OF THE KINDS OF FOOD.
What is the proper food of man?--Food to be adapted to
constitution and circumstances--Diet must vary with time of
life--Diet in infancy--The mother’s milk the best--Substitutes
for it.--Over-feeding a prevalent error--Causes which vitiate
the quality of the milk--Regimen of nurses--Weaning--Diet
after weaning--Too early use of animal food hurtful--Diet of
children in the higher classes too exciting--and produces
scrofula--Mild food best for children--Incessant eating very
injurious--Proper diet from childhood to puberty--It ought to be
full and nourishing but not stimulating--Often insufficient in
boarding-schools--Diet best adapted for different constitutions
in mature age--Regimen powerful in modifying the constitution,
mental as well as physical--Farther investigation required.
The next question which presents itself is, What is the proper food of
man? In answering it, we must begin by making distinctions, otherwise
we shall, in the very outset, fall into error.
On examining the structure of the human body at different ages, and
in different individuals, remarkable differences are observable in
the relative proportions of the elements or tissues of which it is
composed. In one, the muscular system predominates, and the body
is remarkable for a compactness of fibre indicative at once of
strength and activity. In another, the lymphatic system is the most
conspicuously developed, and its features are easily recognised by the
full, soft, and rounded form, and languid action, which generally
accompany it. In a third, the thin and sharp outline, irregular and
vivacious activity, and great susceptibility of impressions, betoken
the predominance of the nervous over all the other functions; while,
in a fourth, the florid complexion, expanded chest, and general
vivacity of disposition, as clearly point out the superior development
and energy of the vascular system. Such are the four principal
constitutions, long familiarly known under the names of the _bilious_,
the _lymphatic_, the _nervous_, and the _sanguine_ temperaments. Very
frequently the habit of body indicates a mixture of two or more of
these temperaments, in which case the results of course are modified
according to the proportions in which they are combined.
The elementary textures being thus differently proportioned in
different individuals, it follows that the aliment best suited for the
support and repair of one is not always so for the others; in other
words, a distinct modification of diet ought to be adopted for every
marked variety of constitution, because _a direct relation ought
always to subsist between the qualities of the food and the nature
of the system which it is intended to nourish_. Thus, the highly
concentrated and stimulating food which is found necessary for the
proper sustenance of the trained pugilist or sportsman, whose muscular
frame is in high development and constant exercise, would prove far too
exciting to the slender and irritable constitution of a person whose
characteristic feature is the predominant activity of the brain and
nervous system. And, in like manner, the generous and stimulating diet
which suffices merely to rouse a phlegmatic organization to ordinary
energy, would prove by far too nutritive for a person of a florid
and sanguine temperament, whose predisposition is already towards
inordinate activity.
The necessity of adapting the diet and regimen to the individual
constitution and mode of life, becomes so obvious to reason, when
thus plainly stated, as to excite surprise that it should ever have
been neglected. But, strange to say, although the ancient writers
attached much importance to the subject, the relation between diet
and constitution, as a practical consideration, has of late been so
entirely overlooked, and sound physiological principle has been so
little consulted in the proper adaptation of the one to the other,
that we are at this moment in possession of very little information
of any value regarding it, and a long time must elapse before more
can be supplied. My own observations have not been extensive or
accurate enough to enable me to supply any considerable results; and
the following imperfect remarks are subjoined rather in the hope of
exciting inquiry than of satisfying the curiosity of the reader.
Where the constitution is of a mixed nature, or a compound of two or
more of the temperaments already described, a diet composed of animal
and vegetable aliment in nearly equal proportions is under ordinary
circumstances the best. But where any one temperament predominates, the
diet ought to be modified accordingly. Where, for example, the sanguine
constitution prevails, characterized by a florid complexion, great
activity, strong action of the heart and bloodvessels, and a consequent
liability to diseases of excitement and inflammation, the food ought
to be habitually of a kind calculated rather to soothe than to
stimulate. Red-meat, spices, wines, and fermented liquors ought to be
used sparingly; and the principal support to be derived from refreshing
soups, fish, mucilaginous vegetables, acidulous fruits, and diluting
drinks. In the case of lymphatic persons, on the other hand, where the
circulation is weak and slow, and all the functions are feeble, the
system is benefited by the stimulus of a larger proportion of animal
food, especially red-meat and game; while vegetables, soups, and fluids
of all kinds prove relaxing and hurtful. Aromatics and spices, however,
are useful, as is also wine in moderation, and conjoined with adequate
exercise.
If, again, the individual presents a highly nervous temperament,
characterized by delicacy, unusual sensibility to impressions, and
great excitability, without proportionate strength, such as is often
seen in females and in men of genius, care ought to be taken not to
make use of a heating or stimulating regimen. White-meat, such as fish
and fowl, are more suitable than the kinds in ordinary use. Spices are
also hurtful, but farinaceous and mucilaginous aliments and ripe fruits
are generally admissible--always supposing that moderation in quantity
is attended to, and that the mode of life is, in other respects,
regular and rational.
Where the dark energetic bilious temperament predominates, and much
bodily activity in the open air is enjoyed, more latitude in the choice
of food is admissible than in any other constitution. If, however,
much and continued exertion is required, a full supply of animal
food becomes indispensable for the due support of the system, and
the strength cannot be adequately supported on vegetables alone. In
such circumstances a moderate allowance of wine or other stimulus is
borne with less detriment, if not with more advantage, than where the
temperament is essentially nervous.
On this subject, however, there is still so much need for inquiry, that
I shall not enter farther into details, but urge the reader to make
observations for himself.
* * * * *
There is no kind of alimentary substance of which it can be said
absolutely that it is always proper for the sustenance of man. To be
serviceable, _the food must be adapted to the age, constitution,
state of health, and mode of life, of the individual, and to the
climate and season of the year_. The same diet which, administered
to an adult, is healthful and nutritious, may prove irritating and
injurious to a child; and, in like manner, the stimulating animal diet
which in winter is highly grateful to the system of a hard-working
unexciteable labourer, may prove utterly destructive of health when
indulged in during summer by an inactive and exciteable female. It
becomes, therefore, an object of deep interest to determine the
principal causes and states of the system which render modifications of
diet necessary.
