The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-06-10
seDine Earlier and Eat Less.''
This was Abernethy's advice to woman '

IhlS was ADerQeCly 8 dQVlce W WOuiau Wul
consulted him about her stomach. She was 8
heavy eater, and was especially fond OF night
suppers, comprising many dishes, all so highly
seasoned as to secure new sensation to the
palate even after the appetite for food had been
satisfied. Then, to increase the desire and the
ability to swallow food, she drank wine and
other stimulating beverages, and was thus able
to crowd down tremendous mass of miscella-
neous material. Of course, the stomach tried
to take care of the load, in the ordinary way.
1t strove to digest it. It put forth all its pow
ers and drew upon its best gastric resources 1t
demanded from the blood more gastric juice
with which to dissolve the inordinate mass 1t
labored long and earnestly, but without avail.
It's plea for help adequate to the great burden
| imposed, could not be met Natural digestion
was impossible, because the mass was not only
too great, but because it is not chiefly composed
of digestible material.
| How were the contents of that misused stom-
ach disposed of? They were parcelled out and
got rid Of after fashion. The alcohol in the
wine was absorbed at once into the circulation
and was presently evolved from the lungs.
Of course it was great comfort to get rld OF
this irritant and if no other irritant. had been
present, and the stomacAhad been less COM
pletely gorged, digestion could speedily have
been accomplished. But under the circum-
stances, about the only thing to be done, was
to allow the mixture to ferment, and, after oc-
casioning from twelve to forty hours of misery,
to be evacuated in an undigested form, leaving
the stomach and alimentary canal all the worse
for the transit.
Abernethy's injunction to dine earlier and
eat less, was sound one; but, as it will be
seen, it did not touch the whole evil. Aber-
9th in
he is said to have got drunk now and then, in
spite of the severity of his structures upon those
of his patients who INDUCED in excessive eating
and drinking. He was an advanced thinker,
and had he lived to-day, he would probably
have added to his "Dine earlier and eat less"
direction, these words: "And see to it that
you avoid wines and spices and all stimu-
lants.''
1t is very difficult for the average human be-
ing to eat moderately, if many kinds of food
are eaten. Each has its own peculiar flavor,
and the palate is tickled AMI gratifed by being
invited to partake of ono after another, even
though the stomach has been meantime sufi-
cently burdened. If some biting, heating sub
stance is swallowed, such as wine or brandy or
spice or pepper, a sensation is impaired, which
is mistaken for appetite, or craving tor food,
and the person appears to feel hungry. But
this sensation is wholly artificial, and cannot
be safely acted upon. This heat and false hun
ger can be kept up by stimulants until the
stomach is distended to its utmost limit. 1t is,
in fact often kept up until vomiting super
venes, and in such cases relief comes with little
delay. If vomiting does not follow creating
as it does not once in hundred times-the
slow and tormentng fermentlve process IS
about the only recourse left, and every dyspep-
=; 1-nouy, how, rhn6 thiS nrocpSS can render
a human being.
Perhaps the sillicst thing in life is to expect
to give the overworked stomach strength
through medicine 1t would be altogether fun
ny, if it were not so serious an affair, to hear
medical men gravely suggest iron and bitter
touics and ales for the relief Of persons who
complain that their food distresses them. The
truth is that all the iron of all the mines in all
the world, all the bitters that were ever brewed
from alcohol herbs and roots, all the tonics that
were ever fabricated all the ales which were
ever made from hops and malt and muddy wa
ter-never could and never will cure single
case of dyspepsia. All these things irritate the
stomach, just as they would irritate the eye if
great care were not taken to keep them out of
the eye. They do harm always, because they
lessen the power of the stomach for healthy
work
The true way to be happy in the possession
of stomach is to forget that there is such an
institution. Here lies the trouble. The stom-
sch will not let you forget its existence, unless
you deal reasonably with it. If you sit down
to dinner of several courses, the chances are
that you will eat too much Ifyou barely taste of
dozen different articles of food at meal, you
probably give the stomach more to do than it
is capable of DOING The temptations to eat
, .o -, m oe6,c, uyhon orfioloc orc
merous; and small amount of each single ar
ticle makes up a formidable aggregate.
We have heard of an old gentleman who ear
ly became a dyspeptic by the use'o stimulants
and over-feeding. IIe ran the guantlet of
remedies" but got no relief Finally, he re-
sorted to one meal of good, wholesome food
each day, and was cured. Not twinge OF dys'
pepsia for nearly twenty years
We do not advocate one meal day for dys-
peptics. But we do say that we ordinarily e1-
pect our stomach to do more than one days
work in day. We give it more food to digest
than it can take care of. If we could let it rest
at night while We are resting, it would be
grand thing; but late dinner and suppers in.
terfere with this The result is that we wake
up with general feeling of lassitude and nau-
sea. or headache and want of appetite for the
early meal 1t would be otherwise if we took
cur heartiest meal not later than two o'clock
in the afternoon and afterward tasted till morn
ing. We should find ourselves great gamers
in comfort in sweet sleep, in bodily vigor, if
we would eat not more than two kinds of food
at each meal, not oftener than twice in twenty
four hours, and let the last meal of the day oc-
cur so long before retiring, that digestive labor
need not be demanded in the hours set apart
for repose-Halps Journal Of Health.
TOMATO CULTuRE-As the majority of per-
sons esteem tomatoes, and no garden is COM
plete without them, the following hint as to
their culture is in place, and first, strong and
healthy plants can only be had by good, strong