CHAPTER III.. Of the Kinds of Food.

OF THE KINDS OF FOOD.

What is the proper food of man?--Food to be adapted to constitution and circumstances--Diet must vary with time of life--Diet in infancy--The mother’s milk the best--Substitutes for it.--Over-feeding a prevalent error--Causes which vitiate the quality of the milk--Regimen of nurses--Weaning--Diet after weaning--Too early use of animal food hurtful--Diet of children in the higher classes too exciting--and produces scrofula--Mild food best for children--Incessant eating very injurious--Proper diet from childhood to puberty--It ought to be full and nourishing but not stimulating--Often insufficient in boarding-schools--Diet best adapted for different constitutions in mature age--Regimen powerful in modifying the constitution, mental as well as physical--Farther investigation required.

The next question which presents itself is, What is the proper food of man? In answering it, we must begin by making distinctions, otherwise we shall, in the very outset, fall into error.

On examining the structure of the human body at different ages, and in different individuals, remarkable differences are observable in the relative proportions of the elements or tissues of which it is composed. In one, the muscular system predominates, and the body is remarkable for a compactness of fibre indicative at once of strength and activity. In another, the lymphatic system is the most conspicuously developed, and its features are easily recognised by the full, soft, and rounded form, and languid action, which generally accompany it. In a third, the thin and sharp outline, irregular and vivacious activity, and great susceptibility of impressions, betoken the predominance of the nervous over all the other functions; while, in a fourth, the florid complexion, expanded chest, and general vivacity of disposition, as clearly point out the superior development and energy of the vascular system. Such are the four principal constitutions, long familiarly known under the names of the bilious, the lymphatic, the nervous, and the sanguine temperaments. Very frequently the habit of body indicates a mixture of two or more of these temperaments, in which case the results of course are modified according to the proportions in which they are combined.

The elementary textures being thus differently proportioned in different individuals, it follows that the aliment best suited for the support and repair of one is not always so for the others; in other words, a distinct modification of diet ought to be adopted for every marked variety of constitution, because a direct relation ought always to subsist between the qualities of the food and the nature of the system which it is intended to nourish. Thus, the highly concentrated and stimulating food which is found necessary for the proper sustenance of the trained pugilist or sportsman, whose muscular frame is in high development and constant exercise, would prove far too exciting to the slender and irritable constitution of a person whose characteristic feature is the predominant activity of the brain and nervous system. And, in like manner, the generous and stimulating diet which suffices merely to rouse a phlegmatic organization to ordinary energy, would prove by far too nutritive for a person of a florid and sanguine temperament, whose predisposition is already towards inordinate activity.

The necessity of adapting the diet and regimen to the individual constitution and mode of life, becomes so obvious to reason, when thus plainly stated, as to excite surprise that it should ever have been neglected. But, strange to say, although the ancient writers attached much importance to the subject, the relation between diet and constitution, as a practical consideration, has of late been so entirely overlooked, and sound physiological principle has been so little consulted in the proper adaptation of the one to the other, that we are at this moment in possession of very little information of any value regarding it, and a long time must elapse before more can be supplied. My own observations have not been extensive or accurate enough to enable me to supply any considerable results; and the following imperfect remarks are subjoined rather in the hope of exciting inquiry than of satisfying the curiosity of the reader.

Where the constitution is of a mixed nature, or a compound of two or more of the temperaments already described, a diet composed of animal and vegetable aliment in nearly equal proportions is under ordinary circumstances the best. But where any one temperament predominates, the diet ought to be modified accordingly. Where, for example, the sanguine constitution prevails, characterized by a florid complexion, great activity, strong action of the heart and bloodvessels, and a consequent liability to diseases of excitement and inflammation, the food ought to be habitually of a kind calculated rather to soothe than to stimulate. Red-meat, spices, wines, and fermented liquors ought to be used sparingly; and the principal support to be derived from refreshing soups, fish, mucilaginous vegetables, acidulous fruits, and diluting drinks. In the case of lymphatic persons, on the other hand, where the circulation is weak and slow, and all the functions are feeble, the system is benefited by the stimulus of a larger proportion of animal food, especially red-meat and game; while vegetables, soups, and fluids of all kinds prove relaxing and hurtful. Aromatics and spices, however, are useful, as is also wine in moderation, and conjoined with adequate exercise.

If, again, the individual presents a highly nervous temperament, characterized by delicacy, unusual sensibility to impressions, and great excitability, without proportionate strength, such as is often seen in females and in men of genius, care ought to be taken not to make use of a heating or stimulating regimen. White-meat, such as fish and fowl, are more suitable than the kinds in ordinary use. Spices are also hurtful, but farinaceous and mucilaginous aliments and ripe fruits are generally admissible--always supposing that moderation in quantity is attended to, and that the mode of life is, in other respects, regular and rational.

Where the dark energetic bilious temperament predominates, and much bodily activity in the open air is enjoyed, more latitude in the choice of food is admissible than in any other constitution. If, however, much and continued exertion is required, a full supply of animal food becomes indispensable for the due support of the system, and the strength cannot be adequately supported on vegetables alone. In such circumstances a moderate allowance of wine or other stimulus is borne with less detriment, if not with more advantage, than where the temperament is essentially nervous.

On this subject, however, there is still so much need for inquiry, that I shall not enter farther into details, but urge the reader to make observations for himself.

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There is no kind of alimentary substance of which it can be said absolutely that it is always proper for the sustenance of man. To be serviceable, the food must be adapted to the age, constitution, state of health, and mode of life, of the individual, and to the climate and season of the year. The same diet which, administered to an adult, is healthful and nutritious, may prove irritating and injurious to a child; and, in like manner, the stimulating animal diet which in winter is highly grateful to the system of a hard-working unexciteable labourer, may prove utterly destructive of health when indulged in during summer by an inactive and exciteable female. It becomes, therefore, an object of deep interest to determine the principal causes and states of the system which render modifications of diet necessary.

