Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-09-09
The Diet of Brain Workers.

The Hours at Home, for September, con
tains an article upon this subject, by DR..
G. NJ. Beard of New York, in which he
refut(s the popular idea that persons de-
voted to brain-labor do not need as much
hearty food as those devoted to muscular
labor. On the contrary, DR.. Beard con .
tends that brain-workers need better
quality and larger quantity of nutrition
than mechanics and laborers for the fol-
lowing reasons:
l. Labor of the brain causes greater
waste Of tissue than labor of the muscles.
Three hours of hard study produce more
important changes Of tissue than a whole
day Of muscular labor.
,. Brain workers, as a class, are more
active in their work, and work more time
than mechanics or labOrers. The think
ing powers, the tools of trade of brain
workers, are always at hand, and seldom
die
3. Brain-workers exercise, more or less,
all the other organs of the body as well as
the brain.
These teachings of reason, DR.. Beard
contends, are confirmed by the facts not
only in relation to nationalities, but also
with reference to individuals and to classes
ofpcrsons; showing that the brain-work
ers OF the world do actually eat better
quality and larger quantity of food than
mechanics and laborers; that the ruling
people of the world, who have, from time
to time shaped the destiny of humanity,
have always been liberal feeders.
Thus the dominant nations among the
ancints, the Babylonians, the Persians,
and especially the Romans, were free and
luxurious in their habits of eating; and
among modern nations the greatest eaters
are the English, the Germans, the French
and the Americans-the ruling people OF
our civilization.
On the other hand the diet of the Span
iardS and Italians is notably less subStan
tial than that of the English and Germans,
and they do less brain work. SO the rice
eating Hindoos and Chinese, and the fish
eating japanese, have certainly shown less
brain work, and have made less advanceas
nations, than the more luxurious eaters OF
Europe. So the meagre diet, and the want
of variety in the food OF various African
tribes, of the GreenlanderS, and of other
peoples, certainly have not produced great
results in brain labor.
But turning from nations to individuals,
the same facts apply. Goethe was great
eater, Dr. johnson was a glutton, and the
great brain-wolkers in this country have
cnioyed the luXuries of the table. What
is true of nations ana of individuals, is
also true, according to DR.. Beard, Of classes
in the community. Students in colleges
and academies, and clcrgymen, he asserts,
are all great eaters, and eat and need to
eat more than mechanics or farmers.
Such, in brief, are the Illustrations that
! DR., Beard gives to prove his theory that
brain workers require more and better
food than those who work chiefly with
muscles. 1t must occur to every reader
that his illustrations fail in their applica-
ton In fact the Illustrations themselves
are mere statements, not proven, and not
susceptible of proof The experience, OF
impressions Of the next person would
quite probably be OF a directly opposite
character, and would be Of equal value as
proof.
We can assent more readily to DR..
I Boards retutation of the theory which he
ascribes to Professor AgaSsiZ, that fish
diet, by virtue OF the phosphorus it con-
tains, is emincntly adapted to nourish
| the brain, and that those who subsistupon
| it largely are distinguished for their bright
ness and intellectually" 1t may be doubt
/ full whether Professor Agassiz ever promul-
gated this theory; but if he did he must
have had better proof than reference to
/ the remarkable intellectually ofthe Green
lanlers, the EsQuimauX, or the japanese,
the most noted fish-caing nations of the
world
We suspect that the intellectual deyel
opment ana progress Of the nations of the
earth, as wei as Of individuals and of
classes, have been influenced more by To-
caIity, by race and by surrounding circum-
stances, moral and physical, than by diet.
With our present light we are unable TO
see the truth Of the argument in the arti-
Gle referred to, or to appreciate the force
of the illustrations given to prove it
Progtd6ncc Il. l., Journal.