Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-06-29
DIET AND HEALTH.
A Man Could Live Hardly Longer Than
Week on Asparagus Alone

A Man Could Live Hardly Longer Ihan
Week on Asparagus Alone.
Fspecial interest attaches TO DR. Sails
bury's food experiments The half dozen
sturdy fellows whom he put on diet OF
baked beans and coffee exclusively, all
showed symptoms of locomotor ataxla,
or progressive paralysis, on the tenth
dav, and by the sixteenth day not one OF
them could walk straight without sup
port; all had chronic diarrhea, heart
palpitation and oppressed breathing.
Four hearty, well men were put on
oatmeal porridge-seasoned with butter,
pepper and salt-with a pint OF coffee
containing sugar and milk at each meal.
Constipation, hatulence, headache and
dizziness were affecting them all on the
eighth day. In two days more these con-
ditions had become violent; eXertion pro-
duced heart palpitation, and they were
full of wandering pains, with prlckllng
in feet and hands.
These disorders grew more intense and
painful-with neuralgia induced in three
cases-until from the twenty-third to the
twenty-ffth day, when diarrhea set in,
and the record is full of such entries as
eyes wild, hearingjmpaired, head con-
fused, memery poor, legs and feet mum b,
quite deaf and hstless, heart palpitates
: and very irregular" up to the thlrtleth
day, when it was deemed imprudentand
unsafe to carry the experiments further
and in four days more, by meat diet
D and hot water, the men were restored t1
{ normal health. 1t may be well to OBJ
/ serve here that in all cases men expert
n mented upon were as thoroughly anC
=, quickly cured of their abnormal condl
tons by those means.
. Violent chronic diarrhea, such as oftel
/ prevails in armies and is known a
g "camp diarrhea, was produced in thre
e hearty, strong men by feeding them ex
II clusively upon army biscuit in from nine
Il teen to twenty-one days-a spell Of con
A, stipation preceding-and MICROSCOPE
\. examination proved that they were litei
), ally filled with yeast germs. Each ha
I. marked symptoms of locomotor ataxi
u and partly lost the use of his lowe
:. y limbs.
ID Bread, rice, wheaton grits, hominy
| sdBO, UdplOCd anu pOboOONo "NAS N"~N :
N to four or six men at time for perloc
ii of from forty to forty-five days befol
e, serious diseases and symptoms were pr
nc duced. Green peas and string bea1
= ranked next in point of alimentary quail
:, ties. Green corn, turnips, beets an
" squash quickly produced unpleasant ar
II grave arrangements, but of all veg
tables asparagus was found most inJul
is GUS when lived upon alone. Seven da.
be is about as long as it would be safe
an subsist on this plant, owing to the effe
se upon the kidneys.
al Patients have lived exclusively on be
- and mutton for from three to four veal
~ Still, if one sticks to them too long tn
w are liable to become monotonous, Al
OF may cause "meat dyspepsia" which
ut dangerous. People who live exclusive
les on vegetable food, as the Hindoos, 9
pa enabled to do. so by inherited organ
in, tendencies. Their stomachs are OF lit
we or no use to them. The pyloric val
being permanently paralyzed renal
open, so that vegetable matter pas
directly intothe proper. field OF its dig
rion.-Ohio State Journal, a. =