Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1850-05-04

DIN NER AND ERT:
PRACTICE AND rRECEPT.
"The dinner awaits you, sir"

"The dinner awaits you, sir"
'Odds, blessed, I'll not be absent at the grace!'
The rational mode, according to the best
authorities, is most unquestionably TO eat
when hungry. To think first, that as the
body is composed of various materials, va
rous articles OF food are necessary TO sus-
tain it. That ''srong meats are for strong
men," and that an admixture which may be
determined by the observation of the party,
is necessary to the protection of the health
"Bulk," says DR.. Beaumont, ''is nearly as
necessary to the articles of diet, as the nu-
TRENT principle. The articles taken should
be SO apportioned, that one will counteract
the other. Too highly nutritive diet is
probably as fatal TO the proongation of
life and health as that which contains an
insufficient quantity Of nourshment. And
Combe says, 'In civilized society, bread,
potatoes and vegetables are useful, not less
by giving the requisite bulk and consistence
TO the rest of the food, than by the nutri-
ment which they contain. Soups, jellies,
arrow-root, and similar substances are, for
the same reason, more easily digested when
eaten with bread, or some bulkier aliment,
than when taken alone"
Then, after having adjusted the variety
and quantity, the appetite should regulate
the time. "Being in health" says Walker,
'it is easy to keep so, where there are fa-
clities of living nationally. My care is
neither to anticipate my appetite, nor TO
overload it, nor TO disappoint it: in fact, to
keep it in the best possible humor." "In
damp weather, when the digestion is weak,
the diet ought to be moderate, but rather of
warm and stimulating nature. In bracing
weather, plain substantial food is the most
appropriate. No faintness or craving, but
a pleasurable keenness told me. when to
eat" Bulwer says, San appetite once
thrown away, can never, till the cruel pro-
IiXity OF the gastric agents is over, be re-
gained; it must be supplied at the time
with what the stomach calls for" Seneca
says, "Rise from the table with an appe-
tite, and you will not be in danger of sitt-
ing down without one" Burton says, "As
long as we are ruled by reason, correct our
inordinate appetites, and conform ourselves
to Gods words, we are so many living
saints; but if we give reins to lust, anger,
ambition, pride, and follow our own ways,
we degenerate into beasts, transform our
selves, overthrow our constitutions, provoke
God TO anger, and heap upon us the melan-
choly, and all kinds of incurable diseases"
And Shenstone says
1--WE give each appetite too loose n rein,
Push every pleasure Ia the verge Of pam;
Impeuous follow where the passions call
And live in rapture, or not live at all"
These principles having been establish
ed, we are further required to look into the
manner in which we place the food ir our
stomachs, or in other words, in which we
stow it away. The boiling principle we
have previously discussed, and have the
vanity to think that our readers, if they re-
| call their own sensations, will not require
/ repetition Of the evidence against 1t. They
who believe the stomach capable OF redu-
cling to the proper conscience, food thus
thrown into it, may recognise its effects in
| the admonition of Combe, who says, "the
smoothest and most accurately formed
wheel, running along the most level and
( polished road, parts with some portion of
its substance at every revolution, and in
process of time is worn out" If this be
true, it is only necessary to look at the con-
dition of the stomach, and consider the fric-
ton to which it is every day subjected.
Aberncthy says, "the stomach that is
loaded, as a DevonShire man does his cart,
as full as it can be filled with fork, can
! not be expected to endure such loads OF
compost" nor is it reasonable for the own
er to look for comfort, or TO expect from
such abuse even a reasonable duration OF
life" Bulwer says, sit is the last degree
of ingratitude to the great source of enjoy
ment, TO overload the stomach with a
weight which would oppress it with Ian
gour, or harass it with pain and finally to
drench away the effects of our impurity
with some nauseous potatlon, which revoltS
it, tortures it, convulses, irritates, and en-
feebles it through every particle of its sys-
tenn"
And Hunter says-"Were we to see the
stomach and intestines busily employed in
the concoction of our food by certain I'M
dulatory motion-the heart, working day
and night, like forcing pump--the lungs
blowing alternate blasts-the humors 6ltra-
ting through lnnumerable strainers, to-
gether with nincomprehensible assemblage
OF tubes, valves, and currents, all actually
and increasingly employed in support Of
our existence, we could hardly be induced
to stir from our places, and yet we use these
organs as though we had borrowed them, to
be renewed at pleasure"
Remember, also, that we are neither the
medical or spiritual adviser Of the commu'
+ nifty, but having an indirect interest IN the
: prolongation of life, we venture upon pa
: cling these facts in a position in which they
D may be looked at. Like the Ettrick Shep