Among these modifying causes, the varying state of the body at different periods of life ought certainly to be considered as one of the most influential. The differences observed in the constitution of the same person at different ages, are at least as great as those subsisting between different individuals at the same age. In infancy the lymphatic and nutritive functions greatly predominate over the muscular; and if the highly animalized food which suits the latter were then freely administered, it would infallibly induce disease, and fail to afford the requisite nourishment. In manhood, again, when muscular activity and nutrition are at their height, the lymphatic system in abeyance, and the person subjected to laborious exertion, the mild food of infancy would be equally misplaced. In advanced age, another change of constitution occurs. The soft tissues of early life have disappeared, and the whole frame is dry and wasted--a condition which, in its turn, requires food of a different kind from that fitted for either of the preceding stages.

Even the state of the digestive organs at different periods of life is sufficient to indicate a corresponding modification of diet to be proper for each. In early infancy, when no teeth exist, and the muscles which move the jaws are still comparatively small and powerless, and mastication is consequently impossible, milk, from the mother’s breast, is manifestly the only food intended by Nature for its use; and, so long as it can be obtained of healthy quality and in sufficient quantity, no other ought to be substituted in its place. After the milk-teeth have made their appearance, but not till then, a little admixture may be permitted, and gradually and cautiously increased in proportion as dentition advances, and the stomach becomes fitted to digest other food. If, however, the appearance of the teeth be retarded by inability in the mother to furnish an adequate supply of sustenance (which sometimes happens), the deficiency must be made up either by providing a nurse of a healthy constitution, or by other means to be presently mentioned. The former is the preferable remedy; but where a nurse cannot be procured, and the mother’s milk is scanty, the child may, after the third or fourth month, receive, at proper intervals, a small allowance of cow’s milk, diluted with one-third of water, and slightly sweetened. This makes the nearest approach to the nature of the mother’s milk, and is therefore more suitable than any preparation of milk and flour or arrow-root that can be given. Ass or goat-milk answers still better.

The appearance of the first teeth is an indication that the digestive organs have become sufficiently developed to admit of small portions of barley-water panada, thin arrow-root, or milk and water, being given two or three times daily in addition to the nourishment drawn from the mother’s breast, if the latter be at all deficient. Great care must be taken, however, neither to exceed in quantity, nor to give the food too rapidly; for otherwise the stomach will become too full, and be weakened by the efforts it is obliged to make. I have already pointed out the importance of attending to this rule; and in accordance with it, Nature by arranging that the milk shall flow only by slow degrees, has taken care that, in suckling, the child shall receive its food very gradually. The very appearance of the teeth indicates a preparation of the digestive functions for more substantial aliment; and by beginning cautiously the use of small quantities of such simple articles as those above named, and gradually increasing them according to the wants of the system, an excellent preparation is made for the process of weaning, which would otherwise, by its suddenness, be attended with serious risk to both parent and child.

The milk of the parent ought, in every instance, to constitute the food of the infant, unless some very urgent reason prevents the mother from suckling, or renders her milk improper for the child. There is always a relation between the condition and constitution of the mother, and the age and constitution of the infant, which renders this proper, and which cannot exist between the child and any other nurse, but which exercises an important influence on its nutrition. It is well known, for example, that, during the first few weeks, the milk is thinner and more watery than it afterwards becomes. If, consequently, a newly-born infant be provided with a nurse in the third or fourth month, the natural relation between its stomach and the quality of the milk is destroyed, and the infant suffers from the oppression of food being too heavy for its powers. If, again, an infant of five or six months old be transferred to a nurse recently delivered, the aliment which it receives is too watery for its support, and its health in consequence gives way.

In like manner, if the parent be of mature age, her own milk, or that of a healthy nurse of a nearly similar age, will be more suitable to the infant than the milk of a much younger woman; because the constitution of the offspring always bears a relation to that of the mother, and is adapted to the quality of the fluid which Nature has provided for it. I speak, of course, only of the healthy state; for in cases of disease, the mother may be, and often is, the most unfit nurse that can be found for her own child. But as, in such instances, the parents are always guided in their conduct by medical advice, and this is not the place to discuss the treatment of disease, I need not now enlarge upon it.

The leading error in the rearing of the young, I must again repeat, is over-feeding--an error serious in itself, but which may easily be avoided by the parent yielding only to the indication of appetite, and administering food slowly and in small quantities at a time. By no other means can the colics and bowel-complaints, and irritability of the nervous system, so common in infancy, be effectually prevented, and strength and healthy nutrition be secured. Nature never meant the infant stomach to be converted into a receptacle for laxatives, carminatives, antacids, spicy stimulants, and astringents; and when these become necessary, we may rest assured that there is something faulty in our management, however perfect it may seem to ourselves. The only exception is where the child is defectively constituted, and then, of course, it may fail to thrive under the best measures which can be devised for its relief.

Another cause of infantile indigestion, and which is too much overlooked through ignorance of its importance, is vitiation of the quality of the milk, caused by imprudence, neglect, or anxiety, on the part of the mother. The extent to which this cause operates in inducing irritation and suffering in the child is not generally understood; and accordingly, it is not unusual for mothers to display as much indifference to health, regimen, and tranquillity of mind, during nursing, as if the milky secretion, and all other bodily functions, were independent of every external and corporeal influence. Healthy, nourishing, and digestible milk, can proceed only from a healthy and well constituted parent; and it is against nature to expect that, if the mother impairs her health and digestion by improper diet, neglect of exercise, impure air, or unruly passions, she can nevertheless provide a wholesome and uncontaminated fluid, as if she were exemplary in her observance of all the laws of health.

