entirely absent from this book. It is throughout thoroughly broad,
refreshingly sensible and profoundly convincing.
_The Cottage Farm Month by Month_ (illustrated with original
photographs). By F.E. Green. Cloth, 1s. net (postage 2d.). C.W.
Daniel, Ltd., 3 Tudor Street, London, E.C.
Here is a book of immediate social interest, of great practical value,
and of uncommon literary quality.
In the course of twelve chapters, bearing the titles of the months of
the year, it reveals a welding together of two things which in many
minds have unfortunately become divorced: the practical problems and
arduous labour which no tiller of the soil can escape and--the keen
delight of a poetical temperament in the ever-changing, yet annually
renewed, beauties of earth and sky and running water.
It escapes the dry technicalities of the agricultural text-book, while
at the same time conveying innumerable valuable hints on practically
every branch of "small farming"--advice which springs from the
author's thorough knowledge based on long and often hard experience.
On the other hand, while entirely free from that all too common defect
of "nature-books"--hot-house enthusiasm--it will delight the most
incurable townsman (providing his sense of beauty is not withered) by
its joyous yet restrained pictures of open-air things.
_Simple Rules of Health._ By Philip Oyler, M.A. (2nd ed.). 3d. net.
Post free from the author, Morshin School, Headley, Hants.
An admirable epitome of what might be called "advanced health culture
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those who sees health from all points of view: he is as much concerned
with what the English Bible calls "a right spirit" as with a fit body
and a responsive mind. It is a little book deserving of a wide
circulation.
CORRESPONDENCE.
A REMEDY FOR SLEEPLESSNESS.
To the Editors
SIRS,
Would you care to publish the following experience of a cure for
sleeplessness:--
I had no difficulty in going to sleep, but usually awoke again at
about two A.M. with palpitation, and it often took me two or
three hours to go to sleep again.
I cured myself in the following way: I left off supper and
reduced my tea meal by half, and the result was continuous sleep;
the symptoms, however, began to come back again after a time, so
I gradually cut the tea meal right away, and half of the midday
meal as well. The cure was then permanent and after a time I
found that I could resume the tea meal again. At the present time
I am having a tea meal of fruit only.
In addition I should advise those who suffer from this complaint
to keep cheerful, and to avoid excessive physical or mental
fatigue and worry. Yours faithfully,
"A SIX MONTHS' READER."
IS PURE LIME JUICE OBTAINABLE?
The Editors have received the following letter from Messrs Rowntree &
Co., Ltd.:--
"We note in your issue of July 1913 under the heading of 'Lemon
or Orange Squash' a note to the effect that bottled lemon
squashes and lime cordials 'are not pure in the strict sense of
the term, since they are bound to contain 10 per cent. alcoholic
pure spirit by Government regulations.' We should be glad to know
what is your authority for this statement. Possibly it is a
misprint, because obviously the Government does not require
anything of the kind. Our own lemon squash and lime juice cordial
are entirely free from any form of preservative, including
alcohol. They are made up from pure lemon juice and lime juice
respectively, with sugar, and contain no foreign ingredient."
The statement complained of was based on an article entitled
"Fortified Lime Juice" which appeared in _The Chemist and Druggist_,
13th May 1911 (page 51). On again referring to this article we find
that the Government regulation applies only to _exported_ Lime Juice.
We regret having made this error, and are genuinely glad to have
Messrs Rowntree's assurance that their own "Lime Juice Cordial" and
"Lemon Squash" are "entirely free from any form of preservative,
including alcohol."
