The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-06

LA pounds today and loses POUNDS a
month, in one year he will ole. Sayli Is
his wife weighs 12O pounds and loses 20
pounds year. she will die WITHIN three
years.
AS for the children they Will tare
worst of all, for as the earliest mowers
soonest fall, SO, according to HIPPO
crates, "of all ages, childhood Is the
least capable of sustaining hunger, and OF
children the more lively are the least
capable" If they survive they Will pc
stunted, rachitic, tuberculous or serofu-
lapsing fever, rightly called famine fe-
yer, by typhoid fever. dysentery and
diarrhoea. or some infectious or con-
/ tagious disease to which their impover-
ished state makes them easy victims.
If, by chance, some kind individual
| gives these starving people food it will
take a long time to rebuild them, for the
| longer the privation the slower the re-
turn to the normal state There is, how
ever a case on record of a man who
tasted ten days and recovered in three.
That might, perchance, be a precedence
for eating on a similar economical plan.
Thus one days feeding ought to last "a
man three days and a third, but the ma
jority would prefer to have their meals
on the homeopathic principle, little and
often.
Some people think four meals a day
few enough; the general rule is three ana
some believe two is about right, but this
is to a great degree a matter of circum-
stances and occupation. Father Gratys
regime for reaching a good old age, as
practiced by himself, was one meal a
day. There was also a glutton who be-
lieved that one meal a day was the prop
er thing. but that was neither breakfast,
dinner. nor supper; he wanted this one
meal to last all day. The emperor Geta
surpassed even this lengthy meal for
he reclined three consecutive days at the
table at which the menu was served ac-
cording to the letters of the alphabet, a
dish for each letter
Today the rich man does not dine so
well or so long as in the olden times
yet still the slaves of toll look with long
ing, as in the days of Dives even upon
the rich mans dogs, for even they are
better housed and better fed than many
poor mems children.
Humanitarians trying to solve the
problem say that the solution is in the
exclusive use of vegetable diet yet the
character of the diet varies with the eli
mate and work. The slave in Senegal.
for example, according to Oh. Meaux
Saint Marc, is fed at cost of from SIS
to- Sc year, but millet, upon which he
thrives, would not sustain the life of
an Esquimaux a single day. He needs fat
and tallow candles are luxury to be
eaten and not lightly used. In the tenn
perate regions a mixed diet is necessary.
not because the requisite amount of food
could not be found in single articles of
diet, but because it would overtax the
capacity and powers of digestion
According to approximate analyses of
the amount of carbon and nitrogen re-
quired to sustain life in it's normal con-
ditions it would take 61a pounds of
meat day alone, or AZ pounds of
bread; but combined it would require
only pounds of bread and q of a pound
OF meat. 1t would require 9 quarts of
milk, or 1 peck of potatoes (about so me-
dunn sized ones) or "a eggs day, if each
were used as an exclusive diet.
These articles of food, in sufficient
quantities, would not only overburden
the stomach, but would tax the purse
beyond endurance. Still the bread and
meat Oet seems the most satisfactory
the meat being reduced if butter is sub
Stltuted. Apropos of butter Tidy makes
suggestive remark when he saws that
oleomargarine should not be proscrihe1
out rather encouraged, since, if it is of
good quality it is as good as butter as a
hutrlt1Ve, although it may not have the
real butter flavor.
Monotony of diet, however, is as in
furious as scarcity. The Israelites In
ne uesert, provided as they were with
mama, longed for the flesh pots of
Egypt Man also, even if bonntifnll1
1ed on bread and water longs for varie.
~ winch IS the spice of life rich sauces
anu plquant condiments being beyond the
reach or desire of the majority
important as the question of suitabla
ulet is TO the individual, it has its eco
homlcal aspects. In the social problem
Whlch has never been so cornpIicate5 &c
at the present time, we strive to upbnild
ana elevate the poor and vicious from
elelr surroundings to a thrifty embodi-
.ilen' VI morality and equity. True, the
laM material is often poor but the pos
slpll1tes are good. The Israelites oroa,,-
ed in their labor because tbev w q 1a - ~
CURED to make bricks without straw
put today there comes a lou6er Wi,
Iiolll the poor of the land who are ex-
pected TO carry the burden of life on a.,
empty stomach. me- oii an
The higher ideals must nerforce bo
oulIt on the lower, and the very basis
81 even mere existence is sufficient
1000 You can't reach or touch the mind
OF soul while the body ,hungers
Inc olrds have their nests, the beasts
OIL the held have their dens. onlv tna
poor man hungers and is athirst and has
Out scant place to lay his head. What
Molloer Uhat, like hungry, beast, mad
oened by hunger, he breaks down the
hedges of social and civil law and takes
by force that which humanity denies
hln 1t is wonder that strikes are
not more common, and they would be
were 1t not that the poor fear to lose
even the morsel that they have.
NO truer words were ever spoken than
those of Jacob L. Moleschott: Courage
good will and love of work depend in the
highest degree on healthful, sufficient food
hunger lays waste the head and
heart
10 .-te physician the subject is fraught
Win interest. One cannot calculate the
amount OF food necessary for mans sus-
lehahce as the engineer calculates the
amount OF coal for the engine boiler and
there is no dynamograph which shall
record the actual power resulting as the
INDICATOR does of the steam engine.
Diet is an all important subject h3,+ a.
must be practiced by an expert. me dtat
pook with Its perforated leaves ana
varied forms is all very well and nretty
out 1t requires something more tban ~
tear on one of these leaves to trea+ a
man lntelhgently. One might as wei
nave book of ready printed IRE
seriptions to go with the diet book and
all that would then be necessary to nran-
tee medicine would be to name the dis
ease and tear out the prescription.
zMhen patient asks the doctor.
what can I eat?" the answer is often
a negative, thou shalt not decree. The
list IS restricted or limited as a rule h,,t
mere mere are many cases where a good juicy
-eeefsteak would be better than ali the