It is no new or uncertain doctrine that the quality of the mother’s milk is affected by her own health and conduct, and that, in its turn, it directly affects the health of the nursling. Even medicines given to the parent act upon the child through the medium of the milk; and a sudden fit of anger, or other violent mental emotion, has not unfrequently been observed to change the quality of the fluid, so much as to produce purging and gripes in the child. Care and anxiety, in like manner, exert a most pernicious influence, and not only diminish the quantity but vitiate the quality of the milk.

As soon, then, may we expect to see a bad tree bringing forth good fruit, as bad management good results; and low must that parent be ranked in the scale of moral beings, who, knowing the relation we have pointed out, can still deliberately sacrifice the welfare of her offspring, by the improper indulgence of her appetites and passions, and by culpably neglecting the duties and restrictions demanded by her own health.

It is a common mistake to suppose that, because a woman is nursing, she ought therefore to live very fully, and to add an allowance of wine, porter, or other fermented liquid, to her usual diet. The only result of this plan is to cause an unnatural degree of fulness in the system, which places the nurse on the brink of disease, and which of itself frequently puts a stop to, instead of increasing, the secretion of the milk. The health and usefulness of country nurses are often utterly ruined by their transplantation into the families of rich and luxurious employers. Accustomed at home to constant bodily exertion, exposure to the air, and a moderate supply of the plainest food, they live in the enjoyment of the best health, and constitute excellent nurses. But the moment they are translated from their proper sphere, their habits and mode of life undergo an unfavourable change. Having no longer any laborious duties to perform, or any daily exposure to encounter, they become plethoric and indolent; and as they are at the same time too well fed, the digestive functions become impaired, the system speedily participates in the disorder, and the milk, which was at first bland, nourishing, and plentiful, now becomes heating and insufficient, and sometimes even stops altogether. The motive which induces the mother to take the nurse out of her proper element is extremely amiable--she is desirous to see that her infant is properly attended to; but the method which she takes to gratify this desire is not on that account the less short-sighted and erroneous. If the nurse cannot be trusted with the child at her own home, care ought to be taken at least that her diet and mode of life be changed as little as possible from those which experience has proved to be most conducive to her health; and the system of feeding, confinement, and indolence, usually resorted to, ought to be strictly prohibited, as fraught with evil to both nurse and child.

Nature, indeed, has saved mothers the necessity of oppressing their stomachs by way of providing for the wants of their young, and has enabled them to give suck without either suffering from exhaustion or having recourse to a more stimulating diet. This is accomplished simply by the suppression of that periodical evacuation to which all healthy women are subject during the greater portion of life except when pregnant or nursing; and as, in every situation, it is certainly more advantageous for all parties to follow out the intentions of Nature, than to substitute any contrivance of their own to effect a given end, so, in the present instance, more will be gained by the observance of the ordinary laws of health on the part of the nurse, than by any foolish deviation founded on ignorance and caprice. It often happens, for example, that, from the waste caused by a great flow of milk, the appetite becomes keener, and digestion more vigorous than usual. In such cases, it is obviously allowable to increase to a moderate extent the amount of food, because the demand for it is natural and healthy. But it is a total perversion to say, that, because the appetite and digestion are vigorous, the diet ought therefore to be made rich and stimulating. And it is not less absurd to infer, that because a healthy nurse enjoys a keen appetite, and derives benefit from a moderate increase of her usual food, a sickly or delicate nurse will therefore be benefited by also eating more whether she has a natural appetite for it or not. The two cases, although generally confounded, are so widely different, that, while the increase of food promotes the flow of milk in the one, it is almost sure to diminish or put an entire stop to it in the other.

The length of time during which an infant ought to be fed at the breast is subject to some variation. In this country, the end of the ninth month is usually considered a proper time for weaning; but much depends on the condition of the mother, and also on that of the child. If both are in vigorous health, if the infant has cut several of its teeth and been already accustomed to be fed, and if the season be favourable, weaning ought to be then gradually accomplished. But if the nursling is feeble in constitution, the teeth late in appearing, and the nurse has a sufficient supply of good milk, especially if it be the winter season, it will be far better to prolong the nursing for a few months. In such a case, the single fact of the non-appearance of the teeth, would suffice to indicate an unfitness of the system for any other than the natural food from the maternal breast. In general, weaning takes place too early, at least in Scotland.

Where a healthy and well-constituted nurse has been provided, on account of the existence of a hereditary taint, such as active scrofula or cancer, in the parent, it is generally advantageous to defer the weaning beyond the usual time. But we must, in this case, be watchful not to delay it, if either the nurse or the child begins to suffer from its continuance.

It would carry me too far from the main object of this work to discuss all the contingencies against which it is occasionally necessary to provide in the management of the young. This, however, is scarcely required, seeing that medical advice is generally resorted to at the time of their occurrence; and the exposition of principles already given will enable most reflecting readers to decide for themselves, how far they may safely trust to their own lights, without delaying to seek advice from others till the evil is done.

After the child has been weaned, panada, gruel, thin arrow-root, tapioca, sago, rusk, or crust of bread, may be allowed along with the fresh milk and water and sugar, which ought still to constitute the principal part of the food; and one or other ought to be preferred according to its effects. When these are given in moderate quantity, and not too frequently, they generally agree well; but in some delicate children they cause acidity, flatulence, and griping. In this case, a proportion of weak chicken-broth, or beef-tea freed from fat, and thickened with rusk, soft boiled rice or arrow-root, may be added.

