Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-12-02
.,scn1rvous ERRORS.

L
That is a small attempt at originality
which consists in a bluff denial Of the
utility of any practice in morals or in
dieties, Notwithstanding q worldwide
experience and positive demonstration
in its favor. Some of the utterances Of
oyer-conident oracles are very absurd;
others, with all their a%bsurdity, obtain
credence among tho unthinking, and
hence call for exposures and rebuke. A
specimen of this kind Of talk is a recent
assertion in o semi-scienti6c paper, that
salt with ones food is never useful, and
always injurious. One can hardly be-
lieve that any physician or Psychologist
or hygienist could utter such q state
mcnt even in his costing mood and yet
its paternity is sufficiently public. To
the same broods must be referred that
rolling and sporting ones self in dirt is
q sanitary pastime, and that the dirtiest
aud LATEST unwashed children are the
h~ealthiest.
Simmon or marine salt is, Of all the
substances for mans use, the most
largely and extensively distributed over
the globe. It is o constituent of sea-
water, from which it is mainly procured
in large quantities-it makes up mines
Of unlimited extent, and forms noun
tains of itself; it is largely dissolved in
certain lakes, and in springs and wells.
| Salt is the universal condiment, the
condiment of condiments as it has been
called, which imparts flavor to all kinds
| of animal food, and to most of the varie-
ties of the vegetable kingdom. In all
ages of tho world, in all climates, it has
been used by the inhabitants, both civil
lied and savage. 1t is indispensably
necessary to good digestion and the
maintenance Of health. Abstinence from
the use of salt is followed by a weak
ened state of the stomach and bowels,
and the breeding Of worms, and, in
some cases, great emaciation. 1t
forms an important constituent Of the
blood, and by c Of this latter
fluid reaches oil the tissues and
enters into all the secretions-gastric
juice, saliva, sweat, &c. BY its decom-
position in the stomach the hydrochloric
or muriatic acid is set free, and COM
bines with animal matter, so as to form
the digestive fluids in gastric juice,
which is the solvent of the food received
into the stomach. Common salt is found
in all potable waters. and is an almost
constant, and, in very many mineral
springs, a large constituent Of the saline
substances held in solution by them.
To it much of their curative power in
disease is due. Without entering into
any speculation on the subject, there is
good reason to believe that salt performs
an important part in preserving the in
tegrity of the blood ~corpuscles and the
vitality of this fluid. Whoever has wit
messed the effects of the injection of q
saline solution in the veins of q cholera
patient in the stage of collapse, and the
change, rs if by miracle, from a state of
imminent death-no pulse, features
shrunk, skin blue and cold-to that of
animation and restored circulation, and
color and even flush Of the cheeks, would
be ready to believe in oil that might be
| advanced Of the renovating and vitalis-
ing power of salt on the animal frame.
| We may excuse the ~extrayagant asser-
ton of Pliny, the naturalist, that there
is nothing in nature so necessary and
useful as sur and salt and certainly
we will agree with Pythagoras, the high
priest of vegetarians, that at no table
can salt be dispensed with. OF the
dietetic value Of salt rs an antiseptic in
preserving animal flesh for food all are
aware. Scurvy following the long use
of sailed meat is not owing to the salt
itself, but to the sameness of diet and
the chemical change produced in the
substance of the flesh. All warm
blooded animals, and especially the
mammals, have an instructive appetite
for salt, and every owner of cattle and
horses knows the necessity Of mixing it
with their ordinary food.