DRINK.
There is but one real beverage and that is water. The other so-called
beverages are foods, stimulants or sedatives. Milk is a rich food, one
glass having as much food value as two eggs. Coffee, tea, chocolate and
cocoa are stimulants, with sedative after-effects. Their food value
depends largely on the amount of milk, cream and sugar put into them.
Chocolate and cocoa are both drugs and foods. Alcohol is a stimulant at
first, afterwards a sedative, and at all times an anesthetic.
When we think of drinking for the sake of supplying the bodily need of
fluid, we should think of water and nothing else. If other liquids are
taken, they should be taken as foods or drugs.
Water is the best solvent known. The alchemists of old spent much time
and energy trying to find the universal solvent, believing that
thereafter it would be easy to discover a method of making base metals
noble. But they never found anything better than water. Water is the
compound that in its various forms does most to change the earth upon
which we live, and it is more necessary for the continuation of life
than anything else except air.
Pure water does not exist in nature, that is, we have never found a
compound of the composition H2O. Water always contains other matter. The
various salts are dissolved in it and it absorbs gases. The nearest we
come to pure water is distilled. Pure water is an unsatisfied compound,
and as soon as it is exposed it begins to absorb gases and take up salts
and organic matter.
Pure water differs from clean water. Clean or potable water is a
compound which contains a moderate amount of salts, but very little of
organic matter. Bacteria should be practically absent. Water that
contains much of nitrogenous substances is unfit to use.
If the water is very hard, heavily loaded with salts, it should not be
used extensively as a drink, for if too much of earthy and mineral
matter is taken into the system, the body is unable to get rid of all of
them. The result is a tendency for deposits to form in the body. In
places where the water is excessively charged with lime it has been
noticed that the bones harden too early, which prevents full development
of the body. If the bones of the skull are involved, it means that there
will not be room enough for the brain. Such diseases are rare in this
country, but in parts of Europe they are not uncommon. If the water is
very hard, a good plan is to distill it and then add a little of the
hard water to the distilled water.
People who partake of an excessive amount of various salts can perhaps
drink distilled water to advantage, but those who take but a normal
amount of the salts in their foods should have natural water.
Water forms three-fourths of the human body, more or less. It is needed
in every process that goes on within the body. "To be dry is to die."
Water keeps the various vital fluids in solution so that they can
perform their function. Without water there would be no sense of taste,
no digestion, no absorption of food, no excretion of debris, and hence
no life. The water is the vehicle through which the nutritive elements
are distributed to the billions of cells of the body, and it is also the
vehicle which carries the waste to the various excretory organs.
We can live several weeks without food, but only a few days without
water.
Hot water and ice-cold water are both irritants. Water may be taken
either warm or cool. It is best to avoid the extremes.
The amount of water needed each twenty-four hours varies according to
circumstances. Two quarts is a favorite prescription. Those who eat
freely of succulent fruits and vegetables do not need as much as those
who live more on dry foods. Salt in excess calls for an abnormal amount
of water, for salt is a diuretic, robbing the tissues of their fluids
and consequently more water has to be taken to keep up the equilibrium.
Naturally, more water is required when the weather is hot than when it
is cool. On hot days warm water is more satisfying and quenches thirst
more quickly than ice water. Warm water also stimulates kidney action,
which is often sluggish in summer. Ice water is the least satisfactory
of all, for the more one drinks the more he wants.
A normal body calls for what water it needs, and no more. An abnormal
body is no guide for either the amount of food or drink necessary. Many
people do not like the taste of water, especially in the morning. This
means that the body is diseased. To a normal person cool water is always
agreeable when it is needed, and it is needed in the morning. People
with natural taste do not care for ice water, but other water is
relished.
The common habit of drinking with meals is a mistake. Man is the only
animal that does this, and he has to pay dearly for such errors. Taking
a bite of food and washing it down with fluid lead to undermastication
and overeating, and then the body suffers from autointoxication. A
mouthful of food followed by a swallow of liquid forces the contents of
the mouth into the stomach before the saliva has the opportunity to act.
The best way is to drink one or two glasses of water in the morning
before breakfast. Partake of the breakfast, and all other meals, without
taking any liquid. Sometimes there is a desire for a drink immediately
after the meal is finished. If so, take some water slowly. If it is
taken slowly a little will satisfy. If it is gulped down it may be
necessary to take one or two glasses of water before being satisfied.
