Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1893-07-27
rs DYSPEPSIA A MYTH
A DISEASE NOBODY SEEMS ABLE TO
DEFINE OR LOCATE.

Goodness or Twenty Other Things-iiard
Workers and Rough Eaters DO Not Have
It-Don't Blame It ON the Stomach.
Some time ago we read something in one
of our exchanges in which the writer held
that it was all wrong that we should even
for moment entertain the idea that there
existed such thing as progressive phys
ical racial deterioration, and this optimis-
tic writer would make us believe that the
generally accepted idea that we are fast be
coming nation Of dyspeptics had no foun-
dation in fact, but that. on the contrary
evidence would show that dyspepsia was
much more prevalent 90 years ago than
now.
We hate TO undeceive any cheerful human
being, but we cannot but feel that the OPP
timistic writer is laboring under fond de-
fusion, which it is our unpleasant task TO
dispel What is this disagreeable and i'll
behaved condition that renders the lord of
creation so miserable, robs him of all spirit
and makes him feel like the wicked and re-
pentant Nebuchadnezzar as he crawled on
all fours?
The discovery Of the art of cookery may
have given alarger list of food whence man
might make up his bill Of fare, and many
imagine that the art has greatly contribut-
ed toward health and the lengthening Of
human life. There are many good reasons
to make us doubt these conclusions. Priui-
tive man living on grapes, berries, nuts
and grasshoppers, with milk and honey for
relishes and wild onions for appetizers
must have been the very soul of optimism
and health. Those evil genii, the distiller,
int
minable duel with the apothecary and the
doctor, with poor, miserable man and his
stomach for a battlefield, and primitive
man was consequential not dyspeptic, equity
nor uremic. Has the stomach Of man
changed since those happy days, and what
has the stomach really to do with dyspepsia
IL has been asserted. and not without
reason, that the Caucasian has more en-
durance than any other race, and that in
comparison with contemporary animals he
excels in capacity for work and endurance.
There is no doubt but that his stomach has
endurance and capabilities that nearly
equal those Of the ostrich, rhinoceros or
camel.
The Scotch highlander swallows his un-
derdone oatmeal pOrridge, feeling that it's
rawness win retard its digestion, and not
compel him to replenish his furnace for
many hours. On the same principle the
Irshman swallows his national mess of POI
tatoes "bOied with n stone in the CENTER
that is only the outer layer of the potato
being boiled at all-alsO an expedient
learned by experience that half raw pota-
TO will last as long as three well cooked
ones The French peasant makes his meals
of a bread made of a mixture of peas, rye,
beans or wheat flour ground up, husks and
all, into one mass. This, with the addition
of little cheese of questionable age and
some acrid wine, may serve for breakfast,
dinner or supper. Now, what is of particu-
lar interest TO us is the fact that none of
the examples given are troubled with dys-
pepsia. 1t is we'll known that Ireland and
Scotland present the greatest number Of
past centenarians, while for an all round
long liver there is no nation on earth that
excels the French.
The German can take down his regular
government length or allowance of pea
meal, sausage, sauerkraut, sour milk and
home hrewed lager beer, handle the fail all
day and dance in his hobnailed shoes all
night, filling in the interval with lunches
Of anything that comes handy.
The African stomach seems more to as
simulate TO that of the ostrich or the rhi-
nOceros. The amount required to satisfy
the ordinary appetite of the son of Ham is
something incredible. The more he eats
the SIMMER his skin CLOVIS We never knew
one to require any pepsin even after din
ner Of a 3-pound FISH, a pound of roast,
| half a dozen eggs, olives, pickles, potatoes,
beets, turnips and other things, with some
dessert and coffee.
Evidently dyspepsia cannot be said to
| depend on overflling the stomach with
odds and ends as if it were a secondhand
junkshop or some back yard swilltub.
By discarding the idea of stomach COM
| plication in any connection when treating
! dyspepsia we will be more likely to reach
/ the true origin, cause or seat of the disease.
Some cases have yielded up to exercise sys-
tematically employed, while others recover
under a few days of absolute rest. The
numbers of so called dyspepsi@ that are
cured by the disappearance of business, do
nestle or social annoyance are nearly I'M
limited. An overdue note in the possession
of a bottle nosed and beetle eyed creditor is
more productive of dyspepsia than a meal
of secondhand carpet tacks. In fact, il
may be a safe thing TO assume that in dys-
pepsia we had better look in the garrett,
closet or cellar of the dyspeptics house, OF
| among his business or social relations
rather than TO his stomach for the solution
of the difficulty
With Americans dyspepsia has several
factors. The silly habit OF treating or be
ing treated in the saloons is a fruitful
source of renal disease, tox9mia, and re
sulting dyspepsia. There is no doubt thai
in our system of education we obtain pro
life source of dyspepsia.
There is one education that Is sadly neg
lected in America-that of the palate o.
stomach. In the trying American climat,
man must either eat sufficiently or suffe
the consequences Of not doing so. Incom
plete nutrition and consequent enervatioI
must be the inevitable results Of the meage
diet on which too many of our people ac
custom themselves TO live.
Another source of our dyspepsia Is on
civilized and enforced antipathy TO all in
nocent and healthful amusements. Tosucl
as see only evil in amusements, dyspep
sia-mental, moral and physical-must b.
a natural and incurable condition unles
their natures are so intensely animal tina
they are unconscious of their loss on tn
same principle that cannibal is uncon
scious of his nakedness.
A cheerful soul that believes In the wis