A woman has for her diet a choice from all the grains, all the vegetables and all the fruits. When a working animal thrives and retains its strength upon two articles only, viz., corn and straw or oats and hay, can not the human make a bill of fare of sufficient variety to please the most fastidious out of all the grains, fruits and vegetables? If foods were ordinarily chosen to supply the needs of wasted tissues rather than to pander to perverted and capricious appetites, there would be less necessity of a special diet for pregnancy.
Physiologists have within a few years advanced the theory that if a pregnant woman avoids food rich in elements that nourish and develop bone, labor would be comparatively easy and painless. This theory was first made known in a small pamphlet published in England in 1841. It was written by Mr. Rowbotham, a practical chemist of London. His wife had been such a sufferer in two confinements that he had reason to fear she would not survive the third. The work gives an account of an experiment which met with such favorable results that he felt it his duty to publish it for the benefit of others. His theory was that “in proportion as a woman subsists during pregnancy upon aliment that is free from earthy and bony matter, will she avoid pain and danger in delivery; hence the more ripe fruit, acid fruit in particular, and the less of other kinds of food, but particularly of bread or pastry of any kind is consumed, the less will be the danger and suffering in childbirth.
“The subject of this experiment had, within three years, given birth to two children; and not only suffered extremely in the parturition, but for two or three months previous to delivery her general health was very indifferent, her lower extremities exceedingly swelled and painful; the veins so full and prominent as to be almost bursting; in fact to prevent such a catastrophe, bandages had to be applied; and for the last few weeks of gestation, her size and weight were such as to prevent her attending to her usual duties. She had on this occasion, two years and a half after her last delivery, advanced full seven months in pregnancy before she commenced the experiment at her husband’s earnest instance; her legs and feet were, as before, considerably swelled; the veins distended and knotty, and her health diminishing.
“She began the experiment in the first week of January, 1841. She commenced by eating an apple and an orange the first thing in the morning, and again at night. This was continued for about four days, when she took just before breakfast, in addition to the apple and orange, the juice of a lemon mixed with sugar, and at breakfast two or three roasted apples, taking a very small quantity of her usual food, viz., wheaten bread and butter. During the forenoon she took an orange or two, and an apple. For dinner took fish or flesh in a small quantity, and potatoes, greens and apples, the apples sometimes peeled and cut into pieces; sometimes boiled whole with the potatoes; sometimes roasted before the fire and afterward mixed with sugar. In the afternoon she sucked an orange or ate an apple or some grapes, and always took some lemon-juice mixed with sugar or treacle.
“At first the fruits acted strongly on the stomach and intestines, but this soon ceased, and she could take several lemons without inconvenience. For supper she again had roasted apples or a few oranges, and rice or sago boiled in milk; sometimes the apples peeled and cored, were boiled along with the rice or sago. On several occasions she took for supper apples and raisins, or figs with an orange cut among them, and sometimes all stewed together. Two or three times a week she took a tablespoonful of a mixture made of the juice of two oranges, one lemon, half a pound of grapes, and a quarter of a pound of sugar or treacle. The sugar or treacle served mainly to cover the taste of the acids, but all saccharine matter is very nutritious. The object in giving the acids was to dissolve as much as possible the earthy or bony matter which she had taken with her food in the first seven months of her pregnancy.
“She continued this course for six weeks, when to her surprise and satisfaction, the swelled and prominent state of the veins, which existed before she began this regimen, had entirely subsided; her legs and feet, which were also swelled considerably, had returned to their former state; and she became so light and active she could run up and down a flight of twenty stairs, with more ease than before she was pregnant. Her health became unwontedly excellent, and scarcely an ache or a pain affected her up to the night of her delivery. Even her breasts, which at the time she commenced the experiment, as well as during her former pregnancies, were sore and tender, became entirely free from pain, and remained in the very best condition after delivery and during nursing.”
It is evident Mr. Rowbotham obtained more than he anticipated for his wife. He had only expected to arrest or decrease the development of bone, but by eating so largely of acid fruits, the inflammatory or “bilious” condition was overcome. The oxygen of the acids united with the excess of carbon previously taken, thus relieved the pathological symptoms under which she was suffering. It is doubtful whether the final favorable results would have been attained had this not been the case, as prolonged suffering often accompanies a premature labor, even when there is little osseous development. The fact that Mrs. R.’s general health was so much improved adds to the interest and importance of the experiment.
He continues: “At nine o’clock A.M., after having cleaned her apartments, she was in the yard shaking a carpet, which she did with as much ease as any one else could have done. At half-past ten she said she believed her ‘time was come,’ and the accoucheur was sent for. At one o’clock the child was born, and the surgeon had left the room. He knew nothing of the experiment being made, but on being asked on paper by the husband two days afterward if he could ‘pronounce it as safe and as easy a delivery as he generally met with,’ he replied on paper: ‘I hereby testify that I attended Mrs. Rowbotham on the 3d inst., and that she had a safe labor and more easy than I generally meet with.’ On his asking the midwife if she thought it as easy as usual, she replied: ‘Why, I should say that a more easy labor I never witnessed—I never saw such a thing, and I have been at a great many labors in my time!’
“The child, a boy, was finely proportioned and exceedingly soft, his bones resembling gristle. He became of large size and very graceful, athletic and strong as he grew up. The diet of his mother was immediately changed, and she ate bread and milk and all articles of food in which phosphate of lime is to be found, and which had been left out before. She also got up from her confinement immediately and well. After her previous delivery, July, 1838, full ten days elapsed before she could leave her bed, and then she swooned at the first attempt; on this occasion, March, 1841, she left her bed the fourth day, and not only washed, but partly dressed herself. Had she not been influenced by custom and also been somewhat timid, she might have done so sooner. To be assisted appeared like a burlesque to her, not to say annoyance. She had no assistance from medicine.
“During former pregnancies, she had subsisted very much on bread, puddings, pies, and all kinds of pastry, having an idea that solid food of this kind was necessary to support the fetus. Nutritious food can be had without this hard and bony element, which is so large an ingredient of wheaten flour. Sago, tapioca, rice, etc., have little of it.”