, 1868-08-21
Summer Meats and Drinks.

the human animal is, in theory, considered
to be thatiWhich is nearest to the hat, poet
ically styled " the dome of thou Sht, the pal.
ace of the soul" There have been physi-
ologists who have placed the mind where we
still do the affections, in or near the stomach;
but the current theory has fixed the seat Of
intellect and consciousness in the brain, and
made that organ, or series of organs, as
phrenolOgists claim it to be, the motor in all
enterprises. Even hunger is not left out,
for they point you to the very spot whore
Alimentiveness resides.
But, after all, in these summer months.
we are forced to the confession that the vas
sal stomach has as much to do with our wills
and deeds, our thoughts and words, as the
superior head. To say a man has no stom-
ach for anything is really as significant as
to say he has no brains for it. For the intel.
lectual forces can no more get on without the
gastric than an army without a commissariat
department. 1t is related of Sir Walter Scott
that he sometimes kept the printer waiting
for copy. 1t were wonderful if be did not
clever and wonderful scribe that he was.
Thoughts cannot be pumped out mechanically
by anybody, except a newspaper editor and
reporter, and Sir Walter though be could
write the Waverly Novels, but could not, we
affirm, have edited a newspaper. One of the
Ballantynes, on a certain occasion when the
press was standing, appealed to the great
novelist in person. " loot mon !" was the
answer, show can max the McGfegor' =
wife talk, wi sican twisting in the bowels
as l havep Substitute for bowels the
shorter and more expressive word which the
novelist actually used 10 his extremity, and
you may imagine the strait the man was in
when the printers devil drove, and the loco.
motive train whistled and snorted, but the
tender, the fuel carriage, the stomach was of
the track.
As for writing, so for every operation
which requires thought or memory, the whole
man, and especially the chemical and ali
mentary part of him, must be in order.
Hence, in the summer months particularly,
it is question of no small moment whether
there is death 10 the pot before we dip
our spoon 10. DR.. Combe, iu treating of d.
gestion and dietetics, gives one rule to be
observed, without which all others are of no
avail" the rule of not too much" The
best Of all directions, it is, herhaps, hardest
to follow, since in our languor we arc prone
to the uelusIou that we can take something
In at the mouth which will restore whatever
is wanting, cool US if heated, or strengthen
us if weak. We eat and drink, moreover,
for amusement-a joke the stomach will not
always stand, however it may please the pal
ate; and when the poor, overworked ma
chinery rebels, We blame the weather or the
climate, or accuse our innocent bodies of
dyspepsia. Then hey for drugs and nos
trumS, still farther to complicate matters.
DR.. COmbeS moss trooping countrymen in
the old time had style of cooking admira>
ble for lis simplicity, to say the least of it.
They would fay an OK or a calf, hang the
skin, bag fashion, upon four stakes, fill with
water, and put the carcass in to boil. One
would think that the manner of preparing a
dinner, not alluded to by Prof Blot, would
remove the temptation to over stufing. Yet
the moss-iroopers were huge feeders. Like
all rude people they learned from nature
what DR.. Hall lays down as an axiom
"After dinner, play the anaconda" At any
rate, their diet was simple-oatcakes with
beef done as above, would not create the
heterogeneous mixture which we civilized
folks deposit in our stomachs, TO tester and
effervesce, while we stupidity wonder that our
food disagrees with US, and take a potion or
a pill, to make it disagree worse. The comic
almauacs have a standing joke about the Irish
maiden. for whom a dose of seidltz was
prepared. She swallowed the alkal, and
then the acid, AID, we need hardly add, was
astonished." Yet we all do the same
thing. We put incongruous matters in to
our stomachs, and are surprised that they do
not agree. The summer markets tempt the
palate with their various offerings, and rich
and poor manage to find variety enough to
give the apothecary business, and to swell
the bills of mortality. Things which might
be eaten with impunity, if taken alone, are
jumbled together, and then we blame inno
cent things as unhealthy, whereas it is our
own omniVerous appetItes which do the
| mischief
But the various drinks which are imbibed
are an infinite deal worse than what is eaten.
The consumption of " hot and rebellious IL
quOrs p" in this republic is absolutely appall.
ing. Cold climates allow stronger potations
than are safe or prudent during the ardent
summers. The fever which the sun engen-
ders is aggravated by drinks which would
suit the Esquimaux or Siberians. The vital
energies are fearfully taxed, and the excite
ment is followed by prostration The system
is predisposed to malarious influences and
the heat which one might endure in sound
body is fatal when the FIRE without is matched
by furious heat within. Whoever could
persuade the people into extreme moderation
Whisky 4 Co. during the summer months,
would not only save life and prevent disease,
but reduce the criminal calendar The ten
dency to improper indulgence has been of
late years increasing fearfully among us. 1t
was once thought that high prices would
abate consumption of alcoholic mixtures.
Such does not appear to have been the case /;
and while more is drunk than ever, much of
the liquor which is consumed is of the very
worst and most deleterious quality. 1t is
e Al