Those who have a tendency to drink too much during warm weather will
find very slow drinking helpful in correcting it. If there is any
digestive weakness, the liquid taken immediately after a meal should be
warm and should not exceed a cupful. Those with robust digestion may
take cool water.
Cold water chills the stomach. Digestion will not take place until the
stomach has reached the temperature of about one hundred degrees
Fahrenheit again, and if the stomach contents are chilled repeatedly the
tendency is strong for the food to ferment pathologically, instead of
being properly digested. For this reason it is not well to drink while
there is anything left in the stomach to digest. As stomach digestion
generally takes two or three hours at least, it is well to wait this
long before taking water after finishing a meal, and then drink all that
is desired until within thirty minutes of taking the next meal. If the
thirst should become very insistent before two or three hours have
elapsed since eating, take warm water. Those who eat food simply
prepared and moderately seasoned are not troubled much with excessive
thirst.
Two quarts of water daily should be sufficient for the adults under
ordinary conditions. Here, as in eating, no exact amount will fit
everybody. Make a habit of drinking at least a glass of water before
breakfast, cleaning the teeth and rinsing the mouth before swallowing
any, and then take what water the body asks for during the rest of the
day. Taking too much water is not as injurious as overeating, but
waterlogging the body has a weakening effect.
To drink with the meals is customary, not because it is necessary, but
because we have a number of drinks which appeal to many people. Water is
the drink par excellence.
A food-beverage that is used by many is cambric tea, which is made of
hot water, one-third or one-fourth of milk and a little sweetening.
Children generally like this on account of the sweetness. It may be
taken with any meal, when fluid is needed, but the amount should be
limited to a cupful. It is not well to dilute the digestive juices too
much.
The water taken in the morning helps to start the body to cleanse
itself. Water drinking is a great aid in overcoming constipation.
Constipated people generally overeat. Less food and more water will
prove helpful in overcoming the condition.
Unfortunately for the race, we have accustomed ourselves to partake of
beverages containing injurious, poisonous substances. Inasmuch as this
is the place to discuss the drugs contained in coffee and tea, I shall
take the liberty of dwelling upon other habit-forming substances in the
same chapter. They are all a part of the drug addictions of the race.
For scientific discussion of these various substances I refer you to
technical works. In this chapter will be found only a discussion of
their relation to people's welfare, that is, to health and efficiency.
Coffee, tea and chocolate contain a poisonous alkaloid which is
generally called caffeine. The theine in tea and the theobromine in
cocoa are so similar to caffeine that chemists can not differentiate
them. These drinks when first taken cause a gentle stimulation under
which more work can be done than ordinarily, but this is followed by a
reaction, and then the powers of body and mind wane so much that the
average output of work is less than when the body is not stimulated. The
temporary apparently beneficial effect is more than offset by the
reaction and therefore partaking of these beverages makes people
inefficient. Coffee is very hard on the nerves, causing irritation,
which is always followed by premature physical degeneration.
Experiments of late indicate that children who use coffee do not come up
to the physical and mental standard of those who abstain. The effect on
the adults is not so marked because adults are more stable than
children.
Those who are not used to coffee will be unable to sleep for several
hours after partaking of a cup. Some people drink so much of it that
they become accustomed to it.
Coffee is not generally looked upon as one of the habit-forming drugs,
but it is. However, of all the drugs which create a craving in the
system for a repetition of the dose, coffee makes the lightest fetters.
It is surprising how often health-seekers inform the adviser that they
"can not get along without coffee." If they would take a cup a few times
a year, it would do no harm, but the daily use is harmful to all, even
if they feel no bad effects and make it "very weak," which is a favorite
statement of the women.
Smoking, drinking beer and drinking coffee have a tendency to overcome
constipation in those who are not accustomed to these things, but their
action can not be depended upon for any length of time and the cure is
worse than the disease.
Tea drinking has much the same effect as coffee drinking, except that it
is decidedly constipating. Perhaps this is because there is considerable
of the astringent tannin in the tea leaves.
Chocolate is a valuable food. Those who eat of other aliments in
moderation may partake of chocolate without harm, but if chocolate is
used in addition to an excess of other food, the results are bad. The
chocolate is so rich that it soon overburdens some of the organs of
digestion, especially the liver. The Swiss consume much of this food and
it is valuable in cases where it is necessary to carry concentrated
rations.
