Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1881-06-16
from Harper's Heek''y)
Eating Too Much.


social evil than drunkenness. This may
appear an exaggerated as tits undoubt-
eddy startling assertion, but it l.
susceptible Of proof; and the fact is one
hieh ought IN the interest Of She pub
lie happiness and prosperity, TO be
more generally recognized than il now
IS. E35
Much Of The food We ca. is eaten 10
waste The absolute quantity of food
approp rated by the organism is sar-
IN ingly small as compared with the
antity of food rejected. Making
the argest allowance for the difference
between the actual bulk of what we eat
and the measure OF its nouriShing pro-
perties, il will be found that the aver
age feeder consumes an aggregate guam
titv greatly in excess of what he re-
nuires. The FIRST cause of this waste is
DO lbtless the needlessly Eky foi m of
the foods on which we chiefly rely. In
the endeaEor soprocure what IS termed
light alifRent we squaRder the elements
of nntriment. Ii is deemed a triumph Of
the psrveyOr's skill 10 provide the pub
lie with forms OF nutriment Of which
much can be consumed with pmpunity.
No provider has yet achieved or Sc
piously attempted the feat OF supplying
us with food so coDce Btrated that the
wants Of the body can be met with the
smallest demand on the digestive and
the assimTPatfvc powers of the organ
ism. Because man can take a great
deal into his stomach, it is assumed that
he ought to do so, and the tendency OF
modern enterprise in the matter of food
is to extend rather than to diminish the
total bulk Of the material by which the
losses Of the organism fU heat Produc.
ton and exercise are 10 be compensa-
ted. Ifii were otherwise, the net re.
suit would DOT be very different, or, the
habit of lie being TO live TO eat rather
than to eat to live, If nutriment were
furnished in very compact form and
bulk, the glutton would call the boon
chiefly as adordiDg increased facilities
for the indulgence of his appetite.
There is, however, another cause OF
the practice of excess, Which is per-
haps even more potent. We do not cal
by any rule of judgment, but in obe-
dience TO a craving which is commonly
misinterpreted. When a man is hun
CRY, he eats until hts hunger is ap-
peased. Now. in the nature of things,
This can not be until he has overloaded
his stomach. The food is not digested
and aSsimilated the instant it is eaten:
an interval must elapse between the
taking of material containing the ele-
ments ofnutrition, and the application
Of these elements to their destined pur-
pose. As matter Of fact, probably
little Of the food taken a. meal is APP
proprlatcd by the organism until an
hour or more after IT is consumed. The
sense of repIetion therefore is not, in
any physiological sense, the result Of
nourishmcnt, but the crude physical ef-
feet Of filling the gastric organ, and set
ting the processes Of digestion in oper-
alton Hence il must be obvious that
the sense OF safety winch warns
an eater to desist from the pleasures Of
The table affords no measure Of the ex-
tent TO which he has provided for the
actual wants of his system. II he con-
sumed only twentieth part OF his ord-
nary meal, and waited an hour, proba-
bly, he would discover that he was quite
as well fed as be is after eating as much
as his stomach will hold, and desisting
only when the mechanical effects Of
loading the apparatus Of digestion with
material became announcement. II mast
not be assumed, because we habituate
ourselves TO eat TO repletio@, and do not
commonly suffer severely IN conse-
quence OF this clumsy mode OF proce-
dure, that we are not guilty Of waste
Nature has provided the organism with
the power OF rejecting what il does not
require, and the large proportionate
waste of ordinary life is the witness at
once TO The need and efficiency of the
safely-ysve with which the sy stem has
been furnished; but it is at the same
time perpetual testimony TO the crude
and unscientific way in which we mis-
understand our actual needs and abuse
our appetites.
The great majority Of the ills which
affect Ns and the diseases from which
We suffer, causing US pains and shorten
ing our lives, ase .he ssss.s Of the excess
we practice 10 feeding. Gout, rheuma-
tism, the various forms OF indigestion,
and the many known and recognized
results Of excessive or disorderly feed. .
ing are only the coarser and more EVIL
dent consequences OF overlooking. TN
DERIVING these aud nnDoaiced by the
victim OF this common eros are the
mullftudinous forms Of organic disease
and disturbance. In short, the human
body encounters more risks in its daily
struggle TO live and grow and discharge
its functions under the burden of food
forced upon il than IL runs by exposure
to the contingent danger OF injection;
while, as matter of fact. nearly all The
morbid poisons that assaiI II from with
out are either generated from or by the
decomposition of food, or conveyed into
the system under one Of its guises. We
give The machinery Of lie an almost
supernatural task 10 reject the harmful
substances imposed on IT, and then COM