Bethlehem; there you will find the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of
your Savior--poor, outcast, and dejected, seeking a shelter, to bring
forth the God-man! Then follow her to the Cross; here, a sword pierces
her own soul, to behold her only-beloved Son expire on the cross for
ungrateful man. But she had grace from on high; and we, too, can have
the same ark. Remember, this is not our abiding place; Mary rejoiced,
because she knew this, and her soul was filled with love--no murmuring
or complaint escaped her lips--all was submission to the will of God!
Let us all follow her example; and join our dear babes in Heaven, as
the mother of our God and Savior did.
GENERAL REMARKS.
THIS book will be read by friends and foes, and many will scrutinize
every word. I would politely ask such--cannot the aged be excused?
and remember my age. While writing the foregoing, it has been my aim
to speak the truth, in a plain and easy manner, so that all could
understand it--avoiding all vulgar phrases that was not necessary for
your comprehension.
It has been my determination, as far as practicable, to dispose of the
book myself, and only among my sex. I pray to God it may be a blessing
to the rising generation. I shall always be happy to give you any
information, in regard to your health, by letter. After the first of
May, 1858, you can address to “Saint Vincent de Paul, Lower Canada,”
nine miles from the city of Montreal; and the first of June, I shall be
enabled to accommodate a few invalids, at my own house. It is situated
on a branch of the Ottawa, and commands a beautiful view up and down
the river; as to the location, it cannot be surpassed.
All letters must be sent by the fifteenth of May, 1858, as the number
will be limited. Those that place themselves under my care, shall
have my care; where there are a great number, some, of course, must
be neglected. My farm is only one mile and a half from my residence,
where the ladies can ride and walk. It is considered, by visitors, a
delightful and healthy situation.
Reference, as to character and location:
Rev. Mr. N. LA VALLIE, }
Dr. POMEVILLE, } St. Vincent de Paul.
Dr. PRATT, }
Hon. C. C. S. DE BLEURY, }
THE DIET OF CHILDREN.
DURING the early stage of life, all heating and stimulating food
and drinks should be strictly forbidden. They tend more certainly
to produce disease, in the really excited system during childhood,
than perhaps at any other period of life. Vegetables should, in fact,
constitute the principal diet of children; especially the farinaceous
substances--such as bread, rice, arrow-root, potatoes, &c. To these
may be added milk, soft-boiled eggs, and a very moderate allowance of
plain and simply cooked animal food. Children, in general, have very
excellent appetites, and a sufficiency of nourishing food is absolutely
necessary--not merely to renew the waste of their systems, but also to
supply materials for their daily growth.
Three, or perhaps four, light meals a day, will be found a good
allowance during childhood. At one of these--the dinner, or mid-day
meal--animal food may be allowed, in moderation; for the others,
bread, or potatoes, and milk, various preparations of rice, or rice and
milk, plain bread pudding, and custard, form a proper and wholesome
diet. All salted and high-seasoned food should be forbidden. Some have
objected to butter for children; although experience would appear to
show that a very moderate allowance of fresh butter is by no means
injurious.
Of vegetables--potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets and cauliflowers, will
be found most wholesome. They should be well boiled, and the potatoes
and turnips eaten without being mashed, or mixed with butter or fat
gravy. Children should never be indulged in pastry, of any kind. They
may, occasionally, take a little of the cooked fruit of a pie; but even
this should be in moderation.
The drink of children should be simply water, milk, whey, or very
weak tea, milk and sugar. All stimulating and fermenting liquors are
not only unnecessary, but positively injurious, by increasing, to an
improper extent, the circulation of the blood; they induce fever,
indigestion, inflammation, or convulsions, to say nothing of the danger
of their use during childhood--giving rise to habits of intemperance in
after life.
The period of the meals should be strictly regulated, and in such a
manner that the intervals between them should not be so great as to
permit the children to experience, at any time, a sensation of hunger.
Supper should be taken an hour or two before bed-time. Children should
get their breakfasts as soon as possible after they have arisen, and
have been properly combed and washed; the stomach is then empty, and
the appetite keen. If food be too long withheld, the cravings become
either too importunate, or the appetite fails--either of which would be
injurious.
As little variety of food as possible should be set before children;
since every extraordinary article becomes a new incentive to appetite.
They should never be indulged with a second course; if they sit down
with an appetite, they will satisfy it by eating of the first articles
presented to them--hence, all the rest is superfluous, and therefore
injurious. If the appetite be trifling, the less they eat at the time
the better; as by taking but little, the appetite will more certainly
return at the next meal. But should this instinct of nature for an
observance of moderation be neglected, or attempted to be overcome
by variety, repletion, with all its evils, will follow. Instead of a
renewed and healthy appetite following, as would have been the case
had the instinct been obeyed, it will be found diminished, and most
probably attended with headache, fever, oppression, or even vomiting.