The same kind of food ought to be continued till after the appearance of the canine or dog-teeth. When these have fairly protruded, a portion of soft-boiled egg may be given as an introduction to the use of a more completely animal diet. In general, solid animal food ought not to be allowed in any quantity till all the teeth have appeared, and the digestive powers be fully adequate to its assimilation.

In this respect, there are two errors which ought equally to be avoided. If animal food be given too early, or in too great quantity, the system becomes excited, and diseases of irritation are apt to be produced, which impede nutrition, and lead ultimately to the production of scrofula and other organic changes in the glands and bowels, and not unfrequently also in the brain and lungs. In these instances, the child generally eats heartily, but nevertheless continues thin, and is subject to frequent flushing and irregularity of the bowels, head-ach, and restlessness. His mind partakes of the general irritability of the system, and peevish impatience takes the place of the placid good-humour natural to healthy childhood. In this state the ordinary diseases of infancy,--measles, scarlet fever, and whooping cough--are often attended with an unusual and dangerous degree of constitutional disturbance; and when inflammation takes place, the necessary depletion is borne with difficulty, and the system does not easily rally.

The consequences now enumerated, and the error from which they spring, are most frequently met with in the middle and higher classes of society. Aware that animal substances contain the largest proportion of nutriment in a given bulk, but ignorant of the relation subsisting between particular kinds of food and particular states of the system, and which in practice can never be safely overlooked, the fond parent naturally imagines that the more nutritious the food, and the larger the quantity administered, the stronger and healthier will the child become. No suspicion is entertained that strong diet may overpower weak organs, and thus induce the very evils which it is sought to avoid; whereas, by adapting the quality and quantity of the food to the condition of the system, the assimilating powers may be gradually invigorated, and healthy nutrition be completely ensured.

Among the wealthier classes, imperfect nutrition most generally arises from excess in quantity, or a too stimulating quality, of food; but among the lower classes from deficiency in quantity or quality, added to scantiness of clothing, want of cleanliness, and imperfect ventilation. And hence Dr Clark, in treating of the prevention of scrofula and consumption in early life, lays great stress on the proper regulation of diet, and shews that, even in families free from all hereditary taint, a morbid condition of the system extremely favourable to the production of both diseases, is speedily brought about by continued mismanagement of diet; and both the public and the profession are deeply indebted to him for drawing attention to the extensive influence of dyspeptic ailments in paving the way for the future inroads of a deadlier disease. It is true that it has long been the fashion to ascribe all bodily and mental disorders to bile, indigestion, or the state of the bowels; but the rationale of the result has seldom been perceived, or turned to any good account in improving preventive or remedial treatment. Dr Clark’s treatise, however, presents a remarkable exception, and may be referred to as a most instructive specimen of cautious and discriminating medical inquiry.

When we reflect that the object of digestion is to furnish materials for the growth of the body, and to supply the waste which the system is constantly undergoing, it must appear self-evident, that, if the digestive powers be impaired by disease, by improper quantity or quality of food, or by any other cause, the result must necessarily be the formation of an imperfect chyle, and consequently of imperfect blood. The elements of the blood are derived from the chyle, and if it be vitiated, the blood also must suffer; if the blood be impoverished, so must necessarily be all the organs which it supplies; and if the body be thus debilitated, can any wonder be felt that it should no longer be able to resist the action of offending causes which full health alone can withstand? No matter whether the imperfect chyle springs from deficiency or excess, from too weak or too strong food, from constitutional debility or the inroad of disease,--imperfect nutrition is its invariable consequence, and that cannot happen without exposing the system to morbid influences in a greater or less degree, according to the nature of the constitution and other concomitant circumstances.

Wisely, therefore, does Dr Clark recommend early and earnest attention to a proper dietetic regimen, and insist that “the food of the child be regulated chiefly by the state of the digestive organs. In proportion to the delicacy of the child, the diet will in general require to be mild; when he thrives upon milk, farinaceous food, and light broths, no stronger or more substantial food need be used during the first two years of life: when he looks healthy and grows, and his bowels are regular (for this is one of the surest indications that the food is suited to the digestive organs), we have the best proofs that the diet agrees with him. When, on the other hand, the child appears heated or flushed towards evening, when he drinks greedily and more than is usual in children of the same age, and when his bowels do not act regularly, we may be assured that there is something wrong in the regimen employed.

“There is no greater error in the management of children than that of giving them animal diet too early in life. To feed an infant with animal food before it has teeth for masticating it, shews a total disregard to the plain indications of Nature in withholding such teeth till the system requires their assistance in masticating solid food. Before that period, milk, farinaceous food, and broth, afford that kind of sustenance which is best suited to the digestive organs, and to the nourishment of the system. The method of grating and pounding meat as a substitute for chewing, may be well suited to the toothless octogenarian, whose stomach is capable of digesting it; but the stomach of the young child is not adapted to the digestion of such food, and will be disordered by it. When the child has the means of masticating, a little animal food may be allowed, but it should be of the lightest quality, and given on alternate days only; and even then its effects should be watched, for all changes in the regimen of children should be gradual.

“The frequent origin of scrofulous disease in defective nourishment has led to the opposite extreme, and children who are disposed to tuberculous disease are too often subjected to a system of over-feeding which induces the disease it is intended to prevent. By persevering in the use of an overstimulating diet, the digestive organs become irritated, and the various secretions immediately connected with digestion are diminished, especially the biliary secretion; at least the sensible qualities of the bile enable us to observe it best. Constipation of the bowels soon follows; congestion of the hepatic and abdominal veins succeeds, and is followed by the train of consequences which have already been detailed. It would be well if the advocates of the system of high feeding, would bear in mind the salutary adage, corpora impura quo plus nutries, eo magis lædis.”

