The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-01-09
Monday Morning, Jan. 8, 1865.
Hearty Suppers.

It was with feelings of painful disappoint-
ment, with perhaps some vexatiOn, that we
recently read the death of a brother editor,
whose excellent monthly seldom failed ofsome
extract from, or kindly notice of this Journal.
He died In the very prime OF his Hfe-not
thirty--in the midst of usefulness, and in the
endowment OF usual good health, until within
"A hours of his decease. He was an able
preacher, and q fine bellies ettres scholar. He
was on aiourney on the Masters business, and
died from home. He had made up the copy
for his September issue. Two of the articles
were from our August number; one a plea
for women, the other for children. So many
good people loved him, and looked up to him !!
In less than three lines the whole story is
told. "He travelled all day, ate in the even
ing hearty supper, walked up in the morn
ing with headache, became unconscious, and
died at five o clock in the afternoon OF an
apoplectic disease y 5isa
Eating heartily is an exhausted, or even in
a greatly debilitated bodily condition is dan
gerous at any hour. Many man has fallen
apoplectic, at the close of hearty dinner; but
the danger is greatly increased by going TO
bed soon after; for the weight OF the meal,
a pound or two, rests steadily on the, great
veins OF the body, arrests the flow of the blood,
as continuous pressure OF the foot on the
hose pipe will more or less completely stop
causes a damming up of the blood in the Ves-
= sells OF the brain, which at length cannot lon
ger bear the distension, and bursts, causing
effusion there, which is instant sometimes, and
certain death always. gaa
There is scarcely reader of middle age,
who has not more than once beeu nearer
death than he imagined, from this very cause.
A man feels In his sleep as II some terrible ca
lamity was impending, some horrible beast is
after him, or some fearful flood. is about to
oyerwhelm him, but in spite of every effort,
he cannot remove himself fast enough the
enemy behind is increasing upon him; and at
length, in agony of sweat, he is able, after
DESPERATE effort, to set the streams of life In
motion by uttering some sound, fearful to be
heard, or only to save himsel from falling into
some fathomless abyss by convulsive and
desperate effort In cases where there is no
power to cry out, OF no effort can be made, the
person is oyertaken, or falls and dies Eating
ahearty meal at The close of the day, is like
giving a laboring man full days work to do,
lust as night sets in, although he has been
toiling all day. The whole body is fatigued
when night comes, aud the stomach takes its
due share, aud to eat heartily at snpper, and
then go to bed, is giving all the other portions
and functions Of the body repose, while the
stomach has thrown on itself i've hours more
labor, alter having already worked four or
uNc uOuio w opOoO Vi DAO0hidoOs anu a cbltl
longer time for dinner. This ten or twelve
hours of incessant labor has nearly exhausted
its power; it cannot promptly digest another
full meal, but labors for hours together, like an
exhausted galley slave at newly-imposed
task. m 81 IzaiT mlfa s1aa9
The result is, that by the unnatural length
of time in which the food is kept in the stom-
ach, and the imperfect manner in which the
exhausted organ manages it, it becomes more
or less acid; this generates wind; this dis
tends the stomach; this presses itself against
the more yielding lungs, combining them to a
largely diminished space; hence every breath
taken is insufficient for the wants of the sys-
TEN, the blood becomes foul, black, and thick,
refuses to flow, and the man dies, or in de-
lirium or fright leaps from window or COM
mits suicide, as did Hugh Miller and multi
tudes of others, and of whom the coroner's
jury has returned the non-committal verdict,
1'Died from some causes unknown," If not i'm
piously stating, ng,-"DIed by the visitation of
God" ss6q Hasi svssF
Let any reader who follows an inactive life
for the most part, try the experiment for a
week, OF eating absolutely nothing after two
o. clock dinner, and see ii a sounder sleep and
more vigorous appetite for breakfast and a
hearty dinner, are not the pleasurable results,
to say nothing OF the happy deliverance from
that disagreeable fullness, weight, oppression
or acidity, which attends over eating. Halls
Journal of Health.