Among these modifying causes, _the varying state of the body at
different periods of life_ ought certainly to be considered as one
of the most influential. The differences observed in the constitution
of the same person at different ages, are at least as great as those
subsisting between different individuals at the same age. In infancy
the lymphatic and nutritive functions greatly predominate over the
muscular; and if the highly animalized food which suits the latter
were then freely administered, it would infallibly induce disease,
and fail to afford the requisite nourishment. In manhood, again, when
muscular activity and nutrition are at their height, the lymphatic
system in abeyance, and the person subjected to laborious exertion,
the mild food of infancy would be equally misplaced. In advanced age,
another change of constitution occurs. The soft tissues of early life
have disappeared, and the whole frame is dry and wasted--a condition
which, in its turn, requires food of a different kind from that fitted
for either of the preceding stages.
Even the state of the digestive organs at different periods of life
is sufficient to indicate a corresponding modification of diet to be
proper for each. In early infancy, when no teeth exist, and the muscles
which move the jaws are still comparatively small and powerless,
and mastication is consequently impossible, milk, from the mother’s
breast, is manifestly the only food intended by Nature for its use;
and, so long as it can be obtained of healthy quality and in sufficient
quantity, no other ought to be substituted in its place. After the
milk-teeth have made their appearance, but not till then, a little
admixture may be permitted, and gradually and cautiously increased in
proportion as dentition advances, and the stomach becomes fitted to
digest other food. If, however, the appearance of the teeth be retarded
by inability in the mother to furnish an adequate supply of sustenance
(which sometimes happens), the deficiency must be made up either by
providing a nurse of a healthy constitution, or by other means to be
presently mentioned. The former is the preferable remedy; but where a
nurse cannot be procured, and the mother’s milk is scanty, the child
may, after the third or fourth month, receive, at proper intervals, a
small allowance of cow’s milk, diluted with one-third of water, and
slightly sweetened. This makes the nearest approach to the nature of
the mother’s milk, and is therefore more suitable than any preparation
of milk and flour or arrow-root that can be given. Ass or goat-milk
answers still better.
The appearance of the first teeth is an indication that the digestive
organs have become sufficiently developed to admit of small portions of
barley-water panada, thin arrow-root, or milk and water, being given
two or three times daily in addition to the nourishment drawn from the
mother’s breast, if the latter be at all deficient. Great care must be
taken, however, neither to exceed in quantity, nor to give the food
too rapidly; for otherwise the stomach will become too full, and be
weakened by the efforts it is obliged to make. I have already pointed
out the importance of attending to this rule; and in accordance with
it, Nature by arranging that the milk shall flow only by slow degrees,
has taken care that, in suckling, the child shall receive its food very
gradually. The very appearance of the teeth indicates a preparation of
the digestive functions for more substantial aliment; and by beginning
cautiously the use of small quantities of such simple articles as those
above named, and gradually increasing them according to the wants
of the system, an excellent preparation is made for the process of
weaning, which would otherwise, by its suddenness, be attended with
serious risk to both parent and child.
The milk _of the parent_ ought, in every instance, to constitute
the food of the infant, unless some very urgent reason prevents the
mother from suckling, or renders her milk improper for the child. There
is always a relation between the condition and constitution of the
mother, and the age and constitution of the infant, which renders this
proper, and which cannot exist between the child and any other nurse,
but which exercises an important influence on its nutrition. It is
well known, for example, that, during the first few weeks, the milk is
thinner and more watery than it afterwards becomes. If, consequently,
a newly-born infant be provided with a nurse in the third or fourth
month, the natural relation between its stomach and the quality of the
milk is destroyed, and the infant suffers from the oppression of food
being too heavy for its powers. If, again, an infant of five or six
months old be transferred to a nurse recently delivered, the aliment
which it receives is too watery for its support, and its health in
consequence gives way.
In like manner, if the parent be of mature age, her own milk, or that
of a healthy nurse of a nearly similar age, will be more suitable
to the infant than the milk of a much younger woman; because the
constitution of the offspring always bears a relation to that of the
mother, and is adapted to the quality of the fluid which Nature has
provided for it. I speak, of course, only of the healthy state; for in
cases of disease, the mother may be, and often is, the most unfit nurse
that can be found for her own child. But as, in such instances, the
parents are always guided in their conduct by medical advice, and this
is not the place to discuss the treatment of disease, I need not now
enlarge upon it.
The leading error in the rearing of the young, I must again repeat, is
_over-feeding_--an error serious in itself, but which may easily
be avoided by the parent yielding only to the indication of appetite,
and administering food slowly and in small quantities at a time. By no
other means can the colics and bowel-complaints, and irritability of
the nervous system, so common in infancy, be effectually prevented,
and strength and healthy nutrition be secured. Nature never meant
the infant stomach to be converted into a receptacle for laxatives,
carminatives, antacids, spicy stimulants, and astringents; and when
these become necessary, we may rest assured that there is something
faulty in our management, however perfect it may seem to ourselves. The
only exception is where the child is defectively constituted, and then,
of course, it may fail to thrive under the best measures which can be
devised for its relief.
Another cause of infantile indigestion, and which is too much
overlooked through ignorance of its importance, is _vitiation of the
quality of the milk_, caused by imprudence, neglect, or anxiety,
on the part of the mother. The extent to which this cause operates
in inducing irritation and suffering in the child is not generally
understood; and accordingly, it is not unusual for mothers to display
as much indifference to health, regimen, and tranquillity of mind,
during nursing, as if the milky secretion, and all other bodily
functions, were independent of every external and corporeal influence.
Healthy, nourishing, and digestible milk, can proceed only from a
healthy and well constituted parent; and it is against nature to expect
that, if the mother impairs her health and digestion by improper
diet, neglect of exercise, impure air, or unruly passions, she can
nevertheless provide a wholesome and uncontaminated fluid, as if she
were exemplary in her observance of all the laws of health.
