Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1905-02-04
'RATI NAL VIEW OF EATING.
DISCOVERY or SANER IDEAS
CONCERNING DIETS.

The Dickens Era Of Gorglng With its
Tendency to Premature Death, Hap
pity Gone by---Human Body Main
tanned Upon Small Amount of Food.
Few things can be more curious
han the change which has been pass
ing over the public mind In the course
" the last few years with reference
10 food and feeding, says The Hospi-
sal. Much has been mane from time
20 time of the tendency to glorify in
loxictaion which rollicks through the
pages of Dickens, while it has TO some
extent escaped notice that his types
k character are as a rule quite as
nucn given to oyer-eating as to over
Thinking, and that the meals at Manor
Farm are as much in evidence as the
beverages. Underlying the whole
fabric of his fiction is an assured be-
def that to eat a great deal Of food
Is an action not only merltorious in
itself, but certain to be rewarded by
good health, high moral tone and en-
HANGED physical yIgor, and Il is not
too much TO say that these were the
prevailing convictions of che time in
which he lived
The late Sir Henry Thompson, in
<he interesting volume upon Food
End Feeding, which has now passed
through many editions, was among
She first to insist forcibly upon the
sact thta the amount of food consum-
ID should be much diminished in ad-
gancing life, and Prof Clifford ALI
butt has lately written to the Times,
On his return from tour in America,
70 say that wholly new ideas about
diet are beginning to prevail there.
ana that Anne rlcan men of science
have obtained demonstration of the
fact that the amount of food consum-
tual requirements Of the body is
source of weakness instead of
source of strength, nervous force
which might be better employed be-
Ing consumed in its partial digestion
and In its ultimate removal from the
system. He tells US that tlis is espe-
sally true of heterogeneous material,
while hydrocarbons can be burnt off
III ICSEil dtiDu Will ldCii-
ity.
A considerable amount OF evidence
las lately been brought forward from
Inc source and another tending with
emarkable uniformity to show that
he human body can be maintained in
Jill vigor and activity upon a much
smaller amount of food than is usual
w consumed, and the question is one
which calls for the serious attention
of physicians and psychologists. 1t
has unfortunately been very much
left up to the present time in the
hands of minorities who may without
gross exaggeration be described as
faddists, and hence it has not receiv-
ed the consideration due to its mani
test Importance.
A non-medical contemporary has
lately described vegetarian Christ
mas dinner" held at a restaurant in
Enrnival street, as "a strange and
horrible orgy" apparently on no other
ground than that no meat entered in
TO its composition, and predicted chat
Hs chief effect upon the guests would
be IAN exceptional display of vigor
in attacking chops and steaks" on the
following day. We can feel for the
distresses of a writer who is COMPEL
ed to furnish his daily tale of copy"
without assistance from the very
binding form OF straw which is com
monty denominated knowledge, but
where was the editor? The question
of the kind of food consumed is, how
ever, a different one from the ques-
tion of quantity, aud our present OBJ
ject is to suggest that the majority
of people eat great Geal too much,
and fall short OF their highest attain
able standard Of mental and bodily ac
tiyity in conquence. There must
obviously be a limit 10 the needs of
the body, and when the supply ex-
ceeds this limit it must obviously be
removed or disposed or IN some way.
Il can scarcely be doubted that the
American view quoted by Prof Cliff
ford Allbutt IS essentially correct, and
that the disposal of the superhuity is
a tax upon the organism by which it
is effected. 1t is at least not doubt
ed that the period of gorging, of
which the Dickens era was perhaps
the termination, was also a period OF
premature ieceasa among the weli.to-
do, or that great increase of longe-
witty has been characteristic of more
recent times. Fifty years ago an &C.
togenarian able TO take part in the &C
tiyties of life was at least regarded
as remarkable exception to the com.
mon rule; today this position could
hardly be sustained.