordinances
of Heaven, or the laws of gradual progress and decay, passing away with
cheerful resignation and peace to that mysterious bourne from which no
mortal traveller ever has returned.
LIFE, HEALTH, AND DISEASE What is life? In general terms life may be said to be a subtle emanation of Deity -- a principle that pervades all the works of creation, whether organic or inorganic. It is a sort of ENTITY, whose nature is as mysterious and unfathomable as that of Divinity himself. Many scientific men have contended that life is electricity, and arguments and experiments have been adduced to show that such is the fact. For instance, a scientific body of France pulverized stone, and by the use of electricity produced from the atoms living insects. But this and similar experiments are accepted as evidence that electricity is not life, but is a leading phenomenon of its actuality. Life is something neither physical nor spiritual. It is allied to both, but is neither. It is not soul, for soul is something infinitely higher than life -- a something of which life itself is but an inadequate, visible manifestation. Health is perhaps a subtle thing, yet most importantly palpable to our senses and perceptions. It is that state of the human body in which the structure of all the parts is sound, and their functions regularly and actively performed, rendering the individual fit for all the duties and enjoyment of life. Or, in other words, it is that condition of the animal economy when the functions of all the organs, beginning with the heart and lungs, act in natural and harmonious relation, the one with the other, and the whole together, rendering existence not only a state of completeness, but a pleasure, a beauty, and a charm, and therefore the chiefest cause and leading feature of all from which the human being derives that phase of joy called bliss. In the various temperaments the phenomena of health are somewhat different; hence, what would at once preserve it in one, might not preserve it in or restore it to another, until some reasonable period of time had elapsed. Health varies much in people of the many occupations which necessity and circumstances compel them to adopt for a livelihood or for pleasure, and the acuteness of the senses which would be necessary in some recreative or productive occupations, would be morbid in persons otherwise engaged. But the general symptoms of health are, in all temperaments, a sparkling eye, a clean skin, a white and rose-blended complexion (unless where the temperament naturally prescribes a rich and glowing olive), ruby lips, pearly teeth, untainted breath, glossy hair, expanded chest, elastic spine, muscular limbs, symmetrical waist, well built and firm pelvis, fleshy thighs and calves, and a buoyant grace of the whole body. Added to these we have a rich and melodious voice (wherever the slightest hoarseness or discordance of tone is noticed look for danger), and a calm and cultivated spirit in the old, a joyous spirit in the young. What munificent gifts are those, and who should fail, by every means in his power, to secure them? Disease is the opposite of health, and means any departure from the normal condition of the general organism, or any impairment or derangement of any function by which the regular action of any other one or of the whole are made or forced to work in an irregular or unnatural manner -- producing and entailing disorder, pain, misery, and death! We see disease in the lustreless and phrenzied eye, in the pallid and sunken cheeks, in the parched lips, in the jaundiced or yellow skin, in the contracted chest, in the difficult respiraiton, in the racking cough, in the expectoration of tubercles and sputa from the lungs, in the palpitating heart, in the scrofulous sores and ulcers, in the bloated or attenuated abdomen, in the disabled legs and arms, in decayed teeth and toothless jaws, in fetid breath, in crooked spine, in the deformed pelvis, in all derangements of the sexual organs, in baldness, in disordered stomach and bowels, in neuralgias, rheumatisms, leprosies, spasms, epilepsies, palsies, loss of the senses of sight, hearing, smelling, taste and touch, hypochondrias, manias, drunkenness, pains, aches, wounds, bruises, maimings, and in innumerable other agonies! With the simple methods by which health can be preserved by those who were born to health, how astonishing it is that disease and misery are the general rule, and health and pleasure the exception! Who of all the human race may now say, "I have health! I am actually living in a state of nature, or in that perfect mental and physical condition in which I was or ought to have been born." Not one, is my reply. We may therefore regard life as a negative rather than a positive quality of existence. Occasionally there may be freedom from the slightest degree of actual suffering, and yet that pleasuraable condition which woul be natural to the regular co-operative work of all the organs of the body will be wanting. In health our moments fly on lightning wing, and
we are scarcely conscious of their rapid exit; in sickness, on the contrary,
our moments are clogged with leaden heels, and pass in that lingering manner
as to render our sufferings seemingly the more acute by reason of the slow
or tardy march of time. To the sick, time does not pass lightly,
but with the heavy tread of a giant.