It is no new or uncertain doctrine that the quality of the mother’s
milk is affected by her own health and conduct, and that, in its turn,
it directly affects the health of the nursling. Even medicines given
to the parent act upon the child through the medium of the milk;
and a sudden fit of anger, or other violent mental emotion, has not
unfrequently been observed to change the quality of the fluid, so much
as to produce purging and gripes in the child. Care and anxiety, in
like manner, exert a most pernicious influence, and not only diminish
the quantity but vitiate the quality of the milk.
As soon, then, may we expect to see a bad tree bringing forth good
fruit, as bad management good results; and low must that parent be
ranked in the scale of moral beings, who, knowing the relation we
have pointed out, can still deliberately sacrifice the welfare of her
offspring, by the improper indulgence of her appetites and passions,
and by culpably neglecting the duties and restrictions demanded by her
own health.
It is a common mistake to suppose that, because a woman is nursing, she
ought therefore to live very fully, and to add an allowance of wine,
porter, or other fermented liquid, to her usual diet. The only result
of this plan is to cause an unnatural degree of fulness in the system,
which places the nurse on the brink of disease, and which of itself
frequently puts a stop to, instead of increasing, the secretion of the
milk. The health and usefulness of country nurses are often utterly
ruined by their transplantation into the families of rich and luxurious
employers. Accustomed at home to constant bodily exertion, exposure
to the air, and a moderate supply of the plainest food, they live in
the enjoyment of the best health, and constitute excellent nurses. But
the moment they are translated from their proper sphere, their habits
and mode of life undergo an unfavourable change. Having no longer any
laborious duties to perform, or any daily exposure to encounter, they
become plethoric and indolent; and as they are at the same time too
well fed, the digestive functions become impaired, the system speedily
participates in the disorder, and the milk, which was at first bland,
nourishing, and plentiful, now becomes heating and insufficient, and
sometimes even stops altogether. The motive which induces the mother
to take the nurse out of her proper element is extremely amiable--she
is desirous to see that her infant is properly attended to; but the
method which she takes to gratify this desire is not on that account
the less short-sighted and erroneous. If the nurse cannot be trusted
with the child at her own home, care ought to be taken at least that
her diet and mode of life be changed as little as possible from those
which experience has proved to be most conducive to her health; and the
system of feeding, confinement, and indolence, usually resorted to,
ought to be strictly prohibited, as fraught with evil to both nurse and
child.
Nature, indeed, has saved mothers the necessity of oppressing their
stomachs by way of providing for the wants of their young, and has
enabled them to give suck without either suffering from exhaustion or
having recourse to a more stimulating diet. This is accomplished simply
by the suppression of that periodical evacuation to which all healthy
women are subject during the greater portion of life except when
pregnant or nursing; and as, in every situation, it is certainly more
advantageous for all parties to follow out the intentions of Nature,
than to substitute any contrivance of their own to effect a given end,
so, in the present instance, more will be gained by the observance
of the ordinary laws of health on the part of the nurse, than by any
foolish deviation founded on ignorance and caprice. It often happens,
for example, that, from the waste caused by a great flow of milk, the
appetite becomes keener, and digestion more vigorous than usual. In
such cases, it is obviously allowable to increase to a moderate extent
the amount of food, because the demand for it is natural and healthy.
But it is a total perversion to say, that, because the appetite and
digestion are vigorous, the diet ought therefore to be made rich and
stimulating. And it is not less absurd to infer, that because a healthy
nurse enjoys a keen appetite, and derives benefit from a moderate
increase of her usual food, a sickly or delicate nurse will therefore
be benefited by also eating more whether she has a natural appetite for
it or not. The two cases, although generally confounded, are so widely
different, that, while the increase of food promotes the flow of milk
in the one, it is almost sure to diminish or put an entire stop to it
in the other.
The length of time during which an infant ought to be fed at the breast
is subject to some variation. In this country, the end of the ninth
month is usually considered a proper time for weaning; but much depends
on the condition of the mother, and also on that of the child. If both
are in vigorous health, if the infant has cut several of its teeth and
been already accustomed to be fed, and if the season be favourable,
weaning ought to be then gradually accomplished. But if the nursling
is feeble in constitution, the teeth late in appearing, and the nurse
has a sufficient supply of good milk, especially if it be the winter
season, it will be far better to prolong the nursing for a few months.
In such a case, the single fact of the non-appearance of the teeth,
would suffice to indicate an unfitness of the system for any other than
the natural food from the maternal breast. In general, weaning takes
place too early, at least in Scotland.
Where a healthy and well-constituted nurse has been provided, on
account of the existence of a hereditary taint, such as active scrofula
or cancer, in the parent, it is generally advantageous to defer the
weaning beyond the usual time. But we must, in this case, be watchful
not to delay it, if either the nurse or the child begins to suffer from
its continuance.
It would carry me too far from the main object of this work to discuss
all the contingencies against which it is occasionally necessary to
provide in the management of the young. This, however, is scarcely
required, seeing that medical advice is generally resorted to at the
time of their occurrence; and the exposition of principles already
given will enable most reflecting readers to decide for themselves,
how far they may safely trust to their own lights, without delaying to
seek advice from others till the evil is done.
After the child has been weaned, panada, gruel, thin arrow-root,
tapioca, sago, rusk, or crust of bread, may be allowed along with the
fresh milk and water and sugar, which ought still to constitute the
principal part of the food; and one or other ought to be preferred
according to its effects. When these are given in moderate quantity,
and not too frequently, they generally agree well; but in some delicate
children they cause acidity, flatulence, and griping. In this case,
a proportion of weak chicken-broth, or beef-tea freed from fat, and
thickened with rusk, soft boiled rice or arrow-root, may be added.