Alcohol in some form seems to have been consumed by even very primitive
people as far back as history goes. The Bible records an early case of
intoxication from wine, and beer was brewed by the ancient Egyptians. So
much has been consumed that some people have a subconscious craving for
it. There are cases on record where the very first drink caused an
uncontrollable demand for the drug. Fortunately these cases are very
rare.
Alcohol is really not a stimulant, though it gives a feeling of glow,
warmth and well-being at first, but this is followed by a great lowering
of physical power, which gives rise to disagreeable sensations. Then the
drinker needs more alcohol to stimulate him again. Then there is another
depression with renewed demand: There is no end to the craving for the
drug once it has mastered the individual. The lungs, heart, digestive
organs, muscles, in fact, every structure in the body loses working
capacity. Alcohol seems to have a special affinity for nervous tissue.
A glass of beer or wine taken daily is no more harmful than a cup of
coffee per day, but the coffee drinker does not make of himself such a
public nuisance and menace as the man often does who drinks alcohol to
excess.
Formerly it was respectable to drink. Some of our most noted public men
were drunkards. Now a drunkard could not maintain himself in a prominent
public position very long. To drink like a gentleman was no disgrace.
Now real gentlemen do not get drunk.
In backward Russia they are becoming alarmed about the inroads of vodka,
and are trying to decrease its consumption. France is trying to teach
total abstinence to its young men because it disqualifies so many of
them from military service to drink. Scandinavia is temperance
territory. The German Kaiser has recently given a warning against
drinking. The United States discourages drinking in the army and navy.
Field armies are not supplied with alcoholics. Drinking is becoming
disreputable.
It is very difficult to prove the harm done by excessive drinking of tea
and coffee, also by the use of much tobacco, even if we do know that it
is so. Everyone knows something about the deleterious effect of alcohol
upon the consumer. Solomon wrote: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is
raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Who hath wounds
without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?"
Alcohol permanently impairs both body and mind. Depending on how much is
taken, it may cause various ills, ranging from inflammation of the
stomach to insanity. It reduces the power of the mind to concentrate and
it diminishes the ability of the muscles to work. It reduces the
resistance of the body and shortens life. Its first effect is to lull
the higher faculties to sleep.
Most drunkards do not recover from their disease, for drunkenness is a
disease. The various drugs given to cure the afflictions are delusions.
Strengthening the body, mind and the will and instilling higher ideals
are the best methods of cure. Suggestive therapeutics, and the awakening
of a strong resolve for a better life are powerful aids. Proper feeding
should not be overlooked, for bad habits do not flourish in a healthy
body.
Civilization necessitates self-control and considerable self-denial.
Those who go in the line of least resistance are on the road to
destruction. It is often necessary to overcome habits which produce
temporary gratification of the senses.
According to Warden Tynan of the Colorado Penitentiary, 96 per cent. of
the prisoners are brought there because they use alcohol. It is also
well known that moral lapses are most common when the will is weakened
through the use of liquor. Those who have the welfare of the race at
heart are therefore compelled to give considerable thought to this
subject. According to past experience, it will not help to try to
legislate sobriety into the people. Education and industrialism are the
factors which it seems to me will be most potent in solving the alcohol
problem. Morality, which in the last analysis is a form of selfishness,
will teach many that it is poor policy to reduce one's efficiency and
thereby reduce the earning capacity and enjoyment of life.
More and more the employers of labor will realize that the use of
alcohol decreases the reliability and worth of the worker. Many will
take steps like the following:
"In formal recognition of the fact, established beyond dispute by the
tests of the new psychology, that industrial efficiency decreases with
indulgence in alcohol and is increased by abstinence from it, the
managers of a manufacturing establishment in Chester, Penn., have
attacked the temperance problem from a new angle.
"Unlike many railways and some other corporations, they do not forbid
their employees to drink, but they offer 10 per cent. advance in wages
to all who will take and keep--the teetotaler's pledge. Incidentally, a
breaking of the promise will mean a permanent severance of relations,
but there is no emphasizing of that point, it being confidently expected
that the advantage of perfect sobriety will be as well realized on one
side as on the other."
