Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1870-06-16
ruE AMERICAN PHYSIQUE.

A medical writer in Puinam's Ma&a.
zine. talks ~ follow:
The Amerisan climate, then. actin, :,
oacs directly uran the franz of ;,s re.t-
lsss deais.n. and insiirectly shro ,e,, the
qualities of the sood vhiea b. cultivate.
and OF the industries which. he rursue.
under its iu6senc,. i - povere.i avecs
in producing the peculiar syp- Of deve.-
opmsnt which have eslie I .sshe Amer;.
can Physique" Osa might sancy the OBJ
servations Of those travellers n b. ,rue
vhe declare that the Aneriean Is slowly
assimilatins himself n tho typs Of the
origind North American Indisn. The
high cheek bones Of the Indi IN, his lsnk
muscular form aad long fingers. and his
straight hair. are gradually rcproiucine
themselves. they say. among the inheri-
tors Of his domain. There Il doubtless a
germ oftruth In this remark. The Amer.
lean and his descendants are ex,os d to
many Of the same infu .uces that crcstci
the Indian. They eat hi. m,is., they
hunt his game. they live in his climate,
and dras their nourishmeat from the same
coil. They are fed BY the same juices Of
the planet. Il would not be singular
should many Of bis characteristics app .ar
among US after . few gen ,rat;ous had
been subjected to these influences. I
have occasionally seen Auerican faces
which bore an UNREASONABLE res ,mblanc-
70 the Indian type. But inaaences fsr
stronger aud more determined than sny
OF those which ne have inherited # ,m ID,
savage are nov setting upon us - eivilix ID
nation. There is no danger Of any mark.
ed retrogression in the direction Of our
Wild predecsss
The influence ofclimate upon the Amer
lean ph ysque is subj .cs too extensive
for the limits Of the pres mt article. Blu.
it is to this and to kindred iniu noes.
rather than to any original difference. that
we are 10 ascrib- our presen. status.
whether physical or mental. J s. Mil
says: "Of ALI vulgar modes Of escaping
from the consideration of tho etf.c. of 81
cial and moral Influences on the human
mind. the most vulgar is that of a,srihu-
ting the Universities Of conduct aud of CHI ,r-
actcr to inherent natural d,fcrcnc, So
Principles Of Political E.,nomy, l.,
800 The law that all things yield to
influence, are the product of their envi.
ronment. are themselves organized aud
moved by definite forces, is invariable.
The last instance Of this law that am
about to present, rs bearing upon III, SUBJ
ject in hand. is the iafaeace Of diet upon
the American physique.
The insucculence of the Amcric,, ply
sique is largely due to tn, fact that the
American uses 50 little l,q, il fo,i. The
principal forms in which liquid food is
consumed by civilized nations are the
following Soup, matt li9nors, wines.
tea. coffee. and milk. l have classed
malt 'iquo's aud wines among ailments,
not because they are slightly nutritious,
nor yet because they arrest the transfnr-
nation Of tissue. aud so supply, t, a lin
tied degree, the place of fool; but be-
cause by their bulk they supply the wa
te-y constituents of the body
" these six forms Of aliment, the first
is the most important, whether consider.
ed intrinsically rs \ nutriment, or wit,
reference to the number Of human beings
who habi:ually use it. The characters.
tic European dish is soup; that is to say
q larger number of Europeans make this
leading article Of diet than any other
article but bre al. the use Of which is no:
peculiar to Europe. A large majority of
the French, the Germans, the Italians.
and large proportion of the English.
are accustomed to the daily use of some
form Of nutritious soup; while among the
Americans. Us a people, it might be said
that soup is almost unknown. Only
among small proportion of the residents
of our cities is soup . frequent article Of
diet. In the country, and among the
poorer city population, i, is scarcely ever
used.
The Enelishman Of the poorer cl,sses,
who comparatively seldom eats soup,
makes up his complement Of liquid fool
by the use of ale or porter the German,
similarly circums,n,ced. drinks beer the
Italian light wines; but the American
depends for stimulus upon distilled spir-
its, which contain large amount of al
cohol il very small bulk. Waving the
question Of the greater or less perniciou Gus
nes, Of these more potent stimuli. it re-
mains evident that they do not supply tn
the system the element which forms near
" ninety-6vc per cent. OF the malt L.
quors aud the mill wines that are SO
abundantly coneumcd in Europe. In
word. the American physique is NJ, well
catered.
The consumption of coffee. tea. AMI
milk is not materially greater in America
than in Europe; the consumption of soup.
malt liquors aud light wines may be es-
timated at sevcnty-five per cent. less thar
there If We estimate the die,etic scale
of the European to be compnssl, on the
average, Of twc parts Of hquii'so ono Of
solid aliment, that Of the American will
present n nearly eqaal am unit Of each
form Of food. In other w,rls, the Ed
ropcan consumes fcice as mach ligsid
rood as the American. Ii this fact We
may find an influence which has tended
powerfully tn produce our thin and arid
physique. Recurring To the figure of
vegetable growth. We may regard the
American type OF development, ssler tn.
three aspects which have presented, as
an exotic tres tina: has suffered. AMI still