Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1854-11-30
The Laws of Health.

pay quite too little attention 10 the laws o.
health. The care Of physical man is almost en-.
hrely forgotten in our grand, helier.skeller race
for wealth. Itis notorious that the physical
condition of the great mass Of american eitl.
Eens, especially in the old settled States, is dc.
teriorating. We have witnessed many painf u
instances Of the sacrifice Of young and amiable
men and women, because they knsp not them.
selves, and had no conception Of the requi re.
ments of their physical natures. We rejoice
that the attention Of the publcis being aroused
to the laws Of health, in our common schools,
is an excellent beginning. But there are vet
thousands and millions that know nothing, and
Of the requisites ecessary for the preservation
of sound bodily condition. The subject is a
vast one, and worthy serious reflection.
We find in the Home Ournal an extract from
the writings of DR.. Hall on this subject which
We have read with profit. Wei beg our readers
to go and do likewise
The great secret of long and heallhful life
lies in the judicious use Of what we eat and
drink. What is 'juGiCious,' we propose to dis
cuss; but not in such a way as to dictate dog
maticaly what this or that one shall use, but
10 let each one decide for himself under the
guidance Of few general principles, founded
on o6 served facts, not on imagined fallacies.
'Onthe sixth day of June, eighteen hundred
and twenty two, robust, hearty French Cana
dian OF eighteen years, was accidentally shot
in the left side; the wound healed, bat left an
opening in the stomach, which allowed the ply
slcian to see at any time what was passing in.
side, and for the space of fifteen years, great
variety Of experiments were made and obser-
rations taken; and, in the light of these we
make our way. ....
In clear, cool, dry weather, thermometer
introduced into the stomach, settled at one hun
DIRE degrees Fahrenheit. In raw, damp, clou.
dy weather, it remained stationary at ninety
four.
'one point gained, then, is, that the temper
ature oil an empty and healthy stomach in good
weather is about one hundred degrees;
soon after meal is eaten, the temperature
OF the stomach is slightly increased, digestion
goes on healthily and well, and in four or FIVE
hours the stomach is empty again. By diges-
ton here, we mean that what was eaten, wheth
er meat, bread, vegetables or other food, is
gradually changed, until it becomes whitish.
and finnish, and sweetish, Ike milk; it mat.
ters not what we eat, or of how many different
kinds, it is the same in color. taste and consis-
tence, that is, when digestion is healthy
When digestion is not perfect, the food fer
ments, becomes sour, rises in the mouth, gen.
crates wind, causes belching, and the like fa-
miliar symptoms. Digestion being proce ess
of nature, whatever arrests digestion, is Of di-
rect interference with nature, always does
wrong, and if perservered in, destroys health
and life, inevitably. ....
1T was further observed, that cold water
swallowed during the process of digestion, in
stantly arrested it, and the process was not re-
sumed, until the water had been there long
enough to be warmed from the temperature at
which it was drank, to that of the stomach; or
from some forty degrees, to hundred; to &C.
complish this, the heat must be abstracted
from tho general system, chilling it. Strong,
robust persons may not feel this, but if man
in feeble health drink cold water at a meal, at
all largely, he rises from the table chilly and
soon has fever; while the stomach, being kept
that much longer at work in digesting The iood.
loses its vigor, the digestion is imperfect, and
the food becomes impure--thus laying the
foundation of disease. The inevitable infer
ence from these facts is, that cold water is in-
furious to the robust if taken at all, beyond a
few swallows a. meal,
1 therefore set it down as a clearly esiab-
lished fact, that a glass or more Of cold water,
drank habitually at meals or soon after, is a
perncious practice, even to the most healthy.
Injury is done in another mai ner; water, or
! any other fluid, dilutes the gastric juice, and
thus weakens its power to dissolve the food
The amount Of gastric juice is not lessened, but
its power is diminished by its dlution. The
finger will be scalded by dipping it into yes
sci of boiling water; but if an equal amount of
cold water is added, It may be thrust in with
imputiny, although there is as much heat in the
mass as before; but it is more diffused. A
glass of brandy will almost strangle person
not accustomed to it, but if largely diluted, it
gives no discomfort although all the brandy is
there that was there before. We have then
made another advance, that any kind Of fluid,
largely taken at meal, or soon after. is posi-
lively injurious to health. .. ~
Largely, is a relative term. An advance of
fifty per cent. in the price Of any thng large,
and when it is remembered that but few ta-
blespoons of gastric juice are furnished at a
meal, glass of cold water, or two or three
cups of coffee or tea, is large amount OF
fluid for one meal. Thus, standing item of
advice to my patients is-Take but haf a glass
of water at single meal or: a single cup OF
weak coffee or tea, neverincreasing the strength
or quantity, and drink nothing within an hour
after eating,
If cold drinks are injurious at meals, cold
food is, for the same reason, also injurious =
thus it is, that some Of the most terrible forms
of disease are brought on by persistence in
eating cold food, exclusively, especially in win
ter time. If cold fluids are injurious at meals,
we naturally conclude that warm fluids, inmod
GRAFTON, are bene fetal, and rightly so. The
,,o,,nrv Of tho amin al creatio are furnished with