The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1917-10-25
NUMBER 6
FEAST OR FAST.
Little Talks Oh Health and Hygiene by
Samuel G. Dixon, N. D., IL. D.,
Commissioner Of Health.

III SiNihhCu iilC iiicl lluu IL I'LL
possible to pay proper attention
to their meals. They cannot eat
regularly and have no time to eat
slowly, and they apparently will
not eat what they have learned
by precept and experience is fit
ting for those who do work in
doors that requires intense men,
tai application. Failing to fol-
low the laws of health over a
period of time, they begin to feel
inert mentally and physically;
their work becomes a burden;
eyesight loses its acuteness,
while the natural white of the
eye is lost and it becomes con-
gested, showing sometime a yell
low tinge; the appetite begins to
fail; natural sleep is broken up
and interrupted, and when awak-
ening comes, the mind is puzzled
by confused ideas.
When these symptoms are rec
ognized, men of experience know
it is because the food taken has
been in excess of the demands
of the body.
Such a man was a laboratory
associate of mine years ago. Oc-
casionally he would salute me in
the morning and say, What do
you prescribe, doctor, a feast or
a fast?" He meant that he felt
he had been neglecting all out
door exercise for a long time and
had not at all neglected taking
heavy and frequent meals, until
now his system was out of bal
ance and something had to be
done to restore balance. Query
should he fast himself back to
health, or should he emulate the
old Romans and start with a
feast?
Most people are familiar with
the ancient Roman feast, whose
features we would describe now-
adays more accurately with the
name of orgy or debauch. These
feasts always made them sick
and the physical reaction would
be such that no food was taken
into the system for some time
afterward. So that the same re-
suit of a fast was arrived at by a
different route. My associate,
being a man of humorous view-
point, was just accenting this
condition.
When | asked him why he
thought of the more roundabout
way of the Romans, he replied
that you got some hilarity with
it. you get more out of treat
ing yourself by debauch, than
drugs" he said, and that is the
way a good many people look at
it unfortunately.
The Roman custom is recogniz-
ed historically as having continu-
ed long afterward in other races,
and perhaps it is still surviving
today, in principle at least among
individuals here and there.
Still, the mass of our people
nave a more sensible view. 1t is
known that fast will relieve
nature while she is coping with
The task of overcoming extra bur-
lens that have been laid upon
The system. The debauch, which
s GENERALLY what high livers
make of their feast" on the
contrary is seen generally as
something that overloads the
Iystem and adds to natures bur-
len even though it mentally
the subject, some-
line to the point where he might
,e guilty of crime. And there
s the hilarity-a thing to be re-
nembered and tempt the SUBJ
ect to try the same remedy the
lext time.
The alcohol that goes with over
ndulgent living makes an over
lemand for water upon the tis-
ues and gradually changes their
physical condition and interferes
With their physiological action.
rhe result is that permanent
larm is done. Each time an ex-
.ess of alcohol is INDUCED in
here is left q permanent inn
,rint upon the digestive system
hat will never be erased. Each
ime this imprint will become
Ieeper until the subject is indeli-
liz r,,arkad nn on alnnhnEa Eor