The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1866-08-15
SALT.

what ne regards as the great popular poison
sat. We present the substance Of the
essay:
When we adopted the principles Of Hy-
geio- Therapy-just quarter Of century
ago the present month-we discontinued at
once the use of all seasonings which did
not possess alimentary properties-salt,
mustard, pepper, vinegar, etc. For year
we did not taste of them, and then We began
to Realize what food was, as God designed
and Nature produced il. We found it to
possess gustatory properties which we had
never before been conscious of. We could
make luscious meal on bread, apples, po-
tatoes, cabbage, beets, parsnips, spinach,
or almost any thing else that was properly
eatable. with no particle Of condiment, with
moro pleasure than we formerly could on
all the complicated dishes Of first class
hotel, with the addition Of all the season
ings Of u first class restaurant Afterward,
when we occasionally tasted of them by
way Of experiment, or partook of them
from the necessity of the case when absent
from home, the effect was invariably more
or less disturbance Of the digestive organs,
with thirst, feverishness and other symp-
toms OF poisoning. We have studied and
observed the effects Of seasonings upon
people generally, but more especially upon
invalids, for twenty five years, nearly all Of
which time we have had one or two houses
full of patients, some Of whom used little
salt, while others used none, and our con.
cluslon has been Strengthening every year
that salt is an exceedingly pernicious ar
ticle.
We believe their dietetio employment is
the chief primary cause Of gluttony, intern
perance and debauchery. We are well
aware how radical and ultra land all truth
is both radical and ultra) these opinions
will be regarded by those who cannot relish
food without salt, and by medical profess
sion whose only rules for interpreting the
volume Of Nature are their own morbid ap-
petences and the kitchen of q fashionable
restaurant. Very few persons of the pres
ent day can enjoy food Of any kind without
the addition Of salt, mustard, vinegar or
pepper; and majority Of those who are
regarded as "good livers" land who are
sure TO have torpid livers and irritable kid
neys) seldom take dinner without using
all of them. Butter is almost as commonly
used as salt Thousands of American chill
dren are taught to eat almost as much but
ter as bread, and the result is seen in bile
humors, scrofula and erysipelas. The
quantity Of salt, butter and sugar consumed
dieeticaly by the civilized world is inn
mense; aud although the great majority of
people regard them as indispensable-espe
cially salt--they would be vastly better off
II there were no such things in existence.
They are not only useless, but pernicious
indeed, they are a fruitful source Of disease
and premature decay. The effect Of all
seasonings--and this remark applies with q
special emphasis to SALTS to render the
mucous surfaces dry and infammatory, the
blood putrescent, the secretions deficient
and depraved, and the fibres rigid and in
elastic. In this condition there is more
friction, more wear and tear Of the organic
machinery. If they do not induce fatal
disease. they cause the vital structures to
wear out sooner. Indeed, no person can
by any possible effort perform as much
bodily or mental labor while using season
ings as he can (other circumstances being
equal; without them.
The direct cost Of these articles is as in
significant item in comparison with the loss
Of health and strength and the abbrevia-
ti"n Of human life which they occasion,
and the many other unphysiological and
pernicious habits to which they lead. The
desire for intoxicating drinks and for all
beer, tea, coffee, ETC., is chiefly attributable
to morbid thirst induced by salt and other
seasonings. This subject has an especial
Importance with Fegetarians, who are striv-
ing to induce the people to return to "the
natural food of man." Cor salt is apt to be
the article that they hold en- to with more
pertinacity than to anything else which is
not 10 some sense fool. A few words,
therefore, on the scientific aspect of the
question
ought to settle the whole question Of its
dietetic use or abuse. But unfortunately,
led on by the false teachings of the medical
professions. the world has com to regard
poisons as useful, nay as indispen sable, not
only as medicines, but as victuals and drink.
Witness alcohol, cod liver oil, preparations
of iron, etc. Salt is in no sense food more
than is alcohol, arsenic or corrosive subli-
mate. II is wholly indigestible. 1t can
supply no element to the tissues. It cannot
be assimilated. 1t is passed through the
system unchanged, rs are other indigestible
and poisonous substances. We do not here
forget the constant iterations Of medical
authors and physiological scribblers that
salt is useful, necessary and Indispensable;
that it supplies an element (chlorine) for
the formation Of the hydrochloric acid of
the gastric juice; that it supplies the soda
Of some of the secretions and excretions,
saliva. bile, etc. but as these statements
are nothing but statements--mere asser-
tions without particle of proof--and sus-
ceptible, moreover, Of absolute disproof, we
will not here argue the points involved. We
will do better. We will give the reader q
rule which will enable him to determine for
himself, to positive demonstration, wheth-
er salt belongs t. the category Of food or Of
poison. He has only to take q meal of
bread Mt one time, meal or dose of salt at
another, and meal or dose Of arsenic at
another. He will find that the effects of
the the salt are in all respects analogous to
those Of the arsenic, and in no respect
analogous to those Of the bread. Arsenic,
in appreciable doses, occasions thirst, heat,
pain, redness and dwellings. These are
symptoms Of Observation-Disclosures. And
this Inflammation, in degree, intensity and
danger. corresponds always and precisely
with the quantity of the drug taken, be it
arsenic or salt. Arsenic, in very small
doses, is regarded as beneficial tonic--a
supporting and strengthening agent, which,
by the way, has never been claimed for
salt. Bread will not occasion these symp-
toms Of Inflammation, taken in any guam
tity.
It has been known for centuries that sailed
ailments we're conducive to acrid humors, q
putrescent state Of the blood and scurvy.
In putrid fevers, and in all diseases in
which there is well-marked putrescent ten
dency in the fluids, the use Of salt has long
been prohibited by intelligent physicians.
Nearly all medical writer's Of responsibility
condemn sailed meats for dYepeptics and.