The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1866-05-23
Risks of Great Eaters.

e"s ee'o's neSer hVo long. Vofa>
c'ous appetite, so far from being q sign Of
health, is a certain indication Of disease
Some dyspsptics are always hungry, and
feel best whom they are eating, but a.
soon as they have ,fiai,hed eating they
endure tormeu,s Of distressing nature as
to make the unhappy victim wish for
death. The appetite Of health is that
which inclinss moderately to eat, when
eating time comes, and which, when
satisfied, leaves no unpleasant reminders.
Nulttudes measure their health BY the
amount they can eat; and Of any ten
persons, nine are gra,ifed at an increase
Of weight; when, in reality, any excess
Of fatness is, in proportion, decisive proof
of existing disease; showing that the abb
sorbents Of the system are too weak TO
discharge their duty; and the tendency
10 fatness, to obesity, increases until ext
istence is a burden, and sudden death
closes the history.
Particular inquiry will almost unvaring.
iy elicit the fact that fat persons, however
rpblcund and jolly, are never well, and
yet they ale enyied. While great eaters
never live to old age, and are never for
single day without some "symptom,"
some feeling sufficiently disagresable 10
attract the minds attention unpleasantly,
small eaters, those who eat regularly Of
plain food, usually have no "spars Hssh,"
are wiry and enduring and live to An
active old age. Remarkable exemplHca.
tons OF these statements are found in the
lives of centenarians Of a past age. Galsu,
one of the most distinguished among tie
ancisnt', lived very sparingly, after the
age OF twenty eight, and died in his hun.
drsd and for,ie,h year. Ketigern, who
never tasted spirits or wine, and worked
hard all his life, reached hundred aud
eighty five years.
jenkins, poor Yorkshire fisherman,
who lived on the cosrsest diet, was ono
hundred and sixty mine years old whom he
died. Old Parr lived to one hundred and
fifty three; his diet being milk, whey,
small beer and coarse bread. The favo.
rite die. Of Henry Franci.co, who lived
to one hundred and forty, was tea, bread
aud butter, and baked apples. Ephraim
Pratt. Of sbutesbury. Mass, who died
aged one hundred and seventeen. lived
chiefly on milk, and even that in small
quantities. His son Michael, by similar
means, lived to be one hundred and three
years old. Father Gull, a Methodist
clergyman, died last year at the age Of
one hundred and i've; the main diet of
his life having been sailed swine's hesh,
(bacon) and bread made Of Indian al.
From these statsments, nine general
readers out Of ten will jump to the con.
cluslon that milk is healthy, as are baked
apples and bacon.
1bese conclusions do not legitimatsly
follow. fhe only inference that can safely
be drawn is from tho only fact running
through all these casss-that plain food
and life OF steady labor tend 20 great
age. AS to the hsalthfulness nd life.
protrac,ing qualities Of any article OF diet
named, nothing can be inferred, for no
two Of the men lived Oh the same kind Of
food all that can be nationally and safely
said is either that they lived so long in
spite OF the quality Of the food they ate,
or that their instincts called for particu.
lar kind Of food, and the qualification Of
that ipstinct instead Of its psrv srsiou,
with lie Of steady labor, directly caused
healthiulness and great length Of days.
We must not expect to live long by doing
any one thing which an old man did, aud
omit all others: but by doing all he did,
aud that is, work steadily, as we'll az eat
mainly particular dish.
Halls Journal Of Health.