In proportion as the organization becomes developed, and strength, activity, and aptitude for abundant exercise increase, a larger allowance of plain animal food becomes essential to health. The instruments of mastication are now fully adequate to their office, and the stomach is no longer oppressed by the effort of digesting it. To make it safe, however, even at that age, ample exercise and exposure to the open air are indispensable. By undue confinement to the house or to school, and deficient exposure to the air, a degree of general delicacy is kept up which is incompatible with the daily use of a stimulant animal diet. The waste occasioned by the bodily action is too limited to require the copious supply of any very nutritious substances, and if these be freely allowed, they serve only to oppress the digestive functions and impair the health.

The prevalent and pernicious custom of tasking the minds and confining the bodies of children for hours in succession at home and in schools, at a time of life when the growth of the body and the welfare of the system require constant and playful exercise in the open air, and perfect freedom from care and excitement of mind, is the fruitful source of much future bad health, and is eminently calculated to defeat the object aimed at by parents, namely, the mental excellence of the child. The premature exertion of intellect to which it is stimulated by the constant excitement of emulation and vanity, far from strengthening, tends to impair the health and tone of the brain, and of all the organs depending on it; and hence we rarely perceive the genius of the school manifesting in future years any of the superiority which attracted attention in early life; but we find him, on the contrary, either sunk below mediocrity, or dragging out a painful existence, the victim of indigestion and melancholy. On the other hand, some of the most distinguished men who ever lived were in childhood remarkable only for health, idleness, and apparent stupidity. The illustrious Newton was, by his own account, an idle and inattentive boy, and “very low in the school,” till he reached twelve years of age; and the young Napoleon himself is described as “having good health, and being in other respects like other boys.” Adam Clarke was considered “a grievous dunce” when a boy, and was seldom praised by his father, except for his ability in rolling large stones, which his robust frame and good health enabled him to do. Shakspeare, Gibbon, Byron, Scott, and Davy, were in like manner undistinguished for precocious genius, and were fortunately allowed to indulge freely in those wholesome bodily exercises, and that freedom of mind, which contributed so much to their future excellence. The mother of Sheridan, too, long regarded him as “the dullest and most hopeless of her sons.”

Among the many who give great promise in early life, and whose talents are then forced by ill-judged cultivation into precocious maturity, how few live to manhood to reap the reward of their exertions, and how few of those who survive preserve their superiority unimpaired! Tasso was early distinguished, and wrote his immortal epic at twenty-two years of age, but his life was miserable and his reason disordered, and he died at fifty-one. Pascal is another example of the same result, and Kirke White and many others might be named were it necessary.

Experience, indeed, amply demonstrates that precocious and excessive activity of intellect and vivacity of feeling are most powerful impediments to healthy and vigorous digestion, and consequently to a sufficient nutrition. In early life, therefore, when not only health but future usefulness depend mainly on the completeness and vigour with which the system shall proceed towards its full development, the preservation of the digestive organs by suitable diet, exercise, and regimen, ought to be a primary object of attention with every sensible parent. Even as regards superiority of mind, the healthy development of the body is of essential importance, as the only sure foundation on which mental excellence can be built; because, so long as mind and body are intimately connected with each other, the former must continue to be affected by every change in the condition of the organization on which it depends. We enjoy acuteness of vision by preserving the eye in high health, and exercising it regularly and moderately; and in like manner, we can obtain and preserve intellectual power only by preserving the health of the brain, and exercising it in conformity with its natural constitution.

Instead, then, of feeding the closely confined and excitable children of the middle and higher classes from early infancy on quantities of stimulating animal food, and even giving them wine and fermented liquors, we shall act more in accordance with the laws of Nature by restricting them, during the three or four earliest years of childhood, chiefly to a mild farinaceous diet, with a small allowance of meat on alternate days; and by seeking to increase their digestive power and bodily vigour by constant exercise in the open air, before giving them a more solid diet. By these means the development of the organization, the keenness of appetite, the tone of digestion, and the desire of, and fitness of the system for, animal food, will increase in regular proportion, and a free supply of that species of aliment will even become necessary to carry on the growth. In short, it must ever be remembered, that strength is to be obtained not from the kind of food which contains most nourishment in itself, but from that which is best adapted to the condition of the digestive organs at the time when it is taken.

Children who are prone to bodily exertion, and live almost entirely in the open air, as many of those of the lower orders do, and who display no unusual sensibility or activity of mind, or, in other words, no unusual irritability of the nervous system, not only bear but require a larger proportion of animal food than their more delicate and sensitive companions. Not only is their digestion more vigorous, but the waste going on in the system is much greater, and the nutritive functions are more active; the need consequently for nourishing food, and the desire to procure it, are proportionally increased. Hence it happens that, in the wealthier classes of society, young children suffer most from over-feeding; while in the poorer classes they suffer chiefly from the opposite cause. In both, defective nutrition is the result; but the modes in which it is brought about are very different.

One of the most pernicious habits in which children can be indulged is that of almost incessant eating. Many mothers encourage it from the facility with which, for a time, the offer of “something nice” procures peace. Even from infancy, the child ought to be gradually accustomed to eat only when hungry, and when food is really required. After two years of age, an interval of four hours between meals will rarely be more than enough; and to give biscuit, fruit, or bread in the mean time, is just subtracting from the digestive power of the stomach. Like almost every organ of the body, the stomach requires a period of repose after the labour of digestion; and, accordingly, in the healthy state, the sensation of appetite never returns till it has been for some time empty. To give food sooner, therefore, is analogous to making a weary traveller walk on without the refreshment of a halt.