Business has during the past two centuries been the great civilizer, the
great moral teacher. It has found that honesty and righteousness pay and
that injustice is folly. Business has led the way to the acceptance of a
new ethics, and new morals.
What has been said about alcohol applies to tobacco in a much smaller
degree. The use of tobacco seems to lead to the use of alcohol. It
retards the development of children. It is surely one of the causes of
various diseases. Tobacco heart, sore throat and indigestion are well
known to physicians.
Tobacco contains one of the deadliest of poisons known. One-sixteenth of
a grain of nicotine may prove fatal. The reason there are so few deaths
from acute tobacco poisoning is that but very little of the nicotine is
absorbed.
Men who chew tobacco make themselves disagreeable to others. Smoking of
cigarettes is to be condemned not only because it poisons the body, but
causes inattention and inability to concentrate on the part of the
smoker, as well. Every little while he feels the desire to take a smoke,
and if smoking is forbidden he devises means of getting away. He robs
his employer of time for which he is paid and injures himself.
The ability to work is decreased by indulgence in smoking. Recent
experiments show that for a short time there is increased activity after
a smoke, but the following depression is greater than the stimulation,
so there is an actual loss.
A few years ago, according to Mr. Wilson, who was then Secretary of
Agriculture, there were about 4,000,000 drug addicts or "dope fiends" in
the United States. Without doubt this estimate was too high, for the
proportion of addicts in the country is not as great as in the large
cities. The drugs chiefly used are cocaine, opium, laudanum, morphine
and heroin. These drugs are much more destructive than alcohol. Cocaine
and heroin are the worst. It is very difficult to stop using any of them
once the habit has been formed. Nearly every "fiend" dies directly or
indirectly from the effect of his particular drug. Every one weakens the
body so that there is not much resistance to offer to acute diseases.
Every one destroys the will power so that a cure is exceedingly
difficult.
It is well to bear in mind that all are not possessed of strong enough
will power to resist their cravings and that some take to cocaine when
they can not get liquor. Cocaine is far worse than alcohol.
People should be very careful about taking patent medicines. There is no
excuse for taking them. The most popular ones have as their basis one of
the habit-forming drugs.
Most of the soothing syrups contain opium in some form. To give babies
opiates is a grave error, to speak mildly. It weakens the child, may lay
the foundation for a deadly habit later in life, and often an overdose
kills outright. Well informed mothers avoid such drugs and keep their
children reasonably quiet by means of proper care.
Many of the remedies for nasal catarrh and hay fever contain much
cocaine. Cocaine is an astringent and a painkiller and people mistake
the temporary lessening of discharge from the nose and disappearance of
pain for curative effects. But there is nothing curative about it. In a
short time the mucous membrane relaxes again and then the discharge is
re-established. The nerves which were put out of commission resume their
function and then the pain reappears.
Opium or one of its derivatives is generally present in the patent
medicines given for coughs. Opium is also an astringent and will
suppress secretions, but this is not a cure. Excessive secretions are an
indication that the body is surcharged with poison and food. Let them
escape and then live so that there will be internal cleanliness and then
there will be no more coughs and colds.
The unfortunate people who get into the habit of using these drugs
degenerate physically, mentally and morally. They need more and more of
their drug to produce the desired effect until they at last take enough
daily to kill several normal men. Sometimes they are able to keep
everybody in ignorance of what they are doing for years. They develop
slyness and secretiveness. They become very suspicious. They are nearly
always untruthful, and those who deal with them are surprised and wonder
why those who used to be open and above-board now are furtive and
dishonest. They often lie when there is not the slightest excuse for it.
The moral disintegration is often the first sign noticed.
After habitually using any of these drugs for a while the body demands
the continuation and if the victim is deprived of his accustomed portion
there will be a collapse with intense suffering. Every tortured nerve in
the body seems to call out for the drug. The victim will do anything to
get his drug. He will lie, steal, and he may even attack those who are
caring for him. For the time being he is insane.
Many professional men use cocaine. It is a favorite with writers. It
often shows in their work. Those who write under the inspiration of this
drug often do some good work, but they are unable to keep to their
subject. Their writings lack order. We have enough of such writings to
have them classified as "cocaine literature."
If there are 4,000,000, or even fewer, of these people in our land, it
is a serious problem, for every one is a degenerate, to a certain
degree. If the medical profession and the druggists would co-operate it
would be easy enough to prevent the growth of a new crop of dope fiends.
