The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1880-07-22
Shall We Bolt Our F0Odl

be to digestion. The food must be
thoroughly chewed, they tell US, in order
to mix It thoroughly with the saliva, the
first OF the fluids essential to its assimila-
ton, and to prepare it for being acted
upon in the stomach by the gastric juice,
the second of those fluids. The more
perfectly it is subdivided, the greater sur
face it exposes to the action OF the gastric
juice, and the more rapidlyit will, there
fore, be dissolved and reduced to proper
condition for the next stage Of the diges-
tive process. Every school boy has
learned this in his textbook Of physiol-
ogy, and it seems so reasonable on the
face Of it that we need not wonder at its
having been universally accepted as a
hygenic axiom.
But, as we have before said in the
Journal, there is no scientific proposition
so automatic or self-evident that it may
not be disputed nowadays, Dirt has
been defended by learned Dutchmen, and
even foul air has its champions. The
arguments in favor Of drinking ditch
water and breathing a vitiated atmos-
phere are, however, less plausible than
those by which fast eating has recently
been advocated as being more consistent
with the true philosophy Of digestion
than more deliberate feeding. The
thorough mastication which the latter in
wolves is declared TO be not only unneces-
sary, but positively injurious, interfering
with the work done i'll the stomach in
stead Of promoting it. DIR. William
Browning, who made some experiments
with dogs, in order to satisfy himself on
this point, says:
"If the meat before being fed to the
dog, was reduced to hash or cut into fine
pieces, the digestion was at best but
imperfect, considerable portion Of the
undigested or imperfectly digcsted meat
being found in the excreta. II, under the
same conditions, meat was fed to the dog
in large pieces, it was bolted at gulp,
with the result that little, if any, passed
through undigested; compared with the
result from the chopped meat, it could be
called aperfect digestion for the coarse
form as compared with decidedly i'm
perfect digestion for the fine form. So
far as simple experiment goes, this must
be pretty conclusive for the dog"
He reasons, and logically enough, that
the same ought to be true OF human
digestion:
"The rotary movements Of the con-
tents Of the stomach is to facilitate the
gastric juice, to bring the various par
ticles and Jumps Of the mass into contact
with it as it exudes from the stomach's
walls. II the material has come from
the mouth finely ground up, a considera-
bic portion goes over into the duodenum
before it has been properly acted upon;
but if it has come down i'll coarse humps,
these begin shortly to dissolve, passing
into n more or less fluid condition, and
this can be taken care Of with about the
same rapidity by the digestive apparatus
following. By this arrangement no por-
ton Of the food would be allowed to pass
from the stomach unprepared for the next
step in the digestive process. All por-
tons, then, even the finest tibers of meat
diet, must be acted on by the gastric
juice before passing on, and this pro
crosses best by slowly wearing off the
outside Of the muscles"
Prof. Ludwig has made some expert.
mcnts upon himself to test this theory,
eating coarsely divided meat at one tim,
and fine at another, and states that he
has not been able to detect any i'll effects
whatever from swallowing mouthfuls' as
large as he could conveniently manage
A French View Of America.
The Kosmos Of most Frenchmen lies
between Belgium and the Pyrenees the
Mediterranean and the English Channel.
When they attempted to describe any
thing beyond their own confines they
are very apt to blunder consummately Y.
They seldom get anything right off the
own soil OF tins country they nearly al
ways chronicle marvellous things-indeed,
however serious they may be, they very
rarely fail to be comical in dealing with
America. The latest unconscious humOr-
ist is Jules Saussa, who has published
romance-in double sense-entitled
the "Societe DIES Mouchards," the action
being laid in France, Italy, Zululand and
the United States He pays u delicate
compliment to this city by calling it the
rendezvous of all the scoundrels in En-
rope. One of his most striking persons
ages is Mrs. Pitt, aged eighty, remark
able for two fangs, like boar's, and an
Unsuitable appetite for what he calls te
todd, composed of much whisky, little
water, lemon and sugar. She keeps n
fashionable boarding school i'll Louisiana,
and drinks so freely every evening that .
she is carried to her room by muscular /
servant, especially employed for the pur-
pose. She is very fond Of certain Ma /
jor Dick, also q devotee of te tOdd who .
addressed her Sin true American fash .
ion, rs odd Mule and "Ancient Ro- .
mantle Brain" He constantly uses the
favorite oath of the country, "God me
damn" and when he is particularly af-
fectionate to Mrs. Dick sits down by her,
and puts his feet in her lap. A woman
here is always addressed, if married. as
Mistress" and, if single, as Miss
while n man is addressed rs "Master"
and "My Gentleman" A lady should,
in writing to one of the other sex call
him Honorable Sir" or RESPECTED
Gentleman and sign herself "Your de-
voted Suitor" or Your truly respectful
est" Saussa introduces us to two very
pretty Ohio girls, Jinifer and Betsey,
one of whom habitually rides wild horses
through her native town bare-hcaded,
and the other, DOMINIC trousers and
high boots, goes forth to hunt rattle
snakes. Most Americans carry, we are
informed, bowie-knife in their boots,
and the rich Southerners are always nc
by two negroes to fan them.
the custom of going
armed, the average American is not ne
cessarily very fierce, and there are ma
lives who, 80 far as known, have never
killed single man. Different habits
characterize different States. In Mime
sofa, for example, young ladies' of posi-
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