Nevertheless, we think our suspicions regarding the presence of
preservatives in such articles are justifiable in view of the
following authoritative statements made by _The Chemist and Druggist_
in the article referred to:--
"The British Revenue authorities have drawn the line a little
tighter in the discharge of their responsibility respecting the
soundness of lime-juice intended for exportation or for use on
board ship. The new rule henceforth is to grant a 'pass'
certificate for unfortified lime-juice to last for fourteen days
only, at the end of which time another certificate must be
obtained. As this new regulation affects lime-juice in its
natural condition before rum or any other spirit is added to it,
only lime-juice manufacturers or importers are concerned in the
matter.... _With such rapidly deteriorating liquid as lime or
lemon juice the addition of the preservative spirit is a
necessity, hence the sooner it is fortified the better._ The
Revenue authorities permit duty-free spirit to be used for this
purpose, but in order that lime-juice manufacturers shall have
this advantage of not paying duty on the spirit used the Revenue
authorities insist on approval of the juice and its subsequent
fortification in bond under supervision of the Crown.... In
reference to the proportion of spirit used, previously the
regulation was expressed in a permissive sense, but now the
emphatic "must" is used. In the last Government Laboratory report
it was stated that 396 samples were examined, most of which were
lime-juice, representing nearly 50,000 gallons. Even the
fortified article is re-tested if more than three months old in
cask or two years old in bottle, and this re-testing resulted
last year in a condemnation of several hundred gallons owing to
deterioration during storage. This juice is principally for use
in the Mercantile Marine to combat scurvy."
From which it would appear that the use of _some_ kind of preservative
is essential with such a rapidly deteriorating liquid as lime or lemon
juice; and if not alcohol, there are innumerable chemical
preservatives available. We wish we could rely on receiving assurances
from other "Lime Juice" importers and manufacturers similar to that we
have received from Messrs Rowntree.
* * * * *
_To People with Strong Convictions:_
A holiday is the best of all opportunities for appreciating the
opposite point of view to our own: this is why everyone needs a day's
holiday once a week.
HEALTH QUERIES.
_Under this heading our contributor, Dr Valentine Knaggs, deals
briefly month by month, and according as space permits, with questions
of general interest to health seekers and others._
_In all Queries relating to health difficulties it is essential that
full details of the correspondent's customary diet should be clearly
given._
_Correspondents are earnestly requested to write on _one side only of
the paper_, giving full name and address, not for publication, but as
a guarantee of good faith. When an answer is required by post a
stamped addressed envelope must be enclosed._--[EDS.]
FAULTY FOOD COMBINATIONS.
H.E.H. writes.--I should like your opinion of the statement of
the late Mr A. Broadbent, that fruit when taken with starchy food
by dyspeptics delays digestion, and that the digestion of starchy
foods and vegetables occupied only one-third of the time needed
for the digestion of starch with fruit. I have lived on a strict
vegetarian diet and observed the laws of hygiene for two and a
half years, to rid myself of dyspepsia, with great success,
having increased my weight by thirty-six pounds; for the last
nine months of this time I have lived on a largely "unfired"
diet, but am still troubled with acid risings and flatulence and
cannot account for it. Will you kindly enlighten me on the
subject?
I am a carpenter by trade and get eight hours in the open air
every day. I take a tumbler of distilled water hot with the juice
of one orange at 6 A.M., breakfast at 7.30 A.M., dinner at 12
noon and tea at 6 P.M., all consisting of Wallace unfermented
bread and biscuits, various fruits (mostly apples, bananas and
tomatoes) and nuts, about 1/2oz. at a meal; also a little cheese,
about 1 oz. at a meal.
The late Mr A. Broadbent was quite right, in my opinion, when he
asserted that fruit taken with starchy foods delayed digestion.
To reap the true benefit from fruit it must be taken alone.
The dominant element in fruit is oxygen and the feature of oxygen is
its power to start the process of oxidation in decomposing and
disintegrating substances. It follows that when the stomach is filled
with fermenting food-stuffs, or the tissues are clogged with the
products derived from such, the oxidising action of fruit will be
correspondingly intense.
The Naturist who applies the Schroth Cure for the purpose of curing
chronic diseases uses fruit as his chief eliminating agent. The reader
will remember that the peasant healer, Schroth, made his patients take
dry stale rolls alone for three whole days, with nothing whatever to
drink, and on the fourth day, he gave them a full bottle of white
wine, which then caused intense oxidation, with marked elimination of
poisons. His methods, if successful, were drastic and weakening, and
so the latter-day exponents of Schrothism have modified this and give
their patients zweiback or twice-baked bread instead of rolls, and on
the third or fourth day make the patient partake freely of fresh
fruit. This process of alternate dry days and fluid days is continued
for some weeks until the cure is complete.
I have merely referred to this matter to show the part played by fruit
in the body. To a healthy person fruit is in truth a splendid
regenerating food, but it should, whenever possible, be eaten alone.
To a dyspeptic, fruit is often equally good, if _taken by itself_.