The same kind of food ought to be continued till after the appearance
of the canine or dog-teeth. When these have fairly protruded, a portion
of soft-boiled egg may be given as an introduction to the use of a more
completely animal diet. In general, solid animal food ought not to
be allowed in any quantity till all the teeth have appeared, and the
digestive powers be fully adequate to its assimilation.
In this respect, there are two errors which ought equally to be
avoided. If animal food be given too early, or in too great quantity,
the system becomes excited, and diseases of irritation are apt to be
produced, which impede nutrition, and lead ultimately to the production
of scrofula and other organic changes in the glands and bowels, and
not unfrequently also in the brain and lungs. In these instances, the
child generally eats heartily, but nevertheless continues thin, and is
subject to frequent flushing and irregularity of the bowels, head-ach,
and restlessness. His mind partakes of the general irritability of
the system, and peevish impatience takes the place of the placid
good-humour natural to healthy childhood. In this state the ordinary
diseases of infancy,--measles, scarlet fever, and whooping cough--are
often attended with an unusual and dangerous degree of constitutional
disturbance; and when inflammation takes place, the necessary depletion
is borne with difficulty, and the system does not easily rally.
The consequences now enumerated, and the error from which they spring,
are most frequently met with in the middle and higher classes of
society. Aware that animal substances contain the largest proportion
of nutriment in a given bulk, but ignorant of the relation subsisting
between particular kinds of food and particular states of the system,
and which in practice can never be safely overlooked, the fond parent
naturally imagines that the more nutritious the food, and the larger
the quantity administered, the stronger and healthier will the child
become. No suspicion is entertained that strong diet may overpower
weak organs, and thus induce the very evils which it is sought to
avoid; whereas, by adapting the quality and quantity of the food to
the condition of the system, the assimilating powers may be gradually
invigorated, and healthy nutrition be completely ensured.
Among the wealthier classes, imperfect nutrition most generally arises
from excess in quantity, or a too stimulating quality, of food; but
among the lower classes from deficiency in quantity or quality,
added to scantiness of clothing, want of cleanliness, and imperfect
ventilation. And hence Dr Clark, in treating of the prevention of
scrofula and consumption in early life, lays great stress on the
proper regulation of diet, and shews that, even in families free from
all hereditary taint, a morbid condition of the system extremely
favourable to the production of both diseases, is speedily brought
about by continued mismanagement of diet; and both the public and
the profession are deeply indebted to him for drawing attention to
the extensive influence of dyspeptic ailments in paving the way for
the future inroads of a deadlier disease. It is true that it has
long been the fashion to ascribe all bodily and mental disorders to
bile, indigestion, or the state of the bowels; but the rationale of
the result has seldom been perceived, or turned to any good account
in improving preventive or remedial treatment. Dr Clark’s treatise,
however, presents a remarkable exception, and may be referred to as
a most instructive specimen of cautious and discriminating medical
inquiry.
When we reflect that the object of digestion is to furnish materials
for the growth of the body, and to supply the waste which the system
is constantly undergoing, it must appear self-evident, that, if the
digestive powers be impaired by disease, by improper quantity or
quality of food, or by any other cause, the result must necessarily
be the formation of an imperfect chyle, and consequently of imperfect
blood. The elements of the blood are derived from the chyle, and if
_it_ be vitiated, the blood also must suffer; if the blood be
impoverished, so must necessarily be all the organs which it supplies;
and if the body be thus debilitated, can any wonder be felt that it
should no longer be able to resist the action of offending causes
which full health alone can withstand? No matter whether the imperfect
chyle springs from deficiency or excess, from too weak or too strong
food, from constitutional debility or the inroad of disease,--imperfect
nutrition is its invariable consequence, and that cannot happen without
exposing the system to morbid influences in a greater or less degree,
according to the nature of the constitution and other concomitant
circumstances.
Wisely, therefore, does Dr Clark recommend early and earnest attention
to a proper dietetic regimen, and insist that “the food of the child be
regulated chiefly by the state of the digestive organs. In proportion
to the delicacy of the child, the diet will in general require to be
mild; when he thrives upon milk, farinaceous food, and light broths,
no stronger or more substantial food need be used during the first two
years of life: when he looks healthy and grows, and his bowels are
regular (for this is one of the surest indications that the food is
suited to the digestive organs), we have the best proofs that the diet
agrees with him. When, on the other hand, the child appears heated or
flushed towards evening, when he drinks greedily and more than is usual
in children of the same age, and when his bowels do not act regularly,
we may be assured that there is something wrong in the regimen employed.
“There is no greater error in the management of children than that
of giving them animal diet too early in life. To feed an infant with
animal food before it has teeth for masticating it, shews a total
disregard to the plain indications of Nature in withholding such teeth
till the system requires their assistance in masticating solid food.
Before that period, milk, farinaceous food, and broth, afford that
kind of sustenance which is best suited to the digestive organs, and
to the nourishment of the system. The method of grating and pounding
meat as a substitute for chewing, may be well suited to the toothless
octogenarian, whose stomach is capable of digesting it; but the stomach
of the young child is not adapted to the digestion of such food, and
will be disordered by it. When the child has the means of masticating,
a little animal food may be allowed, but it should be of the lightest
quality, and given on alternate days only; and even then its effects
should be watched, for all changes in the regimen of children should be
gradual.
“The frequent origin of scrofulous disease in defective nourishment
has led to the opposite extreme, and children who are disposed to
tuberculous disease are too often subjected to a system of over-feeding
which induces the disease it is intended to prevent. By persevering
in the use of an overstimulating diet, the digestive organs become
irritated, and the various secretions immediately connected with
digestion are diminished, especially the biliary secretion; at least
the sensible qualities of the bile enable us to observe it best.
