The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1881-01-27
HOW TO LIVE IN WINTER.

Timely Words taken from the Lips OF d.
Willard Parker. an Eminent Physician Of
New York Good Food Pure Air and Person
al Cleanliness Demanded.
The New York Herald has long and
interesting conversation with DR.. Willard
Parker, a patriarch of the New York Acad-
envy Of Medicine, vigorous and clear headed
at the age of so. When asked, "How shall
the public resist the sharp changes of tenn
perature in this variable winter weather."
DR.. Parker answered, Keep up an equilib-
rum of the circulation and dress accord
ing to the temperature" Omitting portion
of the intervie relating to things in New
York, not of general interest, the Doctor
made an earnest plea for personal cleanli-
ness, and went on to say:
This instrument bedy-is constantly
wasting and repairing; the operation OF re-
pair and waste is continuous, and in order
to accomplish this end the body is occupied
in making blood, and may therefore be de-
nominated blood making machine. The
blood will be either good or bad according
as the material or food is good or bad
The character of blood made depends on the
kind of food taken. In this country, as
rule, too much meat is eaten; meat once a
day is sufficient, especially for brain work.
ers. The waste matter from meat diet is
eliminated through the kidneys. Too much
labor thrown upon those organs produces
disease. An overloaded stomach is unfavor-
able to active brain work. Man is like an
engine with two service pipes, one for the
brain and one for the body, and no man
has the requisite force to work both Mt once.
WHAT TO EAT.
LET us follow the dictates of NATURE"
the Doctor replied. I'VE are furnished with
milk to start with as we enter the world.
Had meat been the best diet we should have
been born with beefsteaks in our hands.
But we are given milk. Milk and blood are
nearer alike than any other two fluids; a
large proportion Of each is water. After
milk, breadstutfs and vegetables are the
best diet, and in warm climates fruit. Then
meats. Sugar and fat go into the body not
so much to nourish it as to be fuel to give
it warmth. Meat contains much nitrogen
Gus matter, and if We eat to much of it there
will be, as have already said, more than
the kidneys can throw off. 1t is question
whether Bright's disease is not to some ex-
tent attributable to the undue quantity of
meat that is eaten in this country. The blood
should be made of material suited to the oe-
cupation. Men working in the woods can
throw off anything"
eve are taught moderation in all things.
There should be moderation in eating,
moderation in drinking. And here come
to the vexed question of temperance in the
use of beverages
WHAT NOT TO DRINK.
Are you teetotaller, Doctor?'
Il am and always have been temperance
man; but belong to no temperance soci-
or T hovo Fort bo foo foil
Some men are SO constituted that they
must be total abstainers. There are four
classes: The first are the teetotallers,
among whom are persons who must drink
immoderately if they drink at all. These
inherit from their ancestors somewhere in
the past taste for alcoholic liquors. De-
pend upon it, some one of their ancestors
was an immoderate drinker. Such unfortu-
nate subjects Of hereditary faint must
mind you, sir, 1 say must-abstain abso-
lutely. Secondly, there is class of tenn
perate users who take a glass of wine or so
at dinner, and who, as rule, limit their
ton society limit theirs. These persons
are temperate. The third class is made up
largely of young men Of good purposes and
social feelings, who are aiming high, and
who drink unguardedly and frequently I'M
til they create al appetite. They too often
fall into the fourth class-namely, the
drunkards, and if they do not stop in time
they inevitably become drunkards. It is
question of time only, and from the time of
their fall to confirmed drunkenness down to
the Potter's field is a rapid and fearful de-
scent.
"A limited quantity of spirits at the
principal meal, especially for persons ad-
vanced in life OF of weak digestion, may aid
~, no ,1,7cf ~ no
digestion in feeble and aged persons; but
only the feeble OF the aged require such
stimulus. The young and vigorous do not
need it, and are better off without it. Mid
die aged persons may, perhaps, drink little
spirit with their meals without danger; but
they cannot safely make it beverage. In
small quantities alcoholic drinks stimulate,
and if not enough is taken to coagulate the
pepsin and the albumen in the food they
promote digestion in proper cases, and thus
help to prepair the system. But whenever
more alcoholic liquor is taken into the stom-
ach with the food than is demanded
it passes into the circulation, dis
turbs the action Of the heart, fushes
the face and confuses the brain.
When so much fermented or distilled liquor
is taken into the system that the functions
Of the organism are disturbed positive harm
is done-the system has been so far poison
ed. An irritation has been set up instead
of the desired healthful stimulation of the
stomach"
BRIGHT's DISEASE.
Have any practitioners regarded alcohol
as a kind Of food?" the Herald reporter
inquired.
"Their opinions" DR.. Parker replied,
shave been theoretical and, it seems to me,
not borne out by facts. They have viewed
alcohol as kind of respiratory food, whose
use is to develop more animal heat and thus
eliminate more carbonic acid. This con-
clusion is not sustained by observation and
experiment. Food is that which renairs