The Dog, the Man, and the Meat.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5428, 2 December 1895, Page 4

The Dog, the Man, and the Meat.

— r -» A Fbiend of mine and I were walking together Che other day ; a dog dashed past us after something he saw on the pare* ment. It was a big piece of meat. He pounced on \b and ewallowed it in two seconds. My companion looked at the dog with envious admiration. "My humble friend," he said, " I'll give you .£SOOO for your appetite and your digestion. You are not afraid to eat; I am." But the dog knew what happiness is made of. Hedeclined the offer and trotted away. It is astonishing how many different people use this expression. "lam" or " I was " afraid to eat. As the writer pens these lines fire letters lie on the table before him, every one of them containing it. Yet the persona who wrote the letters are not known to one another. There was, therefore, no agreement among them. Why should there be, even if they were acquainted? No, there is nothing in it to wonder at. They went through, the same experience; and express it in the most natural way. that's all. But what does it mean? Are 'people suspicious of poisoned food ? No, no j that is nob so. The food is not poisoned before , it is eaten, but afterwards; An example will show what really ooours, and why ao many are afraid to eat. We quote from one of the letters : " One night, early in 1892," says the writer, " I was seized with dreadful pains in the pit of the stomaoh, and a choking sensation in the throat. I feared I was going to die. My wife called in a neighbour. They applied hot flannels and turpentine, but I got no relief. Then a doctor came and gave me medicine. He said he never saw anyone's tongue in such a condition. It was of a yellow colour, and covered with a slimy phlegm, so thick I could have scraped it with a knife. I had a foul, bitter taste in the mouth, and my eyes were so dull I could scarcely see. I had a heavy pain in the side, and felt so dejected and miserable I didn't know what to do with myself. What little food I took gave me so much pain J was afraid to eat. The< doctor put me on starvation diet, and injeoted morphine to ease the pain. " Getting no real benefit from the first doctor I saw another, who said I had enlargement of the liver. He gave me medicines, but I got no better. In August I went to' Exmouth to see what my native air would do for me, but came back worse than ever. I had lost over three stone in weight, and being too weak to move about I used to lie on the couch most of the time. I never expected to get well, and didn't care much what became of me. " One day in October my wife said, • It appears the doctors can do nothing for you, so lam going to doctor you myself.' She went to the Southern Drug Stores, in i Camberwell Road, and got a bottle of Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup. After taking this medicine for a few days the pain in my stomach left me, my appetite improved, and I gained Borne strength. Soon afterwards I was back at my work. The people in the office, seeing how well I looked, asked what had cured me, and I answered Mother Seigel's Syrup. I shall be glad to reply to any inquiries about my case. (Sighed) Chatles Harris 74, Baresford Street, Camberwell, London, December Ist, 1892." " Mr Harria' statement goes straight to the point. Why was he afraid, to eat? Because his food gave him pain without giving him strength. This was dead wrong. It w>b exactly the reverse of what it should have been. When a man is in proper form he gets vigour and power from his meals, and eats them with enjoyment and relish. If he doesn't there is something the matter with him. What is it? Now let your thoughts expand a bit, so as to take in a broad principle. One man's meat is another man's poison, they say. That's so, but it's only half the truth* Any man's meat is any man's poison, under certain conditions. If grain never got any further than the mill hopper we should never have bread, and if bread (or other food) never got further than the stomach we should uever hare strength. _ See? Well, when the stomach is torpid, inflamed, and "on stbike," what happens? Why, your food lies in it and rots. The fermentations produce poisons which get into the blood and kick up the worst sort of mischief all over the body. This iB indigestion and dyspepsia, though .he doctorß call each and every trick of it fy a separate name. Yet they don't cure ?t, wMch is the main thing after all. 1 But Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup doeß, as Mr Harris says, and as thousands of others, say.