Constipation of the bowels soon follows; congestion of the hepatic and
abdominal veins succeeds, and is followed by the train of consequences
which have already been detailed. It would be well if the advocates
of the system of high feeding, would bear in mind the salutary adage,
_corpora impura quo plus nutries, eo magis lædis_.”[48]
In proportion as the organization becomes developed, and strength,
activity, and aptitude for abundant exercise increase, a larger
allowance of plain animal food becomes essential to health. The
instruments of mastication are now fully adequate to their office, and
the stomach is no longer oppressed by the effort of digesting it. To
make it safe, however, even at that age, ample exercise and exposure to
the open air are indispensable. By undue confinement to the house or to
school, and deficient exposure to the air, a degree of general delicacy
is kept up which is incompatible with the daily use of a stimulant
animal diet. The waste occasioned by the bodily action is too limited
to require the copious supply of any very nutritious substances, and
if these be freely allowed, they serve only to oppress the digestive
functions and impair the health.
The prevalent and pernicious custom of tasking the minds and confining
the bodies of children for hours in succession at home and in schools,
at a time of life when the growth of the body and the welfare of the
system require constant and playful exercise in the open air, and
perfect freedom from care and excitement of mind, is the fruitful
source of much future bad health, and is eminently calculated to
defeat the object aimed at by parents, namely, the mental excellence
of the child. The premature exertion of intellect to which it is
stimulated by the constant excitement of emulation and vanity, far from
strengthening, tends to impair the health and tone of the brain, and of
all the organs depending on it; and hence we rarely perceive the genius
of the school manifesting in future years any of the superiority which
attracted attention in early life; but we find him, on the contrary,
either sunk below mediocrity, or dragging out a painful existence, the
victim of indigestion and melancholy. On the other hand, some of the
most distinguished men who ever lived were in childhood remarkable only
for health, idleness, and apparent stupidity. The illustrious Newton
was, by his own account, an idle and inattentive boy, and “very low
in the school,” till he reached twelve years of age; and the young
Napoleon himself is described as “having good health, and being in
other respects like other boys.” Adam Clarke was considered “a grievous
dunce” when a boy, and was seldom praised by his father, except for
his ability _in rolling large stones_, which his robust frame and
good health enabled him to do. Shakspeare, Gibbon, Byron, Scott, and
Davy, were in like manner undistinguished for precocious genius, and
were fortunately allowed to indulge freely in those wholesome bodily
exercises, and that freedom of mind, which contributed so much to their
future excellence. The mother of Sheridan, too, long regarded him as
“the dullest and most hopeless of her sons.”
Among the many who give great promise in early life, and whose talents
are then forced by ill-judged cultivation into precocious maturity, how
few live to manhood to reap the reward of their exertions, and how few
of those who survive preserve their superiority unimpaired! Tasso was
early distinguished, and wrote his immortal epic at twenty-two years of
age, but his life was miserable and his reason disordered, and he died
at fifty-one. Pascal is another example of the same result, and Kirke
White and many others might be named were it necessary.[49]
Experience, indeed, amply demonstrates that precocious and excessive
activity of intellect and vivacity of feeling are most powerful
impediments to healthy and vigorous digestion, and consequently to a
sufficient nutrition. In early life, therefore, when not only health
but future usefulness depend mainly on the completeness and vigour
with which the system shall proceed towards its full development, the
preservation of the digestive organs by suitable diet, exercise, and
regimen, ought to be a primary object of attention with every sensible
parent. Even as regards superiority of mind, the healthy development
of the body is of essential importance, as the only sure foundation
on which mental excellence can be built; because, so long as mind and
body are intimately connected with each other, the former must continue
to be affected by every change in the condition of the organization
on which it depends. We enjoy acuteness of vision by preserving the
eye in high health, and exercising it regularly and moderately; and
in like manner, we can obtain and preserve intellectual power only by
preserving the health of the brain, and exercising it in conformity
with its natural constitution.
Instead, then, of feeding the closely confined and excitable children
of the middle and higher classes from early infancy on quantities
of stimulating animal food, and even giving them wine and fermented
liquors, we shall act more in accordance with the laws of Nature by
restricting them, during the three or four earliest years of childhood,
chiefly to a mild farinaceous diet, with a small allowance of meat on
alternate days; and by seeking to increase their digestive power and
bodily vigour by constant exercise in the open air, before giving them
a more solid diet. By these means the development of the organization,
the keenness of appetite, the tone of digestion, and the desire of,
and fitness of the system for, animal food, will increase in regular
proportion, and a free supply of that species of aliment will even
become necessary to carry on the growth. In short, it must ever be
remembered, that strength is to be obtained not from the kind of food
which contains most nourishment in itself, but from that which is best
adapted to the condition of the digestive organs at the time when it is
taken.
Children who are prone to bodily exertion, and live almost entirely in
the open air, as many of those of the lower orders do, and who display
no unusual sensibility or activity of mind, or, in other words, no
unusual irritability of the nervous system, not only bear but require a
larger proportion of animal food than their more delicate and sensitive
companions. Not only is their digestion more vigorous, but the waste
going on in the system is much greater, and the nutritive functions are
more active; the need consequently for nourishing food, and the desire
to procure it, are proportionally increased. Hence it happens that,
in the wealthier classes of society, young children suffer most from
over-feeding; while in the poorer classes they suffer chiefly from the
opposite cause. In both, defective nutrition is the result; but the
modes in which it is brought about are very different.
One of the most pernicious habits in which children can be indulged is
that of almost incessant eating. Many mothers encourage it from the
facility with which, for a time, the offer of “something nice” procures
peace. Even from infancy, the child ought to be gradually accustomed
to eat only when hungry, and when food is really required. After two
years of age, an interval of four hours between meals will rarely be
more than enough; and to give biscuit, fruit, or bread in the mean
time, is just subtracting from the digestive power of the stomach. Like
almost every organ of the body, the stomach requires a period of repose
after the labour of digestion; and, accordingly, in the healthy state,
the sensation of appetite never returns till it has been for some time
empty. To give food sooner, therefore, is analogous to making a weary
traveller walk on without the refreshment of a halt.
It is a great mistake to suppose that children would not be quiet or
contented without such indulgence. On the contrary, they would be
healthier and happier were the _opposite_ system steadily pursued.
