HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1849, 29 April 1887, Page 36

HEALTH COLUMN.

HOW TO EAT WISELY. As a universal rule in health, and with very rare exception in disease, that is best to be eaten which the appetite craves or the taste relishes. Persons rarely err in the quality of food eaten ; Nature's instincts are the wisest regulators in this respect. The great sources of mischief from eating are three — quantity, frequency, rapidity — and from these come the horrible dyspepsias, which make of human life a burden, a torture, a living death. By eating fast, the stomach, like a bottle like a bottle being being filled through a funnel, is full and overflowing before we know it. Bnt the most important reason is, the food is swallowed before time lias been allowed to divide it in sufficiently small pieces with the teeth ; for, like ice in a tumbler of water, the smaller the bits are, the sooner are they dissolved. It has been seen with the naked eye that if solid food is cut up in pieces small as half a pea, it digests almost as soon without being chewed at all, as if it had been well masticated. The best plan, therefore, is for all persons to thus comminute their food; for, even if it is well chewed, the comminution is no injury, while it is of great importance in case of hurry, forgetfulness, or bad teeth. Cheerful conversation prevents rapid eating. It requires about five hours for a common meal to dissolve and pass out of the stomach, during which time this organ is incessantly at work, when it must have repose, as any other muscle or set of muscles, after such a length of effort. Hence persons should not eat within less than a five-hours' interval. The heart itself is at test more than one-third of its time. The brain perishes without repose. Never force food on the stomach. All are tired when night comes. Every muscle of the body is weaiy, and looks toward the bed ; but just as we lie down to rest, every other part of the body, if we, by a hearty meal, give the stomach five hours' work, which in its weak state requires a much longer time to perform than at an earlier hour of the day, it is like imposing upon a servant a full day's labour just at the close of a hard clay's work. Hence the unwisdom of eating heartily late in the day or evening ; and no wonder it has cost many a man his life. Always breakfast before work or exercise. No labourers "or active persons .should eat an atom later than sundown, am) then it should not be over half the uuda .."a!. Persons of sedentary habits or who a.c at all ailing should take absolutely nothing for supper beyond a single piece of cold stale bread and butter or a ship biscuit,, with a single cup of warm drink. Such a supper will always give better sleep and prepare for a heartier breakfast, with the advantage of having the exertions of a whole day to grind it up and extract its nutriment. Never eat without an inclination. — Hall's Journal of Health.

Poisonous Clams. — According to recent researches, it^ appears that clams, or mussels, are not a very safe sort of diet. Reports are often made of severe and extensive sickness due to the eating of muaselsjjand investiga-

tions which have been made show that the poisonous part of the mussel is its liver. The clam, as well as its relative, the oyster, is a scavenger. This is probably why nature has given it its enormous liver, to enable it to live on its gross and unwholesome diet. The liver of the clam, like the human liver, is a self-sacrificing organ, aud gathers the poison of the clams filthy food into itself, thus protecting the rest of the creature's body. The experiments made show that if rabbits, or other small animals were innoculated with the liver of the poisonous mussels they died in one or" two minutes. A German doctor, who has been engaged in this investigation, advises that shell fish should be discarded as an article of diet, as it impossible to tell poisonous fish from healthy ones in any other way than by trial. It certainly seems as though there were plenty of good foods among the great number of fruits, grains and vegetables with which nature has bountifully supplied us, without ransacking the bed of the ocean for these slimy scavengers. Salicylic Acid. — At present the evidence as to the dangerousness of salicylic acid in the human economy is in a very conflicting state. In Paris its use as a preservative of food and of liquors is strictly forbidden on account of its alleged accumulative action in the system, although its efficiency as an antiputrefactive and antifermentive is remarkable. In opposition to the currently accepted opinion Dr Kolbe brings forward fi very striking series of experiments conducted on himself for a considerable time. He dosed his drinking water, beer, wine, and food with salicylic acid to such an extent that latterly he was taking no less than 15 grains a day, j and without the slightest harm, for he submitted himself to independent medical inspection. He seems even to have derived benefit from his vigorous attempts to poisoning himself, because in the operations he has got rid of dyspepsia. If his immunity from harm were at all general the question of the cheap preservation of all perishable foods would be greatly simplified, and a deal of waste which now appears to be unavoidable would become preventable. Remedy for Cboup. — The Franc Journal, of Paris, publishes the following receipe for croup, which is said to have been in the pos- j session of the family of a well-known French j civil engineer for several generations. It is claimed that a complete cure is effected by it in from two minutes to ten minutes : — " Roast an onion in ashes, then spread it on muslin so as to form a poultice. Cover the onion with another piece of muslin, then pour a teaspoonful of ammonia on the poultice. Apply hot on the throat, and a cure is certain." At any rate, says that paper it is simple, cheap, easily made, and cannot do any harm if it does not possess all the^efficacy that is claimed for it.