, 1877-10-14

1lan is an animal, VINO, llhe other animals
eats and sleeps, but differs from other mi
mails in wearing clothes The whole effor
OF q mans life, and of aggregate human life
from the hod- carrier to the millionaire con
trolling vast corporations, is to fill hi
stomach, hive place to sleep, and clothe
for his back. With the exception of yer,
small amount devoted to the entertainment
of the eye and e9r, the wealth of the world i:
devoted to the stomach, the bed, and the back
OF these three essentials, eating is the mos
| important. If man knows how to eat
what to eRt, and how much to eat, he has
solved nearly every problem OF happiness
in this world and yet not one in thousand
knows the conditions OF such solution.
| Nearly every one eats too much. We have
| fat men who eat very little, and lean men
| who eat enormously. The most famous
| gluttons OF the world have been thin, cadav-
erous. shabby men. Where they put their
| food is rs much mystery Us how the
.'one small head of GoLpsxnru's village
schoolmaster *'could carry all he knew :"
Nearly all the diseases that sap the founda-
tions Of human life are the results of in
discreet eating. Men devote millions of
money for the sake of procuring diseases
Of the stomach and the liver, gout and its
congeners, out Of which grow nearly all 9TH
er diseases. Before 10 years of age we
devote ourselves to reckless eating with COM
parative impunity; after 10 We devote our
selves to soothing outraged physical nature
Before 40 we dance; after 40 We pay the
fiddler.
DR.. J. q. BESSEr, Of London, has writ
ten little book upon this subject of eating,
called ':Nutrition in Health and Disease"
which ought to attract the attention, not SO
much Of those who are engaged in paying
the fiddler as Of those who must eventually
pay him if they keep on dancing. It is Ill
tie consolation to man with the gout or
disordered liver to be informed that he might
have spared himself his trouble, but it would
be of great value to q person who has not
arrived at these cheerful stages, but is on
the why thither, to be informed of some way
in which lie may enjoy the worlds good
things without being compelled to
swathe his legs in flannel and fill
himself full Of calome1 afterwards.
This is the aim Of DR.. BESSET's little
book. With regard to the use Of solid food,
his precepts are both practical and useful.
He finds the cause Of much of the physical
misery in the world in the small daily ex-
cesses in which people unconsciously in
dulge, but which at the end of year foot |
up fearful sum total. The eating between
meals, the ice-creans, and sandwiches, and |
coffee down town in the intervals of shop |
ping, the caramels and confectionery nibbled |
at before dinner, the piece of mince pie or |
cold cabbage snatcled from the pantry after |
fashionable hours. or the midnight spread of |
culinary denominations at fashionable parties,
these are the factors which so to make up !
a deprayed liver, disordered stomach. and
a disorganizcd hend after q certain age DR.,
BEsSEr Is not in favor of the maxim Of that |
exceedingly proper but very didactic
tutor of young ladies generation
ago, - HANNAH MORE, to always rise |
from table with an appetite, but
he teaches Il golden mean that is at once en-
joyab1e and philosophical He prescribes
methods Of self-examination by which the
eater can ascertain whether he is on the road
to gont, and in some cases recommends the
use of the scales Us q test for determining
what may be the result at the end of the
year Of daily increment Of weight On this
point he snys:
The difference in the nutEtive powers OF healthy
or OF their capacity OF extracting
,ourishmcnt from the same food, i. 50 yeEy great
hat ii is win to attempt to ny down any limit as