The greatest obstacle to be encountered is the ignorance of the nurse
or mother, and her want of resources for the entertainment and exercise
of the child’s bodily and mental faculties. If these be duly attended
to, the child will not think of eating till the return of appetite
enforces the demand; whereas if it be left idle and neglected, every
thing will be carried to its mouth, as its only remaining resource
against absolute inanity. So true is this, that I should regard that
nurse as unfit for her employment, who should complain that her charge,
otherwise in good health, is incessantly craving for something to eat.
In this respect children are like adults. Give them something to do and
to think about, and they will seek meat only when hungry. But leave
them idle and listless, and eating will become their chief subject of
contemplation.
In a matter so important as the rearing of children, one would imagine
that every mother and nurse would be anxious for instruction on the
nature, functions, and wants of the being committed to their fostering
care. And yet it is notorious how rarely either one or other of them
possesses any but the crudest notions of the animal economy, or can
give reasons for the practices they recommend, or modify them in any
degree to suit modifications of circumstances and constitution. In
reality the wonder comes to be, not that so many children die, but that
so many survive their early mismanagement.
* * * * *
From the age of six or seven years up to that of puberty, when the
animal activity is at its height, growth in full progress, and the
nutritive functions in their greatest vigour, a larger proportion
of animal food, and a more generous diet, become necessary to the
enjoyment of health and vigour; but they must still be accompanied
by ample exercise and free exposure, otherwise they will tend only
to clog and impede the functions of life. At that age the teeth and
other organs concerned in digestion have become developed and fit
for the assimilation of a richer aliment, and the rapid growth which
takes place renders an abundant provision of the latter in a manner
indispensable. It is then that the healthy youthful appetite demands
quantity as well as quality, and that digestion goes on with an ease
and vigour which the dyspeptic parent contemplates with a covetous and
regretful eye.
At that age, indeed, the nutritive functions are so predominantly
active for the purpose of carrying on growth, and supplying the rapid
waste caused by youthful activity, that if the natural craving for
exercise in the open air be freely indulged, and due attention be given
to the development of the bodily frame, the young may be very safely
left to choose for themselves both the quality and quantity of their
food. In such circumstances, the natural taste inclines so essentially
to the preference of plain substantial nourishment, that there is very
little risk of excess being committed. But where the parents are intent
only on the intellectual advancement of their children, and accustomed
to subject them daily to many successive hours of confinement and
study, with only an hour or so of relaxation in the open air, as is too
commonly the case both with those educated at home and with those in
boarding-schools, an artificial state of being is induced, which makes
the rule no longer applicable, and renders necessary a more careful
attention to dietetic regimen.
Among the higher classes of society the unrestricted use of the most
exciting kinds and preparations of animal food, and the daily use of
wine, are the means generally resorted to for the removal of the
delicacy thus engendered; but when we consider the real state of the
case, no remedy can seem more preposterous. The evil to be corrected is
imperfect nutrition, and the want of strength. The imperfect nutrition,
however, is caused, not by deficient food, but by impaired powers of
digestion and assimilation, and these suffer only because the lungs are
denied the free air, the muscles their necessary exertion, the brain
its cheerful recreation, and the circulation the healthy stimulus which
these united conditions infallibly produce. Instead, therefore, of
oppressing a weakened stomach by administering stronger food than it
has the power of digesting, the natural way of proceeding would be to
prescribe at first a milder and less stimulating diet,--to improve the
tone of digestion by fulfilling the conditions above referred to,--and
then, in proportion as the stomach was strengthened, to adopt a more
nourishing diet, suited to the increased efficiency of all the animal
functions.
By running counter to this method, and using highly stimulating food
improperly, many young people of the wealthier classes incur as much
suffering from imperfect nutrition, and the diseases to which it
predisposes, as if they were really the victims of an impoverished
diet. Dr Clark, after making some very judicious remarks on the
influence of bad digestion in inducing the consumptive constitution
of body, expresses himself strongly on the evils to which I have
just alluded. “Food in excess,” he says, “or of a kind too exciting
for the digestive organs, may also induce tubercular cachexia,--a
circumstance which is not sufficiently attended to,--I may say, not
generally understood, even by medical men; nevertheless, I hold it to
be a frequent cause of scrofula, and believe that it produces the same
effect on the system as a deficient supply.” “The imperfect digestion
and assimilation in the one case, and the inadequate nourishment in
the other, being equally injurious: the forms and general characters
which the disease assumes may differ, but the ultimate result will be
the same in both cases. The adaptation of the food, both in quality and
quantity, to the age of the individual, as well as to the powers of the
digestive organs, is too little considered; and the evil consequences
of this neglect are often evident in the children of the wealthy
classes of society, who are allowed an unrestricted use of the most
exciting kinds of animal food.”[50]
The opposite error, of not providing a sufficiently nourishing diet
for the young, is, from mistaken views, much more prevalent than it
ought to be, particularly in female boarding-schools, where, as already
mentioned, the system of diet is often insufficient for due sustenance
and growth; and where, consequently, the natural expression of impaired
health, if not actual disease, is a marked feature in the aspect
of most of the pupils. So defective, indeed, is the common school
management in this and other respects, that we have the best authority
for considering it as a rare exception for a girl to return home in
full health after spending two or three years at an ordinary English
boarding-school.[51]
It is true, that much of this result is owing to excessive
confinement, neglect of cheerful exercise, ill-ventilated sleeping
apartments, and other depressing influences; but to these, that of an
insufficient diet may often be added; and when it does exist, it acts
with double force from the impaired digestion, which seldom fails to
ensue where the laws of health are so widely outraged.
I have seen some striking instances of incurable scrofulous disease,
induced by the depressing influence of misfortune added to the want
of a sufficient supply of nutritious food. After the mercantile
disasters of 1825–6, many cases of this kind occurred, especially in
families whose sensitive feelings induced them to shrink from public
observation, and to suffer the severest privations rather than allow
their situation to become known. In these cases, the tone of the
general health first became reduced, and then local disease was easily
excited by any trivial cause. In one, the structure of the bones and
joints became disorganized, and amputation of the limb preserved life,
but could not prevent other parts of the osseous system from being
attacked. In another, caries of the bones of the foot ensued, but the
constitution itself was so thoroughly tainted that no operation could
be performed with even momentary success, and, after much suffering,
the patient died. The same causes undermined the health of another
member of the same family, and led to his death, from consumption, at
an early age.