The case of vegetables is different, and I hold with Broadbent that
salad or properly cooked vegetables do go well with cereals, because
they contain, not oxygen and oxygen acids, but mineral elements like
soda, lime and magnesia, which neutralise the acids and toxins which
form in the body as a result of its work. The vegetable is just as
active as the fruit as an eliminant, but it works on different lines.
Cereal foods, if eaten slowly in a dry condition are made alkaline by
the saliva, so that the vegetables, which are also naturally alkaline,
would harmonise well with cereals if eaten with them.
Our correspondent should modify his diet as follows, and then, I
anticipate, he will cease to be troubled with his acid dyspepsia and
flatulence. He should take his fruit alone, and take any of the crisp
unsweetened Wallace "P.R." Biscuits in preference to the unfermented
bread, which latter is often difficult to digest:--
_On rising._--A tumblerful of hot distilled water.
_Breakfast_ (at 7.30).--Fresh fruit only.
_Lunch_ (at 12).--1 to 2 oz. of cheese, preferably home-made curd
cheese; salad of green leaf vegetables; "P.R." or Ixion biscuits with
fresh butter, or nut butter.
_Dinner_ (at 6).--1 to 2 oz. of flaked pine kernels, finely grated raw
roots or tomatoes, with pure olive oil; Granose biscuits, or Shredded
Wheat biscuits, and fresh butter.
_At bedtime._--Cupful of dandelion coffee or hot distilled water.
NEURITIS.
E.M.A. writes.--At the age of five years I had an attack of
rheumatic fever through taking a severe cold, and have been
troubled more or less with pains since that time, which I feel
sure are caused through rheumatism of the nerves. I am now
fifty-eight years of age and have been a vegetarian for six
years.
My diet is:--8 A.M., cup of Sanum Tonic Tea; 9 A.M., Cup of dried
milk; 10 A.M., half of an apple and a little crust of wholemeal
bread; 1 P.M. conservatively cooked vegetable, using "Emprote"
for sauce; 4 P.M., cup of dried milk; 6 P.M., a little green
salad with St Ivel lactic cheese (size of one large walnut); 9
P.M., cup of dried milk. Do you think dried milk is harmful to
me? I should miss it very much were I to leave it off. I must
mention how great a help _The Healthy Life_ magazine is to me in
many ways.
Neuritis is a painful and wearying form of nerve trouble which mostly
affects the arms and legs. It can, however, originate in any other
part of the body through the spinal nerve centres. It may sometimes be
due to injury, but the usual cause is some form of thickening or
misplacement of the spinal structures, which induces pressure upon the
nerves as they emerge through the apertures between the spinal bones.
A careful examination of the back will show the site, and often the
nature, of the thickening or encumbrance which is present.
In our correspondent's case the thickening process doubtless occurred
as an after effect of the attack of rheumatic fever.
The best remedy is suitable osteopathic treatment for the spine,
supplemented by _either very_ hot or _quite_ cold spinal sitz baths,
by acetic acid skin treatment, or by any other means which will have
the effect of disencumbering the spine. By means of our treatment we
free the painful nerves from harmful pressure and promote an increased
blood circulation in the parts affected. In this way the cause of the
disorder is removed.
A diet along the following lines would be better than the present
one:--
8 A.M.--Tumblerful of hot distilled water.
9.30.--One raw egg beaten up with cream and vegetable juice or clear
vegetable soup made without salt. Wholemeal bread with plenty of
butter and some celery or watercress.
1.30 P.M.--Two conservatively cooked vegetables done without salt,
with grated cheese as sauce and a Granose biscuit with butter.
4.--Tumblerful of hot distilled water only.
6.30.--2 oz. of cottage cheese or cream cheese, salad and Granose
biscuits, or "P.R." crackers, with butter.
9.30.--A raw egg beaten up with cream and vegetable juice or soup.
I think dried milk preparations are inadvisable in such cases as these
(especially when taken as beverages, as the "milk sugars" present are
very prone to ferment and to hinder the cleansing of the digestive
tract), and that the required proteid is best obtained from eggs and
curd cheese. Fat is very necessary in nervous troubles; hence plenty
of cream, fresh butter and cream cheese should be taken; also pure oil
with the salad.
