ON INDIGESTION.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XII, Issue XX, 19 May 1894, Page 478

ON INDIGESTION.

Mistakes in diet, laziness in mastication, lack of general muscular tone in the whole body, cause a weakened stomach and lead to nervous prostration and all sorts of nerve troubles. Most people get indigestion from eating too much. People of otherwise unquestioned good judgment eat and drink both immoderately and irregularly foods that are harmless in small quantities, or if eaten with the meals ; or foods which may not be sufficiently fresh to be easily assimilated by the stomach. They practically ignore the fact that the gastric glands manufacture acid and peptones in proportion to their ability, and ought to be given time to rest. Often the rebellion which is excited in the stomach is taken as a hungry feeling, and more work is forced upon the digestive apparatus. We know the effects of tension on our voluntary muscles. We have felt the utter inability to make one further exertion. Yet we keep the delicate muscles of our stomachs in a state of tension half the time.

• Have you cold soies on your lips ?’ They come from some stomach irritation.

Have yon a dry, annoying cough? That probably comes from your stomach too. The list of woes is long, and what shall you do if you may not take pills ? Let the stomach have a little rest; take a little rest your whole self every day to quiet your circulation. After it take that kind of exercise which will draw the blood away from your internal organs. You may think your trouble is catarrh. Well, leave off drinking tea, coffee, and alcoholic beverages. You must not eat fats nor things fried in fat, nor pastry. You must see that your teeth are in good order for grinding and preparing your food for easy digestion. A dentist often cures dyspepsia. Take plenty of time for eating and eat slowly. A rigid diet of milk and beef tea cures some cases, or milk with soda water, or milk with dry toast. Do not eat potatoes, coarse vegetables, sugar, puddings, nor fruit in summer. Do take systematic exercise in the open air. Do try change of air and occupation if you can. Take a sea voyage. Pass a summer in an interesting country, where walks or jolting drives are your only means of getting about. A sojourn in such a region often cures old chronic cases.

‘COME, come, don’t be an idiot, my dear,’ said the husband during a domestic breeze. * Didn’t marriage make you and me one?’ she asked. ‘Of course it did.' ‘How can I help being an idiot then ?’