Children should not be allowed to eat frequently of bread and butter,
bread and molasses, cakes, or fruit, between meals, for this will
either destroy the regular appetite, or induce them to eat too much. In
the first case, the stomach will be interrupted in its regular routine
of function; consequently, the appetite will become either irregular or
capricious. In the second case, all the evils attendant upon an over
distension of the stomach must follow. They should not, therefore,
be suffered to carry food in their pockets, to eat between meals, or
during school hours, as this produces the injurious habit of requiring
food at improper times; by which the digestion of the previous meal
is interfered with--a fresh quantity of food being forced upon the
stomach, before it has properly digested that which had been before
received.
Children are to be restrained from any violent exercise immediately
after dinner; if not kept in a state of perfect rest, they should
at least be prevented from engaging in any pastime which requires
considerable bodily exertion. They should also be early taught the
importance of eating slowly, and chewing their food well; on this
account alone, the habit of resting after a meal is of importance, as
it prevents them from swallowing their food hastily, in order that they
may return more quickly to their play.
In regulating the diet of children, care should be taken not to force
any particular article upon them, after it is found, by a fair trial,
not to agree with their stomach. The contrary practice is both cruel
and injudicious; cruel, because the poor child is forced to swallow
what is disagreeable to it; and injudicious, because it is liable to
perpetuate a disgust which most probably would have subsided, had no
forcible attempt been made to overcome it. At the same time, however,
great care must be taken that permanent dislikes are not formed, at
this period of life, against certain wholesome articles of food. This
is often a matter of very great difficulty; a good deal of close
observation and discernment being required, in order to distinguish
between a wayward prejudice and an actual disgust. The former, if
indulged in too long, may be converted into the latter; while the
latter may often, by judicious and well adapted means, be entirely
removed. Children should never be suffered to eat alone, unless the
proper quantity of food be meted out to them; otherwise, they will
eat too much. If a child demand more than is judged proper for it,
its importunities should always be resisted with firmness, or it will
certainly acquire habits of gluttony.
REMARKS ON FOOD.
PROBABLY the best means of ascertaining food best adapted to the human
stomach, has been given us by Dr. Beaumont, in his experiments.
While stationed at Michilimackinac, Michigan Territory, in 1822, in
the service of the United States, he was called upon to take charge of
Alexis St. Martin, a young Canadian, eighteen years of age, of good
constitution and robust health, who was accidentally wounded by the
discharge of a musket, June 6th, 1822.
“The charge,” says Dr. Beaumont, “consisting of powder and duck-shot,
was received in the left side, at the distance of one yard from the
muzzle of the gun. The contents entered posteriorly, in an oblique
direction, forward and inward, literally blowing off inguments and
muscles the size of a man’s hand, fracturing and carrying away the
anterior half of the sixth rib, fracturing the fifth, lacerating the
lower portion of the left lobe of the lungs, the diaphragm, and also
_perforating the stomach_!”
On the fifth day, sloughing took place; lacerated portions of the lung
and stomach separated, and left a perforation into the latter “large
enough to admit the whole length of the middle finger into its cavity;
and also a passage into the chest, half as large as his fist.” Violent
fever and further sloughing ensued, and for seventeen days, everything
swallowed passed out through the wound, and the patient was kept alive
chiefly by nourishing injections. By and by the fever subsided, the
wound improved in appearance, and after the fourth week the appetite
became good, digestion regular, the evacuations natural, and the health
of the system complete. The orifice, however, never closed; and at
every dressing the contents of the stomach flowed out, and its coats
frequently became everted, or protruded so far as to equal in size a
hen’s egg; but they were always easily returned.
On the 6th of June, 1823, a year from the date of the accident, the
injured parts were all sound except the perforation into the stomach,
which was now two and a half inches in circumference. For some months
thereafter, the food could be retained only by constantly wearing a
compress and bandage; but early in winter, a small fold or doubling of
the villous coat began to appear, which gradually increased till it
filled the aperture, and acted as a valve, so as completely to prevent
any efflux from within, but to admit of being easily pushed back by the
finger from without.
Here, then, was an admirable opportunity for experimenting on the
subject of digestion, and for observing the healthy and undisturbed
operations of nature, free from the agony of vivisections, and
from the sources of fallacy inseparable from operating on animals.
Dr. Beaumont was sensible of its value, and accordingly pursued his
enquiries with a zeal, perseverance, and disinterestedness, highly
creditable to his character, both as a man and as a philosopher.
