The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-09-28
FRUIT IN HOT WEATHER.
Some People Cannot Eat Certain Kinds Of
Fruits and Berries.

FRUITS ana Berries.
Danger lurketh in all that's fair and
beauteous, from woman, lovely woman,
to fresh and wholesome-looking box
of Strawberries lying on the counter in
q grocery.
This is not the despairing cry of a
misanthrope, but a fact too true. 1t is
common talk that hives, with all their
attendants, strawberry rash, and indi-
gestion, are due to this red and juicy
berry. There are other fruits which
are eaten of very heartily during the
hot weather, and which are neverthe-
less quite bad in their effects on many
people. What is sauce for the goose is
in the case of fruits decidedly not sauce
for the gander
During the summer months meats
are pretty generally abandoned as food
for vegeta bles of all kinds. the suppo-
sition being that the latter are less
heating and heavy as food than flesh
of animals or birds. This in itself is
mistaken idea, as many of the vegeta-
bles contain more heating material
than a small amount of flesh, which
would satisfy the appetite. But most
people will advocate a vegetable diet
for hot weather. The summer fruits
are, however, looked upon by many
people as very dangerous. For this
there is considerable reason based on
solid fact. The sight of a strawberry
will alone cause a nausea in many peo-
pie, and sickness, the breaking out of
a rash, rheumatism, etc, result from
eating the fruit.
Pineapples are forbidden by nature
to many people who can eat strawber-
ries with impunity. A single piece of
the pine will cause the tongue of such
people to swell up, the mouth to burn
and become parclied, and the work of
the salivary glands is impaired. Ba-
nanas, very popular fruit all the year
round, but the cheapness of which in
summer makes it the most freely eaten
of all fruits, are condemned out and
out by many leading physicians. They
claim that eaten raw it is more harm
full than the cholera breeding cucum-
Der, and that fried or cooked it is ut
terly worthless as food.
These facts are known, by report at
any rate, to many people, and re-
porter recently called on DR.. F.
c. Curtiss to get the facts au-
thenticated. The doctor said that in
the first place the fruit acids" as
they are called, can scarcely be consid-
cred as such from the fact that they
are of course organic, and therefore
easily split and assimilated with other
food in the alimentary canal. 81 con-
slider fruits, eaten in moderation of
course, a very desirable article of food.
The berries are for the most part alb
solutely harmless. The strawberry af-
fects some people very badly, but l
think that it is not the juice or the
acid of this berry, but the seeds, which
are so indigestible.
"Many varieties of the fruit are COW
cred completely with small, pointed,
yellow and very hard seeds. From
these the whole trouble arises. They
do not digest, but lie in the stomach
and cause great deal of trouble there
and in the bowels The effects from
eating them are, believe, largely of a
nervous order and due to the idiosyn-
crasies of the individual and not wholly
assignable to the fruit. l think there
can be nothing in the acids that would
create such trouble, for when taken as
in drinks these effects do not appear.
The aclSberry is said to be constipat-
ing, but there is little or no ground for
the statement. The root of the black
berry plant contains astringent mat
ter, which. of course, would affect the
bowels, but the berries do not, be-
lieve. The larger varieties of these
berries are very healthful if they are
really ripe. When green the interior
is hard and solid, although the outside
may be black and attractive in appear
ance. This hard flbrous center is very
indigestible, and should never be eaten.
"Pineapples are said to hurt the
mouths of some people. l think that
this is not from the juice, which is
wholesome enough ordinarily, but is
due to the harsh, fbrous and rough
nature of the fruit, which scrapes and
initiates the tongue and mouth. The
poorer the pineapple the more trouble
from eating it. A ripe banana, think,
is good eating. 1t is peculiar in this
that it is as good in Albany as in
Florida. The trouble that comes from
eating them is often because they are
too green. Here too the fibrous in
terror of the skin is large factor in
the disorders which arise from eating
them. The layer of thick, long strips
within the outer skin and partly add
herring to the banana itself is what is
indigestible. not the smooth fruit
Scraping it with knife carefully after
taking off the rind will remove this
trouble"
Speaking of cooling drinks he said
that lemonade was very good in hot
weather. 1t cools the mouth and throat,
and by acting on the salivary glands
keeps the throat moist and healthy.
The acid of the lemon he thought es-
pecially good, only it need not be so
strong as to affect the teeth. IAN acid
state of the stomach is coming to be
recognized as a very good state. 1t
acts as a preventative of cholera, for
the germs are killed and eaten up by
the acid. / would not recommend eat
ing a whole lemon undiluted. for that