The Press., 1906-09-05

dietary andlis doing vast amount Of
mischief all the time in the quantities
| in which we use it? l met woman
| recently who had incipient Brights
disease, and said to her, You must
discontinue the use of salt in your
| dietary" drop out saltY' said she.
seWhy, l use a great deal of salt"
Possibly that is the cause of the dis
| ease Those causes which are most
| universal in their operation are the
very ones that we are most apt to over
| look.
The uncivilized North American In
| dams did not eat salt. A gentleman
whose occupation was that OF an In
dian trader upon one occasion men
| toned that when he was starting out
on a trading expedition he always put
into his saddlebag a supply of two
| things-tOmfulla and common salt.
(Tomfulla is corn that has been roast
| ed, parched, then pounded fine in a
large wooden mortar made by hollow
ing out the stump Of tree by burning)
When he came to a little stream ne
could mix the parched corn with wa
ter and a little salt, and he was pro-
vided with all he needed to eat during
his long trip. He stated that he lived
for weeks and weeks on nothing but
tomfulla, water and salt. But"
asked, 'why did you carry salt with
youY Because" he answered, II
knew 1 could not get any from the
Indians. The Indians eat their tom
fulla without salt" The Indians of
the western plains ate no more salt
than do the cattle of the same plains.
The idea that cattle require salt is
without any foundation. Feeding salt
to domestic animals is simply a GUS
tom. Cattle have been educated to use
salt.
An English gentleman on his second
visit to this country said to me: "Doc-
tor, l used to think you were crank
, on the salt question, but have made
up my mind you may be right. A
brother of raine living in England Ia
a cattle raiser. In his county and on
his farm there are raised the very fin
est cattle in England. They take
prizes over all others, and in that par
ticular county the farmers have from
time immemorial raised their cattle
without salt"
This does not agree at all with the
experiments reported by a French
psychologist many years ago. He took
a number of calves and gave some OF
them salt, while he withheld it from
the others. The hair of the latter be-
came very rough, their skin was hide
bound, they were scrawny, miserable,
wretched. This, he said, proved that
salt was necessary. But those calves
were accustomed to salt, and when de-
prived of it they lost their appetite,
their digestion failed and various other
inconvenience arose. The people who
live up on the plains of northern 81
IBERIA never eat salt under any circum-
stances. They take their barley Cruel
and dried reindeer without salt. The
natives of various islands Of the sea
who have never been taught to eat salt
get along very we'll without it. The ma
tives of central Africa have from the
very earliest times lived without salt
The writer tried the experiment of liv-
ing without salt for three years and
got along first rate.
Professor Bunge, one Of the most en-
inent physiologic chemists in the world,
of the great Swiss university at Basic,
says the amount of salt required per
diem is about gram and a half to
two grams-twenty to thirty grains
but that the amount of salt eaten by
the average man is four or five times
that. If we require only twenty grains
what becomes of the extra quantity
taken? 1t must all be carried out
through the kidneys and through the
skin, and the extra labor imposed upon
these excretory organs wears them out
prematurely. Are there not thousands
Of people wearing out their kidneys
and their lives, bringing themselves
down prematurely to a point where
Bright's disease will prey upon them,
where arteriosclerosis hardening of
the arteries) will be induced because Of
the accumulation of tissue poisons
within the body? Are there not thou
sands dying from the excessive use Of
salt? There is no doubt Of it. A very
little salt may be used without any
special detriment to health, but the use
of salt in food in such quantities that
the flavor of it can be distinctly tasted
is certainly harmful. The natural salts
are particularly abundant in vegetable
foods, hence these require the least
seasoning with salt, although in general
they are the ones most commonly
treated to an overabundance of it. A
well baked potato is perfectly palata-
BILE without salt If one has become &C
customed to it's flavor. A parsnip, a
turnip, a carrot, spinach or anything
else of like nature requires no salt,
because these foods already have a
larger amount Of salts than any other
kind Of food. II. Kellogg, M. D., in
Good Health.