Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-12-27
VEGETABLES AS MEDICINE.
What Each Is Best For in the Curing
of Ills.

of Ills.
Savage people and animals cure
their ills by eating curative vegetables
ana fruits. They understand instipc~
lively the healing properties that are
contained in the storehouse Of Nature.
If man understood and applied the
same laws they do he would need no
doctor But food specialists are now
studying the question of natural veg
etable cures and are teaching people
the value of the common fruits and
vegetables when used as medicine for
various ills.
The pineapple is sort of complete
medicine chest in itself for derange-
ments of the stomach. 1t has been re-
garded as an indigestible food. bat
this was because it was not known
that no particle of the pulp should
ever be swallowed, for this cellular
mass is in truth completely indigesti-
BILE and should not be permitted to
pass To the stomach. The juice only
should be swallowed. and the cellular
pulp removed from the mouth. 1t
should never be eaten with sugar. but
always with salt. The sugar with the
acid makes bad combination.
Scientists have discovered of late
that the juice of the pineapple con-
tains digestive principle very much
like pepsin, the action being the
same, and it is recommended rs a
cure for dyspepsia. 1t has been
found that the juice acts upon the
casein of milk just as rennet does. and
the experiment has been tried of plac-
ing slice of raw beef between Two
thick slices of fresh ripe pineapple.
and the character of the beef has been
completely changed within three to
four hours. The action of the juice.
like pepsin. is digestive.
Pineapple juice is now being made
use Of by physicians in cases OF diph-
thereto sore throat and Group. the
false membrane being dissolved BY the
powerful, insidious acid of the tropic
fruit. II brings quick relief
Cranberries are now regarded as
one of the best cures for malaria and
for erysipelas. The best way to take
incidentally is raw; the chemical prop
critics of the acid are then complete,
whereas in cooking they are some
what weakened There are two deli
cious ways of eating cronberries raw
in a salad and in a beverage. As a
salad the largest ripest berries are Sc
lected. washed and cut in halves and
served on crisp lettuce leaves with a
dressing Of olive oil. lemon juice and
egg. As beverage the eranberries
are crushed and left to soak in water
overnight The acid in the water is
nv tra aIt .afr iyoo rnp1ino d
the blood.
The cooked cranberries are excellent
for cleaning the system and blood anc
should he eaten in large quantities.
Watermelon has been found o.
great value in cases of yellow fever
and is also recommended for epilepsy
The pulp should never be eaten, how
ever, for its cellular structure is a.
tough as that of the pineapple and a
indigestible.
Lemons have been appreciated med
icinally more than other fruits and fo
fevers rheumatism. liver troubles, sor
throats. low fever biliousness ant
colds they have been used for years
| A doctor once said that if lemons cos
dollar apiece they would be regarde,
as the greatest remedy in the worl,
| for a variety of ills, but as they ar
SO cheap and so common, no one will
| heed the doctors recommendation o
them. They are of great value, an,
| should always be in the household ant
/ partaken of freely They should neve
| however. be used in combination witt
cane sugar, as the effect of the on
upon the other is very bad for tn
| human interior. The entire medicina
value of the lemon is Immediately de
| stroyed by combining it with sugar o
| any cane product such as syrup o
| molasses
| Onions are one of the most poten
| of the vegetables. For nervous trou
bles they are like a tonic and shoul
| he eaten in great quantities, eithe
raw or cooked very simply, ana eat
en- without any other vegetable
| Baking thoroughly is the best metho
| of cooking onions when they are to b
| used as a medicine. They should the
| be eaten with butter and very littl
| salt II is better to use no salt at al
Cases of nervous prostration have bee
| cured by a persistent diet of onions
| whole wheat bread and butter an
|
| desserts and pineapple eaten with sal
Onions also cure sleeplessness.
| well known lecturer, who was nervou
and high strung, always made n mes
| OF baked onions and bread and butte
| the night previous to his lecture. III
could sleep like a baby and awake re
freshed and steady the next day. II
would eat from five to ten large onion
at meal. according to his appetite.
Onion syrup for coughs, colds an
hoarseness has long been known
II old fashioned country nurses. The
Il also bind slices of raw onion about tn
neclAs Of patients with sore throat
and in few hours the powerful as
tringent properties OF the vegetable
| are found to have relieved the sore
ness