Massachusetts spy and Worcester advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1823-1825, 1824-08-18
FROM THE BOSTON MEDICAL INTELLlGENcEE
FOOD.

FROM THE BOSTON MEDICAL INTELLIGEECER.
FOOD.
Among those subjects which immed-
.ately relate to health, there is no one
more important, or less regarded by in
dividuals, lnan their aliment. 1t is a
mistaken notion, that one person re-
quires an animal diet, and another whose
avocation and habits are different, a
vegetable regimen many of the diseas-
es originating in dyspepsia, the great
endemic Of the northern States, are III
dnced by habit of living too exclusive
ly upon a few articles Of food, most Of
which are animal. Nature intended
that man should subsisi upon the variety
ofbounties with which she has So lher-
ally replenished the earth and CONSTITUTE
ed his system in a manner suitable TO
partake, ostindiscriminately,o of what
ever is agreeable to his palate; and the
effects of many articles of diet,
are TO be attributed, not so much to their
peculiar nature, as to the refine ments
lof cookery. Although the roast beef
Iof England has become the magnum
bonum Of Il good dinner, in this country,
The TOO great freedom and frequency
Pith which it is used, already begins to
Affect the constitutions of the opulent,
ly those peculiar disorders which have
leen entailed on the .lecendants of the
Ugh bred families of Great Britain.
Fhe govt was once stranger in New
England, but the luxury of modern days
preparing the way for train of CON
titutionaI irregularities, which future
generations Can only regret, while they
Iuffer its infections. To live long, live
imply.
1t is true that animal food contains a
greater portion of nutriment, in a given
qiantlty, than vegetables, and in pro-
per state of preparation, it is almost "a
dApted for the immediate action of the
abcorbenIs Of the chylo-poelc viscera;
but the digestive functions of the human
system become prematurely exhausted
by constant action, and the whole sys-
tenn eventually sinks under great or IN
interrupted excitement. Ii plain ami
NAL food were taken but once day,
and men would substitute for the yari.
Gus ragouts with which modern tables
are SO abundantly furnished, wholesome
vegetables and pure water, or weak fer
mented beverage for the more deleteri-
Gus potatlons of distilled liquors, we
should see health walking in the paths
that are now crowded with the bloated
victims of voluptuous appetite. Millions
OF Gentoos have lived TO an adyanced
age, without having tasted of any thing
that ever possessed life, and been
wholly free from chain Of maladies,
which have scourged every civilized
nation on the globe; the wandering A.
labs, who have traversed the barren
desert Of Sahara, subslsting on the scan
ty pittanCe Of milk from the hali-fan
ished camel that carried them, have
seen two hundred years, roll round,
without day of sickness.
The temperature Of our food is an ex-
ceedingly important consideration We
are accustomed to take it too warm, for
getlnl of the fact, that artificial heat des-
troys the muscular tore Of the stomach
vltlates its secretions and its physical
powers, aud Induces painful and danger.
Gus diseases of the liver. Let us take,
then, another hint from the children Of
nature, who snbsist on aIiment of TEN.
Perature no higher than that Of their
own bodies, and who are generally har-
dy and long-lived, until the simplicity Of
their habits is intercepted by the adop.
tion of the vices brought among them
by the civilized invaders of their native
forests.
Ne5o Inventiom.--We understand thai