The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-03-06

John NJ, Oakley Before the Twentieth
Century club of Ptttsburg.
Man" says an eminent anatOmist,
ais 2 stomach, with various organs ap-
pended This eDigram presents in
concise form the supreme importance
of a perfect digestion. The stomach is
the center of the nutritive processes of
the body, and any deTangement of its
functions must result in disorder of thc
entire organism.
We Americans have long been known
as a nation of disordered stomachs.
With the widest and best dietary in the
world to choose from, we are still the
victims of a widespread national dys-
pepsia. Why? The foes Of our diges-
ton are three. and they lurk in every
household frying pan, ice water at
meals and the habit of rapid eating.
A cursory examination into the nature
of foods and the simplest processes of
digestion will show why these three
national habits are eminently fitted 20
destroy the most perfect natural diges
tion.
All the substances we eat are divided
into the two great classes of nitrogen
1a aii ,,I
matter in the shane of salts. The non
nitrugeuous foods are again divided
into fats and rbo-hydrates. All
these elements are essential to perfect
health. but II is the nitrogenous ele-
ment commonly called protein which
alone will slluport life. Protein is found
in its most perfect form in the white
of egg: il is the principal constituent of
the gelatine of meat. the casein of milk
and the glutin of cereals and vege-
tables. The fats exist in the form of
animal fats and vegetable oils. The
carbohydrates are sugar and starch.
Their chemical symbol is the same as
that of fat, c. n. o., carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen. and after being subjected
to the subtle chemistry of digestion.
they play the same part in the human
economy as that performed by fat. that
is they are the heat and force pro-
ducing clements. Although contribute
ing to the nraservation or hodilv vigOr.
the fats and corbo-hvdrates do not Of
themselves s,lnnort life man fad
unon pure starch MIRO smear or n,ire
fat. would die almost as soon as with
no food at all
NHAl HEALTH REQUIRES.
Perfect health requires a perfect ad-
justment between the nitrogenous and
the neutrality-suspicious. elements. Too
much protein will result in uric acid
gout or rheumatism. An excess of fats
and carbohydrates causes various
stomach derangements, flabby muscles
anaemia, and fatty degeneration of the
vital organs. Taking wheat as the ey-
ample of a perfect food and II is the
only one adapted TO all climates and
conditions. the proner nortion of thase
elements should he. One mart nrotair
to seven parts fats and carbo- -hvdratas
or more accuratelv one mart rrotaio
one mart fat and five nar+s starch and
sugar. In order to extract tho n,nst
nutrin,sn+ o,,+ Of tbas. +t,,,,. ,1,,,,,-,,,,,
the human svs+a,,, hoe t,,,,, ,,,,,,i,las
with four lead,no 1igas+i,,a a,,id,, ~,
Fernen+s tho sali,a +ba ,os+,,il a,,il
tbe hiIa and tho ,onora,+ia e,,ia o,,.
rbasa n,,,s+ no ,,,aI,tair,,a T.,
ya,,vi,,,r ro+io of o'''a1ttI- 80 - On '.-
+o insure rorfao+ haoItt, etlL =, =;
g.st,,1 I,, 49,, ,Ii,t -. - - 80 -
eos+rio S,,id 90 ptoi ~ .t''
Iii 1.niie o-tu SuSoi Wy 'H'
ia+.i., aIi Gnu 4iliAlo
- -, ''''7t 9tNS q "ti'ti 'OuCi
sor,1tion nv 'ney are it'eu l"r ao
@atiN"' oiie anu pan
-, -, - nus W ''hei'le' anu tH
lN 4t'Si'"SiS @''u
Supposeu that IN
u ''tS "s'iiNb was " monster
III PieP"'a .loil loF sWaloWlhe
li'teStlSa'ioHS SNOW that
P'oS d iiiosI l'ipoitalt part IN the di
no digestion of starch without con
tact with saliva. Here then we Sc
the first bad result of rapid eating
The starchy foods are in the first plac
but, imperfectly broken up with tn
nasty mastication, which is the ma
uonal habit; they are not allowed t
remain in the mouth long enough 70
each particle of starch to come int
chemical contact with the saliva an
they are hurried into the stomach with
out the amount of saliva which shoul
accompany them to continue the wor
of changing insoluable starch into solu
able deXtrine. The starch thus hurrie
prematurely into the stomach simpl
ferments like yeast, and generates ga
which causes discomfort and fatulenc
This is starch Indigestion in its simp
est form.
By the muscular action of the stou
aCh this uudlEes.Cl and ferneuj IN
starch is passed into the intestin-
where, as the most of it is in no cond
tion to be absorbed, il continues
ferment, and the irritation of the del
cate mucous membrane lining of Il
intestines caused by this fermentatiC
results eventually in intestinal catarr
one of our national maladies.
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