Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1909-08-27

A'ls224zl2p7E9
ON SALT AND DRUNKENNESS
Former Is One of the Chief Causes OF
Indigestion, and That Encour-
ages lrebriety.

That indigestion is one of the chief
causes of drunkenness and that salt
in excess is a potent cause of indi-
gestion are the theses upheld by DR..
H. o. Beeson, of Calcite, Col, in The
Journal of Inebriety (Boston, Spring..
He wastes little time on the first, re-
garding it as amply demonstrated by
observation. From a medical stand
point" he says, "a careful study of
inebriety must of necessity be study
of indigestion" and when the diges-
tive apparatus is performing it's func-
tons normally there is no distress
and consequently no call for drugs"
The greater part of the article is de-
voted to clearing up the relations of
a too salty diet to this unnatural
craving for alcohol. He writes:
THE purpose of this paper is to call
attention to a very common and an
entirely avoidable cause of indiges-
ton, viz, the use Of common salt in
excess. The standard claim that salt
is an aid to digestion is not true. This
statement needs to be qualified as to
quantity only. And l am prompted
to make the following more explicit
statement without fear of successful
contradiction: All supplementary
salt with food is superfluous and dis
timely harmful to digestion.
"Salt with food in the proportion
of parts or less to the 1000 is
beneficial to digestion, but beyond 6
parts to the 1000 it is positively
harmful. Our daily average consump-
ton is approximately 22.5 parts to
1000.
"Sea water contains about q parts
to 1000.
1.-THE taste for salt with food is ac-
quired in every instance. 1t does not
exist in animals or birds. Animals
and primitive man alike take salt
only in the intervals of digestion. I'm
sailed food is as ralatabls % sailed
food, except when the taste is per-
verified by the long continued use of
salt with food.
"a nine months continuous diet
of unsalted food enables me to make
this statement with positiveness."
According to DR. Beeson, our daily
army ration contains 307 grains of
salt, of which only Is are assimilated.
In experiments made recently at
Colorado university it was found that
2 parts of salt in 1000 lessons the
time of digestion by one to three
hours, while if the proportion per
1000 were increased to the time
was increased again by two to three
hours. The writer concludes:
Enough has been said to show
quite conclusively that salt is GER
tain disturber of digestion when used
with food in proportion greater
than that of the blood, or SIS parts
to 1000. Also it is clear that hyper
chloridation means the storage in the
system of an injurious amount OF
water. That extra salt demands extra
water is plain. And it is easily seen
that a thirst accompanied by physical
and mental distress is prone to resort
to drugs in addition to water fol
relief.
1.-THE dry fauces produced by a
salty meal is the index to the dry
condition of all of the mucous sur
faces. When elimination takes place
a reaction occurs, and the mucous
glands become active again. This
process repeated day after day can
have but one result, exhaustion and
secondary infections. This is the
picture of the production of catarrhal
infammations wherever located.
"And who can wonder that a child
bred on an excessive salt diet be-
comes an invalid, an incorfigible, or
a criminal, or a lunatic?"