In regard to the diet best adapted to different constitutions in mature
age, I have already confessed that I have little new information
to offer. In determining the question, several other circumstances
besides the mere temperament require to be considered. A more or
less laborious mode of life, for example, will require a more or
less nutritious diet, whatever the original habit of body may be.
In like manner, if any temperament be in excess, and we wish to
repress its predominance, the same kind of food which is suitable for
it in a lower degree will no longer be applicable. Thus, when the
lymphatic constitution is predominant, and our object is to diminish
its ascendency, and stimulate the system to greater vigour, a larger
proportion of solid nourishing food, combined with increased exercise,
will be more proper than if there is no such excess. Where, on the
other hand, the nervous or sanguine temperament preponderates, a
plainer and less exciting regimen will be necessary than where the
constitutional tendencies are more equally balanced.
The power we possess of modifying the constitution by well-directed
regimen is very great, and only requires to be sufficiently
investigated to have due importance assigned to it in conducting
physical education. This is well exemplified in the art of training,
where diet and exercise are reduced to a practical science for the
attainment of certain results, and with remarkable success. In the
hands of a trainer, the breathless and oppressed frame of a person
over-burdened with lymph and fat speedily becomes converted into
an active, firm, and well-conditioned organization, exhibiting a
promptitude of action of both mind and body the very opposite of its
former manifestations; and if such a change can be effected by rigid
adherence to rules, in the course of two or three months, we may easily
conceive the degree of improvement which would follow the uniform
observance of proper regimen and dietetic precepts in ordinary society.
In improving the moral and intellectual as well as physical condition
of the working-classes, the influence of food, air, and exercise,
will soon be discovered to possess a degree of importance of which at
present scarcely a suspicion is entertained. They constitute, in fact,
the very foundation of a systematic education; and mere intellectual
cultivation will fail to produce its full beneficial results, till
the organization by which the mind operates be itself improved by a
treatment in harmony with its own constitution.
If it be impossible for me to communicate sufficient information to
enable each of my readers at once to determine beforehand the kind of
diet which is likely to suit him best, it will give him at least some
satisfaction to know, that, by observing personally what kind of food
agrees best with his stomach and constitution, he may soon obtain the
necessary information for himself. When we refrain from eating too
much and at unreasonable hours, and are not conscious of any undue
oppression or discomfort after our meals, but, on the contrary, feel
light or refreshed, and, after a time, ready for renewed exertion,
we may rest assured that the food which we have taken is wholesome
and suitable for us, whatever be its nature and general effects.
Whereas if, without committing any excess or other dietetic error,
we experience the opposite sensations of oppression, languor, and
uneasiness, we may be just as certain that our food, whatever its
general character for lightness and digestibility, is not wholesome
or suitable for us under our present circumstances. So that, with
a little care and trouble, we shall rarely be at any loss to find
out what we ought to eat and what to avoid; and, accordingly, it is
notorious that indigestion from a wrong choice of food is induced at
least nine times by wilful indulgence, for once that it occurs from
errors originating in ignorance alone. If the proper _quantity_
of food be not exceeded, and the other conditions of digestion be
carefully fulfilled, the risk of mischief from an erroneous choice of
aliment will be greatly diminished.
* * * * *
After the full exposition of the laws of digestion given in the first
part of this work, I need hardly add, that although there are very few
articles of diet which a person in health, and leading a sufficiently
active life, may not eat with impunity, there are, nevertheless, some
which ought to be preferred, and others which ought to be avoided,
by those _whose digestion is impaired_. Thus, vegetables are,
generally speaking, slower of digestion than animal and farinaceous
aliments, and consequently, when digestion is feeble, are liable
to remain in the bowels till acetous fermentation takes place, and
gives rise to acidity and flatulence. Fat and oily meats are nearly
in the same predicament, and hence both form unsuitable articles of
diet for dyspeptics. Soups and liquid food are also objectionable,
both because they are ill adapted for being properly acted upon by
the gastric juice and by the muscular fibres of the stomach, and
because they afford insufficient nourishment. From the former cause
they frequently impair the digestive functions; and from the latter,
they induce diseases of debility which it is difficult to subdue.
Daily experience furnishes examples of stomachic disorder from eating
soups, especially as preliminary to an otherwise substantial dinner;
and the fatal epidemic which prevailed a few years ago in the Milbank
Penitentiary, was distinctly ascertained to have been partly caused
by an insufficient and too liquid diet. It is common, indeed, to see
heartburn and indigestion of recent origin cured simply by giving up
soups and vegetables, and diminishing the quantity of liquid taken at
breakfast and tea.
When, from the state of health or other causes, chicken-tea, beef-tea,
veal-broth, or other kinds of soup, require to be given, their
digestibility will generally be promoted by the addition of bread or
rice to give them consistency, and by taking little or no other food
along with them. Even vegetables, when taken alone, are sometimes
digested without difficulty, where, if mixed with other substances,
they disorder the stomach. Dr Abercrombie mentions a very remarkable
instance of this kind in a gentleman who “had been for many years a
martyr to stomach complaints, seldom a day passing in which he did not
suffer greatly from pain in his stomach, with flatulency, acidity, and
the usual train of dyspeptic symptoms; and, in particular, he could not
taste a bit of vegetable without suffering from it severely. He had
gone on in this manner for years, when he was seized with complaints
in his head, threatening apoplexy, which, after being relieved by the
usual means, shewed such a constant tendency to recur, that it has
been necessary ever since to restrict him to a diet almost entirely
of vegetables, and in very moderate quantity. Under this regimen,
so different from his former mode of living, he has continued free
from any recurrence of the complaints in his head, and has never been
known to complain of his stomach.”[52] In this case, however, both the
_very moderate quantity_ of vegetable food to which the patient
restricted himself, and possibly also the gradual adaptation of the
gastric juice to the nature of the food, had no small share in the
subsequent improvement of his digestion.
