The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-08-30
Frnif Bal snmmer
IFrom the pri1an ,1edical journal


| Lightness is the first essential alik
in the food and drink taken in warn
weather. There is then less work t
| be done, less waste of tissue, less nee(
of the prominently muscle-formlne
and heat-producing substances mea
and bread; and fruit, as being boil
palatable and easily obtainable, /:
much in use. Its advantages are thai
it provides a SeaSOnable change oi
diet, light and wholesome, if wei
chosen, and a palatable tonic ant
Stimulant of digestion with ap
perient properties. There are few
who cannot enjoy it in one
form or another. For diabetes, the
only least desirable kinds, as certain
nuts and almonds, are available, all
others, as containing sugar, being for.
hidden. Sufferers from acid dyspepsia
must select carefully, and limit their
consumption to the least irritating =
few Strawberries or a few grapes.
DiarrhRa and dysentery preclude the
use of all fruit. On the other hand,
for const;pated persons it is sometimes
the only reliable remedy which they
can use continuously with comfort
it is also of benefit in venal diseases.
by its action on the bowels.
Atomic persons generally take it well,
and feel the better for its digestive
property. Those in normal health
may eat almost any ripe fruit. The
bland varieties are the most whole
some and MISUNDERSTANDING.
apples, pears, grapes and gooSeberries.
The last named, however, with cIr-
rants and raspberries, are less whole
some than the others. Stone fruits are
apt to disagree with the stomach, but
the more watery, as peaches and large
plums, are better than the smaller
and drier, as apricots and damsons.
The pulp of oranges renders them
heavy Among other foreign fruits
bananas are wholesome. Dried
fruits, and the skin of
fruits in general, are indigesti-
bic. Nuts, the edible part of which
is really the seed, contain much albu-
men and some fat in a condensed
form, and are particularly difficult of
digestion. Fruit may be taken with a
meal or on an empty stomach. In the
former case it promotes digestion by
its gently irritating effect on the
mucous membrane of the stomach
and intestineS. If an aperient effect he
desired it had better be taken in the
morning before breakfast or between
meals, 4 sHcculent and pleas
antly acid variety is best for
both of these purposes, While it is also
a food. The quantitS of fruit which
should be taken depends on the
kind. If it belong to the bland nll-
tritious class, healthy person may
now and then partake of it as freely
as any other wholesome food; but he
will gain most benefit if he take only
a little, and take it regularly. The
same may he said of the invalid with
whom fruit agrees. Cooking removes
much OF the acidity from crude fruit
and renders it lighteras well as more
palatable. So treated, it is productive
of good and no harm but it is fun
damental principle that whatever
fruit is eaten unlocked must be fully
ripe, and not Oxarripe This may
sound trite. and, indeed, the prin-
ciple is commonly admitted; but
not, it would seem, by all, for
we still find people, and not few,
who will themselves deliberately
take, and, worse, will give to their
children, green gooseberries, green
apples, etc, the very hardness of
which, apart from their acid pungency,
suggests their unfitness for digestion.
Such people use as food an acid irri-
tant poison, whose necessary action is
to cause excessive intestinal secretion.
with more or less of inflam-
nation. Hence arises diarrh9a.
On the other hand, fruit which is
overripe, in which fermentation has
begun, is a frequent cause of this dis
order and equally to be avoided, and
perhaps also more difficult to avoid
because the insidious beginning is not
easily recognized. 1t should never be
forgotten by any who incline to fol-
low the season in their feeding, that
the want OF such precautions as the
above may produce that dysinteric
form of diarrhea. British cholera"
which is occasionally as rapidly fatal
as the dreaded Asiatio type of that