Evening capital., 1888-06-06
eooD ADvcg AeouT eATINe.
Doctors Smashing Old Time superstitlons
About Different Kinds OF Food.

About Different Kinds OF Food.
Some recent remarks by DR.. James G.
White. professor OF dermatology in Har-
ward university. are directly in line with
an article published only q few days ago
in these columns ON the subject Of sensi-
Bile eating There is. OF course. no sub
iect concerning which people need infor.
nation more than they do about eating.
and there are very few subjects on which
more ridiculous notions are extant. Zone
mans meat Is another mans poison" Is
an old and true saying. yet great ma
iority of mankind have ideas of diet that
are formed from the experience OF other
people, and these ideas are very commonly
absurd. DIR. White disposes of some of
these notions. by the authoritative utter
ance of thorough scientist.
For example. he touches on the old
wives fable that butter In liberal Quanti-
ties win cause children's faces to break
out with "lntter sores. He declares,
what intelligent people have long known,
that good butter uncooked Is perfectly
harmless food so far as the skin is con-
cerned. and he might have gone much
farther, for the limitation was unneces-
sary. He says. however. that the notion
alluded to probably came from the fact
otherwise indigestible may have dis
turbed the stomach and produced impure
blood in some cases 1t Is more likely to
have come from the efforts Of parents of
limited means to curb their children's in
diligence in an expensive dainty. 1t Is
certain that much of the prejudice against
candy came from this particular cause
though with candy. as with butter, the
prejudice is entirely justifable in refer
ence to adulterated and impure grades.
Nothing is more common than to hear
parents tell their children that eating
candy will ruin their teeth. but 1t is most
likely to be an utterance dictated by
economy At all events. no educated
dentist will indorse the statement.
The notion that buckwheat cakes and
oatmeal are productive of skin diseases Is
also attacked and pretty thoroughly de-
molished by Professor White, as well as
that absurdity about tomatoes which was
started by Dio Lewis a generation or so
ago. He said that tomatoes were pro
ductive of cancer, and that they loosened
and destroyed the teeth, DR.. White de-
clares tomatoes and oatmeal to be harm
less and valuable foods. and points at the
simple fact that the only danger IN eat
ing buckwheat lies in the fact that
it is apt to be served up hot in the form
of improperly cooked cakes. These may,
and are very likely to. upset the diges.
ton. IIe declares, moreover. that good
digestion and healthy appetite viii take
care Of the skin so far as the effects of
food are concerned. and that it matters
little what kind of food is used so long as
it is pure. of good quality and properly
prepared. The healthy stomach will turn
it into good blood This, it will be seen,
is similar utterance to that of DR.. Aus
tin Flint. recently quoted. only that DR.
White. treating as he did on the skin only,
did not make so sweeping a statement as
DR. Flint. who said: Eat what you like.
when you like. and eat as much as You
like. You may get gout that way, but
not dyspepsia. New York Mail and Ex-
nress