The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1891-02-19
HEALTH BINTS
For Old and Young.
BY FELIX l. OSWALD, VI. D.,
Author OF Physical Education"; Household
Rsmedes": The Bible OF Nature. |" etc
CHAPTER CT.
wINrEE coNrLAINTs-fcontinnedl.

/ to personal habits or 20 objective influences
| A committee Of the most learned physicians on
| earth might draw up list Of wholesome, di-
| gestible articles Of food and drink, and vet by
eating those things in excessive quantities, or
! at unreasonable hours a man might contract
frst-class case of dyspepsia.
On the other hand, there are substances in
tTinsically so unwhOlesome that they cannot
be well digested under any circumstances even
in moderate quantities IudigcstiOns contracted
In Winter time may generally be ascribed TO
the last-uamed class OF causes. Our sedcntary
mode of Winter life is now and then apt to
result in constipation, but that tendency would
be more than eounteracted by the powerful
peptic stimulus Of cold air, if it were not for
the indigestible quality Of large part Of our
Winter diet. In preserving food, the old
fashioned drying process is, in that respect
decidedly preferable. Sun-dried apples can be
cooked into cOmpOts almost as digestible "a
fresh. ripe fruit. while spiced fruit-prcserves do
not agree with three ont Of five persons. On
the Texas border the quality Of Mexican dried
breef is a topic Of standing jokes. The cow
boys have a tradition of q Mexican teamster
who burst his gear in pulling through a muddy
river bottom, but saved himself by spIicingAhi3
chains with a few yards Of "ierlsed meat.
They also speak Of wolves being caught by
swapping at a bundle Of Greaser bull-beef and
being unable 10 eZtTicate their teeth from the
tough fiber Of the bait; but / doubt if the
much-slandcred Wand causes the tenth part "a
many indigestiOEs as our canned and salted
meats An hours boiling will mitigate the
tOughnes5 Of the dryest sample Of meat sold
by the yard" aud even uncOOked thin slices Of
came SCccH can be utilized by the subtle chem
istry OF the human stomach, while salt-beef
distresses all but tho most potent digestive
organs, and is, in fact, often refused by fam
ished beasts Of prey that woald consider a
bundle OF jerked meat blest bonanza. Salt pork
is even moro Objectionable and if it ia true
that the early ancestors Of the ancient Greeks
eked ont an existence by herding swine, it is
no wonder that they considered the Goddess
Minerva their principal national benefactress
for teaching them the culture Of the olive
tree. Millions Of Mahometans would probably
rather starye than appease their hunger with
salt bacon our Western farmers learn 10 prefer
1t 10 dry cOrnbread, but can hardly ever learn
TO digest it as they would digest the toughest
wild-bOar steaks Of their Saxon ancestors A
writer on Florida goes so far as 70 aseribe the
moral and physical shortcomings Of the South
Florida Crackers" to their hOg-aud hominy
diet, and suggests that an epidemic hog.ehoIera
and large advance in the price Of salt would
redeem the squatter population Of the Flower
State.
Canned meat often initiates the appearance
OF the fresh article in a way highly creditable
To the ingenuity Of the manufacturers: but the
htOuldcu cannot DC UecelVeQ IN Lhat way, ana a
single egg per day would have a greater nutri-
tive value than dollars worth Of spiced sliced,
or deviled" can Viands. The chemical ad-
mixtures used to prevent the decay Of pre-
served animal substances somehow tend also 10
prevent, or at least to greatly hinder, the work
Of digestion.
A similar objection applies to many kinds Of
preserved vegetables. Take the most whole
some OF all, beans and peas yeritable anti
dyspepsia specifics in their fresh state. Taken
together, they are put up in cans by the patent
methods Of at least hundred different plans,
some OF them as ingenious as any device in
modern chemistry. The six or seven different
kinds Of canned baked beans" for instance
are certainly, in some respects, triumphs Of
foOd-preserving skill. Beans, with small slices
OF meat, etc, ready cooked in n way 20 be avail
able for use at a Minutes notice in railway
ears or tourists camps, are warranted 20 keep
In any climate, and would remain unchanged
Tor years on the shelves Of the provision
dealer But strange 10 say. while fresh-eoOked
beans relieve close stools almost effectually
as laxative drugs, most kinds Of canned baked
beans have rather an opposite tendency, and are
apt TO cause indigestiOns that can be cOunteract-
ed only by a change to fresh food. The raw ma
terial Of such preserves has nearly always been
selected from the very best in the market, and
tho difference In the hygienic result Is, no doubt
due TO the influence Of the preserving medium
the chemicals that enable the manufacturers
10 warrant the keeping quality Of their pro-
visions.
In North America the use Of lee for preserv-
ing purposes has probably increased a hundred
fold within the last 40 years. Fruits and Vege-
tables, which used to be scarce after October
are now kept in refrigerating vaults in guam
titles that secure an abundant supply at the
most unexpected times Of the year, the sudden
appearance of ripe pears and green peans at
H. r
die OF January, being nowadays no unusual
phenomenon in our big cities. Many of those
dainties have peculiar oH-eOlor appearance,
and have been deered as specially unwhOe-
some, being $50 unnatural at such seasons of
the year."
A little washing and parboiling would, how
ever, remove any danger from possible taint
OF mlldew, and a far worse cause of bowel com
plant Is the adulteratiOu OF food an evil
which has attained Outrageous proportions in
many parts of Europe and east America
Lard, mustard. vinegar and maple sirup are
mixed with spurious and often absolutely in
digestibe substances, and i hesitate to sicllen
my readers by mentioning the abOminable sur
TOgates which the analyst Of our health police
has detected in samples of sO-called butter.
In one pound of black ten an expert might
often detect dozen different admixtuFs, OF
which aloe leaves and indigo are not the worst;
but all such things arc tTifes compared with
the infamous authorizations of the milk that
forms a chief article Of diet Of millions Of
American city children. The fraud is often so
clumsy that its impudence would pass compre-
heusi0n If the easy-gOing tolerance of the
average American food consumer had any
limits whatever. Tho same pateriamilias who
would feel incensed at the discovery Of c0un-
terfeit dime will merely shrug his shoulders
at his ehild's complaints about the insipid or
positively repulsive taste of an article of daily
food. City milk cannot be expected to be
frst-elass," would probably be bis only CON-
ment, though the ehalky appearance of the
wretched compound ought 70 suggest n su5-
piciOn which could be verified by very simple
tests. There milk vendors who own no
cows at all, and manufacture the contents of
their cans from chalk Sleeps brains, water and
a little whey or cUrds, mixed with perhaps one
fifth Of quasi genuine milk. bought at a cheap
swill dairy. The only parallel is the manu-
faeture of hOney-eombs from stearin and glu-
cose, and q person who, like the patriarchs of
old, would revel in milk and honey, might
nowadays risk TO die Of indigestion before the
end of year
ITO Be contiaued.l