Dr Beaumont mentions, as a general result from his experiments on St
Martin, that vegetable food is slow of digestion; but it is much to
be regretted that he gives the particulars of only one or two trials,
which lead to no very important results. In one of these already
mentioned, St Martin ate “nine ounces of _raw_, _ripe_, _sour_ apples,
at 2 o’clock 35 minutes. At 3 o’clock 30 minutes, the stomach was full
of fluid and pulp of apples, quite acrid, and _irritating the edges
of the aperture, as is always the case when he eats acescent fruits
or vegetables_.”[53] In another instance, ten ounces of _raw cabbage_
were given, and in two hours not a particle of it was to be found in
the stomach; while on a third occasion, half a pound of _raw cabbage_,
cut fine, and macerated in vinegar, disappeared in little more than
one hour and a half! If in the latter experiments the cabbage was
really digested, and not merely propelled out of the stomach into the
intestine, we shall be forced to admit that we have still much to learn
concerning the digestibility of different kinds of food, for the result
is contrary to all generally received opinions. When vegetables are
allowed, great stress is commonly laid upon the necessity of their
being thoroughly cooked; and yet, according to these experiments, _raw_
cabbage is very nearly as digestible as soft boiled rice or sago! It is
strange that Dr Beaumont should not have remarked this anomaly, which
he seems not to have done, since he neither attempts to explain it nor
alludes to it as any thing extraordinary. My own suspicion is, that the
cabbage was not entirely digested, but had merely passed through the
pylorus into the intestine.
Dr Beaumont’s testimony in favour of farinaceous vegetables is,
however, more precise and satisfactory. In some of his experiments, St
Martin digested completely a full meal of _boiled rice_, seasoned
with salt, in a single hour. _Soft custard_ and _boiled rich
sago_, sweetened with sugar, and taken in quantities of a pint each
time, were disposed of with nearly equal dispatch, and “there was no
acrimony of the gastric contents, or smarting of the edges of the
aperture, during their chymification, as is usual in most vegetable and
farinaceous aliments;” on the contrary, the sago “seemed peculiarly
grateful to the surface of the stomach, rendering the membrane soft,
uniform, and healthy.”[54] In these instances, it ought to be remarked,
nothing else was eaten at the same time; so that the stomach was not
oppressed by _quantity_.
In early life, when digestion is vigorous, the system excitable, and
the habits peculiarly active, a full proportion of vegetable and
farinaceous food is proper and salutary. Morning and evening meals
of this description, prepared with milk, or taken along with it, are
very useful--animal food being reserved for dinner alone. But as age
advances and excitability diminishes, and perhaps also as habits of
activity and exposure to the open air are changed, the same proportion
of vegetable and farinaceous food can no longer be digested so easily,
and therefore ought not to be continued.
Pastry, rich cakes, puddings, and other articles containing much fatty
or oily matter in their composition, are perhaps the most generally
indigestible of all kinds of food, and consequently ought never to
be eaten when the tone of the stomach is impaired. There are states,
however, in which oily articles seem to agree better than lean. I
have seen very fat fried bacon, for example, digested with ease
at breakfast, where even a small potato would have disordered the
stomach. It is very difficult to afford any explanation of the fact,
which, however, is not uncommon. Perhaps it is dependent on a peculiar
state of the biliary secretion, for Dr Beaumont often remarked that
the presence of bile in the stomach facilitates the digestion of fat
and oily aliments, and that, even out of the stomach, gastric juice
dissolves suet faster when a little bile is added to the mixture, than
when the juice is pure. He mentions, moreover, that he never found bile
in the stomach, at least during health, except when food of an oily
kind had been eaten; and, in accordance with this, I have generally
noticed that fried bacon agrees best with what are called “bilious”
subjects. Still, however, the quantity must be small, otherwise it will
prove injurious.
Plain well-cooked animal food, not too recently killed, and eaten in
moderate quantity with bread, rice, or roasted potatoes, forms one of
the most easily digested meals which can be devised for a weak stomach.
Sometimes, however, potato induces acidity and flatulence, and ought
not to be used. Venison and most kinds of game are very suitable in the
same circumstances.
In some conditions of the system, where the condition is irritable and
the mode of life not sufficiently active, red highly animalized meat
proves too stimulating, although easy of digestion. The same thing
happens during recovery from illness; and hence fish, chicken, and
other white meats, which excite less and are digested more slowly, are
often allowable where beef, mutton, pork, &c. cannot be taken with
impunity. For the same reason, white and young meats are the best
adapted for the excitable systems of the young.
* * * * *
It would be easy to fill many pages with disquisitions about the
preference due to individual articles of food, were such the purpose
which I had in view. But books devoted to this branch of the subject
abound, and are already in general circulation; and as I have nothing
new to add to what is contained in them and to the general view
given in a preceding chapter, it would be making a needless demand
on the patience of the reader merely to repeat what is to be found
in so many other works. My object is the exposition of PRACTICAL
PRINCIPLES rather than of minute details; and my great aim is to
enable every intelligent person to understand, not only what digestion,
is, but the laws by which it is regulated, so that he may know at
once WHY it is for his advantage to adhere to one course of
conduct in preference to another in regard to it--WHY, in
different situations, diet requires to be modified in order to adapt
it more effectually to the varying wants of the system--and, lastly,
the circumstances or rules by which such modifications ought to be
determined. If I have succeeded in the attempt to explain any of all of
these principles sufficiently to render them susceptible of a practical
application by the reader, not only I will be greatly pleased, but
the advantage to him will speedily convince him that I have acted
judiciously in forsaking the beaten path, and drawing his attention to
truths of still greater importance to his welfare than those which are
most commonly treated of under the title of Dietetics.