MALT EXTRACT.
L.F.H. writes.--Is malt extract a good thing to take daily with
an ordinary non-flesh diet, two teaspoonfuls or so at breakfast?
And is the desiccated or dry malt extract to be preferred to the
ordinary sticky article?
Malt extract of good quality, containing an active form of diastase,
is a good form of relish to take with meals. The diastase promotes
starch digestion and makes a good addition to foods of the cereal
order. The thick sticky form is the best because the diastase is then
in an active condition. Dried malt usually will have this diastase
destroyed, hence, although much more convenient to handle, it is not
so good dietetically as the sticky original extract.
ABOUT SUGAR.
C.T. writes.--I have read the article on sugar with considerable
interest. I have noted nervous disorders, etc., manifest in cases
of excessive consumption of manufactured sugar. I have been an
abstainer from cane sugar (all commercial sugars, though _I do
not know of any objection to milk, sugar_) for many years,
regarding it as an unnatural excitant and stimulant as well as
being inimical to digestion. As a physiologist I have taken
immense interest in longevity, feeling that an active life past
the age of ninety-five or a hundred, and upwards, carries with
it, in evidence of right living, the force of demonstration, and
more conclusively, in direct ratio to the advance of years. I
firmly believe that all anomalies will ultimately admit of
resolution. In this connection I could mention a number of
strange and paradoxical cases for which, as yet, I have obtained
no solution. I know of centenarians who began using "sugar"
freely late in life. In one case, when past eighty, a new set of
teeth (not odd "supernumeraries") appeared all round! How is it,
again, that the natives of the West Indies, when living on sugar
(in its crude state, I suppose) have excellent teeth and perfect
health? Is not raw sugar better the less manufactured it is? On
the other side, Captain Diamond, at 114, attributes his health in
great measure to abstinence from sugar.
Most of these queries are answered in the completed book[10] published
this year. The point about "milk sugar" not being injurious he will
find answered on page 72.
[10] _The Truth about Sugar_, 1s. net. (C.W. Daniel, Ltd.)
"Milk sugars" taken to excess with a mixed diet, or in the form of
milk as a beverage, break down into lactic, butyric and other
destructive acids under the influence of intestinal germs and thus do
harm to the body.
The natives of the West Indies (page 39) take the sugar cane in its
natural state as a living vegetable food--a very different thing from
the isolated and chemicalised sugar on our tables at home. Moreover,
the chewing required helps digestion. This is very different to the
drinking rapidly of sugared beverages, which do not receive this
necessary mouth preparation.
One is quite prepared to admit that paradoxical cases do occur where
sugar seems to agree well even with octogenarians, but they are, in my
opinion, the exceptions, and I am constantly coming across cases where
the free consumption of table sugars has proved very harmful to both
old and young.
ULCERATION OF THE STOMACH.
A.L.M. writes.--Our domestic servant, a girl aged twenty-four, is
suffering from ulceration of the stomach and has had periodical
attacks for the past six years. She has apparently, until she
came to us, eaten and drunk very unwisely. She has been with us
seven months and has been fed on a non-flesh diet since she came.
For the last four weeks tea, coffee and cocoa have been
forbidden, and as little sugar is consumed as possible. She had a
very bad attack in August and we had to call in a doctor is we
did not like the responsibility. He strongly recommended the
hospital and an operation, which would ensure that there would be
no repetition of the complaint. She decided to go and was there
six weeks. After much experimenting there, inoculating and
wondering whether it was tuberculosis, they operated and in due
course she came back. We went to the sea for three weeks and
shortly after our return the vomiting of blood and pains
recommenced. After four days in bed she returned to light dishes,
and a fortnight after another slighter attack came on, which in
twenty-four hours. She takes hot boiled water five times a day.
She suffers also from a horny skin on the palms of her hands,
with deep cracks where the natural lines are. These periodically
bleed. This skin exists also on her heels and the soles of her
feet. Before and after, an attack this skin seems to be worse
than ever.
I mentioned the fact of the recurring attacks since the operation
to the doctor and he seemed surprised and said the matter must be
constitutional and there was no hope for her.
My own opinion is that pure food will put her right eventually,
and that these attacks will recur in diminishing force until the
poisons are eliminated front the system.