It is a great mistake to suppose that children would not be quiet or contented without such indulgence. On the contrary, they would be healthier and happier were the opposite system steadily pursued. The greatest obstacle to be encountered is the ignorance of the nurse or mother, and her want of resources for the entertainment and exercise of the child’s bodily and mental faculties. If these be duly attended to, the child will not think of eating till the return of appetite enforces the demand; whereas if it be left idle and neglected, every thing will be carried to its mouth, as its only remaining resource against absolute inanity. So true is this, that I should regard that nurse as unfit for her employment, who should complain that her charge, otherwise in good health, is incessantly craving for something to eat. In this respect children are like adults. Give them something to do and to think about, and they will seek meat only when hungry. But leave them idle and listless, and eating will become their chief subject of contemplation.

In a matter so important as the rearing of children, one would imagine that every mother and nurse would be anxious for instruction on the nature, functions, and wants of the being committed to their fostering care. And yet it is notorious how rarely either one or other of them possesses any but the crudest notions of the animal economy, or can give reasons for the practices they recommend, or modify them in any degree to suit modifications of circumstances and constitution. In reality the wonder comes to be, not that so many children die, but that so many survive their early mismanagement.

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From the age of six or seven years up to that of puberty, when the animal activity is at its height, growth in full progress, and the nutritive functions in their greatest vigour, a larger proportion of animal food, and a more generous diet, become necessary to the enjoyment of health and vigour; but they must still be accompanied by ample exercise and free exposure, otherwise they will tend only to clog and impede the functions of life. At that age the teeth and other organs concerned in digestion have become developed and fit for the assimilation of a richer aliment, and the rapid growth which takes place renders an abundant provision of the latter in a manner indispensable. It is then that the healthy youthful appetite demands quantity as well as quality, and that digestion goes on with an ease and vigour which the dyspeptic parent contemplates with a covetous and regretful eye.

At that age, indeed, the nutritive functions are so predominantly active for the purpose of carrying on growth, and supplying the rapid waste caused by youthful activity, that if the natural craving for exercise in the open air be freely indulged, and due attention be given to the development of the bodily frame, the young may be very safely left to choose for themselves both the quality and quantity of their food. In such circumstances, the natural taste inclines so essentially to the preference of plain substantial nourishment, that there is very little risk of excess being committed. But where the parents are intent only on the intellectual advancement of their children, and accustomed to subject them daily to many successive hours of confinement and study, with only an hour or so of relaxation in the open air, as is too commonly the case both with those educated at home and with those in boarding-schools, an artificial state of being is induced, which makes the rule no longer applicable, and renders necessary a more careful attention to dietetic regimen.

Among the higher classes of society the unrestricted use of the most exciting kinds and preparations of animal food, and the daily use of wine, are the means generally resorted to for the removal of the delicacy thus engendered; but when we consider the real state of the case, no remedy can seem more preposterous. The evil to be corrected is imperfect nutrition, and the want of strength. The imperfect nutrition, however, is caused, not by deficient food, but by impaired powers of digestion and assimilation, and these suffer only because the lungs are denied the free air, the muscles their necessary exertion, the brain its cheerful recreation, and the circulation the healthy stimulus which these united conditions infallibly produce. Instead, therefore, of oppressing a weakened stomach by administering stronger food than it has the power of digesting, the natural way of proceeding would be to prescribe at first a milder and less stimulating diet,--to improve the tone of digestion by fulfilling the conditions above referred to,--and then, in proportion as the stomach was strengthened, to adopt a more nourishing diet, suited to the increased efficiency of all the animal functions.

By running counter to this method, and using highly stimulating food improperly, many young people of the wealthier classes incur as much suffering from imperfect nutrition, and the diseases to which it predisposes, as if they were really the victims of an impoverished diet. Dr Clark, after making some very judicious remarks on the influence of bad digestion in inducing the consumptive constitution of body, expresses himself strongly on the evils to which I have just alluded. “Food in excess,” he says, “or of a kind too exciting for the digestive organs, may also induce tubercular cachexia,--a circumstance which is not sufficiently attended to,--I may say, not generally understood, even by medical men; nevertheless, I hold it to be a frequent cause of scrofula, and believe that it produces the same effect on the system as a deficient supply.” “The imperfect digestion and assimilation in the one case, and the inadequate nourishment in the other, being equally injurious: the forms and general characters which the disease assumes may differ, but the ultimate result will be the same in both cases. The adaptation of the food, both in quality and quantity, to the age of the individual, as well as to the powers of the digestive organs, is too little considered; and the evil consequences of this neglect are often evident in the children of the wealthy classes of society, who are allowed an unrestricted use of the most exciting kinds of animal food.”

The opposite error, of not providing a sufficiently nourishing diet for the young, is, from mistaken views, much more prevalent than it ought to be, particularly in female boarding-schools, where, as already mentioned, the system of diet is often insufficient for due sustenance and growth; and where, consequently, the natural expression of impaired health, if not actual disease, is a marked feature in the aspect of most of the pupils. So defective, indeed, is the common school management in this and other respects, that we have the best authority for considering it as a rare exception for a girl to return home in full health after spending two or three years at an ordinary English boarding-school.

It is true, that much of this result is owing to excessive confinement, neglect of cheerful exercise, ill-ventilated sleeping apartments, and other depressing influences; but to these, that of an insufficient diet may often be added; and when it does exist, it acts with double force from the impaired digestion, which seldom fails to ensue where the laws of health are so widely outraged.

