The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1865-08-05
Late Dinners and Hearty
Suppers.

Eating heartily in an exhausted, or n n greatly
debilitated bodily condition is dangerous at any
hour. Many n man has fallen apOplectic, at the
close of Il hearty dinner but the danger is great
ly increased by going to bed soon after for the
weight Of the meal, 4 pound or two rests steadily
on the great veins of the body, arrests the flow of
blood, as = continuous pressure of the foot on Il
hose pipe Will more or less completely stop the
flow of water along it. This arrestment causes q
d~amming up of the blood in the vessels of the
brain, which ut length cannot longer bear the
distension, and bursts, causing effusion there,
which Is instant sometimes and certain death
always.
There is scarcely a reader of middle age who
has not more than once been nearer death than
be imagined, from this very cause. 4 man feels
III his sleep as If some terrible calamity was I'M
pending, some horrible beast is after him, or some
fearful flood Is about TO Oyerwhelm him but iii
spite of effort he cannot remove himself fast
enough the enemy behind is increasing upon
him and NJ length in agony of sweat, he is
able, after a desperate effort, 10 set the streams Of
lite IN motion, by uttering some sound, fearful 10
be heard, or only to save himself from falling
into some fIthOmlcss abyss by a cOnvulSive and
desperate effort. In cases. where there is no
power to cry out, or no effort can be made, the
person Is Oyertakcn, or falls or dies Eating a
hearty meal IT the close of the day, is like giving
a labOring man a full days work to do Just as
night sets in, although IL has been toiling all
day. The whole body Is fatigued when night
comes, and the stomach takes It's due share; and
TO eat heartily at supper, and then 80 to bed, is
giving all the other portions of the body repose,
while the stomach has thrown on itself five hours
more labor, after having worked four or five
hours TO dispose Of breakfast, and i still longer
time for dinner. This ten or twelve hours of in
cessant labor has nearly exhausted It's power it
cannot promptly digest another full meal. but
labors for hours together, like an exhausted galley
slave az 4 newly imposed task.
The result Is that by the unnatural length Of
time in which the food IS kept in the stomach,
and the imperfect manner in which the exhausted
organ manages it. it becomes more or less acid
this generates wind; this distends the stomach
this presses itself against the more yielding lungs,
confirming them u 4 largely diminished space
hence every breath taken Is insufficient for the
wants OF the system, the blood becomes foul,
black and thick. refuses to flow, and the man
dies, or IN delirium or fright leaps from a win
dow or commits suicide az did Hugh Miller and
multitudes of others.
Let any reader who follows an inactive life for
the most part, try the experiment for n week. of
eating absolutely nothing after a two o'clock din
ner, and see If a sOunder sleep and Il more yigor-
Gus appetite for breakfast and a hearty dinner are
not the pledsurable respites, TO say nothing of
the happy deliverance from that disagreeable full
ness. weight, oppression or aciditv, which attends
over-eating.-HGH's Journal of Health.