Her diet is at present as follows:--
_On rising._--Half-pint of boiled water (hot).
_Breakfast._--Either Shredded Wheat softened in hot milk or
breakfast flakes and cold milk: followed by either bananas or
apples. Half-pint boiled water (hot).
_Lunch._--Ordinary vegetarian cooked dishes, vegetables
conservatively cooked, some fruit. Half-pint boiled water (hot).
_Tea meal._--Wholemeal bread (Artox flour), usually non-yeast,
nut butter. Lettuces and radishes when obtainable. Half-pint
boiled water (hot).
_Before retiring._--Half-pint of boiled water (hot).
It has been shown by Brandl and other investigators that ulceration of
the stomach can always be produced in animals by feeding them with an
excess of sugar foods. The same thing applies to human beings, who, if
fed with an excess of sweetmeats, sugar, milk or soft mushy cereals,
will first contract catarrh of the stomach, which will ultimately
deepen into a condition of ulceration.
The rationale of the process is this: Fermentation and putrefaction of
the foods eaten to excess produce in the stomach various acids and
toxins. These become absorbed and pass into the liver. Then the liver
becomes clogged, its flow of blood is obstructed and this naturally
retards the flow of food from the stomach. That organ becomes
congested and inflamed and, when the lower end, or pylorus, is
obstructed, this congested state may easily deepen into ulceration. We
also nearly always find a tender spine, showing that the nervous
system has equally participated in the conditions produced, and this
nervous factor intensifies the trouble by retarding the due working of
the digestive functions.
What we have to do to cure a case of ulcerated stomach is _to withhold
the foods which create fermentation_. Then the liver will be allowed
time to work off the poisons which are clogging its substance and when
this has come about the stomach will slowly return to its normal
condition.
The diet which our correspondent cites is badly arranged. It is a
mistake to give fluid _with_ the meals, and the mushy food at
breakfast and the soft food at dinner should be changed to drier and
crisper forms of nutriment.
The following diet would be a distinct improvement:--
_On rising._--Half-pint of boiled hot water, sipped slowly; or
quarter-pint Sanum Tonic Tea, taken hot.
_Breakfast._--A Shredded Wheat biscuit _eaten dry_ and well buttered;
a lightly boiled egg and some finely grated raw roots, especially
carrots and turnips.
In a case of this sort it is best not to mix cereals with fruits.
An alternative breakfast would consist of _fruit alone_ such as two
apples, finely grated at first, or two bananas mashed and mixed with
pure olive oil and sprinkled with flaked nuts but care must be taken
that the pulped banana is well chewed.
_Lunch._--Grated cheese, or cream cheese, with some finely chopped
salad, or grated raw roots, or conservatively cooked vegetables
(preferably roots or onions baked fairly dry by the casserole method)
can be taken at this repast. Follow with a slice or two of cold
ordinary toast or rusks with butter.
_Tea meal._--Half-pint of hot boiled water with a little lemon or
orange juice added to it for flavouring.
_Supper_ (about 6.30).--Stale standard bread with butter and curd
cheese or an egg. The non-yeast bread should be avoided as in the weak
state of the stomach it will not be properly digested; besides, the
bran may irritate the lining in the present condition of the stomach.
As soon as the stomach has regained its power of digesting food, and
the ulcers have healed, then fine wholemeal biscuits of the Wallace or
Ixion kind can be taken, but the unfermented bread had better be
avoided.
_At bedtime._--A half-pint of hot water.
GOING TO EXTREMES IN THE UNFIRED DIET.
W.O.C. writes.--As a bachelor who (not believing in, and
therefore doing without domestic help) is anxious to reduce time
spent on cooking to a minimum, I shall be glad if Dr Knaggs will
tell me whether the use of the oven, pan and kettle are necessary
to healthy diet. For instance (1) would a diet of bread and
butter, biscuits, cheese, fruit (fresh and dried), ordinary cold
water and cold milk, be as healthy as a diet of hot vegetables,
puddings, cocoashell, etc.? (2) Are cooked lentils,
butter-beans, macaroni, etc., more beneficial taken hot than
after they have cooled? (3) Could uncooked vegetables _of
sufficient nutriment_ be substituted for these? I shall be glad
if it is quite safe to live entirely on raw foods, whether fresh
or "prepared."