Of course, people would have to stop taking patent medicines, which
often start the victims on the road to degeneration. Then the physicians
should stop prescribing habit-forming drugs, as well as all other drugs,
and teach the people that physical, mental and moral salvation come
through right living and right thinking.
Unfortunately the medical profession is careless and is responsible for
the existence of many of the drug addicts. A patient has a severe pain.
What is the easiest way to satisfy him? To give a hypodermic injection
of some opiate. The patient, not realizing the danger, demands a
pain-killer every time he suffers. He soon learns what he is getting and
then he goes to the drug store and outfits himself with a hypodermic
outfit and drugs, and the first thing he knows he is a slave, in bondage
for life. This is no exaggeration. There are hundreds of thousands of
victims to the drug habit who trace their downfall to the treatment
received at the hands of reputable physicians, who do not look upon
their practice with the horror it should inspire because it is so
common. Doctors do not always bury their mistakes. Some of them walk
about for years.
In spite of laws against the sale of various drugs, they can be
obtained. There are doctors and druggists of easy conscience who are
very accommodating, for a price.
There is no legitimate need for the use of one-hundredth of the amount
of these drugs that is now consumed. A local injection of cocaine for a
minor operation is justifiable, but none of the habit-forming drugs
should be used in ordinary practice to kill pain, for the proper
application of water in conjunction with right living will do it better
and there are no evil after effects. Massage is often sufficient.
To show a little more clearly how some people become addicted to drugs,
let us consider one of the latest, heroin: A few years ago this drug,
which is an opium derivative, was practically unknown. It is much
stronger than morphine and consequently the effect can be obtained more
quickly by means of a smaller dose. Physicians thought at first that it
was not a habit-forming drug, for they could use it over a longer period
of time than they could employ morphine, without establishing the
craving and the habit. So they began to prescribe heroin instead of
morphine, and many a morphine addict was advised to substitute heroin.
All went well for a short while, until the victims found that they were
enslaved by a drug that was even worse than morphine. Now, thanks
chiefly to the medical profession, it is estimated that we have in our
land several hundred thousand heroin addicts. Sallow of face, gaunt of
figure, looking upon the world through pin-point pupils, with all of
life's beauty, hope and joy gone, they are marching to premature death.
The medical profession furnishes more than its proportion of drug
addicts. They know the danger of the drugs, but familiarity breeds
contempt. If the public but knew how many of their medical advisers, who
should always be clear-minded, are befuddled by drugs, there would be a
great awakening. One eminent physician who has now been in practice
about forty-five years and has had much experience with drug addicts,
has said that according to his observations, about one physician in four
contracts the drug habit. I believe this is exaggerated, but I am
acquainted with a number of physicians who are addicts.
Physicians who smoke do not condemn the practice. Those who drink are
likely to prescribe beer and wine for their patients. Those who are
addicted to drugs use them too liberally in their practice.
Those who have watched the effects of the various drugs, from coffee to
heroin, must condemn their use. It is true that an occasional cup of
coffee or tea, a glass of wine or beer does no harm. A cigarette a week
would not hurt a boy, nor would on occasional cigar harm a man. But how
many people are willing to indulge occasionally? The rule is that they
indulge not only daily, but several times a day, and the results are
bad. One bad habit leads to another, and the time always comes when it
is a choice between disease and early death on one hand, and the giving
up of the bad habits on the other, and when this time comes the bonds of
habits are often so strong that the victim is unable to break them.
I realize that knowledge will not always keep people out of temptation
and that some individuals will take the broad way that leads to
destruction in spite of anything that may be said. Youth is impatient of
restraint and ever anxious for new experiences. Regarding this serious
matter of destructive drug use, much could be done by teaching people
their place in society: That is, what they owe to themselves, their
families and the public in general. In other words, teach the young
people the higher selfishness, part of which consists of considerable
self-control, self-denial and self-respect.
Drugs are too easy to obtain today. Some day people will be so
enlightened that they will not allow themselves to be medicated. This is
the trend of the times. Until such a time comes, society should protect
itself by making it very difficult to get any of the habit-forming
drugs. If necessary, the free hand of the physician should be stayed.
Much of the confidence blindly given him is misplaced.