REGULATING THE PASSIONS It has been truly said that we may religiously observe all the laws of hygiene in relation to air, light, drink, food, temperature, exercise, clothing, sleep, bathing, and the excretions, and yet lack one thing -- one grand essential to human health and happiness. Yes, if our passions are our master and not our slaves, they will rule and ruin us instead of obeying and serving our behests. There is therefore, no single hygienic influence more conducive to health, happiness, and long life, than a cheerful, equitable temper of mind; and there is nothing that will more surely disorder the bodily functions, exhaust the vital energies, and stamp premature infirmities on the constitution, and hurry us on to an early grave, than an uneven, irritable, fretful, or passionate mental habit. Medical men, at least, well know that a violent fit of passion will suddenly arrest, alter, or modify the various organic secretions. Excessive mental emotion will deprave and vitiate the secretions as readily as a deadly poison taken into the stomach. A paroxysm of anger will render the bile as acid and irritating as a full dose of calomel; excessive fear will relax the bowels equal to a strong infusion of tobacco; intense grief will arrest the secretions of gastric juice as effectually as belladonna; and violent rage will make the saliva as poisonous as will a mercurial salivation. There are many persons whose rage, either thoroughly real or exaggerated, is so violent that they froth at the mouth, and are thrown into spasms or violent convulsions. These fits of anger are often assumed, however, by designing parties for the purpose of frightening stern parents and guardians and others into the support of their own views and wishes. Such persons, finding their displays copied from nature of no avail, will suddenly become tame as lambs, but the effect upon their general health is found in the appearance of many nervous disorganizations, which, if the cause be often repeated, become permanent. Thousands of facts of the above kind could be mentioned, but enough has been presented to demonstrate the law that a sound body cannot exist unless connected with a well-balanced mind. A vigorous exercise of the higher mental powers, a lively cultivation of the intellectual faculties and the moral affections, will never fail to sustain and elevate the human character, while, on the other hand, the violent indulgence of the animal propensities and the lower order of the passions, will wear out the mental machinery and enervate all the physiological powers. Will not the inspiration of love exalt the soul to the realms of "bliss, exquisite bliss?" Will not the influence of hatred depress the soul, and sink it to the nethermost depth of misery and despair? Contrast the emotions of benevolence, or gratitude, or generation, or conscientiousness, or mirthfulness, or faith, or hope, with that of envy, revenge, jealousy, fear, grief, remorse, or despair! The first are as refreshing to the soul as the gentle dews of morn to the tender blades of grass; the other as withering as the fiery blasts of a crater to the verdant vales. The one energizes the mind and reanimates the body--the other sinks, chills, and enfeebles both; one manufactures, creates as it were, vital power -- the other wastes and destroys body and soul. Those who would maintain permanent and uniform health and live to an old age, will perceive the necessity for cultivating all the nobler impulses of our nature with unremitting care and judgment. When we "nourish wrath to keep it warm," we only add to the venom of a malicious heart. That anger which "dwells only in the bosom of fools," should have no inheritance in the bosom of the wise and thoughtful of our race. The "evils of life," whatever they may be, are often "blessing in disguise," and therefore should be met with a brave fortitude and courage, instead of wailing, complaining and lamentation. Fretting, scolding, and fault-finding, not only aggravate all the necessary evils of life, but greatly multiply them. When we indulge in these faults, we but sow the dragon's teeth to reap a harvest of greater sorrows. More than this, we dissipate unwisely our best talents and energies, and render life a curse instead of a blessing. The grand essential, therefore, of a cheerful mind is self-control. This is the great law of mental hygiene. Before any one can acquire self-government, he must learn to govern the animal propensities, and make them subservient to the intellectual faculties and moral sentiments. It may require long, patient, and thorough discipline; it may cost much self-denial, and appear to demand great temporary sacrifices, but it is worth all it may cost. Occasionally it is acquired through long years of bitter experience; and sometimes the greater part of a life is spent in suffering disappointments, troubles, and crosses, ere the mind is found at peace with itself, and in right relations to all surrounding nature. Happy are they who can, even in such expensive schools, learn the art of adapting themselves to the invariable laws of the universe, which they cannot successfully oppose or in any respect alter! Indeed, the only guarantee a man can have for a long life of health and happiness is to constantly cherish and maintain an even, cheerful, and hopeful spirit.
