The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1858-09-09
one Mans Meat is another Mems
Poison.


Poison.
The substance which 'nourishes one an
imal afordsno no urishment for another,
nor will any table Of "nutritivo equiv
alents," however precise, convince us
that O substance ought to nourish in
virtue of its composition, when exper-
ience tells us that it does not nourish,
in virtue Of some defective relation be-
tween it and the organism That tone
mans meat is another mans poison" is
q prOverb of strict veracity. There are
persons, even in Europe, to whom a
mutton chop would be poisonous. The
celebrated case of Abbe de Villedien is
rare but not unparalleled example of
animal food being poisonous; from his
earliest years his repugnanee to it was so
decided that neither the entreaties of
his parents nor the menaces Of his tu-
tors could induce him TO overcome it,
After reaching the age Of thirty, on
regimen Of vegetable food, he was over
persuaded, and tried the effect of meat
soups, which led TO his eating both NUT
ton and beef but the change was fatal;
plethora and sleepiness intorvcned, and
he died of cerebral inflammation. In
1874 a French soldier was obliged to
quit the service because he could not
overcome his violent repugnance and
disgust towards animal food. Dr. Prout,
whose testimony will be more convinc-
ing to English readers, knew a person
on whom mutton acted rs a poison
"He could not eat mutton in any form.
The popularity was supposed to be ow-
ing to caprice, but the mutton was re-
.peatedly disguised and given him un-
known; but uniformly with the same
result of producing violent vomiting
and diarrhUa And from the severity of
the effects, which were in fact those of a
virulent poison, there can be little doubt
that if the use Of mutton had been per-
sisted in, it would have destroyed the
life of the individual" Dr. Poreira,
who quotes this passage, adds: "I know
of a gentleman who has repeatedly had
an attack Of Indigestion after the use
Of roast mutton" Some persons, it is
known, cannot take coffee without vOm.
.iting; others are thrown into a general
inflammation if they eat cherries or
gOoseberries.
Hahn relates Of himself that seven or
eight strawberries would produce con-
WILSON'S in him. Tissot says he could
never swallow sugar without vomiting.
Many persons are unable to eat eggs; and
cakes or puddings having eggs in their
composition produce serious disturban-
ces in such persons; if they are induced
to eat them under false assurances Of no
eggs having been employed, they are
soon undeceived by the unmistakable
effects. Under less striking forms this
difference in the assimilating power Of
different human beings is familiar to us
all; we see our friends freely indulging
with benefit instead of harm, in kinds
of food which, experience too painfully
assures us, we can eat with only certain
injury. TO this fact the attention of
parents and guardians should seriously
be given, that by it they may learn to
avoid the petty tyranny and folly Of in
sisting on children eating certain food
for which they have a manifest repug-
nance. 1t is too common to treat the
child's repugnance as mere caprice, to
condemn it, as "stuff and nonsense" "
when he refuses TO eat fat or eggs, GER
tain vegetables, and "wholesome pud-
ding" Now, even caprice in such mat
ters should not be altogether slighted,
especially when it takos the form Of a re-
fusal; because this caprice is probably
nothing less than the expression of a
particular and temporary state of his or
ganism, which we should do wrong to
disregard. And whenever a refusal is
constant, it indicates a positive unfit
ness for the food. Only gross igno-
rance of physiology AN ignorance un-
happily too widely spread-can argue
that because a certain article is whole
some to many, it must necessarily be
wholesome to all Each individual or
ganism is specifically different from
every other BlaokwoOd.