The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-04-03
;Mnhe EARN.
HOME TOPICS.
BY FAITH ROCHESTER,.
From the american Agriculturist.
PURIFYING THE BLOOD.


From the american Agriculturist
PURIFYING THE BLOOD.
Some persons actually read and be-
lieve the medical almanacs and adver-
tisements of nostrums that flood the
newspapers. How wisely they talk,
these advertisements, about the neces-
sity of purifying the blood; but they
would lead the ignorant and credulous
to suppose that tie only way to get
pure flood is to take doses of the par
tieular kind of patent medicine adver-
tised Many respectable families take
it for granted that some kind of spring
medicine is necessary to set the human
system in working order, as Winters
cold gives way before the approach of
warm weather; whereas it is only nee
essary for them to cease to do evil
and learn to do well in their daily eat
ing, drinking breathing, working and
playing.
Persons who have learned and pay
heed to the laws of health, find no nee
essity for spring medicines. They are
all Of the time purifying the blood by
their simple daily habits They aim
to make their blood of good nourishing
materials. and to cleanse it by pure
ar breathed into the lungs
1t seems to me more and more aston
ishing that the human body can stand
80 much abuse, especially in the way
of bad air People shut themselves
into such close rooms in Winter, cspe-
caliv at night, that it is no wonder that
they are driven to all sorts of stimu-
lants to whip up their tagging energies,
and no wonder that they are all run
down" at the end of Winter One of
the most common mistakes is the sup
position that air is pure in proportion
to its coldness, so that you have only
to open door into an unhcated room,
which is itself reservoir of foul air
perhaps, in order to ventlate sufficiently
the living room or sleeping room. But
the mistakes in diet alone are enough to
account for the biliousness that pre-
walls in early Spring. A Winter diet
made largely of fat pork or of hot pam
cakes saturated with butter or fat, will
pretty surely bring some sort Of sick
ness in its wake.
THE FEED OF ACIDS.
When much fat pork is eaten there
will always be demand for pickles or
vinegar, says the report Of the Massa-
chusetts Board of Health The demand
for acid is a genuine call of the system
but there is no especial call for the
strong acids, such as raw lemons and
pickles, if one has from day to day the
proper supply of moderately sour fruit
Half of the doctors would find their
occupation gone if apples were freely
used as an article Of food. Fruit has
never done US the good it might have
done, because it has been eaten at i'm
proper hours, between meals, or i'll the
evening. 1t has actually been turned
into foe to good digestion by the pro
cesses of picking and preserving. The
oid-fashioned pound preserves are too
sweet to serve the purpose of acid fruit,
and too rich to have the nourishing
effect of juicy, sweet fruit. They are
simply sweetmeats, to be eaten with eau
ton. Canned fruit is excellent, bat
fresh fruit is best whenever it can be
obtained The good effect of fresh fruit
is often spoiled by the excess of sugar
used with it.
When there is q craving for sour food,
for pickles or for lemons, it is generally
4 strong indication that the system has
real need Of acids, and lemons or
vinegar are sometimes the best medicine
to cure biliousness and restore failing
appetite. \ year ago | saw a child
pass through one of these poor spells.
He lost his appetite, aud could not bear
the sight or smell of food, until he
caught sight Of dish of dried apple
sauce, and then he was possessed with
a desire for some Of the juice. This
seemed to refresh him, and he ate, for
his next meal bread soaked in the juice
of stcwed dried apples After that
canned tomato, cooked with bread, helped
forward the cure Before this i'll turn
he had, for a few weeks, lived almost
entirely without frnit, contrary to his
usual habit.
It is a common mistakes to use fruit
at the table only in the form of sauce
at the evening meal, or encased in rich
crusts as pie for dinner In the latter
case, the good effect of the pie-crust is
often greater than the good effect of the
fruit inside the pie AS for the fruit
sauce on the tea-table, it is better than
heavy supper Of meat, but there is
some sense in the old saying that "fruit
is golden in the morning, silver at noon,
and lead at night.
Perhaps any kind Of fruit or Vegetable
may be used to excess, or in too large
proportion as compared with the rest
of the diet. Certainly acids should be
used IN modcrtion, especially the strong
kinds Because the Juice of a lemon
may lie an excellent cure for bilionsnes-
or tiatHlcnce or other disease, it by no
means follows that school girls can
thrive upon Their daily use In former
days, when pale and slender maidens
were in fashion, it was not very uncom-
mon for silly girls to try to reduce
their weight and ruddy hue by frequent
sips of vinegar, and many feeble
woman, and many an early death has
been the result of such tampering A
variety of vegetables and fruit, well
cooked, ana eaten as appetite calls for
them, will satisfy the natural demand
for both sour and sweet food.
CULTIvATING SWEET POTATOES.