Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-05-25
Influence of Food Upon the Intellect

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considered by people in general. Judg-
ing from appearances, we are inclined to
say that there is a widely-spread and pro-
found Indifference prevailing respect
ing the matter There can be but little
doubt but that what people eat and drink
affects their character, Physiology tells
us that the brain and stomach are too init
mately connected for there to be any CUES
ton as to the correctness of the assertion.
Indeed, the brain is the slave of the stom-
ach; and the former utters what the latter
dictates.
That such is the design of an lI-wise
Creator is very evident. Referring to the
Mosaic record of the fall Of man, we read
that when the serpent tempted Eve
through her palate, he also appealed to
the benefits her understanding would de-
rive from eating the forbidden fruit 1t
was "a tree to be desired to make one
wise" How fatally true the story was
we know from its result Ancient class
Ical writers give us very minute accounts
Of the barbaric magnificence Of the ban
quets of ancient Greece and Rome The
lncOngruOuS ingredients of the platS are
strangely typical of eccentric atrocities
perpetrated by the partakers of such dish
es. Thousands of nightingaIes' tongues
entered INTO the composition Of an es-
peCially favorite dish of the Roman EN-
peror who caused the streets of his CAPT.
tai to be illuminated by the burning
of tJa
at matters from the stand point which we
have erected, the diet of monarchs ia the
days OF despOtic power must have been a
matter Of no slight Importance What
haSty decisions, what bewildering politi-
Cal complications may not have been
caused by a fit of indigestion on the part
of the powers that were? 1t is well-es-
tablished fact that a leg of mutton caused
a revolution in the affairs Of Europe
Napoleon the Great, just before the battle
Of Leipzig, insisted upon dining upon
boiled mutton, contrary to the advice of
his chef-de-cuaSane, who seems to have
properly understood his business, and to
have been somewhat of physician as
well as cook. The Emperor's brain re-
sented the liberty taken with his colleague
the stOmach-the monarch 5 equilibrium
was overturned, the battle lost, and new
page opened in history. "Who drinks
beer, thinks beer" says the time-honored
prOyerb, and its truth is we'll exemplified
IN the literature Of the Tudor period, when
beer Was the customary drink 1t was the
ordinary beverage drunk by the virgin
Queen herself. The literature of the era
is like the strong fluids and solids which
nourished the brains of the writer's 1t is
coarse, pungent and vigorous, full Of the
sensuality of thought and expression
which a gross manner Of living tends to
foster Yet, withal, what gloriou
literature There were no dtkettanti
writers in those days, no second serving up
Of the thoughts Of others in an adIlterated
form. All was fresh and original, per-
fectly coinciding with the modes of living
in those medieval times.
Pursuing this train of thought, we nat
urally glance at the great writer's of the
seventeenth md eighteenth centuries.
Here we find notable difference in the
style Of living; difference which has had
a most remarkable influence upon the lit
erary productions Of the age. The French
Queen of Charles l., Henrietta Maria, in
roduced a more refined system of dietary
amongst the upper classes. This, taken in
connection with the more habitual use of
wine particularly Port-had its influence
upon the minds of the greater thinkers of
the time. The style of writing had be-
come more refined and polished; lacking
in the COarseness of the Elizabethan era,
whilst preserving its yigor and freshness.
With the Introduction of tea commenced
the age Of ephemeral literature. The Tat
ter and The Spectator were the offSprings
of coftee-house chat They are remem-
bered and quoted now because they are
almost the chief records of the everyday
life OF the period at which they were writ
ten. With the mixture of foods comes a
mixture of literature most curious
to note. Dean Swift was fond of
tea, but he was also a lover of
stronger fluids and solids, and here
we find key to that strangely constituted
mind which could pen such grossness as
his Directions to Servants" and yet
produced that inimitable journal to
Stella,' than which purer and tenderer
piece Of writing does not exist in the En-
glish language. DR.. johnson was much
addicted to the pleasure of the table. He
was huge eater and drinker; he liked
port and did it ample justice, but tea was
his tavorite beverage, His literary pro-
auctions form a curious and remarkable
confederation of the fact that food has
material influence upon character He
labored necessarily at literary work; yet
of all his productions not one is left to
sustain his reputation, save his dictionary
Such a book must be, necessarily, and to
very considerable extent, a compilation;
but he invested the dry details with so
much interest that his work soo1 super
seeded the then current 9 dictionary for
the explanation of hard words" He
gathered from all sources, comparing
things new and old, the result being
composition which could only have been