I have seen some striking instances of incurable scrofulous disease, induced by the depressing influence of misfortune added to the want of a sufficient supply of nutritious food. After the mercantile disasters of 1825–6, many cases of this kind occurred, especially in families whose sensitive feelings induced them to shrink from public observation, and to suffer the severest privations rather than allow their situation to become known. In these cases, the tone of the general health first became reduced, and then local disease was easily excited by any trivial cause. In one, the structure of the bones and joints became disorganized, and amputation of the limb preserved life, but could not prevent other parts of the osseous system from being attacked. In another, caries of the bones of the foot ensued, but the constitution itself was so thoroughly tainted that no operation could be performed with even momentary success, and, after much suffering, the patient died. The same causes undermined the health of another member of the same family, and led to his death, from consumption, at an early age.

In regard to the diet best adapted to different constitutions in mature age, I have already confessed that I have little new information to offer. In determining the question, several other circumstances besides the mere temperament require to be considered. A more or less laborious mode of life, for example, will require a more or less nutritious diet, whatever the original habit of body may be. In like manner, if any temperament be in excess, and we wish to repress its predominance, the same kind of food which is suitable for it in a lower degree will no longer be applicable. Thus, when the lymphatic constitution is predominant, and our object is to diminish its ascendency, and stimulate the system to greater vigour, a larger proportion of solid nourishing food, combined with increased exercise, will be more proper than if there is no such excess. Where, on the other hand, the nervous or sanguine temperament preponderates, a plainer and less exciting regimen will be necessary than where the constitutional tendencies are more equally balanced.

The power we possess of modifying the constitution by well-directed regimen is very great, and only requires to be sufficiently investigated to have due importance assigned to it in conducting physical education. This is well exemplified in the art of training, where diet and exercise are reduced to a practical science for the attainment of certain results, and with remarkable success. In the hands of a trainer, the breathless and oppressed frame of a person over-burdened with lymph and fat speedily becomes converted into an active, firm, and well-conditioned organization, exhibiting a promptitude of action of both mind and body the very opposite of its former manifestations; and if such a change can be effected by rigid adherence to rules, in the course of two or three months, we may easily conceive the degree of improvement which would follow the uniform observance of proper regimen and dietetic precepts in ordinary society. In improving the moral and intellectual as well as physical condition of the working-classes, the influence of food, air, and exercise, will soon be discovered to possess a degree of importance of which at present scarcely a suspicion is entertained. They constitute, in fact, the very foundation of a systematic education; and mere intellectual cultivation will fail to produce its full beneficial results, till the organization by which the mind operates be itself improved by a treatment in harmony with its own constitution.

If it be impossible for me to communicate sufficient information to enable each of my readers at once to determine beforehand the kind of diet which is likely to suit him best, it will give him at least some satisfaction to know, that, by observing personally what kind of food agrees best with his stomach and constitution, he may soon obtain the necessary information for himself. When we refrain from eating too much and at unreasonable hours, and are not conscious of any undue oppression or discomfort after our meals, but, on the contrary, feel light or refreshed, and, after a time, ready for renewed exertion, we may rest assured that the food which we have taken is wholesome and suitable for us, whatever be its nature and general effects. Whereas if, without committing any excess or other dietetic error, we experience the opposite sensations of oppression, languor, and uneasiness, we may be just as certain that our food, whatever its general character for lightness and digestibility, is not wholesome or suitable for us under our present circumstances. So that, with a little care and trouble, we shall rarely be at any loss to find out what we ought to eat and what to avoid; and, accordingly, it is notorious that indigestion from a wrong choice of food is induced at least nine times by wilful indulgence, for once that it occurs from errors originating in ignorance alone. If the proper quantity of food be not exceeded, and the other conditions of digestion be carefully fulfilled, the risk of mischief from an erroneous choice of aliment will be greatly diminished.

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After the full exposition of the laws of digestion given in the first part of this work, I need hardly add, that although there are very few articles of diet which a person in health, and leading a sufficiently active life, may not eat with impunity, there are, nevertheless, some which ought to be preferred, and others which ought to be avoided, by those whose digestion is impaired. Thus, vegetables are, generally speaking, slower of digestion than animal and farinaceous aliments, and consequently, when digestion is feeble, are liable to remain in the bowels till acetous fermentation takes place, and gives rise to acidity and flatulence. Fat and oily meats are nearly in the same predicament, and hence both form unsuitable articles of diet for dyspeptics. Soups and liquid food are also objectionable, both because they are ill adapted for being properly acted upon by the gastric juice and by the muscular fibres of the stomach, and because they afford insufficient nourishment. From the former cause they frequently impair the digestive functions; and from the latter, they induce diseases of debility which it is difficult to subdue. Daily experience furnishes examples of stomachic disorder from eating soups, especially as preliminary to an otherwise substantial dinner; and the fatal epidemic which prevailed a few years ago in the Milbank Penitentiary, was distinctly ascertained to have been partly caused by an insufficient and too liquid diet. It is common, indeed, to see heartburn and indigestion of recent origin cured simply by giving up soups and vegetables, and diminishing the quantity of liquid taken at breakfast and tea.

When, from the state of health or other causes, chicken-tea, beef-tea, veal-broth, or other kinds of soup, require to be given, their digestibility will generally be promoted by the addition of bread or rice to give them consistency, and by taking little or no other food along with them. Even vegetables, when taken alone, are sometimes digested without difficulty, where, if mixed with other substances, they disorder the stomach. Dr Abercrombie mentions a very remarkable instance of this kind in a gentleman who “had been for many years a martyr to stomach complaints, seldom a day passing in which he did not suffer greatly from pain in his stomach, with flatulency, acidity, and the usual train of dyspeptic symptoms; and, in particular, he could not taste a bit of vegetable without suffering from it severely. He had gone on in this manner for years, when he was seized with complaints in his head, threatening apoplexy, which, after being relieved by the usual means, shewed such a constant tendency to recur, that it has been necessary ever since to restrict him to a diet almost entirely of vegetables, and in very moderate quantity. Under this regimen, so different from his former mode of living, he has continued free from any recurrence of the complaints in his head, and has never been known to complain of his stomach.” In this case, however, both the very moderate quantity of vegetable food to which the patient restricted himself, and possibly also the gradual adaptation of the gastric juice to the nature of the food, had no small share in the subsequent improvement of his digestion.