BARLEY WATER. -- Pearl barley, two ounces; boiling water, two quarts. Boil to one quart and strain. If desirable, a little lemon-juice and sugar may be added. This may be taken freely in all inflammatory and eruptive diseases: Measles, Scarlet Fever, Small-Pox, etc. RICE WATER. -- Rice, two ounces; water, two quarts. Boil one hour and a half, and add sugar and nutmeg to suit the taste. When milk is added to this it makes a very excellent diet for children. Should the bowels be too loose, boil the milk before adding. SAGE TEA. -- Dried leaves of Sage, half an ounce; boiling water, one quart. Infuse for half an hour and strain; may add sugar if desired. Balm, Peppermint, Spearmint, and other teas are made in the same manner. A REFRESHING DRINK IN FEVERS. -- Boil an ounce and a half of tamarinds, two ounces of stoned raisins, and three ounces of cranberries in three pints of water until two pints remain. Strain, and add a small piece of fresh lemon-peel, which must be removed in half an hour. ARROW ROOT JELLY. -- Stir a tablespoonful of arrow root powder into half a cupful of cold water, pour in a pint of boiling water, let it stand five or ten minutes, and then sweeten and flavor it to suit the taste. IRISH MOSS JELLY. -- Irish Moss, half an ounce; fresh milk, one and a half pints. Boil down to a pint. Strain and add sugar and lemon-juice sufficient to give it an agreeable flavor. ISINGLASS JELLY. -- Isinglass, two ounces; water, two pints. Boil to one pint. Strain, and add one pint milk and one ounce of white sugar. This is excellent for persons recovering from sickness, and for children who have bowel complaints. TAPIOCA JELLY. -- Tapioca, two large spoonfuls; water, one pint. Boil gently for an hour, or until it apears like a jelly; add sugar, wine, and nutmeg with lemon-juice to flavor. RICE JELLY. -- Mix a quarter of a pound of rice, picked and washed, with half a pound of loaf sugar, and just sufficient water to cover it. Boil until it assumes a jelly-like appearance. Strain, and season to suit the taste and condition of the patient. GRAPES. -- In all cases of fever, very ripe grapes of any kind are a beneficial article of diet, acting as both food and drink, and possessing cooling and soothing properties. They are also extremely grateful to every plate. TOAST. -- To make a most excellent toast for a reduced or convalescent patient, take bread twenty-four or thirty-six hours old, which has been made of a mixture of fine wheat flour and Indian meal, and a pure yeast batter mixed with eggs. Toast it until of a delicate brown, and then (if the patient be not inclined to fever) immerse it in boiled milk and butter. If the patient be feverish, spread it lightly with cranberry jam or calves'-foot jelly. RICE. -- In all cases where a light and nice diet
for parties who have been or are afflicted with diarrhoea or dysentery
is required, rice, in almost any cooked form, is most agreeable and advantageous.
It may be given with benefit to dyspeptics, unless costiveness accompanies
the dyspepsia. To make rice-pudding, take a teacupful of rice, and
as much sugar, two quarts of milk, and a teaspoonful of salt. Bake,
with a moderate heat, for two hours. Rice flour made in a batter,
and baked upon a griddle, makes a superb cake; and rice-flour gruel, seasoned
to the taste, is most excellent for the sick-room.