Dr. Beaumont began his experiments in May, 1825, and continued them
for four or five months, St. Martin being then in high health. In
the autumn, St. Martin returned to Canada, married, had a family,
worked hard, engaged as a voyager with the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company,
remained there four years, and was then engaged at a great expense,
by Dr. Beaumont, to come and reside near him, on the Mississippi, for
the purpose of enabling him to complete his investigations. He came
accordingly in August, 1829, and remained till March, 1831. He then
went a second time to Canada, but returned to Dr. Beaumont in November,
1832, when the experiments were once more resumed, and continued till
March, 1833, at which time he finally left Dr. Beaumont. He now enjoys
perfect health, but the orifice made by the wound remains in the same
state as in 1824.
The following table exhibits the general results of all the experiments
made upon St. Martin, posterior to 1825; and the average is deduced
from those which were performed when the stomach was considered, by Dr.
Beaumont, to be in its natural state, and St. Martin himself subjected
to ordinary exercise.
TABLE,
SHOWING THE MEAN TIME OF DIGESTION OF THE DIFFERENT ARTICLES OF DIET.
Articles of Diet. Mode Time required
of for
Preparation. Digestion.
H. M.
Rice, Boiled, 1.00
Sago, do. 1.45
Tapioca, do. 2.00
Barley, do. 2.00
Milk, do. 2.00
Do. Raw, 2.15
Gelatine, Boiled, 2.30
Pigs’ feet, soused, do. 1.00
Tripe, soused, do. 1.00
Brains, do. 1.45
Venison steak, Broiled, 1.35
Spinal marrow, Boiled, 2.40
Turkey, domestic, Roasted, 2.30
Do. do. Boiled, 2.25
Do. wild, Roasted, 2.18
Goose, do. 2.30
Pig, sucking, do. 2.30
Liver, beef’s fresh, Broiled, 2.00
Lamb, fresh, do. 2.30
Chicken, full-grown, Fricassee, 2.45
Eggs, fresh, Hard boiled, 3.30
Do. do. Soft do. 3.00
Do. do. Fried, 3.30
Do. do. Roasted, 2.15
Do. do. Raw, 2.00
Do. whipped, do. 1.30
Custard, Baked, 2.45
Codfish, cured, dry, Boiled, 2.00
Trout, salmon, fresh, do. 1.30
Do. do. Fried, 1.30
Bass, striped, fresh, Broiled, 3.00
Flounder, do. Fried, 3.30
Catfish, do. do. 3.30
Salmon, salted, Boiled, 4.00
Oysters, fresh, Raw, 2.55
Do. do. Roasted, 3.15
Do. do. Stewed, 3.30
Beef, fresh, lean, rare, Roasted, 3.00
Do. do. dry, do. 3.30
Do. steak, Broiled, 3.00
Do. with salt only, Boiled, 2.45
Do. with mustard, &c., do. 3.30
Do. fresh, lean, Fried, 4.00
Do. old, hard, salted, Boiled, 4.15
Pork, steak, Broiled, 3.15
Do. fat and lean, Roasted, 5.15
Do. recently salted, Boiled, 4.30
Do. do. Fried, 4.15
Do. do. Broiled, 3.13
Do. do. Raw, 3.00
Do. do. Stewed, 3.00
Mutton, fresh, Roasted, 3.15
Do. do. Broiled, 3.00
Do. do. Boiled, 3.00
Veal, fresh, Broiled, 4.00
Veal, fresh, Fried, 4.30
Fowls, domestic, Broiled, 4.00
Do. do. Roasted, 4.00
Ducks, do. do. 4.00
Do. wild, do. 4.30
Suet, beef, fresh, Boiled, 5.03
Do. mutton, do. 4.30
Butter, Melted, 3.30
Cheese, old, strong, Raw, 3.30
Soup-beef, vegetable,} Boiled, 4.00
and bread, }
Do. marrow bones, do. 4.14
Do. bean, do. 3.00
Do. barley, do. 1.30
Do. mutton, do. 3.30
Green corn and beans, do. 3.45
Chicken soup, do. 3.00
Oyster soup, do. 3.30
Hash, meat and vegetable, Warmed, 2.30
Sausage, fresh, Broiled, 3.20
Heart, animal, Fried, 4.00
Tendon, Boiled, 5.30
Cartilage, do. 4.15
Aponeurosis, do. 3.00
Beans, pod, do. 2.30
Bread, wheaten, fresh, Baked, 3.30
Do. corn, do. 3.15
Cake, corn, Baked, 3.00
Do. sponge, do. 2.30
Dumpling, apple, Boiled, 3.00
Apples, sour and hard, Raw, 2.50
Do. do. mellow, do. 2.00
Do. sweet, do. do. 1.30
Parsnips, Boiled, 2.30
Carrots, orange, do. 3.15
Beets, do. 3.45
Turnips, flat, do. 3.30
Potatoes, Irish, do. 3.30
Do. do. Roasted, 2.30
Do. do. Baked, 2.30
Cabbage, head, Raw, 2.20
Do. with vinegar, do. 2.00
Do. do. Boiled, 4.30
As a general rule, animal food is more easily and speedily digested,
and contains a greater quantity of nutriment in a given bulk, than
either herbaceous or farinaceous food; but, apparently from the same
cause, it is also more heating and stimulating. Minuteness of division,
and tenderness of fibre, are shown, by Dr. Beaumont’s experiments, to
be two grand essentials for the easy digestion of butcher-meat; and the
different kinds of fish, flesh, fowl, and game, are found to vary in
digestibility, chiefly in proportion as they approach or depart from
these two standing qualities.