Dr Beaumont mentions, as a general result from his experiments on St Martin, that vegetable food is slow of digestion; but it is much to be regretted that he gives the particulars of only one or two trials, which lead to no very important results. In one of these already mentioned, St Martin ate “nine ounces of raw, ripe, sour apples, at 2 o’clock 35 minutes. At 3 o’clock 30 minutes, the stomach was full of fluid and pulp of apples, quite acrid, and irritating the edges of the aperture, as is always the case when he eats acescent fruits or vegetables.” In another instance, ten ounces of raw cabbage were given, and in two hours not a particle of it was to be found in the stomach; while on a third occasion, half a pound of raw cabbage, cut fine, and macerated in vinegar, disappeared in little more than one hour and a half! If in the latter experiments the cabbage was really digested, and not merely propelled out of the stomach into the intestine, we shall be forced to admit that we have still much to learn concerning the digestibility of different kinds of food, for the result is contrary to all generally received opinions. When vegetables are allowed, great stress is commonly laid upon the necessity of their being thoroughly cooked; and yet, according to these experiments, raw cabbage is very nearly as digestible as soft boiled rice or sago! It is strange that Dr Beaumont should not have remarked this anomaly, which he seems not to have done, since he neither attempts to explain it nor alludes to it as any thing extraordinary. My own suspicion is, that the cabbage was not entirely digested, but had merely passed through the pylorus into the intestine.

Dr Beaumont’s testimony in favour of farinaceous vegetables is, however, more precise and satisfactory. In some of his experiments, St Martin digested completely a full meal of boiled rice, seasoned with salt, in a single hour. Soft custard and boiled rich sago, sweetened with sugar, and taken in quantities of a pint each time, were disposed of with nearly equal dispatch, and “there was no acrimony of the gastric contents, or smarting of the edges of the aperture, during their chymification, as is usual in most vegetable and farinaceous aliments;” on the contrary, the sago “seemed peculiarly grateful to the surface of the stomach, rendering the membrane soft, uniform, and healthy.” In these instances, it ought to be remarked, nothing else was eaten at the same time; so that the stomach was not oppressed by quantity.

In early life, when digestion is vigorous, the system excitable, and the habits peculiarly active, a full proportion of vegetable and farinaceous food is proper and salutary. Morning and evening meals of this description, prepared with milk, or taken along with it, are very useful--animal food being reserved for dinner alone. But as age advances and excitability diminishes, and perhaps also as habits of activity and exposure to the open air are changed, the same proportion of vegetable and farinaceous food can no longer be digested so easily, and therefore ought not to be continued.

Pastry, rich cakes, puddings, and other articles containing much fatty or oily matter in their composition, are perhaps the most generally indigestible of all kinds of food, and consequently ought never to be eaten when the tone of the stomach is impaired. There are states, however, in which oily articles seem to agree better than lean. I have seen very fat fried bacon, for example, digested with ease at breakfast, where even a small potato would have disordered the stomach. It is very difficult to afford any explanation of the fact, which, however, is not uncommon. Perhaps it is dependent on a peculiar state of the biliary secretion, for Dr Beaumont often remarked that the presence of bile in the stomach facilitates the digestion of fat and oily aliments, and that, even out of the stomach, gastric juice dissolves suet faster when a little bile is added to the mixture, than when the juice is pure. He mentions, moreover, that he never found bile in the stomach, at least during health, except when food of an oily kind had been eaten; and, in accordance with this, I have generally noticed that fried bacon agrees best with what are called “bilious” subjects. Still, however, the quantity must be small, otherwise it will prove injurious.

Plain well-cooked animal food, not too recently killed, and eaten in moderate quantity with bread, rice, or roasted potatoes, forms one of the most easily digested meals which can be devised for a weak stomach. Sometimes, however, potato induces acidity and flatulence, and ought not to be used. Venison and most kinds of game are very suitable in the same circumstances.

In some conditions of the system, where the condition is irritable and the mode of life not sufficiently active, red highly animalized meat proves too stimulating, although easy of digestion. The same thing happens during recovery from illness; and hence fish, chicken, and other white meats, which excite less and are digested more slowly, are often allowable where beef, mutton, pork, &c. cannot be taken with impunity. For the same reason, white and young meats are the best adapted for the excitable systems of the young.

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It would be easy to fill many pages with disquisitions about the preference due to individual articles of food, were such the purpose which I had in view. But books devoted to this branch of the subject abound, and are already in general circulation; and as I have nothing new to add to what is contained in them and to the general view given in a preceding chapter, it would be making a needless demand on the patience of the reader merely to repeat what is to be found in so many other works. My object is the exposition of PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES rather than of minute details; and my great aim is to enable every intelligent person to understand, not only what digestion, is, but the laws by which it is regulated, so that he may know at once WHY it is for his advantage to adhere to one course of conduct in preference to another in regard to it--WHY, in different situations, diet requires to be modified in order to adapt it more effectually to the varying wants of the system--and, lastly, the circumstances or rules by which such modifications ought to be determined. If I have succeeded in the attempt to explain any of all of these principles sufficiently to render them susceptible of a practical application by the reader, not only I will be greatly pleased, but the advantage to him will speedily convince him that I have acted judiciously in forsaking the beaten path, and drawing his attention to truths of still greater importance to his welfare than those which are most commonly treated of under the title of Dietetics.