The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-06-22
C0MMON-sRNsF DIATETICs.

and tea and other cheering" slim
ulants, may be quite suitable fol
some; and, moderately used, quite
wholesome. But in drinking. as ir
eating, people act as if without in
telligence, like herds; forgetting
that the cattle have one beverage
only, and but limited diversity o1
food, and so need small discrimin.
alton in respect Of "what is put be.
fore them" Men and women who
are reckoned as omnivora in food
and drink, whose physical and
nervous states are always mobile,
and are also diverse in each indi-
vidual from all the rest, yet follow
the conventionalities in food, with
little variation and with even less
intelligence. They seldom seek to
take the quantity and kind alone,
and at such times as may be good
for them; indeed, they hardly ever
have discovered what is good or
what is bad for each peculiar tenn
perament. The question of the use
or abuse Of stimulating drinks has
been too much a question Of some
new, Fictitious principle" or other !;
which is so insisted on by its sup
porters as to be made a public nui-
sance. That intoxicants are used
to great excess is true enough; but
non-intoxicants as they are called,
like tea and coffee, are possibly as
often used injuriously. There is
in human nature infinite diversity
of power and endurance in the gen.
eral and nervous energy, and in di-
gestion and assimilation; and a
man of high-strung nervous tenn
permanent, hearing a temperance Or
ator describing the effects Of alco-
hol, might cap it all by similar ef-
fects of tea, "the cup that cheers,
and not inebriates." Even the fsc-
ulty seldom appear to recognize
the injurious results of this refresh
ing beverage. The poet Cowper
seems to have been it's slave and
victim. Coleridge abused its use,
and took to laudanum. The ENG
lish Opium Eater" we'll describes
its bad result. The Chinese as
nation are tea-drinkers, and addict
ed to the other subtle drug. The
alienation of excitement and de-
preston in the votaries of tea is
evidence Of its unsuitability for
many people as a stimulant. Mel
ancholia and religious mania are
often to be traced TO its habitual
use. The question of the use of
any kind of food, stimulating or
otherwise, is entirely personal. To
say that because one man is injured
by excess another man should per-
fectly abstain is most absurd.
Probably more men are injured by
excessive eating than by excess in
alcohol; and are we therefore bound
for the encouragement and aid of
those who need conversion from
excess, to cease to eat at all of things
we'll favored? To say that those
who are not injured should abstain
is but to make law without the
due preamble. Men vary, not from
one another only, but they differ
from themselves in different cir
and at various periods
of life. There is no absolute rule,
respecting any food or drink, for
all men; one man is not to be con-
trolled by other men in his entirely
and strictly personal affairs, but
each man is to be "fully persuaded
in his own mind" Each mind,
however, should be open to persua-
sion, and persuasion in the ques-
ton of habitual food should be
distinctly of an experimental sort.
Each man is provided with intelli-
gence for his own preservation, but
the pity is that men neglect this |
precious gift of individual mind in
their peculiar concerns. They do
as others do. They eat and drink
with freedom, while they are so
young and active that the system
overcomes the injurious attack but
IS men advance a little further into
life. and are not quite SO agile, then
begin the troubles that tea, coffee,
alcohol and many kinds of even
simple food and stimulants and
inaict upon the care
ess and the inconsiderate, as we'll
IS upon the Incorporate and inn
moderate consumer. Each man
should discover for himself what,
and how much and when to eat and |