RICE GRUEL. -- Ground rice, one heaping table-spoonful; water, one quart. Boil gently for twenty minutes, adding, a few minutes before it is done, one table-spoonful of ground cinnamon. Strain and sweeten. Wine may be added when the case demands it. WATER GRUEL. -- Oat or corn meal, two table-spoonfuls; water, one quart. Boil for ten minutes, and strain, adding salt and sugar if desired by the patient. SAGO GRUEL. -- Sago, two table-spoonfuls; water, one pint. Boil gently until it thickens; stir frequently. May add wine, sugar, and nutmeg, according to circumstances. ARROW-ROOT GRUEL. -- Arrow root, one table-spoonful; sweet milk and boiling water, each one half pint. Sweeten with loaf-sugar. This is very good for children whose bowels are irritable. DECOCTION OF BRAN. -- New wheat bran, one pint; water, three quarts. Boil down to two quarts, strain off the liquor, and add sugar, honey or molasses, according to the taste of the patient. TAPIOCA. -- Tapioca is a very delightful food for invalids. Make an ordinary pudding of it, and improve the flavor agreeably to the desire of the patient or convalescent, by adding raisins, sugar, prunes, lemon-juice, wine, spices, etc. BEEF LIQUID. -- When the stomach is very weak, take fresh lean beef, cut it into strips, and place the strips into a bottle, with a little salt. Place into a kettle of boiling water and let it remain one hour. Pour off the liquid and add some water. Begin with a small quantity, and use in the same manner and under similar circumstances as beef tea. This is even more nourishing than beef tea. BEEF TEA. -- Cut one pound of lean beef into shreds, and boil for twenty minutes in one quart of water, being particular to remove the scum as often as any rises. When it is cool, strain. This is very nourishing and palatable, and is of great value in all cases of extreme debility where no inflammatory action exists, or after the inflammation is subdued. In very low cases, a small tea-spoonful may be administered every fifteen or twenty minutes, gradually increasing the amount given as the powers of life return. In cases of complete prostration, after the cessation of long exhausting fever, it may be used as directed above, either alone or in conjunction with a little wine. PANADO. -- Put a little water on the fire with a glass of wine, some sugar, and a little grated nutmeg; boil all together a few seconds, and add pounded crackers or crumbs of bread; and again boil for a few minutes. FRENCH MILK PORRIDGE. -- Stir some oatmeal and water together, let the mixture stand to clear, and pour off the water. Then put more water to the meal, stir it well, and let it stand till the next day. Strain through a fine sieve, and boil the water, adding milk while so doing. The proportion of water must be small. With toast this is admirable. COMMON MILK PORRIDGE will be found very palatable in ordinary cases. Everybody knows how to make it. BUTTERMILK PAP. -- Fresh buttermilk, four parts; water, one part; mix, boil, and thicken with Indian meal. Eat with butter, sugar, or molasses. COFFEE MILK. -- Put a dessert-spoonful of ground coffee into a pint of milk; boil it a quarter of an hour with a shaving or two of isinglass; let it stand ten minutes, and then pour off. RESTORATIVE JELLY. -- Take a leg of well-fed pork, just as cut up, beat it, and break the bone. Set it over a gentle fire, with three gallons of water, and simmer to one. Let half an ounce of mace and the same of nutmegs stew in it. Strain through a fine sieve. When cold, take off the fat. Give a chocolate-cup the first and last thing, and at noon, adding salt to suit the taste. This is very valuable in all cases of debility where animal food is admissible. DRINK IN DYSENTERY. -- Sheep's suet, two ounces; milk, one pint; starch, half an ounce. Boil gently for thirty minutes. Use as a common drink. This is excellent for sustaining the strength in bad cases of dysentery. CRUST COFFEE. -- Toast slowly a thick piece of bread cut from the outside of a loaf, until it is well browned, but not blackened. Then turn upon it boiling water of a sufficient quantity, and keep it from half an hour to an hour before using. Be sure that the liquid is of a rich brown color before you use it. It is a most excellent drink in all cases of sickness and convalescence. CRANBERRY WATER. -- Put a tea-spoonful of cranberries into a cup of water and mash them. In the mean time boil two quarts of water with one large spoonful of corn or oatmeal, and a bit of lemon-peel; then add the cranberries and as much fine sugar as will leave a smart flavor of the fruit -- also a wine-glassful of sherry. Boil the whole gently for a quarter of an hour, then strain. WINE WHEY. -- Heat a pint of new milk until it boils, at which moment pour in as much good wine as will curdle and clarify it. Boil and set it aside until the curd subsides. Do not stir it, but pour the whey off carefully, and add two pints of boiling