New-York tribune., 1907-04-07
BOOKS AND BRAIN FOOD.

The scientific strjy Of foods ana their use is
one OF the great achievements Of modern times
Along with the abolition Of slavery must be
reckoned the condemnation Of the pancake as
great upward stride in the evolution OF man.
kind. Whether the adoption OF breakfast foods
and pepsin pellets mnrks another advance or
not remains TO be seen. but il IS n step in the
right direction. in so far as it aims at the ee-
vation and alienation OF the stomach. A less
debatable sign Of progress Is 10 be found in the
careful analysis OF books as an article of diet
This most modern line Of research is being pur-
sued by transatlantic literary scientists and has
already been followed up closely enough 10 Jus
tify the publication Of several important discov-
cries.
A writer In "The London Saturday Review
summarizes the results Of his laboratory tests in
the following form: Books should be taken in
doses no bigger than music or pictures; they
"are even harder 20 digest. There is more drunk
"enness in book than Ia all the vineyards of
France. All those people who read with their
"eyes only are fatally wasting their time Is any
good thing likely TO come out OF lndiscriminate
reading any more than out OF any other form
''Of feeding indiscrimInatelyY Close inspection
OF these findings Indicates that the English
laboratories are not sufficiently well equipped
with book testing and reader testing instruments
to reveal all the laws OF literary digestion.
American tests made with superior instruments
and upon larger number of books and readers
give results varying considerably from the fore.
going.
Take, for instance the relative difficulty OF
digesting books, music and pictures The chief
difficulty in digesting books IS that. In the vast
majority OF cases their total bulk is out OF all
proportion 70 their nutritive clements Or. 20
lapse into technical language. the percentage of
starch and water is immoderately greater than
that OF pr0telds and fat. Even among the clas-
sizes too much starch is u5ed for the sake OF pro-
ducing high steam laundry gloss and water
uiekles In for many reasons, notably In order
TO get UP steam and 70 give an anecdote the d.
menslons Of novel, The English hypothesis is
wrong; the real difficulty lies In separating the
nutritious from the nnn-nutritlOus elements
In sense, though, IL is true that there Is
much drunkenness in q book. Everybody knows
that book goes TO the head and that its after
effects are often slspiciously like the classic
kofsejdmmsr. IL Is manlfe5tly unfair, how
ever, 10 attribute such effects TO the presence OF
potsons in the bound volume itself. The intox-
icatng element has been proved by many oh
servers to be by-product generated either sur-
Ing the process Of writing the book or during
that OF reading IL Many books which we
have examined have contained nothing more yir-
uient than dishwater; yet many persons suffer
from every known form OF readers inehrleflo,
as a result OF perusipg these same volumes
And we have likewise been sorrowful witnesses
TO cases OF acute and rapid poisoning brought
on by the mere attempt 10 write sonnet or a
funny story. The first. effect IN such cases IS
not literary Indigestion, but hallucinations. the
victim fancying be sees masterpiece Of rhyme
or wit on the paper before him. One must not
forget however, thst looks are the true and
immediate cause Of these diseases
The most SERIOUS mistake il the English In.