Farinaceous food, such as rice, sago, arrow-root, and gruel, are also
rapidly assimulated, and prove less stimulating to the system than
concentrated animal food. Milk seems to rank in the same class, when
the stomach is in a healthy state.
Animal food, it is true, affords a more stimulating nutriment than
farinaceous and other kinds of vegetable aliment, and hence it is
avoided in diseases of excitement. But it seems to me that this
stimulus is owing, not only to its own inherent properties, but also to
its more highly concentrated state, and to the much greater quantity of
chyle which is derived from it, than from an equal bulk of vegetable
aliment.
Before concluding his experiments on the agents employed in digestion,
Dr. Beaumont made many observations, with a view to ascertain whether
any increase of temperature took place during that process. By
introducing a thermometer with a long stem, at the external opening
into St. Martin’s stomach, both before and during the chymification,
he succeeded in obtaining very accurate information on this point.
In two or three of the experiments, the heat of the stomach seemed
to be increased after taking food; but in by far the greater number,
the temperature remained the same. It appeared, however, that the
variations of the atmosphere produced a sensible change on the heat of
the stomach--a dry air increasing, and a moist air diminishing it. The
ordinary temperature may be estimated at 100 Fahrenheit, and in several
instances it was higher at the pyloric than at the cardiac end. On one
cloudy, damp, and rainy day, the thermometer rose only to 94 degrees,
and on another to 96 degrees; whereas the next day, when the weather
was clear and dry, it rose to 99 degrees; and on that following, when
the weather was both clear and cold, to 100. On several occasions, it
rose as high as 102 degrees, and once to 103 degrees; but these were
after exercise, which was always observed to cause an increase of two
or three degrees. We have already seen that artificial digestion is
entirely arrested by cold.
INFERENCES FROM DR. BEAUMONT’S EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS, GIVEN IN
HIS OWN WORDS.
1. That hunger is the effect of distension of the vessels that secrete
the gastric juice.
2. That the processes of mastication, insalivation, and deglutition, in
an abstract point of view, do not in any way affect the digestion of
the food; or, in other words, when food is introduced directly into the
stomach, in a finely divided state, without these previous steps, it is
as perfectly digested as when they have been taken.
3. That saliva does not possess the properties of an alimentary solvent.
4. That the agent of chymification is the gastric juice.
5. That the pure gastric juice is fluid, clear, and transparent;
without odor, a little salt, and perceptibly acid.
6. That it contains free muriatic acid, and some other active chymical
properties.
7. That it is never found free in the gastric cavity; but it is always
excited to discharge itself by the introduction of food or other
irritants.
8. That it is secreted from vessels distinct from the mucous follicles.
9. That it is seldom obtained pure; but is generally mixed with mucous,
and sometimes with saliva. When pure, it is capable of being kept for
months, and perhaps for years.
10. That it coagulates albumen, and afterward dissolves the coagulæ.
11. That it checks the progress of putrefaction.
12. That it acts as a solvent of food, and alters its properties.
13. That, like other chymical agents, it commences its action on food
as soon as it comes in contact with it.
14. That it is capable of combining with a certain and fixed quantity
of food; and when more aliment is presented for its action than it will
dissolve, disturbance of the stomach, or “indigestion," will ensue.
15. That its action is facilitated by the warmth and motions of the
stomach.
16. That it becomes intimately mixed and blended with the ingestæ in
the stomach, by the motions of that organ.
17. That it is invariably the same substance, modified only by
admixture with other fluids.
18. That the motions of the stomach produce a constant churning of its
contents, and admixture of food and gastric juice.
19. That these motions are in two directions--transversely and
longitudinally.
20. That no other fluid produces the same effect on food that gastric
juice does; and that it is the only solvent of aliment.
21. That the action of the stomach and its fluids is the same on all
kinds of diet.
22. That solid food, of a certain texture, is easier of digestion than
fluid.
23. That animal and farinaceous aliments are more easy of digestion
than vegetable.
CATALOGUE OF HERBS, MEDICINAL PLANTS, &c.