The Opelousas courier., 1905-04-15
RATI NAL VIEW OF EATING.
DISCOVERY OF SANER IDEAS
CONCERNING DIETS.

CONCERNING DIETS.
The Dickens Era Of Gorgine With its
Tendency to Premature Death, Hap.
PLY Gone by-Human Body Main
tanned Upon Small Amount of Food
Few things can be more curious
than the change which has been pass
ing over the public mind in the course
CT the last few years with reference
to food and feeding, says The Hospi-
tai. Much has been made from time
to time Of the tendency to glerify in
toxictaion which rollicks through the
pages Of Dickens, while it has to some
extent escaped notice that his types
OF character are as a rule quite as
mucn given to over-eating as to over
drinking, 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.
lief that to eat a great deal of food
is al action not only m]erltorious in
itself, but certain to be rewarded by
good health, high moral tone and en-
HANGED physical vigas; and it is not
too much to say that s. were the
prevailing convictions of ths time in
which he lived.
The late Sir Henry Thompson, in
the interesting volume upon Food
n Feeding, whica has now passed
through many editions, was among
the first to insist forcibly upon the,
fact thta the amount of food consum-
ed should be much diminished in ad-
~vancins life, and Prof. Clifford ALL
tutt mas lately written to the Times,
on his return from a tour in America,
to say that wholly new ideas about
diet are beginning to prevail there,
and that American men of science
have obtained demonstration Of the
tuaI requirements CT the body is a
source of weakness instead of q
source of strength, nervous force
which might be better employed be-
ing consumed in it's parIlal digestion
and in its ultimate removal from the
system. He tells us that this is espe.
cially true OF heterogeneous material,
while hydrocarbons can be burnt off
in respiration with comparative facil-
ity.
A considerable amount of evidence
has la.ely been brought forward from
one source and another tending with
remarkable uniformity to show that
the human body can be maintained in
full vigor and activity upon a much
smaller amount of food than is usual
iy consumed, and the question is one
which calls for the serious attention
OF physicians and psychologists. II
has unfortunately been very much
left UP to the present time in the
hands ef minoritics who may without
gross exaggeration be described as
faddists, and enc it has not receiv-
ed the Consideration due to it's mani.
fest Importance.
A non-medical contemporary has
lately described a vegetarian Christ
mas dinner" held at a restaurant in
Furnival street, as 20 strange and
horrible orgy" Apparently on no other
ground than that no meat entered in.
to its composition, and predicted chat
Its chief effect upon the guests would
be an 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, u different n from the ques.
tion OF quantity, and oGr present OBJ.
ject is to suggest that the majority
OF people eat a great deal too much,
and fall short ef their highest attain
able standard Of mental and bodily &C.
tivity in conquence.' There must
obviously be a limit to the needs of
the body. and When the supply en-
ceeds this limit it mus, OBVIOUSLY be
removed or disposal or IN come way.
Il can scarcely be doubted that the
American view quoted by Pref. Cliff
ford Allbutt IS essentially correct, and
that the disposal of the superfuity is
a tax upon the organism by winch it
IL effected. 1t is at least not doubt
ed that the period Of gorging, Ct
which the Dickens era was perhaps
the termination, was also a period OF
premature leceass among the welrto-
do. OF that a great increase of longe-
witty has been a characteristic of more
recent times. Fifty years ago an oc-
togenarian able to take part in the &C
tivties Of life was at least regarded
as q remarkable exception to the COM
mon rule; today this position could
hardly be sustained.