water, with loaf-sugar. ORANGE WHEY. -- Milk, one pint; the juice of an orange, with a portion of the peel. Boil the milk, then put the orange to it, and let stand till it coagulates. Strain. MUSTARD WHEY. -- Bruised mustard seed, two table-spoonfuls ; milk, one quart. Boil together for a few minutes until it coagulates, and strain to separate the curd. This is a very useful drink in dropsy. A tea-cupful may be taken at a dose, three times a day. SIPPETS. -- On an extremely hot plate put two or three slices of bread, and pour over them some of the juices of boiled beef, mutton, or veal. If there be no butter in the dish, sprinkle over them a little salt. CHICKEN BROTH. -- Take half a chicken, divested of all fat, and break the bones; add to this half a gallon of water, and boil for half an hour. Season with salt. VEGETABLE SOUP. -- Take one potato, one turnip and one onion, with a little celery or celery seed. Slice and boil for an hour in one quart of water. Salt to the taste, and pour the whole upon a piece of dry toast. This forms a good substitute for animal food, and may be used when the latter would be improper. CALVES'-FOOT JELLY. -- Boil two calves' feet in one
gallon of water, until reduced to one quart. Strain, and when cool,
skim carefully. Add the white of six or eight eggs, well beaten,
a pint of wine, half pound of loaf sugar, and the juice of four lemons.
Mix them well, boil for a few minutes, stirring constantly, and pass through
a flannel strainer. In some cases the wine should be omitted.
NUTRITIVE FLUIDS. -- Below will be found directions for preparing three nutritious fluids, which are of great value in all diseases, either acute or chronic, that are attended or followed by prostration, -- debility, whether general, or of certain organs only, derangement of the digestive organs, weak stomach, indigestion, heartburn, or sour stomach, constipated bowels, torpidity or want of activity of the liver, thin or poor blood. They are highly nutritious, supplying to the blood in such a form that they are most easily assimilated, the various elements which are needed to enrich it, and thus enable it to reproduce the various tissues of the body that have been wasted by disease. In cases where the stomach has become so weakened and sensitive that the lightest food or drinks cannot be taken without causing much uneasiness and distress, these fluids are invaluable. They strengthen the stomach and neutralize all undue acidity, while, at the same time, they soothe the irritation by their bland and demulcent qualities. When carefully and properly prepared, according to the direction following, they very nearly resemble rich new milk in color and consistency, while their taste is remarkably pleasant. Care should be taken that all the ingredients are of the best quality. Soft water must be used in all cases. Fresh rain-water is to be preferred, but spring water may be used if perfectly soft. Hard water will cause the fluids to be of a yellow color, and if the milk is old, they are apt to separate. Fluid No. 1. -- Put one pint of new milk (the fresher the better) and two pints of soft water in a vessel perfectly free from all greasy matter, over a slow fire. Rub two even tea-spoonfuls of superfine wheat flour and two tea-spoonfuls of carbonate of magnesia, together with a little milk, into a soft batter, free from lumps; add this to the milk and water as soon as they begin to boil. Boil gently for five minutes -- no longer, stirring constantly. Pour into an earthen or glass dish to cool, adding, at the same time, two tea-spoonfuls of loaf sugar, and one tea-spoonful each of saleratus and table salt, rubbed fine; stir until cold. The fluid must not be allowed to remain in a metallic vessel of any kind, and it must be kept in a cool place. Fluid No. 2. -- Put one pint of fresh milk and two pints of soft water in a vessel over a slow fire. Rub together with a little fresh cream into a soft batter, free from lumps, one table-spoonful each of good sweet rye flour, ground rice, and pure starch -- which add to the milk and water as soon as they begin to boil. Boil for five minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the fire, and add three tea-spoonfuls of loaf sugar and one tea-spoonful each of saleratus and salt. Observe the same precautions as in No. 1. Fluid No. 3. -- Put in a vessel, over a slow fire,
one pint of fresh milk and two pints of soft water. When they begin
to boil, add one table-spoonful of wheat flour, two table-spoonfuls pure
starch, and two tea-spoonfuls of carbonate of magnesia, rubbed together
with a little milk into a soft batter, free from lumps. Boil gently
for five minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into an earthen vessel
to cool, and add one tea-spoonful of the best gum arabic, dissolved in
a little warm water, one tea-spoonful each of saleratus and table salt,
and one table-spoonful of pure strained honey. Stir until cold.
