Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-09-04
DRINKING AT MEALS.

We were once told by a shrewd old college
professor that the most foolish thing man o1
intelligence can do-from worldly point Of
VIEWS to "butt his brains out against popu
lar prejudice" Still sometimes we are dread
fully tempted to pound our cranium against q
hurtful notion, and have never been more SO
than while reading the advice so often insisted
on in the papers against drinking water at meal
times. The chief and most plausible argu.
ment against this practice is that it dilutes
the gastric juices, and delays digestion. 1t is
not often in a scientific discussion that we can
so easily as in this case appeal to the individ
ual consciousness Of the uninstructed reader
in proofof the fallacious character of the as
sumption in question. Who that reads this
has not had thousand proofs forced upon
his attention that water taken into the stom.
ach remains there but few seconds, is quick.
ly taken up by the blood vessels, and, if in ex.
cess, almost as quickly thrown out of the blood
again through the kidneys? Yet there is a
small grain of truth in the midst of this gross
error. Large draughts of very cold water
taken into the stomach with the food, by
chilling the stomach during its rapid progress
through the walls of its vessels, do arrest the
secretion of the digestive fluids until proper
warmth is re.established. Large draughts,
also, of tea and coffee, by the astringency Of
the former, and the nervine action Of the
theme they both contain-as we'll, also, as by
the peculiar narcotic action Of cofee-de'
range and hinder digestion. Alcoholics, how
ever diluted, have like effect.
With these limitations, we but declare the
convictions of all psychologists when we say
that full response to the calls Of thirst, at
meal times as at other times, is wise and prop
er. And for these reasons: The sense OF
thirst is given to US not only that we may
keep the fluids of the body duly supplied
with solvent and dilutent material, but also
that. through the excretory organs, all soluble
offensive substances may be quickly washed
away. In the digestive process the demand
for water in aid of both these necessary pur-
poses is urgent In nearly everything we eat
there are soluble substances that are in excess,
and this excess should be promptly carried
out of the system. Perhaps the most abun-
dant among these, usually, is the common salt
so freely taken. 1t is, however, by no means
the only one; and they all unless promptly
TelnOVeu, dCG aS lrrlIaHtS' 1uIii "e''o1 oPoA'
the stomach will in a very short time decrease
and soon arrest the flow of gastric fluids and
disturb the muscular action by which the
stomach "churns," so to speak, its contents,
that every portion may receive its due admix-
ture of digestive material. This disturbance
of muscular action is seen at its highest in
vomiting, by which the offending substance is
elected summarily, together with all the con-
tents of the organ.
Now, it is the best not to over reat, and it is
the best to eat simple food, with rs little ex-
cess of seasoning or of Objectionable elements,
as possible. But under all circumstances it is
both wrong and dangerous to give refusal to
natures call for natures remedy in such cases.
Plenty of drink is what is demanded, and
free supply of fluids must be given, if serious
consequences are to be avoided.
The consequences of refusal are not all i'm
Immediate The irritation from lack OF drink,
as we'll as that from improper drinks, becomes
in time chronic, passing to Inflammation, the
result of which is dyspepsia, the sypmtom
of which is pain. Then for want Of dilutent
fluid by which offending soluble substances
are quickly removed, these often assume in