West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-10-29
TOLLYA
EFFECTS or KNOWING TOO MUCH
CONCERNING DlETETlCS.

Butter, Cheese and vinegar Coffee,
Sugar and sIik Water, vino and
Beer-And Even the Air We Breathe
All Are Dangerously Fraudulent.
More people derive pleasure from eating
and shrinking than from any other source.
Persons in all conditions OF life think aud
talk about the Joys OF the table But X
a man wishes TO thoroughly enjoy good
meal IL IS certainly ~folly to be wise" II
he knows anything about chemistry, II
he has looked through a magnifying-glass,
II he has studied the reports OF the differ
ent boards OF health. and is n reader Of
the various journals devoted 10 dietetics
and adulteration, the chances are that he
Will have very poor appetite for the most
costly feast that can be prepared AZ
fast as the various dis hes are brought on
he falls TO thinking Of what he has read
OF their composition and preparation.
He knows, or at least he thinks he
knows, that the substance on the butter
plate IS extracted from beef suet and
colored with an extract of annotto. He
Is suspicious that the cheese is a villain
Gus compound Of the curd OF skinned
milk and "doctored" lard lie Is
quite certain there is sulphuric acid and
living cells in the vinegar he puts on his
lettuce, and IS equally confident that the
olive oil was extracted from cotton seed.
lie has good reasons for believing that
the diminutive fish known as sardines
are nothing bVt "baby herrings," caught
by Maine fishermen, whose honest indus
try Mr.. Blaine is trying TO protect He
thinks the beverage known as coffee is
dec )ction OF chicory, that the sugar he
puts in 1t is glucose, and that the milk
he adds is largely made up OF chalk and
water. This water nc knows to be fear
fully impure, containing all manner OF
organic and inorganic, living and dead,
substances. He is fearful that il con
tains the germs of typhoid fever or con.
sumption. lie has been informed that
there arc half n dozen poisons in every
kind OF sauce, that every kind OF canned
vegetable is unwholesome, and that sew
eral death-prOducing varieties of fungus
are attached to most fresh fruits. He has
also read that all the dried uits brought
from countries on the Mediterranean sea
are liable TO contain cholera germs.
DANGER ~ THE DRINKS.
OF the wine, brandy, and beer on the
table he has still greater fear lie has
read that half the wines in the market
are made OF rhubarb or unmark etable
raisins, that tie liquors are clarified by
means OF il5h-glue and colored with log
wood or cochineal lie has recently seen
an account of how champagne is made in
| New York out of stale Jersey cider and
carbonate of soda at a cost of about
cents per quart bottle. Brandy he has
learned, is made from crude alcohol, dye
stuffs, and havoring extracts. At one
/ time he wondered how France produced
/ 30 much brandy every year when the
! grape crop was failure half the time;
! now he knows how II Is done. Lately he
| has been reading up" about beer lie
| has learned that hops and barley malt do
| not necessarily enter into its composition,
| but that a pretty good article, as beer
! goes in this country, can be made OF
! glucose, licorice, glycerine, gelatine,
| aloes, salicyiic or tartaric acid, bicarbon-
/ ate of soda, and cucculus Indicus Ice-
water he knows is harmful, so he de-
clines all manner of drinks and eats very
! sparingly, rejecting everything but the
most simple kinds OF food. He derives
| less pleasure from n banquet for which
the charge is SO per plate than the I'M
scientific rustic does from meal OF
baked beans, corn dodgers, and hard
! cider. In short, as he prepares to leave
the table he takes n glass of mineral
water with a view Of preventing any evil
effects from the substances he has taken
/ into his stomach.
The person who "keeps abreast of the
age in regard 10 medical and scientific
matters, has learned that the air he
breathes is full of all manner Of gaseous,
vaporous and solid substances that are
dangerous If not fatal when taken int
the lungs. II he has read Tyndall on
atmospheric dust, Liebig on poisonous
gases and vapors in the air, and Koch
/ and Pasteur on the germ theory of dis
eases, he shudder5 every time he takes o
long breath. He has no assurance that
the air he has inhaled will assist in the
| publication of his blood Indeed, he has
| good reasons for believing that he has
taken into his system grit that viii irri-
! tate the interior surface of his lungs,
gases that will poison his blood and the
/ germs OF cholera, yellow fever and con-
| sumption The folly Of being wise, if
one wishes to be happy is shown in
/ almost everything from which our simple
| ancestors derived the greatest pleas ure.-
| Chicago Times.