The same precaution must be observed as in preparing No. 1.
GUM, ACACIA RESTORATIVE. -- Take two ounces of pure white gum Arabic, -- procure the lump, the powdered is very apt to be adulterated, -- pulverize it well, and dissolve by the aid of a gentle heat in a gill of water, stirring constantly. When it is entirely dissolved, add three table-spoonfuls of pure strained honey. Let it remain over the fire until it becomes of the consistency of a jelly. The heat must be very gentle, it must not boil. If desirable, flavor with lemon or vanilla. This will be found a very pleasant article of diet for delicate stomachs. When the articles used are pure it will be transparent and of a light golden color. This will be borne by the weakest stomach, when everything else is rejected. It is highly nutritious. MALT INFUSION. -- Infuse one pint of ground malt, for two hours, in three pints of scalding water. The water should not be brought quite to the boiling point. Strain, add sugar, if desired; flavor with lemon-juice. This is an excellent drink in inflammatory fevers, acute rheumatism, etc. PEAS. -- Take young and fresh shelled green peas, wash them clean, put them into fresh water, just enough to cover them, and boil them till they take up nearly all the water. Season with salt, pepper, and butter. This dish, if prepared according to directions, and eaten warm, will not harm any invalid -- not even one suffering from diarrhoea. MILK. -- In some cases where a milk diet is advisable, owing to the peculiar condition of the patient's stomach, it will cause distress. This is frequently the case when there is undue acidity. In such cases let it be prepared in the following manner, and it will be found to set well: -- Take a tea-cupful of fresh milk, heat nearly to boiling; dissolve in it a tea-spoonful of loaf sugar; pour into a large-sized tumbler, and add sufficient plain soda-water to fill it. Prepared in the above directed manner it will be perfectly free from all unpleasant effects. SOUPS FOR THE CONVELESCENT. -- To extract the sterength from meat, long and slow boiling is necessary; but care must be taken that the pot is never off the boil. All soups should be made the day before they are used, and they should then be strained into earthen pans. When soup has jellied in the pan, it should not be removed into another. When in danger of not keeping, it should be boiled up. EGGS. -- In cases of extreme debility, eggs are most excellent. They should never be boiled hard. The best way to prepare them is to beat them well with milk and sugar. Where it will be appropriate to the case, add some fine pale sherry wine. MILK FOR INFANTS. -- Fresh cow's milk, one part; water, two parts; sweeten with a very little loaf sugar. When children are raised by hand, it is always necessary to dilute the milk. As the child advances in age, the proportion of water stated above may be gradually lessened. WATER GRUEL. -- Corn or oatmeal, two table-spoonfuls;
water, one quart. Boil tea for fifteen minutes, and strain.
Add salt and sugar to suit the taste of the patient. This should
be used freely, during and after the operation of cathartic medicines.
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