Daily globe., 1879-04-06
THE BEST OF HEALTH.
How to ATTAIN 1t And How to Preserve
1t.

How to ATTAIN 1t And How to Preserve
1t.
From the Brooklyn Eagle.
Tie work done by the body, according
to scientific definition can be divided
into three classes: internal work, such
as nervous energy required for regulating
the processes of the body, intellectual re-
quirements and the force needed for di-
gestion, and so forth; calorifc work, for
the production of heat to maintain the
animal temperature; mechanical OF mus
cular work. The amount Of force ex-
pended on each Of these departments W.
ries with the individual, but the force is
the same. From numerous calculations
it is observed that the average amount of
force daily expended By an adult weigh
ing $50 pounds is equivalent to lifting
3,4OO tons one foot. This is divided
thus Internal work, 260 tons; calorifc
work, 2,S40 tons; mechanical work, 800.
SO that the amount Of work man can do
a day is about equivalent to lifting 800
tons one foot. Eight hours pile driving
is equivalent to 312 tons; turning a
winch 374 tons; walking a mile on the
level, unlcaded, 1857 tons; carrying
weight of so pounds one mile on the lev
ell, 24.75 tons; thus the healthiest work
man can do IS to work at manual labor
in the open air, so long as he keeps with
in the expenditure Of about 800 tons of
force. Making allowance for the force
expended in various ways by human
beng in ordinary business, therefore, he
ought to take walk of nine miles to
make up the amount Of exercise necessa-
ry to keep his body in good order.
EVERY ACTION OF THE BODY
is attended with chemical changes in the
compositions of its tissues, by which force
is released for thinking, and other nervous
exercise, for maintaining the temperature
OF the body, or for enduing it with activ-
ity. This force must be supplied as fast
as it is expended, and it is supplied in
latent form by the food we eat, and the
oxygen that every respiration takes into
the lungs. The food we eat consists of
carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, from
which certain amount Of oxygen has
been taken as they passed through veg
etable form. Their latent heat, derived
from the sun, is restored again when the
carbon is burned in oxygen, and that is
precisely what's effected when we breathe,
taking in oxygen, to burn up the carbon
and sustain animal heat.
Knowing precisely in what directions
force is expended, and also the proper
tions in which they are directed, we
should Of course endeavor to so conform
our diet to our necessities that there will
be no lack of force III any direction. By
far the greater part of the 70. ce supplied
is for generating heat, leaving smaller
amount to be divided between the re-
cuperation of nervous and muscular en-
e1gy. Prof. Frankland, by series of
patient experiments, has taken the differ
ent elements of Our food and combined
them so as to yield the requisite proper
lions Of serviceable force. He has found
that 1900 grains of dry albumen, 1850
grams of fat and 4,900 grains of starch
added together, yield and aggregate OF
$3.50 foot tons or almost the identical
amount of force exerted by the average
adult who weighs $50 pounds, namely
3,4O0 foot tons.
WHEN A MAN IS IN TRAINING,
he is merely keeping his body in the best
possible condition, and the scientific
trainers of to-day have gone back to the
very system indulgcd in by the Greeks
when preparing Tor the Olympic games
Twenty-Five years ago the trainers who
insisted upon dieting subject with large
quantities of fatty matter would have
been considered insane Strangely
enough, the experiments of DR.. Frank.
land and Others including 50 eminent
physicist as Pro. Huxley, pronounce in
favor of eating considerable allowance
OF fatty matter, which the Olympian con
testants tooksin the form of roast pork
The tables laid down for men in training
nowadays, therefore abandon the largely
albuminous diet, and accept far differ
ent one. In these tables we fnd some
curious corrections of old notions. Fol
instance an ounce of lean beef, contain
ing ten grains Of nitrogen and 81 of cor
bon, furnishes SIS foot tons of energy; ar
ounce, of oatmeal supplies 152 foot tons
an ounce of butter supplies $50 foot ton.
and an ounce of dried bacon the larges
Of poultry furnishing but 81 and an ounc,
ofsugar s75 foot tons. A diet of one pount
OF meat, pound and a quarter of bread
! ounce of butter, IL ounces OF potatoes
about one large, we'll, cooked mealy on
i ounce of sugar and ounces of milk
per diem, yield 3o1 grains of nitrogen
$3.50 Of carbon, and 3,3O5 foot tons o
energy. Here the energy falls short
and the carbon is 100 grains short. Hal
an ounce of butter OF bacon added to
will make it exactly right; for the great
est amount of energy with the least wea
and tear of the vital organs is attaine
when 800 grains of nitrogen and 90
grains of carbon are taken into th
stomach and reduced by the digestiv
organs. This is the standard diet for th
average healthy man doing moderat
amount of work. Labor, whether ment.
or muscular. of more than ordinaril
severe character, demands larger SUI
ply of food, but the scientific liver wi
have his meals prepared to yield som,
thing approximate to the standard aboy
given. He will not eat to much album
nous food like meat, or too little brea
and fatt or butter, nor will he neglect tt
vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce, waite
cress and an occasional potato. for thes
last supply certain salts derived from tt
earth, necessary for the publication
the blood; while a surplus of al5uminor
food, while it will serve the purposes {
keeping him warm and active, throw
upon the kidneys a great deal more tha
their share of work, and therefore tenc
eweaken them, and through them th